Servitude of the Eldrich

This cultural upsurge is fairly recent, beginning only around 967 BME and continuing to present day. The heralds of the Deep Lords, and mysterious others not yet in the world, preach of a great coming. Since this cult is small and unrecognized, scattered geographically, and clearly completely unquestionably insane no one really takes them seriously. Those preaching praise of the Deep Lords openly in public are met with immediate execution absolutely everywhere, except in the Deep Lords direct domains. Most rogue wandering emissaries are likewise dispatched by travelers, usually.
The destitute, the desperate, the weak, the hopeless, the internally lost, and sometimes externally lost are the most common to fall prey to the influence of the alien predators. Visions of a void filled with impossible lifeforms, thoughts & feelings that would make healthy folk cringe in disgust and revolution, unnatural impulses puppeteering one from an unidentifiable but clearly an exterior source are just a few of the most common and abundant signs of Eldrich Possession. Those afflicted are praised within the ranks of the Eldrich Mass as Touched and welcomed as fellows.
Those afflicted find themselves deeply paranoid at first, hungering for everything and anything, for a short time right before they begin to dissolve into madness previously unmet on such a scale outside the known influences of local Deep Lords. Peoples of afflicted regions refer to it as The Call, and swiftly put a permanent end to the "diseased", burning the body with knowing expediency.
Preventative measures have been performed by many a culture to keep such afflictions at bay, such as avoiding large gaps in wellness and welfare between financial tiers. The impoverished are quickly dealt with in various ways, depending on the culture in question, and where they cannot avoid disparity individuals knowingly do their best to help form a social safety net to prevent anyone from falling into the potential clutches of madness and darkness. Everyone knows, if they have not seen personally, that the threat of undeath is real, and directly affects all the World over should the causes be lackadaisically or lazily ignored.
Thus far, both a mass uprising of the undead and an establishment of the afflicted and diseased have been avoided. Folk fear that such things are inevitable, thanks to the warnings of prophecies, though they will always work together to quell possibilities without delay when they crop up.
For the afflicted themselves, they seek to spread the word and works of their masters, knowing that they come. Yes...they come very soon. Rejoice!

Naming Traditions

Other names

When one joins the Servants of the Eldrich they are blessed with a slave name granted by their contactor/enslaver. The name usually comes out sounding like nightmarish carnal and primal if not primordial sounds created throughout the body (and sometimes with external assistance). Afflicted will always apologize for their failure to get the accents and pronunciations just right, and promptly curse their limited form. Some will try to translate the names, but often they come off as a derailment into a crazed rant.