#cult approved

[stick-ball]

My design for the second volume of AFTG cover ❤️

#i wanted to polish this off before i posted but life is keeping me busy so i though eh what the hell #its not like im doing this as a job #aftg series #aftg #aftg edit #aftg book cover #book cover design #nora sakavic #the raven king #neil josten #jean moreau #riko moriyama #ea ravens #cult approved #the foxhole court #tfc #all for the game #kevin day #andrew minyard #aftg art #aftg fanart #tfc edit #tfc fanart #trc #trc fanart

[canisalbus]

The little Courage the cowardly dog-esque paws on this drawing just sent me for some reason I'm so sorry I just had to quickly doodle a little Machete the cowardly dog XD

.

#♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ #a l a r m e d #Machete the cowardly dog #that's just normal Machete #standard state of mind #he needs to be spritzed with one of those calming pet sprays #A++ paws indeed #approving the extra intense eyebags on this one #also lovely linework #very lively and expressive #gift art #lepusrufus #answered #own characters #Machete #Courage the cowardly dog is one of those shows I've never watched and only know through social media osmosis #I don't think it was ever imported here and if it was it was probably on one of the cable channels that we never had when I was young #apparently it's considered something of a cult classic or at least above average #traumatized a lot of folks I've heard

[sozo-loves-you]

Oh, and something. I forgot to put on the previous post.

New Sozo art at last

#sozo approves #cult of the lamb #cotl sozo #cult of the lamb sozo #cotl

[fanged-cotl]

Does Narinder have any "friends" in the cult.

He doesn't really understand how friendship works. He will have acquaintances, people he knows that he doesn't necessarily hate the presence of. He met most of them doing work for the cult early on.

Eventually they just pass away like any other mortal, but they're okay while they last.

However, some are more important and memorable to him. They're good assets for helping him keep the remnants of his god magic.

Either way most people don't get that far friendship wise

#a simple question but oh so fun to answer! thank you for asking me! #ask #i make the second drawing look so scary but it's just so he can keep pulling a scythe out of his eyeball he can't do anything too dastardly #if you're really lucky maybe you can get into a “i approve of that one's mindset” stage with him #cotl narinder #narinder #cult of the lamb #cult of the lamb fanart #cotl askblog #lambi-au

[takeme-totheworld]

"You did that to yourself."

(cw: religious indoctrination, religious trauma, conversion therapy no seriously I talk a lot about the ex-gay thing in this one, brief mention of mental health hospitalization)

When you're brought up in a fundamentalist Christian mindset you are trained to constantly keep your attention focused on your "sins."

Which is weird, because supposedly Jesus died for your sins and all you have to do to be saved is believe? That's what they claim, anyway. But of course, if all you had to do to be saved from damnation was believe the thing and pray the prayer, you could then go on your merry way as soon as you'd done that and not have any need for the church ever again. They wouldn't be able to control you that way.

So they find ways to subtly insinuate doubt into your mind, keeping you off-balance and unsure. They tell you that you just have to do this one thing to be saved, that it's so easy, but then they find a million and one ways to encourage you to question whether you really did it right, whether your belief and prayer were sincere enough, whether you're backsliding away from the faith and need to commit anew, whether you've actually been accepted by God or whether you shouldn't examine yourself and your life and your soul extra-rigorously just one more time to make absolutely sure.

So, this religion that claims to free you from sin and damnation and the fear of those things is often a perfect breeding ground for endless self-judgment and scrupulosity. Fun!

(What's really fun is when you love and trust the church so much that you believe their whole freedom from fear and sin and damnation shtick. So, you wonder, why are you so anxious all the time? It must be something wrong with you personally, something broken in your brain. Because the church certainly never did anything to make you feel this way.)

Now imagine that you're a teenager who has had this mindset programmed into you basically from birth, and you start to realize that there's something different about you. You have crushes on the "wrong" people, or you have the "wrong" feelings about your gender, or (insert other queer feelings here).

There are a number of different directions this could go. Queer folks who grew up in fundamentalist churches have lots of different stories. But a lot of us—including me, a teenager of the late 90s/early 00s—became easy prey for crackpot "ex-gay ministries" that drew in vulnerable queer religious youth with promises that we could be cured.

The type of story that's usually told, in the few movies and tv shows out there that attempt to portray conversion therapy, is a story about horrified parents finding gay porn under their kids' beds and then dragging the kids kicking and screaming off to ex-gay camp. That happens, of course, and it's horrible, and it's a story that needs to be told.

What you don't hear about so much are those of us who were already so twisted up into knots of fear and self-loathing by our upbringing that we joined these organizations voluntarily. Asking to be healed.

Because why would anyone do that to themself?

It's a much more uncomfortable story to tell. People who weren't raised in a fundamentalist mindset find it hard to comprehend. But the fact is, a religious organization claiming you can be "cured" of your queerness through faith and prayer (under their particular guidance, of course)—it sounds disturbingly cult-like, because it is, but it's also a natural extension of the kind of psychological control fundamentalist churches already exert over their members.

"Didn't you know there was something wrong? Couldn't you see how fucked up their claims were? Couldn't you tell how creepy and predatory and cult-like the whole vibe of the group was? For that matter, couldn't the religious parent who allowed you to do this, who was thirty years older than you and should have known better, tell?"

NO! Of course not! What in our experience could have possibly equipped either of us to look at this "ministry," that was promising to heal me from my sinful queerness while spouting exactly the same rhetoric we'd both heard in church all our lives, and realize how incredibly destructive it was going to turn out to be?

Seriously, it was basically a bunch of queer teens sitting around confessing our "sinful" thoughts and feelings, talking about everything we thought was wrong with us, vowing to do better, and praying for each other. It wasn't actually that different from my regular church youth group, except that we were all a lot more (openly) depressed and anxious.

...well, and there were a bunch of very severe rules with very severe consequences re: hanging out with each other outside the confines of group meetings and activities, presumably to make sure we didn't all start secretly hooking up with each other. Or, you know. Having conversations with each other about our queerness that weren't aggressively monitored and directed by the ex-gay thought police. (Couldn't let us start thinking that maybe there was nothing wrong with us after all.)

Okay, so the environment actually was more aggressively controlling than my church in rather significant ways. But I'd been raised my whole life to willingly submit to any rules dictated by religious leaders. I did not have the mental tools to look at what this organization was doing and go "Wow, something is really not right here."

I spent three years involved with the particular "ministry" I'd gotten attached to. It came to an abrupt end with a mental health hospitalization when I was in college, an experience that shook me up enough to realize that the ex-gay path was going to destroy me if I stayed on it. I got out of the hospital, moved across the country to live with my other parent and start picking up the pieces, and never went back to my childhood church or the ex-gay group again.

That was almost twenty years ago and the entire ordeal feels like a weird fever dream now when I look back on it. For a long time I did my best to forget the whole thing. These days, for the first time, I'm trying to remember. Partly for my own healing, because I can't live the rest of my life treating those three years like a deep dark shameful secret. But also because I've come to realize more and more that if people like me don't tell our stories, we let ourselves (and others like us who may still be trying to break free) get painted with the victim-blaming "You did that to yourself" brush.

I did not do that to myself. No one in a situation like mine who made choices like mine did that to themselves. That is not remotely how that works. But it's taken me all this time to let go of the mountain of misplaced self-blame I've carried around my whole adult life.

People who have been raised in intensely fundamentalist environments, with all the indoctrination that entails, often have to resort to all kinds of emotional and psychological contortions just to survive the experience. That's doubly true at least for queer kids growing up in these environments. And yes, that includes those of us who, after years of marinating in religious repression and self-loathing, made choices that looked completely incomprehensible from the outside, choices that had destructive consequences for ourselves and possibly others.

Our stories may not be as easy to understand or empathize with. But we need and deserve that understanding just as much.

#personal #religious indoctrination #religious trauma #exvangelical #ex gay #ex ex gay #conversion therapy #so yeah #i was in a sort-of cult in high school and early college #with the full knowledge and approval of one of my parents #i do not blame the parent in question #they've been dead several years #but they were unwell #and deeply religiously traumatized #i blame the church #and the ex-gay movement #seriously fuck them

[remeddi-arts]

midnight hour is best hour for doodles

#cult of the lamb #cotl bishops #Therapeutic doodles #my art #shitty shitpost #using a comfort character #in this case all are my comfort characters #Shamura has seen the smut on ao3 #they approve

[spiderin-space]

Lots of new designs to play with 👀

#cotl #cult of the lamb #cotl lamb #cotl narinder #cotl bishops #oh hey I finally give my Lamb a somewhat unique design instead of just how they look in canon #felt inspired thanks to some mutuals + all of the other cool designs I see on here #might digitalize it tomorrow or smth #husband approved 😩👍 #also wanted to draw the bishops as lords again 👀 #included Narinder too even though he’s not technically a ‘lord’ in this au(?) 😩 #also bonus: Aynno Silk Cradle design #they match with Shamura……. hmmgh

[katsigian]

Also I'm going to say one thing: if someone chooses to listen to the words of a person with a proven track record of abuse and harassment over the character of a person who simply exists in the same space as them, then they may be more likely to join a cult

#the nonsense i see makes me wonder why fandom exists for any other reason than to teach people cult indoctrination #hypothetically #person A says Person b is a big meanie #person C looks over at person B who is just sitting there with their blorbos and has always just sat there with their blorbos #and then completely agrees with person A because person C would rather have approval from scary person A who threatens them with isolation #and no this isn't targeted at one single person be fr this is something that happens over and over again in every community

[snowberry-pie]

kit at their worst is such a genuinely selfish and manipulative person. covertly controlling. tramples over other people to get what they want while denying to both themselves and everyone else that they’ve ever done anything wrong. all while there is so much self hatred. bojack horseman style

#oc: kythonos #i get stressed thinking abt it but yeah. kit is A Lot #hate to say this but. i think sometimes about how there is a version of kit out there that would have taken advantage of astarion in act 2 #i treat them like they’re a sniveling sobbing pathetic sweetheart which they Are. but also my god they are not #they have the charisma and force of personality to lead a cult. which they did for parental approval of all things

[cyeayt]

me: so we're all aware of sexyman ammon flexing on top of his pile of 40 severed bandit arms, but what we need to be talking about is the joseph smith sphinx, which is not just a prop in cult classic movie "plan10 from outer space", but is a real piece in gilgal sculpture garden, carved with innovative oxyacetylene torch te- huh i wonder what my nonmormon followers think of this

my exmormon followers: honestly you kinda lost us too

#exmo #exmormonism #the first bit is like niche tumblr history of a poll someone did a few months ago #the other one is just #very niche irl history #i wouldnt call plan10 a cult classic id call it a cult phenomenon #id say it has the same number of followers and same appeal of the ninth street whale #anyway #i had a very nice day at gilgal even if it did kinda feel like i was high #the sphinx is the basis of thought for all that surrounds it #she is beauty she is grace shes the sphinx with josephs face #dad what does that mean #dont call me father boy i haven't approved your union yet. go assemble my pants

[stick-ball]

No time to render gotta ball (dont zoom in pls).

Riko wanted Kevin’s undivided attention. It worked, a little too well, and now he is blaming his hand injury on him smh…

#fuck riko moriyama #riko moriyama #cult approved #aftg #aftg fanart #tfc #the perfect court #looking pretty fly

[swordmaid]

for me… FOR ME..!!! and for shri’iia specifically the lock in for astarion’s romance is his graveyard scene in act 3.

i think it is too quick for shri’iia to be moving on to another relationship considering her previous one was with her mistress who essentially groomed and isolated her for like … more than hundred years. learning to chase her own desires and not moulding herself to what anyone wants her to be is something so new to her…!!! and something that she’s still learning how to be comfortable with….

and what I like abt romancing astarion with her is that I usually go for the dialogue path in his act 2 confession scene where you can ask him:

- what do YOU want to do?

and he goes like honestly idk what we’re doing but /this/ is nice. it just feels like two people exploring the option to love for the first time and taking things in their own pace rather than jumping straight into the relationship. they’re going at a snails pace… they don’t know what they’re doing but they like this feeling and the vibe and they want to more of it but they’re not ready to commit to anything yet and it’s fine for them …!! and they’re only committing by the end in the graveyard scene where significant time has passed and they’ve learnt a little more about themselves and they’re both more confident about their own desires and also how they want to be loved.

like it is so fitting I think… and sweet… not to mention astarion being a high elf & a vampire and shri’iia being a drow, they have all the time of the world for themselves so I def think they would want to take their time. except if shri’iia turns into a mindflayer or drider by the end then that plan is out the window lol

#now I’m thinking who else I can romance with her .. maybe lae’zel ?? #since the thing with her is that she doesn’t get vulnerable in act 1 so the scenes where the romances #are kind of heart to hearts like shadowheart’s or karlach’s (😭😭😭) is out of the question since it doesn’t fit her … #like she’d rather sleep with someone first than actually get to know them 😭 hence astarion and lae’zel … #gale and wyll… I am hmmm about it on one hand her approval with wyll in act 1 is not even high enough 😭😭 #and I don’t think she can be sweet enough to chase after him in the party .. she was kind of like ok fine whatever when he said he’s not in #the mood … gale I think can be a contender .. I actually don’t know how his route goes so I’m not sure abt that … #but the thing is … she gets vulnerable LATER ..!! and why astarion’s romance work for her is i hc after their act 2 scene #they’re just in a situationship rather than actual relationship … like they’re dating (yes!) but also dating (hmmmm) #and it’s only in his last scene where they both lock in bc I think that’s enough time for her to process her OWN trauma and also for her #own character development … like she has to learn how to trust (ack!!!!) which is the thing that you don’t do when you’re raised in lolth’s #cult …. and her mistress manipulated her trust too so it’s even more nerve wracking for her bc she doesn’t want someone to have that power #over her again .. but now she has to learn how to give it away freely … without being scared … bites my hand …!!!! #and astarion graveyard scene where he wants to live again vs shri’iia learning how to trust again and trying to live without the fear of #someone betraying you and using you and the paranoia that comes with it … urck urgh goughhhhhh critical hit … #also I have a hc that she actually is quite good at making poisons since her mother sold alchemy herbs and components #and she gives him poison as a courting gift lol .. also like a way to protect him 🤭 but she won’t admit that … she’s like if you want it #take it if you don’t idc 🤷‍♀️ (she does..) i hc that she gets flustered at sincerity actually #their relationship for me is like they’re both two little shits and a general menace to society (both charlatans) #but if they had to hold hands she’d get too flustered too and he’s like honestly what are you a child? (smug face making fun of her) #I have this little comic idea for them when they held hands for the first time and she’s like ouggghhh 😳😮‍💨 flustered and sweating and he’s #like hihi 🤭😎 but then their hands starts to get sweaty and then he’s like ew that’s disgusting and she’s like ok if u hate it let go then #and he’s like no YOU let go 🙄 but they don’t let go now they have to suffer through the sweaty hand holding alas such is fate …

[wrath-beyond-reckoning]

Fanfiction Rec / Tracking

To Be Truly Free by CleanLenins

Dream SMP - Technoblade centric - Vampire SBI - Human / Blood Ghd Chosen Technoblade

Summary

The Sleeping Empire had held all the power for centuries. What else did you expect when the Emperor was an undying Vampire? King Philza and his sons, Prince Wilbur and Prince Theseus, have never faced a real threat to their power. Twenty years ago, the Blood God spoke through his Holy Conduit, the King of Scywar. A prophecy that one child born in the month of the Summer Solstice had the potential to crush the hearts of the Vampiric Lords once and for all. As such, a decree that every child born in June must serve the Blood God's church. Technoblade thinks this whole thing is dumb, but no one really cares what he thinks. As one of the children born in June, known as the Blessed Ones, Technoblade dreams of a different life. One not enslaved to The Church. He dreams to know what it means to be truly free. Or- Another Dark SBI Vampire AU. This time, Technoblade is the Human.

Published: 2022-03-06 Updated: 2023-08-14 Words:123,359 Chapters:20/?

Read: Unknown Date been reading since the third or forth chapter.

Note: This is one of the best fanfics I have read flat out not even just in the fandom it is just so freaking good!

#dsmp #dark sbi fanfic #dark sbi #technoblade-centric #rec: tommyinnit #rec: wilbur soot #rec: philza #tw: cults #tw: system abuse #tw: unfair punishment #none of which is approved of administered by sbi #unless you count cuddles as an unfair punishment #tommy and wilbur do thrall techno #mostly by accident though #ongoing

[bunnyb34r]

Trying to undo the damage of Facebook w/o risking your relationship with a loved one is like defusing a fucking bomb sometimes I stg

#marquilla #i had a whole thing typed out ab this but ugh #im trying to explain to my mom that no they are not fighting to let children have sex changes. the only sex change sugery they preform on #minors are the fucked up shit they do to intersex kids at birth #that hormone therapy would be the only 'trans treatment' a minor could get and no it will not be w/o parental consent. and that hrt is #reversible. #id love to try to deradicalize the rest of my family but im sorry those motherfuckers are too far gone for me to try and keep my own sanity #like 1 went from far right to libertarian which isnt much better but it's something but im still leery of him ngl #and tra/dwife cousin's husband is full blown far right and i know it's wrong but i dont care enough ab them to want to try #ahdhdgdg i know it's bad but like they can all go to hell idc #and then theres the cousin i dont talk to who is a bible thumping freak who told his sister at her fucking lesbian wedding something #something god doesn't approve or something like that like 😬 #and hes in a cult of some kind im sure but i didnt dig deep enough to find out if it's just WS flavored or full on WS shit #but theyre dead to me. i only have my lesbian cousin w/that last name sorry i dont have any [name]s in my family besides her #wouldnt put it past tra/dwife cousin's sister to be in some cult or cult adjacent beliefs honestly #i know shes being abused in some capacity and that her husband is a fucking asshole but shes a bitch so i dont talk to her at all anyway #(not that her being a bitch makes her deserving of that. those statements are two sep things. i feel bad shes being abused. AND separately #shes a bitch and her being a bitch is why i dont talk to her) #ANYWAY I Have a headache so im gonna wash the gunk off and hope i feel better

[abandcned]

Is that spell dynasty approved?

#🗡*. ooc #|| we during run asddasdassad ARE ROCKS APPROVED BY THE MOTHER #|| blood cult should allow gun incantations :T - Varré

[threadsun]

To that one anon who talked about Nick after care after free use, yes!!! 100% You fuckin nailed it!

:3c

#sunshine #asks #cult anon #here ya go other anon ya got the seal of approval!! :3c #aftercare Nick is So Good