#twsf au

[theywhospringforth]

Bc I adore the Leshy x Yellow Cat posts I decided twsf au needs them and as such we now have Hue the yellow cat who volunteered to help guide leshy around and help him with the layout of the cult grounds because Hue's grandma was blind and he learned how to help her when he was just a wee kit so he feels qualified.

It was just supposed to be for a few days maybe a few weeks at most...

Leshy just ends up following Hue and never asking him to stop guiding him.

Lambren wins their bet with Narinder. Narinder thought for sure that Leshy wouldn't be able to stand having someone baby him (Hue doesn't baby leshy). Lambren bet that Leshy would get attached to Hue and never want to leave his side.

#cult of the lamb #cotl #twsf au #leshycat #cotl lamb #cotl narinder

[theywhospringforth]

Lambren: I'd give you my heart but this one isn't mine. *gestures to scar just below their ribs*

Narinder: 0.0 ...Wut?

Lambren: Yeah, and it really only beats for me since the guy that gave it to me is in love with me so it wouldn't be of much use to you anyway.

Narinder: ... Where's yours then?

Lambren: *shrugs* who even knows. It could really be anywhere by now.

#in which the previous god of death had a grudge against Lambren and removed their heart #and its been tens of thousands of years since the previous god of death disappeared #lambren just kinda gave it up as a lost cause #they werent all that invested in it #its just feelings #also this point is when narinder makes it his mission to find lambrens heart and restore it to them #cult of the lamb #cotl #twsf au #cotl lamb #cotl narinder #narilamb

[theywhospringforth]

They Who Spring Forth

[Things about the Lamb that will be the same through both stories in this au]

Lamb's obsession with Narinder

Really tho, The Lamb as a god is unhealthily obsessed with Narinder. Their motivations are often solely based on helping him.

The god of life being a chaotic bugger who is not worried how many mortals might die from their actions

And this causes problems for everyone, theirself included.

The Lamb being imprisoned by the First Gods before the bishops of the old faith came into being

The bishops of the old faith, possibly barring Shamura, have not heard of the god of life except perhaps in some ancient text back when they were young. There's no one looking for the god of life because no one knows that there is a god of life to look for. (As the first gods intended)

The Lamb is splayed on their back across an alter and trapped that way using chains.

Not sure if the exact injury keeping them weak will be the same or not, but the way they are trapped is the same in both versions. There's a raised slab of stone and the lamb is tied to it.

Chemach and Lamb should not be left alone in a room together.

They are on multiple occasions and everyone suffers for it.

Some really weird shit gets made.

I will almost certainly be adding to this as I go/remember more things

#twsf au #cult of the lamb #cotl #cotl lamb #the lamb of life #they who spring forth #they who spring forth au

[theywhospringforth]

They Who Spring Forth, The Lamb of Life, The Last Lamb, Lambren the Massive Simp, Master of Pining, and The One Who Stalks From Afar

Not pining from afar, mind you

They're right up there in Narinder's face pining after him

(Just a few titles for my lil lammy guy, Lambren. Bc I love them)

#cult of the lamb #cotl #twsf au #cotl lamb #they respect personal boundaries unless its for the dramatic flare or intimidation effect #but thats really only bc they didnt have physical touch for so long that they dont usually think to initiate #being chained up will do that to a pal #trust me once narinder opens that door and lambren gets a taste they are gonna be so addicted to it

[theywhospringforth]

I wanna draw the lamb eating the snake of sin so bad. If my hand could handle it without making me take months to finish, I'd be all over it.

There's just this visceral image of the lamb snatching the snake as it whispers in their ear and straight-up chomping and slurping it down.

Lambren may or may not do exactly this in the version of twsf au where they are mortal.

#cult of the lamb #twsf au #cotl lamb #cotl

[theywhospringforth]

I have two different au storylines under TWSF au bc why keep it just to one... we'll just go into the one for this post.

First we have a sort of spin off of a Role Swap au. In this, the other bishops were about to imprison Narinder in the land of the dead when he suddenly disappeared.

Narinder wakes up in the clearing where his cult lead by Ratau used to be and he's now mortal/semi-mortal. He's doesn't know for a while whether this was his sibling's punishment for him or some other curse but either way, he wants his revenge on them.

Not long after he establishes his cult, he starts to get strange but comforting dreams that he doesn't remember and someone is leaving goods and relics in his path in the woods of Leshy's domain.

Ratau plays a little more active role in helping Narinder with the cult. He travels often since he is in charge of sustaining the cult. Trading for goods and convincing merchants to set up closer to the cult. When he is there, he helps keep things in order while Narinder is gone on crusade.

It's not until Narinder starts to remember parts of his dreams that he figures out who is helping.

Ratau's brother Ratoo plays a little bit of a different role here. Instead of being unaffiliated, he is the witness of life. He is one of the few who still worship a god long forgotten.

See Life was imprisoned before the fall of the first gods, but they are still able to watch the world from their pocket dimension prison and they are fascinated by Death, by Narinder. They could not stand the thought of him being imprisoned in one of the few places they cannot see or reach so they used what remnants of power they still have in order to rip him from the grasp of the other bishops; the side effect of this being his descension from godhood.

They make a deal with Ratoo for his heart in order to regain enough power to enter Narinder's dreams.

After Narinder starts remembering a their dream conversations, Lambren has Ratoo help more directly.

(Side note: I changed Ratoo's background a bit bc I love the idea of one worshipping death and the other life.)

Ratoo actually knows where the Lamb is imprisoned and has a way to enter and exit freely.

For Lambren's motives, mainly it's just their unhealthy obsession with him. They have vague hopes that he might free them, but does not hinge their help on any promise for Narinder to free them.

The god of life, Lambren, was actually locked away for good reason. I have not decided for sure if I'll go the same route with this story as the other one in this au, so for now, it can remain undecided.

This version has the added advantage of god Lamb holding little mortal Narinder in their palm and listening to his complaints or rambling to him about various things.

#cotl lamb #cult of the lamb #twsf au #role swap of sorts #lamb being all: this is my cranky lil guy isnt he so sweet and cute? #literally everyone else: that is a feral eldritch abomination...what is wrong with you #cotl narinder #cotl ratau #cotl ratoo #lamb is a feral bastard too they just happen to be chained down to an alter at the moment and unable to fulfill their cravings

[theywhospringforth]

Not my 15+ years of working with sheep coming back to haunt me while I try to draw the lamb.

Here's me trying to figure out how I wanna try to style this.

Note: I am not able to draw consistently enough to develop a style due to a previous injury. This is just for my own enjoyment. And i am not likely to be able to consistently replicate the way i drew them here. No critique, please.

Pic below cut bc image includes extra eyes where I was playing with eye shapes.

#sketch #cotl #cult of the lamb #twsf au #cult of the lamb fanart #the lamb has sheep eyes in this au bc its more fun and spooky that way

[theywhospringforth]

@angstandhappiness in reply to your question on (this) post. Plus some other things I has going on in my brain.

In the god of life turned mortal version of twsf au, the Lamb actually foresaw the downfall of the first gods and that being imprisoned would help them escape from the fate of the others. Not sure if I'll leave this the same for the other version of twsf au or do something a little bit different.

They Who Spring Forth is definitely a lot less mentally stable before becoming mortal. They carve out pieces of their body in order to create catalysts for new mortals to become gods, not just replace the old one.

They also create the Snake of Sin (from their own flesh) who ends up taking residence within The Red Crown at some point in time.

Heh heh...

Every quasi-immortal within several continent's radii seeing Lambren, (ex)God of Life: YOU!

Lambren: 🥳🕺💃😝 Me

Mystic Seller thought they'd finally seen the last of The Lamb of Life but guess who shows up after "killing" death? Looking to reclimb the ranks into godhood??

Lambren is absolutely a pain in the ass on purpose and seems to enjoy inciting fury in others.

#cult of the lamb #cotl #twsf au #cotl lamb #lambren is a such a little shit but i love them for it #they have a few lessons to teach to Narinder before they ascend back into godhood

[theywhospringforth]

Okay I knew that making the Lamb a god would end up making them kinda a freaky Lil guy, but holy shit this is backfiring. I was intending it to be way more subtle but The Lamb is changing up my script and making it weird!

So content warning, Lambren will be actively displaying some very red flag behavior that may make some readers uncomfortable.

#cotl #twsf au

[theywhospringforth]

I am absolutely taking the idea of the First Gods and making up so much shit.

Bc I can

And so I will

#twsf au #cult of the lamb

[theywhospringforth]

Follow the sound of the bell and you will find your way home

#cult of the lamb #cotl lamb #cotl #twsf au

[theywhospringforth]

They Who Spring Forth

Also called:

The Lamb of Life

The Lamb

And finally... Lambren

The god of Life is known to become bored easily. Having Life's attentions on you is not typically a good thing because it usually means they're about to turn everything upside down just to see what happens.

Lambren rose to usurp the previous god of Life back before the bishops of the old faith had even born. The first gods did not appreciate this new fickle god of life. They also felt threatened by the very idea that someone might be able to usurp their titles and thus felt threatened by the Lamb.

Of course the lamb did not help matters by acting on any whim or emotion, decimating entire cultures because someone annoyed them, inciting wars and whispering new horrifying torture techniques into the heads of mortals, and creating or changing things whenever they want something new.

To Be Continued...

#cotl #cult of the lamb #cotl lamb #cotl lore #twsf au

[theywhospringforth]

The Lamb being the god of life has been haunting me these past few weeks. So this is where I'm deciding to store info on this au.

I guess I am officially dubbing the Lamb as They Who Spring Forth for their moniker. It rests in opposition to He Who Waits/He Who Waits Below.

So now I'm calling any different stories under this as They Who Spring Forth au or TWSF au for short.

This is almost as much for myself as it is to share so have fun I suppose.

#cult of the lamb #cotl #twsf au

[theywhospringforth]

They Who Spring Forth used to have a third eye but they traded it to Ratoo in exchange for his heart. The eye of the lamb is what allows Ratoo to find and access the pocket dimension that is They Who Spring Forth's prison.

Ratoo accidentally found The Lamb the first time and then was given the means to reach them again.

#twsf au #cult of the lamb

[theywhospringforth]

Giving god of life vibes

#cotl lamb #cult of the lamb #cotl #twsf au #Spotify