#cotsk

The Children of the Scarlet King

“When the world renews we will begin rebirth and the Scarlet King will rise.”

Intro:

The room was almost entirely filled with blood. The walls had congealed blood in the shape of sigils, the ceiling dripped, and the blood that would not congeal. It was warm to the touch yet it had been there for ages. In the center was a see-through bloody cystitis structure. Whatever was in it is long gone.

It covered the agents’ shoes, making them one with the mess. It was also a hazard. Making the already precarious situation into a step and fall kind of place. Their faces cringe at the dominant smell emanating from the blood. They just stood their staring. Fear struck their hearts, it was an unnatural  feeling. They were trained to be desensitized to scenes like this, it was an anomalous fear to make anyone go away. Unless it’s your job and paycheck on the line.

The blobs that make up the sigils were fresh red blood. A striking contrast to the more dried black blood surrounding it. It pulsed with power, powerful magics, ancient magics. If you touched it the pustules would tear off onto your finger and not let go also giving a burning sensation that feels as deep as bone.

It was too elaborate to be highly festering magic, natural magic. No, this was man-made. Man-made and unlike anything either agent has ever seen. It would put the Thaumaturgy Department to their knees. Sigil, blood, homunculus building, with things that the Foundation has no concept of. It’s a mystery, they're not bringing anything physical back with them. 

Unhushed and baited breath whispers of who could have caused it. Complex blood rituals have only been seen in other groups - the Children of the Scarlet King. The last time Myth had seen them was 300 years ago, a trail of terror in their wake. After extermination they were not seen, no sigh just non-existence. People wouldn’t speak their name out of a sense that it would bring them back.

But here they were, alive and well. Up and running, causing problems again. Perhaps they never truly left, watching everyone and biding their time. With a war on the horizon that will most certainly shove a brick up their asses. It’s now or never.

One more time behind the Veil before everything gets rooted when it drops. One more time to stop the Scarlet King from entering reality.

Goals:

Release the Scarlet King from his bindings and restart reality where they will rule.

Parent the Leviathans to adulthood to help on the mission.

Study the Erikesh Codex and other ancient texts for magic to enhance their blood and sex magic.

Story:

From ancient times, or a little under 500 years ago, they stood alone on a mission that people thought would cause the end of reality. Working around the Scarlet King’s concept that not only made them violent, but also to gain a form of madness. Like the Daevites before them they rule their churches with an iron fist. They would mutilate people with iron prongs and ritual sacrifice for the collection of human blood to be used in other rituals and projects.

Blood magic and sex magic was their bread and butter. Groups of blood thaumaturgists paled in comparison to what a single member of the Children of the Scarlet King could perform. They used their knowledge to create other living creatures of immense power and strength. Sometimes it would be made with breeding of creatures while other times they used homunculus study and skills to get something from almost pure nothingness. A trait that the GoIs of the time feared and hunted them down for.

They would nearly win time and time again except they fumbled right at the end as usual. It calmed GoIs’ nerves knowing they would not win no matter what they would not win. The cult was not ready to summon the Scarlet King. They needed understanding of their god and the curse thrusted upon him and time, lots of time. 

After an all out attack on the churches and temples, very few survived. Those few gathered together and swore to secrecy. They hide in dark spaces and read tomes of magic and ancient history of the Daevites even if they were all written by the ones that defeated the empire. Practiced their magic in secret growing stronger by the year.

After 400 years they came out of hiding, and by that I mean they became bold. With a war being whispered about they decided under the chaos they will try one last time before complete restructuring. The Scarlet King’s curse no longer affected them, allowing them to calm down. They were a softer and kinder group. It helped to obscure the new group from the hostile form the Children had taken from other GoIs and from the people who lived from back when they were more active.

With this change the Children used people as minimally as possible. Using animals, willing donors from the church, and transmuted iron into blood. They made up a spell that could cast things into an artificial womb made of blood. It has been used ever since but leaves an unmistakable land marker and bread crumbs. 

These are some of their stories-

Headcanons:

The most tame religion in the AU, they just happen to use blood magic

And I guess they are still weird with the sex and reproductive magic

The Scarlet King is actually an ancient Daevite god trapped and cursed by the Erikeshans (SCP - 2317 - K just happens to be different god trapped by the Erikeshans) 

The curse causes the Scarlet King to manifest a conceptual thought that makes people cause malice.

CotSK is immune from this effect because of things that they started in the past.

This past has left a sour taste to all the GoIs.

They are very skilled in altering spells to their use. Even if what they are gathering from is almost non-comprehensible.

Made the leviathans continue the Scarlet King’s blood-line, hoping that they would aid in the cause.

Seven is still an important number to them.

Usually uses a seven prong star in their magic circles. It is a high sign of their meddling. But people have been known to mimic this, despite the dangers of doing so, to get away with their spells. 

Murder dolphins were created before CotSK was immune to the Scarlet King’s effects.