I missed a point in the previous post about "Cain." On the very next page in Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Season Of Mists (New York, 1992) -
Lucifer: Cain. You must know of the Cainites?
Cain: Can't say that I do...
Lucifer: Gnostic sect. Second century. They rejected the books of the New Testament in favor of the Gospel of Judas.
-page 49, panel 1.
Lucifer: They believed that we created the heaven and the earth, and that you were the persecuted party in that unfortunate affair with your brother. They also held that the way to salvation was to give way to lust and temptation in all things.
-panel 2.
Lucifer: And no greater percentage of them turned up here than of any other religion. Amusing, isn't it?
Cain: I wouldn't know.
-panel 3.
The Wikipedia article on Cainites mentions this issue of The Sandman as a popular cultural reference.
Now maybe it is time to return to Poul Anderson's very different Cainites?
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