#d218

*does a gay little gesture that pisses you off*

Notes

Thorn and Zavier are twins (technically) but they pretty much just met and hardly know each other. However, I believe that the Cain instinct has an instant affect.

They are both gay. Thorn might actually be gayer. Zavier is just worse.

FINAL GIRLS 🌙🎀👻

t@morgast asked me about the Cultists of the Nightworld!! SO. First of all - thank you for your interest! You are now subject to my ramblings <3

Who are the Cultists?

I called them this due to shorthand, honestly, as a Cultist is the closest parallel these freaks have to the real world, besides maybe parasits. They are known as the Creeds - and they are the villains of the third season of Nightworld. (Side note: Nightworld's story is currently divided into three seasons, as opposed to arcs/chapters/etc. because in the meta of my paracosm, I always picture it as like... a cartoon.)

What is the Creed?

The Creed is a hivemind that absorbs members by branding them. This brand acts as a link between the new members, and The Creed itself. It's unclear what this entity actually is, or where it originated from, but it seeks out useful or powerful beings to infect.

There is a hierarchy within The Creed, with Heads sitting at the highest level. This is because they are the easiest for The Creed to control, and very little of their original personalities remain. They are used to brand new members, adding them to the collective. These new recruits are called Hands. Perhaps Hands lose themselves over time, slowly becoming Heads with nothing but The Creed inside.

However, until then, Hands act very similarly to their original selves, oftentimes resenting The Creed and the mysterious and oftentimes malevolent tasks it gives them. If they resist, they will begin to feel excruciating pain emanating from their Brands until the comply again. The longer a Hand follows their Head, the less of their original selves remain, and the harder it is for them to resist orders.

With that out of the way, let's meet the Season 3 villains!

SIGHT

In order to exert Its control over Its many subjects, The Creed will give its main focus to each Head, to control only a few Hands. Sight is the Head of this group, known as the Senses.

Because of its status as a Head, its unclear who Sight ever was. What they were like, where they came from. It's all gone. It doesn't help that Sight is a creature without a mouth, incapable of communicating by any mean besides the telepathic link Heads have to their Hands.

Before Thorn met any of the other Senses - Listen, Scent, or even Touch - she began seeing Sight, looming in the backgrounds of the places she'd go. Silent. Watching. Hungry.

LISTEN

Listen seems to be the first Hand of Sight. There is little of an actual person left inside of Listen. He rarely speaks in understandable words anymore, despite being of a sapient, and incredibly verbose species - known as Whisperers. Whisperers are in fact known for their love of prose - many famous Whisperers being poets and philosophers. Listen isn't much more but a slobbering animal, now. Unless Sight beckons it to speak.

Listen was an excellent first choice for Sight, The Creed was wise to choose him. Whisperers aren't just gifted with literature and language - the vibrations in their throats when they talk give them the ability to command others, provided they can get close enough to the inner ear. This requires they put their mouths directly against the ear canal, and speak in the exact right tone, at a low murmur.

That's all Listen gets to use his voice for, anymore. Poetry and song is of no use to The Creed.

SCENT

Scent is the second most recent addition to Sight's command. As such, there is still some personhood to her. She oftentimes expresses concern for her comrades, especially the most recent Hands, and remorse over the actions she is forced to take. Of course, she no longer even thinks to resist her Head or The Creed, so there isn't much time left for her. Everyday, she becomes a little bit less. Everyday, a little more hollow. She isn't sure there is even enough of her left to be afraid of that fate, anymore. That's the scariest part of it. She's can feel her ability to think slowly slipping away.

TOUCH

Touch was given to The Creed by Sight only two weeks ago, and as such, he still has just the smallest bit his life before being Branded lingering - and he's been desperately holding onto it with all he has left. The last thing of his life he remembers is a Thorn. He's not sure how he knows her, but she's the only familiar thing he has left in this world. She isn't sure how he knows her either, as she has never seen Touch before in her life.

which one?? D:

But I'll go with Nightworld since I just posted that!

This is Thorn! She is a human! Or.... she used to be! She has the ability to travel between dimensions at will. Beings with this power are called Keys! Keys are unique, and fairly rare - most entities can only travel interdimensionally by way of vehicle capable of such jumps, or by getting clearance from the Universal Watch Committee, the mysterious organization who guards the sanctity of the dimensions from evil forces called Underlings.

Keys bypass this, they themselves being conduit for interdimensional travel. However, learning to master these abilities is difficult. Perhaps moreso than it necessarily has to be, due to the forces trying to regulate it.

Here's what Thorn looked like when she first entered the Nightworld!

Wow! Now that's what I call a Human Child! Those two people behind her are Jasper W. Strawfingers, and Azephaeus. Az is a peccamal - one of the indigenous lifeforms on the Nightworld. Though technically settlers like the rest of the sapient beings on this sunless planet, his kind are the first - and predate any other contact by almost a thousand years! His ancestors cultivated the planet, growing glowing plants to light the planet's surface, and mining for light producing stones and minerals, in order to grow crop and raise families. One thing that helped peccamals survive on the Nightworld is their ability to shapeshift - each peccamal has a unique, animalistic form that they can shift into and back at will!

THowever, a raid on Az's village - a treetop city called Equitrius - left Az extremely traumatized, and an injury sustained mid-shift caused him to be stuck halfway between forms permanently, rendering him disabled due to lack of use of his arms.

Az was the first person to find Thorn, when an accident led to her suddenly discovering her Key powers, getting transported instantly and against her will to the Nightworld. Az, fearing for the safety of this young girl, who was only fourteen at the time, took her in despite his financial and emotionally instability... until he can figure out how to help her get home, of course.

Along the way, they meet friends like Jasper and Boy! Boy being a unique, space faring being! Boy has no gender (like Thorn!) and can travel through dimensions (not like Thorn!) as instead of teleporting, they have to physically fly there. It can take a while....

Jasper is a boisterous, socially awkward young man. Very young. He is only three years old at the start of the series, given that he's a scarecrow that has been brought to life. For his "species," though, that's equivalent to mature adulthood. He sells hotdogs, can't read, and has many dark secrets.

Unfortunately, these secrets put Thorn and her friends, Jasper included, in grave danger. That secret is called Gabriel X. Gabriel is trying to find out how to rule the world - and Jasper used to work for him! Now, after Jasper ditched him due to his extreme bullying and cruelty, Gabriel works with the ominous Mr. Pigeontoe, and a boy named Zavier, who looks exactly like Thorn.

Thorn has to balance facing off this villainous trio, trying to master her abilities and find her way home, a social life, the potential end of the multiverse called Reckoning Day, and finding out who her strange lookalike is!

Here are the Thorn, Jasper, Az, and Zavier from their first appearances in arc 1, through to arc 3!

And that's just the premise of arc 1! Arc 2 focuses on Thorn adjusting to the Nightworld, and meeting another Key, who could be a potential teacher. But his secrets seem even darker than Jasper's.

Wretched Neon Sour Gummy Worm Beast

Cultists of Nightworld

Sight

Touch

Listen