Cults and Societies

"In the course of decades of operation within Paradigm City, we have uncovered numerous cults, secret societies, and organizations that not only serve The Dread but also actively seek to usher it into the world. These organizations are our enemies. We have the edge in this war because we know all about them, but they don't know about us. We need to keep it that way, ladies and gents. If these people found out that we're the ones tipping off superheroes, or putting bullets into their demons, or messing with their spells and computer programs we'd find ourselves so clusterfucked so fast we'd make Custer look smart. So pay attention." ~Nicole Darkraven

Hellfire Clubs
Every so often, a Hellfire club will spring up in the Grove, the Falls, or the Tower. Clubs are varied and different so are difficult to give specifics to but they all tend to follow the same general series of activities: Immoral and usually always illegal debauchery, consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, and feasting on rare and exotic foodstuffs. Most Hellfire clubs are created and organized by the well-to-do and influential, so they try to be as low key as possible.

For the most part, we don't concern ourselves with Hellfire clubs. To compare the two institutes a Cult is a dangerous gathering of people brainwashed and bent-willed to the cult leader. The cult leader is often a Magick user or monster. By contrast, a Hellfire club is more like a frat party fr Senators having a midlife crises.

However, every once in a blue moon a Hellfire club gets organized around an Artifact or Relic or is pulled together by a powerful force such as a black magician or Master Vampire. These are the Hellfire clubs we do engage against, because sacrifices of the young--especially females--often becomes the centerpiece of the rituals. Shut these down.

If you do happen to uncover a Hellfire club, tip off the police and the FBI. If you find a monstrous Hellfire club, alert the Cabal at once.

Cults
The Cathedral of Morning Light: This cult had its beginnings in Raven's Grove in 2006 and has since grown and spilled over into Darkness Falls, where it seems to particularly attract the zealous. The Church is a purity cult. Its leader, the Reverend Jessie Richmond, wholly believes in the supernatural and, worse, that it is encroaching upon humanity. A cult like this would almost serve as an unknowing ally to us except that they vow to destroy, violently, anyone not 100% human. This dispassionate removal from pure humanity also includes Magicians and psychics, as well as normal innocent people whom dabble into esoteric spirituality. This is an exceptionally dangerous cult and all agents are warned to proceed with caution.

Church of Starry Wisdom: Also called the Starry Wisdom Cult. The cult was founded in Providence, RI in 1884 by "Professor Enoch" to worship the Elder God Dakta(q.v). Professor Enoch was James Bowen, a renowned archaeologist and occultist. The Cult is small but still active and believed responsible for several disappearances in Providence annually. The cult marks itself with the symbol of a spider bearing an all-seeing eye between its forelegs.

The Malignancy of Iod: An tiny but exceptionally dangerous cult currently operating in Darkness Falls. The cult was founded in 2008 by pathologist Theodre L. Tapman after the doctor had a dream of the human race being decimated by plagues and diseases so that the earth could be made whole for an Elder God named Iod. The cult is only 30 members strong but devoted, Tapman believes that by ushering Iod to earth the cult will be appointed a place of leadership over the survivors. The cult creates and disseminates drugs and pathogens in order to open a gateway. Field agents are mandated to destroy any Iodian labs they find.

The Mesa Devils: Required reading for all Apostates.

The Orpheum Society: This cult has its foundations in the European Hellfire clubs of the 1800s and, ostensibly, is made up of society's older and wealtheir carpons and exists to increase its wealth and disseminate advice. Under this clean cover, it is much more sinister. Their leader, Tobias M. James, is a true black Ceremonial magician and uses his wealth of ritual and invocation to secure his power base by sometimes giving older, more prominent members a taste with mild cantrips and offering 'familiars'. The Society throws lavish public masquerades and balls to recruit, so that they may insulate their own wealth and subjugate the lower classes. Many of the cultists speak of ritualistic practices--most foul--to ascend higher into the realms of Orpheus himself and become immortal within the Dreamlands.

Sisters of Hyppolita: Founded in 2015 by Alicia Broker, the Sisters is an all female mysigonist cult. Each of the Sisters individually have been the victims of abuse and neglect, and are striking back hard with the use of sympathetic Magick in order to target men of high social and political rank. They have a huge online presence, seeking to attract like-minded women in, They are easy for our female agents to infiltrate but because Broker is so exceptionally observant many of the agents we have sent in have vanished. Before they did so, these agents reported that the cult uses much darker, black magick rituals involving sex, drugs, and even torture.

Whisper of Him: The Whisper of Him cult is a small cult cureently active in Raven's Grove and Darkness Falls. The cult began in 2016 by Amelia Bellows, folklorist at Raven's Grove College. Bellows claims to have spent her entire childood being whispered to by the Elder God, Him, since she was a child;mistaking the God's wishes for schizophrenia. As an older teen she attended one of those fly by night better yourself seminars and during a guided meditation received a vision of Him itself, whereupon the whispers began again. The cult now worships Him as a diety, holding Bacchanalian rites in the deep forests of Raven's Grove and, to a lesser extent, Darkness Falls. There is no evidence, yet, that the cult is dangerous.

The Cult of the Southern Rose
This cult deserves it's own separate listing and agents are well-advised to educate themselves about it as thoroughly as possible. The Southern Rose is the greatest malignancy we can ever face, being thousands of years old and heavily active in Raven's Grove, Darkness Falls, and the Tower District. No cult is a greater servant to The Dread and enemy to us as is the Southern Rose.

According to the documentation we have been able to lay claim to, cultists we have interrogated over the years, and scraps and fragments of lost or forgotten lore in some of the ancient tomes and scrolls, the Southern Rose has it's roots somewhere in Asia circa 2000 BC. Threatened by the encroachment of an unnamed Elder God, a priestess took it upon herself to battle the god and either absorbed some of its power or all of it. The priestess was transformed and worship the people had given to their divine being was transferred to this priestess. Now an Elder God herself, she and her followers commenced a series of conquests that snaked the cult through the Middle-East, Europe, and eventually into the United States. Everywhere the cult infiltrated, it was able to lay down roots and gain additional followers.

In London in particular the Southern Rose was able to infiltrate all strata of society, and in 1650 the Darklight Society began to take an active role in eliminating the cult. We were able to do extensive damage to cult houses, leaders, and followers; but because their transformed goddess was still active and awake our attempts at completely destroying the Rose proved futile. In addition, the Petaled Lady wasn't shy about coming to the battlefield herself and we sustained horrible losses as well. In desperation, we enacted several counter-measures to the cult's activities that exposed it to thirteen of the greatest goodly aligned magicians working in England at the time.

These thirteen, what we call Cosmics today, came together to battle the Petaled Lady directly on September 4th, 1666. The battle was extremely intense, between the thirteen mages and the Petaled Lady--along with the most powerful black magic family serving her interests, the Ashcrofts--and heavy losses were taken on both sides. In the end the Petaled Lady was magically banished to "a plain where the shades of men walk as flesh and blood", which we believe now to be the Nightward. The ultimate result of the battle was the Great Fire of London.

The Great Fire gutted most of London for two days. For all intents and purposes it seemed as if the Southern Rose had been completely crushed and eliminated. Here the Darklight Society made its greatest mistake: assumption. We believed the cult utterly vanquished and so we retreated, tending to our own wounds and slowly recovering. Our watch for a resurgence of the Southern Rose grew lax, allowing a handful of remaining Ashcrofts ten years to very quietly pick up stakes and sail for the New World. At least three Ashcrofts made it to the Colonies, and were firmly established in Massachusetts when the United States declared its independence in 1776.

Our lack of diligence has cost us. Today the Southern Rose is the largest cult in Paradigm City and much, much more secretive. They have learned from their mistakes and keep a very low profile, including making use of subterfuge and manipulation equal to ours. We strongly suspect but can't yet prove that the Southern Rose is behind the Order of The Black Cross in Raven's Grove. The Black Cross seems to be a group of very avid witch hunters but we believe this is a ruse; the Southern Rose uses this smaller cult to gain access to information and materials about Magick and Magick use throughout Paradigm City.

Trappings  Members of the Southern Rose are not so simple as to laden themselves with an identifiable tattoo or marker. Previous to the Great Fire the cult was easy to identify owing to a tattoo of a four petaled black rose design, but since their restoration this tattoo has fallen out of use. We're not sure entirely how members identify themselves to each other; tis possible that they use a very subtle series of hand gestures or a coded language.

They can be certainly identified by the 'flavor' of their Magick. Southern Rose black magicians are incapable of hiding the influence of their work, as every act of Magick they perform is marred by shadowy blackness or disembodied, whispering voices. This is a dead giveaway, if you are investigating a supposedly haunted house or location and you encounter these manifestations, and the Sensitives on your team can't locate any restless spirit energy then you know for sure there is a Southern Rose black magician lingering nearby. Find him, and step into him.

Modus Operandi  The primary goal of the Southern Rose cult, indeed almost their single goal, is to find the means to release the Petaled Lady from her extra-planar prison. That she is able to use pin-holes of her prison to speak to her priests and followers and endow both with Magickal boons and benefits is an indicator that she is not as fully entrapped as she could be. The release of this Elder God would, of course, have devastating effects on the world. We must not let this happen.

What we do know for a fact is that this release must somehow be enacted through a living vessel, and only one of the Ashcroft line. There are dozens of theories as to why, but overall these are inconsequential. Luckily for us an attempt has been made, once, to free the Petaled Lady in this manner. The intervention of the Darklight Society prevented the reemergence of the Petaled Lady, but not without a price. We have taken the vessel into our protective custody and we have no doubt that the Southern Rose is making use of every weapon at their disposal to regain the vessel and complete the ritual.

They have flung Magick, exta-planar entities, Master Vampires, rots, and Vytokos at us. Though they do not know about The Darklight Society, repeated encounters with agents has illuminated them to the fact that some organization is fighting them, so be vigilant. Always be vigilant. Cult members can crop up anywhere.