Hesh lore?


Recommended Posts

So, lately I've been wondering what the lore is behind Hesh, the jellyfish deity, as well as their cult. It is the primary religion in the world of Griftlands (Havaria?) and I haven't seen much talk about its lore. What is the lore behind the cult and their deity?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh good, I've been looking for an excuse to info dump some Heshie lore:

---WARNING: EXTREME LEVELS OF NERD INCOMING---

A primer

Hesh of the Dark/Sog is the Cult of Hesh's sole deity, its some kind of ancient being that lives in the abyss below the Havarian Sea. It is believed to be the origin of the bio-fuel - Lumin as well as the manipulator of fate. So because of that, the Cult is a major power in Havaria, as they consider Lumin sacred and so control most of it (As for the other countries like Deltree(home of the Admiralty), Rentoria( A northen island nation often opposed to Deltree) and Roaloch(a big floating biomass), idk). It's almost certain the Cult didn't exist before the Vagrant Age(the times where the populations' ancestors first arrived), since Hesh is always referred to as a physical presence located on the planet Griftlands takes place on (does it even have an offical name?).

It's sometimes referred to as a 'Jellyfish' or being tentacled (probably due to events like the Beaching at the Foam), despite this the Cult's official stance on Hesh's shape is unclassified - a stance the majority of the Cult is piously devoted to keeping that way. They quash (sometimes violently) any and all attempts to study Hesh and it's lumin-laced kin, even if it means exterminating swaths of their own to keep Hesh's morphology unknown or nearly sparking civil war with Rentoria because an emissary took a sample of a lumin creature for study . Well that, and it's probably really hard to actually go to the abyss where Hesh supposedly lives. 

The Cult's main texts seem to be The Waterlogged Tomes, a book that covers an vast amount of ways that Hesh can devour you, and more importantly how to prepare for that. I assume this means that the Cult believes in some form of reckoning where Hesh heaves itself out of the ocean and eats every single living thing. The chants and hymns are described as 'deep and gargling' - probably to do with all the water. The highest honour a mortal life can have is to taste good to Hesh, a feat seemingly only accomplished by constant worship, tithes and good personal hygiene. To taste bad is the most blasphemous thing a person can do, so when a Heshie orders you to site all the Tomes or give them money - they're only doing it for the good of your own soul!

I don't recall much mention of a Heshian afterlife, literal hell is mentioned quite a few times in insults, though canonically I'd imagine the characters are actually referring to an in-universe equivalent (the writers probably haven't thought of a cool sounding name for it yet).

The Cult is also apparently at war with the Admiralty, according to Smith.

 

Is it the primary religion?
For Havaria (the continent Griftlands takes place on), it's pretty clear the cult has a grip on it. Probably due to how much the society depends on Lumin to function (I'm assuming everything that glows blue is powered by it). The Derricks (according to Sal) are also ran by the cult, so it'd make sense for most Ik-Derricks to also be followers of them since birth. Smith also says that his parents were Heshies 'only because their neighbours were' so there's a pretty sizeable chunk of the faith that are solely in it for the looks(Most of the luminitiates seem to only work for the Cult for the power the Cult gives... and free drinks, much to Moreef's dismay). A lot of Havarian expletives mention Hesh so it's safe to assume there's a lot of contempt towards the god (or downright disbelief if Nadan calling Hesh 'Sog' is meant to be taken as an insult). Don't get me wrong - the majority do seem to look to Hesh, not necessarily the Cult, for guidance - character bio's like Fanda's (a personal favourite) mention praying to Hesh to help them through tough times (even if those times are making other's worse).

Does it have competition?

It's teased at in Sal's campaign but Rook and Smith's stories both show that the Cult of Hesh has some growing competition when it comes to both the physical and spiritual needs of Havaria.

Spark, the Vagrant Age fuel that the eponymous barons dig up out of the bog is set to be the opposite of Lumin - it's a finite(?) resource compared to the blue bio-fuel but requires a lot less manual labour to extract (if all the in-game ads about it are to be believed) and is much more efficient - e.g. a small group of labourers and robots could probably produce more energy than a bunch of Ik-Derricks on an off-shore rig in the same amount of time. Though unlike Lumin, Spark has no religious meaning, the only reason Spark is being dug up by the barons isn't because it's some holy liquid from an omnipotent god, it's simply because selling that orange energy is more profitable than lumin. I think it's mentioned in a negotiation that selling lumin has extra tariffs on it by the Cult, too. For that reason the Cult deems it as 'heretic fuel' - and so in the areas that they have dominion over (e.g. most of Havaria) having any spark on your person is evidence enough to have you arrested or worse if that Sal opportunity is to be believed. The Barons probably don't care about Lumin, as Spark holds no spiritual significance to them - though I'm pretty sure both them and the Rise see the Cult as completely mad.

The Bog and the Boggers, (Boggerism?) are seemingly the only other religion in Havaria afaik. Like Hesh, the Boggers believe that the Bog is some kind of all-knowing ancient being. I believe the main difference between Hesh and the Bog is that the Bog is everything; the random growths that appear in fights, Rook's final boss - even the parasites, apparently, are all considered to be part of the Bog by the Boggers. Whilst I'm pretty sure that Hesh is one specific entity deep below the Havarian Sea - and the Lumicytes/Krill/Heshbladders are seen as beings 'Blessed by Hesh' by the Cult. This can be seen when Rook gets infected, he attracts Bogger Priests who very clearly want him to keep the infection, while Smith is actively told by the Cult to kill any of the lumin-filled creatures that wash up on the shores of the Foam. According to Rook's story, the bulk of the Boggers are made up of people who got lost in the Deep Bog, like destitute workers and grifters. Sacrifice seems to be a pretty big deal too, 'your spirit will join the Bog' being the main one - so unlike Heshies, Boggers die not to please the Bog - but to join its hivemind? I'm a bit fuzzy on it since some of text used(?) to just call the Bog 'Hesh but on the Land'.
Also?? It seems like Boggers have their source of lumin-like energy too, the green stuff of the Cultivator's Weapons seem to act like the Lumin-laced weaponry that we see everywhere, though it's safe to assume that renewable energy policies aren't on the Boggers' list of priorities. I doubt the rest of Havaria sees it as a major religion since you can't really bring take the Bog outside of it's area.

That's about all I can think of currently, all I ask of Klei is that they eventually add a lore compendium for all this juicy info. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for this post! I will just add that Havaria is a Colony of Deltree, and that Deltree is the seat of power of the Admiralty, but also of the Cult of Hesh (and, not explicitly stated, but probably where Supplicant City is). From the bios of some priests, it sounds like they would rather be in Deltree than in Havaria.

I doubt that the Admiralty and the Cult are at literal war. The Admiralty is presented as the de facto government of Havaria, and might even be the government of Deltree; at the very least, it’s clearly a branch of its armed forces (given its name). The Cult obviously commands a lot of power back in Deltree, which it is projecting into Havaria, but it’s not presented as being its own separate nation. Supplicant city is ruled by the Cult, but that might just be a Vatican analogue. The power the Cult wields seems to come from its resources and number of adherents, with the Admiralty being forced to make concessions to keep the country running (e.g. luminari being allowed to enforce Heshian doctrine in Deltrean territory, despite not being part of the government). So Smith saying that the Admiralty and the Cult are at war likely means a political one, not an armed one; there might still be violence between their enforcers, especially in Havaria with its very limited oversight, but not out in the open.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to the codex, Supplicant City is "An opulent and corrupt city in the far north of Havaria, ruled by the Cult of Hesh". I'm assuming that it means that it is still in Havaria. We also know that Pearl-on-foam is near Supplicant City.

From Cwoki's bio: "You've heard that Cwoki has a collection of trading cards depicting the upper echelon of the Heshian cult—from cardinals to archbishops. Of course, that's the Deltrean side. Unlikely Havarian clergy warrant any mention."

Also, for some reason, the Admiralty annexing Havaria requires the Cult's permission. Not sure how that works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Scrumch said:

So because of that, the Cult is a major power in Havaria, as they consider Lumin sacred and so control most of it (As for the other countries like Deltree(home of the Admiralty), Rentoria( A northen island nation often opposed to Deltree) and Roaloch(a big floating biomass), idk).

It's mention by the Rentorian Diplomat that Smith escorts that The Cult has some followers, but isn't nearly as popular due to them having freedom of religion

13 hours ago, Scrumch said:

The Barons probably don't care about Lumin, as Spark holds no spiritual significance to them - though I'm pretty sure both them and the Rise see the Cult as completely mad.

One event in Sal's story reveals that they have a truce to not deal with each others fuel source. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, RageLeague said:

According to the codex, Supplicant City is "An opulent and corrupt city in the far north of Havaria, ruled by the Cult of Hesh". I'm assuming that it means that it is still in Havaria. We also know that Pearl-on-foam is near Supplicant City.

From Cwoki's bio: "You've heard that Cwoki has a collection of trading cards depicting the upper echelon of the Heshian cult—from cardinals to archbishops. Of course, that's the Deltrean side. Unlikely Havarian clergy warrant any mention."

Also, for some reason, the Admiralty annexing Havaria requires the Cult's permission. Not sure how that works.

Ah, that's interesting! Dellena's bio also suggests that priests have more power in Deltree than in Havaria. Which would be very odd if the Cult was originally from Havaria. On the other hand, it's hard for a young settlement/city to be "opulent". Maybe we're missing bits of lore (e.g. the city existed before the Cult started ruling it), or maybe the devs haven't quite worked everything out yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Please be aware that the content of this thread may be outdated and no longer applicable.