The motives of evil cultists

[Lord Zardoz]

Not sure if any of my current players read EnWorld. However, I am going to gamble on a no.

First some background.

I am planning on adding some Cultiists of Morgion in my campaign as an evil organization. Morgion is a god of Disease, death, undead creatures, suffering, and general misery. Given that no civilized society would actually have a direct use for an established church of that sort, they exist primarily as a very very secretive cult and as a very wide ranging conspiracy. Sometimes they act for themselves.

At the present, the cultists are abducting entire families who simply appear to go missing with no explanation. There are rumors about the disappearances, but no one seems to know the cause. The players have already discovered something is going on when some random men in dark robes entered their inn and tried to abduct them. Authorities took possession of the survivor of the attack and instructed the players not to speak of it (as the kingdom is totalitarian and would rather not have to deal with the social unrest that would be caused by having the activities of that cult made common knowledge).

The players do NOT know the nature of their attackers yet, though I am sure that the plot hook has their attention.

Now here is where I need some ideas. I know that the cultists are abducting entire families. I have not yet decided exactly why. For generally why, I have the following ideas.

- They need human sacrifices to perform a ritual?
- Brainwashing?
- Using them to create and later spread a plague?

What I need is specifically why. If they are performing a ritual, what is the desired end goal of the ritual? Why are the abducting entire families instead of just murdering them? Why are they doing it in 'this' kingdom instead of the next one over? What exactly does the Ritual accomplish?

For the short term, the exact end goal is not important but I want to have something to work with?

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Cor_Malek]

Whoah, this is fun!

First off - establish if they're chaotic or lawful organization, this itself would clear things up a bit. Though just because they're lawful doesn't mean there can;t be a few NE innit ;-)

1. Why abduct families​

• they need living humans for experiments, as their process still isn't working. They need related people so that they can make sure their problems aren't connected with certain genom (I guess you didn't specify ie colour of hair of those abducted - how about retconning that to gingers?). Peasants are however dying off mighty fast, so sometimes they need prime material (like the PC's)
• They don't need them alive, but they need to superwise the bodies and their transformation.
• Some families will "escape" and pop up in different villages across the border with X, that have garrisons in them. The plague lays dormant until Y, to make the border more vulnerable to attacks
• They are working with Z, prominent member of guild/gov/church; maybe secret branch of said totalitarian gov. This doesn't necessarily mean the whole gov is BBG, maybe small cell wants to go all in - if they succeed, no one will be asking what the price was if it's kept secret.
• Human suits. Think Eddie Gain, but more vivid and monstrous. (other uses)

2. Why this kingdom
​

• because they don't even need gov backing to keep this all quiet - officials keep the public uninformed on their own.
• because they're working with small cell of gov (see pt1)
• because they already tried elsewhere and got busted before everything started to work properly
• because they know that if they attack border between this and other, peaceful kingdom - the totalitarian overlords will unleash their legions, and ask questions second.

3.What does the ritual accomplish
​

• dormant plague in their victims
• new plague/undead experiments
• to open portals to hell in previous editions, one needed to perform a mass act of genocide. A group of 30-50 lowlifes could never dream of destroying a whole city. But snatch 4 people every now and then and given enough time - you could gather hundrets of people that you need to kill to perform the rite
• they want to reintroduce half-orcs to DnD and they're providing ftoys for their orcs.
• Every new member has to kill a family to prove worthy (and loyal, as he now has no chance of pardon if he rats others out)

And lastly, my friend - some people just want to watch the world burn.

 

[Kaodi]

Well, to borrow a little from Fallout 3...

Perhaps their goal is actually to create a plague that will wipe out some monstrosities, monstrous races, and other malcontents; some group or entity they see as a plague on civilization. However, they operate on the " to save it we had to destroy it " principle, so the plague will wipe out civilized folks as well.

They see living families as a more effective way to spread the plague. People tend to destroy zombies and other undead minions on sight, so the idea is to conceal the attack. Furthermore, parents with children tend to be more compliant than parents without them when it comes to serving the cultists needs. Just set them loose afterwards, and they will make their way to civilization in order to keep their children safer.

The Ritual itself places a cursed plague on people that they themselves cannot be rid of until they have spread it to a given number of targets. Even if they are killed, they will rise an undead to reach their quota.

And finally, one of the cult leaders led a former life as a bean counter and has utilized expertly devised models to determine optimal spread of the disease so that it has the highest probability of eliminating the desired targets and then dying out before doing too much " collateral damage " .

 

[Kaodi]

[Double post: First time I hit submit it was taking abnormally long, to do anything, so I hit it a second time. Both worked, in the end.]

 

[ajanders]

Another note for "why this kingdom": maybe somebody really hates this totalitarian kingdom...enough they haven't thought through the consequences of their actions.
Villains like that can be somewhat sympathetic, which is always good for complexity.

And why abduct "THESE families"? Are they all descended from people who did the Cult of Morgion dirty in the past? How far in the past? What kind of villain has that long a memory?

 

[fba827]

Some rather disjointed thoughts that came to mind as I read your post ...

Why kidnap instead of murder?
* Perhaps it has something to do with the suffering aspect of the portfolio. the 'thing' they are trying to accomplish is powered by the energies/cries/screams of the suffering.

* Perhaps they need to be fresh victims before the 'ritual' so killing them ahead of time would make their corpse too old if the 'event' isn't happening for another week or month or next full moon, etc. they would be killed (freshly killed) at the ceremony.

* Perhaps they are actually willing victims (aligned with the cult, if not part of the cult) but they are staging their disappearance for the sake of giving them a legitimate excuse to be gone.

Why families instead of individuals
This will depend on the 'what is going on' but some possibilities include
* (if using the suffering cries as the source of power) Having the rest of the family there increases the suffering of the mothers/fathers/etc

* The rest of the family is just a convenience - they were there during the kidnapping of one person so why not take everyone since they need that many targets anyway.

* (if using the willing victim idea) The family is all in one it and wants to go (or the father who is in on it wants to make his family come with him)

* The families are all from a specific bloodline related to current and former enemies of the cult

* The families are all descendants of one of the original cult leaders, and there is some sort of power within their blood that they wish to reunite

* They are looking for one specific person (perhaps part of some prophecy to be able to naturally wield some great power over undead, etc) and they know this person is of some bloodline , so they are trying to find this person and convert him (and not kill the other people since they need that person alive and need to figure out who it is -- then they'll kill the rest of the victims during the ceremony of initiation for that found individual)

* The cult is planning to release a disease (that being part of their portfolio after all), but for some reason they know that these people/families have a genetic resistance to the disease. Thus, rounding them up to get them out of the way so that they can not help. though that makes the 'why not kill right away' part a little tricky

* (the reverse of the above) The cult wants to release a disease and for some reason these families are predisposed to be good carriers for it. Thus, during a particular ceremony (maybe waiting for a full moon or what not) they'll get infected and then released back to their hometown as (unknown to them) plague carriers.


anyway, just some rambles off the top of my head.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Good feedback so far. Here are some of the thoughts I can put forward.

Abduction vs Murder:
The abduction vs murder thing by its self is because the cultists need them alive for now. I just have not decided what abducting them does that simply contaminating a food supply or murdering them on the spot does not accomplish.

The 'Abduct entire families' has a few possible factors. Part of it is that they want to gather alot of people fast, but they do not want to leave witnesses. They will take entire families to leave no one behind who will ask questions. One abduction team did try to take the PC's. Since the group has a Dragonborn, and Elf, a Human, a Dwarf, and a Tiefling, I do not think they are related, so bloodline based abduction does not fit. However, I could always use the 'specific bloodline' based ideas later.

I really like the Human suits idea though working it in may be tricky. It would make a wide scale monster infiltration easier. Hard to notice that 'Timmy' is acting strange when everyone who knows 'Timmy' has also been taken.

Why this Kingdom:

The setting is based on the Birthright setting, and the kingdom is Ghoere. Ghoere is a large powerful kingdome with an ambitious ruler who would very much like to conquer his neighbors. Unfortunately, everyone he shares a border with hates him, and he moves in one direction, someone else will take a shot at him.

Ghoere's ruler would not work with the Cult of Morgion to do something to their own people. They might work with them to do something to a neighbor as a precursor to invasion. However I have already decided that some portion of the beaurocracy has been infiltrated by the cult.

I do like the idea that part of the reason Ghoere has been targeted is because their ruler would keep the abductions secret. If news got out, pretty much every other kingdom that shares a border would love to annex a few provinces.

What does the Ritual Accomplish:

The answer to this question has two parts. First is what the end game is. That I do not know. Spreading a plauge would be good, but they could do that without something as risky as mass abductions. So if it is a plague, it would need to be especially noteworthy.

The second part is the 'Who personally benefits'? Of course this plan, if it works, will make Morgion very very happy. But where did this idea come from? Did some cultist have an inspired idea to please his god and increase his own power? Is someone seeking revenge?

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Hmm, well, the kidnapping of families, that seems to suggest a lot of significant things to me. Like, they want to perpetuate something rather than kill. You mention that most sane people would never join this cult. Then you're gonna need to have some way of getting fresh meat, so to speak. The brainwashing thing seems to be the strongest element here, so I'll elaborate on my ideas for that.


Why families instead of individuals?

With the er... rather thrill-seeking lifestyle of the cult, replacement cultists have to come from somewhere. Cloning and other similar magics are expensive and draw attention. So the better thing might be to whisk away as many people as you can and brainwash them to be a part of your "bigger family" ala Stockholm Syndrome. if you take a family, you can separate them from each other and use threats to loved ones to manipulate the others. You can also break the weaker links in a family and then recruit them to help break down their stronger relatives.

By bringing members of different families together, you can establish your own shadow communities of people who only know life under the rule of the cult. The descendants of the kidnapped will come out even more brainwashed and disturbed than the "first generation kidnapped". After all, they'll be brainwashed from birth. This would be perhaps the most sick and disturbing part of the cult- essentially breeding and raising children to become soulless enforcers of the cult.


Why kidnap instead of kill?

For survival reasons. You get nothing (with the possible exception of blessings from the gods). You kidnap, you brainwash, you procreate, you have yourself a way to prolong the cult’s existence. Like a twisted version of a big extended family or clan (think the Manson family or any other cult for a feel of the idea here.)

Quick physical deaths compared to this might be merciful. But you’re inflicting a slow spiritual and psychological death on people, or at least an existence of living nonliving. As long as they live, they will be miserable. And the sick thing here is that- as long as they are brainwashed, they won’t really comprehend how they’re miserable!


What does the ritual accomplish?

Perhaps the cult intends to take their “big family” to a whole new level. Some kind of mythical apocalypse, and they want to be ready. So everybody’s getting ready to be transformed… into something else. A new breed of human, something evolved (a race of undead beings?). See, the whole death/disease angle might not be a end in itself, maybe it’s a means to an end. That end is to wipe out the nonelite, those who were not chosen by the cult. To make room for the birth of the new, there has to be a death of the old.

Now, this all may be a bunch of superstitious nonsense, but to the cultists it may be real. Regardless, it doesn’t make this group any less dangerous.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

I really like the stockholm syndrome idea above.

The kidnappings are to make more cultists...cultists that have ties to this city...and will blend back in when they are released. "Kidnapped? NO, no...we were on vacation."

Also, tied in to suffering and loyalty and undeath, one family member is killed by the others and turned into undead. That becomes a bargaining chip for the cult as well as initiation/brainwashing for the family members.

 

[arthurhoneyhill]

Evil diseasy experiments to create a plague. And to make minions for their undead army. As to why they're abducting whole families, they're doing so that the zombies already know each other when they're zombies! Less training.