#ghost bc lore

For the most part ghouls are typically sympathetic to finding abandoned kits and babies, though there are a couple of outliers both ends of the spectrum to which they will handle them.

Deep Ocean ghouls are the only tribe that will, without any hesitation, kill any foundlings on sight. As they are the tribe that are tasked with guarding and maintaining the prison of the Abominations, foundlings are not something that would show up on their metaphorical doorstep. In fact, the appearance of such would in all likeliness be a trap of some kind, a manifestation of the Abomination's desire to be released back into the world and devour any and everything in their path. As mere proximity to the prison warps and corrupts any non-ghoulish being, any and all intruders to this realm are killed without mercy. For even if the foundling wasn't an enemy or trap, Deep Ocean ghouls will not risk the safety of the world as a whole for one singular life.

North Wind air tribes are at the near-end of the spectrum where foundlings are either ignored and left to their fate or, should they be in a sympathetic mood, are given the mercy of a quick death. With their territory being quite desolate, resources are carefully guarded and accounted for, and the addition of another mouth to feed and care for could throw their calculations off. To potentially weaken their tribe to gamble on a foundling that might not even survive a season in the cold wastes and mountains is not a risk they would be willing to take. There are, however, outliers from this mindset, though those rarities are always solitary North Wind ghouls or ghoulettes.

Similar to the North Wind tribes is the Black Rock Sands tribe. Being a small tribe of a very specific Sun ghoul and East Wind ghoul crossbreed, they detest outsiders, foundlings or otherwise, in their territory. The only exception to this rule is when they come upon foundlings of the same mixed heritage, which they will take into their tribe without a second thought. There's much more that could be said on them, but that's for another post entirely, should anyone want to know about them.

At the exact opposite end of the spectrum are the Forest Tribes of earth ghouls. Any foundlings, no matter the tribe, age, or even if they're ghouls or not, are immediately taken in and are family. Forest Tribes, being the children of the spirit of the forests and fertility, Daphne, are the most nurturing of all the ghoul tribes. They are zealous in their belief that all life is sacred (though not to the exact extremes of the Healing Tribes of the aether) and will do whatever they can to try and give the foundlings a chance at being able to grow and be loved. Their attachment to foundlings, however, has led to some conflict when someone tries to take that foundling from them, either being from their same tribe or family that had been looking for them. To the Forest Tribes, foundlings are theirs and theirs alone. Finders keepers, so to speak.

Right behind the Forest Tribes are the Lake Tribes. They are very family-oriented ghouls, and knowing that they are not the strongest in terms of elemental power and physical strength (in comparison to other tribes and elements), know that for them there is safety in numbers. That, coupled with territory that has an abundance of resources, allows them to be able to gladly take in foundlings and even older ghouls that have no tribe (for varying reasons). Though, they are not so attached to them that they would not let the foundling stray from the tribe like Forest ghouls, and often encourage foundlings to seek out others from their own element to see if they would be interested in leaving them for their own kin. Whatever decision they make, Lake ghouls will respect their decision and let them know that they would always have a home with them to return to.

Within the middle spectrum are the remaining tribes:

Stone, Plains, Metal, and Crystal earth tribes

East, West, and South wind tribes

River, Swamp, and Salt Water/Ocean tribes

Sun, Volcano, and Ash tribes

Healing, Seer, and Traveler aether tribes

Read: post-communist Poland was beyond eager to placate the Catholic Church—because CC could always pull the martyr card, given how anti-religion the previous government had been. To say Catholicism was popular would be an understatement; it was considered patriotic, in a very... specific, frankly quite nationalistic way.

That is not to diminish the way the Catholic Church had, at least openly, disapproved of (and been subsequently hounded by) the communist regime—though likely not as strongly as they would want you to believe.

It must have felt natural for Poland's new government to honour the Church and let it get as involved in rebuilding the country as it pleased. We are talking parishes popping up all over the map because to many, it felt uplifting to participate in strengthening that "pillar" of national identity. The CC seemed to align itself with democracy and some sincere intent of "fixing" the country post-war and post-Soviets, and even during the regime, many people associated the Church with the democratic West.

[additional article on 20th century Poland Catholic churches' architectural and political leanings]

But, as you can all imagine, that only strenghtened the Catholic Church's peculiar position within the context of Polish politics—historically in general, but in this case specifically post-communism. They wriggled their dogma into the culture in a way that left little space for any other religion. As you can imagine, the consequences of that echo (or rather,,, screech) to this day.

That is just to paint a fairly simplified picture, so that you have the basic historical/cultural context for Kraków.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the Polish branch of the Satanic Church/Ghurch had been stitched from smaller, scattered groups, some likely dating as far back as pre-partitions. I can't imagine them being taken seriously under the communist regime—it was far too focused on hunting down Catholics and other "real" religious organisations, so they would have raised less suspicion by subtly leaning into devil-worshipping theatrics rather than highlighting the philosophical/intellectual side of luciferian faith (which could be perceived as challenging the enforced propaganda). So I think bp. Necropolitus Cracoviensis the 1st, Bielak OC's predecessor, would have had more freedom in how he'd have chosen to shape his congregation and lead the rites, as long as they stayed under the radar.

Now, bp. Necropolitus Cracoviensis II must have had a more difficult task to carry out.

Kraków has always been a beast of many contradictions: probably the most historically opulent city in Poland, the birthplace of philosophers and writers and artists (mostly good ones), theatre central, art academy central, used-to-be-the-home-of-kings central. The City (tm) for the longest time, to be fair. But also—unequivocally tied to the Catholic Church, forever and always. Majority of Karków's streets are named after Catholic saints. There’s like 4930201 cloisters and bigger and smaller churches and shrines scattered all over its map.

Stereotypically (but I don't think entirely unjustifiably), Kraków's academic and artistic circles have always been quite close-knit. Spaces of that kind thrum with rumours. There's a big likelihood that most people that knew the Bishop well enough were perfectly aware of his interest, ambitions and penchant for the occult (and I don't think he'd be one to try and hide them anyway). An occultist academic? Hardly the weirdest thing a Cracovian can be.

The issue would present itself when it came to the diocese itself—because, instead of letting it be as vibrant and ruthlessly unapologetic as he would have wished, in order for it to survive and not become a target for local Catholics... the Satanic diocese would have to stay subtle. Lay low.

In fact, I can picture the Ministry encouraging that restraint, dissuading Necropolitus from making any bold statements and decisions in its name, solely to preserve the Cracovian branch—possibly disguising it as some decadent, culture-and-occultism-focused discussion club, and not an actively recruiting religious organisation (ironically, that's not unlike the way many cults function anyway).

So the Bishop would be essentially forced to suppress his ambitions and come to terms with the fact that his vision for the Polish branch has to either

change shape to something softer and less daring

or wait for an undefined amount of time to bloom properly.

What if I told you that it was indeed the beginning, not of Ghost's lore, but of the actual dance macabre itself? Skipping the historical context, the "Dance of the Maccabees" is a biblical story where seven brothers (the Maccabees), condemned to death, disappeared one by one before dying in a certain rhythm that resembled a dance. Like every biblical story, it has been depicted and painted on various occasions, such as in Paris in the early 1400s, along the walls of the "Cemetery of the Innocents." Here we witness a transliteration from Latin to French that coined the word "macabre."

But why am I going on about this? First and foremost, it's because of the bloodline. Technically, Primo, Secondo, Terzo, and presumably even Copia himself are brothers. In the video, when Nihil becomes the pope, the words "the beginning" appear because that's the exact moment when the dance macabre begins, where we see the various brothers enter and exit the stage in a rhythmic manner (every 2 years). So, what does this have to do with yesterday's ritual?

Yesterday, while Copia was singing Twenties, skeletons came on stage and danced alongside the living (the audience) and the ghouls (other creatures from hell). This happened because, symbolically, the dance macabre spares no one. In Catholicism, when referring to Judgment Day, it is said that the dead come to take away the living, which is why artistic representations include people of all ages and social classes. At the end of the song, the skeletons left, only to come back again for Dance Macabre itself, where they lifted Copia, who completely surrendered to them, relaxed, without resistance.

This is, in fact, a "Momento Mori." A reminder of the impending death, the brevity of life. Copia doesn't fight the skeletons; he doesn't try to escape. He allows himself to be lifted. He accepts that he is dying, and indeed, during the ritual, he himself says, "This is the end of an era."

It's not the end of Ghost, but of the Impera. It has reached its end; death has already knocked on his door, as seen in the official lore videos.

However, I nod to those who wholeheartedly believed that Copia would become the Antichrist. While all the symbolism we've seen so far speaks of the imminent departure of Papa Emeritus IV, we are formal this time, as I mentioned earlier; this symbolism is used by Catholics not only to refer to death but also to Judgment Day.

The Day of Judgment, or the Apocalypse, is accompanied by the arrival of the Antichrist, signaling the imminent end of the world (in this case, the skeletons were dancing with the audience because they were there for them). For completeness, the coming of the Son of Satan, the Antichrist, accompanies the Parousia, which is the coming of the Son of God, Christ, in a battle between good and evil that, despite ending with Christ's triumph, leads to the end of the world.