Okay, my next adventure will introduce the Acolytes to a small Imperial Death Cult working inside Scintilla Hive Sibellus. The idea is (roughly) this:

The Cult is an Imperial Death Cult that worships "Emperor Revenant" or "The Lord of Death". Their core-belief is that Emperor has died, self-resurrected himself and essentially conquered death itself. Some of them actually belive Emperor has control over life and death and their victims only die because Emperor allows it. The core group of the cult is hired from an underhive gang which has a few common themes with House Escher of Necromunda. The highest ranking cultists are sometimes hired as Death Cult Assassins by several local and Imperial organizations.

Now, what I would want is some ideas on rituals, symbols, clothing and day-to-day affairs that would fit this Cult. Oh, and these girls do not have any chaos involvement, they are just a bit mislead and harbor beliefs that some hard-liner might consider wee bit heretical. They are part of the setting, so to speak, not the actual focus of the investigations... The actual focus of investigations is another seemingly pro-imperial cult that believes Emperor is sending messages to them on psychic radiowaves...

Psychic Radiowaves.......... well.............

@Habbits of a DeathCult
I would go a little more into detail about the "they only die if the emporer wills it" thing. To proof this point, I would suggest killing methods that theoretically allow a victim to survive by chance. For example, the Assasines could attack with Dart Casters and/or crossbows. Some of the Darts are dipped in a a strong poison, others are coated with something that looks alike but is harmless. The Assasine gets the tools of the trade handed by a fellow assasine. The "deathbringer" does not know which of the darts she is going to load is poisenous and which one is not.

Of course, the assaine can simply go on attacking. But the "esoteric part" of it is that the assasine tries to sense if the number of fruitless attacks is an indicator that the Emporer does not want this target to die. Perhaps the assasine will strike a number of attacks based on the number of "sins" a target has committed. The "murder for loan" comes in the way of.... donations by other groups to nudge the attention of the cult towards as certain target.

Symbols and other trappings:
The members could wear a badge in the shape of stilized "wheel of fortune". Whenever a member of the cult has committed a grave failure against the laws of the could, s/he has to choose from a number of chalices to drink from. Eight chalices are prepared, the worse the act the more of them contain poison.

In every day life, the members spend some time of the day in meditation. They try to predict the emporers will with the imperial tarrot (eight cards laid face down before them) and a number of bolt heads thrown into the air. If and how a bolt head lands on a card determines how this card is to be interpreted.

As a fact of there philosphopy, the cultist do not believe that death is "accidental". It is always part of the plan of the God-Emporer. One way or the other. Some see omens in whom or how many died where and under which circumstances

If a target actually kills an Assasine, it is a sign for the Cultist that the Emporer wishes those target to be left alone... or that said Assasine deserved death. The more Assasine a target beat, the more likely it becomes that the Cult will leave him alone... at least, for some time.

Rituals, Symbols, Clothing and Day-to-Day affairs:

I would not give them certain clothing outside of "cult acitivities". Even then, it is not necessary that they where certain clothing. If you want them to have such a visual key element, bodygloves have gone a long way in history of 40K Assasinettes. . Giving them masks is never wrong. How about about very sleek mask that do not emulate any facial features? This could underline the point that they are just tools of the Emporers Will in that moment.

In the Day-to-Day life, they could gather at certain place in certain times. The place is good for three meetings. After that, it is a new place that was announced on each of the three meetings. Who fails to show up on three meetings is considered dead.

While every Cult member is free to come up with suggestions for target, the word of those who served for the longest time are valued the most.

Gregorius21778 said:

Gregorius21778 said:

I like this one. I think they could use knives and/or small-calibre bullets and aim for causing massive bleeding and then leave the person to die. If, by happenstance, he or she can stop the bleeding or is found and saved before bleeding to death then I guess it was as Emperor intended it

As for clothing I go with the typical synskin, body-armor and masks when they are trying to terrorize people and "whatever is needed to disguise oneself" when stealthy infiltration is needed. Theoretically they could wear almost anything on day-to-day life, but seeing as many of them have ganger background, I thought about many of them preferring their old "gang-colors".

Perhaps you will forgive me a question with heretical intent:

Who does it come that so many gangers (which the normal citizen would portray as amoral scum) chooses the more theological approach to murder instead of simply going on what they do best?

Is there a certain dominent theological undercurrent in the people the gangers hail from? Do the cultists have some very good preachers?

Gregorius21778 said:

That is actually a very good question, which I hadn't fully thought out before. I think a true Imperial Death Cult needs a solid recruitment basis and since this particular Death Cult is limited to Sibellus Hive in Scintilla and is working underground they can't very well hire from Feral Worlders, Mindwiped and Schola Progenum like more established cults could. Still their ideal recruits are people who don't have binding ties to the society around them in Sibellus.

Now, recruiting from the gang has some trouble but what other valid choices for recruitment pool there would be? Any ideas on this would be much appreciated.

Polaria said:

Perhaps the cult is made up of failed recruits of other orginizations, or adepta sororitas that ran away from the schola progneum, maybe because they had the witches sight(I believe that is what it is called found in Radicals Handbook). As far as gangers hireing them, it would make sense they would want to distance themselves from killing rival gangers, or gangers in their orginization that they want removed.

As I understood Imperial Death Cults a lot of their recruits are orphans, groomed from a very young age to be killers for the Offico Assassinium, much like Sister of Battle and Commissars are training form a very young age. To most Death Cultist, death is a religion, a way of life, so that they prefect their art of killing, in your example definately blades and going for excessive blood loss, but leaving someone alive, not very useful to the Imperium if an assassin doesn't kill.

As a "legitimate" death cult they wouldn't need to hide so much, the Imperial Governor and many noble house will know they are there, and be employing several of their members. A way to do it is to hide the Cult in plain sight, have a large temple that is home to members of the Minstorum, that preaches the imperial creed but behind closed doors the death cult is really incharge with a large enough temple to train, arm and plan.

Okay, with above comments I'm rewriting the idea a bit. As the Death Cult is based on a segment of hive housing many Administratum offices and other Imperial organizations the Death Cult recruits most of its members teen age or younger, targeting Schola Progenum dropouts, teen-agers running away from Administratum families and similar girls. Sometimes they actually target "potential" dropouts and orchestrate them to be kicked out of school or get in trouble with their parents to lure them away. Basically they do this because they want recruits who are proven to be of healthy genes (no mutants here), have basic grasp of Imperial Creed and have at least minimum basic education.

As the Cult accepts assassination missions from both inside Imperial organizations and from other powers (Noble houses, Merchant Houses and so on) they want to keep their members, training and infrastucture largely secret. The points-of-contact where you can hire these girls are pretty much common knowledge to those who have motivation and money to hire them, but their true numbers and training are not.

The gang-aspect is turned around from what I thought earlier: The Cult is the gang. More specifically, as all the members are runaways, dropouts and otherwise distanced from "normal" life they dress and act like a small gang to distance themselves further from inquiries of normal people. Adeptus Arbites know of this and thus only keep tabs on their numbers for record, but do not interfere with their activities, since they are considered an important Imperial asset in case the world comes under attack or starts to rebel against Imperial rule. Local Magistrates and such do not know it see them as a gang, but regularly are ordered to any investigations by their superiors (who know the gang is a front for legitimate Death Cult). In several instances the Cult has disguised its assassination as gang-related shootings/stabbings.

Does this sound good?

I like i may have to borrow it for my game. It all makes sense, a secret organisation in plain view, a gang is a very good cover, means constant training as gang life is harsh but if you can't survive it your not cut out for the Cult. People who should know of their presence do, the Arbiters don't necessarily need to know law enforcement is not their thing really, as long as the cult don't disrupt the tithe then the arbiters will have very little dealing with them anyway, unless they hire them from time to time to remove "problems" that an arbiter squad is just too public for.

Now that you've made your Cult you can sort attire and daily routines as now you have an idea about how they operate.

The Gang now need a ruthless name, The Bladed Scorpians, The Serrated Vipers, or something similar.

Keep us posted on how they flesh out and the players interact with them.

Valdek said:

Just be careful when naming a group with Imperial connections of any sort... naming a group the 'Serrated Vipers' for example might bring attention of an unwanted nature from Inquisitors who may think they have connections with the Serrated Query.

As far as items the group could have, here's something I did in my campaign. I had created a hive gang called the 'Red Knives' who were a small time group, with it's leadership trying to get into the Beast House. Their name originally came from the red-handled blades they carried, although some thought it was because of the blood they so often spilled.

Since the initial idea here was House Escher gangers from Necromunda crossed with a sanctioned Imperial death cult I would start by blending the themes. Start with the signature "Escher" look of garrishly mix-and-match leather, mesh, bright fabrics and wild hairstyles, then add a suitably "faithful" element to the wardrobe. Perhaps each girl wears a chaplet ecclesiasticus (the Sororitas rosary) either as a necklace or around her waist? The cult is probably all female, again due to the Escher theme ("boys are weak!"). Perhaps all the literate girls carry a pocket-sized book of writings and prayers deemed especially sacred to the cult? (Pocket sized both so it can be concealed/protected and for practical reasons "so it can be carried at all times"). One other idea is to have an easily revealed and concealed "innocent" recognition-sign that any cult member would recognize: A yellow strip of silk with the Aquilla printed on it worn wrapped around the right wrist indicates membership, but worn around the left wrist indicates "on assignment" [for example].

If the cult is to be a recurring theme in your game I would probably go to the effort to make a "Background Package (Assassin/Cleric)" and an "Elite Package" or alternate-rank connected to them. This way if you have a player decide their new character comes from them you are already set. It also helps you visualize important NPC's stat blocks. If you want to really go wild, consider adding True Faith to the package for 400-500xp; Faith Talents @400 (max= rank+1, prereq: True Faith). Hatred (Heretics) should absolutely be part of this package, along with many of the melee-themed talents. Hatred (Mutants) and perhaps Hatred (Psykers) would be appropriate as well. Insanely Faithful, Nerves of Steel, Unshakeable Faith, Catfall definately belong on the list. Add Common Lore (Imperial Creed, Ecclesiarchy), Scholastic Lore (Imperial Creed), Ciphers ("X" Cult), Secret Tongue ("X" Cult) to the package at trained, +10 and maybe +20; Literacy at trained should be available too (to read prayer books!). Make sure both the Assassin and Cleric careers can potentially access the package assuming they are female and took the shiny-new background package.

Make sure to provide some influential "friends" in the Ecclesiarchy that slip some stray funds their way and expunge some annoying documents from time to time on their behalf.

I disagree with the "random death" ideas presented earlier, since the ONE absolutely NON-RANDOM thing in these girls' lives is the Emperor! The Emperor is not random and never makes mistakes! Mistakes and randomness are therefore mortal traits, and a weakness. Prayer and portents will naturally be important themes. Likewise, since they believe that the Emperor has done battle with and vanquished Death-personified it would be considered sinful to neglect physical conditioning and personal health (a healthy body is more resistant to death). Super-sharp blades and other "faithful" weapons would be key to their wargear ("Faithful" weapons being those that will not fail you!). I would avoid the "blades only" theme that the Moritat embraces both because of the House Escher inspiration and to maintain a tangible distinction between the death cults. Since the Emperor is perfect, perfection of form is encouraged in the cult: Full-auto is an acceptable means of killing, but one precise shot, one perfect sword-stroke... This is more to the Emperor's liking!

Then we need a cool name. Avoid anything that even hints at blasphemy or heresy, so something like "Death Guard" is obviously right-out! "Shining Souls", "Sisterhood of Balance", "Light in Shadows" or something like that is far more on the mark.

Denmar1701 said:

'Red Knives' in turn might bring attention of an unwanted nature from Inquisitors who may think they have connections with the Astral Knives...

ZillaPrime said:

Oh. My. Goddess.

Now we are talking. Absolutely wonderfull ideas. My next play session is still at least several weeks away so I've let the ideas mull over, but this post made me want to go straight into writing this Cult out in detail. I think I'll write them out as an elite-advance rank. Something similar to Moritat Reapers but with extra helping of faith and femininity.

Okay, here we go: Luminous Sorority is finished now

And as a thank you gift for all who contributed to the idea, I've made it into a complete PDF with pictures, detailed descriptions and Elite package rules included. Link can be found HERE

How did they get the chaplets since that is something that can't be bought?

Letrii said:

Assuming you refer to Chaplet Ecclesiasticus, the answer it they did not. Chaplet Ecclesiasticus is a sign of office used by Adepta Sororitas. Luminous Soririty has very little to do with Adepta Sororitas outside the fact that both are female and religious.

Any rosaries, symbols or other religious jewelry Luminous Sorority wear can be assumed to be simple, commonly available charms as described in Dark Heresy Rulebook p.146.

Nice!

My only question on seeing your write-up is that they use Ciphers and Secret Tongue (War Cant): Their secret means of communication is Imperial Guard battle language? I would have thought they would develop their own, somewhat more exclusive code language. Sooner or later they WILL be found out when any Sergeant can freely translate their codes.

Very nice work! (And yes, I made sure to download a copy! Thanks for posting.)

Polaria said:

My bad, thoguht you had said they wore the same chaplet, was actually Zilla that suggested that.

ZillaPrime said:

Oh yes, the War Cant part does need a bit of explanation. When Imperial organizations use Death Cult assassins to support their conventional army operations, the assassins need to be able to understand the War Cant. I originally think about giving them a secret language of their own in addition to War Cant, but finally decided against it. In their day-to-day operations on Scintilla they operate on their home turf, near to each other and don't really have that much need for comlicated coded messaging or coded speech. They either operate alone, use very simple prearranged signs (lights on in kitchen but not bedroom means do not enter etc.) or meet in in suitable place to discuss things in plain gothic.

It's really well written and has an interesting feel. But...

You say that they mainly recruit girls in their teens but the requirement is rank 6.
Do you think there are enough female rank 6 assaissins from said backgrounds to fill the cult?
While reading it I'd guessed, that it would be a starting rank career. Or perhaps something like rank 2.

And another issue are the shoes. I really do not think, that is't very easy to fight with high heels or platform shoes like in the picture.
Looks like -10 to a lot of things involving movement for me.

Umbranus said:

The actual Elite career package is reserved for those who are already progressed to "senior sisters" are veterans of dozens of contracts and can be considered true Death Cult assassin material. If your campaign has an established female assassin character you can introduce them to the cult via this package. If you plan to introduce them as new characters or NPCs you can just use basic Assassin career. As the recruits to Luminous Sorority have no formal, regimented training you can easily create them as Rank 1 characters with suitable background and Assassin career. I firsth thought about a starting background package also, but then decided against it because I feel it would put the recruits too much into same mold, so to say.

Umbranus said:

I had to steal the pictures from people who could actually draw (I'm not that good), so some of the details don't quite match... Anyway, as in the description, high heels and such are used in the flashy street outfit for purely visual purposes. On actual mission they usually dress in whatever the mission requires.