The Offscouring, also known as The Glitch's Cultists, are a religious doomsday cult that worships The Glitch as an ancient primordial god. Most of its members are zealots who despise normality and order because they felt trapped in their previous lives, unable to change their situations. Their doctrines, practices and objectives differ greatly from sect to sect, with the restoration of the Glitch and the elimination of any "heretics" that threaten their mission being one of the few principles they all commonly share. They believe accomplishing this goal will initiate a massive reality restructuring event that will bring about the complete breakdown of all matter and energy in the universe, thereby allowing the Glitch to recreate the world into the Offscouring's vision of paradise from scratch.
Overview[]
The cult extends across all levels of society and is incredibly secretive of its practices, holding blind devotion at a higher value than knowledge. Members of the Offscouring rarely know more than where a singular meeting place is, and information is only given directly through the higher ups, who are almost exclusively cult members that have been warped by The Glitch. Organizations that have actually managed to capture Offscouring members find that it is rarely of any consequence because they lack any extensive information, even if they are willing to tell it. This makes the cult very difficult to judge in its size or its reach, and nearly impossible to dissolve permanently. Members are generally born into the religion, with any new followers being introduced through careful selection.
Mutilation upon victims is a common practice amongst the Offscouring, and is even done to initiates as well. The basic premise behind this ritual stems from the cult's belief that destroying an individual's original appearance can create more discrepancies in the world, thereby strengthening The Glitch or creating a vessel that it may wish to "perfect" (i.e. twist more heavily). These artificially altered people are considered important, but are rarely treated as fellow human beings and are kept in top secret facilities to prevent government agencies from capturing them. Many of these people have been so warped by the Offscouring priests' rituals that they can barely be considered human anymore, being more akin to monstrous humanoid abominations. They are still capable of speech, but it is distorted gibberish refrained for ominous chanting during ceremonies, rendering it completely useless. Those who are not possessed by the Glitch are usually kept as guardians that protect Offscouring outposts from trespassers.
Many members seem to experience a strange form of obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, whereupon entering an ordered space, they will feel an uncontrollable compulsion to disorganize it. This makes them natural enemies with The Crepuscular Mysteries cult, and the two are often found waging secret wars against each other.