Unborn

The Congregation of Witnesses, who serve the Tyrants of the Black Forest, are a peculiar lot. While they are human, the influence of their Hateling masters deprive them of their very being, which results in progeny that is not quite right.

The spawns of this unholy union of cultist and Tyrant are known as the Unborn.

Gestation

True to their name, the Unborn are not born in the way humans are. Instead, they gestate inside the body of the Tyrant that the cult calls its master. This process seems to take place without a need for any sort of carnal contact between the cultists and their monstrous overlord, the Unborn simply forming inside the Hateling until its flesh forces them out.

It is possible that the Tyrant, having enslaved the cultists, has taken some crucial part of their selves that it then physically manifests inside of itself, generating an imperfect copy of the cultist. Disturbingly, this process is rather similar in function as the birth of Hatelings themselves through the Heart of Hate.
Whatever the precise method of this horrid process is, the resulting Unborn are a mockery of life that should not exist.

Physique and Behavior

The Unborn resemble, for the most part, regular humans and are capable of communicating, albeit in an unnatural, stilted manner. Due to this uncanny resemblance, they are often used as spies and plants that are sent into the city-states of humanity in lieu of the human cultists who can then remain by the Tyrant's side and tend to its needs.

However, it is rare that an Unborn is formed without flaw and perceptive observers can usually notice that something is off. It might be something subtle, like pupils that are permanently dilated or ever so slightly elongated fingers with an extra joint. These abnormalities can also be more overt, such as missing lips, horn-like growths sprouting from different parts of the body or deformities of the spine, resulting in unnatural stance and gait.

Unborn that are undercover usually tend to favor loose-fitting clothing so as to cover up these possible imperfections. They also avoid contact with humans due to their manner of speech being a dead giveaway, often opting to simply nod or shake their head when forced to interact with those not of the cult.

Purpose

Like all things, there must be a method to the madness behind the Tyrant giving life to these flesh puppets. It is very likely that, due to the rather slow and laborious process of human procreation and growth, the Tyrants wish to bolster the numbers of the cult in a more expedient manner, and thus choose to simply replicate and multiply the currently existing members, creating fully grown copies.

If this truly is the case, then the threat posed by these Tyrant cults may be much more severe than initially thought, as they can possibly multiply their forces in a matter of weeks rather than years and, unless checked, may grow into unmanageable proportions. The potential for an exponentially growing army of fanatical followers means that conventional means of containment and control may no longer be sufficient and that a more proactive, direct approach should be considered.

But for now, the church of Resounding Truth seems content to keep an eye on the cults, the Seeker fellowships doing what they can to combat their presence in the Black Forest.

H-He... it looked wrong. I can't describe it better than that. Just wrong.

–A commoner describing an Unborn attacker to the city guard in Glarithia

by Midjourney

_{An Unborn. This one has a very noticeable physical flaw.}