CULTS.

Being a record of the Proscribed Cults and Societies of the Nilfenbergian Empire.

"The god you believe in is safe - because it does not exist. Your god is not real. Ours are."
 -Heretic Jean Halet prior to his burning.

Cult of the Unknown / Forgottten.

You shall know them by the wearing of any faded, destroyed or worn religious symbol.
The power is forgotten and stronger for it. Weakness through worship, and strength through obscurity. Only a select few may know of the cult, and fewer still be indoctrinated. The commands - Destroy libraries. Kill scholars and the faithful. Hide me and forget me - and so I shall grow. The most forgetful shall be rewarded.

Pestilent Church

Those afflicted are those blessed – fever dreams speak truer than the unclouded eye, as it is writ within the Book of Lepers. The Prophets are the afflicted, and they render truth throughout their suffering.

We, the Seekers, find the Prophets and bring them to our hallowed halls, wherein the Minders will prolong the flickering flame of a Prophets life and record their sacred words, to be added to the manifold predictions of the Prophets. These are stored within the Blighted Archives, wherein senior Seekers will divine the true meanings and guide the faithful.

--

We give prayer in the Hall of Moans, wherein the most blessed of prophets, immobile in their holy state, moan and reveal the hidden secrets. The only hymns in our church will be those of the Prophets, leading us forwards. Oh, the irony the most agonised are the most blessed, begging for death when they are on the edge of divinity.

Some diseases spew forth substance, bile, blood and fluid. Some prophets spew prophecy. Within the Chamber, the Minders discern meaning like the Haruspices of old, but informed with truth and disease rather than primitive superstition and animal entrails.

Within the Blighted Archives we store the words of all Prophets, as well as our relics – whether they be hated cures for blessings or the viscera of the most notable saints. Each Prophet receives a tome, eventually bound in their own skin, no matter how leprous.

The Unwashed Servants of the Immaculate Prince, the Purest Divinity Untainted.

The commandment - Debase this World and Honour Me.

Loved is the sewer and the charcoal burner.

My idols are filth encrusted - better they do not pretend to reflect my glory.

You shall worship me as a Soiled God - the Immaculate Prince cannot be understood by your mere meat and filth and dust and dirt.

All members of this foulsome cult are well versed in the desecration and defilment of religious structures.

The Many Mouths of Starvation / The Eaters / Cult of Consumption

We fight famine. We hold starvation at bay through our ceaseless consumption. Eat. Eat, Eat, That's all there is to it, my delicate morsel. Hm? Why should I not enjoy saving the world.

The Schism - Quantity or Quality? The Gluttons and the Gourmands. Which will sate a divine hunger best? Mountains of material, edible or no, or else the most exotic, the most daring culinary exploits? Gourmands are of noble birth, with vast sums of money and many strings to pull. Gluttons are simply unstoppable mountains of flesh, their custom steel teeth gnashing endlessly.

Peace Killers / The Cult of Limited Strife

Our enemy, the Strife King, the Lord of Battle, let slip a powerful secret - war is a limited resource. Peace shall reign triumphant once our task is complete. We are gladiators, killers, soldiers, mercenaries and generals all serving under the banner of peace. We spar endlessly afore entering the world to drain the pool of battle as quickly as we can, so that we may all know peace.

THE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

The Battle Exotic - The more unusual, the more novel the battle, the greater the drain upon that resource, War. These members are dressed flamboyantly and often wield custom made weapons, discarding them often to move onto something stranger - often mid-fight.

The Battle Extended - The cost of a fight upon that pool of War grows strongest with length - all fights should be drawn out as long as possible to maximise the cost. Adherents to this school will often bear heavy armour but very light weapons. Knights with knives.

The Battle Perfect - The higher the skill employed in the battle, the more taxing it is for the Strife King and his hoard of War. These inidividuals seek out the strongest, most skilled opponents. They will dedicate themselves entirely to a single style and weapon.

The Battle Tremendous - The volume is key - the largest battles, the greatest wars. Manipulators, generals and diplomats rather than the individual fighters of the other Schools.

Dwarves part 2

It would seem I have Dwarves on the brain now. More info on the Rock and Stone Dwarves.
**Semi-Spoilers for LotFP players in my campaign, could well never come up**

Rock Dwarves are given to drinking and brawling when they are surrounded by their own kind, but when non-dwarves are present they seem incredibly serious. They just can't get their drink on with strangers around.

By contrast, Stone Dwarves are serious, grim and humourless. Their lives are given up to the collective good of the Burrow, and are occupied with work for the vast majority. Despite this, there is still wealth in their lives, but Stone Dwarven economics is nigh incomprehensible to anyone but a Stone Dwarf.

In terms of agriculture, Rock dwarves are very similar to hill-dwelling humans whereas the Stone Dwarves have to adapt for their subterranean existence. A principle crop is mushrooms, which are often grown on compost made from the dead - including Rock Dwarven dead. For more variety, they trade worked stone and metal goods to their Rock Dwarven cousins. For every Burrow there are roughly 3-4 Rock Dwarf villages.

Rock Dwarves have a requirement for every member of age within the village to be trained in organised combat, the most common weapons being heavy crossbows (imported) and using a shield and spear when distances close. They fight incredibly defensively, owing to their slowed movement due to their short stature, forming a solid wedge of Dwarf, reminiscent of a Hoplite Phalanx. Individual Dwarven fighters, whilst rarer than the human equivalent, are just as likely to use any given weapon.

Stone Dwarven military endeavours are far more involved and complex. The Dream Wardens generally fight with pole-arms, though they mimic the Dwarven Phalanx formation. They use extensive use of traps and hidden tunnels to fall back and ambush invading Nightmares. The Dream Wardens do not have an organised missile element, instead using a militia of those who live close to the dream armed with crossbows and utilizing murder-holes. The lower reaches of the Burrows are guarded by two main elements - a strictly defensive force of cross-trained Sapper-Spearmen, who block up tunnels with their formations whilst others collapse tunnels on the invaders. The final, offensive element of the Dwarven military are the incredibly highly trained Delvers.

Roughly equivalent to special forces in today's forces, they are extensively trained in individual combat, fighting in smaller groups, survival in the caverns and tunnels, stealth, ambushing and scouting. They are mostly used to disrupt enemies forces whilst the slower Sapper-Spearmen move to set up favourable defensive lines. Delvers are either actively scouting below the Burrow or re-equipping. They Delve until they are eventually killed. They generally operate in sevens, but this is not a hard rule, the number being tweaked as needed. Delvers are equipped with whatever the job requires, though many of them choose to specialise in particular weapons. Spears are very rare amongst the Delvers, though light crossbows are ubiquitous.

Rock Dwarves give praise to gods of merriment and partying, and give the bodies of their dead to the Stone Dwarves for what they believe to be proper burial. (see agriculture section) Their culture suffers from some serious guilt about not being as Dwarven as the Stone Dwarves, but also poking fun at their seriousness with all the partying they do.

Stone Dwarven religion is as complex and confusing as their underground tunnels, within a complex network of deities, spirits and ancestors all balancing and counteracting each other. Worship is an incredibly private affair - asking a fellow Stone Dwarf about his religious practices is enough to be exiled. Burial is to be Given Back to the Stone - a tiny stone cell is cut out, the body is interred and then the cell is sealed. No possessions are stored bar the simple black robe of Stone Dwarven society.

The Church of the Hanged Man

The Church of the Hanged Man worships a martyr-turned-deity, the name and crime of whom has been long since forgotten. The operate across the world in conjunction with local authorities, all too eager to act as a working jail. The Redeemers of the order are assigned Atoners, who are then put to work throughout the church, encouraged to strive towards penance through work. The church pays to take on these prisoners, seeing redemption as it's sacred duty. Many Antoners die in their penance, the names of such individuals recorded in great tomes located in every church. These Ledgers are sacred artefacts, and the loss of one is a great calamity. No expense is spared in reclaiming a Ledger.

Activities of the church include hunting for clues as to the Martyr's name, recovering lost ledgers, renting out prisoners as labour (the money is used to buy more prisoners) The church also operates large industrial operations, including quarries and mass-logging camps. There are whispered rumours of military forces of Atoners led and trained by the most militant of Redeemers.

Redeemers are notable in their priestly attire for the sackcloth bags worn over their heads and the noose around their necks, homage to the Hanged Man himself. This headgear does not seem to impede their sight. Their robes are unadorned black. There is no obvious hierarchy to the church, with all Redeemers appearing to be equals.

Clerics and priests of the church attempting to contact their deity are always met with the silence of the grave. Many are later found hung from the rafters.