Cultists (Darkest Dungeon II)

"Emptiness and disillusion have wormed their way into the world."

- The Academic

Cultists are an enemy faction in Darkest Dungeon II.

Description
Throughout human history, in every religion, every civilization, the cryptic Iron Crown could always be found hidden within their iconography. Little is known about the crown and it's influence upon humanity over the centuries, and perhaps even less is known about the Cult worshiping it. It is believed that some catalytic event took place somewhere deep beneath the earth, kick-starting the apocalypse and setting the cult loose upon the world. Unshackled from the void in-between realities, the cultists poured out from their Cathedral on The Mountain, a structure with an origin as shrouded in mystery as the origins of the Iron Crown irself, and into a world untouched by their malign doctrines. With them came The Stain, a spreading manifestation of the most fierce feeling of Loathing. Armed with weapons of steel forged in the void's darkness, as well as cosmic powers incomprehensible to the human mind, the Cult assists in spreading the sprawling corruption, cutting down all who would stand before their unholy crusade of global obliteration.

Whether by their own design or because of some esoteric force imposed onto them by the world they now are attempting to conquer, most of the cultists have adopted a humanoid shape, save for a few that have weirder, much more unsettling forms.

The Cultists will be encountered at the Oblivion's Ingress nodes, areas of the world where the cultists have claimed dominion. These fights however are optional, and may be avoided during the heroes' quest to deliver The Flame to the Mountain. However the Cultists will not simply let heretics interfere with their cosmic machinations; before each Inn, increasingly stronger parties of Cultists will bar the way for the heroes at the Oblivion's Rampart. If the heroes are to complete their quest, they will have to push trough these foes. At the base of the mountain, before the very last inn, the heroes will have to face the strongest of the cultists, the revered Exemplar, a construct of flesh and pure cosmic energy, built from the Stain itself; Loathing Made Manifest. Fortunately, the creature is uncapable of fully coming into this world, and so it is confined to the base of the mountain, where the veil between worlds is thin enough for The Exemplar to step trough. However should the heroes let the Stain spread and the Loathing grow, the hulking horror will find a way to break trough the fragile barrier between it's world and ours, and ambush the heroes wherever they may be.

Cultists
The following is a list of all Cultist enemies in the game:
 * Altar
 * Cardinal
 * Cherub
 * Deacon
 * Evangelist
 * Exemplar
 * Herald