Sarkic cults

Sarkicism, also known as Nälkä, is a widespread religious/philosophical cult that worships flesh and disease. The cult serves as one of the major antagonists in the SCP-universe, often being seen by the Foundation as an apocalyptic threat.

The religion was originally founded by Grand Karcist Ion thousands of years ago, but has since then been fractured into several groups worldwide.

The central goal of Sarkicism is to achieve apotheosis for humanity, which could lead to SK-class dominance shift or even an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario. Due to this reason many organizations in the SCP-mythos, such as the SCP Foundation, the Global Occult Coalition, the Church of the Broken God, the Horizon Initiative and GRU Division "P" view them as an apocalyptic threat in the anomalous world. Several of the before mentioned groups have even banded together against this group.

Members of the cult are called Sarkites.

Founding
Sarkicism was founded by Ion, a slave born into the Daeva-civilization. He lived in the City-state of Adytum, where he eventually led a slave revolt against their Daevite-masters. During this revolt Ion showed great powers like the ability to manipulate organic flesh (both his own and that of others) and telekinesis. He was also able to give that power to his followers. The origin of these powers are linked to the primordial being Yaldabaoth (the creator of the universe in the beliefs of the Sarkites). Ion was also aided by four disciples called the Klavigar, who would later become saints.

After the defeat of the Daevites, Ion and his followers terraformed many of the occupied cities, including Adytum (the new capital city of the Sarkites), into more organic structures. With this started the golden age of the Sarkic civilization (now called the Sarkic Empire), and the Ion's belief started to spread over Eurasia, usually through conquest.

War with the Mekhanites
When the Sarkic Empire arrived in the Mediterranean to establish colonies, where they would meet resistance by the Mekhanites (ancestor of the Church of the Broken God) and several other ancient civilizations. This led to a massive war between the two factions in which the Sarkites summoned massive abominations made of flesh to fight the anomalous machines of their enemies.

The war killed 20 to 30 million people, and there were no real victors. The Sarkic empire fell and Grandkarcist Ion disappeared, while the Mekhanite-survivors would beomce the Church of the Broken God.

The surviving Sarkites went into hiding to practice their faith, which led to creation of both the Proto-Sarkites and Neo-Sa

The goal of becoming a godlike figure is key in the Sarkic faith, and the followers of the religion often engage in practice in acts such as ritual cannibalism, human sacrifice, corporeal augmentation, thaumaturgy, dimensional manipulation, sexual rites, reincarnation and dealings with cosmic entities. Despite these similarities, there are two main factions in the faith:

Members

 * Grand Karcist Ion
 * Klavigar Nadox
 * Klavigar Lovataar
 * Klavigar Orok
 * Klavigar Saarn