“Throughout the Realm there have always been those who were tempted by promises of power, or offers of reprieve to their suffering. Various Cults have always operated in the shadows, and I am certain some have survived the Curse. Following are my views on a mere few that I have studied, and some responses from their members that I have collected during my studies.”
-Madrus Asmaren, Anointed Scholar
The Blighted Chalice
“A terrifying possibility I last heard about that arose in the tunnels beneath Altorra, where miners had begun to worship a creature known as Urzas’Mal, the Great Blight. Those who knelt at his altar made of corroded brass were given reprieve of their sickness, and those who drank from his corroded chalice were no longer troubled by their bloody coughs, they could mine all day in the ground and feel no pain from their blisters or their bones.
However, they were of a single mind, and while they were able to ignore the pain, their bodies were wracked with disease. They could continue to toil, unaware and uncaring that their very flesh was falling away. While they paid no heed to their plagued flesh, they still infected those around them.
The most disturbing thing was when they all spoke with one voice. A cadre of soldiers and healers descended below, to stem the tide of illness. However, when they began their process of curing the sick, the mines suddenly and sharply became silent… and then the sounds of hundreds of feet as the miners converged upon the healers, all of them repeating the same chant…”
-M.A.
“We Are. We Will Be.”
-Unknown
The Reforged
“They profane their flesh through scarification and alteration and have grown displeased with what apparent limitations their mortal forms place upon them. Some do little more than carve runes upon their skin, while others seek to bolt metal contraptions and machines to their bones.”
-M.A.
“This putrid flesh is weakness manifest. Why should we limit ourselves to such forms? In time all will rot and fall away, and thus we seek a way to persist. Did not Vardur replace his own flesh with a great suit of armor so that he could continue his battle against the darkness? We shall seek to do the same, but instead, we shall stride unlit realms, unafraid of what lurks within.”
-Krastus the Reforged
Seekers of the Veil
“They have an interesting take on the Divines, believing them to be a malignant force that has trapped everyone in the mortal realm. Interestingly, they also seem to be one of the more overt cults that rise up, preaching against the Divines and the Anointed.”
-M.A.
“The Divines are not what you believe. They have closed the path to eternal life by sacrificing one of their own and building a great unseen Veil. For thousands of years, the Veil was unbroken, until the Warlock King used ancient rituals hidden by the Viskela to attempt to shatter the Veil. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, and only released the spirits of those who had been trapped after death for so long that they became nothing more than madness and gnawing hunger. We must complete his great work, and bring down the Veil.”
-Arkos Vanders
Walkers of the Great Labyrinth
“They seek knowledge on paths not meant to be walked, and seek tutelage by creatures dark and ancient. They have cast aside the light of Marath and seek answers among whispers of things that cast shadows in unlit rooms. While many other cults are overt in their profane natures, the Walkers keep their pursuits a secret, and their true natures and numbers are a mystery.”
-M.A.
“In the dark beyond, there exists a great unlit labyrinth, containing all knowledge of what is and what will be. Reaching the twisting halls of knowledge requires that we seek counsel with things that speak with blackened tongues, things that were masters of the great and secret arts when Thazeros was but a bumbling apprentice. His Alurumi is but a pale and incomplete shadow of what awaits, and it is the lure of the Labyrinth and what secrets it contains that drives us.”
-Gidius Channard
The Whispering Wyrm
“Even before the fall of the Empire, and even before the rise of the Warlock King, there was something foul and rotten coiled around its heart. A powerful cabal of those who worshipped a Legion of Named Horrors operated in the shadows, with a suspected number of hedonistic minor nobles and those that were in the confidence of great Houses belonging to such a sect. They performed horrific rites in the darkest of hours to hold on to their power and live well beyond their years.
They were covert, slipping through the ranks of the upper echelon with ease. I only became suspect of them on two occasions once I had come across aged accountings of their machinations. The first was when an elderly cook confided in me that a young vassal knight of her Lord looked identical to a knight who she had shared a tryst with in her youth, and even bore the same tattoo. She was afraid he had returned from the grave after five decades, or that her mind was playing tricks upon her.
The second was when I came across a written directive by a minor Lord, and the penmanship appeared identical to a two-century-old journal I had been researching only nights before. I compared the two at length, and the strokes were identical. Had it not been for the sheer arrangement of circumstances, I am certain he could have passed through the mists of time with none being the wiser.”
-M.A.
“Yes, there was a grand conspiracy of us operating at the heart of the Empire. In every hall and every castle we had our whispers heard and acted out. We guided the Empire for centuries from the shadows.
But what now does it matter? Centuries of work undone in a matter of months, destroyed with a curse. All our plans, now as dust. Our ritual sites and implements are no longer accessible, and we can do little more than live out our remaining years as mere mortals.”
-Targin Sayers, admitted Whisperer
The Bone Eaters
“There is a strange number of small cults of people who… regress to a more animalistic state. They eschew the more modern trappings of civilization, or at least they did before we all were forced to embrace hardships. They mostly dwell in caves and ruins, and only come out after the sun has faded from view. While I want to say they are more prominent among the Ughol, I have heard more tales of them being human or even Jhani’ada.
While none of that is particularly troubling, what does cause them to be worrisome is their rampant cannibalism and sacrifices to the dark creature they follow. Deep within the roots of the world, in caverns dug when the mountains were young, the horrid beast known as Malgah’shrak dwells, a great shape of many mouths that sings and gurgles melodies to those who would listen. It hungers for two things, flesh and fear, a hunger shared by all those who venerate the beast.
When they emerge from their subterranean lairs, they seek out small settlements and lone campers. At first, they induce fear through horrid effigies and strange symbols left in the darkest of hours, the only warning of what is to come. Then they begin snatching people who dare to wander in the dark, dragging them back to horrid altars to sacrifice them and consume their flesh. Later they grow more brazen and begin dragging people from their beds…
While I would normally have dismissed such as a story told around campfires, in years leading up to the Rebellion I heard of several small settlements near the Frontier going silent. When merchants and traders arrived to sell their wares, all they found was empty beds and signs that the Bone Eaters had been there.”
-M.A.
Player Character Restrictions:
Player Characters may not begin with membership in any Cult.
However, they may join any cult that inducts them during play.