I'm running an investigative-horror game with the Dark Heresy system, and because my players tended toward the door-kicking paladin with a flamethrower archetype in our previous dark fantasy campaign set in the aftermath of !notww2, I'm anticipating they'll be conflicting with plenty of eldritch cults and cultists. While I've got the general horror figured out, I'm a bit stumped for genuinely disturbing and frightening religious battle-cries, so I figured you guys might be willing to help. I've got a small list, tell me what you think.
> "Our lives unto CHAOS, blessed ruination!" > "We are dust unto Them, give all praise unto Them, give your All unto Them!" > "We die for a righteous cause, down with the false god on high!" > "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" > "Flagellate, for the hour is nigh!" > "KILL ME, I want to meet them I want to meet them I want to meet them!" > "One man's damnation is another man's paradise!"
> not having Slaaneshi cultists chanting "Snusnu for the Snusnu God!"
Oliver King
I always liked Oblivion's >I'm going to Paradise! Chilled me to the bone every time.
Jaxon Robinson
Literally just take whatever is spoopy IRL
>Allahu ackbar = The Gods are Great! *proceeds to rip head off a child in front of you*
>Deus vult = The Gods will it! *rapes a dog or some shit for a ritual*
Other than that, I always unironically liked >All I ever wanted was the Truth and >I feel the warp overtaking me! It is a good pain
Michael Garcia
Cursed mutants chasing after you while they beg for death always gets me
Jose Kelly
Total silence? Like there is no sounds at all they don't even breath....(Kind of same thing malice worshipers would do)
Wyatt Sanders
>"You SHALL be BLESSED by my hands or I WILL be BLESSED by yours!" >"SALVATION is within you! I WANT TO SEE!" >"Yours shall be the voice of our lord! SING FOR ME!" >"Mine is already theirs! GIVE ME YOURS!"
You need some that intentionally pervert familiar religious or political quotes. >Doubters! Touch the wounds and SEE! Later shortened to "Touch the wounds!" >Taste His blood! Take His flesh! >All dominion belongs to Them! Now and forevermore! Later shortened to "All dominion!" Or "Now and forevermore!" >We need nothing, for It guides us! becomes "It guides!" >Three days! Hehehehehehe, THREE DAYS! >You will only deny twice! >Behold! The Heart in the cradle of the Rose! becomes "The Heart and the Rose!" >We must secure a future for Them and Their divine children! >Exalt us! For we know what You do! >Now it is WE who strangle the WEEDS!
Also, take something specific from what the cultists believe, but stripped of context: >Brick by brick, His mortar shall be made real! >The Dreamtime is ending/beginning! >Motion made flesh! Violence clothed in skin! >All are stars! >THETAAAAANS! You get the idea.
Jacob Howard
>I see through all eyes. I hear through all ears. I speak from all mouths!
>A deadpan "Can you feel them, peeking out from your throat?"
Benjamin Collins
A lot of phyrexian flavor texts can help inspire you.
Charles Price
Have them shout "PRAISE TO [important name in party character's backstory]"
Jaxson Rodriguez
These all sound kinda lame, sorry. Is English your first language?
Charles King
>ABANDON YOUR FOOLISH QUEST. ALL THAT AWAITS YOU IS THE WRATH OF MY MASTER! >IN THE MASTERS NAME I DRINK THE BLOOD! >RETURN TO THE CHAOS WHERE PLANETS ARE BORN! >YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT! YOU SHALL BECOME PALTRY OFFAL AS WILL YOUR FRIENDS! >SUBMIT TO AN HONORABLE DEATH (expletive) >NOW! YOU WILL JOIN THE OTHERS!! >YOU ARE EXCREMENT >FLESH! BLOOD! FIRE! STARS! >O' POWERFUL ONE! O' LORD SUPREME! I HAIL THEE! >A BLACK AEON SHALL CLEANSE! >FROM THE ASHES OF A DYING SUN! RIVERS OF BLOOD SHALL RUN FROM THE SKY!
Gavin Ortiz
> "LEEEDLE LEEEEEDLE LEEEEEDLE LEEE!"
Lincoln Jackson
>As my master wills, you shall come to him, in his flesh, and of his flesh.
Austin Ortiz
We have nothing to lose but our chains
John Kelly
>ALL IS CHAOS. CHAOS IS ALL. ALL IS CHAOS. CHAOS IS ALL. "Chaos is all" means that the cultists are fully dedicated to Chaos -- Chaos is all that matters to them. "All is chaos," means that Chaos is inescapable, and that order and meaning itself is an illusion. Play up some nihilistic/dark absurdist themes.
Austin Brown
Ripped this straight from some Dark Heresy sourcebook ....
>"Your god is dead. Faith is a lie. Hell awaits us all. Let the stars bleed!” (maybe best delivered rather calmly by some cult leader just before the big fight starts)
Also, some of mine ....
>"I am the knife that cuts the veil for all to see the truth beyond" (could be chanted repeatedly)
>"COME AND SEE!!" (while frantically trying to stab you in the eyes with a ritual dagger)
Michael Campbell
>IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES IT GOES
Brayden Cruz
guillotine?
Julian Sullivan
Just popped in to check out this thread.
Fucking awesome
Zachary Edwards
There's some good ones in here. In my experience calm, serene zealotry is more frightening then any raving. It's easy to dismiss the most chilling of lunatic screaming as "oh, they're just insane" but another for a man to calmly tell you that living or dead all things will serve
Chase Rogers
>*good-natured chuckle* >"such a grand, intoxicating innocence..."
Zachary Green
Darkseid is great for this. >he is the tiger force behind all creation, and when you cry it in your dreams, it is Darkseid that you see >he is the rock and the chain and the lightning >the conquest of universes unknown and unknowable >everything I have, everything I am is stripped away by this black brew >only one program shows the world as it truly is - how all things, no matter how strong, always turn to evil in the end. It is glory. It is The Wire >I have traveled the length and breadth of the universe. I have seen many things, all of which, in time, will be Darkseid’s. I have neither seen nor heard of “Starways” >the fifth world of Darkseid has begun! The night of anguish that lasts forever >I am the new God. All is one in Darkseid. This mighty body is my church. When I command your surrender, it is with three billion voices! When I make a fist to crush your resistance, it is with three billion hands! When I stare into your eyes and shatter your dreams and break your heart, it is with six billion eyes! Nothing like Darkseid has ever come among you; nothing will again. I will take you to a hell without exit or end, and there I will murder your souls and make you crawl and beg and die! Die for Darkseid! >Darkseid is
Get away! I don't want to die! Please, don't make me kill again! It's in my flesh, beneath my skin. Behind my eyes it watches. I can't stop. I need to kill you. Then it will let me rest. The pain. It wants me to share it with you. Please take it away,
Parker Lewis
BECOME. AS. GODS.
Hudson James
"Empty is my hand."
Justin Bailey
KILL ME KILL MEEEEEEEE KILL ME i just want to be free
Aiden Barnes
Considering what everyone has written, I suggest the cultists chant "[number] times!" repeatedly. The meaning for this could vary: >How many times they've gone through a ritual >How many times they've approached the acolytes while in disguise >Number they've been killed by the acolytes in alternate timelines >Number of times their hero was wounded Variations of delivery: >SEVEN TIMES >SIX CYCLES >FIVE ITERATIONS >FOUR REHEARSALS >THREE NIGHTS >TWO DAYS >ZERO HOURS
James Long
throwing these out here: >FALSE HEROES >YOU LEFT ME TO DIE >SKINBAGSKINBAGSKINBAG... >HAMMER THE BONES, STRIP THE FLESH, CURE THE SKIN >I HAVE TO DO THIS >STOP LOOKING LIKE THAT
Lincoln Gonzalez
>Take the knot!
Jordan Barnes
I find that cycles can be a particularly unnerving concept for players to consider when dealing with cults. The idea that everything they're doing is either part of the plan or has happened before.
>"The cycle continues on!" >"You've killed us before, you'll kill us again, but you'll always die in the end!" >"I have been reborn, and I shall return again!"
Leo Davis
If your goal's to make something actually unsettling, you're going to want to avoid the well established scary-evil-apocalypse-yelling style that people are used to by now. >blood >ash >dust >hell >end >fire >ruin etc, are all going to turn into white noise pretty fast.
Your goal should be to either confuse or creep the shit out of your players because either is going to be more disturbing than someone yelling about generic bad things happening. Bonus points if you can make it very directly addressing the player/players instead of being broad.
Because I sure as shit know that I'm more upset by someone screaming >LET US INSIDE while clawing at me than more generally yelling about things being bad. Dip into that gieger/alien well and appeal to things that people are actually unsettled by without blatantly saying them.
Alternatively, use the speaker/yeller's attitude to make things confusingly disturbing like points out. Nothing gets people scared and angry like being really happy and excited while telling them that the horrifying thing you're doing is a good thing.
