Instructions on starting a cult, by E. Emmeret Palth.
Part I: The Pitch.
Always have a pitch for your cult ready. Eventually, you won’t need to leg it around for converts ((come up with more demeaning name)) yourself, but in the beginning you’ll need to do all the talking yourself. It helps to have a bit to go through, something like “did you hear that” and then when they say “no, what” make something profound up, like ((letters feel too narrow—probs just tired)) “is that my demon or yours” and if they look they they’re biting, reel them in. Staying consistent isn’t as important as you’d think.
Part II: Identifying your Lieutenants
This is the trickiest part. you want your lieutenants to be under your control, but clever enough to manipulate others in turn. If you can find them, it’s best to locate gifted individuals with especially traumatic pasts, or some other fatal flaw.
Otherwise you’ll have to hire your lieutenants (look for classified ads for “cat walkers” – that’s usually the sign), but those aren’t cheap.
Part III: Don’t Actually Summon the Demon
Meddling in the pageantry of the occult has the infuriating outcome of actually attracting the interests of some of the inhabitants of the silent city, so make sure to keep your operation as mundane as possible. Or else instruct your followers to ignore the usual Signs (trompe l’œil made of random objects that looks like they might be doors, walking through wooded archways with their eyes closed (best just stay away from wooded archways entirely…), and the writings of the insane).
Certainly make sure to monitor their letters. Not just for possible escapes, but for outside influences that could mix dangerously with your preferred dogma. Like for instance, say they ponder the conspiratorial scrawlings of a half-mad parent about the Earth being made of angel bones combined with your teaching about an ancient celestial war, and suddenly they’re thinking a little too loosely—and that’s when they see (you guessed it) the doorway.
Anyway, the demon in my case had a sense of humour, so my earthly torment is to spill all my secrets on the internet.