hey buddy. ever heard of “crediting the original creator”?
edit: you spelled reikgon wrong dumbass
3
u/NotZealouss
Reigkon is a god and SIN worships him, the shadows are people very devoted to him (or it.)
2
u/SpacedWasTaken
My personal headcanon surrounding the Reikgon faction and its cultists is that the Reikgon are an alien species originating from the planet Ossis-666. This race basically exists with the sole goal to expand, colonize, and assimilate other worlds and lifeforms into a singular, vast collective hive network.
In their base, pure form, the Reikgon resemble small parasitic organisms that burrow into the minds of their hosts. From there, they gradually overwrite both mind and body, reshaping the host into a living embodiment of their deepest fears, emotions, or desires. Hangers represent misery; Hiddens embody athazagoraphobia (the fear of being forgotten); Sicklers reflect psychosis, mania, and wrath; and Skinners manifest depersonalization.
The cultists act as fanatical followers to the Reikgon’s doctrine, acting as a transitional stage before full conversion into the monstrous forms encountered later. They are not yet fully overtaken, but are no longer entirely human.
A select few, such as Acolytes, Cultist Leaders, and High Priests, are able to discipline their minds and establish a form of symbiosis with their Reikgon parasite. Rather than being consumed outright, they weaponize their amplified emotions and desires, turning them into instruments of violence against others.
The reason the Reikgon remain a minor faction within the broader violent ecosystem of Eden-227 is that they established a forward operating base on the planet long before human colonization. However, the planet’s extreme and unforgiving climate eventually froze the base and its inhabitants in stasis. They were only reawakened during humanity’s later colonization efforts, emerging once more during the chaos of the Collapse