Humanity is divided. That's not a secret. We have different customs, different cultures, different languages, almost everything is different. However, one thing that can cause a bigger rift than anything else is religion. When it comes to religion, humanity loses its shit over who has the real superdude who watches over them from above the clouds. While that's fun and all for the first part, everybody's gangsta until the religious guys pull out weapons and threaten to gut each other in the name of faith. Today, we're looking at two of these crazy religious extremists and we're going to see who's better at getting their hands dirty for the heavens.
The Jingū Jinto, brutal Shinto zealots and rivals of the famous Sōhei Buddhist warrior monks!
Th Testament of New Ezekiel, crazed fanatics of Outlast 2 who blindly hunt down all who they suspect to be the Antichrist!
The Jinto are the lower priests of a hokora (shrine) or a jingū (great shrine) in Shintō religion. While originally simply worshippers working for the shrine and spending their life as followers of the god worshipped in the respective establishment, rampant banditry and the rise of the samurai class eventually forced even these peaceful people to arm themselves in order to defend themselves, similarly to the better known Buddhist Sōhei. During the Japanese middle ages, the Jinto were infamous for being troublemakers who used their authority as men of the gods to enforce their demands upon local lords, even forcing them to send samurai who acted unfairly against them into exile. Not only that, but the Jinto also acted as loan sharks who used armed force to retrieve money lent by the shrine. This often put them at odds with the samurai class as well as the Buddhist Sōhei, although they did sometimes cooperate with the latter against the Samurai.
The Kama is a traditional Japanese sickle used to cut and harvest rice or other crops as well as cut down weeds in the fields. However, the sharp bladed nature of the tool meant when peasants were angry, the sickle became one of the first thing they would pick up, being almost omnipresent throughout Japanese houses and deadly in murderous hands. The Kama has a downward-facing blade with a pick-like form, which is usually used to cut grass in a pulling motion, but in battle is used as a makeshift war pick to slam into enemy skulls and flesh with deadly power. It was usually around 30-40 cm and fairly light, but obviously it was never meant to be an actual weapon despite its deadliness in angry hands, and doesn't have a design made for combat.
The Nata is a Japanese bladed multitool, acting like a machete, a meat cleaver, a billhook and, when in the hands of an angry person, a tool of murder. It was up to 45 cm long with a forward-curving hook at the end and a sharp blade as well as a blunt backside which could be used as a battering instrument. The blade, being designed as a hacking tool, had a lot of heft behind it and when converted to a weapon could effortlessly sever limbs and cut through flesh and bone. While the Nata was better and closer designed to an actual weapon than the Kama, it still wasn't exactly a specialized weapon and was thus slightly clumsy with a pretty top heavy design, although not to the same extent as, say, an axe.
The takeyari was the emblem of Japanese peasant rebels. Extremely easily crafted, equally easily mastered and just as easily discarded when going into hiding, the bamboo spear was by far the most popular weapon amongst most peasant rebel groups in Japan. Because of its makeshift nature, it's size and construction varied a lot: it was anywhere from 2-4 meters in length and was usually hardened with fire and oil so as to make it durable enough to withstand impacts from blades. It could have a metal tip, typically crafted in a makeshift manner with recycled iron or bronze, or sometimes was simply sharpened with a natural bamboo point. While the weapon was present in Japan since the dawn of the Jōmon era, its design survived all the way into World War 2, proving its effectiveness by overcoming the challenges of time.
The kuwa was yet another farming implement turned into a riot weapon. Usually used as a hoe to tend to vegetable fields, the kuwa was on average 1.3 meters long but up to 1.8 meters with a strong, forward-facing sideways iron blade. In battle it was swung around like an axe to cleave enemies down to size with the heft and size of the weapon. Fairly popular as a weapon due to its abundance amongst Japanese farmers, the kuwa was also used to fight off brigands and bandits in everyday life and a martial art focusing around its usage, the kuwajutsu, was even developed. Apart from that, it was used as an entrenching tool to dig trenches and build earthworks in battle by soldiers.
Testament of the New Ezekiel is an antagonistic cult led by Sullivan Knoth that appears in Outlast 2. The group resides in a remote settlement known as Temple Gate. The cult's insignia is a cross with two interlocking wheels in reference to the prophet Ezekiel's vision. Their goal is to prevent the Anti-Christ from being born through systematic child murder.In reality, it is likely that they do not have any divine visions, but have been driven insane by a malfunctioning experiment created by the Murkoff Corporation. The followers of the Testament of the New Ezekiel are maniacally devoted and loyal to Sullivan Knoth and the word of the so-called God he speaks of. Most of them are completely insane and cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy anymore, a resultant of the microwave radio towers placed around the area by the Murkoff Corporation.
The most basic of weapons acquirable by all and everyone, a kitchen knife is obviously not an actual weapon of combat but is still fairly capable of killing in the hands of a mad fanatic. Around 20-30 cm in length, the knife is made of steel and can cut or stab, albeit not as well as a real combat blade. While clearly not intended for battle, the concept of a knife being to cut things, even a basic thing like this can very much be the end of a victim in the hands of the crazed Testament cultists.
Once again a tool converted to a weapon, a machete is already a big step up from a kitchen knife as a tool of battle. Up to 45 cm long and with a sharp blade designed for multiple different tasks, the machete is an effective makeshift weapon very much capable of deadly damage in determined hands, hacking away at enemies unfortunate enough to stand in its way. While not actually designed as a weapon, it most definitely is capable of killing power with a slightly curved blade that slices through limbs instead of its intended purpose of cutting foliage.
Another farming implement brought to battle, a pitchfork is a spiked took with multiple tools used to pick up and throw loose materials like hay and straw. Despite its design once again not being made for battle, the pitchfork was an extremely famous makeshift weapon amongst farmers since its invention because of its ability to be used like a spear and its ease of acquirement. Like any farming tool, its size varies a lot, with anywhere from 1.2 to 2 meters being common. With two, three, sometimes even more metal prongs it could cause deadly damage when thrusted, although it was a a bit clumsy and lacked killing power when compared to an actual battle spear.
Cult member Marta's favorite weapon, the pickaxe is yet another popular weapon amongst non-military rabbles of rebels because of its ease of acquirement and deadly power. With two metal spikes designed to punch through stone and a long wooden shaft, military pickaxes were usually 90 cm long, although Marta's modified pickaxe seems to exceed the 1 meter line, being around half her body length compared to her height of 7 feet, whatever that is in gentlemanly centimeters. Despite not originally being a weapon, the design of the tool made is very much capable of inflicting killing blows and many of its traits we're even adopted by actual military battle axes and hammers to penetrate armor, proving its worth and effectiveness.
The Testament of New Ezekiel is extremely secluded from the rest of society, barely ever entering in contact with civilization. When they do take action, they mainly go after babies who they suspect to be the Antichrist and must be eliminated before they grow older. Their main enemies are the Heretics, rival cultists who believe the Antichrist must be born, who are just as little organized and capable as they are. This unfortunately limits their actual combat experience and they have very little in the way of facing an actual organized enemy force.
Likewise, the Jingū Jinto are not the most experienced of warriors. Their main occupation as priests puts them away from conflict most of the time and when they do cause trouble it's usually in the form of protests and loan sharking instead of actual battle. Nevertheless, they do engage in skirmishes against rival temples and shrines and have had to fight samurai troops sent by the Shogunate and the Imperial court to suppress them.
Training[]
Most of the cultists of New Ezekiel are farmers, which obviously limits their combat training to nigh-nothingness. This doesn't mean none of the cult's members are capable fighters, however: members like Marta and former member Val are capable of combat, especially the former who can easily murder regular humans with her pickaxe.
The Jinto too are a far cry from a well trained combat force, most of the members being regular priests who took up arms. Nevertheless, some of their members also have some combat ability: fervent believers of Shintō were present amongst the samurai class and people like Senshu Suetada, who faced Oda Nobunaga's forces in battle, were even members of the daimyo class, giving the Jinto a few combat capable members trained from a young age.
Mental Health[]
The Testament cultists are obviously not sane people: they are almost completely shut off from society and murder babies for the sake of preventing the birth of the Antichrist, including their own children. Not only that, but many members later regret this choice deeply later and are pushed to suicide out of guilt. Those who don't end their own lives are not any saner as they are complete and absolute psycopaths who rejoice in the spilling of "wicked blood".
The Jinto are comparatively much more sane, despite not being completely ok person either. They aren't fanatical to their religion to the same blinded extent, rather using religion as a mean to push their agendas forward by pressuring daimyos and samurai into doing as they demand in the name of the gods. While they did certainly believe in the gods of the Shintō Pantheon, this would not have been to such an extent that it would make them mentally deranged.
Organisation[]
The Testament are, at the very least, a united entity who all worship and follow the same leader: Knoth. This at least means they're in a single mind and not divided. When it comes to actual organization as a fighting force, however, there isn't much that makes them more than a rabble of angry cultists. In fact, that's exactly what they are.
Shintō is a polytheist religion and thus has many different sects that worship a different central god, with the main, most popular goddess being Amaterasu Ōmikami and other gods like Hachiman and Susano'o being fairly popular. While they did believe in the same religion, this somewhat made different sects of Jinto feel bitter towards each other. In battle, they organize themselves depending on the priestal hierarchy, with higher ranking priests like Kannushi leading lower ranking priests.
Setting[]
-The battle will take place in a farmer village and will be a 5 on 5.
-The Testament will be led by Marta while the Jingū Jinto will be led by a former samurai.
