Chaosium Digest Volume 16, Number 10 Date: Sunday, October 12, 1996 Number: 2 of 2 Contents: Building a Better Cult, Part 2 (John Goodrich) CALL OF CTHULHU -------------------- From: "John Goodrich" Subject: Building a Better Cult System: Call of Cthulhu Building a Better Cult, Part 2 by John Goodrich ORIGIN (cont.) Influenced Originally, this group had nothing to do with the inhuman entities or objects, but somehow the will of the Gods has become manifest to at least one of the members. Perhaps some entity found a resonant note in the minds of the group, and has been slowly insinuated itself into their actions. Unlike the corrupted cult, the influencing entity, sorcerer, or object is not necessarily present, but often prefers to manipulate the actions of the group from afar, never actually showing its hand or even being identified with the group. The previously-mentioned Teamster's Union with a Serpent Man working within it is a good example of an Influenced Cult. More than likely, the orders of the Serpent Man are carried out separately by dupes who do not understand the significance of their actions, but rather because they think it is union business. Only by pulling back and seeing the actions of the group as a whole will the mechanizations of the manipulator become clear. The Influenced cult is by far the most difficult to pinpoint. Their cover us usually almost perfect: a group of individuals who are not involved in the Mythos at all. Often nothing in the organization's history indicates that they are working towards Mythos goals at all. Many influenced groups have an "Inner Circle" who are directing the less knowledgeable members of the organization. In addition, the grand manipulator of the organization may not even be in an obvious place of power, but instead is manipulating the puppet strings from some lowly position. Investigators will have a difficult time locating the precise source of the infection. Investigators may have to peel away layers of deception in order to get to the truth. If the facade organization is well-respected, the investigators may face an extremely hostile neighborhood, including the police and more many respectable citizens. Woe to the investigators who cannot back up their allegations! Mythos-dominated members of the influenced cult must be circumspect when giving orders. They cannot afford to have more innocent members figure out what they are doing. The influenced cult cannot be bold and direct, but must be patient and subtle. Overt acts will outrage the regular members, depriving the manipulator of its tool. Subtle and patient are two things investigators hate. It could take months or years for the investigators to put together enough pieces to figure out exactly who is pushing the buttons, and what organization is responsible. This type of organization can take a huge amount of time and footwork by the investigators, and takes an eternity to root out. After all, the investigators wouldn't want to kill an innocent person, would they? Corrupted The Corrupted Cullt started as an organization dedicated to something else. But the Mythos has seeped into it, and now the organization, while still ostensibly continuing it's old work, had been entirely subsumed by the Mythos. Unlike the influenced cult, the individual(s) who are influenced by the Mythos are always present, and very often in conspicuous positions of power. Hate groups and those with occult trappings are especially open to corruption by Mythos sorcerers and entities, but this is a guideline, not a rule. The Mythos is much more shocking when it corrupts in the initial pursuit of a good cause. Perhaps some doctors have gotten hold of healing magic, and use it in the treatment of the patients. The patients are recovering, but the doctors themselves are becoming more and more insane, leading them to try the other, less beneficent spells they have found. The Keeper should make it clear that it is impossible to use anything connected to the Mythos for a good cause. Everything that comes in contact with the alien entities and energies of the Mythos will eventually, in some way, come under their inhuman sway. The corrupted cult, like the influenced cult, often continues the work that it was created for, keeping their Mythos activities under close wraps. A defined leader in the organization keeps fractiousness to a minimum, but problems can still arise if someone charismatic and ambitious comes into the organization. Again, it is quite difficult to tell precisely who has been corrupted, and who has not. And like the influenced cult, it is very often extremely difficult if investigators to figure out precisely what organization is responsible for the Mythos activity. Unlike the influenced cult, at least some section of the organization knows about the Mythos influence. And where people know the truth, ways exist for investigators to get it from them. The more people who are in on the secret the larger the chance that someone will talk. In addition, because the organization was subsumed wholesale, there may be members who were initiated into the Mysteries who shouldn't have been. Traitors are probably the greatest threat to the corrupted cult, especially if they are rank amateurs feeling their way into the Mythos. It seems that it is human nature to grumble, and this reactionary nature may not be removed by insanity. A corrupted group is the Keeper's chance to pull something very strange. Perhaps the Grand Wizard of the local Klan chapter deserves that title more than his predecessor did. A keeper has a great deal of leeway when creating a corrupted cult. Any organization from the most innocent to the most evil can be corrupted and twisted by the Mythos. Sometimes, even Mythos groups can be corrupted by another Mythos entity, leading to a very confused trail for the investigators to follow. One of many possibilities involves an organization that an investigator belongs to becoming corrupt. Immortal One of the great promised of the Cthulhu Mythos is the possibility of immortality. To live undying is a dream that a great many humans would gladly sell off a good deal of their humanity for. And a number have. Immortal cultists are some of the most dangerous humans on the planet. What knowledge can a human gain compared to someone who has had centuries to study and refine her magical skills? To have achieved the mighty magics to grant immortality, the immortal cultist has to be extremely powerful. And more than likely, the study of the magical sciences has not ended. Few entities know more about magic than an undying cultists who have studied magic for over a thousand years. Fools do not survive four hundred years of hiding and changing identities. Immortality is often extremely inconvenient in Call of Cthulhu. Vampires have it easy compared to the immortals from Call of Cthulhu. Most Mythos spells that confer immortality regularly require extremely strange and rare ingredients, and often produce highly unpleasant side effects. If these fragile supply lines are cut, then half the investigators' work is done for them. Additionally, immortal cultists need to move house regularly before the neighborhood notices that they haven't aged in the last eighty years. Immortal cultists were once human. Humans have habits, favorite things, and a desire for a connection to the past. With the growing rate of change in the last two centuries, the immortal cultists may find it difficult to keep up. Archaic spelling, ideas, and technology may mark the immortal cultist as a sort of anachronism. However, more and more people living in the twentieth century have difficulty dealing with technology, too. Immortal cults are as a rule small. Large numbers of immortal individuals in general circulation tends to increase the suspicion level exponentially. However, if they are in general isolated from the rest of society (something that is becoming more and more difficult in the twentieth century), then there is much less probability of discovery. The most important thing in the sorcerers' lives is the immortality spell. The keeper must decide exactly what the maintenance requirements are, what side effects it has, and what happens to the individual who violates the rules. Can the immortal cultists eat only vegetables? Can they not bear close proximity to iron? Does their immortality cause them great pain? Such small indica can help the investigators spot the immortal cult members, and give them the toehold they need to bring down this most dangerous of cults. SIZE The number of members in a cult will determine how it can react in certain situations. But size should not be equated with power. While the larger cult has more bodies and more psychic energy available, the smaller cult is able to congregate with less attention, and is much less likely to be fractious. Smaller cults are often far more dedicated and energetically involved with their cause. But none of these guidelines are set in stone. Large In a large cult, organization is very important. Tasks must be assigned to inindividuals, and the power structure of the organization must be very well defined. The large cult is often divided into two or more circles, and promotion is based on whatever factors the cult deems desirable. Other cults have a single membership level- only the priest has more status than anyone else. The large cult has the safety of numbers, and tremendous amounts of POWer available. The large cult has more members, more resources, more skills and more money to draw on than the small cult. What the small cult has to tiptoe around, the large cult can smash right through. Many lips increases exponentially the chance of someone talking. Hundreds of people cannot congregate in one place without causing some sort of sign or discussion. Large cults often have to masquerade as a different organization to hide themselves. Since the large cult tends to be a bit impersonal, it is quite possible for the investigators to infiltrate the cult without being detected. In larger groups, its possible for masqueraders to attend several meetings without attracting undue attention to themselves. In addition, the larger the cult, the greater the chance of fractiousness developing. More members mean the greater potential for a sub-leader to emerge and lead a section of the group off in a different direction. Fractiousness has led to the demise of more than one real world cult. It can happen to Mythos organizations, also. The large cult has the advantage of the safety of numbers. There is nothing like having eighty people worshipping one's chosen Great Old One to give a sense that all is right with the world. And in matters of self-defense, even if a quarter of the members own guns, the investigators should be quickly overwhelmed. Small The small cult offers an intimacy that the large cult cannot match. The cultist and a few if his best buddies get together and demonstrate their great respect for some Mythos entity. Small cults are very intimate. Everyone knows everyone else. Secrets are hard to keeep- if one member of a four-person cult wants to take over, chances are, the rest of the group is going to notice. The small cult is, well, small. It is harder to detect the meeting times and places of the small cult; the event is not a big party. Such meetings can be disguised as other, legitimate transactions. Who is going to suspect five people who always have lunch together of being the hideous Cult of the Bloody Tongue? The tight-knit intimacy also allows for a much greater efficiency and organization than the larger cult. Mistakes are known about and can be remedied almost immediately. Communication lines are a simple as a few phone calls. In addition, the fewer people involved, the less possibility there is of outsiders noticing the strangeness of the cult. No one lives in a vacuum, and cultist's friends and relations are often ignored in traditional cult scenarios. How does the cultist's spouse react to the difference once their partner is corrupted by the Mythos? Will the cultist sever all ties with their former life, or will they attempt the semblance or normality? If only a few people begin to act strange, then there is less chance that an overall pattern will be noticed. However, if fifteen people in a town act strangely, then tongues will begin to wag, and there is a possibility that the cult members will be associated in their strangeness. In a small cult, everyone knows everyone. One person deciding to roll over on everyone else will result in everyone being exposed. However, this is extremely unlikely. Also, it is very difficult for anyone to pose as a cultist. In addition, once the investigators sees meeting of the small cult, they know everyone in it. No escape is possible once a member has been seen with the small cult. The loss of single member of a small cult is a serious blow the organization's effectiveness. Chances are, each member has a specific job to do in order for the overall goal to be obtained. Unlike the large cult with its expendable members, the small cult cannot afford to waste anyone. The small cult is often overlooked as an option, simply because four individuals would have roughly the same firepower potential as the investigators' group. However, one moderately potent sorcerer can make the investigators' lives miserable without ever revealing his identity. The smaller cult probably will not see direct confrontation, but isolate and terrorize from the shadows. Once two or three investigators are out of the picture, then the cult is more likely to take direct action. ENTITY WORSHIPPED Each cult has some sort of Mythos adjunct attached to it; otherwise, the investigators would not be making their lives miserable. Exactly what this is determines a great deal of the flavor of the cult. Cthulhu cultists often are degenerates who worship in large gangs. Few organizations outright worship the Great Race of Yith, but rumors exist of a loose organization that aids them whenever possible. The Keeper should study the entity carefully when creatiing a cult for it. What sort of thing is it? What kind of goals would such an entity have? Does it appreciate the worship? Need it? Hate it? What would it do with a mass of scuttling humans that will do its every bidding? GOALS Many cults work towards definite goals. How about some drug-trafficking followers of a lloigor? Is their goal to attain wealth, or spread corruption and misery? The specific goal will significantly affect the ways in which the cult goes about their business. If they are looking for weallth for its own sake, then it is likely that they will be looking at more high-risk ventures, amassing wealth as quickly as possible. The drugs will often be cut, and prompt payment is a must. If corruption is their goal, then they can afford to be more insidious. Instead of cutting individual junkies off, they will probably just string them along- enough to send the junkie spiraling into depression and desperation, then bailing him out just before he does something suicidal. The toll of such a relationship would be insufferable to friends and family. The Keeper should give significant thought to the ultimate goals of the organization, and the methods the cult is willing to use in order to achieve that goal. However, just because a goal is defined doesn't mean it has to be easily comprehensible, such as collecting the left green eyes of humans born above the 12 degree longitude in the Year of the Rat. The cult needs twenty-three of these eyes in order to summon a specific fire vampire that knows the secret of fire charming. While it is unlikely that the investigators will ever discover the true motivations behind the cult's activities, a concrete goal does give them a consistency of action that gives the cult more life, and thus more menace. THE DIRTY TRICKS SECTION Every investigators' organization deserves to have a bit of nastiness thrown specifically at them every now and then. It keeps them on their toes. Here are a couple of dirty tricks to pull on the investigators to get them thinking about what exactly they are doing. The more morally ambiguous the Keeper can make the cult, the more the players will agonize over it. That's what they're playing Call of Cthulhu for, isn't it? Include Former investigators. Perhaps the worst kind of cult are those comprised of former investigators. The Keeper can show the investigators what can happen if they stray too far from the path of humanity, and begin to use the power of the Mythos against itself. Characters can have the shock of their careers seeing their actions and attittudes thrown back at them. If the Keeper thinks the group has grown too callous, try throwing a group of insane, witch-hunting fanatics at them. Watch the players' expressions as the witch-hunters burn down the orphanage on the suspicion that one of the orphans came from an Innsmouth family. Create a pacifistic cult. It's easy justify mowing down a bunch of armed cultists because they're a menace to life and limb. But, this is a lot more difficult if they resemble misguided Quakers. An investigator who doesn't hesitate to kill a group of unarmed cultists has lost a good deal of the humanity that she claims to fight for. Use kids. Even the most hardened monster bashers should hesitate when confronted with 40 kindergartners innocently laughing as they chant to summon Azathoth. If the investigators let the children live, what guarantee do they have that someday one of the children will not teach it to his friends, and sing it around a campfire with twenty other Boy Scouts? A serious moral dilemma like this will gain the players' respect, once they've gotten over the headaches it has caused them. Make the players hate the cult. Demonstrate to the players that the cult is so vile and disgusting that any delay in wiping them out will lead to terrible acts. The hasty stroke often goes amiss. Find out if any of the players have buttons that can be pressed: secret fears that can be integrated into the cult. Don't overuse this trick, or it will loose its punch, but one tailor-made, truly vile cult can stand out in the players' minds for a long time. Weirdness Going hand in hand with all of the above, a little directed weirdness goes a long way to making any cult encounter memorable. How about a cult whose devotions involve drinking Orange Juice five times a day? It gives the investigators something to look for, and for a while afterwards, their hands will twitch when they see someone walking down the street with a glass of good old OJ. Suddenly the familiar and every day is sinister. Strangeness can take numerous forms, forms, many of them available in the daily newspaper. Start a file of newspaper articles that deal with strange events, and use these for inspiration. Suppose the followers of Nyarlathotep are breeding tiger/lion crossbreeds to lick Mr. N's hands when he comes to the Cult Clubhouse? How abbout a cult whose signature murder includes leaving the victim's head in the freezer? Or how about a cult that has a cluster bomb? No delivery system, just a cluster bomb sitting in the middle of the congregating area. Are the investigators going to leave it for just anyone to find? Are they insane enough to try to take it home? They probably don't even know what will make it go off! Investigators who consistently run into this level of Mythos-related strangeness will quickly develop nervous tics when seemingly ordinary topics are mentioned. If the Keeper was really successful, the players will, too. The Supercult For the true conspiracy theorists in the group, the Keeper can provide a small, exclusive group who control certain cults. Not all the organizations the investigators run into should be part of this international conspiracy, but every now and then there should be the hint of some sort of larger involvement: a dropped letter, or a familiar library stamp. International supercults are by necessity extremely paranoid and very careful. At no time should there be concrete evidence of the supercult's involvement, but just enough for the investigators to eventually see a pattern. Like the supposed Great Satanist Conspiracy, the supercult is truly worldwide, and has their fingers in as much or as little as the Keeper's cold heart wishes. New World Industries, first introduced in Keith Herber's Fungi from Yuggoth, is an excellent model for the supercult. NWI has appeared as a shadowy organization in a few subsequent Chaosium products, always remaining in the background. Instead of being actors themselves, NWI appears to prefer to provide information to other groups, letting the corruption of the Mythos do its own work. Of course, the supercult should not show up every time the Mythos does. They should have an reliable, consistent plan of attack, a definite, large goal that all their actions work towards. However, something as general as the corruption of all mankind could be accomplished by establishing numerous cults across the country. The supercult also acts as a central, larger brain for the Mythos. While smaller organizations may not notice many of the investigators' actions, the supercult will. The supercult will probably become aware of the investigators' presence about the same time that the investigators deduce the existence of the Supercult. Then things will get really hairy, since covert warfare will exist until one of the antagonists is dead. Setting up the supercult takes a great deal of time and effort, and taking it down should be the result of decades of work. They will also likely have a number of influenced or corrupted cults at their beck and call, and have a number of created organizations that they seeded themselves. FINAL NOTES Of all things, it is most important for the Keeper to put some thought into the Mythos organization she is going to put the investigators up against. A well-developed and fully realized cult with defined goals, a background that the investigators can catch glimpses of, and some sort of logic to their existence is a great deal more terrifying than just another bunch of screaming maniacs. Using the guidelines presented here, the Keeper should be able to create more fully realized organizations for the investigators to battle. The more alive and dynamic the group seems, the greater the memories will be, and the more the adventure will grow in the telling. - * - Russell rested his 10-gauge on his left hip. He could feel the thick gunpowder haze scoring his lungs. Nearly a score of adolescent bodies were scattered about the room. Dame Addams carefully wiped her katana on a piece of cloth before sliding it back to the sheath. Only then did she notice the dark stain spreading from her ribs. She sat down hard, the exhaustion of combat setting in heavily. "How do these things happen?" She moaned, the weight of the action turning her face prematurely old. "They were only kids." Dr. Bombei peered at her through eyeglasses half-melted from the intensity of the sorcerous combat. Looking at him, Dame Addams realized how closely he had come to losing the mystic battle. "I believe I have the answer," he said as he held up a battered copy of the first edition of the Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia. "They delved too greedily into things they should not have known. Now they have paid the price." -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views or beliefs of Chaosium Inc. To submit an article, subscribe or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.