Occulus Occult (Cult)

See also: Occulus Occult (Disambiguation)

The Occulus Occult is one of several organisations throughout the Occulus Verse. It is the cult that the story is named for. The Occulus' followers are simply called Occultists. The Occulus is split into twenty-two different groups each named for a card from the Major Arcana, and their leader is known as the High Lord or Eye of Lords. Their influence of the story starts from the beginning, and doesn't end until The Odal Collective. The cult is illusive, and its headquarters have never been known, and only its Temples are known. The Occulus itself is shrouded in mystery, and the members have a reputation of appearing to deliver prophecies. Some believe that the Occulus' members have the ability to time travel - hence their accurate prophecies and even reports of Occultists being spotted in times before the Occulus was founded.

History
The Occulus Occult was founded by Megatron on the 26th of Nebularise, 11.663 A/D. Megatron was the Occulus' first - and some regard him as the only true - High Lord. The reasoning for the Occult's founding is because Megatron had become obsessed with the story of Unicron and his lust for power over the universe and all the beings living within it - and by this point, Megatron had a gathering of friends who believed in the same things he did, so he at a ripe young age, created the Occulus.

The first Temple of the Occulus was in the Plateau of Dreams, in the Iacon Central. It was a small warehouse building that, after leaving the Grand Palace, Megatron had bought and converted into the first known Temple of the Occulus, after which it was called the Plateau of Dreams. By this point, many devotees to Unicron had joined the Occult.

After this point, Megatron had decided to use this to his advantage. His lust for power was no longer just a devotion to a god of chaos, but now plans for revolting and taking Cybertron and later the universe for himself. This obsession had made Optimus quite distressed, but he couldn't convince Megatron to snap out of his mad obsession.

After the adoption of Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp however, Megatron's downhill spiral to tyranny was slowed with the distraction of raising children. However, he still plotted how he was going to take Cybertron. Optimus believed that he had his lover back - but, he was so wrong. Once the boys had turned four, they found Bumblebee - but he wasn't going to distract Megatron.

Afterwards, the Occulus Occult split into an infamous face of the Cybertronian War - the Decepticons. After this, what remains of the Occult vanishes into obscurity. They were considered to be disbanded by Megatron after moving into Kolkular and buying a massive manor that overlooked the mire, carved from black stone. This manor will later be known as the Black Palace. Here was where the Decepticons made their home. The Occulus was never seen again, until...

Initiations
The initiation of the Occulus is a long, drawn-out process. New members are required to sit up to their chins in a bath of blessed water mixed with bloodshroom oil, and leaves from the Cybertronian Great Ash and caps from bloodshrooms filled with finely-pasted herbs and oils. The new member is required to sit in this bath for as long as an hour whilst in deep meditation. Some report being given some of the herb mix in the caps of the bloodshrooms in order to stimulate visualisation and energy. Dark Energon salt is sprinkled in the bath and over the head of the new member.

Afterwards, they are required to sit in a room on a small stone platform surrounded by red-hot coals. In the four cardinal directions, there are plates of (in the North) Great Tree incense, (in the South) dried volucite seaweed, (in the East) dried bloodvines and (in the West) dried water cactus flesh. The incense is wafted over the new member while older members chant hymns to Unicron over them.

The final rite is done solo - it's a devotion to Unicron, which involves three long hours of prayer under a statue of the god with a crystal wand of Dark Energon wrapped in Tree leaves (save for the tip). After their initiation, the member must learn how to tap into prophetic dreams and even manually create them. Divination is one of the first thing an Occulus member learns. They are also given a tattoo of the Occulus' symbol on their foreheads, with the base of the tear on the tip of the nose and the eye in the middle of the forehead.

Worship
Worship started with the chaos god, Unicron. Worship involved chanting and hymns sung in harmony before a statue of the god and leaving offerings before the statue of the god. Everyone uses their Dark Energon wands in these rituals, pressing the tips into the middle of the eyes drawn on their foreheads. They spread bloodshroom oil infused with Dark Energon salt over their mark, and down their chests and arms in light, sweeping motions and patterns. Some rituals involve members all at once yelling out their requests to the god. Private worship involves sitting with the tip of their crystal wands to their mark and praying silently.

After the worship of Unicron was no longer performed (see: Unicron Worship is No Longer Cool) the Occulus worshipped Optimus as their god. Worship of the Prime was far different than Unicron's, but borrowed some elements of their original worships. Rituals dedicated to Optimus first started as kneeling on the left knee with the arms crossed and the hands over the shoulders before the statue of the Prime. Dark Energon wands were replaced by red volucite crystals, one wand and four smaller stones, with the tip of the wand facing towards the worshipper, the four stones arranged either side of the wands with an inch between them and the wand. Dark Energon infused oil was swapped for cyberfruit juice with blue Energon crystals. Worship of the Prime in private is performed by the worshipper resting one hand against their marking and the other over their chest. After Occulus Occult, worship of the Prime included images of boars, lions, gorillas, atlas moths and the usage of hyacinth flowers. The symbol of the Occulus was also changed.

Sacred Books
(See also: The Book of Alpha Trion)

The Occulus only has one sacred book that is known - the Book of Alpha Trion, which the seers of the Occulus have expanded and built on in Words of The Beyond, which is the name given to the chapters the Occulus wrote.

The Major Arcana
The Major Arcana is the name given to the people who lead the Occulus' different organisations. They are structured and named for the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana. Each and every character reflects the card in which they represent in some way.

The Fool
(See also: Bloodmoon)

The Fool (0) is one of the 78 tarot cards of the Raider-Waite tarot (Standard tarot). This trump card is normally not given a number. It represents new beginnings, faith in the future, beginner's luck, believing in the universe, improvisation, lack of experience and surprises. When upright, the card represents beginnings, innocence, originality, leaps of faith and spirituality. When downright, it represents folly, chaos, lack of direction, naivety, poor decisions and judgement, and stupidity. It is ruled by the element air and the planet Uranus.

The Fool as an Occultist is overly-optimistic. They're inexperienced in many things yet despite this have a tendency to quickly master things that they're interested in. Their constant leaps of faith are a danger to themselves and everyone around them at times, and they tend to bring forth chaos when they're around because of their lack of a sense of danger. They're well meaning, but have a tendency to be a weight to their companions or just a nuisance.

The Magician
(See also: Flameblade)

The Magician (1)

The High Priestess
(See also: Moonclipper)

The Emperor
(See also: Ares)

The Empress
(See also: Aphrodite)

The Hierophant
(See also: Crazy Diamond)

The Lovers
(See also: Chromedome & Rewind)

The Chariot
(See also: Silversword)

Strength
(See also: Brutus)

The Hermit
(See also: Sparrowhawk)

The Wheel of Fortune
(See also: Redrum)

Justice
(See also: Tyche)

The Hanged Man
(See also: Mirrorman)

Death
(See also: Hades)

Temperance
(See also: Dion)

The Devil
(See also: Baphomet)

The Tower
(See also: Beetlebark)

The Star
(See also: Hope Diamond)

Judgement
(See also: Rubyshard)

The World
(See Also: Unicron, Optimus Prime)

The Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana is split into four groups based off of the different suits of the Minor Arcana. There are four people who represent the respective Arcanas.

Trivia

 * Occulus Occult is named for an album by GHOST DATA.