Rules for a Cult

This is just something I did for flavor involving a group of villains in a webcomic I'm starting, but I thought I'd post it and see what people have to think. The first ten rules were adapted from a straight camp of all things -

Regulations

1. Society members are not permitted to speak to anyone, including family and other society members, within the first week.

2. Society members with under three weeks of participation are forbidden to go anywhere unless they are accompanied by two other members of the society, one of which must have at least eight weeks experience.

3. Society members cannot keep a journal or diary.

4. Society members are not permitted to discuss what goes on in the society with anyone, including family.

5. Society members may not have any contact with family beyond parents, siblings, sons and daughters, and spouses.

6. Society members are not permitted to have any physical contact with any human being unless violence is intended with the exception of a handshake or a pat on the shoulder, and only when authorized. Sex is only permitted when authorized with two weeks prior notice.

7. Society members are restricted to within five miles in any direction of Atlanta, even when with family, without prior written authorization.

8. Society members are not allowed to listen to any music that is not written, scored, and performed entirely by other members of the society. Bach and Beethoven are specifically forbidden.

9. Society members are not permitted to enter restaurants that sell alcohol.

10. Society members may not speak after 9:00 p.m. under any circumstance.

11. Society members may not use a telephone or the Internet for purposes not related to their career without the expressed written consent of Mother O'Hara.

12. Society members will have their heads regularly shaved bald until decided free of vice.

13. Society members are forbidden to consume alcohol and use drugs, prescription or otherwise.

14. Society members are to gather from June 4th through 17th of every year for the Festival of the Holy Mother.

15. Society members must have video cameras in all rooms of their homes, and these tapes must be turned over to the society at the start of each month.

16. Society members must refrain from playing any games, reading any literature, or watching any film or television program without authorization.

17. Society members must immediately answer all questions.

18. Society members are forbidden from consuming coconut.

19. Society members must be ready to take arms if called upon to do so, with no regard for any other obligations.

20. Society members must be in bed no earlier than midnight, and are to wake up no later than 5 AM.

21. Society members may be placed in a state of isolation where they are not allowed to communicate with one another.

Motivations

1. What is best suited to survive in an ecosystem will prosper and continue to evolve. We are no longer the top of our environment; as a result, we must change the ecosystem to suit our needs instead.

2. Life is meaningless, except for those that have been blessed with the knowledge of this fact and the courage to act on it.

3. Only those that have been deemed degenerates by society are displaying their true selves.

4. The lilies of the field gorge themselves on the remains of death and decay. All that moves on the earth directly or indirectly feasts on each other with no pity nor concern.

5. If you close your eyes your inner light will reveal the truth.

6. Civil life and civil death only lead to an afterlife of repetition. Only by daring to bend life to one's will can happiness or prosperity be found in death.

7. All goods are created from materials the earth has provided, and all animals one day roamed free before being taken to the slaughter. What reason is there to pay for these things?

I like these. I could totally imagine a psychological story just about someone being inducted into this cult.

Specifics:

1 and 2 sound like a camp or commune where the members live there and don't leave. #11 and 15 sound like they live in their own homes and have jobs. Possible conflict there. For instance, you could hardly spend a week without talking at all if you had a job.

6: You don't necessarily need to allow them to have sex at all; forced celibacy is a great type of self-mortification, and introduces an element of Fridge Logic.

8: I love this one. It immediately makes you think "Why Bach and Beethoven?" (Was this seriously a straight camp rule?)

13: If it doesn't already, this rule should include caffeine, a la Mormonism.

17: What if it's after 9:00?

18: Sounds like Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking, plus Fundamentally Funny Fruit. This may or may not be a problem, depending on the precise tone you're going for. I'm also surprised that this is the only dietary restriction, since foods are one of the easiest and most common religious restrictions.

20: That curfew actually seems late, considering there's no talking after 9:00. If you want it to feel restrictive, 9:00 or 10:00 would be better (you can always move the talking deadline earlier).

edited 10th Oct '10 2:21:28 PM by jewelleddragon

Some good points there, I'll need to mull this over. As for the Bach and Beethoven thing, yes, a straight camp specifically mentioned them as being against the rules.

I think number six is there so that they can have kids...

^^Why why why why why

^But that's why it's great fridge logic (like the Shakers).

PS I do like rule 18, btw. But it depends what tone you're going for.

edited 10th Oct '10 4:58:42 PM by jewelleddragon

Good job! These rules cover everything that a cult worth is title must have: Thought control, isolation and repression.

By the way, I'm also puzzled by the Bach and Beethoven rule, and this can become a plot point, sparking a character's questioning about the nature of the cult.

V - Sorry, my typo. Fixed now.

edited 10th Oct '10 6:05:56 PM by Vexelius

Back wrote great music.

The rules seem a bit too restrictive to me, especially if we're talking about a "large" cult.

6, 10, 17 and 20 specifically. If the cult is like a camp/commune, how are the cleaners able to do their job? How is it possible cover all the needs of the cult? Etc.

Also, rule 20 seems problematic: " Society members must be in bed no earlier than midnight, and are to wake up no later than 5 AM. "

One could go to bed at midnight and a second later leave to do something else. It needs to be more specific.

"Are to wake no earlier than 5 A.M" covers that I think.

Also, I assumed the rules like "no speaking in the first week" only applied on some sort of introductory camp for the cult.

edited 16th Oct '10 9:48:53 PM by doorhandle

That one straight camp inspired a few of those rules, right?

I would strike everything after "family" from #5. The point of a cult is to turn an otherwise-reasonable person into a drone in your service, and any counter-influence is a threat to your control.

The rules should skew toward isolating cult members from family and friends, leaving them with no socialization outside their new "family" and no personal goals that don't benefit it.

Might want to set up something to lure in people who aren't sure of joining the cult. Most people wouldn't be willing to be silent for an entire week unless they'd already committed themselves to the cult. So maybe there's an outreach program trying to recruit people, and if you want to join you head to the camp and submit to their rules?

Rule 1 seems strange to me. It seems like the first week is a critical time to persuade potential recruits, so why prevent communication with other cultists?

I don't think this is going to work. Most cults are ideologically based. The rules should be reflective of their beliefs, and I can't see a coherent ideology forming form them.