Cult

Cults were groups that often had smaller sizes than religions, they focused on the worship of deities or were formed with a goal or purpose for their organisation. They were often viewed to have 'unusual' beliefs when compared to other belief based organisations such as religion.

Many cults were formed for specific goals or purposes, such as the Cult of Skaro was a cult formed during the Last Great Time War by a group of Daleks to think in manners outside that of the Dalek race. (DW: Doomsday) Whilst the Cult of Shining Darkness was formed with the purpose of destroying all robot kind. (NSA: Shining Darkness)

Other cults were much like religions, they were formed for/through the worship of a deity, on Earth such cults existed most of which took their name from the deity they worshipped such examples of these are; the Cult of Vulcan, (DW: The Fires of Pompeii), the Brotherhood of Demnos (DW: The Masque of Mandragora) and the Hecate Cult. (KAC: A Girl's Best Friend)

Other cults had specific places within their societies that they were part of, the Sibylline Sisterhood was a highly prestigious cult of soothsayers located in Pompeii that cultivated the psychic potential of individuals present in the city. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii) Whilst the Tong of the Black Scorpion, who worshipped Weng-Chiang, was called by the Doctor as one of the most dangerous criminal organisations on Earth]]. (DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)

Moreover, other cults such as the Faction Paradox revelled in being known as a 'cult', partially as a taboo and as an afront to the Time Lords whose ideologies and practices they actively sought to mock and intimidate. (EDA: Alien Bodies, Unnatural History)

One Earth, cults such as the Black Coven and Cabal of the Horned Beast integrated elements of the occult into their practices, along with creating a 'secret society' around their cult. (NA: Timewyrm: Exodus, THN: The Severed Man, Child of Time)