|superior = <font style="color:red;">'''NAR'SIE, GEOMETER OF BLOOD'''</font>
|duties = Pray to your Dark Lord and supply Them with converts, servants, artifacts, and sacrifices. If They will it, summon the Geometer of Blood to this mortal coil!
|guides = This is the guide
}}
You knew you were special, ever since the day you were shown the light. You kept it a secret in your heart; now, you can contain it no longer. Armed with Their gift, a precious book written in Their sacred tongue, you begin your dark work.
'''Valkyrie''' is the moon of Biesel, and the third exoplanet to be settled in the system of [[Tau Ceti]]. As an independent member-state in the [[Republic of Biesel]], Valkyrie has managed to cement itself as a major player within the Republican economy. Despite being outperformed in terms of raw industrial production by [[Biesel]] and [[New Gibson]], its strategic location within its star system has enabled the planet to become a hub for trade and commerce.
The cultists are a group of fanatical worshippers of Nar'sie, the Geometer of Blood. For whatever reason, they have chosen this shift as the moment when they will reveal their dark purpose.
[[File:ValkyrieFlag.png|300px|right|thumb| The Flag of Valkyrie, representing both inhabited and uninhabited planets within Tau Ceti. The largest orb is Valkyrie, whilst the red orbs represent Biesel, New Gibson and Reade.]]
== Starting Out ==
== History ==
You spawn as usual in your workplace area; your chatbox will indicate you have spawned as a Cultist. To coordinate with your fellow cultists OOCly, you should talk in <code>AOOC</code> to decide on a gimmick, or ask questions about mechanics. And Cult has a ''lot'' of mechanics.
The first bases on the moon of Biesel were established in 2152, and a year later, the moon was christened Valkyrie. Geological analysis revealed rich deposits of silicate and hydrogen, and in the later 2150s, resource extraction and ore refinement facilities began to be established alongside the research bases on the surface.
You can distinguish your allies by the tiny green skull over their head, and regular crewmembers have no inherent way of knowing you are a cultist. To speak over long distances with your fellow cultists, you can use a communication talisman. It's best to keep a few of the talismans on you whenever you can. You can also talk in Cult Common (the prefix is <code>,f</code>) locally, but it's obvious to anyone watching that this is a very strange language.
Planning oversights, however, meant that miners and researchers had to reside together in bases while equipment and rigs were transported to the moon’s surface. Over a period of twenty years, both long working periods on the moon’s surface (with limited trips back to Biesel) and the blossoming of romantic relationships and eventually, plans to start families, between workers necessitated the expansion of living facilities. Construction and manufacturing became a constant on the moon, and over time, corporate operations would begin to expand their equipment on Valkyrie, beginning to establish bases, offices, and even tiny neighborhoods and company towns. Compared to the development of Biesel, Valkyrian development was haphazard and poorly-planned; residents would go through frequent mild shortages while the expanding Biesellite government tried to encourage new settlers to the frigid, dusty moon.
If you feel the need to beseech Nar'sie, using the <code>Pray</code> verb for direction is never a bad option, though a reply is not always guaranteed.
New buildings were built on top of and connecting to old ones; the base where humanity first touched down on the moon, Surtr, had new wings, sections, and routes built from it to mining facilities and outposts. The planet’s gradually-expanding cityscape became labyrinthine and difficult to navigate at the best of times. In 2184, Biesel’s Planetary Development Council stepped in to better oversee Valkyrie’s expansion, but by then the foundations of the planet’s cityscape had already been set. As resource extraction operations continued on the planet, development began underneath the surface of the planet as well. Over time, these underground neighborhoods would come to be abandoned after most of the mineral veins dried up, and became a hotbed for criminal organizations and hideouts.
You begin with a '''tome''', which allows you to scribe runes from your own blOoOoOOOOOoOoood. This tome is the key to most of your cult powers, and it also looks pretty evil, so don't lose it and keep it out of sight! Remember that when you scribe a rune or create a talisman, it's ''very obvious''. Create runes in the shadows of maintenance!
The next century-and-a-half would see many shipbuilding and shipping warehouses constructed on Valkyrie, leading it to become Biesel’s supply and shipping gateway. The Helios Manufacturing Site was constructed by Hephaestus on the planet’s surface over the year of 2324, but the most significant growth in the moon’s economy would be [[NanoTrasen]] purchasing the rights to construct the Hyperion Data Nexus in 2418. After the discovery of phoron, this was the first facility in which the properties of the element were first researched at length, and it was here the medicine of dexalin was first synthesized and put through human trials.
Your mechanical goal is to summon Nar'sie, a ship-destroying force of cosmic evil. When Nar'sie is summoned, the round is more or less ended, as They destroy any tile they touch. Therefore, your roleplay goal can be whatever you want; converting a high-value target, stealing a valuable artifact, setting up a base on a nearby asteroid, the like.
After the newfound independence of the Republic of Biesel in 2452, the governing body of Valkyrie, the Council of Valkyrian Affairs, organized a referendum to declare itself a separate state from Biesel itself. This referendum passed, and since then the newly-founded Commonwealth of Valkyrie has become a recognized planet within Tau Ceti.
'''A final note:''' If you want to check on whether a potential convert is antagonist-banned from Cult, has their preferences for Cult on, or are already another antagonist, use the <code>Appraise Offering</code> verb in the IC tab. It's also polite to ask in <code>LOOC</code> before converting someone!
== Environment ==
== Quick Start Guides ==
Valkyrie is slightly larger than Earth’s moon Luna, though unlike Luna it is not tidally locked to Biesel and has a rotational period of approximately 16 hours. It does not hold an atmosphere, though studies of rock deposits suggest that Valkyrie might once have had oceans of liquid nitrogen. Valkyrie takes 2.5 weeks to rotate Biesel in its entirety.
Much of Valkyrie’s landscape is covered in residential areas, factories, industrial plants, and shipyards. The area that is not is uncolonized mostly because of rock formations, craters, and deep faults from space debris impact over millennia, though this has not stopped some resource extraction operations from being established over craters and canyons, the better to unearth rare minerals.
=== Cultist Basics ===
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* As soon as you submit to conversion, your character's old goals are gone, and you are devoted to the service of Nar'Sie. Pursue your goals with trickery, force, and most importantly, teamwork; but remember that it's okay to lose, so long as everyone got a thrilling and fun experience out of it.
== Culture ==
* If you didn't spawn with one, ask your new friends to make you a tome of your own ASAP; you can't draw runes without it!
Valkyrie is home to the largest trade infrastructure in the Republic of Biesel, with the moon being surrounded by a ring of orbital stations that handle what is generally regarded as the heaviest space traffic in human space. Most ships doing business in Tau Ceti will stop at least once on the moon, usually for repairs or refit.
* Don't leave floor runes on the ground without reason; there can only be 25 at one time. Use talismans; they're unlimited.
* Figure out how to ditch your job responsibilities ASAP without looking too suspicious so you can work on your goals before the shift ends.
* Use Teleport runes and talismans to establish a safe house. Have an Artificer spookify the place, building and destroying walls and doors as needed.
* Use the Tome and click "Scribe a Rune" to draw runes. Since what you're doing is plainly visible, audible, and freaky, only do so in a secluded area, away from cameras. The Tome is visible on your sprite when you hold it. You lose a very tiny amount of blood when drawing, but otherwise you don't take damage. To use a rune, click it with an empty active hand. To erase or configure runes, use the tome on the rune. The entries in "Read the Tome" may be inaccurate.
* '''Conversion.''' Makes new cultists out of non-cultists on the rune. Or if they resist, eventually burn them to death.
* '''Communication.''' Allows you to broadcast a message to all cultists. Remember to state your name each time, as the spell won't identify you. Do so in private, if you care about stealth; you speak a freaky chant when activating. Extremely useful.
* '''Forging.''' Gives you tough armor and a deadly weapon, and lets constructs heal themselves and change what type they are.
* '''Summon Soul Stone.''' Capture a player's soul when they are in crit.
* '''Construct.''' Makes a shell you can put a filled soul stone in to turn it into a construct that will obey the cult. Constructs have a variety of useful abilities, generally aren't affected by atmospherics or gravity, and can destroy walls and doors.
** The Artificer construct can make a forge for you to turn your robes and small oxy tank into a insulated voidsuit and big oxy tank, red pylons that act as turrets when an animal is sacrificed to them, and altars for you to heal.
** The Wraith construct can phase through walls all around the station and have decent damage; send them on spying, sabotage, and assassination missions.
** The Juggernaut construct is immune to small amounts of damage, can destroy walls and doors in half the hits, deals as much damage as a cult sword, can reflect bullets, and has very high health.
* '''Wall.''' Makes an impenetrable wall that can be turned on and off only by cultists.
* '''Tome summoning.''' Give this to new cultists ASAP!
* '''Teleportation.''' To teleport! Examine a rune to see what network it's on; use a tome on a rune to configure its network. It will teleport you to a random floor rune besides the one you used in the network. Cooldown is 5 seconds.
* '''Incapacitation.''' Stuns non-cultists in a 5 tile radius.
* '''Talisman creation.''' With a clean piece of paper on the rune, makes portable versions of compatible runes drawn next to it, so you can do magic on the go. Click a talisman with another talisman for compact storage; leave a few unbundled and renamed for quick access. Might want to make a folder out of a box (use the box when it's empty to unfold it) to store your talismans.
* '''Blindness.''' Blinds non-cultists in a 3 tile radius, and leaves them with blurry vision afterwards for a while.
* '''EMP.''' EMP's the surrounding area. 2 tile radius on floor, 1 tile radius on talisman. Doesn't affect cultists or their belongings.
* '''Geometer:''' '''''Summon Nar'Sie.''''' Needs 9 cultists around the rune; apparitions don't count, but constructs do.
The crowded streets, tunnels, and residences, plus its status as a port, means Valkyrie is a melting pot of peoples and cultures. Nearly half of Valkyrie’s population is a first-generation migrant to the moon, and those who have lived in Valkyrie all their life are typically the children or grandchildren of immigrants. [[Offworlder Humans]] are very common, and Valkyrie possesses a small community of Sadar, or Scarab Fleet exiles. Owing to their EVA experience, offworlder humans are highly sought out for work in the mines or in the moon’s orbit. Pan-speciesism and pan-culturalism is a point of pride for many Valkyrians, though secluded communities or isolated populations of aliens or migrant humans are common. Gaining residency in Valkyrie is regarded as even laxer than the rest of the Republic, with the sheer amount of comings and goings rendering it impossible for everyone to be tracked. As a result, the local government has adopted a very open policy with immigrants, nearly to the point of settler rights. If a person lives on the moon and is willing to vouch for them, they are almost always granted residency.
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While most on Valkyrie live relatively comfortable lives, Biesel’s corporate leanings permeate the moon at its core. Basic subsidized healthcare consists of emergency care and regular physicals; beyond that, dental and psychiatric services, plus any specialized disability care, are usually gated behind employment with the megacorporations. A lack of subsidized care for those with permanent disabilities means that many workers caught in industrial accidents find themselves continuing to work with their choice of corporation, as assistance from the Commonwealth is simply not an option.
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Architecture on Valkyrie is brutalist, squat, and squarish. Habitation domes and residential blocks are usually built on top of old structures; construction is a constant on the planet, as old buildings are constantly recycled, reinforced, and rebuilt.
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Uniquely, due to extremely limited space within many residences, many Valkyrians do not often cook their own food. While actual restaurants in Valkyrie are priced similarly to restaurants elsewhere in the Spur, street vendors sell their meals cheap and en-masse, making them a far more accessible option for the average industrial worker. Mushrooms, potatoes, and other root vegetables feature prominently in Valkyrian cuisine, owing to them requiring limited light and being very easy to grow and multiply. Curries, soups, and stews are common dishes; usually these are served with bannock, a type of easily-kneaded frybread, to soak up the broth.
Despite the cloistered and heavily urbanized nature of the habitation domes, hydroponics facilities are quite expansive. Crops that require more specific conditions to grow are usually gated in Getmore buildings, but community gardens or colonization-era facilities that became overgrown are equally as prominent. Street vendors will usually subsidize meal costs if a customer brings them produce to cook with, thus ensuring that a healthy cycle of growing, farming, and cooking exists on the planet.
=== The Valkyrian Dream ===
=== My soul's been trapped in a Construct, what do? ===
After [[Moghes|Moghes’]] Contact War, [[Hephaestus Industries]] began to finance departures of [[Unathi]] from the ruined planet, sending them to Valkyrie so long as they agreed to work for the company. This push brought thousands of Unathi, Hegemonic and Traditionalist alike, to the moon, where they developed small communities and lived and worked in Hephaestus-built living facilities. Some would eventually return to Moghes, but most continued to build a life for themselves on the moon, establishing aquaculture facilities to have access to cheaper fish and meats key to Unathi sustenance.
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[[Vaurca Hives#K’lax|Hive K’lax]], owing to its close relationship with the [[Izweski Nation]] and Hephaestus Industries alike, also has a presence on the moon. Many K’laxan Vaurcae consider Valkyrie a significantly better place to live than Mendell City, though quarters are still cramped and planetary regulations are extremely strict on where k’ois is grown. Queen [[Leto, The Seeker|Leto]] has also settled some of her brood’s best xenoarchaeologists on Valkyrie out of a belief that the phoron deposits in Tau Ceti somehow traveled from [[Sedantis I|Sedantis]]. Queen [[Vedhra, Princess of Configurations|Vedhra]], in partnership with Hephaestus, has managed to position some of her own inside government office jobs, as well as general employment in the Exchange Terminal. Queenless Zo'ra, initially disembarking from Titan Prime, have also ekked out a living in the shadows of the streets, and many eventually descend to the lawless criminal underground of the city, lacking other employment prospects.
* You serve the cult and Nar'Sie. Do what they say.
=== Crime ===
* You are immune to a vacuum and slipping.
* If you're the first construct made this round, choose '''Artificer'''.
* You can change what type of construct you are by activating a Forging rune drawn on the ground by a friendly cultist. This also resets your spell cooldowns and heals you completely.
* You have spells in the upper right corner of your HUD and in your Spells tab.
* You can destroy walls, doors, and windows by attacking them. Wraith and Artificer can destroy a reinforced plasteel wall in 9 hits, and a regular wall in 2; Juggernaut can do the same in 4 and 1 hits. Certain walls don't have floors under them; when destroyed, they will vent the area to space. Take advantage of this abilty, combined with the Artificer's constructions, to reshape and deny areas as you see fit.
* You know two languages: Cult (<code>,f</code>) and Occult (<code>,y</code>). Only Cultists and other constructs understand Cult. Use Occult to broadcast to all constructs. You can also use AOOC to talk to fellow antags OOCly.
* Your three options are:
# Artificer: You have 50 health and do 5-15 damage. Use your spells often!
#:* Create a Daemon Forge in a safe place as the first thing. This lets cultists upgrade their armor into insulated voidsuits, letting them take advantage of vented areas and avoid electrocution.
#:* Pump out as many altars as you can; the cultists can heal themselves at them.
#:* Base-building tools:
#::- Cultify Area, while converting doors, removes their ID locks. Handy!
#::- Lesser Construction builds walls.
#::- Create floor... makes a culty floor. Works on space tiles.
#::- Red Pylons shed dim light. They can turn into turrets by click-dragging a small-ish animal onto them, then killing the animal. Mice, monkeys, slimes, and department pets are good candidates.
#:*You can ignore the rest of the spells. Cultists can already make these things faster than you, but you can help if you like.
# Wraith: You have 100 health, move decently fast, and do 25 damage. Use Phase Shift (lets you move through walls for 5 seconds) to traverse the station. Has a short cooldown. If you land in a wall, you get pushed out. With Phase Shift, you can go anywhere in the station and wreak havoc; spy on the enemy, assassinate crewmembers, set up passageways for infiltration, vent key areas, etc etc...
# Juggernaut: You have 400 health, move slowly, and do 30 damage. You can make a tile impenetrable by using your Shield spell; good for dealing with cowards using ranged weapons. Phases out after 25 seconds; cooldown is 30 seconds. Ranged brute damage attacks (i.e. bullets) against you have a 70-80% chance of being deflected off of you, reducing their damage by 70%. You destroy walls, windows, and doors very quickly, which makes you good for breaching fortified areas.
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Valkyrie’s status as a hub of interstellar trade means that it is also a hotbed for organized crime and smuggling. Most of the criminal activity on Valkyrie is perpetuated far beneath its surface habitation domes, in abandoned mining tunnels beneath the more livable parts of the city. Slums and shantytowns have begun to be propped up in the “Below”, as residents call the area, and many who are fired from their megacorporate jobs often end up in the lawless depths, where few questions are asked and illicit businesses can make enough money to survive their next day.
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For Unathi that struggle to live up to the Hephaestus expectation of the Valkyrian Dream, the Below is often their last resort. Guwan and Gawgaryn that have jumped ship from Moghes tend to find their way to the depths, continuing the criminal activity out of a lack of options.
Queenless K’laxan and Zo’rane Vaurcae, along with Tajara, are particularly valuable and common Below owing to their supreme night vision. Warriors are usually drug runners and bodyguards, while Workers synthesize drugs to sell, manage credits, and assist their gyne with delivering messages and establishing relations between other crime cells.
=== I was a ghost, but then I stood on a rune, and now I'm an Apparition! ===
== Economics ==
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Naturally, the largest port in Tau Ceti primarily makes its money through shipping, handling, and being a safe port for ships passing between [[Sol]], the [[Coalition of Colonies]], and the [[Nralakk Federation]]. [[Orion Express]] has a primary base of operations in the Exchange Terminal, and most of the goods and wares coming through the port will generally be under Orion's purview. Hephaestus mining and cargo vessels stop in Valkyrie to drop off and process their ore haul, and the rest of the megacorporations usually have a manufacturing facility somewhere on the surface of the planet, being able to quickly assemble their goods and send them elsewhere.
Fresh Apparition? Here's a rundown:
Much of the shipping warehouses of the Exchange Terminal are bordered by hotels, restaurants, and bars designed to cater to the cargo workers who have shipped into port. These facilities usually play host to a variety of workers from different origins, and even if Tau Ceti Basic is unspoken by a visitor, someone with a good understanding of just about any language is usually close at hand. Linguistics and cultural knowledge are a common unifying requirement for career applications across Valkyrie; it is not uncommon for a young, inexperienced person to gain a job simply because they speak another language.
You have 300 health, can't be stunned, can't fall or slip, don't care about atmospherics other than being maybe moved by wind, and can't go into crit.
== Major Districts ==
'''Valkyrie Exchange Terminal:''' The Valkyrie Exchange Terminal, colloquially referred to as “the Exter”, is not so much a cargo terminal as it is a small city dug into an equatorial trench spanning a tenth of the moon’s surface. The Terminal contains the largest shipping infrastructure on Valkyrie; everything needed for the transport of goods, from the launch infrastructure, warehouses, and boarding areas are present within the Terminal. In addition, the [[Tau Ceti Armed Forces]] maintains its shipyards within the terminal. The TCAF assists in the operation and enforcement of the Terminal's Air Traffic Control, which is responsible not only for incoming and outgoing vessels but also for tracking ships and stations within the moon's orbit with satellites. It serves as the closest thing the planet has to a capital city, with the moon’s government conducting its business from the massive Brynhildr City Dome overlooking the Terminal.
You can only speak and understand Cultish.
'''“Green Zone”:''' At the northern rim of the Exter is a hydroponics bay, long-overgrown with hardy vines, Biesellite plants, and thousands of crops of mushrooms, potatoes, and other produce suited to grow in a humid zone that has been almost entirely renovated by the efforts of an ever-changing group of Valkyrian gardeners. Originally a botany research bay for the moon’s original colonists, as Valkyrie’s population expanded it became necessary to find a suitable place to grow produce. Surtr base’s original research bay had long been forgotten about, but as a corporate stranglehold began to close around food prices, a group of enterprising botanists explored to find the ruined bay and turn it into something new. Nowadays, the Green Zone is a sprawling, free-for-all community garden, though it is unofficial law to plant something in return if you take. The Green Zone’s accessibility to the Valkyrian community, however, has not precluded it from being used by criminal elements; gangs from the Below use more secluded parts of the Zone to grow reishi, ambrosia, cocaine, and opium, synthesizing them to sell across the Spur.
Ask your masters for a robe, sword, and tome to start you off, and ask them what they want you to do.
'''Helios Manufacturing Zone:''' Located within one of the deepest trenches on Valkyrie, Helios is a megapolis centered around Hephaestus’ primary manufactory within the Republic of Biesel. Although it has had significant growth since its inception following a brief bidding war during the 2320s, its importance was only realized after the discovery of rich quantities of palladium, titanium, and aluminum. As opposed to setting up routes to transport resources outside of Tau Ceti, Hephaestus began building the first of many factories that would refine these metals and ultimately be used to build spacecraft. The Helios Manufacturing Site continued to expand greatly after its unveiling and now encompasses almost a sixth of Valkyrie.
You can use runes and tools just like a crewmember cultist, too (see [https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Cult&action=submit#Cultist Cultist]), but you can't help summon Nar'Sie. Make sure the person who summoned you has access to plenty of brute damage healing and stays conscious so they can sustain your existence (if nothing else, bother the resident Artificer to make altars so they can heal). Without aid, your summoner will go from full health to crit in 5 minutes. If you die, the cultist can summon you again, so long as another ghost doesn't get picked.
'''Hyperion Data Nexus:''' The area in which the Nexus lies, as opposed to the other corporate outposts around Valkyrie, was privately purchased by NanoTrasen after it discovered Phoron in 2418 and was used to start Nanotrasen's first laboratories for researching the crystal. It was only after the megacorporation achieved dominance on the crystal that the Nexus began expanding across the Valkyrian plains, with the establishment of a shipyard along the ridges marking an end to the plain on which the outpost occupied. Research and development remains a significant component of some laboratories, but a large portion has been replaced by mining or refinery apparatus.
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'''Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage:''' The Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage is one of the more recent developments located on Valkyrie and was opened in 2445 after a brief auction in which [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]] (previously Necropolis Industries) acquired the rights to the territory. Initially meant to be a genetics research facility, Zavodskoi Interstellar’s retraction from the field of genetics instead prompted the development of a ConTec Facility that primarily focused on positronic research and development manufacturing. Almost two decades after it was founded, the Mach Rassvet Research Anchorage is still producing the majority of the components necessary to construct integrated positronic chassis in Biesel. These assets continue to sustain the income of Zavodskoi Interstellar.
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'''Hades:''' The only named settlement in the “Below”, the network of former mining tunnels underneath Valkyrie, Hades is a sprawling slum consisting of the poorest of Valkyrie, along with the criminal elements who make their operations beneath the relative notice of the Valkyrie Security Department. Made out of old mining facilities and hollowed-out sections in tunnels, Hades’ main claim to fame is its Night Market; a bimonthly occasion where stolen goods from incoming ships, or even legally acquired ones, can be bought and sold for much lower prices than they would on a conventional market. Everything from exotic foods, weapons, the latest Le Soleil Royale fashion, or the newest Confiance watch can be found at the Night Market, and it attracts even law-abiding Valkyrians looking to slum it in a more dangerous locale. Quite famously, the relative start of the Below and the entrance to Hades typically contains one or more homemade signs reading ''ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE''. If one is taken down or destroyed for some reason, someone will usually replace it.
Beg your master to just make a construct shell and let you be a construct. You're Ian with an attack and the ability to speak Cult. Sorry.
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== Runes ==
Before you dive in, here are some important notes regarding runes:
* There can only be twenty-five floor runes in existence at any one time. If you do not need a rune to stay somewhere, such as a wall or teleportation rune, it is highly advised to make a talisman of it instead or erase any other floor runes once you are done with them. Talismans have no limit.
* You cannot draw a rune on another rune. You can, however, do things like have a rune under a grille, door, or bookcase, and then use it by viewing the turf with alt-click.
* Null rods are capable of protecting their holder from the effects of most runes, and allows the bearer to destroy cult artifacts with ease.
* The act of creating a rune is very obvious, with a large message, loud sound, and drip of blood made whenever you start making one. Make sure to do so only in privacy.
* To erase or configure a rune, use a tome on it. Use alt-click to view the turf if you're having trouble targeting the rune.
<small>These runes relate to the creation of workers and soldiers for your infernal army. You can brainwash the Unenlightened to submit to the Dark Lord's will and aid your cause, use captured souls to spawn solid ghosts and power eldritch constructs, beckon restless spirits into terrifyingly durable bodies, and even bring back the dead... though not always with the soul they started with.</small>
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'''It is good practice to LOOC with your victim to confirm whether they are willing to participate as an antagonist.'''
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Can make Talisman?
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Disappears after use?
|-
!Conversion
|style="text-align:left"| Convert crew to your cause by putting them on the rune and hoping they submit before they die.
|style="text-align:left"| Via force or guile, get a convertee onto the rune. Target will visibly writhe in and experience pain unless they can't feel pain; this usually means being berserk, having a mutation, or on oxycodone. They also take 5-20 burn damage, start hallucinating, and get a dialog to submit or resist. <br /> <br />If they resist or hesitate for more than 10 seconds, the target takes increasing burn damage. Burn gets worse the longer they resist or hesitate, accompanied by messages describing their blood boiling as corruption forces its way into their body and mind. After anywhere from 40 seconds to 2 and a half minutes, they start to seriously hallucinate and take brain damage along with the burn, with descriptions of their mind turning to ash as they begin to see a dark and incomprehensible figure. Damage and hallucination is taken every 10 seconds. <br /> <br />Can't be converted if they are dead. If they submit, they will be healed of their hallucination and brain damage, but not burn. If the target can't be culted due to account age, already being a different kind of antag, or due to jobban, they will be gibbed. Can be used on most humanoid species, dionae, IPCs, golems, and monkeys.
|No
|No
|-
!Construct
|style="text-align:left"| Makes a demonic machine frame, ready to host a captured soul and serve Nar'Sie.
|style="text-align:left"| The rune makes a shell for making a construct. Use a filled soul stone (see below) on it to make either a Juggernaut, Wraith, or Artificer. They fly, so they don't care about atmospherics knocking them over, and they also don't breathe. They can't see in the dark, and radiate darkness. They all have the same attack speed. Draw a Forging rune to let your constructs heal themselves and change what kind of construct they are. All constructs can be healed by Artificers.<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:99%">
Expand for an overview of the constructs.
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*Juggernaut: 400 health. 30 damage per punch. Slow. Damage to it is reduced by 10 (maybe? maybe not). Smashes a reinforced plasteel wall in 4 hits, regular wall in 1, girder in 1. Energy projectiles have a high chance of being deflected, reducing damage to the Juggernaut by 70% and redirecting the projectile somewhere within 3 tiles, possibly back at the one who fired it. Can create an impenenetrable wall for 25 seconds via the Shield spell.
*Wraith: 100 health. 25 damage per punch. Smashes a reinforced plasteel wall in 9 hits, regular wall in 2, girder in 1. Fast. Radiates less darkness than a juggernaut. Can walk through walls for 5 seconds via the Phase Shift spell.
*Artificer: 50 health. 10 damage per punch. Smashes a reinforced plasteel wall in 9 hits, regular wall in 2, girder in 1. Fast. Radiates less darkness than a wraith. Can repair other constructs by clicking on them. Has several spells, useful for base-building and support.<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:99%">Expand to view Artificer spells.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
**Cultify area. Turns walls, floors, tables, grilles and doors into cult versions. Notably, doors become daemon stone doors- no ID needed. Once per 40 seconds.<br />
**Create empty shell. Same as the Construct rune. Once per three minutes.<br />
**Lesser construction. Makes a wall. Same as a steel wall, except cult flavored wall and girders. Once per ten seconds.<br />
**Create floor. Turns any floor into a cult floor, including space. Once every two seconds.<br />
**Summon soulstone. Same as the soul stone creation rune. Once every five minutes.<br />
**Red Pylon. Makes Pylons, which cast dim, red light. They can be upgraded with monkeys, slimes, rats, dogs, giant spider, small alien wildlife, walking tomatoes, walking mushrooms, lizards, foxes, chickens, goats, penguins, crabs, corgis, cats, carp, shades, parrots, bees, diona nymph, borers, and wizard familiars, by dragging and dropping the creature on the pylon, then killing it, to shoot lasor beams. Pew pew! Once turreted, it can't be moved. They do 3.5 damage twice a second with some armor piercing, and do 10 damage twice a second with more armor piercing and repair themselves if you shoot them with an energy weapon. They are immune to non-brute or explosion damage. Can be repaired by artificers. Once every twenty seconds.<br />
**Create daemon forge. Spawn a forge that lets you reforge some things into other nifty things, such as cult robes and hoods into voidsuits, small oxy tanks into large ones, books into tomes, metal swords into cult swords, desk lamps into red pylons, and regular backpacks into cult backpacks. Once every ten minutes. <br />
**Create altar. Spawn an altar that lets cultists heal themselves of 20 damage, fixing broken tendons, bones, and arteries, every 2 minutes, per cultist, per altar. Once every ten minutes.<br /></div></div>
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Soul Stone Creation
|style="text-align:left"| Makes a soul stone, for capturing souls.
|style="text-align:left"| Soul Stone: Used to trap souls to make Shades or constructs. Use it on a dying or dead mob to capture their soul. Can be used on most humanoid species, dionae, IPCs, golems, and monkeys. Cannot be used on silicons, non-humanoids, animals, anyone infested by cortical borers, SSD people, or apparitions. Can only hold one soul. Use to release the trapped soul as a Shade; click the Shade to put it back in. Use a soul stone on a construct shell to put the soul into it. Disappears after use.<br /><br />Shade: 50 health. Deals 5-15 damage. Understands all languages. Can't fall. Can travel up and down if the way isn't blocked, no ladders required. Has collision like a solid mob. Doesn't get hungry. Decent speed. Other than that? It's Ian.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Apparition
|style="text-align:left"| A ghost standing on the rune is turned into a robust ally, at the cost of slowly draining your life.
|style="text-align:left"| Any one ghost standing on this rune when activated, and isn't jobbaned from cult, will become an apparition. The summoning cultist doesn't have to stay on the rune, but they take one brute damage every three seconds - 100 damage every 5 minutes - while the apparition exists (except dionae, they take two damage and lose nutrition). Falling unconscious or being SSD will destroy the apparition and allow you to summon another one (so use the SLEEP verb if you wish to get rid of yours). If you have a piece of paper on the rune when activated, and write >Name< on the paper (including the ><), the apparition will take on that name. It seems a cultist can have multiple of these active at one time, but make sure you have the means to heal yourself of the damage. Two or three altars are capable of keeping up with the damage from one rune.
*Apparitions: 300 health. Can use armor, tools, and machinery like a human. Doesn't feel pain, breathe, fall over, or have blood, and can't be stunned, poisoned, scanned in a body scanner, or go into crit or have an object embedded in them. They have incredible stamina, letting them fight for much longer. They can also sprint twice as long as a human, but only at 70% of the speed of a human. Cannot help summon Nar'Sie.
|No
|No
|-
!Revival
|style="text-align:left"| Sacrifice a corpse to bring back the dead... though not necessarily with the original soul.
|style="text-align:left"| The sacrifical corpse and the corpse to revive must both be on the rune, as well as a ghost. The sacrifice cannot be one you have an objective to sacrifice. If no ghost is on the rune, a message will be broadcast to deadchat alerting them of the revival attempt. When the conditions are met, the sacrificial corpse will be gibbed, and the corpse to be revived will be possessed by the ghost and will be cultist.
<small>These runes relate to creation of tools, weapons, armor, and obstacles, as well as making use of Redspace for transporting and even rescuing cultists. Also included is the most important rune of them all, used to finally pierce the veil and bring Nar'Sie into this reality.</small>
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Can make Talisman?
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Disappears after use?
|-
!Forging
|style="text-align:left"| Dresses you in armored cult robes and gives you a deadly sword.
|style="text-align:left"| So long as the body slots are free, dresses you in a cult hood, backpack, robes, and boots, and gives you a sword. The armor can be turned into a voidsuit using a daemon forge provided by an artificer. Allows constructs to change what type they are.
*Armor details: Melee 50, Bullet 30, Laser 50, Energy 20, Bomb 25, Bio 10, Rad 0; protects against stunning/electrocution from tasers and stun batons; doesn't protect the hands. The boots silence your footsteps.
*Voidsuit details: Melee 60, Bullet 50, Laser 30, Energy 15, Bomb 30, Bio 30, Rad 30, protects against stunning/electrocution including the hands, allowing it to act as insulated gloves. Slows you down like a regular RIG suit.
*Sword details: 30 damage, 10 when thrown, can slowly destroy steel walls, damages internal organs, protects against shock when breaking electrified windows, can be stored on your belt, or in the armor slot of robes/voidsuit.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Wall
|style="text-align:left"| Makes an impenetrable wall, toggleable only by cultists.
|style="text-align:left"| Using the rune causes an impassable red blur to appear on the tile, and causes two brute damage to the user. Clicking the blur makes the blur go away and the rune visible again, causing another two brute damage. The blur becomes invisble when a Concealmeant rune is used, and visible again when a Revealing rune is used.
|No
|No
|-
!Tome summoning
|style="text-align:left"| Summons an arcane tome, for backup or to give to new acolytes.
|style="text-align:left"| Summons a tome. The tome does 5-20 silent burn damage when hitting the Unenlightened on any intent - good for executing and sacrificing without drawing too much attention.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Cultist summoning
|style="text-align:left"| Three cultists sacrifice their blood to summon a fellow acolyte from anywhere on the station to them.
|style="text-align:left"| Requires at least 3 cultists to activate. Select your target from the list, and if they are not bound (in the ways that the Freedom rune neutralizes) they will appear on the rune laying down. Unlimited range. If only three cultists activated, the activators are stunned for 6-12 seconds and weakened for 2. Additionally, the activators take brute damage equal to 25 divided by the number of activators divided by two, rounded down.
|No
|Yes
|-
!Teleportation
|style="text-align:left"| Teleport to another teleport rune in a messy fashion.
|style="text-align:left"| When you create the rune, it will assigned randomly to a network, visible when you examine it - the four networks are Vernuth, Koglan, Irgros, or Akon. Use your tome on the rune to change which network it belongs to. When you use the rune, it will randomly pick one of the other runes on the same network and take you to it, blood and gibs spattering out of both runes as you are sucked through Redspace. You must wait five seconds before teleporting again. The floor runes do not disappear on use, but the talismans are either one use only, or have a time window of usability after it's first used. Make sure to configure which network the talisman's rune goes to before you create the talisman. Only floor runes are valid destinations. Teleportation runes only work on the station.
|Yes
|No, except for talismans
|-
!Geometer
|style="text-align:left"| Summons Nar'Sie.
|style="text-align:left"| Only needs one rune, but needs nine or more cultists surrounding it. Apparitions don't count, though constructs and people revived via Revival do. Must be activated on the station itself.
<small>These runes are the bread and butter of His army, allowing them to blind, deaf, and stun their enemies, destroy technology, boil their blood, and even transfer their life essence to you. Important to note is that these runse only affect non-cultists.</small>
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Can make Talisman?
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Disappears after use?
|-
!Blindness
|style="text-align:left"| Blinds non-cultists for a decent duration.
|style="text-align:left"| Within three tiles, blind non-cultists for 40 seconds, blur vision for 100 seconds. Twice that time if talisman. If floor rune, has 10% to permanently blind, 5% chance to permanently blur vision. The rune won't expend itself unless there is a non-cultist nearby.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Deafening
|style="text-align:left"| Deafens non-cultists for a considerable duration.
|style="text-align:left"| As a floor rune, deafens non-cultists in a 1 tile radius for 100 seconds, and has a 1% chance to permanently deafen. As a talisman, deafens non-cultists in a 5-tile radius for 200 seconds.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Incapacitation
|style="text-align:left"| Confuses, silences non-cultists for a short duration, and freezes them for a very short duration.
|style="text-align:left"| Confuses for 20 seconds, silences for 15 seconds, and makes them stand still and do nothing for 2 seconds. Affects non-cultist carbon-based mobs (includes IPCs) in 3 tiles as a talisman. As a floor rune, has a range of 5 tiles, and additionally knocks people down for 2 seconds. Silicons are knocked down for 3 seconds and silenced for 30.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!EMP
|style="text-align:left"| Send out an EMP blast in a short range.
|style="text-align:left"| Disables all technology and damages silicons. Floor rune has a radius of 2 tile, talisman rune has a radius of 1 tile. Doesn't affect anything held by cultists.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Blood Boil
|style="text-align:left"| Boil the blood of a non-cultist unlucky enough to be on the rune.
|style="text-align:left"| Requires at least 3 cultists standing next to it. Deals 50 brute and 50 burn to the victim on the rune. The cultists take 15 brute each. May or may not activate all nearby blood boil runes when one rune is activated. If so, then it makes a good trap to lure people into. Otherwise, it's only good for weakening sacrifices or executions. Remember that straight up killing someone should generbe a last result; ahelp before doing so.
|No
|Yes
|-
!Blood Drain
|style="text-align:left"| Drain the blood of your enemy, and put in into yourself. Does not heal.
|style="text-align:left"| You and a non-cultist must stand on these runes. Deals 10 brute and 10 burn damage to the victim, and transfers 10 units of their blood to you. May or may not activate all nearby blood drain runes when one rune is activated.
<small>These runes do not fit into any other category. With these, you can speak across distances with your brothers and sisters, free a cultist of their chains from a distance, briefly leave your body, and even spill the blood of your victims to gain your god's approval.</small>
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Can make Talisman?
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Disappears after use?
|-
!Communication
|style="text-align:left"| Broadcast messages to your fellow acolytes.
|style="text-align:left"| Use it, type your message, and hit enter to broadcast a message to all cultists. It's bugged so that the recipient hears the message as though it's coming from themselves, so make sure to announce your name each time you use this. If you don't want to send a message, just type nothing and you will keep the rune.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Freedom
|style="text-align:left"| Frees a fellow acolyte from restraints, remotely.
|style="text-align:left"| Requires three cultists to activate. Unlimited range. Unbuckles, uncuffs, unmuzzles, and un-straitjackets the target, unwelds, unlocks and opens any lockers the target is in the same tile as, and unlocks and opens any locked doors the target is within 2 tiles of.
|No
|Yes
|-
!Ethereal
|style="text-align:left"| Be a ghost.
|style="text-align:left"| Your body is frozen on the rune, and takes 10 brute damage per 10 seconds. A special message announces you to the ghosts, so they may have an idea you're not just an ordinary one. Use this time to recruit for manifestations, pump ghosts for info, and scout. Don't forget to toggle darkness in the Ghost tab, and ghost sight/ears in the Preferences tab.
|No
|No
|-
!Sacrificial
|style="text-align:left"| Sacrifice a body to appease your god.
|style="text-align:left"| Put a non-cultist body on the rune, have three or more cultists nearby, activate, and the body gibs. Used to satisfy objectives, or as a hardcore form of Pray. (Though make sure to Pray before and afterwards, this rune doesn't seem to generate an admin message.) The sacrifice is deemed worthy if it is sufficient "rarity" (vaurca, diona, skeleton, apparition (!), zombie, shadow, golem, slime person, and terminator ), or just on a 80% success die roll, 40% if the sacrifice is dead. Must be humanoid, or have/be a brain, braincase, robot, or intellicard.
<small>These runes alter other runes. These runes let you imprint runes on paper so you can take them with you, let you hide and unhide runes, and see hidden runes (and possibly other hidden things).</small>
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Can make Talisman?
! scope="col" style='background-color:#a60000;' width="1%"|Disappears after use?
|-
!Talisman creation
|style="text-align:left"| Create portable runes.
|style="text-align:left"| Creates a talisman by putting a piece of clean paper on the rune, then drawing the rune you want to talismanify next to the creation rune. The talisman can be activated by using it. You can clip talismans together for easier storage, and even write on them (once created) to label them, as they're still paper. In fact, you can even disguise a talisman by making it the second in a stack of other normal papers. You may rename your talismans (right click->rename paper) so you know which is which, perhaps using a code to obfuscate its purpose to anyone who captures one. They can also be stored in folders (made by using an empty box, then using the resulting cardboard).
|No
|No
|-
!Concealment
|style="text-align:left"| Hides runes from all but ghost sight.
|style="text-align:left"| Makes runes in a four tile radius as invisible as ghosts. Has the same radius when used as a talisman.
|style="text-align:left"| Reveals any runes hidden with Concealment within 6 tiles if a floor rune, or 4 tiles if a talisman.
|Yes
|Yes
|-
!Visibility
|style="text-align:left"| Gives you the sight of the ethereal undead.
|style="text-align:left"| Lets you see invisible things almost as a ghost would. Most practically, you can see runes hidden with Concealment anywhere you're able to see, and check if ghosts are standing on your Apparition or Revival runes. You only get a second or so of this sight, so you have to spam the rune.
|No
|No
|-
|}
</div>
</div>
== Roleplay and Strategy ==
You begin the round with an arcane tome book. You are, otherwise, indistinguishable from any other member of the crew.
It is highly recommended that your first actions with are as follows:
# Use a communication rune in a secluded, camera-less area to introduce yourself to the cult ICly. You can state as much or as little about yourself as you want. Be warned that the Unenlightened, if they can see you, will hear you chant in your dark language when doing this.
# Use AOOC (like OOC, but with an A for Antag in front) to figure out what general plan you want to pursue with your allies, and ask questions about how the cult works. Remember, no IC information!
=== Remaining Unseen ===
Your cult is unknown to outsiders, but before the night is over, all will feel the power of Nar’Sie. Still, a little prudence goes a long way. Cult implements are often visually sinister, consisting of black books and bloody motifs. Should you wish to remain unseen, take care to conduct your magicks and conversions in secluded, camera-less areas. Bathroom stalls, dorms, firefighting closets, maintenance, the adult section in the library, and the construction site are all publicly accessible, relatively secluded, and have no cameras.
Good, responsible roleplayers may find your runes and Tomes strange, suspicious, or even indicative of insanity, but will not jump immediately into action, opting instead to investigate. But remember, the moment you emerge with battle-robes and dark energy swords, all bets are off!
=== Spilling Blood in His Name ===
Cultists are notoriously robust, with lots of powerful offensive options at their disposal. Your first instinct may be to use the Armor rune and start contributing prized specimens to Nar-sie's severed head collection.
Your Cult Blade might be obscenely powerful, but remember that it's a melee weapon! With teamwork and skill, Security can put you down before you can get a swing in (unless you're a manifested ghost, then you can likely take a nuclear warhead to the face and live). Not only that, but stabbing people left and right is the exact opposite of a fun and interesting round.
=== Playing by Man's Rules ===
Playing nicely, otherwise known as ''Peacecult'', is an extremely challenging strategy, and requires top-notch roleplaying. Or very gullible characters. In Peacecult, you do not harm anyone at all - instead, you and your fellow Cultists preach the word of Nar-sie openly, inviting people to join your religion in a friendly and harmless fashion.
However, take note of the following risks:
# Attempting to convert a player sends them a message describing the agonizing pain they are going through, as they writhe on the ground visibly in pain. More often than not, this is a very quick way to get Security called on you.
# You may be outright ignored. See: playing the Chaplain. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to recruit followers to summon your all-powerful God of Blood, only to be snubbed by the Tajara as they flirt with one another in Hydroponics.
# Some Cult players go into the round expecting mayhem and murder; they may simply reject your idea.
If you manage to make Peacecult work, this can be quite a hilarious experience. Good luck! Bonus points if you talk the ERT into joining!
== Surviving the Cult ==
So, your date with Lucas Greyer was interrupted by a gibbering band of madmen in robes with glowing swords. Well darn. There are a few things you need to know if you want to get out of this situation alive.
=== Identifying the Occult ===
Identifying the Cult is difficult. They have been very secretive about their religion, and it is impossible for your character to recognize it. You have never heard of Nar-sie in your life. Those Tomes sure look sinister! But then again, so does your average Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook.
''Remember that just as the Cult is obligated to make the round fun and challenging for you, you are also obligated to do the same.''
* You have no earthly idea what the runes are. They are not "obviously evil". Calling for Blue Alert or interrogating nearby crew at the first sight of a rune is poor play.
* Arcane Tomes are just that: weird books. Unless they were used to bash the Central Command Internal Affairs Agent's brains in, they are not suspicious.
* Cult robes might sling off bullets, but they don't look armored. They're pretty kooky, though. They could have been a missing costume shipment, or maybe the Chaplain got drunk and flung off his clothes.
* Cult Blades are as or more suspicious than fuel-tank bombs. They're vicious, incredibly sharp swords that glow and thrum like energy blades. Just touching them makes you feel horrendously ill, twisting your heart and filling your head with poisonous thoughts. If you're the Detective, consider these the holy grail of evidence.
Obviously, the onus is on the Cult to be discreet about their misdeeds. It will be immediately obvious if one draws a rune, but this in and of itself is nothing more than unsanitary graffiti; the cultist barely pricks their finger. Watching a Cultist disappear is obvious grounds for investigation. When in doubt, play it safe, try to think rationally and realistically, and don't be afraid to adminhelp if you need a second opinion.
=== Striking Back ===
The Cult wears extremely high-quality armor, and their swords can send someone into crit with four hits. For Security (or in the event of a militarized civilian crew), it is vital that you wear riot armor, or any other gear which excels at absorbing melee brute damage. Tasers and stun batons are nearly worthless against the armored Cult!
If the Cult is smart, their robes will have been upgraded to allow them to go into space, and will have built turrets in their strongholds. The turrets do burn damage; ablative armor will still work against their beams. Do not shoot the turrets with lasers- this will only make them more powerful!
They also may have created eldritch constructs - recognizeable as floating, spiky metal contraptions. They can all destroy walls and doors; some can phase through walls, while others are so durable that bullets bounce off them.
Depending on the extremity of their assault, the Cult may or may not present a severe threat. Calling the ERT is a reasonable response once people begin losing their spinal cords.
==== Wall Runes ====
You may come across a strange blurry patch of red air that seems impenetrable - there might be a rune there, or not, if the Cult was clever enough to hide it. Trying to shoot the Cultists through this invisible barrier is a quick way to be laughed at! You can cut through the real, solid walls in an attempt to get around, but be warned that the Cult can erect their Wall runes much faster than you can slice through the station.
The only way to truly remove a Wall rune is to have the Chaplain neutralize it, or hope you're lucky enough to catch the Cult with the wall down.
=== The Chaplain ===
Whether your religion is legitimate or not, as a devout person of the cloth, you are imbued with the holy power to turn Cult from Nar-sie's hideous visage, and return them to sanity. Your obsidian Null Rod can erase runes, or de-program Cult members when used violently (but justly).
As the Chaplain, you are arguably the most powerful person on the Station in the event of a Cult round. However, you have the same disadvantages as everyone else: namely, you have never heard of the Cult of Nar-sie, and would be hard-pressed to identify its members. Security may bring you their armaments and Tomes if found - player's discretion is important to determine whether or not these would constitute a clearly foul presence aboard the Station. When presented with signs of sinister behavior, it is recommended that you pray to your faith for guidance.
The premise of your Null Rod is up to you. Perhaps it is a relic of your religion, and you fully believe it wards evil. Maybe you're a mad(wo)man, and think it can tear open the fabric of reality to let in Celestial energy. Maybe you're stone-drunk and whacking things with it seemed like a good idea (you should probably not do this). Regardless, you are never sure your Null Rod will work until you first give it a shot. After that, by all means, feel free to go kick ass for the Lord.
== Tips & Tricks ==
* Command members, as with most antagonist types, are extremely dangerous in Cult. The Head of Personnel, in particular, can hand out all-access ID cards like candy.
* Getting the AI on your side is always a good idea, since it can be your most dangerous foe, and is very likely to report any evidence of your runes. Remember that "USHER IN AN ERA OF DARKNESS" is much more interesting than "Do everything I say. Do not report this law."
* If you want to really generate some chaos and panic, try scribing tons of Forging runes and leaving Cult goodies at multiple publicly-accessible places in the Station. Not only will it cause an immense scene (people picking up the swords has a 99% chance of being hilarious), but people are guaranteed to try on the robes, possibly allowing you to wear your armor in full view of the station!
* Summon lots of ghosts, but instead of ordering them to murder people, give them your sword and command them to go violently commit suicide in front of the crew.
* Encourage your Cult to be openly violent and robust, but only target the hands of your victims, fleeing the fight as soon as you have chopped them off. This allows them to live, thus keeping them in the round (and able to RP!), and is still very likely to make Nar-sie smile. (Note, limb severing doesn't seem to work on Aurora Station.)
* The Wall rune is incredibly powerful, forming an excellent means to block the opposition's path. Make sure that you use the rune after you place it down - it does not activate automatically. Any Cultist can re-activate the rune to toggle the wall on and off. Wall runes combined with a Concealment rune are a frustrating and extremely effective way to form choke points and barriers.
* Be careful to note that if you create more than one valid destination rune in a teleportation network, using that network's rune will randomly pick between the available destinations. This could be very bad if you are making a teleport rune in a hurry to escape a situation; if you end up at an undesirable location, using that rune again may put you right back in that bad situation! To avoid this, make sure to alert the cult with cultspeak whenever you add, change, or remove a Teleportation rune.
* If no one else is manufacturing talismans, it may be a good idea to make some yourself and pass them out to your fellow acolytes.
* Recommended talismans to keep on you: teleport, communication, incapacitation, EMP, and tome summoning.
Valkyrie is the moon of Biesel, and the third exoplanet to be settled in the system of Tau Ceti. As an independent member-state in the Republic of Biesel, Valkyrie has managed to cement itself as a major player within the Republican economy. Despite being outperformed in terms of raw industrial production by Biesel and New Gibson, its strategic location within its star system has enabled the planet to become a hub for trade and commerce.
The Flag of Valkyrie, representing both inhabited and uninhabited planets within Tau Ceti. The largest orb is Valkyrie, whilst the red orbs represent Biesel, New Gibson and Reade.
The first bases on the moon of Biesel were established in 2152, and a year later, the moon was christened Valkyrie. Geological analysis revealed rich deposits of silicate and hydrogen, and in the later 2150s, resource extraction and ore refinement facilities began to be established alongside the research bases on the surface.
Planning oversights, however, meant that miners and researchers had to reside together in bases while equipment and rigs were transported to the moon’s surface. Over a period of twenty years, both long working periods on the moon’s surface (with limited trips back to Biesel) and the blossoming of romantic relationships and eventually, plans to start families, between workers necessitated the expansion of living facilities. Construction and manufacturing became a constant on the moon, and over time, corporate operations would begin to expand their equipment on Valkyrie, beginning to establish bases, offices, and even tiny neighborhoods and company towns. Compared to the development of Biesel, Valkyrian development was haphazard and poorly-planned; residents would go through frequent mild shortages while the expanding Biesellite government tried to encourage new settlers to the frigid, dusty moon.
New buildings were built on top of and connecting to old ones; the base where humanity first touched down on the moon, Surtr, had new wings, sections, and routes built from it to mining facilities and outposts. The planet’s gradually-expanding cityscape became labyrinthine and difficult to navigate at the best of times. In 2184, Biesel’s Planetary Development Council stepped in to better oversee Valkyrie’s expansion, but by then the foundations of the planet’s cityscape had already been set. As resource extraction operations continued on the planet, development began underneath the surface of the planet as well. Over time, these underground neighborhoods would come to be abandoned after most of the mineral veins dried up, and became a hotbed for criminal organizations and hideouts.
The next century-and-a-half would see many shipbuilding and shipping warehouses constructed on Valkyrie, leading it to become Biesel’s supply and shipping gateway. The Helios Manufacturing Site was constructed by Hephaestus on the planet’s surface over the year of 2324, but the most significant growth in the moon’s economy would be NanoTrasen purchasing the rights to construct the Hyperion Data Nexus in 2418. After the discovery of phoron, this was the first facility in which the properties of the element were first researched at length, and it was here the medicine of dexalin was first synthesized and put through human trials.
After the newfound independence of the Republic of Biesel in 2452, the governing body of Valkyrie, the Council of Valkyrian Affairs, organized a referendum to declare itself a separate state from Biesel itself. This referendum passed, and since then the newly-founded Commonwealth of Valkyrie has become a recognized planet within Tau Ceti.
Environment
Valkyrie is slightly larger than Earth’s moon Luna, though unlike Luna it is not tidally locked to Biesel and has a rotational period of approximately 16 hours. It does not hold an atmosphere, though studies of rock deposits suggest that Valkyrie might once have had oceans of liquid nitrogen. Valkyrie takes 2.5 weeks to rotate Biesel in its entirety.
Much of Valkyrie’s landscape is covered in residential areas, factories, industrial plants, and shipyards. The area that is not is uncolonized mostly because of rock formations, craters, and deep faults from space debris impact over millennia, though this has not stopped some resource extraction operations from being established over craters and canyons, the better to unearth rare minerals.
Culture
Valkyrie is home to the largest trade infrastructure in the Republic of Biesel, with the moon being surrounded by a ring of orbital stations that handle what is generally regarded as the heaviest space traffic in human space. Most ships doing business in Tau Ceti will stop at least once on the moon, usually for repairs or refit.
The crowded streets, tunnels, and residences, plus its status as a port, means Valkyrie is a melting pot of peoples and cultures. Nearly half of Valkyrie’s population is a first-generation migrant to the moon, and those who have lived in Valkyrie all their life are typically the children or grandchildren of immigrants. Offworlder Humans are very common, and Valkyrie possesses a small community of Sadar, or Scarab Fleet exiles. Owing to their EVA experience, offworlder humans are highly sought out for work in the mines or in the moon’s orbit. Pan-speciesism and pan-culturalism is a point of pride for many Valkyrians, though secluded communities or isolated populations of aliens or migrant humans are common. Gaining residency in Valkyrie is regarded as even laxer than the rest of the Republic, with the sheer amount of comings and goings rendering it impossible for everyone to be tracked. As a result, the local government has adopted a very open policy with immigrants, nearly to the point of settler rights. If a person lives on the moon and is willing to vouch for them, they are almost always granted residency.
While most on Valkyrie live relatively comfortable lives, Biesel’s corporate leanings permeate the moon at its core. Basic subsidized healthcare consists of emergency care and regular physicals; beyond that, dental and psychiatric services, plus any specialized disability care, are usually gated behind employment with the megacorporations. A lack of subsidized care for those with permanent disabilities means that many workers caught in industrial accidents find themselves continuing to work with their choice of corporation, as assistance from the Commonwealth is simply not an option.
Architecture on Valkyrie is brutalist, squat, and squarish. Habitation domes and residential blocks are usually built on top of old structures; construction is a constant on the planet, as old buildings are constantly recycled, reinforced, and rebuilt.
Uniquely, due to extremely limited space within many residences, many Valkyrians do not often cook their own food. While actual restaurants in Valkyrie are priced similarly to restaurants elsewhere in the Spur, street vendors sell their meals cheap and en-masse, making them a far more accessible option for the average industrial worker. Mushrooms, potatoes, and other root vegetables feature prominently in Valkyrian cuisine, owing to them requiring limited light and being very easy to grow and multiply. Curries, soups, and stews are common dishes; usually these are served with bannock, a type of easily-kneaded frybread, to soak up the broth.
Despite the cloistered and heavily urbanized nature of the habitation domes, hydroponics facilities are quite expansive. Crops that require more specific conditions to grow are usually gated in Getmore buildings, but community gardens or colonization-era facilities that became overgrown are equally as prominent. Street vendors will usually subsidize meal costs if a customer brings them produce to cook with, thus ensuring that a healthy cycle of growing, farming, and cooking exists on the planet.
The Valkyrian Dream
After Moghes’ Contact War, Hephaestus Industries began to finance departures of Unathi from the ruined planet, sending them to Valkyrie so long as they agreed to work for the company. This push brought thousands of Unathi, Hegemonic and Traditionalist alike, to the moon, where they developed small communities and lived and worked in Hephaestus-built living facilities. Some would eventually return to Moghes, but most continued to build a life for themselves on the moon, establishing aquaculture facilities to have access to cheaper fish and meats key to Unathi sustenance.
Hive K’lax, owing to its close relationship with the Izweski Nation and Hephaestus Industries alike, also has a presence on the moon. Many K’laxan Vaurcae consider Valkyrie a significantly better place to live than Mendell City, though quarters are still cramped and planetary regulations are extremely strict on where k’ois is grown. Queen Leto has also settled some of her brood’s best xenoarchaeologists on Valkyrie out of a belief that the phoron deposits in Tau Ceti somehow traveled from Sedantis. Queen Vedhra, in partnership with Hephaestus, has managed to position some of her own inside government office jobs, as well as general employment in the Exchange Terminal. Queenless Zo'ra, initially disembarking from Titan Prime, have also ekked out a living in the shadows of the streets, and many eventually descend to the lawless criminal underground of the city, lacking other employment prospects.
Crime
Valkyrie’s status as a hub of interstellar trade means that it is also a hotbed for organized crime and smuggling. Most of the criminal activity on Valkyrie is perpetuated far beneath its surface habitation domes, in abandoned mining tunnels beneath the more livable parts of the city. Slums and shantytowns have begun to be propped up in the “Below”, as residents call the area, and many who are fired from their megacorporate jobs often end up in the lawless depths, where few questions are asked and illicit businesses can make enough money to survive their next day.
For Unathi that struggle to live up to the Hephaestus expectation of the Valkyrian Dream, the Below is often their last resort. Guwan and Gawgaryn that have jumped ship from Moghes tend to find their way to the depths, continuing the criminal activity out of a lack of options.
Queenless K’laxan and Zo’rane Vaurcae, along with Tajara, are particularly valuable and common Below owing to their supreme night vision. Warriors are usually drug runners and bodyguards, while Workers synthesize drugs to sell, manage credits, and assist their gyne with delivering messages and establishing relations between other crime cells.
Economics
Naturally, the largest port in Tau Ceti primarily makes its money through shipping, handling, and being a safe port for ships passing between Sol, the Coalition of Colonies, and the Nralakk Federation. Orion Express has a primary base of operations in the Exchange Terminal, and most of the goods and wares coming through the port will generally be under Orion's purview. Hephaestus mining and cargo vessels stop in Valkyrie to drop off and process their ore haul, and the rest of the megacorporations usually have a manufacturing facility somewhere on the surface of the planet, being able to quickly assemble their goods and send them elsewhere.
Much of the shipping warehouses of the Exchange Terminal are bordered by hotels, restaurants, and bars designed to cater to the cargo workers who have shipped into port. These facilities usually play host to a variety of workers from different origins, and even if Tau Ceti Basic is unspoken by a visitor, someone with a good understanding of just about any language is usually close at hand. Linguistics and cultural knowledge are a common unifying requirement for career applications across Valkyrie; it is not uncommon for a young, inexperienced person to gain a job simply because they speak another language.
Major Districts
Valkyrie Exchange Terminal: The Valkyrie Exchange Terminal, colloquially referred to as “the Exter”, is not so much a cargo terminal as it is a small city dug into an equatorial trench spanning a tenth of the moon’s surface. The Terminal contains the largest shipping infrastructure on Valkyrie; everything needed for the transport of goods, from the launch infrastructure, warehouses, and boarding areas are present within the Terminal. In addition, the Tau Ceti Armed Forces maintains its shipyards within the terminal. The TCAF assists in the operation and enforcement of the Terminal's Air Traffic Control, which is responsible not only for incoming and outgoing vessels but also for tracking ships and stations within the moon's orbit with satellites. It serves as the closest thing the planet has to a capital city, with the moon’s government conducting its business from the massive Brynhildr City Dome overlooking the Terminal.
“Green Zone”: At the northern rim of the Exter is a hydroponics bay, long-overgrown with hardy vines, Biesellite plants, and thousands of crops of mushrooms, potatoes, and other produce suited to grow in a humid zone that has been almost entirely renovated by the efforts of an ever-changing group of Valkyrian gardeners. Originally a botany research bay for the moon’s original colonists, as Valkyrie’s population expanded it became necessary to find a suitable place to grow produce. Surtr base’s original research bay had long been forgotten about, but as a corporate stranglehold began to close around food prices, a group of enterprising botanists explored to find the ruined bay and turn it into something new. Nowadays, the Green Zone is a sprawling, free-for-all community garden, though it is unofficial law to plant something in return if you take. The Green Zone’s accessibility to the Valkyrian community, however, has not precluded it from being used by criminal elements; gangs from the Below use more secluded parts of the Zone to grow reishi, ambrosia, cocaine, and opium, synthesizing them to sell across the Spur.
Helios Manufacturing Zone: Located within one of the deepest trenches on Valkyrie, Helios is a megapolis centered around Hephaestus’ primary manufactory within the Republic of Biesel. Although it has had significant growth since its inception following a brief bidding war during the 2320s, its importance was only realized after the discovery of rich quantities of palladium, titanium, and aluminum. As opposed to setting up routes to transport resources outside of Tau Ceti, Hephaestus began building the first of many factories that would refine these metals and ultimately be used to build spacecraft. The Helios Manufacturing Site continued to expand greatly after its unveiling and now encompasses almost a sixth of Valkyrie.
Hyperion Data Nexus: The area in which the Nexus lies, as opposed to the other corporate outposts around Valkyrie, was privately purchased by NanoTrasen after it discovered Phoron in 2418 and was used to start Nanotrasen's first laboratories for researching the crystal. It was only after the megacorporation achieved dominance on the crystal that the Nexus began expanding across the Valkyrian plains, with the establishment of a shipyard along the ridges marking an end to the plain on which the outpost occupied. Research and development remains a significant component of some laboratories, but a large portion has been replaced by mining or refinery apparatus.
Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage: The Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage is one of the more recent developments located on Valkyrie and was opened in 2445 after a brief auction in which Zavodskoi Interstellar (previously Necropolis Industries) acquired the rights to the territory. Initially meant to be a genetics research facility, Zavodskoi Interstellar’s retraction from the field of genetics instead prompted the development of a ConTec Facility that primarily focused on positronic research and development manufacturing. Almost two decades after it was founded, the Mach Rassvet Research Anchorage is still producing the majority of the components necessary to construct integrated positronic chassis in Biesel. These assets continue to sustain the income of Zavodskoi Interstellar.
Hades: The only named settlement in the “Below”, the network of former mining tunnels underneath Valkyrie, Hades is a sprawling slum consisting of the poorest of Valkyrie, along with the criminal elements who make their operations beneath the relative notice of the Valkyrie Security Department. Made out of old mining facilities and hollowed-out sections in tunnels, Hades’ main claim to fame is its Night Market; a bimonthly occasion where stolen goods from incoming ships, or even legally acquired ones, can be bought and sold for much lower prices than they would on a conventional market. Everything from exotic foods, weapons, the latest Le Soleil Royale fashion, or the newest Confiance watch can be found at the Night Market, and it attracts even law-abiding Valkyrians looking to slum it in a more dangerous locale. Quite famously, the relative start of the Below and the entrance to Hades typically contains one or more homemade signs reading ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE. If one is taken down or destroyed for some reason, someone will usually replace it.
