Grail

'We must devour to be devoured. We cannot be undevoured, as we cannot be unborn.'

- The Orchid Transfigurations, Vol. 1

Grail is one of the Principles of the invisible arts, named after the Red Grail herself. It presides of all forms of hunger, thirst, and sensation, and is also the aspect of birth and blood.

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Themes and Imagery

'Some words are spelt correctly only when the proper ink is used.'

- A Red Secret

Grail is built around the concept of "pleasure" - although definitions of it may vary from one Grail Hour to another. The core elements of it are intense carnal sensations, such as feasting and various sexual activities, and also certain kinds of pain; childbirth and hunger hold a special place here since they are experiences in which pleasure and pain are intrinsically linked.[1][2] Other approaches present pleasure in its less bodily forms - as pleasant thoughts and dreams,[3] as following forbidden desires,[2] and even as obtaining worldly possessions. Accordingly, those affined with Grail are proficient in (over)indulging themselves, and also in persuading others to (over)indulge;[4] in raising hungers and pains,[5] and in quenching or dulling or sweetening them.[6][7][8]

Sacrifice is another prominent theme. Sometimes it's limited to a self-destructive behaviour such as in drug usage and overindulgence.[9][10] Other cases are giving away a part of yourself, metaphorically or literally, for a pleasure of another - such as in self-denying relationships, motherhood, and, at its extreme, in cannibalism.[11][12]

Notably, the Crime of the Sky appears to be an epitome of all the Grail's themes - forbidden, painful, and self-destructive; both sex- and birth-related; a feast driven by an unstoppable, insufferable hunger. While it is never directly described as a Grail-act (except being mentioned as fulfilling the Red Grail's enactments) and immortals of any Principle are subjects to it, such closeness raises a natural suspicion.

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Ascension

'I am swollen with the lives of others. The seams of my body begin to rupture. Now I invoke the Red Grail, who is the Mother of Mountains, who Consumes, who is the Source. In Her Name I will give birth to myself. The Tricuspid Gate opens. I will be immortal: a Long, favoured of the Grail.'

- The Feast of the True Birth

The standard method of ascension for Grail, like many others, involves the gathering of seven Marks before performing a grand ritual under a specific Hours to pass the Tricuspid Gate and become a Long.[9] They pursue the Grail aspect, discover new pleasures and evolve their body to achieve immortality.

Subversion

'What does not cease will succumb, at last, to temptation.'

- Subvert The Lore Unceasing

In Cultist Simulator, Grail subverts Heart, for the Heart is Blood’s Drum, as life succumbs to hunger and desire [13]. The Thunderskin itself was once a Name of the Red Grail, who orchestrated his sacrifice and ascension in part to challenge the Twins for dominion over the aspect. The Twins also served the Red Grail before growing too powerful.[14]

Grail itself is subverted by Moth. Both aspects have a connection to yearning and desire in some form, though the urges of Moth are often more primal and fundamental than those of Grail. The cycle of subversion also focuses on the dispute regarding who the first god-from-blood is, the Moth or the Red Grail.[15]

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The Hours

'The Grail was the first god-who-was-blood. The Flowermaker came from Light. The Beach-Crow was flesh. Hunger and Greed and Yearning are the matrix of appetite, and here is their secret doctrine....'

- The Devouring Mysteries

• The Red Grail: The first god-from-blood (or so she claims), the Red Grail is the Hour of the birth and the feast, whose hunger can never be sated. It was she who drank the Tide and who now presides over the domain of pleasure and desire.
• The Ring-Yew: The succulent Grail Hour of fertility and rebirth, the Ring-Yew is often at the mercy of her own restlessness and desire. She was loved by the Thunderskin and took part in his sacrifice, though now she is whispered to engage in forbidden couplings with the Mare-in-the-Tree, a god-from-Nowhere.
• The Witch-and-Sister/Sister-and-Witch: The Twins were lovers united even beyond life, who ascended under the Red Grail by drowning themselves before growing too powerful. They are Hours of the moon and the sea, of unity and dissolution. Of their two faces, the Witch is stronger in Grail, and her hunger ensures that they can never be satisfied.
• The Flowermaker: An Hour of intense, self-destructive pleasure, the Flowermaker was born from the “First Sparks of Delight” of the Forge of Days. He represents Grail as a greedy Hour of things too wonderful to bear, tied to drugs, dreams, and intoxicating pleasures.
• The Beachcomber: A voyeur and a thief, the Beachcomber hoards many riches, and many secrets, though he claims his possessions found, not stolen. He is a mischievous Grail Hour of yearning, ever seeking out more treasures to add to his collection.
• The Tide (?): Pleasure, like the sea, is different in every age, and before the Hour of the Grail there was the Hour of the Tide, the god-from-stone who oversaw ancient pleasures that preceded the conscious human soul.

Other Entities and Followers

'I saw the Red Church again last night, with its pews of bone, the stained glass in shades of ruby, the golden altar that beats like a heart. That night the Names of the Grail gathered to speak of those Long who've sworn off the pleasures of the bedchamber - save between man and man, or woman and woman....'

- A Dream of the Red Church

• Ivories, Thirstlies and Lovelies: Names which serve the Red Grail and can be found in the Red Church, where they speak, feast, and birth new desires.[16]
• Ezeem, the Second Thirstly: A Name-emanation of the Grail who has flirted with the Forge, and who can be summoned in Cultist Simulator.[17]
• The Sage-Knight: A Name who’s once dwelled in a Lodge near the White Door before ascending further. He is a Name who apparently “knows the odd Ivory”, implying that he is in the service of the Red Grail himself, or at least associates with her servants.[18][19]
• Raw Prophets/Undergoers: Bewildering creatures of the Red Grail. A Raw Prophet is an alluring, flexible, half-formed tangle of limbs and body parts which desires to consume or be impregnated by mortals and speaks confusing prophecies.[20]
• The Sisterhood of the Knot: An occult order originating in Phrygia which existed in all the Histories and venerated the Ring-Yew, the Horned Axe, and the Red Grail, as well as the Thunderskin. They were a powerful force in several Histories, though they were severely weakened after the War of the Roads.
• Lady Tryphon: A Grail-Long venerated as a Saint by the Sisterhood of the Knot, and who before her ascension was male. She is loved by the Red Grail as well as the Flowermaker, and can be encountered as an enemy Long in the Apostle Obsonate legacy.[12][21]
• Vasil the Fivegoer: The great-grandson of a Raw Prophet, whose inhuman ancestry is hinted by his abnormal flexibility and runny nose. He can be recruited in the Exile Legacy as an ally in Tiflis, where he is also hiding from Reckoners.[22][23][24]

Other Notes

• Grail is counted with Moth and Heart among the Dionysian Principles, associated with passion, instinct, and the Wood.

In-Game Sources

1. Read 'Twenty-Six Enticements, Seven Torments' 2. Read 'A Catalogue of Uncharted Pleasures' 3. The Flowermaker's Shadow 4. Attempting a Seduction 5. Read 'The Devoured Tantra' 6. Desolation 7. The Vision of the Red Cup 8. A Delightful Sacrament 9. ...today's the Hour of the Flowermaker, a greedy power of things too wonderful to bear 10. The Nourishment of Blossoms 11. Saliba, a disciple, EVER AFTER: SALIBA 12. Read 'The Rose of Nuriel' 13. What Does Not Cease Must Eventually Yield 14. Read 'Those Who Do Not Sleep' 15. the Succulent Lore 16. The Red Church (influencegrailg) 17. Summon one of the Name-emanations of the Red Grail, Ezeem, the Second Thirstly 18. The Lodge of the Sage Knight 19. 'Got Your Book...' 20. Summon one of the more bewildering creatures of the Red Grail, Raw Prophet, A Snoozing Undergoer 21. Our Enemy's Identity (tryphon_unknown) 22. Vasil, the Fivegoer 23. Tiflis 24. An Ally

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