#faction concepts

Okay. I just really want to sketch out a Cult crew. And I specifically want to sketch out a Cult crew on a theme of the Void Sea, the stars in the deep, leviathan blood, electroplasm, light in darkness, the radiant plants and eels that feed the city, the North Hook lighthouse, a radiant thing calling from the deeps. Not a leviathan. Something else. Because if I’m playing a cult, I’m playing a lovecraftian cult. And all the ingredients are already here!

So. A cult of a forgotten god. A god that is radiant, and sinister, and transcendent. A god that appears in dreams in the form of a radiant serpent or eel, but no mean thing like those found in the canals and fields of the Radiant Farms down in Barrowcleft, no creation of alchemy and electroplasm and leviathan blood. A thing that predates the leviathans. A titanic shining eel, swimming through the stars in the depths of the Void Sea. A thing that was released by the leviathans in the cataclysm that shattered the world and that, perhaps, created those stars in the depths of the Void Sea.

The Maw of the Void. A star of the deep that will swallow the world whole to remake it anew.

(We’re gonna do something so damn occult to that lighthouse. I just really wanna. It’s powered by leviathan blood. It’s a beam of eldritch light powered by the blood of demons shining hundreds of miles out to sea. There’s got to be a ritual that will turn that into a navigation beacon for something else, no?)

The Motes of the Void are a small group that have heard (felt) the calling of the Maw in our dreams. Perhaps initially we thought the figure we saw was the radiant wildlife of the farms, some human creation, and perhaps that is a test that the god sends, but the ones who came together to form our crew and cohort were the ones who reached a deeper communion and realised that the god was something far larger, far older, and far beyond the reach of human artifice.

Our initial reputation is, obviously, going to be Strange. We will be doing some very bizarre things.

The lair. I do think I want to be close to Barrowcleft initially. Many of us might have thought that the call was towards some strange creature in the farms at first, and so we gravitated southwards. But Barrowcleft itself is too clannish and insular for the likes of us, and the Ministry of Preservation too strong. Lets set our sights slightly northwards, somewhere more shadowy and genteel and accepting. Lets head to Silkshore, and the hill of dreamers that is Fogcrest. A small, abandoned house on one of the narrow, twisting stair-lanes of that venerable outcrop. Yes.

Our favoured operation type, at least initially, might be Augury. We want to attract our gods attention and counsel. We want to know what it needs of us.

For hunting grounds … I suspect our ‘hunts’ are going to be a bit more abstract. It’s not the places that matter so much as the materials. But nominally speaking, I’d say we’ll start in Silkshore itself, and the northern section of Barrowcleft along the river. But the gang we’re stepping on the toes of isn’t going to be the Wraiths, because although they work the same territory, they work very different sorts of jobs. No, I think the group we have to contend with will be either the Dimmer Sisters or Lord Scurlock, in their pursuit of arcane mysteries. Let’s say it’s the Sisters, as Scurlock tends to be more circumspect. And I say we don’t pay them off. These are riffraff playing with bottled spirits, while we pursue true majesty. We’re not going to kowtow to them!

For our special ability. There are several more practical, sensible options. But we’re not going to pick those. We’re going to go straight for Glory Incarnate. Our god sometimes manifests in the physical world. For its own inscrutable ends, of course, which may help or harm us as it wills, but who would worship a god expecting anything else? What could be a better sign of the truth of our faith than, say, a glowing eel appearing in a waterway to defend our retreat? Oh, would that we might earn such favour!

For crew upgrades. Cults automatically get Training: Resolve, and a Cohort, a small gang of Adepts. Adepts are scholars, tinkerers, occultists and chemists. Starting at Tier 0, we’ll only have one or two of them in it, but it’s good to gather a small circle of like-minded individuals. Ones who have dreamed the right dreams, and heeded them. To start, since we’re in Fogshore, lets say we have an occultist and a chemist. Cohorts have Edges and Flaws. Lets say our little coterie has the Edges of Loyal (can’t be turned against us) and Tenacious (won’t be deterred from a task), but the Flaws of Principled (each has their sticking point in terms of behaviour that they won’t cross) and Unreliable (they have day jobs, and aren’t always available to us).

For our two free upgrades. I think we want a Ritual Sanctum in the lair, which will function as a workshop for occult/arcane/sacred practices and rituals. And I think, since our god is a god of the deeps, we’re also going to want a boat. So a Boat House, with small boat, dock and storage shack. As for the factions impacted … We were always going to run into Lord Scurlock. Always. So I think that while acquiring the materials for our Ritual Sanctum, we happened to acquire several items that he was also interested in, earning his ire. We weren’t initially aware of this, but once made aware, in a much more intimidating fashion than the Dimmer Sisters managed, we were persuaded to give a Coin to mollify him slightly. And for the boat house … I think we keep it on the north shore of the Dosk in northern Barrowcleft, among the fisher folk on the eastern side of the Barrow Bridge. And I think we have a good reputation among those fisher folk, a sense that we’re good luck charms, so they helped us set it up. The Barrowcleft Citizenry have been decently helpful to us.

And then finally, our favourite contact. And look. Our god is a shining star in the depths of the Void Sea. We’re going to pick the astronomer. Bennett. A scholar at Doskvol Academy, studying Void Sea Navigation. An astronomer studying not just the stars above, but the stars below. Because perhaps they can be navigated by. And divined by. Perhaps they might show the shifting migration paths of leviathans? The Leviathan Hunters have a fervent interest in his research. And perhaps Bennett has caught glimpses of our god’s design in the course of his work. Enough to reach out because of it. Which has … annoyed. Certain other factions that had hoped that he might join them instead. I thought perhaps the Circle of the Flame, being jealous like that, but actually … Perhaps the Ministry of Preservation, instead? As part of their crusade to gain control of the Leviathan Hunters. Because that will dovetail nicely with Radiant Energy, with radiant eels, with the farms in Barrowcleft as well. Yes. Let’s say that Bennett, by his association, has won us the distantly benevolent gaze of the lords of the city, the Leviathan Hunters themselves, but also the aggravation of the Ministry.

(For those keeping track of factions, that puts us starting out at -1 with the Dimmer Sisters, Lord Scurlock, and the Ministry of Preservation, and +1 with the Barrowcleft Citizenry and the Leviathan Hunters. All subject to change, given that our god’s true goals are unlikely to align with most of them).

And there we are. The Motes of the Void (or Moteys, for short). A nascent cult of the forgotten god, the Maw of the Void, a radiant creature shining among the stars in the depths of the Void Sea. A god that might pull together the leviathans, the cataclysm, leviathan blood, radiant energy, the debt of blood that protects and feeds the city around us. A god that initially appeared in the form of a lowly, man-made, alchemical creature, one of the radiant animals that light our waterways and grow our crops and decorate the houses and aquariums of our nobles, but that truthfully is something much, much older, and bigger, and more cataclysmic. Perhaps there is a debt calling due for Doskvol. A debt of blood, and a debt of light, and a debt of life.