Apr 23, 2020 11:47.Tylana May 5, 2011PillbugWell, followers used to die the moment anything bad happened to them. So summoned creatures were more relevant then. I use them on expeditions just to feel more efficent and less fiddly these days.They did get a couple of new aspects in the patch before last but mostly super niche.Also wow. Some stuff gets kinda deep.

Thanks for poking at location links. And also screenshotting the dreaming text. I keep just going Yoink. Because I'm a dummy.Jun 10, 2019 12:48.Glagha Oct 13, 2008. Some stuff gets kinda deep. Thanks for poking at location links. And also screenshotting the dreaming text.

Cultist Simulator is a Simulation Game from Weather Factory, a studio founded by Alexis Kennedy, formerly of Failbetter Games. The initial release was as a browser-based pre-alpha, which was later expanded on.The game focuses on assembling a secret cult, delving into forbidden mysteries, and ultimately achieving some goal involving the Hours, eldritch entities that dwell in the Mansus.

I keep just going Yoink. Because I'm a dummy.Seriously. I'm enjoying this LP so much despite having won the game itself twice, because I'm actually reading the text and thinking about how it all ties together, with the aid of a very ably written narrative to point out the links/hints. Thanks to the last update I'm going to dive blind into the ARG tonight, and also make a push to finish up my current 'new game plus' game.What I'm saying is, thanks Reveilled for bringing the Cultist Simulator world to life in a way the game itself didn't quite manage for me.

I hope after this run you do at least a couple more playthroughs following different characters/paths within the same narrative setting.Jun 10, 2019 13:02.Fat Samurai Feb 16, 2011. Getting through the Stag Door can be heavily dependent on luck, because you need a tier 3 (grade 6, each tier is two grades) Lore of a randomly chosen aspect to answer Ghirbi's Riddle, and it's not always immediately obvious which one he's asking for - although like with most riddles, when you do know the answer it's almost obvious.

For instance, one of the books on Secret Histories you're likely to find is titled 'The Queens Of The Rivers' and one of the books that results in a tier 3 SH fragment talks about the queen who was not born and a war that was not fought. The other riddles are similar; if you don't want spoilers I recommend looking at the titles and the descriptive text of each lore fragment as you find them, the right one will have a reference that sounds similar to Ghirbi's riddle.And then some riddles are just sort of painfully obvious, like the Knock riddle.Jun 10, 2019 14:12.Buller Nov 6, 2010. This is a fun lp but where are the ritual sacrifices i was promisedI have a feeling some sacrificing is going to be coming up soon.Jun 10, 2019 15:34.Tenebrais Sep 2, 2011We'll get there. Can't make an omelette without mercilessly crushing a few dozen eggs under your boot.Speaking of crushing underfoot, the deal with leaves on rail lines is that when pressed under intense weight (like a locomotive) they compress into oils and literally grease the rails. Trains have low traction to begin with, and getting grease all over the rails and wheels can be lethal.Jun 10, 2019 15:59.kaosdrachen Aug 15, 2011Summons are still useful for certain tasks.For one, the better summons tend to have a value of 8-10 in two separate aspects, whereas your cultists will by and large be limited to 5 in one and /maybe/ 2 in a second if you invest in gifts and/or play risky with injuries, with the exception of followers of your cult's aspect, which can get to 10 with a lot of effort. And while that's arguably not /too/ important for late game expeditions where you can just send absolutely everyone and crack it with force of numbers, some tasks need to be done solo.For instance, the configuration shown as an example there - some Knock for a summoning, 6 Winter to call her name and 2 edge to match her cruelty - summons the Maid-in-the-Mirror, a 10 winter 10 edge creature that's all but guaranteed to kill any investigator that isn't mystically protected. She'll also decay into a Winter influence which you can use with Forge and Knock to summon something that's /really/ good at making evidence disappear.EDIT:For another, in mid-game summons can be used to fill out the holes in your expeditions if you have lore but lack followers of a given aspect.

With Neville at 5 Knock, you can summon pretty much anything in relative safety as long as you have the right ingredients to hand. For instance, the Heart 6 Lore already mentions you can use it to call the Percussigant, which with 8 Heart and 8 Edge is guaranteed to be the life of the party, and if I recall the current lineup correctly you don't have any good Heart cultists yet (and you don't find many Heart hirelings for some reason).And, of course, in late game one of the best uses for summons is getting rid of excess Dread or Fascination. Two of the existing Rites (well, three, but nobody uses the third more than once) consume Influence as part of their process, and Dread and Fascination provided 2 Edge and 2 Moth respectively - so yes, with the right Rite you can summon monsters from your own nightmares and hallucinations.kaosdrachen fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Jun 10, 2019Jun 10, 2019 16:00.Glagha Oct 13, 2008. What I'm saying is, thanks Reveilled for bringing the Cultist Simulator world to life in a way the game itself didn't quite manage for me. I hope after this run you do at least a couple more playthroughs following different characters/paths within the same narrative setting.I think we'll definitely see at least one more playthrough, probably of the Apostle legacy (unless something goes horribly wrong for Kate), and I like the idea of telling Lydia's story.

I'll have a think about how to do that.Jun 10, 2019 16:36.Reveilled Apr 19, 2007. Take up your riflesPage???Dear Diary,Last night, I passed the Stag Door again, as I have done for many nights now. The door and I exchanged our usual 'pleasantries'.

My intent had been to visit the Painted River, which has been a consistent font of clues for our expeditions here abroad.But last night, I was drawn elsewhere. A cloaked figure walked the other way. Their breath curdled to frost as they passed, and I felt compelled to follow. We wound our way up the path, inexorably towards the Ascent of Knives. As we neared the bladed path, it sensed my presence and turned in my direction. Once more my lungs filled with glass, as from beneath the cloak Lydia's face stared back.

She looked so sad, sadder than any face I've ever seen, heavy with despair, sunken with regret. She walked toward me, and I steeled myself against an urge to flee.

She had passed the white door, of course, where no speech can pass, but she mouthed words silently as she drew close. I am no lip reader, but I think I caught the words 'papa' and 'sorry', over and over again.She grabbed me in a tight embrace, and the chill of her body nearly shook me awake. She was cold, colder than an arctic sea, but I forced myself to return the hug, despite the shivers. As I wrapped my arms around her, I could swear that deep inside there was a little fire's spark still in her heart, caged by icy knives.

All that remained of her soul.After a moment of silent sobs, I let go, but Lydia held on for a few moments longer. When she finally let me go, we looked again at each other, and I think now she recognised me for who I was. She smiled through tears, and then turned away. Finally, she shed her cloak, and naked began to climb the Ascent of Knives.The blades pierced her hands and feet, and I closed my eyes.

I couldn't bear to look. I chided myself; adepts of the Lantern should have no compassion, but it seemed when we hugged she had stolen the very ice from my heart, and as my vision began to blur I realised I too must be weeping.I bent down to examine her cloak, and therein found a sheaf of letters. When did you write these, Lydia? Before the White Door? Before your death?Then, I awoke, but somehow the letters came with me.Interlude: LydiaThe First letter was unlike anything I remember of Lydia. When she came to me, she was caught in a deep despair, obsessed with her father's death, and what she saw as her own failure to live up to his memory. The only time she ever came to was to ramble on about the Mansus in cryptic, non-grammatical sentences.

But this is very different. I don't see how she could have possibly written it while I knew her. But equally, how could she have written it after she died?Dear Dr Ravenhurst,I want to thank you for taking me on as a patient. I know I had only occasional moments of lucidity when I arrived, but when we met.I don't think there was much of me left. I couldn't really explain to you what happend, whenever I tried, it must simply have sounded like madness. I don't even really remember the ritual, to explain it.

But if you follow me, I want to warn you about her.I didn't used to be like this. My Papa was no great man of state, but he had a name and a title, and I was a fortunate child.Life was.kind, back then.

I had little reason to care about anything much at all. I wasted all my days going to parties, took in shows, took in drinks. I had a society column in one of the papers.I went to places I shouldn't have gone, got away with things I shouldn't have done. A charmed life.And so it was, forever, or it felt like it.

Papa's health was deteriorating, but it was that slow, slow decline that creeps up on you. I could have spent more time with him. I should have spent more time with him. But I didn't.

'Not today,' I'd say to myself, 'Papa will still be there tomorrow'.And then, one tomorrow, he wasn't.Perhaps if you have lost your parents you'll know how I felt. The guilt of all those years of disinterest came crashing down like a weight upon me.

Nothing I didn't deserve, of course. I once read somewhere that despair is the wolf that devours thought. I would say that was certainly true of me.I was there when the will was read. Money was never my strong suit, but even I grasped that my father was severely in debt. Even the house would have to be sold to service it, and I received only the funds left over.The only other thing I got to keep was his diary.That's when the dreams began. In the dream, I sat in a dark forest. It was daytime, but the light didn't leak through the trees properly.

From a small clearing, I looked up into a cold, dead, Sun, hanging in the sky like a cracked ruby.It was some time before I summoned the courage to read Papa's diary. I had looked at the first few pages shortly after his death, but I assumed 'Sarah' was a mistress, and I couldn't bear the thought that my Papa wasn't perfect. But as the dreams came relentlessly and I failed to drown them in drink, I broke down one night and read it through.And that's what led me to her. My Papa's murderer.My murderer.If you ever meet her, Dr Ravenhurst.run.- Lydia-I've ordered the letters chonologically in terms of the described events, but I believe this second letter might have been written before the first. It seems much more in the style of Lydia's speech at the institute during her times of despair: coherent in meaning, but endlessly apologetic to her father.Dear Papa,I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry for everything. I messed up so bad.After you were gone, I didn't know what to do. I had some terrible nightmares, dreams I couldn't get out of my head. Poppy told me you had the same dreams. You never told me about them, you never showed how hard it was.

Maybe I didn't pay enough attention, maybe you were stronger than me.Then she came, said such sweet things about you. I knew, I knew deep down, you'd not want me anywhere near her, but the things she said, the things she knew, they were so tempting. She made me an offer, but I think some part of you remained to help me say no.When I left her home, I wandered the streets of London in tears. I missed you so dearly, and now I had nothing to remember you. No rings, no photographs, just a piece of stone in a church. That's when I found the bookshop.The first time, I bought a book just to take my mind off things.

Some work of poetry I thought would dispel the melancholy, but it didn't work.I went back a few times, bought a few books, read them. I was never much one for reading Papa, but you were, and I thought it might bring me closer to you.Maybe if I had paid more attention, things might not have gone like they did, but eventually I got the notion that maybe the best way to remember you might be to have a library. Not your books, but at least, if I bought them with the money you left, I'd have something of you to myself.So I bought book after book. More than I could possibly read. But the collection grew, and I felt myself be closer to your spirit. You always told me to read more, and I thought this might make you proud.I know that was vain of me Papa. You wouldn't be proud, I didn't even read the books, it was an addiction no different than the drink or the drugs.Eventually, I bought every book in that shop.And eventually, the money ran out.I didn't know what to do.

I should have, you tried to raise me better than this. But I never cared to do much of anything. What sort of work could I do for a living?That's when she came back. She was sweetness still, but I heard the unspoken threat, she knew my troubles. Sell my body, or sell my soul? I'm so sorry Papa, I think I made the same choice you did.That's when I decided to find out what happened to you. What were you so interested in?

I began reading the books I bought.Book after book, I read and I read. I learned more about the world you inhabited, the people who moved it, the world of dreams, the House Without Walls.I know you took those secrets to your grave.

We ended up in debt because nobody would believe you. You made a deal with her to get the funds you needed.That's when I understood what you'd left behind. It was my responsibility as your daughter to pick up where you left off. I'd find the truth, drag it out into the light for everyone to see.From time to time, I considered confiding in others. I knew other people had similar interests, and in the back of my mind, I knew that eventually, I'd need help. But not yet, not yet. I needed proof of what was really going on, not just rumors and gossip, before I could share what I'd learned.

It always felt like there was still time.And so I read, and read and read and read. The world fell away, and there was only the books and me. I thought I was learning, but I was proving I had learned nothing. I could have told others, someone would have listened. 'Not today,' I said, 'I can do that tomorrow'.That's when she came back to remind me of the promise.I'm so sorry I let you down. I hope you can forgive me Papa.-The third letter is.it's a copy of the letter I dictated on her deathbed.

It's in my handwriting. I've double checked, I still have the one I wrote. The only difference I can see is that this version seems to be written in blood.Dear Papa,I left it too long.

I left it too, Long. I thought I could do this alone for now. I knew I'd need support, but the secrets were too important to share. I'd share them, someday, like those who shared their secrets with me. It was going so well. Except Poppy.

I made a promise to Poppy, that helped a lot. But now it's time, and I have no friends to keep the promise in my stead.I could run as the Vagabond does, but I can't yet go where she does. Nowhere would be dark enough to hide from her sight, but I can't get to Nowhere.No, I made a promise. I have no choice but to keep it.Oh Papa, I miss you, but I think I'm leaving, too. Will I see you in the House without Walls?Reveilled fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Jun 11, 2019Jun 11, 2019 22:43.Reveilled Apr 19, 2007. Take up your riflesWhat Happened to Lydia?This isn't really a mechanics update so much as an Excuse Update.

I've replicated what went wrong when I was Lydia, before We were Kate.Poppy Lascelles is one of the game's patrons. Like Dr al-Adim and Madame Bechet, she offers commissions.eventually.First what she does is offer you a substatial sum of money for 'free'. All you have to do is say yes.This begins Poppy's timer. It lasts 5 minutes. When it finishes, it either resets, or begins the Season of Rags. Every time I've taken Poppy's deal, it has reset once, for a total of 10 minutes on the timer.

That might just be a coincidence though!Once the Season starts, you have 60 seconds to provide one of your followers as a sacrifice to the Sun-in-Rags for Poppy. And if you don't, you die.So why didn't Lydia have anyone?At the time, I was trying to set up a sort of 'Advanced Start' save I could back up to let me skip the early game in future playthroughs. Buy all the books in Morlands' study them all for the low level lores. Meet all the followers and patrons, but don't start a cult so you can pick one when you want to play the advanced start again.

The problem with that, of course, is that if you don't have a cult, you have acquaintances, not followers.And in true 'occult researcher makes a bargain they don't fully understand' fashion, I accepted Poppy's request in that playthrough without checking if the season of rags accepts acquaintances.Well, it doesn't. Followers only, no summons, no patrons, no acquantances. Honestly, I'm the one who should be sorry.Thus perished Lydia, who lost her soul to the the Sun-in-Rags. What will become of her, at the Ascent of Knives? A story for another time.Jun 11, 2019 22:44.Tenebrais Sep 2, 2011Huh, I wonder why it specifically forbids patrons? Can a patron also be a follower?Each of the patrons requests commissions on particular aspects - Ibn Al-Adim asks for Lantern and Secret Histories, Mme Bechet asks for Forge, Moth and Grail, and Poppy asks for Winter and Knock.

She has a peculiar interest in endings and openings. Maybe she's messing with that one ritual you shouldn't do.

Not the one the Sun-in-Splendour and the Thunderskin lost so much to avoid; the much more mundane one.Jun 11, 2019 23:16.Reveilled Apr 19, 2007. Huh, I wonder why it specifically forbids patrons? Can a patron also be a follower?Each of the patrons requests commissions on particular aspects - Ibn Al-Adim asks for Lantern and Secret Histories, Mme Bechet asks for Forge, Moth and Grail, and Poppy asks for Winter and Knock. She has a peculiar interest in endings and openings. Maybe she's messing with that one ritual you shouldn't do. Not the one the Sun-in-Splendour and the Thunderskin lost so much to avoid; the much more mundane one.Knock and Winter have.

Strange interactions.An ending cannot be postponed. Not indefinitely.But what is death but a doorway?

The Colonel may open the passage, but it was Our Mother who stepped through, and through her all Ways are opened.(one of the touches of the Cultist Simulator mythos I quite like: christianity exists. It's just that various secret societies have them some loving Opinions about what, exactly, the priests are trying to hide.

Clifton will speak to you of Glory. Its more sedate seekers will speak to you of the Grail. And some very curious fellows indeed will speak to you about the wound in the side of a sacrifice, and the paths opened thereby.)Jun 12, 2019 01:34.Robindaybird Aug 21, 2007. Does the lore ever go out and say why immortals having children is such a big sin?

Or does it just repeat Crime of the Sky a lot?It does bring it up somewhere, but I forget where. Putting this behind spoiler tags just to be safe: If two Long have a child, they are possessed of an almost insatiable urge to devour the child.

Of course, almost insatiable means that it can be avoided, and those that aren't devoured are immortal in their own right: alukites. We may have already met an alukite, by the by.Materant fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Jun 12, 2019Jun 12, 2019 14:42.RickVoid Oct 21, 2010Does this mean Kate is the 'someone else who will end matters properly'?I can't loving wait.Jun 12, 2019 17:27.SpruceZeus Aug 13, 2011'someone who will end matters properly' in this context is just a very nice way of saying 'a human sacrifice'Jun 12, 2019 17:48.Inexplicable Humblebrag Sep 20, 2003. It does bring it up somewhere, but I forget where. Putting this behind spoiler tags just to be safe: If two Long have a child, they are possessed of an almost insatiable urge to devour the child.

Of course, almost insatiable means that it can be avoided, and those that aren't devoured are immortal in their own right: alukites. We may have already met an alukite, by the by.mandatory gay cult communismJun 12, 2019 18:03.Tenebrais Sep 2, 2011Cool lore stuff aside, it never sat well with me the way the Crime of the Heavens is consistently described as a consequence of man lying with woman. Given Alexis' previous work let you describe your gender as 'excuse me? There are men walking around with squids for /ifaces/i and you are worried about my gender? To you, sir, I say good day!' It's a bit disappointing to see gender actually be key to an aspect of life in the Mansus, even when concerning women whose cup size is half a pint.Jun 12, 2019 21:12.Tylana May 5, 2011PillbugIt is unfortunate, but mostly a result of real world occultism making kind of big deal about sex, reproduction and gender.

It does seem more likely to do with biological sex than gender, as I understand the terms. And as far as those. Apply to the Hours.On a more positive note Alexis talk about intentionally looking up examples of cults or sects (within Christianity I think?) that would have female priests for the Priest legacy.

And I think a couple of the books reference groups that let those born as one act as the other. Sisterhood of the Knot maybe?

Sorry that all this is vague, don't have an easy time to doublecheck it.Jun 12, 2019 21:52.Reveilled Apr 19, 2007. Mansus History Lesson:So the Sun-In-Spendour used to be one of the original big Hours, the Gods-From-Light, descended directly from The Glory alongside The Forge-of-Days and others. But the SiS loved The Forge of Days. It was prophesied that the FoD would kill/divide the SiS within her(FoD's) workshop, presumably to avoid the Crime of the Sky, and so it came to pass.

This act was called The Intercalcate and it produced four new Hours from the division: The Meniscate, The Sun-In-Rags, and the Madrugad were Names of the SiS that ascended, and The Wolf Divided came into being as a God-From-Blood representing the wound/sacrifice of the division itself.The corpse of the SiS then fell to Nowhere, wherein it became the breeding-ground for Worms.Jun 12, 2019 23:02.Tylana May 5, 2011Pillbug. Oh I know, but the Thunderskin risked it with the Ring-Yew too and got flayed for his trouble.The Thunderskin was a follower of the Grail at that point, rather than an Hour in their own right. Them being flayed was a cost of the peace treaty between the up-and-coming riff-raff of the Gods-From-Blood and the last of the prehistoric (and possibly preHistoric?) Gods-From-Stone, specifically because they were precious to both Grail (as a follower) and Ring-Yew (as a lover). However, after they were flayed and ejected from the Mansus they somehow dragged themselves back in via the Peacock Door and ascended as the Beat Unceasing.It's suspected that the Grail somehow orchestrated (heh) this in order to set up a Grail-aligned rival claimant to Heart, which was previously dominated by the Twins.That the Horned-Axe was able to resist the interlopers where the other Gods-From-Stone couldn't is really interesting to me.

I've seen some theorize that it's because poor Ghirbi was supposed to take its place, and when he got decapitated that was the end of it. This seems a bit too simplistic to me, and instead I believe that it's to do with Horned-Axe adapting to changing circumstance rather than remaining static, which is what made the other Gods-From-Stone vulnerable.

Horned-Axe (I believe) was once a single-aspected Hour of Edge, or some precursor to Edge, but surrendered that realm to the Colonel and found a new place for itself as the Guardian of Thresholds. This might be why Ghirbi, one of the instigators of this transformation, guards the Stag Door to this day.Old gods do new jobs. Those who cannot evolve will be replaced.Jun 13, 2019 04:10.placid saviour Apr 6, 2009So at what point will I get any of this you guys?Jun 13, 2019 22:38.AdbotADBOT LOVES YOU. So at what point will I get any of this you guys?It's incredible how much talking about this game's lore makes you sound like an actual insane occultist, isn't it?Everything we've just discussed is described or hinted at in the books that you read throughout the game. They get increasingly explicit as you get to higher levels, but you need to piece together the events yourself. Come back to these pages once Reveilled has shown off some higher-level Heart or maybe Forge or Winter books and a lot of this will be much clearer.Jun 13, 2019 22:51.

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