@Leaflord They come out with something to show for it, temporarily at least. But within 6 months or so they find themselves reduced to the stature of thralls. They fade into the background and they become permanent accomplices to future rituals, performed by new acolytes. They are made to pull favors for the venal or corrupt ends of their master.

In many ways it's structured like a ponzi or pyramid scheme, but there's a lot of flexibility that a usual financial scam doesn't offer. For example, people who have done a few variations on these rituals under the supervision of a senior occultist, are then encouraged to start their own mystery cults structured in a similar fashion, but they get to tweak the rituals a little bit. They get to put their own spin on those rituals or make up new ones. Ultimately it creates a web of blackmail and complicity that's obfuscated through layers of occultation; one might demand one of their thralls get a certain thing done on their behalf, but in the end someone three or four steps removed from the original author of the diktat, who has never met or even heard of that author, actually performs it. On top of this, each intermediary layer is free to tweak the message a little bit or add a little bit to it, so that by the time the perpetrator actually gets the command, it comes with so much extra baggage and elaborate bullshit that sussing out the true motive is extremely difficult.

@Doll @Owl @chainsaw_appreciator @FourOh-LLC @MartianM00n @MeBigbrain @Rayfield