Nuclear Beasts

Religious Sects

While most tribes still worship the All-Mother, there are some heresies and disagreements.

Sin-oriented: these sects teach that the All-Mother is all powerful and could make the world perfect, but chooses not to do so because the Beasts don't deserve it. They point to various sins, flaws and failings of their congregations and believe that the ills of the world are the result of them. No Shadow ever falls upon someone without them first committing some secret (or not so secret) crime that merited such a dreadful punishment. They tend to idolize Caretakers as being without sin (which, for the most part, Caretakers are... you have to have free will in order to sin).

Pantheonists: in addition to the All-Mother, these clans worship a load of minor deities, many of which are anthropomorphic principles such as the God of Thunder or the Father of all Bears. The Caretakers generally don't comment on such beliefs so long as the locals still obey them. If they make another deity more important than the All-Mother, though, they're asking for trouble.

Shadow Worshippers: a very dangerous heresy, and one which the Caretakers have striven to stamp out. Shadow Worshippers believe that the shades of Man are sacred and that Beasts should take them into themselves deliberately. Because they honestly believe that their own personalities should be subordinate to the Shadow, when possessed they tend to be possessed much more completely. Interestingly, though, perhaps because their possession is deliberate, Shadows tend to cling to them more weakly and are more easily removed.

Most Shadow Worshipper clans are smart enough to steer clear of Malignant Shadows, but still regard people possessed by Obsessions, Furies or Whimsies as sacred and try to aid them in their goals instead of driving them away. There's even some evidence that by deliberately channelling these spirits, they make it easier for them to find permanent rest, but such evidence is generally regarded as wishful thinking by outsiders.

Shadow Worshipper tribes who deliberately surrender to Malignants tend to eventually all end up as Malignants and become raveners. These sick, destructive cults are often used to justify the suppression of this religion in general.

Hectorites: another forbidden faith, heavily repressed by the Caretakers. Hectorites claim to follow the memory of Hector, the Caretaker who went mad and led the rebellion. They believe that the All-Mother isn't divine and should be opposed. They generally explain Her away as completely fictional, some sort of robot, or a Malignant Shadow of great power. Some Hectorite groups take these distinctions very seriously and have been known to engage in bloodshed with rival sects.

They also vary in their opinions of Hector. Some groups have deified him (he died to save them from the All-Mother and one day he will return) while others regard him as a martyr, but not a divine being. All of them minimize his supposed madness (many describe it as vicious lies sowed by the Caretakers; others maintain that it was part of his psychic war with the All-Mother) while exalting his great leadership and nobility.

Hectorites only operate openly in the far east, beyond the range of the Caretakers and where Hector raised his army. Here there are still some towns and villages that publicly revere his memory and plot war against the All-Mother and her slaves. Rangers who come here had best tread carefully and hide any silvering they have; it doesn't take much for the locals to become convinced that someone is a Caretaker spy and execute them.

In Caretaker-controlled territory, Hectorites are rare and have to operate in secret. They often try to recruit Beasts who are already discontented with some Caretaker edict or the behavior of local Rangers, but being a Hectorite is really, really risky and most Beasts won't join them.

Posted by Kiz at August 27, 2004 12:53 PM