Cult of the Unwritten Book
Encyclopedia
The Cult of the Unwritten Book is a fiction
al cult
/supervillain
group created by DC Comics
which first appeared in Doom Patrol
(vol.2) #31 (April 1989).
town
destroyed years ago although the cult is over two-thousand years old.
There was never a given reason for the cult's wish to destroy the world, although most believe that they saw physical manifestation
was corrupted. Their goal was to summon forth a being called the Decreator as a means to destroy everything, but to do so they had to wait for the Book of the Fifth Window to be born. The Book is a special child born with his skin almost completely tattoo
ed in an unknown language. The cult planned to decipher
the tattooing on the child's skin to reveal the name of the Decreator and summon it to the world. To find the child in the real world, the cult enters our world through a cut that magic
ally appears on a person. The cut will continue to grow on the person until they are all cut.
The Book of the Fifth Window had been born about fifteen years ago, the child's parents were recruited
into the cult when the child ran away. After turning fifteen, the cult managed to track him down in Barcelona
, Spain
; catching the attention of the Doom Patrol
and self-said expert on the occult
, Willoughby Kipling
. The DP was unsuccessful in protecting the Book, which was read and revealed the Decreator into life. Doom Patrol member Cliff Steele however, had managed to infiltrate Nùrnheim through the cut placed on unfortunate victim Emilio Cuervo. Nùrnheim was hiding in a snow globe
.
The Decreator started to erase things from existence slowly at first, giving Kipling and DP member Crazy Jane
enough time to slow it down. Jane, or rather Jane's alternate persona Lucy Fugue, explained that the Decreator was nothing more than a vibration
, a wavelength
, created by God
. Using the famous Sagrada Família
as a spiritual
tuning fork
and a method of occult geometry
, Jane sent out an opposing vibration which slowed down the Decreator so much that the speed of things disappearing wouldn't be noticed. Ironically, Nùrnheim itself was decreated at the last second but not before Cliff and the Book escaped. The Cult hasn't made any appearances as of yet.
to the Egyptians
, and the Eye of Shiva
to Hindu
s. It is the equal, opposite, and shadow
of God created when God uttered "Let there be light
!", making it the first shadow and the first instance of darkness
in the world. It initially appeared as a giant, bloodshot eye in the sky. When it appears it makes the sky around break into pieces and the stars surrounding it blink out. It starts decreating slowly, first word
s, then book
s, then shelves, then libraries, etc. It was believed to be unstoppable and it possibly is, but it is possible to slow it down long enough for no one to notice what was going on. An entity of powers born out of the true, ultimate darkness, was born at the very same moment, and it came to be known as the Great Evil Beast
or the Ultimate Darkness.
, even inside a snow globe, but it can disappear to somewhere else if discovered.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
/supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
group created by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
which first appeared in Doom Patrol
Doom Patrol
The Doom Patrol is a superhero team appearing in publications from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80...
(vol.2) #31 (April 1989).
History
The cult itself is centered in Nùrnheim, a GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
destroyed years ago although the cult is over two-thousand years old.
There was never a given reason for the cult's wish to destroy the world, although most believe that they saw physical manifestation
Malevolent Creation
Malevolent Creation is a death metal band originally hailing from Buffalo, New York. Moving to Florida in 1987, they became a part of the emergent local death metal scene, landing a deal with Roadrunner Records...
was corrupted. Their goal was to summon forth a being called the Decreator as a means to destroy everything, but to do so they had to wait for the Book of the Fifth Window to be born. The Book is a special child born with his skin almost completely tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
ed in an unknown language. The cult planned to decipher
DECIPHER
DECIPHER is a web-based resource and database of array comparative genomic hybridization data from analysis of patient DNA. It documents submicroscopic chromosome abnormalities, including microdeletions and duplications, from over 6000 patients and maps them to the human genome using the Ensembl...
the tattooing on the child's skin to reveal the name of the Decreator and summon it to the world. To find the child in the real world, the cult enters our world through a cut that magic
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
ally appears on a person. The cut will continue to grow on the person until they are all cut.
The Book of the Fifth Window had been born about fifteen years ago, the child's parents were recruited
Recruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...
into the cult when the child ran away. After turning fifteen, the cult managed to track him down in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
; catching the attention of the Doom Patrol
Doom Patrol
The Doom Patrol is a superhero team appearing in publications from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80...
and self-said expert on the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, Willoughby Kipling
Willoughby Kipling
Willoughby Kipling is a fictional character in the DC Comics and Vertigo Comics universe, created by Grant Morrison.-Publication history:Kipling appeared mostly in Doom Patrol, helping the team against various threats, such as the Cult of the Unwritten Book and the Candlemaker...
. The DP was unsuccessful in protecting the Book, which was read and revealed the Decreator into life. Doom Patrol member Cliff Steele however, had managed to infiltrate Nùrnheim through the cut placed on unfortunate victim Emilio Cuervo. Nùrnheim was hiding in a snow globe
Snow globe
A snow globe is a transparent sphere, usually made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a landscape. The sphere also encloses the water in the globe; the water serves as the medium through which the "snow" falls. To activate the snow, the globe is...
.
The Decreator started to erase things from existence slowly at first, giving Kipling and DP member Crazy Jane
Crazy Jane
Crazy Jane is a fictional character created by Grant Morrison and Richard Case for their work on the Vertigo Comics version of the Doom Patrol...
enough time to slow it down. Jane, or rather Jane's alternate persona Lucy Fugue, explained that the Decreator was nothing more than a vibration
Vibration
Vibration refers to mechanical oscillations about an equilibrium point. The oscillations may be periodic such as the motion of a pendulum or random such as the movement of a tire on a gravel road.Vibration is occasionally "desirable"...
, a wavelength
Wavelength
In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
, created by God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. Using the famous Sagrada Família
Sagrada Familia
The ' , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí...
as a spiritual
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
tuning fork
Tuning fork
A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal . It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone after waiting a...
and a method of occult geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
, Jane sent out an opposing vibration which slowed down the Decreator so much that the speed of things disappearing wouldn't be noticed. Ironically, Nùrnheim itself was decreated at the last second but not before Cliff and the Book escaped. The Cult hasn't made any appearances as of yet.
The Decreator
The Decreator went by a number of names, such as the Antigod, the Unmaker, the Eye of HorusEye of Horus
The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet...
to the Egyptians
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
, and the Eye of Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
to Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s. It is the equal, opposite, and shadow
Shadow
A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the...
of God created when God uttered "Let there be light
Let there be light
"Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew יְהִי אוֹר . Other translations of the same phrase include the Latin phrase fiat lux, and the Greek phrase γενηθήτω φῶς . The phrase is often used for its metaphorical meaning of dispelling ignorance.The phrase comes from the third verse...
!", making it the first shadow and the first instance of darkness
Darkness
Darkness, in contrast with brightness, is a relative absence of visible light. It is the appearance of black in a color space. When light is not present, rod and cone cells within the eye are not stimulated. This lack of stimulation means photoreceptor cells are unable to distinguish color...
in the world. It initially appeared as a giant, bloodshot eye in the sky. When it appears it makes the sky around break into pieces and the stars surrounding it blink out. It starts decreating slowly, first word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s, then book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, then shelves, then libraries, etc. It was believed to be unstoppable and it possibly is, but it is possible to slow it down long enough for no one to notice what was going on. An entity of powers born out of the true, ultimate darkness, was born at the very same moment, and it came to be known as the Great Evil Beast
Great Evil Beast
The Great Evil Beast, also known as The Great Darkness or The Ultimate Darkness, is a powerful cosmic entity that appeared in the DC Comics Swamp Thing storyline, "American Gothic."-Fictional character biography:...
or the Ultimate Darkness.
Agents of the Cult
The Agents of the Cult are described as very odd and very terrifying by some. The list of the cult agents go as followed:- Fear the Sky: A group of assassinAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
s who dress in identical brown suits with identical pocket watchPocket watchA pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
es and identical blood stains on their shoulders. The difference is that they have stellarStarA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
objects for heads. They wield sickleSickleA sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...
s as weapons. Their killing method is called "The Question That Dare Not Be Asked" meaning that if you don't give an answer as they draw their weapons, they will kill you (for added effect, the sickles are shaped like question markQuestion markThe question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
s). They were absorbed into a book of children's verseChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. - Dry Bachelors: Created from dead skin and love letterLove letterA love letter is a romantic way to express feelings of love in written form. Delivered by hand, by mail or romantically left in a secret location, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation of feelings...
s taken from romances that turned sour, they carry around hammerHammerA hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
s and exclamatory markExclamation markThe exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
balloonBalloonA balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...
s. They aren't polite. - Mystery Kites: KiteKiteA kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
s made of the skin and bones of murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
victims powered by poor soulSoulA soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
s captured by the cult. They can detect heartbeats. - The Never-Never Boys: Wynken, Blynken, and NodWynken, Blynken, and Nod"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" is a popular poem for children written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889. The original title was Dutch Lullaby....
are three scouts for the cult. They appear as children on tricycleTricycleA tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school-age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for...
s with gas maskGas maskA gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
s. When they ride over people, the people become shadows. - Needle Children: Beings who can't be seen through glass who were terrorizing an old-folks homeNursing homeA nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
. - HiroshimaHiroshimais the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
Shadows: Floating white outlines of people which mumble in JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. - Pale Police: Assassins who wear helmets with their target's thumbprint smeared on it, thinking once they kill their victims their souls will be trapped inside the maze of their own thumbprints. They talk in anagramAnagramAn anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
s and have bad body odorBody odorBody odor or body odour, sometimes colloquially abbreviated as B.O., is the smell of bacteria growing on the body. The bacteria multiply rapidly in the presence of sweat, but sweat itself is almost completely odorless to humans....
. - Whispering Jack: A ghostly being who haunts the houses of unmarried women, whispering ingredients for unholy recipes.
- Weeping Blades: BeheadedDecapitationDecapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
and skinnedFlayingFlaying is the removal of skin from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact.-Scope:An animal may be flayed in preparation for human consumption, or for its hide or fur; this is more commonly called skinning....
bodies whose heads are replaced with bladeBladeA blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...
s. They graffitiGraffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
odd sloganSloganA slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
s. - Little Sisters of Our Lady of the Razor: Children drawn from the cult who want eternalEternityWhile in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existence for a limitless amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside time. By contrast, infinite temporal existence is then called sempiternity. Something eternal exists outside time; by contrast,...
youthYouthYouth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
. They are operated onSurgerySurgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
to stay young; unfortunately, this requires painful mutilationMutilationMutilation or maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body, usually without causing death.- Usage :...
. By the time they realize that being kids forever isn't all that great, there is nothing they can do; hence, they decide to take the pain out on others with their razorRazorA razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....
blades. - The Hoodmen: Hoodman Blind and Hoodman Shame live in Nùrnheim. Whenever a person can't remember the word on the tip of their tongue is because the Hoodmen have eaten it and converted it into energy. They dress like pseudo-style Klansmen and have squeaky voices.
- Starving Skins: Skins kept together by baby pinsSafety pinA safety pin is a simple fastening device, a variation of the regular pin which includes a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp serves two purposes: to form a closed loop thereby properly fastening the pin to whatever it is applied to, and to cover the end of the pin to protect the user...
who carry large forkForkAs a piece of cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The fork, as an eating utensil, has been a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent...
s. - The Bellmaster: The birdlike keeper of the bellBell (instrument)A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s in the PuppetPuppetA puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
Theatre of Nùrnheim. He acts strangely polite. - The Archons of Nùrnheim: Puppets and toys (Punch & Judy Style), cast aside and deformed, bitter with the world and eagerly awaiting the end while beating each other to death.
Nùrnheim
Nùrnheim is a dead German town always shifting from one place to another, destroyed long ago. Nùrnhiem appears anywhere, in a picture, an illustrationIllustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
, even inside a snow globe, but it can disappear to somewhere else if discovered.
Regions of Nùrnheim
Places in Nùrnheim include:- Punishment Arcades
- The Meat Museum
- The Spider Bridge
- The Country of Tears
- Hangman's Acres
- Doctor Mirabilis' Most Excellent and Unusual Puppet Theatre; Headquarters of the Archons.