@[Pabloso](/user/show/425035) Thank you so much!

@[Cutlerfan](/user/show/14171) *kiss*

@[BigMetalHusband](/user/show/10003859) That's a good one! Thanks for reading!

@[SuitAndTieLover](/user/show/1478878) I made an account and wrote this specifically because of nerdysuitedbaby's mormon tf series! It has very much influenced my kinks, possibly permanently XD

@[GoodBoy](/user/show/1900997) Glad I could help....lol

@[GoodBoy](/user/show/1900997) Nothing wrong with that and glad I could help.

@[OU812](/user/show/14254) That's the hope, but boy am I swamped right now. Really want to get to the next step though, it's always rattling around in my head.

@[Massaurin](/user/show/10005276) ❤️

@[Anon](/user/show/10049352) Well, you have to think about it, Southern area is one where Abyssal Gaze is mostly occurring due to the area being near water. They are mostly defenceless and weak, and it's due to their geography. I won't disclose about Albert's influence on them, as that would be spoiler. You can think about the reason why they are the most vulnerable when it comes to Abyssal Gaze, though.

@[JSN](/user/show/10029968) Hmm...you've mentioned the south is a wooded area with many lakes and sources of water. There also must be some rivers leading to the sea. I can also see the area being heavily isolated due to features such as mountains or the like, or being surrounded by water on most sides- like a peninsula. If that's true, very little goes there....and the abyssal gaze has it easy to move about. There's water inland, few routes of escape, and plenty of connections to the sea. I'd imagine most people live in the wooded areas...always fearful when trying to find water to drink...likely only taking it from wells, springs or inland lakes not connected to anything. They would also likely live in fear of cultists dedicated to the abyssal gaze. In the midst of that and being a backwater, poverty may also be a problem. Albert is likely going to find a land stricken with misery even moreso than the east- for all that the east had economic and social issues that tilted into class issues, they seemed to have a functioning economy and being agarian likely were food secure, and had magic capabilities. I doubt the south has much if any of that- most stuff I'd imagine is traded very locally. Groups of people living together may exist- but be more like towns. It's likely society is more clan based and even semi nomadic to avoid being caught by the abyssal gaze. Life is likely very grim. Albert in light of that would ironically be a good thing- the hellish horde isn't a good thing, but Albert as a person is probably much better than those of the abyssal gaze. If they are based on lovecraftian thematic, those of the south likely are being supressed by the races of the sea, or being taken away for sinister experiments that leave them eldritch or insane. For all that demonization is a horror, being turned into a deep one adjacent being would likely be much worse.

@Anon The Shadow over Innsmouth is one of my favourite novel, how instantly the protagonist went from horrified and traumatised by the Deep Ones, then changed in the split second of worshipping it after the effects of the Deep One's heritage took over him. It's considered a blessing to the Protag, and eventually he will went under the sea with his cousin. The same kind of effect is what Abyssal Gaze would be using.

@[JSN](/user/show/10029968) The terrible thing about insmouth is that the protagonist was doomed from the beginning. He's happy by the end sure- but now is enslaved in cthulus thrall. But he never was going to escape, not unless he died. And he doesn't want to die? But is even who he was know? Or has he become something more? This idea ironically sometimes dances around in my mind when it comes to eschatology. The idea of people being...different in the afterlife is something that constantly creeps forward, but depending on how one sees that- one becomes better or they lose their identity to something horrifying. What frightens me is that insmouth ends with a ominous warning that the deep ones will reach back up to land and reclaim it as theirs. If that's what's the plan is down south- the southerners might already be like the folk of insmouth- the doom is already on them. Lovecrafts works were very much on the idea of all being sinister and cold in the world. Coming from my own cultural background, non human entities that are sapient can be of varying moral alignments- even managing to achieve salvation or damnation, or even- though this is hypothetical but not impossible depending on the view- being given prophethood, or following human spiritual leaders. It often makes me look at the western view of demons in recent popular literature which showcases a more dynamic set of moral alignments to see it oddly enough as a return to a more older understanding. At the same time, unseen entities are thought to be very eerie at times and might not understands things in a human fashion. So the alien nature of the unknown as per lovefraft is to a degree there, which the South i suspect has seen so very much with the sea. Then again, you said this would have a happy ending. Perhaps this will not end with everyone having their minds horrifically altered into something else. The question though is while the protaganist of insomuch saw being made a fishfolk a blessing- do the southerners see it that way? Or do only certain cults? And would these beings be fair in form like sirens, or just terrifying? A major theme of this series is how the transformed are often fair in their own way- the beastmen have a rustic, rugged appeal to them, the demons range from being fair but terrifying, or just terrifying with alluring characteristics depending on a person's desires. The arboreal is a different matter and somewhat harder to pin down- but I'd imagine the abyssal gaze would see water based sorceries, fishfolk, mermaids, rusalkas, sirens and various races associated with aquatic themed folklore. Alternatively, they all look more like eldritch deep ones. They aren't really beautiful, just eerie.