> If I am reading this correctly, one can join the cult by choosing
> its discipline, rather than accepting a "normal" sentence upon con-
> viction for a crime. One can also join when fleeing the authorities,
> as a sort of sanctuary. Correct?
Almost correct. If the local priests of the cult are willing to take you, it pretty much works that way. There are categories of people they won't touch (the most obvious being Slaves, whom they believe unable to benefit from Danfive Xaron's teachings), and they are in no way publicly accountable for their decisions. But the write-up states that "Almost nobody who seeks membership of the cult is turned away". (And we all believe cult writeups, don't we?).
The cult regards it as a great shame for a life to be "wasted" through traditional punishments, when it could instead be "saved" by their pious efforts. ("Even if it takes the rest of your life... or more.")
Now, if they *really* don't like you, the Overseers and Cenobites can give you such a hard time once you're inside their Penitentiary that it kills you. (Or cures you: you're not a problem any more, either way). They're likely to discipline you if you joined the Cult "defiantly" (e.g. thumbing your nose at the judge, laughing at the court, etc.), just as they would if you showed a "bad attitude" once inside.
Don't forget that traditional role-playing games are very poor at portraying just how horrible and/or character-warping some experiences can be. My own inclination would be to "retire" any character who entered the Penitentiary, unless I had long-term plans for them (or a good jailbreak scenario, or "A Day In The Life Of Joannes Filius Denisii", or some such intention). Easier to begin play as a reformed Black Army agent with a shady past, rather than play a character whose personality is being intentionally warped during the course of the game.
> Can one just walk up and knock on the Penitentiary door, even when =
> not wanted by the authorities? Even when one is _not_ a criminal, or =
> even particularly penitent about one's life? Is one's pre-initiation
> experience the same in these cases?
Yes, yes, and yes.
The process of initiation into the Danfive Xaron cult is the same, whether you're a mass-murderer, a masochist, or a seeker after philosophical Truths by which to live your life. This is explicit in the write-up's description:
: Most penitents are criminals, either seeking sanctuary from the law, : or else learning the discipline of the Sevenfold Path to cure their : antisocial tendencies and make them reformed members of society. : Others are moved by feelings of guilt, inadequacy or sincere reli- : gious feeling to seek out the certainties of Danfive's Three Noble : Truths and the Sevenfold Path. THE CULT DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE =
: BETWEEN THESE IN ANY WAY. [My emphasis]
(See also the Catechumens, later in the write-up: an outside observer can't tell the difference between a convicted prisoner and a priest of the cult in training).
The aim of the Penitent stage is to *make* you repent. The Cult assumes you wish to be reformed (as Danfive was), and uses harsh and coercive methods to bring this about (beatings, dry bread and water, solitary confinement, hard labour, inflexible discipline, etc.). These methods don't change just because you "really" volunteered to undergo them. If you fall short of the ideals the Cult has set for you, you deserve whatever punishments they choose to inflict. The worst of these is expulsion from the Penitentiary into the waiting arms of traditional justice: brandings and blindings and mutilations and impalements... or just the terrible sense of failure to make the grade, if you thought to learn and live by the Noble Truths of Danfive Xaron.
> The write-up (if I read it correctly) suggests that the vast secret
> police/secret army, etc. apparatus protecting the Lunar Empire from
> internal foes is composed and led by ex-criminals. =
True, intentionally satirical, and with many real-world parallels.
> Let us assume for a minute that this is true... that the cult is able
> to make up for the backgrounds of its members... that these ex-cons
> do a fine job and engender some sort of regard among the Lunars...
("Some sort of regard" includes fear and dread, I assume. Did all Soviet citizens love and respect the KGB, all Germans the Gestapo?)
> Young Plurius Unum decides that he wants to be an Unspoken Word agent,
> protecting the Empire from within. Or perhaps a prison warden, or a
> Black Army trooper. Inspired by his patriotic zeal, he heads off on
> a crime spree, knocking over a few fruit stands and mugging a couple
> citizens before being apprehended. Great Joy! His career is under way!
He's a prat. He could have walked up to the Penitentiary and informed the Overseers of his desire to join the Cult. Instead, he attacks the innocent and steals things which are not his to take. I think he'll be in for a long, hard initiation... unless, of course, he takes to the Cult's instruction like a duck to water, in which case he may attain penitance earlier on. Though nobody's saying the cult promotes fools: maybe he'll end up as one of the bald-headed torturers in the lowest cells, wielding a whip and shouting "Submit!" (as they do), not as a streetwise informer or glamorous secret agent of the Black Army...
> All humor aside, is this _really_ the way it works?
Yes. But, given the "Yes, yes and yes" answer to your earlier question, do you really imagine there will be many idiots like Plurius Unum in the upper levels of the Cult of Danfive Xaron?
The cult writeup intentionally didn't attempt to comprehensively detail the legal and penal systems of the Lunar Empire. You'll see that the cult can be apparently capricious, and can't be relied on to save your bacon: if the Overseer is "a little tied down" when Plurius Unum gets to court, he'll be sentenced by the Dara Happan judge to have his hands cut off for theft and a hundred lashes for the muggings, with no time off for good behaviour, and no chance to appeal for sanctuary in the Penitentiary.
Many "traditional" judges *hate* the Cult of Danfive Xaron, and are keen that the sentences they pass should be inflicted. Other, more "modern" judges, pass traditional sentences purely for deterrent effect, then hand=
the crooks over to the Penitentiary for their "real" sentence. (Think of the way judges nowadays sentence criminals to ten years inside, knowing they'll be out on the streets in less than half that time).
Also, please appreciate that (like all cult write-ups) the Cult of Danfive Xaron engages in "special pleading" on behalf of its subjects, assuming they are right, and admirable, and that society and institutions work the way they think they ought to. Just ask yourself what the impact of Illumination on the Cult might be, if you want some ideas for scary corruption scandals, "reformed" thieves and murderers stalking the streets in their Black Army uniforms...
I hope this helps. Any more questions, please ask!
> I'm not coming up with anything for the Hittites, but want them in too.=
Harrek's Wolf Pirates? ("Sea Peoples", descending on the Egypto-Minoan Ho=
ly
Country and putting in one of their people -- Argrath -- as quasi-Pharaoh=
).
::::
Nick
::::
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