• Published 11th Jan 2019
  • 796 Views, 28 Comments

FiSA: Side Stories and Notes - Cordial Nova



Vignettes from elsewhere in the Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced universe

  • ...
0
 28
 796

12 Strange Cults

Possibly the strangest of the various solar cults on Equus is the cult of Celestia Clementia, i.e., "the Merciful".

That's because it's not a pony cult. It's a griffon cult, arising after the Great Griffon War of 1194 Y. H. (in which the griffons were repelled from Trottingham and driven back beyond their own borders by the open use of weaponized sunfire), on the basic principle of "please, please don't incinerate any more of us or reduce anything else to sheets of glowing glass; we're so very, very, very sorry and will never, ever do anything like it again". Adherents to the cult eat as close to a vegetarian diet as griffons can manage, are excruciatingly-to-the-point-of-creepifyingly polite and helpful to any ponies they may meet, and engage in lengthy propitiatory rituals of apology.

(The majority of the griffon population finds them tremendously embarrassing. In fact, the only person who finds them more embarrassing is Princess Celestia herself, although there's very little she can actually do about the situation - beyond discouraging rather terminally an early offshoot that was well on the way to inventing stepped pyramids and certain types of sacrifice traditionally done atop stepped pyramids.

Still, at least they're not as uncomfortable as the cults of Celestia Invicta in Trottingham that worship her in her aspect of "She Who Strikes Down Our Enemies With Righteous Fire". Not only is it an aspect that she'd prefer to minimize, but this time, it's right here in Equestria.)

Comments ( 2 )

You rain fire down upon the deserving one time...

9708244

I suppose I should have expected you'd already had something thought out given how intricate the rest of setting is. Glad to see breadcrumbs of background and detail still being added here and there.

Login or register to comment