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Cultist Expansion: Deathbell Lily

The Deathbell Lily is now included in a combined mod collection entitled Alshua's Cultists.

Only a diseased mind would find Nurgle's Garden beautiful. Swamps of liquid plague bubble as corrosive mists pass overhead, and swarms of flies descend on any visitor, their black bodies bloated with sickness. But in that realm of decay and oozing, a white flower grows, flourishing in the putrid muck. Though its appearance is otherworldly, it is lovely to mortals and Nurglish alike.

It has an even stranger property: whenever a person dies of illness, wherever they may be, the lilies emit a lovely chime. During a fierce plague, a field of these lilies will seem to play the soft, ethereal music that grants them their name: Deathbell.

No one knows how the lilies first arrived in the Mortal Realms. They die quickly in good clean soil, or even manure, so they have not spread far, gaining a foothold only in fever-ridden bogs and amidst the stench of mass graves. Those who recognize them know to burn them. Those who do not tend to gaze a while, draw close their cloak against the goosebumps on their skin, and move on.

But for a few, vulnerable humans, the lilies can become an obsession. The world is a dark place, slipping ever further towards ruin. To those who have come to believe that decay is inevitable, the lily promises gentleness at the end. Gardeners, farmers, and herbalists seem vulnerable to the flower's allure, or perhaps they simply possess the skill necessary to cultivate the frail flower here in the Mortal Realms. The lily itself seems harmless, causing its gardeners no physical illness. But once a gardener succeeds in growing one, no other goal seems worthy. From that moment, their labors will never cease.

They will begin by seeking the foulest places in the land in hopes of growing more lilies. And when they realize how few suitable garden locations exist... they will seek to create the corruption that their flowers need to live.

(Note: The Deathbell Lily Fields are a part of Warhammer lore. However, the concept of a cult devoted to spreading the flowers is original to this mod.)

The visual design of the Deathbell Lily Cultists is rustic and rugged. They are wandering gardeners, wearing patched sackcloth bound with ropes, dressed in the manner of destitute peasant women. They carry various gardening tools, both as accessories and as weapons. Their Warshrine is converted into a sort of mobile garden, with large trough of filth as a planter for a prize Deathbell Lily plant.

In real life, the lily is a symbol of purity rising from corruption, and in terms of appearance, the Cultists are relatively uncorrupt. I wanted to create a Cultist that captured the horror of a relatively normal peasant woman, whose mottled skin draws little attention as she travels, until she draws back her hood and you see that she is not simply sickly, but has something very wrong with her. Nurgle Cultists are not always visibly falling apart with disease; now we have one that could believably wander through human lands causing trouble.

Almost 200 new names are available for this Hero, since Nurgle did not previously have any female names at all. Some are related to plants or flowers, some sound pretty but are actually disease-related, and others are seemingly innocuous. All are intended to feel immersive and avoid breaking lore. To represent those who have adopted Nurglish names, some will still spawn with daemonic names.

My previous Cultist Heroes were extremely similar to their vanilla counterparts. In order to embody the concept of a cult based around an unholy flower, I have used more creative designs for this Cultist's abilities, but my goal is still to release a Hero that will not unbalance your game.

This Cultist has the same number of skills as the Cultist of Nurgle, so every new ability she has comes at the cost of an old one. Overall, she is considerably weaker offensively than the default Cultist, in exchange for new Fatigue-supporting abilities. This mod does not grant any more heroes than usual (except for Festus); it just gives you another option.

The Deathbell Lily Cultist must choose between Chaos Furies of Nurgle and Plague Toads for her first Summoned daemons. The Furies are a little weaker in combat, but lack the initial cooldown added to Cultist Summoning in Immortal Empires, so they are a good option if you dislike that change. For her Greater Summon, she gets the brand new Deathbell Unclean Ones. These are Greater Daemons who laze around in the Deathbell Fields gorging themselves on lilies all day, until the pigment from the petals stains their green flesh almost white.

The Cultist of Nurgle is renamed "Bubonic Cultist," to distinguish him from his new sisters-in-arms. He has also been given the option of summoning Chaos Furies of Nurgle instead of Plaguebearers, so he gets a choice as well. No other changes have been made to him.

This mod makes both the Deathbell Lily and Bubonic Cultists available to Festus. Though giving him access to a new Hero type will make him stronger, I think lore demands it: Festus himself is arguably a top-rank Cultist!

I appreciate all the support, comments, and occasional bug reports from everyone. Special shoutout also to Prop Joe's mods and Snek's Greenscreen mod for saving me time.