GreenBoi Posted October 31, 2019 Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) Cult is pretty boring and obvious right now, almost everyone hates it and it's pretty uninteresting. I'm not expecting a cult rework anytime soon, but here is a dumb dartboard/collage of ideas I've thought of for cult. Split into parts. Follow de Leada Spoiler Cultists are often aimless in clue of what to do, a small bandaid for this could be a simple Head Cultist. The Head Cultist would be like all other cultists except they start with two cult-friendly versions of the wizard spells 'Summon Space Bats' and 'Drain Life'. If the Head Cultist doesn't want to take the responsibility, they can pass over their status to a different cultist once, which tells every cultist this. Having this role won't mean much besides rp as every cultist would gain the potential to get minor spells like the two. There are also three other Cultist types, 'Cult Initiate' and 'Cult Foreteller', they will be explained later on in the conversion section. Just know that the last one, 'Cult Acolyte', is the standard cultist. TLDR: head cultist, newbie cultist type that turns into normal cultist, insane cultist gained from specific circumstances Rune-B-Gone (sort of), Tome-B-Good Spoiler So cult is pretty obvious once you see a rune, and it's even harder to convince people converting is good when they get clear messages about the pain it gives. I think the best way to fix this aspect would be to simply get rid of runes for most interactions and make the tome different. The tome itself becomes the gateway for the cult into other items now, as well as spells. The tome would have two modes now, 'Veiled' and 'Unveiled' (woah, nice accidental pun there). When 'veiled', the tome's sprite would look like some randomly printed library book with the name of just 'book' or something, not even 'inconspicuous book', just book), the tome will also allow for the following: -Conversion -Soulmend (a cultist tricord that also fixes brain damage + minor painkiller) -A very gimped version of Knock with a 20s cooldown but can open lockers too -Shadowspeak (Communicate but it costs no damn rune to make! Also has tags to tell you who said what so you don't have to sign your name on messages) People who try to read a veiled book will start a minute timer, telling them about how strange it is, but in a good way. By 45 seconds, it will tell them they feel like they're about to find some weird breakthrough, and at the end of the timer, they will be enthralled by the text and become a cultist themselves, specifically a Cult Initiate . When the tome is unveiled, it will have it's sinister black sprite and will literally suck the life out of those who hold it while also giving them the vertigo effect from eldritch blades. If for some godforsaken reason, someone decides to read this, it will start a 15s timer (with two quick-going descriptions about how they feel a supernatural urge to continue reading). At the end of the timer, they convert into a cultist themselves, specifically as a Foreteller, and will also have that weird cultist brain damage that makes you see spooky things. Unveiled Tomes get access to: -Shadowspeak -Arcane Revelation (Force Convert) -Offering rune -Summon Armaments -Teleport -Telemark -Form Item -Summon Beast Rune -Resurrection Rune (how revive runes work rn) -Corrupt Item -Blood Boil (gimped to be more of a costly AoE stun that only does minor damage) Tomes will also have a separate tab called 'Arcane Bestiary', which won't show anything until a Summon Beast Rune is within 3 tiles. This will be explained more in the spells section. If a cultist loses their tome, they can use a verb to summon one, at the cost of small blood/damage from them; this is so cultists aren't cucked by security just confiscating their books. TLDR: Book gets two forms, inconspicuous form that has access to a slow conversion and a small heal. Sinister back-cover has access to a faster conversion, rune-making, and some spells Covert Cult Conversion Spoiler So the new idea is that since we're trying to have a more secretive cult that slowly influences things without people realizing it, converting becomes less of an obvious "try or kill" for the cultists themselves. The big idea is that becoming an individual cultist/convert doesn't mean much, instead- the numbers of the cult does because the cult is meant to spread fast when they're smart and efficient. The typical method of converting would be simple: Have a Veiled Tome in your hand and select Convert. A public auto-emote will go out describing you uttering some normal incantation and after about 4 seconds, the person next to you that you selected can choose Yes or No from an innocent prompt. This is meant to be painless and easy icly and oocly. Ideally, cultists would use this for public conversions, however the potential convert has no obligation to select yes. If they choose yes, they are considered a Cult Initiate and are not a target for hostile cult spells but can still be deconverted through holy water. Initiates automatically turn into full cultists after five minutes, where they are given a message about the full knowledge and plans of the Geometer rushing to them, this can be shortened if the Initiate reads an Unveiled Tome. The faster form of converting, from the Unveiled counterpart would be very similar to the Veiled version, but it's a lot more noticeable and can be a detriment if fail-safes aren't in place. Have an Unveiled Tome in your hand, grab someone and select Arcane Revelation. A public auto-emote will go out, in red, describing you uttering strange incantations before starting a 6s timer. At the end of the timer, the potential convert will be put into moderate pain, and be shown cult hallucinations with some minor brain damage. They would be given messages about hearing voices and join as a Cult Foreteller (just a very insane cultist), their madness can be temporarily put at bay with anti-hallucinogens and some psychiatric pills, but they can't otherwise be 'deconverted', just like normal full cultists. The final form of converting is a tie-in with both the Corrupt Item and Form Item spells from Unveiled Tomes. Utilizing them would be simple, corrupted items slowly convert people around them and cease being corrupted after converting one person, with a max of three corrupted items existing for the entire cult at a time. These corrupted items are meant to be little traps that helps the cult grow even more discreetly, people 'converted' by these items will all only be Cult Initiates until the arcane knowledge finally 'snaps in' after five minutes. (Corrupted Items will also have 'strangely-marked' added to their name and can easily be cleaned with null rods or soap/rags). *Cult can only corrupt normal-sized items Form item allows the creation of a variety of rp-helping tools for cultists, one of them being a 'Talisman of Passion' that works as a miniature and slightly more subtle version of Presence. More on these in the next part. TLDR: Multiple ways to convert. The fastest and guaranteed method can be a "Yes, but..." approach that could actually reveal the cult's existence if they aren't smart. Spells and Items for Roleplay Spoiler Most of Cult's spells would be the same, but some will be removed like See Invisible, or outright replaced like Manifest. Here's a quick, rapid fire list of what would be changed. -Offering It's a renamed sacrifice, but this time it actually DOES something. Essentially, it rewards cultists who sacrifice to their strange god and it scales. It offers a true, mechanical reason to sacrifice in secret, it can also do a big aoe heal for cultists and clear up a Foreteller's madness if they choose that as the option for what the sacrifice is for. Here's a potential list of rewards: 1st sacrifice: Drain Life + Summon Space Bats for all cultists 2nd sacrifice: Unlocks Poppets and Dark Ouija Boards to the list of possible items for Form Item 3rd sacrifice: Unlocks Horrors (same ones that can be summoned as wizard w/ their bestiaries) to the list of possible beasts for Arcane Bestiary 4th sacrifice: Soulmend heals more, can cure traumas/brain damage, is a better painkiller, and allows you to turn Foretellers into normal, more sane-sounding Acolytes 5th sacrifice: Unlocks grue to the list of possible beasts for Arcane Bestiary 6th sacrifice: Unlocks the 'Tear Rift' spell, the exact spell needed to summon the Geometer *Offerings can only be done once every four minutes, one human-like body rises you up two sacrifice tiers -Telemark You draw a rune that does nothing by itself, it's instead a selectable way-point for you to go to using Teleport -Teleport Teleport just gives a list of places to teleport to, based on where telemarks are (bay has this rune also show you the area around the rune before you manifest there) -Summon Beast Rune One of the few 'spells' that actually draws a rune like current cult. Once the rune is drawn, you can use the Arcane Bestiary tab from up to 3 tiles away to start a 20s channel that would take a decent amount of blood, at the end of the channel, the selected beast is summoned and a ghost spawner pops up for ghosts to take it. The full list of beasts, assuming you have all sacrifices done, would be: Creature (those nameless ones with giant ass mouths), Faithless, Horrors, Grue The cult would be restricted to four beasts at a time, meaning they can do one of each, or just all of one type. -Tear Rift This spell draws a rune on the ground. Nine cultists are then needed to chant this rune, from then, a 30x30 space around the rune will be cultified as it is globally announced that something strange is happening. The rune will start a 4 minute phase where about 8 gateways open up around the station (2 per minute) and each cultist will take constant damage in order to summon Nar'Sie. After that, a two-minute period will start where the damage rises, if at least 9 cultists are still alive by the end, Nar'Sie will rise and all non-cultists will be driven to insanity (maybe with messages like 'ITS COMING', 'TOO LATE'). Cultists can get turned into Harvesters too, (though I prefer the name 'Immolator') Cultists would also get some items for rp, most of them would have mechanical value. One of them is that 'Talisman of Passion' referenced earlier. You do this with an Unveiled Tome in your hand and then selecting Form Item, which will start an 8s channel taking a small amount of blood to create one of the items inside the spoiler: Spoiler Soul Stone Shard The same ones we have now Empty Shell Empty shells for soul shards to be inserted into-- what we already have. Poppet Same as the ones wizards can get, and works the exact same mechanically. Meant for voodoo stuff like forcing a victim to say something they don't want to, or using it as leverage to kill the captain after they've been lured somewhere. You need blood to link it to the person so you Dark Ouija Board A spirit board that is just a black slab with letters and numbers engraved. Works exactly like a normal spirit board, but it possesses the property of being able to be used even in the light. If a non-cultist picks it up. They will get a small message about feeling some faint spectral presence. Vial of Spectrocybiin A vial of 10u spectrocybiin. Damaging to the brain for all but the enlightened. (Cult Acolytes and Foretellers don't suffer brain damage from spectrocybiin, Initiates still do though) Talisman of Passion A special talisman (not like the bloody parchment papers, this could just reuse xenoarch statuette sprites) that can emanate different emotions into people, mainly: Trust/Belief, Calmness, Rage, Desire. Each emotion would get slightly varying fluff text shouted at people, these would be more subtle and just give the crowd a general feeling of this. If a non-cultist picks up the talisman while it's on, they will feel the very extreme of the emotion it's currently emanating. Ex: Assistant touches talisman to get a feel for it and feels a giant wave of general trust for what the cult is preaching. Useful for public stuff, or coercing people into doing stuff. All these items would also be able to be corrupted/imbued through Corrupt Item, they don't start off like this normally so it doesn't break with the cap of 3. TLDR: Offering gives rewards and is best with proper humanoid bodies. Cult can summon beasts instead of apparitions. Cult gets some useful rp tools that have some mechanics behind them. With that said, how would you counter this? Spoiler Standalone Interactions from Null Rods Spoiler Dark Ouija Boards will leave normal spirit boards behind, Runes will disappear, and talismans will fall apart into useless rocks. Talismans crumble into useless rocks like those found from mining Whoever is linked to a particular poppet will be 'blessed' and have 10u of holy water magically added to their system as the poppet unlinks from them. Soul shards will release the captured soul into the afterlife Empty shells will crumble into useless rocks and 3 steel sheets Tome Interactions Spoiler Reading unveiled tomes will stun the chaplain and give them burns instead of forcing them to read and convert. If a Chaplain reads a veiled tome, they won't be affected by the dark magic trying to influence their thoughts to the cult's god, but will be left suspicious. If they read it a second time after completing the first, it will only take 30 seconds and they will see through the facade. Chaplain null rods will dispel the inherent evil in tomes. Veiled or not, it will burn into ash with some supplementary text of there being a scream and one of the weird cult scream oggs will play. Holy Water Interactions Spoiler Chaplains can give Cult Initiates holy water to drink, if the initiate drinks this, the dark and subtle influences of the cult will wash away. People with holy water in their system are invincible to every form of conversion but Arcane Revelation (or reading an unveiled tome). They will also be told they feel something trying to whisper to them if they pass by corrupted items, Chaplains get this normally w/o Holy Water in their system If holy water is splashed on a Veiled Tome, it will unveil it. Splashing it on unveiled tomes does nothing, something so dark needs a null rod. Cult Acolytes and Foretellers who have Holy Water in their system will take 2 burns/3u HW, having at least 10u of HW makes them unable to read their tome for 15 seconds. Having 60u HW in their system will deal moderate brain damage. Foretellers who need 40u HW to begin slowly deconverting and 60u to instantly deconvert and at that point, they won't remember who their Dark Brothers and Sisters were until 10 minutes has passed. *Initiates won't experience any of this pain as their mind hasn't been fully taken by the will of the dark god Medical Effects & Treatments Spoiler Outside of the chaplain, medbay can give Foretellers psychiatric drugs to deal with their madness, keeping their ability to read tomes at bay. (Mechanically prevents Foretellers from using their tomes.) Anti-hallucinogens can also greatly lengthens how long it takes for an Initiate to become a full cultist, note that only holy water will fully end it. (Hallucinogens like Space Drugs and Psilocybin could also shorten how long it takes) PSYCH STUFF Attempting hypnosis on a non-Initiate cultist should tell the hypnotist that whomever they're whispering to is not the person they put to sleep, with a small reply text in cult purple from Nar'Sie saying something like "I hear you..." or "I see you...." Scanning Initiates w/ a Crystal Pod should display different things based on what type of cultist the person is: Initiate: "[n] abnormalities present, proto-abnormality forming?? Error?" Acolytes: "[n] abnormalities present, strange subco#nsc&*ous re!#$# found?" Foretellers: "[n] abnormalities present, an#>%ous su#%!ous #!#!%%!!" TLDR: Chaplain can dispel/break any cult item with the wave of a null rod, Medical can put Foretellers at bay w/ drugs. THEME The theme of this idea was to make cult less obviously occult and BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, instead making them more covert. Instead of an obvious threat once you find a room full of runes, they'd be a background influence that easily spread their numbers and sacrifice in secret to get powerful before the Heads suddenly find that all of their subordinates are praying to a God they've never heard of and that there are shadow men jaunting maintenance. endnote this is more of a general idea post for cult instead of a full "rework this [which you won't] with this [which you'll hate]" "What if I don't want to be a cultist?" With this idea, being a cultist wouldn't matter too much as the cult would be able to very easily spread through swaying people with some public talks and speeches, or stealthily through leaving well-placed objects at places of potentially high traffic, and the ability to force-convert. It'd mean that the individual doesn't matter all too much, which means it'd be possible for some cultists to cryo , but it'd be ok because the cult itself can easily get bigger. Edited November 2, 2019 by GreenBoi added "What if I don't want to be a cultist" and the endgame rune "Tear Rift" | NOW: Added 'Vial of Spectrocybin' to Form Items & reformatted How to Counter
Wildkins Posted October 31, 2019 Posted October 31, 2019 19 minutes ago, GreenBoi said: I'm not expecting a cult rework anytime soon hmm...
furrycactus Posted October 31, 2019 Posted October 31, 2019 This is a good suggestion, I like it a lot more than what we currently have. It actually does allow for a covert cult, making it possible to do stuff in a much more subtle manner, rather than drawing bloody runes absolutely everywhere.
GreenBoi Posted October 31, 2019 Author Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) Oh right, quick Addendum: -Seeing runes as non-cult would causes hallucinations and brain damage, it's the part of the cult they keep secret because it oozes dark power and a normal person does not just look at the drawings and survive their eldritch meanings (Prevents Security Bumrushing to an area, having drugs can counteract this, it's meant to be a downwards slope for fighting cult head on with their runes out) -Cult Initiates would not have immediate access to any spells, infact, they'd be unable to even summon their own tomes. They can't hear Shadowspeak yet so they'd have to manually coordinate with whomever converted them to show them an unveiled tome while their obsession grows -Cultists can maybe, harm-intent unveiled tomes into the face of nonbelievers for a small 2 second stun w/ a cooldown of 10 seconds Edited October 31, 2019 by GreenBoi
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