What? All specialized cults are the same? Damn, that sucks. Well, there is also the Hydra cult, which is kind of a jack of all trades that let you use any lore, but restrict minions from reaching the highest level.
There are some good tips above. It takes hours to understand what does what, in large part because of the incomprehensible inventory system.
As for me, so far the game has three phases:
Phase 1 - Bookworm: work, train skills, try to buy everything from Moorland’s and recruit as many minions as you can. Doing nothing but that should keep you safe from the cops and most mental hazards.
Phase 2 - Exploration: don’t even try expeditions without 5-6 minions/hirelings with a varied set of abilities. You should also start exploring and advancing in the dreamscape.
Phase 3 - Rites: you can start casting rites which add a whole other level of complications, and then… ???
The dreamscape works this way:
Once you dream with reason and Lantern lore (I think?) you gain access to the Woods, the first step of the deamscape. You can then either progress with the right lore or go to the other map for a random bonus (decaying aspects, glimmers, book lore, etc.). The way it work is this: put the revealed card in the circle to keep it or take one of the other two hidden cards. Might be something better, might be somthing worse.
“Aspects” are one, eh, aspect of the game that took a while to really understand:
Each aspect work kind of like an element (fire, ice, etc.) or stats in other games and are also associated with an ability in minions. Here’s roughly what they mean:
Red Grail (red cup): signifies passion, in minions, used for seduction
Edge (knife): signifies violence, in minions, used for assasination
Heart (heart): signifies will to live: in minions, used to friendship
Moth (moth): signifies confusion: in minions, used for bamboozling
Forge (hammer): signifies construction/destruction, in minions, used for demolition
Winter (white dot): signifies death, in minions, used for procuring corpses and communing with the dead
Lantern (lantern): signifies wisdom, in minions, used for augury
Two special aspects:
Secret Histories (purple book): signifies knowledge, consumed with exploration to find expeditions
Knock (key): signifies operning door, in minions, used for stealing/lockpicking
“Lore”, is the primary, permanent source of aspects, but can also be bolstered by temporary, decaying, insights or uh, glimmers?. You can combine two lores of the same level by studying to get a better one or you can combine two different ones to transmute only one of the two to a higher level.