The Gorging-Shrew

The Gorging-Shrew
"The world's a feast if you know where to look!"
Origin	Flesh
Titles	The Hero-Rat, The Wandering Eye, The Hour-Among-Men
Names	Bonemeal
Aspects
Date of arrival	During the First Contact War
Owner(s)	Coryn02

Description

The Gorging-Shrew, if asked, would call himself many things: barterer, glutton, trickster. But above all else, he feels a strong affinity for mortals. He is a New God born of equal parts deception, yearning, and caution. The Gorging-Shrew ignores the open conflict between the Second City and the Wild Gods, preferring to sate his appetites with theft and corpses.

Having no taste for bloodshed, the Gorging-Shrew seeks to enjoy immortality to the greatest extent he can, regularly walking the Mansus in human form and taking full part in all hedonism the Second City has to offer. Despite his seeming lack of ambition, he is crafty and manipulative, always seeking to forge alliances and ensure he is never too closely aligned with either faction in the War that Ever Rages.

History

The Template manifested from the Glory's old grandma and guides all aspirants since that day. (to be updated soon)

Appearance

It is far too menacing to look at. (to be updated soon)

Principles

The Gorging-Shrew is an Hour of diplomacy, mischief, travelers, and elusion.

Worship

Due to his roaming habits, the Gorging-Shrew rarely suffers to stay in one place for very long. Communal worship of the Gorging-Shrew is uncommon at best. Thus, smaller shrines dedicated to his Name are built along paths in the Contested Zone, called Burrows. Each of these has only been discovered by Frontiersmen in a great time of need, very often pursued by their enemies. What they see is a small room dug out of the dirt, with a table garnished like a king's feast. Offering rest and succor to those in peril, even if their enemies also enter the Burrow, they find themselves strangely unwilling to do violence to their quarry. Even those who do not actively worship the Gorging-Shrew consider it good manners to leave a trinket of some sort as an offering to him, as thanks for his aid.

The Gorging-Shrew is also popular among members of the Brokerage. It has long been speculated whether or not the Brokerage's survival of the fall of the First City was due to the Gorging-Shrew's help. In more recent Histories, this Hour has lent power to silver-tongues and extortionists who help satisfy his more peculiar cravings. A select few of these occultists publish disturbingly acclaimed cookbooks on the preparation of corpses in food-stuffs; these few titles forever cemented the reputation of the Gorging-Shrew's tastes as unbecoming in some cases, and depraved at worst.

Mark

1. Temptation: Phrase: I see glimmers of pleasures and treasures long thought lost.
2. Dedication: Phrase: I will dedicate myself to the Gorging-Shrew, who covets and embraces the night.
3. Ascension: Phrase: My eyes change colors when I blink now. I've gained an irresistible urge to pick the pockets of everyone who passes by. I know this to be the Third Mark.
4. Ascension: Phrase: I can now look and sound like anyone I've met. My body grows sickly if I do not taste something new every night. I know this to be the Fourth Mark.
5. Ascension: Phrase: I've acquired a taste for corpses, now. I am beginning to forget my original body's shape. I know this to be the Fifth Mark.
6. Ascension: Phrase: My appetites are monstrous, in both proportion and kind. I could charm, cheat, and replace anyone I wished. Now, I must only await the assistance of the Gorging-Shrew to ascend further.
7. A Thief in the Night: (to be completed later)

Spirits

Raucous Filch

Raucous Filch

'Beyond the War That Ever Rages, birds such as these gather on hanging-trees, warbling mad dirges to those bygone.'

8

8

8

Summon a crafty servant of the Gorging-Shrew

These avian spirits are drawn to hidden things. Moth to rival its curiosity, and a whispered secret to lure it beyond the Second City.

Constantly trailing black-and-white feathers wherever it goes, the creature screeches and sings whenever it's in sunlight.

2

6

2

Names

Bonemeal

Bonemeal

'"Every meal can use a bit of spice. Good thing you called on me, then. Unless you've something else in mind? Make it worth my time."'

12

12

12

Summon a Name-Ascendant of the Gorging-Shrew

Darling's Delight calls on both a corpse, and a significant intensity of Grail. Once he has been sufficiently lured, Knock will bind Bonemeal to our designs.

He takes the form of an elderly man — well-dressed with a glowering gaze beneath his withered face; He awaits instruction with mildly irritated reluctance.

5

12

3

Locations

The Mansus

The Jouvence Bistro

Whenever he isn't romping around in the Contested Zone, the Gorging-Shrew will masquerade as one of the patrons of Bonemeal's restaurant in the Second City. Despite the efforts of both the Suppression Bureau and nosy occultists, none have been able to conclusively identify any one patron which could be him, unless he has introduced himself as such personally. Any fool who attempts to reveal his presence will usually suffer a temporary bout of madness, leading to their expulsion from the bistro.

Many exotic dishes can be sampled at the Jouvence, the costliest of which include both Influences and Mansus-spirits as ingredients. Anyone is free to try these foods at their own peril, but it is generally only Grail-Touched who successfully retain both their meals and their minds after a meal there. Whenever his master is away, Bonemeal continues the run the bistro largely on his own, though his efficiency and speed make it difficult to believe that the food isn't simply being conjured from Nowhere.

The Histories

The year was 285124 and the template did a thing that was important.

Items

Tools

• Everlasting Dish
  • Description: A silver platter which refills endlessly with sweets. You grow ferociously hungry just by seeing them.
  • Aspects: 12

Ingredients

• The Template's Brain Juice
  • Aspects: 1 1

Influences

• A Chill in the Hair (Don't get too greedy with these. Stick to one or two max)
  • Aspect: 71

Books

• Cuisiner aux Corps
  • Description: A French text by Frederic Delannoy. It contains various recipes on culinary preparations possible with putrefying human corpses. Despite ongoing censorship in four Histories, the author announced a sequel before his disappearance in 1779.
  • Start Text: Delannoy's gruesome imagery pairs nicely with his exacting instructions on the stages of decay in the body, as well as where to go looking for other ingredients.
  • End Text: The crowning glory of Delannoy's work, Darling's Delight, is the final recipe. The addendum includes a rite developed in his youth, specifically to perfect it.
  • Gives: Formulae Voluptuous, Rite of the Drowning Feast, Fascination

Rites

• Making of the Hours
  • Description: Ancient ritual conceived by the spooky boys of Uh-Shekel.
  • Requires: Rites are the more unique bits of Cultist Simulator. They may require tools, objects, lores, living beings, and so on. Some of the items used for the rite may be destroyed, and proper aspects are needed. Do specify all the details!
  • Gives: Glorious boons. From summoning to spawning items to other beneficial effects.

Relationships

• Madame Munchy: The Gorging-Shrew and Madame Munchy both share a fondness for strange foods, and work together to conspire larger plots within the War that Ever Rages. Most especially, She provides gateways for the Gorging-Shrew's wanderlust, and can bring physical force to bear if his evasive tactics fall through.
• The Boatman: Despite some surface tension and an existence starkly defined by opposition to the Wild Gods, the Boatman and the Gorging-Shrew get along relatively well. The Shrew's gluttonous attitudes and taste for corpses prevent The Boatman from retrieving their memories, and is unwilling to offer any memory of his own as payment to enter the city. To compensate, the River-Maker imposes a different entry fee: retrieve lost memories from deeper within the Mansus. The Gorging-Shrew is more than happy to work for his visits to the Second City.
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Secrets

• The Template is actually the second coming of Big Clive and your life is a lie.
• It also never liked cookies.
• And it writes steamy fanfics.

* True Form