Thoughtlets: Making an Effective End Times Cultist

Response to this reddit post.

---

I personally would take out pages from my own life experience, as while not one myself, I have relatives who are members of one of those "We are living in the last days" Christian churches.

This whole thing rather amuses me as Groteus has the "Look absolutely loony to most people," "THE END TIMES ARE UPON US, REPENT SINNERS," and "BLOOD MOONS" aspects that my own family members sport.

So with my observations I would suggest the following:

No Future, No Planning

Depending on when your character thinks the end will come, he will behave differently than most folks.

Within my family this manifests as not caring a lick about recycling or environmentalism and not planning for much of anything beyond future generations (My grandpa built his house somewhat cheaply, figuring that it would only need to last for the rest of his life, rather than something to be handed down in the family).

But for an adventurer this would likely manifest in lavish spending on immediate comforts and not investing for the distant future. So if say a nobleman is offering the party plots of land that they could build on after their adventuring careers wind down or something of the like, your character would likely not be interested.

Rather than purchase items built to last, your character would go with the cheap, functional, will work now option rather than something that will cost most but last longer. "The world could end tomorrow, why buy a hammer that will last for 30 years when we could all die tomorrow?"

Planning for the Apocalypse That Never Occurs

Another relative was the opposite of the above. He had been assured by their church that the Y2K Bug was in fact going to usher in the End of the World As We Know It, and thus spent thousands on food stores that would last for years, so that their family wouldn't starve if they so happened to survive in a world where the electrical system had failed overnight and driven the world into chaos.

Think Zombie Apocalypse plans and the motivation to set up a Doomsday Bunker somewhere away from civilization, but not so far away that you couldn't get a little scavenging in once the Zombie Apocalypse has thinned the herd of living folks a bit.

The world is going to end, but your character will want to make sure that if they aren't immediately killed in the Doomsday Scenario that they and their loved ones will be able to maintain somewhat of a comfortable life as civilization falls apart and chaos reigns.

Pathological Need to Tell EVERYBODY

Inevitably conversations with strangers and casual acquaintances will inevitably turned to tales of the coming end, and what can be done to Save Your Soul.

Rather than go with the sandwiches board, standing on the sidewalk, shouting at all passersby type, I'd go a bit more subtle.

The church my relatives favor is one of those that hand out tracts, leave them everywhere, and decide to not tip (because what good is money to their server, the world is ending!) and instead leaving one of those "IF YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED THIS ISN'T MONEY YOU ARE A WICKED SINNER AND NEED TEH JESUS" tracts that looks like a $10 or $20 bill.

You don't have to do this with literally every conversation your character has (so as not to annoy the other players and DM), but any recurring NPC's that your party comes across will need to be told about the coming end and what they can do to prepare for it.

What Can I Do To Hasten the Coming Apocalypse?

While the particular End Times sect of Christianity my family belongs to isn't numerous, they do have a tendency to compensate with volume and activity, and thus have more than a few folks who get into politics.

In the real world this takes the form of End Times believers working to maintain a good relationship with Israel, despite the religious differences, due to the fact that Israel is focused on in a lot of the prophetic books in the bible.

A big one is that the Temple Mount (currently the home of the Muslim Dome of the Rock) has to be returned to Jewish control and a temple to be built there. Why? Because there has to be a Jewish temple there to be destroyed during the End Times, it says so right in the book.

Similarly they are distrustful of any politicians or political organizations that espouse peace, as speaking words of peace is one of the traits possessed by the Anti-Christ.

Talk with your DM to figure out a set of beliefs that work within the setting that describe character believes that the world is going to end, and utilize those tenants to build a set of behaviors based on them, depending on whether the character wants to hasten the end, or try to delay it for a bit (even though it's inevitable).

Emotion, Not Logic

Note that in the above section I mentioned two contradictory behaviors, one in being friendly with Israel to assure that the End Times come about, and attempting to assure that the Antichrist does not come power by scorning any and all peace-bringers vying for positions of power.

The more intricate, the more complex, and the more self-contradicting the philosophy the better. As when deeply held beliefs are questioned the believer tends to pull away from the questioner and react with anger.

This is taken advantage of to create an isolated, insular community of True Believers who rely entirely upon the in-group for their social well-being, and very often their financial well-being as well.

Your character is likely going to be more emotional than logical. A complex plan that is likely to work put forward by one party member is likely going to be rejected in favor of a simply explained, but dangerous plan that appeals to your character's feelings.

Your character is likely to be the embodiment of "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Not to say they're stupid, but they're likely to rush into things and want to get things done quickly. Just in case the end comes about in the next 10 minutes or so.

If you want some reading on the subject the Slacktivist blog has been looking at the Left Behind book series since 2003 and pointing out where flaws in the writing, be they of characterization, plot design, dialog, or the authors simply not putting the effort into researching something or even thinking much on a subject.

The blog's been going through the books page by page since 2003 and is part of the way through the third book. Of sixteen.

Basically as a result the Left Behind series makes an effective How Not to Write About Apocalyptic Events guide, and the deconstruction of the series on Slacktivist provides thought on how one can write an effective apocalypse.