karmarox

[karmarox]

*Madly scribbling shipping notes as if possessed*

Leshy is actually surprisingly weak to positive reinforcement and physical contact... Lamb doesn't realize they are severely touch starved... the two disasters collide to devastating effect felt throughout the rest of the cult...!!

#Cult of the Lamb #The Lamb #Leshy #Leshy x Lamb #shipping #my stuff #my writing #headcanon

[karmarox]

So....

#Cult of the Lamb #Yuri #Shipping #The Lamb #Narinder #art #fanart #cute #this is so funny #reblogs

[karmarox]

Y'all I'm obsessing on the potential shipping dynamics between Lamb and each bishop.

How does it work/start

What does each possible pair see in each other

The possibilities... I hunger.

#Cult of the Lamb #The Lamb #The Bishops #Shipping #my stuff #headcanon #funpost #ask me about my shipping headcanons

[karmarox]

How do COTL artists decide how to draw the characters tbh I can't figure out what style to go for for these heretical blorbos uu

#cult of the lamb #my stuff

[karmarox]

so a small doodle commission for a good friend of mine @kaifanjc-the-one-and-only! <3 If you want a commission as well you can check them out here https://www.tumblr.com/creeperchild/734296858732756992/commissions-terms-of-service-by-creeperchild-on?source=share

#Cult of the Lamb #Shipping #Cute #Art #Fanart #Reblogs

[karmarox]

After her defeat (twice), death, cursed afterlife, and revival in a body much too small for her liking, the one thing Heket curses most in the world besides her traitorous brother and that Pretender Lamb is her own weakness. All she can do nowadays is fester in her own bitterness and watch the world turn with her helpless to do anything. Unfortunately for her, her so-called Leader isn't content to let her stew in her misery and decides to once again insert themselves into her business. Will it be for the better this time, or will they finally reveal their true intentions and finish her off?

Haha, you probably expected more Kallamar posting. Too bad, this is a Heket and Lamb focus story! Chapter 1 of one, even!

I have a lot of ideas about my interpretation of the Lamb, and Heket especially has a whole lot of potential interactions with the God of Death due to her role in the story and attitude/former position as the leader and voice of the Old Faith. Thus, a fic about a potential interaction between them. Not quite friendly with each other, but maybe something like this would be a first step...

#Cult of the Lamb #Heket #The Lamb #Follower Bishops #fanfiction #story #my stuff #my writing

[karmarox]

The Lamb: Purpose and Emptiness

Don't mind me just rambling on more Cult of the Lamb headcanons/ideas. This time about the titular Lamb!

What if The Lamb, for lack of a better term, came back Wrong when they were resurrected. Was it because of the way they died? The revival process? The Crown's influence? Reaching their breaking point from trauma? Some other unknown factor? It's unclear, but they are, to put it bluntly, not quite normal, not quite fully there.

The best way to describe it: They've become "Detached". Nothing around them feels like they are really experiencing it. Their emotions are incredibly muted. They’re present but feel like distant twinges and reminders of how they should be feeling at the moment, instead of actual feelings (most of the time). They remember everything before their death, they remember who they are, know who they are, but they don't feel like the lamb they're supposed to be (which is why they explicitly avoid giving out their name or talking about their past).

Their eyes are black and almost void-like. They have a friendly, inviting smile as their default expression most of the time, but the only thing most people can read from their emotions is an intense, overwhelming Focus.

When it comes to making decisions, they're, again, very detached, going only by cost and benefit. Their more benevolent actions are decided almost entirely by the idea of "Being cruel here is unnecessary or would cause problems in the long term" instead of morals (at least, during the beginnings of the Cult/a large portion of the "base game" part of the story). This is why a lot of their doctrines can be a bit scattered/contradictory in nature.

They have trouble connecting to others. Everyone around them feels distant and separated, like there’s a wall or window between them. This doesn’t mean they don’t have empathy, though.

A part of their story, then, isn't just about growing the cult and freeing The One Who Waits (which they at first see simply as a matter of course and repaying their debt), but once a few key events happen, they also start wanting to restore their sense of self...

Other Notes under a Read More cause they're more scattered and spoiler-y and goes more into AU/full story territory:

-They get spikes of emotion whenever using the Crown’s powers, especially to its fullest, akin to adrenaline highs. This is why they get a bit of a reputation as an adrenaline junkie/battle freak and a passionate speaker during sermons/rituals, since those are the two primary times they're actually capable of emoting. (Although they don't really notice their own changes in personality) -The first time they were surprised by their own emotions was when Sozo died. They broke down over realizing they unintentionally helped kill someone they cared about (and broke down even more over realizing that they did in fact care). -The second time was when The Fox asked them to sacrifice Ratau. They actually considered doing it, but then suddenly felt so much disgust and self hatred over even the thought of killing someone important to them (and realizing that Ratau IS indeed important to them) that they nearly attacked the Fox and ran away before going into shock. --This probably ends up being the wake up call on them realizing they need help (and also leads to them opening up to Ratau the next day. Many feelings were had. Rat dad obtained.)

More lighthearted aside: They immediately held a Sermon and introduced the Marriage Doctrine after talking to Ratau about wanting to (re)learn how to connect the others. For a while they developed a "reputation" due to always saying yes to marriage proposals until Ratau gave them another talking to and carefully explained the misunderstanding and why doing this may be a problem.

-When it comes to the Bishops, the Lamb doesn't particularly feel anything about them. They never felt any desire for Revenge beyond a slight obligation. In their eyes, they avenged their species, fulfilled the task given to them, and all got a second chance after death, so they don't have a reason to hate the Bishops, and doesn't take how they feel about them personally. -Out of all the Bishops, only Heket and Shamura saw that there was something Wrong with the Lamb during their battles. Leshy couldn't see it, obviously, and Kallamar was too preoccupied dealing with his own issues. -When the Lamb invaded Anura, Heket felt even more disgust and hatred towards Narinder, thinking he revived the Last Lamb as some sort of husk/puppet on purpose. Killing the Lamb for good felt like even more of a moral obligation to her. -Shamura sees the Lamb's current broken state as just another in a long line of their own mistakes. Their words during the Lamb's invasion of Silk Cradle were an attempt to reach out, and as a Follower they feel a desire to make peace with and help them.

-Narinder takes a long, long, long time to notice their vessel/usurper has a problem. When he was chained up, he was too preoccupied thinking about his freedom and power. After becoming a follower, he was too preoccupied with his anger, desire for revenge, and thinking the Lamb had planned this all from the start. -Finding out the Lamb's true nature plays a part in him calming down and beginning to give the Cult a chance. He also starts wondering if their current warped state is his fault...

#Cult of the Lamb #COTL Lamb #Headcanon #fic ideas #my stuff #my writing

[karmarox]

Is it preferred to just directly post fanfics/stories here (under Read Mores) or is linking to AO3 more common, I admit I am not familiar with the ETIQUETTE around here.

I was going to write more Kallamar but got the urge to write Heket feels instead for the moment. uwu

#Fanfiction #my stuff

[karmarox]

Fallen Gods and the Curse of the Crowns

Wanted to share an idea/headcanon I had about the Follower Bishops. This is based off of how they are when they first arrive at the Cult + their traits, expanding and adding more lore/story potential around the idea.

Essentially, the now Mortal Bishops all have a curse placed on them due to how they used their crowns, and then being separated from them after being connected to them for so long.

Leshy Curse of Chaos: Has random sudden fits of "Bad Luck" where he gets struck by misfortune. -It's not actually that debilitating, he never was a particularly strong Bishop and left Darkwood to its own chaotic devices most of the time. -Most of the time it manifests as just a weird string of chaotic and perfectly timed happenstance that leads to him being inconvenienced or put in a compromising position or tossed around like a ragdoll. -The rest of the Cult can only watch baffled whenever things just seem to randomly go wrong around Leshy in impossible, bizarre ways. (He finds it kinda funny, honestly)

Heket Curse of Famine: Has random, unpredictable bouts of extreme hunger pangs. -They can happen at any time, even immediately after already eating to the point of fullness or in the middle of the night while she's sleeping. -If she doesn't eat to stave off these pangs she could very well collapse. (And has multiple times due to being too prideful to let the Lamb or the other Followers help her, at first) -Takes to always carrying food and snacks on her as a result. -The Lamb gave her a key to the food stores and free access to the kitchen because of her condition. She hates them for "pitying" and "mocking" her. -Gets extremely uppity if people waste food. Maybe that's why she hasn't actually sabotaged the food stores even though she states she definitely could and the Lamb is a fool for giving her easy access.

Kallamar Curse of Pestilence: Very poor health. Frail, gets tired easily on most days, and prone to fever and illness. -Pretty much constantly in danger of catching a cold, fever, migraines, or whatever illness is floating around the area at the time. -It doesn't help that he doesn't particularly sleep well and also strives to push himself to get into the Lamb's good graces. -Frequent visitor to the Healing Bay because of it. -In actuality, he's the first to notice how all of the Former Bishops have strange ailments and occurrences surrounding them that are rather coincidentally related to their former domains. -Theorizes that they've all been cursed due to their abuse of the crowns, since all of their afflictions are related to how they usually treated mortals they didn't like (he especially is aware of how prone he was to taking his frustrations out on his followers by throwing sicknesses around without a care), and the Curse's power seems to scale with the former Bishop's, from only mildly inconveniencing and amusing Leshy to being horribly debilitating for Kallamar and Shamura.

Shamura Curse of War: Enters sudden fits of rage and hostility, lashing out at anyone around them no matter who it is. -These fits seem to always happen whenever Shamura is having a better, more lucid day. -They're almost perfectly timed to ruin the moment. Is Shamura in a good mood? Are they recovering more memories than usual? Are they bonding or trying to reconcile with their siblings? Are they actually befriending the other Followers? Suddenly they see red, and by the time they're lucid again whatever they had is poisoned and gone. -For some reason, this particular Curse seems have a strange effect on the Lamb. Whenever they get close to each other or have any sort of insightful conversation, it seems like instead of Shamura being hit by a bout of rage, they'll inevitably end up saying the wrong thing that will send the Lamb into a rage instead. Not even the Lamb knows why being around Shamura makes them so much easier to upset. -They end up becoming rather reclusive after realizing how they always seem to sabotage themselves and any bond they try to have, old or new. Not to mention horribly depressed. They even avoid the other Bishops whenever they feel particularly lucid.

#Cult of the Lamb #headcanon #Leshy #Heket #Kallamar #Shamura #The Bishops #COTL Bishops #my writing #my stuff

[karmarox]

The Bishops of the Old Faith

these took forever but we stay silly ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ my completed designs for the bishops under their robes (b4 the betrayal)

I may alter small details but I'm very happy for the most part with how they came out ( = ⩊ =)b

#Cult of the Lamb #bishops #art #fanart #character design #they look so fabulous #reblogs

[karmarox]

I am so normal about the squidfailure

#cult of the lamb #kallamar #crossdressing #maid outfit #art #fanart #sad squids #reblogs

[karmarox]

I FINALLY HAVE THEM ALL IN ONE!!!

#cult of the lamb #fanart #art #bishop #character design #cool #leshy #heket #kallamar #shamura #reblogs

[karmarox]

Kallamar is acclimating well to Mortality and the Cult, all things considered. Really, everything is fine. Everything Should be fine. The Lamb rescued him from his eternal, endless punishment when they didn't need to, he no longer has a cult to look after, all of his siblings are reunited, and apparently Death has been conquered, so he doesn't have anything to worry about anymore, right? Well, aside from his bouts of sickness constantly getting in the way of being a Good Follower and Impressing the Lamb. Today seemed like an especially bad day, but at least the Cult Leader is there to make it just a bit better.

That's right I hyperfixated enough on analyzing the sad squid I wrote a oneshot snippet revolving around my headcanons.

Feat. sad squid being doted on by a weird Lamb. (He may be getting feelings)

#Cult of the Lamb #Kallamar #the lamb #fanfiction #shipping #sorta #pining #my stuff #my writing #my art

[karmarox]

Kallamar the Coward, Pt 2: Famine and Pestilence

Expanding on my previous Kallamar headcanon, I wanted to go more in depth on these two, particularly because of how often I see fanon treat their relationship as kind of one note (IE "Heket is the strong girlboss and Kallamar is the wimp so lets see her push him around and bully him cuz it's funny har har har").

It's easy to presume that after the sealing of The One Who Waits and the Bishops' injuries, Heket took over as "leader" of the Old Faith, being the one to take charge in meetings and sermons, speaking first despite her injuries, commanding the others, and being especially mindful and doting of Shamura and concerned over their mental state.

Heket isn't particularly strong. She's only a bit stronger than Leshy. In fact, by the time you reach her, it's pretty easy for your Cult to have grown enough that she's practically a pushover compared to how limited you are when you only have Darkwood and the starting Cult facilities available to you.

The second youngest ended up being promoted to a parental figure, due to the eldest being in no state to lead, and the second eldest having evidently broken down from the stress and nobody acknowledging he had his own trauma despite how "light" his injuries were compared to everyone else.

I think Heket's view of her elder brother would have definitely been damaged after she was forced to step up due to his failings. But even then... I think she does care about him. Unlike how instantly ready Narinder and even Shamura are to criticize Kallamar, and unlike how the common fanon portrayal is ready to have all of the bishops tear Kallamar apart for the sake of the joke of him being a flat character, Heket never directly insults him. At most she's pushy and commanding and hard on him.

I'd like to think she wants him to help again. To get out of whatever funk he's in and be the responsible one that took care of her and Leshy and Shamura at the start. So she pushes, tries to get him to take charge. She knows her own weakness even if she won't admit it. She wants, needs him to be the Bishop she knows he can be, knows he used to be. Even in his cowardice and unwillingness to move she still has him as the second in command and wants him to work together with her to manage the Old Faith and, once the game happens, deal with the Lamb.

But dealing with trauma isn't as easy as just giving the victim a "push" to try to make them get over it. Heket is tragically unaware that if anything, her trying to force Kallamar out of his comfort zone might actually be making things worse, making him recede deeper and deeper into his anxieties, failures, and resentment.

Just look at how doting Heket always is towards Shamura. Even after all that's happened (even after everything was Shamura's fault it was their fault all their fault everyone is like this now), Heket looks up to Shamura the most, follows along everything they say, tries to do what she thinks will make Shamura proud. Even when Shamura hasn't even tried to hide that Narinder the traitor is and always will be their favorite!! How could Heket still care about Shamura? How come she's never showed any of that concern for him? Why does he have to be strong and tough it out all the time just because he's the elder and "only" lost his ears?

Kallamar resents Shamura, potentially even sincerely hates them because of everything. But Heket? Heket hurt Kallamar in a way she doesn't even realize. Really, they hurt each other. Not to the extent Narinder did to all of them, but unlike what Narinder did, these wounds are invisible.

It's tragic what brother and sister have been left to. Heket would never openly call Kallamar a coward or failure like the others, but she's clearly disappointed in her senior falling apart when everyone needed him most. Kallamar cares enough to still be by her side whenever she asks, but resents her for always pushing him around, and for the favoritism she shows towards Shamura despite all that he's done never openly being acknowledged. On the one hand, he's ready to criticize her leadership abilities behind her back (such as when chatting with the Lamb). On the other, once his little sister is dead (SHAMURA'S FAULT ALL THEIR FAULT AGAIN) he's immediately ready to disown and sell out Shamura. Some might say it's all to save his own skin because he knows he's next, but what if it's also because without his little siblings he doesn't have any reason to serve the Old Faith anymore?

But maybe... now that their responsibilities are gone, things can get better. Who knows, maybe one day they'll actually be able to communicate. Kallamar still holds a lot of resentment, and Heket is definitely not acclimating to the Cult well and seems to have just become a bitter, angry person to everyone around her now that she's been reduced to a mortal, but now that he's much more like his past self, I can see him trying to dote on his little siblings again. His relationship with Shamura and Narinder are probably damaged beyond ever even considering repair, but Heket? She'll always be the little frog he had to take care of while Shamura was busy playing favorites.

#Cult of the Lamb #Kallamar #Heket #character study #headcanon #my stuff #my writing

[karmarox]

Kallamar the Coward

Thinking about Kallamar in Cult of the Lamb, with how the lore and even his own siblings taunt him for being a coward and he even tries to bargain and sway you away from getting your revenge and killing him, even ready to throw Shamura under the bus to save himself, but then when you finally push him into a corner and he's forced to fight he not only busts out a bunch of weapons and starts quad-wielding them but he was once regarded by the fandom as being among the hardest bosses of the base game.

It got me thinking, was he always like this? Narinder certainly thinks so, but there's bias there. It's easy to just write him off as always being a mess like this...

But there's no denying he's the second in power after Shamura, Anchordeep is known for its beauty, he takes personal pride in the way he took care of his cult/area, and when in Purgatory out of all the bishops he's notably the most lucid/aware of where he is.

So I present this: After Narinder's sealing, Shamura was in no state to lead or give orders. The Bishops all had massive injuries that refused to heal. Who out of the 4 would immediately be assumed to be the one to take a leadership role? Who had comparatively more "manageable" injuries to take care of the other 3? And who would you assume is most likely to have medical experience to at least try to lessen the impact of all of their wounds?

Kallamar, Pestilence and Cure.

Early on after The One Who Waits was sealed away, Kallamar would have had to effectively take over the Old Faith while also caring for a broken beyond repair older sibling, who had always been the "Wise" one that the others blindly followed, yet was now barely even there at the best of times, and two younger siblings, one who was now permanently blind (and young/weak enough that they couldn't even muster a single Curse towards the Lamb before being crushed within days of their resurrection even years after the sealing, so just imagine how new to godhood they were back when this all started), and another who had had her throat torn out, all while downplaying his own wounds.

What if, then, at some point, he simply broke?

He resents Shamura, even potentially sincerely blames them for causing the entire thing (which Shamura confesses to), both leading them to turn on Narinder and also for leading everyone to killing the Lambs. He's still fond of Leshy, but from how quick to take charge Heket is, it's clear that after he proved unable to take the stress of it all, she was next in line as the "leader" of The Old Faith. There's gotta be some resentment there on both ends because of that, particularly with how quick he is to criticize how she took care of her territory.

And then compare how he is as a bishop to how he is as a follower. I think it's very very interesting that he goes from a dirty coward and absolute pathetic mess of anxiety and fear, to pleading directly to his own executioner for help, to being almost perfectly happy and content to simply be a Follower of the Lamb's cult. The others (minus Shamura, due to their condition) are resentful and quick to give sharp words to the Lamb, but Kallamar? It's like all his anxiety is gone with his godhood. He has nothing to fear anymore, and is almost ridiculously quick to be friendly to the Lamb and share his tastes in decor and pride in appearances with them. Not even in the "kissing up" way, he talks like they're equals. Is this what Kallamar was like, before everything? Is he actually HAPPIER as a Mortal now that all of the responsibility and fear of death is gone? Even secretly grateful?

There's no denying his cowardice. There's no denying it crossed a line when he was ready to betray Shamura when his nerves reached their limit. There's no denying that as much as he'd like to believe that he is absolved of guilt for The Old Faith's sins simply because he was just doing what Shamura told him to even if he claims he thought it was a bad idea.

But you also have to wonder what caused that cowardice to form, and what other feelings motivate his actions besides fear.

(tldr: sad squid was not ready to become the responsible one, especially not after going deaf and being traumatized. Has a mental breakdown halfway through raising the others due to not being able to actually deal with going deaf or being traumatized because it turns out being the god of physical health is different from mental health. Little sister ends up having to step up and be the mom now. Their relationship never recovered because of it, and he now blames the eldest for failing them and also for his own failures to cope. As a bonus developed an attachment to his own killer out of some weird warped perception of them "rescuing" him from his stress and then from death itself.)

#Cult of the Lamb #Kallamar #character study #Headcanon #Lore #my stuff #my writing #story #storytelling

[karmarox]

When dating a larger sized Poken you should always be mindful of their clearance zones.

#Clodsire #Pokemon #Anthro Pokemon #Furry #Pokemorph #my art #my stuff #Pokewaifu

[karmarox]

question to clear your mind of all conscious thought

#little big planet #my nostalgia for that series is strong even today #no games like it #video games #reblogs