Literally how do people get sucked into evil cults? IRL cults just reflavor existing religions and pretend like they're actually the right option. In a fantasy setting how the fuck do you entice someone to join "Morghol the Devourer's Dark Circle of the Damned"?
>hello medieval fantasy peasant, would you care to join our organization?
>what do we do? we gather every week at night to pray to evil gods and sacrifice an innocent victim
>what do you get? depends, some of us get mutilated, some of us go insane and see and hear things, some of us become sacrifices for the evil gods themselves
>after death? that depends, if you get killed before we summon our god into the world, you'll be judged by the other gods as an evildoer and punished for eternity, if we succeed and manage to summon our god, we'll be slaves and/or tributes for the dark one
>so, will we be seeing you next week?

* Driven mad by cult influence
* Brought up in cult surroundings, indoctrination
* Option B is getting sacrificed today
* False promises of power, possibly linked to madness (pleasure/pain swap, sees fellow cult members and self as paragons of beauty not flesh blobs)
* Ascetic worldview (suffer here, glory in the next world only)
* Nihilism (nothing matters, I could be anything so I became worse)
* Inevitable victory anticipated (the threat of the Good gods is meaningless, Morghol will definitely prevail so back the right team)
* Worldly hatreds (who cares what we've unleashed, those bastards from Villageton have stuck their noses up at Thorpewick for the last time)

>>96052942 (OP)
Just like spiritual parasites are a plague despite their huge long-term costs and consequences. Want a drone? It'll make you a badass, shut people up with a glare, make chicks put out, and help you elbow through your corporate career to the top, all the other faggots who won't look out for number one will pay for it :^) termsandconditionsapplynovarrantyexplicitorimplied]

>>96052942 (OP)
This has already been asked before and the answer is "sex".
There's a reason cults always send their best looking people to rope new initiates in.

>>96052942 (OP)
>"hey ecthelion if you REALLY want revenge on the HOA i know some guys"

There is magic in play. Usually cults are lead by powerful figures capable of sorcery/magic etc.

>>96052964
>Villageton
>Thorpewick

>>96052942 (OP)
Unironically in 40k the temptation is freedom and the potential of power if you do the gods will. The setting is an absolute shithole for the average human, even the hint of getting some kind of power to be able to rise above your situation is an understandable temptation considering what an absolute shithole the imperium is.

you probably should read Tome of Corruption from warhammer 2e, there's many good examples how people are enlisted in these kinds of cults
for example nurglian cultists are forced to it by environment, if you carry a chronic disease such as leprosy, you are rejected from society, and your only companions are others sick
nurglists are seeking for those kind of people, and then converting them, starting for example by helping them, offering shelter and "medicines", and then slowly introducing ppl into their cult
When you got your first mutation, you are good as dead, and cult will be your last resort

In many setting, gods may be silent, while a demonic cult can give you anything you desire really quick. You can compare it to a short-term pleasantry such as drugs. It's starts easy, offering you a really good feelings, but in long-term it brings you only pain and addiction. Wrath of the Righteous describes it in good way I think.
People in irl cults are slowly initiated to it, like a metaphoric boiled frog. You can't become fanatic in one day, but instead, you have to be brainwashed.
Revenge is additional point. Your evil-demonic-diabolic-infernal-satan-god may haunt you. People from your surrounding may abandon you if you reject your cult. It's also not easy to reject cult, while you were entire life in it.

>>96052976
That or money or revenge
African black magic is a good reference for IRL evil cult activity

They hide the evil aspects until you're committed, either spiritually of financially
Maybe they asked you to give up your child so that they could be initiated into the cult and then later on you learned that they were actually eaten by a demon they worship and he wants to give you power now
For those who aren't committed it's just fear

>>96052976
Sex is only one answer.
Other ways are to take advantage of people who are blinded by other emotions, such as those who are grieving, or raging, or in any way hopeless or desperate.

Mankor Cameron promised a paradise

Cults are one of my fav tropes in fantasy

>>96052942 (OP)
-Rewards (power, riches, salvation, etc) in this world or in another.
-"They are like me, they are my family"
-Fear/ignorance to something
-"I hate this guy"

OP, I'll sum it up the same way a friend helpfully summed up this complex issue.

Everyone secretly wants to be an immortal sex god.

That is the true, default, goal of all humans. Everything is a path to this goal. Moralists just think that is their path to it instead of something else. The only kind of person who doesn't think in this way are those adopted by Christ. As they have desires alien to them placed there by God. Maybe everyone would phrase it differently than 'immortal sex god', but splitting hairs on phrasing is the best they got. As such, consider all a cult has to do is convince you that their way will make you an immortal sex god. If they can do that, you'll go with them eagerly.

People will do ANYTHING if they are convinced it gets them what they want. Who cares if you have to sacrifice a few hundred thousand crippled orphan children. You'll be SO AMAZING that you simply... escape your crimes! It's that simple. Who can stop an immortal sex god from making the rules? No one!

>>96052942 (OP)
Because traditional games?

>>96053041
Cults are great in that they're the most versatile kind of adversary. It doesn't matter what setting, historical period, magic or science level your game is. You can just plop a mysterious cult in there without any issues. It doesn't even matter if the thing they worship actually exists or has any powers, it still works.

>>96052942 (OP)
Some people are just evil

>>96052976
This, it's how I got into morris dancing

>>96053176
I was just about to bring up Snowtown murders in Australia, where one psychopath was able to lure multiple regular people into being his serial killing accomplices with relatively little effort. There was not even any cult business going on there (like not in murder of Sylvia Likens either), people just went along with torturing, killing and mutilating people on whims of their ringleader friend with thinly veiled "I got a feeling/I heard he is a nonce or such so it is OK to sadistically murder him and then rob his money" type of justifications.
A lot of people just go along with most fucked up things if they feel like someone else is in charge and thus the one actually responsible, world is an easy playground for psychopaths.

>>96052942 (OP)
>what do we do? we gather every week at night to pray to evil gods and sacrifice an innocent victim
Literally no cult ever starts out like that towards new members. Are you stupid?

>>96052942 (OP)
ALLAH AKBAR

>>96052942 (OP)
the promise of having sex with cat girls.
https://files.catbox.moe/cuuus9.jpg
https://files.catbox.moe/j9j943.jpg
https://files.catbox.moe/6nb6ip.jpg
https://files.catbox.moe/gly0tp.jpg
https://files.catbox.moe/jlfsgc.jpg

>>96052987
Thulsa Doom in this movie is not an example of that though. They very cleverly made his Serpent Cult feel very grounded and reminiscent of Heaven's Gate and other cults from the previous decades.

>>96052942 (OP)
>IRL cults just reflavor existing religions and pretend like they're actually the right option
Your issue is that your thinking is based on a flawed premise. Ancient cults were just sub-groups of existing religions, but more modern cults are often entirely different belief systems. They gain worshippers by exploiting the naive and vulnerable, giving them a false sense of meaning and purpose that they might be lacking, providing a community they could be looking for, and use psychological warfare to either keep followers within the group or ruin the lives of those that happen to escape. It's a slow and gradual build-up from being a "normal" person to being a member of the inner circles of a cult, and those steps are often carefully planned so as not to be noticed by the victim as being outlandish or deviant.

>>96053369
This, love bombing and cajoling people into cutting off external contact is Culting 101. The whole thing is "boiling frog" applied to one's perception of reality.
>>96053051
Except most cultist's don't think THEY'RE the immortal sex god much as any Christian's aspiration towards Grace doesn't mean they think of themselves as equal (let alone superior) to Christ. It's just another way of tempering the Id towards the (inclusively fit) greater good with an imposed Superego.

>>96052942 (OP)
When the evil cult Actually Does Magic, and makes your harvest big, or summons a bag of gold into your hands, or makes your old hag mother in law die mysteriously so you can inherit her money, people suddenly become far more willing to turn a blind eye to unsavoury business

Don't forget, large swathes of the human population even right now are making it loud and clear that they're willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing just for the sake of spiting those they see as enemies - not much different when you're like "ye sure Cthulhu can come as long as Those Fuckers get it worse" than being willing to wage war and take economic ruin just for the same end

>>96053210
Sir Terry Pratchet put it best, I feel

>“There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.”

Replace a job with peer pressure in this case, and much the same happens

>>96053520
>Except most cultist's don't think THEY'RE the immortal sex god
Anon, you follow the current immortal sex god so you can become one too. Where else do you get the secret to sex god immortality except from a sex god immortal?

>>96052942 (OP)
A mixture of love bombing, isolating and abuse, eventually those that are abused by the cult will want to do the abusing themselves and will recruit new members
https://youtu.be/h-UAOrTuaAA?si=V_GGgmvK8k_AXYNq

Same way real evil cults recruit people, by lying, grooming, abuse, and targeting weak and isolated people who are vulnerable to being manipulated.

>>96053602
You underestimate how many peoples' self esteem is so thoroughly broken OR breakable that they'd follow the Immortal Sex God either because they don't believe themselves deserving or capable of having agency, or they don't want the pressure that comes with exercising their free will.

Hell, everyone on this hellsite is anonymous and anons will still flock to parroting shit said with enough conviction.

>>96053625
It's still the hope of attaining some degree of immortal sexgodship for yourself, anon. It's not like pantheons are a rare belief. Don't split hairs. I think the problem you are having is most people not contextualizing the issue like this. Also, no. People want agency. The issue is they are followers by nature. So they can't escape it. Well, that's where becoming an immortal sex god comes in. You can do what you want then. Including having lots of sex.

>>96052942 (OP)
Ask evangelicals.

>>96052942 (OP)
>Morghol the Devourer's Dark Circle of the Damned
What setting is this cult from? Because most actual evil cults in actual game settings have obvious or explicitly defined appeals.

>>96052942 (OP)
Well, assuming it's a recruiting cult, which most pre-modern ones aren't (you were not converted into sacrificing people on top of pyramids, that's just the culture you were born in).
But assuming it is, there's two main mechanisms, I think:
>Escalation of commitment and psychological entrapment
You do something a little nasty as an initiation ritual, then you do progressively more and more fucked up things, because looking back and realising how far you have gone would be too psychologically damaging.
It's a great way to keep the group tightly knit together.
See: whatever they are doing at the Bohemian grove
>Looking for a sense of belonging
If you feel outcast, basically anyone coming to you with an open hand, saying "come, brother, we are in this together" will fill the need for a community. Then after that, their moral will become your moral and if you don't have anyone in your life to bring you a different moral perspective, you wouldn't know any better. Even better, the gap in moral you will have compared to the normies will add to your sense of superiority over them and increase your sense of fraternity with the cult.
See: ISIS, or skinhead groups
Then, if the group gains a bit of traction, that's when you get the normies joining so they aren't left out. Then, the nasty stuff is directed at scapegoats and/or a way to show your commitment, both of which also increases group cohesion and fanaticism
See: the Chinese cultural revolution, the SJW, the anabaptists...

There's plenty of IRL examples to choose from, what I find surprising is that you find any of this surprising, really. I mean just look at /pol/ and ask yourself how you can get people openly claiming that they long for the killing of a sizeable proportion of the population.
I'm no specialist though, so I'm open to hearing that I'm wrong

>>96053768
>you were not converted into sacrificing people on top of pyramids, that's just the culture you were born in
I mean at some point someone had to be the guy that brought up the human sacrifices idea and got everyone to agree with it

>>96052942 (OP)

>>96053829
Unless, of course, it's the result of progressively more coincidental events being falsely given correlation.
>Grug tribe no get water for weeks
>Grug tried all sorts of things, from dancing to offering hides to sky spirits for water
>Grug accidentally cut himself badly one day
>blood all over
>next day, it rains
>Grug have idea
>whenever no water, Grug cut self to offer blood
>rain happens by chance, but Grug doesn't know that
>becomes a tradition of giving blood for rain
>sometimes it doesn't work, so you have to give a little bit more blood
>no rain for a long time despite offerings
>must have to give more
>Grug cuts himself a little too deeply
>Grug dies
>absolute deluge occurs because heavy rains of dry ground creates flash flooding
>all the tribe agrees Grug's sacrifice was what did it
>now they think human sacrifice is a thing

>>96053712
You could. But it's not like they're the only religious people on the planet. You could ask literally any religious idiot.

>>96052942 (OP)
We have a death cult in real life nowadays. We have extreme progressives who push for mutilation and disfiguration of all that is natural, who zealously want to annihilate the white race, and cheer on the deaths of whites and anyone who disagrees with them. They've inched their way into society to the point where they're the most politically correct position, and you think that their fantasy equivalent is too far fetched?
>Hello medieval peasant, did you know that humanity is actually evil? Your ancestors did these things, which are evil and you need to repent!
>Abandon your gods, they aren't real anyways. Try our gods instead, they're way cooler!
>Four limbs is such an oppressive norm, some of us prefer to have three, or five or more! In fact, you're just backwards if you don't try it!
>Going insane isn't a big deal. There is no objective truth to reality anyways.
>Those people we sacrificed? They volunteered to be sacrificed, it was a noble and selfless act! All should be given to the cause!
>Wait, they didn't volunteer? Oh. Then they deserved it! All humans deserve it! Humanity is evil after all!
>Ever tried a tentacle up the ass?

>>96053891
As opposed to the noble and life-affirming ideals of "It was God's plan to drown all those children" and "The State of Israel MUST exist in order for Jesus to come back and the world to be annihilated"

>Hello medieval peasant, did you know that humanity is actually evil? Your ancestors did these things, which are evil and you need to repent!
>Abandon your gods, they aren't real anyways. Try our gods instead, they're way cooler!

These are literally Christian doctrines?

Overall, pretty poor quality bait, but given the retarded depths this site has sunken to, it will suffice.

>>96052942 (OP)
Youtube recommendations.

>>96052942 (OP)
some org offer a way to get employment. Some seem like they accept everyone. Some groups show that they seem to offer structure in your life.
Then with time it slowly seem like a cult to the members.

>>96053829
Human sacriface is and obvious logical follow-up to the idea of ritual sacrifice itself. The more you give away to the gods or spirits or whatever - ritually killing and burning whole the fattest cow is more of a sacrifice than ritually killing and eating any random cow - the stronger the sacrifice, therefore it follows that killing a human would be the strongest of all.

>>96053176
Well, that's ruined my evening.

>>96052942 (OP)
>IRL cults just reflavor existing religions and pretend like they're actually the right option
have you ever actually looked up what scientologists believe?

>>96053885
Or Dawkins devotee

Some people are born in it (this can be anything from a small family to an entire cultural group) and never manage to break free, some people want power/wealth/status enough they're willing to do any number of evil acts, some people will do any number of evil acts to retain their power/wealth/status, and for some people the evil is an end in and of itself.

There's also no reason to assume the cult believes or is going to be their evil god(s) slaves or meals or whatever, they might believe that they will be in some sort of overseer position over non-cult members, or beloved consorts, any number of things. Or to them being slaves and/or tributes might sound like a good deal compared to whatever.

Why would their world work in a way where they are punished by the other god(s), anyway? How would they know, and if it is an accepted fact that that's what happens, why would they believe it? In the real world, even people who aren't "in a cult" semi-regularly don't believe in accepted facts for any numbers of reasons (just think of flat earthers)

>>96052942 (OP)
Well, for starters, most cults aren’t that blatant. Still, what does one need to consider when designing a fantasy religion/cult people will realistically belong to?

>>96052942 (OP)
>Be charismatic
>Tell people their problems are caused by X
>Give them a sense of belonging
>Estrange them from social ties to outsiders
>Wait for sunk cost fallacy to create dependence
>Tell them literally anything

>>96053478
He can turn into a snake, seems pretty magical

>>96052987
but all Thulsa Doom did was prove that people are not immune to propoganda

>>96057261
And turn into a snake

>>96052942 (OP)
Childhood indoctrination and targeting abuse victims who have nothing left to live for and giving them a purpose.

>>96057334
It always felt to me like some sort of last resort tactic against Conan, maybe something semi-permanent, rather than some sort of party trick he would do every so often.
Shooting snake arrows, now, that's a different story.

>>96053176
Seconding this

>>96052942 (OP)
People join explicitly evil cults in this real world as well, some people are just edgy and relish the idea of being some kind of evil counter culture type and break taboos etc.

It’s even easier in fantasy because you can convince people to join with the promise of cool magic powers for example.

While we're on the topic, I remember a short story (can't remember if it was Warhammer fantasy or 40k) that starts off with some charlatan running a realistic scam cult but then it gets turned into a Nurgle cult after he adopts this stray dog infested with Chaos rabies or something. Does anybody remember the name? I think it might've been written by Sandy Mitchell.

>>96062421
I always assumed that was his real form and that he was one of the Serpent Men.

>>96053885
Yeah but evanglicals would be an easy first step, they don't particularly hide being evil

>>96052942 (OP)
There's always a charismatic leader and a promised reward. In a fantasy setting the reward could be magical power or immortality or something

>>96062494
It is.

>>96052942 (OP)
They don't lead with the evil. A proper evil cult acts like a mystery cult until the members get in too deep/ have drank enough koolaid. At least that's how I run em. Got a few PCs to join a couple accidentally

>>96053463
How do I join?

>>96052942 (OP)
They're lonely and have disposable income. It's mostly middle class and above people that get caught up with cults.

>>96063584
Ordre du Temple Solaire is one my morbid favorites. Started out as a pseudo-Catholic knightly larp club for wealthy and bored rich Europeans in the 1980s Switzerland, but ended up in mass murders and mass suicides in the 1990s to prevent birth of the antichrist and to transport souls of true believers to Sirius where they can be with Jesus and other "transcended masters".
Members who participated in mass murder-suicides included the former worldwide sales director of Piaget SA watch company. Due to cult being so wealthy, the coordinated murder-suicides happened in several countries where the cult had their "Life Centers". The cult's rituals naturally included plenty of sex and drugs, and cult members claimed to have seen apparitions of Holy Grail in flashing lights used during those rituals.

>>96055676
There are much weirder cult and new religions people fall for all the time too

>>96052942 (OP)
>Literally how do people get sucked into evil cults?
Good health benefits.

Why did the city of carthage burn its own children for luck? Why did Tyre burn kids on a brazen idol? Why did the Aztecs flaw virgins alive? Why did the minions practice ritual sacrifice?

>>96052942 (OP)
The oldest trick in the book, doing evil to be "good" or being able to pay off karmatic debt like freemasons do.

>>96063743
Nihilistic hedonism is also a good promise. Many people think its just being neutral but I like to place it in the evil category myself.

>>96057220
Sometimes problems are caused by X. Simply distilling it to this issue often misses the bigger reasoning behind group think.

>>96052942 (OP)
>Literally how do people get sucked into evil cults?
You've met "PEOPLE" right?
Lately?

>>96052942 (OP)
Everyone is lying to you anon. The clerics are lying to you, the violent socialist celestials are brainwashing your children. Neutrals sell the abuses left and right, claiming they're in the middle even as they take your kids. The elves stole your future and your job. It's why they just sit around doing fuck-all in their trees taking up all the alms.
Morghol wants to bring down the deepcitystate. It's why the elite hate him. He devours the darkness in your hearts, and those demons from the upper planes scream out we're damned to try and keep us from bringing the change you want. The change you need.
You're not like those heretics after all. You're special. Morghol knows how great you are. Morghol's so rich He doesn't need to lie. Because He knows you'd be too smart to fall for it.
Worship Morghol and we'll get rid of all the heretics, eliminate the alms from all the underserving thieves and bring Dark Circles back into the government.

>>96052942 (OP)
That's because evil cults in media have been flanderized.
The negative consequences of being in the evil cult is only supposed to happen after a hero intervenes with the operations and the dark deity gets pissed.
It's not supposed to be
>some of us get mutilated, some of us go insane and see and hear things, some of us become sacrifices for the evil gods themselves
while normally operating.
Evil cults unless it's a mystery cult shouldn't even be recognizable as evil unless you're in the upper echelons.

>>96052942 (OP)
>How do people get sucked into cults?
Honestly? The other cult members are genuinely nice and very caring toward fellow cult members resulting in you feeling like you are part of a community that truly cares for you.
If you get into a cult then odds are very high you never experienced this before and it's the social and communal equivalent of a highly addictive drug. You will die for that feeling, you can't go back to being without it.

>>96052942 (OP)
>>what do we do? we gather every week at night to pray to evil gods and sacrifice an innocent victim
Why do you have to say that? You can present your god as good and merciful much better than other petty gods, once someone takes the bait, you love bomb them and use grooming tactics so they except the true nature of the cult little by little until they are in too deep and can't leave.

>>96053051
I am not sure why you include sex in there, if I had the power, and I could live eternally, I'd remove my desire for it.
The only reason I like having it now is because I'm mortal and it drives me to do things. I fucking HATE doing things.

>>96056622
man, you guys really seethe about the idea of someone opting out of religion.

>>96052942 (OP)
Ask the scientologists.
Jokes aside, in my campaigns there are two main paths:
1: Psychopaths and narcissists who joing for easy power and always assume they will be able to outsmart the demon or whatever and this dodge eternal damnation (or the equivalent thereof).

2: People are fooled and tricked by seemingly benevolent practives. As time goes on they are indoctrinated into taking on more and more dubious tasks and rituals and by the time they get to see the full extent of the evil cult's aims, they are already thoroughly corrupted/indoctrinated.

>>96052942 (OP)

I'll take any chance to repost this classic on Khorne cults.

>>96052942 (OP)
same reason Americans see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires

>>96078715
But they haven't opted out of religion. That's the whole problem.

>Literally how do people get sucked into evil cults?
Easy they have orgies, next question.

>>96057261
Being a good propagandist is a prerequisite to being a good sorcerer

>>96078457
Is that Britney Spears

>>96052942 (OP)
I liked the way pathfinder did Chaotic Evil demon cults, ie "Hovel-dwelling miserable peasant, you too can be powerful and free like a demon and no longer have to answer to or be held back by anyone and rise up in the world (by putting other helpless peasants beneath you)."
And like 5% actually get that power (so long as they keep enforcing the demons' wills) while the remaining suckers who think they have what it takes end up fodder or food.

>>96053186
post sexy morris dancers

>>96052942 (OP)
Good dental

>>96053885
See: >>96062581
They openly plot to end all human civilization.

>>96052942 (OP)
Warhammer Fantasy cults function that way too in-universe.

A lot of cults are hidden in purpose. A new cult following finds some new form of "heresy"/"witchcraft" that seems to work, that is somehow healing people of their boils/ailments, but is actually manifesting Nurgle's corruption until it's too late and people start to decay and rot, ala "The Society of Harmonious Growth and Splendour". Another cult has elitist faggots running off into secret orgy hideouts engaging in all manner of fetishism, but are actually manifesting Slaanesh's influence and it gets to a point where the people engage in more depraved acts. Some have that one person who is seeking favor/power from the gods and ropes everyone into his scheme/corruption.

The focus is on the sin to excess.

>>96052942 (OP)
There are three ways an evil cult can attract people.
>we are actually the right religion
This is how cults work IRL, first you think it's just like regular church but more, plus everyone is really nice. And then when it turns out it's not like that it's too late.
>we are obviously the wrong religion but hey it works
The classic Lovecraft style cult, sure everyone knows that human sacrifice is wrong but on the other hand every maiden given to the seas results in a season of very good fishing that makes the town survive for another year.
>we don't even pretend to be the right religion, but straight up pay for your soul
A twist on the above, where doing evil cult business results in personal favors being done by some dark deity or whatever. The difference is that the outward appearance of the cult is an innocent looking but secretive organization (think IRL freemasons if all the conspiracy theories are true)

>>96052942 (OP)
Cults drawn in losers, who have few things going for them in their lives, but cult promises them purpose, community and tells them that they're necessary for fulfilling a larger goal.
Why wouldn't you want to be in a cult? Imagine being a nobody cobbler, barely making your ends meet. Your wife left you for another, more skilled cobbler, who makes 2 copper coins a day more than you. And suddenly, you're somebody - you know something the other schmucks don't. They go about their daily lives, not knowing that in your cellar the dread god Shabranigdo is inching closer and closer towards manifesting in this reality. He's going to destroy them all - but those who helped him, he'll reward with power.

>>96052942 (OP)
Same as how most religions do it, if you don't join, you will suffer.

>>96052942 (OP)
By preying on the vulnerable and stupid.

>>96100268
[monotone]Glory to Lord Ruby Eye. Enslaver of dragons.

>>96099993
>This is how cults work IRL, first you think it's just like regular church but more, plus everyone is really nice. And then when it turns out it's not like that it's too late.
It's also worth pointing out that cults usually aren't state religions.

>>96052942 (OP)

>hello medieval fantasy peasant, would you care to join our organization?

Consider how many lonely people with no prospects are seeking social connection so they give money to egirls and grifting influencers.

>what do we do? we gather every week at night to pray to evil gods and sacrifice an innocent victim

It's a more gradual process but you can brainwash people into doing some pretty insane shit. Read about how Charles Manson trained people to obey him sometime. And read the book "Ordinary Men" which talks about how the Nazis got 30+ year old military police to kill civilians by appealing to their sense of pride and duty(in the same way middle-aged blue collar classcucks stick up for billionaires and think it's a flex that they work 60+ hours a week).

>if we succeed and manage to summon our god, we'll be slaves and/or tributes for the dark one

I mean, that's the narrative by the mainstream religion and/or the one we have from our elevated POV as readers of the game books/novels. The cult is teaching something else to its followers. Look at modern day s-tanists for instance and how they'll argue the devil is misunderstood and it's possible to be in his good books. Or just that he's a symbol of freedom and they're just quirky goth atheists trying to have fun and troll the fundies.

You want a cult model, look at American universities.
Colleges throw out a bunch of bait to lure in people of various sorts “You’ll learn so much”, “Get a good career”, “Get to party with Co-eds”, “Meet your spouse”, “Connect with a prestigious network”, “Advance human knowledge”, etc. And while many students get some of that stuff, the university gets money, prestige, and political influence even when students don’t get anything they were chasing. US student loans are bananas because universities there are a cult. The school gets its money upfront and the student gets debt til they die or pay it off because the people who make the law all went to university and only listen to people who went to university. Universities are such a cult the only ‘reform’ that is publicly considered still has the schools getting fully paid first.
This is how you build a cult. You create an institution. You propagandize people to join it. You isolate members from ideas that are outside the institution. You offer perks to people who do the most to advance your cult. You encourage people to make the institution and its ideas a part of their identity. You attack and belittle people, ideas, and organizations outside your cult as barbarians, heretics, morons, etc.
DISCLAIMER:
Nothing in this post is critical of learning, science, research, experimentation, etc. I earnestly hope Anon got some great mentorship, explored new ideas, and honed their thinking while they were in school, but all that is completely incidental to the aims and interests of the institution.

>>96106184
Post your banking account balance with a written timestamp in front of the computer, you hick.

>>96106196
I’d post my tastefully censored W-2 listing the university I worked at but you’d laugh at me because #notHarvard, cultie.

People get sucked into cults for the same reason people get sucked into religion, and science (the Science™), lol. A sense of community, belonging and acceptance. But it’s often a blind sort of acceptance.

>>96052942 (OP)

COC-like cults didn't ever make sense, but that's not exactly breaking news.

>>96106282
I'm just saying, jealousy is a bad look.

>>96106184
I’d dispute the isolation aspect in relation to universities, but that might just be my college experience being atypical. I’d also say that universities weren’t designed that way, but evolved into that, whereas a cult is more purpose-built.

>>96107423
There’s no call to be prejudiced against cults that didn’t set out to be cults. Stories need antagonists and nuanced/devious ones are often the best suited.

>96106573
May J.D. Vance smite me for my ingratitude, but just because a fella can’t win tenure doesn’t mean he needs (You) to prove his point.

>>96107568
Fair enough, it’s not like real world religious practices were static throughout their faith’s existence, after all.

>>96106381
Hey now, the Science is settled!

>>96106184
Modern universities are an excellent example of a cult infiltrating an existing institution. Long march indeed.

>pray to God for help
>priest/boomer tells you "He helps those who help themselves"
>fuck this
>20 years pass
>????
>you are now in a basement sacrificing teen 'virgins' in a basement with the king of england and most american elites

>>96083331
TRVKE

999/1000 a cult is just an excuse to have sex

>>96062493
Wasn't that an episode of The Magnus Archives?