(cw for discussions of cult/religious abuse, child abuse and neglect, cannibalism)
Lamb was born across the sea, far away from the Lands of the Old Faith. Yet, even there, emissaries of the Old Faith ruthlessly hunted down and eliminated any sheep they could find. Its original herd was among the last.

High in the mountains, the Cult of Six Horns made their home. Their religious icon was a fossilized ancient skull with many horns, which they prayed to to deliver them from the Old Faith. Many among them were Jacob Sheep, and due to their icon, more than two horns was considered the most holy. Rams that had six were cast into leadership roles, and ewes with four horns were considered the most beautiful. In an extremely misguided and doomed effort to preserve their species, the cult had a rather eugenics-driven bent and grouped members into "The Right" who were deemed of suitable quality to breed, and "The Wrong", who were slaughtered young to provide food. The mountain was not forgiving with its soils, and farming could not totally fill the flock's needs.

The Right were further divided into groups to perform the Six Sacred Toils. The Toil of Wood, the Toil of Stone, The Toil of Fire, The Toil of Soil, The Toil of Flesh, and The Toil of Leadership. The cult was thus a bleak and desperate place, insular and aggressive towards strangers. Life was a simple, dreary rhythm of wake, pray, work, sleep. And yet, fear of the Old Faith kept most from leaving. It was in this cult Lamb was born Wrong, and learned that her sacred duty, her reason for existing, was to one day kneel for slaughter. It was, Lamb was told, a sin for her kin to grant her mercy and spare her a life spent Wrong. Yet, as the most faithful of the flock, the Eldest Ram was in charge of the Sin of Mercy, taking a stain on their own soul so that a soul might be freed a life of pain. They just wanted to excuse the cannibalism tbqh

Noanon (said like Noah-on) was the eldest of the lead rams at the time, and was Lamb's biological father. (Though she was never made aware of this fact.) He was the sort of ram who, even had he not grown up in a cult as the blood of his kind soaked the ground, would have never been a kind person. Always harsh, always critical, and utterly convinced of his own worth. Things ran like clockwork once he rose to power, and woe upon any unfortunate sheep who jammed the gears of that clock. The other five lead rams dared voice no opposition on the rare occasions they disagreed with him. There was a cruel, distant sort of fondness for those lambs born of his blood, as each one brought prestige and further proved his worth. Lamb's birth was received with distaste and injured pride. An ewe was acceptable with two horns, stereotyped as willful with three, beautiful with four, and odd with five, but he had produced a six-horned daughter. Something rare, and rather than viewing the trait as special, he viewed it as an aberration. A punishment for a lapse in faith, perhaps? Even with the insult to his pride, out of practicality and lack of workers, he attempted to salvage the situation. The middle horn bud on one side was poked with a hot iron in an effort to stop it growing. A five-horned ewe was acceptable. A five-horned ewe was Right, something to be proud of. It didn't work, maiming the horn to grow slowly and with a flat end, marking Lamb as wrong. But still, six horns were sacred, and they lacked workers. Mountain life was harsh, and too often abruptly ended. It was decided Lamb would rotate between the toils, save Leadership, and be of value that way until the day she was to experience mercy.

Seven years after her birth, Lamb awoke late one day, and in her panic, forgot which Toil she had been assigned. She then remembered she had to attend prayer first, and ran to the valley where prayer took place. However, she tripped upon a pebble, and accidentally caused a landslide which entirely wiped out the cult, leaving only Lamb. Upon finding body parts poking from the ground, she assumed it was the day she was supposed to do The Toil of Meat, and set about butchering what she could pull from the stone. Noanon had lived, though with a crushed spine at the waist, and had clawed his way up. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉stupid mother fucker told Lamb one time that it's ok to do the Sin of Mercy yourself if you're around someone who is painfully dying she drops a big rock right on his bitchass head *that really jazzy part of death by glamour*🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

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Surprise mother fucker there's lore in the post

I like how in cult of the lamb, Lamb is instantly so damn banger at leading a cult. Like is narinder doing some kinda duolingo but it's duogodo or smth cause like, y'know?

But when I started making cotl content, I wanted to have a reason for certain behaviors of my Lamb n why she knows how to cult