Satanists

The Satanists are a community of malevolent metro inhabitants, who believe that the metro is a pathway to Hell.

Overview
In Metro 2033, a living witness of the Satanists describes how he was kidnapped at Belorusskaya and brought to their station. He didn't recognize the station and its exact location is never revealed by Glukhovsky in the first novel. The station is described as vandalised, with name-boards ripped off, as well as featuring blood-stained walls and floor. In the centre of the platform there is a huge pit where slaves kidnapped from other stations dig further down, perhaps around 30 metres deep, with the aim of reaching Hell itself.

The Satanists believe that the end of the world has already happened, and the Moscow metro is the gate to the underworld – if they go a bit deeper, they would reach Hell and meet Satan, the light-bearer, himself. Most Satanists are armed and apparently don't maintain any form of industry. They also brutally murder slaves on a constant basis. How they trade or kidnap people remains a well-kept secret. It's explained by one character that the Satanists could occupy the metro station of Lyublino. Given there is only one witness, however, the ultimate Satanist locations is still highly questionable.

In Dark Tunnels, it's revealed that the station is actually Timiryazevskaya. The location was settled by the Satanists some time after it was abandoned by the survivors of a rat attack. Antonov goes into more detail when describing how the faction is organized: it's led by a manipulative middle-aged man known as "Claw" (Russian: Коготь, pronounced Kogot) who kept most of his followers under control through the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms. It has been noted at various times (almost every other night) the Satanists would brew very potent batches of broth from the hallucinogenic mushrooms and drink it all non-stop to the point where they would be completely intoxicated, before eventually passing out all over the station, while only a few sentries stood guard. Their apparently futile attempt to reach Hell gives this faction a purpose in life, although after a period of time, some of the followers began to question or even doubt their beliefs about reaching Hell. In order to keep his followers under control, in addition to the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms, Claw often held brutal executions of some of the cult's prisoners who were deemed heretics by means of a ritual sacrifice in order to reinforce his faction's beliefs or satisfy their desire for blood and violence. It has been noted that outside of the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms, which kept the followers under control, that there was virtually no discipline among the ranks of the Satanists and their members mainly functioned as guards to watch over any prisoners. The devil-worshippers were notorious for treating their prisoners inhumanely, by keeping them dirty and malnourished, while locked inside metal cages around the station only to be used for the slave labor of digging the pit to Hell since they believed that the "enemies of Satan" such as Christians were meant to do the digging of the pit. The Satanists utilize a network of hidden tunnels to gain access to other stations. Hanza secretly maintains limited relations with the Satanists through traders (primarily from the Mendeleevskaya and Novoslobodskaya stations), as the devil-worshippers have access to a mysterious source of fuel. In exchange for fuel, Hanza traded food, weapons, ammunition, and would sometimes even willingly trade in the people that they deemed "undesirables" from their stations or territories such as bums, drunks, prisoners, and non-Hanza citizens (such as refugees and travelers without passports who were detained) into the slavery of the Satanists. In the Dark Tunnels novel, one of the Hanza traders mentioned how they have no qualms about trading with the Satanists and even considered them "excellent business partners". They also mentioned how they were glad that they can get rid of unwanted people from Hanza by trading them into the slavery of the Satanists, which they also considered to be "just business".

Timiryazevskaya has also been covered with pentagrams, drawings of Baphomet, and satanic curses that have been written all over its walls in Latin. Many of the station's denizens have the same Satanic tattoos on their torsos and wear necklaces made out of rat teeth. They generally use primitive clothing and have poor hygiene, with exception of their leader, Claw, who always appears clean and well-dressed. The main protagonist of the Dark Tunnels novel, Anatoliy Tomski, after having been captured by the Satanists and forced to meet with their cult leader, noted how surprised and baffled he was by the appearance and behavior of Claw. Tomski noted that for being the leader of a Satanic cult, Claw appeared and behaved more like a bureaucrat or a business man rather than a deranged cult leader. This was further reinforced by the fact that prior to their meeting, Claw was in the middle of negotiating a trade agreement with a couple of Hanza traders and noted how their discussions consisted of business and trade exclusively, while having absolutely nothing to do with Satanism. Furthermore, new prisoners are taken to Claw and are given two options, either they become slaves and dig the pit to Hell (as Claw says, they can "do meaningful work digging and loading the catlavan") or they can be killed by means of a ritual sacrifice where they are tied up and burned alive, prior to which they are forced to consume the broth brewed from hallucinogenic mushrooms in order to "cleanse them of their Earthly life". Anatoliy Tomski noted how despite having been familiar with (or even having witnessed) various atrocities committed by the likes of the fascists and communists in the past, he had never witnessed such brutality, barbarism, and inhumanity as the kind that was taking place at Timiryazevskaya by the Satanists. He was personally sickened and infuriated after he witnessed one of the fanatics who was guarding the pit being dug by the slaves throw a meager scrap of meat into the pit, which immediately caused a fight amongst the working slaves who were willing to tear each other apart for the food due to their extreme hunger.

Another prominent figure in the Satanist cult, and the first that Anatoliy Tomsky, alongside his companion Krab, encountered before unknowingly being led into Timiryazevskaya in order to be taken hostage is a blind old man named Charon (Russian: Харон, pronounced Haron). Charon named himself after the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx in Greek mythology. According to the Pipha-2 novel, from 2014 up until March 2033, Charon was the sole leader of the Satanists and the cult had originally started in the dungeons of Kitai-Gorod, where they were digging their pit into Hell. At the end of the month, a hound girl entered the cult as a slave, but after about a week, the supporting caves of the structure broke down during her escape which blinded Charon. After the girl escaped, Charon’s then-assistant, Claw, became the new leader of the cult, while Charon stepped down to become Claw's assistant and partner in crime. Shortly afterwards, the devil-worshippers migrated to Timiryazevskaya. In the Dark Tunnels novel, although Charon was no longer the leader of the Satanists, he still played a very prominent role in the cult. He was the main person who grew and gathered the hallucinogenic mushrooms from the nearby tunnels and would often act as a "guide" to lure unwitting victims into the hands of the Satanists at Timiryazevskaya, where they would become trapped and held hostage against their will. Charon also acted as a guard or sentry in the tunnels, often making sure that nobody tried to escape. Despite being blind, Charon claims to be able to "see much farther and wider" than other people because of his constant consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms that he holds in a pouch. He is also immune to the effects of telepathy/mind control which was noted after Anatoliy, Tomski, Krab, and a telepathic mutant named Mobat were attempting to escape from the Satanists at Timiryazevskaya. Mobat attempted to use his telepathy to convince Charon to let them go, which had no effect at all, so Anatoliy, along with Krab, had to physically subdue and tie up Charon before he could fight back or awaken the other Satanists.

It's also noted that the Satanists are constantly at war with the Northern Emirate, which is located at Petrovsko-Razumovskaya station (the next station above Timiryazevskaya) and part of the Unity of Skaven Stations. The Northern Emirate, being an Islamic society and not tolerant of the actions of the Satanists, have declared a holy-war against them and have been fighting the "so-called sons of Shaitan" ever since; often making life difficult for them by constantly attacking or harassing the devil-worshippers at Timiryazevskaya. The Satanists, not having an actual military (just a bunch of armed thugs), let alone one with any discipline amongst its ranks, have only managed to hold off any significant attacks and defeat by the Northern Emirate due to them having a large arsenal of weapons/ammunition that was traded to them by Hanza. However, most of the Satanists are believed to have been eliminated by the year 2035 with their leader, Claw, having been killed in early 2034 according to the Rublyovka-2 novel.

Satanisten Сатанисты (Москва)