Do you mean Judaism?
Jewishism.
A thought - has anybody (yet) compared the Time-Crazed prisoner art to the symbol on Progeny's forehead? That might go with the text Foote quoted above, and I'm 85% confident I've seen the symbol in the game SOMEPLACE before.
In light of WotC, some things from my original speculation need to be addressed.
Apostate is not the servant sent from the Cosmic Entity. That is without doubt Progeny. And I believe I was correct about Matriarchs connection with the Cosmic Entity and "the servant".
But this leaves us (read: me) without a clear direction of where the story of Apostate and "The Host" fit in to everything. The Host could still be tied to The Entity in some way, but it seems less likely now than before.
But what we do know is that Fanatic's story is not yet done in SotM juding by her wild apperance in Tactics and the shattered remains of Condemnation.
The host could be involved.
Apostate might not be on their good side, he could have fled. Nightmist could be seeing another one of Apostate's people, or just not care that he isn't part of the group, he's still dangerous, and if the Host is the big bad, then he doesn't come from good stock.
Also, I would just like to say I Told You So, that Progeny is NOT Cosminautilus.
Agreed in part. Sticking with the Christian imagery, Apostate could be like Satan, a fallen angel cast out of Heaven (read: The Host).
I think the Host is a collective of figures though, and I don't see the Comsic Entity being a part of a larger group, not when it has something like Progeny as it's servant/creation.
I still think Empyreon is a part of it (Caps mini-nemmy from Vengeance) due to his name, as well as the woman found on PW Caps incap art (because who else is she going to be?)
I'm very interested to see how the Fanatic/Apostate/Host story plays out, because we see the end result in Tactics. Fanatic is all crazy glowy now and Condemnation is in pieces. It's a major story arch that has gotten no love since Infernal Relics was released and I'm dying to get some information about it. Maybe it'll come in the next expansion.
Colour me also very interested in the Fanatic/Apostate arc.
Foote, I haven't looked at Tactics too hard, is Condemnation broken or Absolution? Because Absolution was broken on Critical Multiplier, by Truth, and PW Fanatic wields it.
Look at the card "Staff of Ra" in Tactics (Ra's card, obviously)
The newly minted Ra is in someones museum of sorts. We can see the dented head of Omni-Blade (remember we see Mainstay beating that dent in on the Sentinels card "Good Hero - Bad Hero") and the shattered remains of Condemnation. We can tell it is Condemnation by the handle, the green orb, and the size/shape of the blade shards.
Absolution is broken, you are correct. But we can infer that Condemnation also shatters as well, likely between a final confrontation between Apostate and Fanatic (as far as SotM is concerned. Who knows if Apostate will still be alive during the Tactics arc)
It makes sense for Condemnation to be broken if Absolution is.
Sympathy
If a great cosmic being had an army, the soldiers could look like Apostate. If that Great Being had a "Progeny" it could look very different.
Not that I'm sold on the angle, but try this out:
Take the whole Christian arc and turn it a bit askew, make the coming great battle Armageddon and The Host the angels coming to wipe everything out. Ditch the whole salvation angle, Cosmonautilus eats souls.
In this story Apostate fills his role as being one of the cast out, the one who escapes punishment, probably turned on his friends. He may be a liar, and evil, but he isn't rebelling against a benevolent/just god, he's weaseled out of active service in the army coming to wipe out everything, and came here hoping to get away from it all to rule his own little insignificant world and do whatever. (Or maybe the fallen found Earth to be special and he stayed/returned after the mess
His affiliation is with the host because he has somehow weaseled his way out of trouble and out of direct involvement.
Again I'm not really sold on this, but I have thought about it, esp. when you have "Progeny" coming to Earth alone ahead of the main force.
I could very well see the big bad showing up and Apostate having to pretend he's the loyal servant, or even turning and fighting against it.
Or I could be, and most likely am wrong and it is something incredibly different.
Fanatic doesn't call herself Fanatic, others call her that because she's well, Fanatical, about her self-imposed mission.
I can't see Fanatic becoming evil, ruthless yes, evil no. Remember that Apostate didn't even land a single blow on her to remove her from his way, he simply hinted that he and Fanatic were the same. The mere idea that Fanatic was capable of the evil that Apostate was took her out of action.
Either way I can easily see Fanatic as being the one other heroes need to constantly hold back from actually killing the villains, at least the ones they know can't get back up afterwards.