Considering that the cult is being led by a borderline genocidal dictator, it is unlikely that there was much of an "early phase" where the rules were lax, and even if there were and he left, they would not have let him leave so easily if at all. Granted, once the "grid" is off, it would be much easier to slip under the radar and live somewhere else, but likely that, if he had escaped (and he knew how the CoG worked), he wouldn't be picking a place to stay for any length of time.

But this is not my RP, so the genesis of the cult is up to you. I would like to know, though, how they survived the Apostate, or if there is a connection of some kind. Perhaps our Annihilator has more power than we know?

Also, where will the whole RP be occurring? I'd like to experience some character interaction at some point. One of my favorite parts of RPing is letting part of my story be decided by a stranger.