she's part of what may be a second or even third or fourth(???) generation of this cult's existence. probably only the second though. they formed before the wars that tore the world up and the leader was obsessed with the idea that the world was ending. he was so sure that the apocalypse was approaching, especially since the way the world around them was declining in the midst of the helium wars
(i assume that dd is supposed to take place in another 'timeline/universe' rather than, like, ~ooh this is our future this is happening in a few years~, right? i gotta...check the twitterverse timeline... anyway)
so the leader used people's fear of the rapid decline and gave them a means to escape, both literally and figuratively. i imagine some sort of shelter that they either created together or found, way before people were actually starting to flee cities in fear of the damage there. hell, this was probably before battery city even existed, but he was convinced of this prophecy, right. and the events that were happening in the world supposedly was going according to what was detailed in the prophecy. anyway.
once pig bombs started flying the fuck around and shit, the leader proposed the idea of a mass suicide to, again, escape the suffering that the world was going to be put through as it ended. like, it was too late but now there was an afterlife that was waiting for them. i'll think more of the spiritual details of this shit later, but basic idea. and because, at the time, his power was so absolute, most of the cult went along with it.
so they pull a jonestown at the height of the war.
the survivors are what are considered the second generation. and they consider themselves the last hope of what was left of humanity. something like that. i can't decide if they continued on because they thought they were left because they believed they could save people, or because they thought they weren't pure enough to move on, so they had to stay until they reached that point. probably a combination of both... more to think about anyway.
anyway, the two main roles... were of thanatos, the leader, and his wife astra. it was through astra that thanatos got his power, she was the figurehead, she was the one who supposedly brought forth the prophecy and could see into the future and had all these spiritual powers and shit. now, i'm pretty sure that astra didn't actually have any spiritual qualities, and was instead taken advantage of because of her appearance and demeanor. there is also a chance that astra was actually just mentally ill or something and that's what gave her this strange behavior... hmm... i know there was definitely something wrong with her, and i know this was also based on some REALLY MEDIEVAL ideas that thanatos was using. it's possible that this cult is actually the result of an ancient religious sect that eventually split off and became something more, hmm....
thanatos and astra both died during the ritual, and were promptly replaced after by their daughter and son.Â
so, in the second generation, thanatos and astra are brother and sister, with thanatos taking over for his father as leader and astra taking over for her mother as figurehead. they're considered their reincarnations, despite the fact that they were both born long before the ritual, but they were isolated from the rest of their 'family'.Â
i don't actually know if thanatos and astra are biologically related or not, because it's extremely possible that they were just 'chosen' by the original and raised to replace them.
the cult (which i might call the gothic or something idk I REALLY WANT THE WORD 'GOTHIC' IN THERE AND IT'S BRITT'S FAULT) is still obsessed with the end of the world and consider themselves a sort of neutral settlement because of the fact that they're against both bli and killjoys, thinking they're both at fault. the war between the two extremes might actually be what 'causes' this apocalypse that they're still living in fear of
the thing is, with the prophecy, it's constantly altering to fit the world around them. so it's extremely vague and i think only a few select individuals of the cult are actually aware of what's 'written' in it. there may or may not be a book where it's written.
the cult also only currently has, at most, 20-30 people in it. they've isolated themselves from the rest of humanity and are made up of a few families and their children that they're raising into this belief.Â
astra's main plot will largely be about her trying to free herself from her cult, mostly from the isolation they forced on her. because she's only a figurehead, she's worshipped as one of the powerful authority figures of the group but doesn't actually hold any power, as thanatos (who mostly works in the background) is actually in charge. so there will probably be more about empowerment in there as she eventually, hopefully, tries to fight back and shit.
NOTHING IS SET IN STONE REALLY THIS IS LIKE A REALLY ROUGH IDEA OF WHAT I WANT FOR THEM SO YEAHHHH... GOTTA ORGANIZE IT BETTER AND REALLY THINK THESE THROUGH, LIKE, WAY LATER. MHM.
