Joyous Choir

Scintilla---ancient, vast, powerful, corrupt.
The capital of the Calixis Sector embraces
moral decay with the same zeal that
other more wholesome worlds cleave to martial
honor or faultless piety. Indeed, corruption is
so inherent to the culture of Scintilla’s mighty
hives that they might literally cease to function
without it. Strange then that a sect such as the
Joyous Choir would arise on such a world…
Barely five years old, the Joyous Choir is a
growing cult. The Ecclesiarchy approves of
the “Choir” as it actively promotes a relatively
benign version of the Imperial Creed, though
not as yet formally accepted. The Joyous Choir
believes, naively enough, that the Emperor
wants all of His subjects to be happy. They hold
that it is their duty to seek to be as contented as
possible with their lives, ever striving towards
being at perfect harmony with their place in
the Imperium. They refer to their philosophy as
the state of being “True”, embracing the notion
that the “Truer” they are, the more likely that
the Emperor will smile on them and that good
luck will surely follow.
This quaint viewpoint is not so different
from a thousand other variants of the Imperial
Creed---what’s interesting is that members of
the sect have undeniably prospered. Membership
in the Joyous Choir has become a fad among
the younger members of the noble houses of
Scintilla and it’s swiftly catching on among the
middle-hivers as well. Cynics declare that the
Joyous Choir is nothing more than the newest
fad, sure to be gone within a few seasons.
These skeptics point out an obvious reason
why the cult’s members are prospering: all of
the rich young nobles with money to burn are
bankrolling the differing projects and schemes
of their fellow Choir members---nothing
at all mystical about that. The Inquisition
would normally be inclined to agree with the
detractors, however, evidence has recently been
discovered that is not so easily dismissed.
While the low-ranking members of the Joyous
Choir truly believe that they are working for a
legitimate faith, the Choir is in fact a lucrative front
for a group of black market merchants who deal
in a particularly dangerous commodity: psykers.
The Joyous Choir employs individuals known as
Counsellors who specialize in assisting adherents
to their cult in becoming True. Counsellors
employ a wide variety of methods in assisting
their charges’ quest, including workshops, group
discussions, individual therapy sessions and
stimulant additives---all of which can cost a
great deal of Imperial thrones. Cult members that
prove their devotion are invited to participate
in more “intensive” sessions. Counsellors at all
tiers of the Choir’s organization employ small
hand-held devices that they refer to as “harmony
meters” which assist in determining how “out
of balance” a cult member is and what may
help them to become True. While the majority
of the harmony meters do nothing more than
trace energy patterns through the body, a small
portion actually detect levels of psychic activity
which the cult’s practices can subtlety stimulate
and potentially enhance. When a member of
the Joyous Choir becomes “ripe” they simply
disappear...
==Origins==
Caros Shoal was once a shady merchant
possessed of both undeniable charisma
and a dubious reputation. Shoal first
made his mark on Scintilla by the acquiring
and selling of exquisite pieces of broken
masonry supposedly extracted from the most
antiquated portions of the shattered underhive
of Hive Sibellus. These pieces of history gave
him a cachet amongst the history-obsessed
nobility of the hive, and he rose to prominence
in what passes for polite society on Scintilla.
Alas, his fame undid him, for as his celebrity
increased, so too did the questions regarding
the authenticity of a number of his greatest
“finds”. When it was undeniably established
that virtually all of his pieces of masonry were
actually forgeries, Shoal swiftly made excuses,
declaring that he too had been deceived along
with his clients, blaming the crime upon his
unnamed supplier. He repaid a minor portion
of their funds to his most wrathful clients then
fled with the Magistratum right behind.
Shoal wandered for a time, trying his hand at
various swindles until a man who called himself
Theodosia approached him. Theodosia offered
Shoal a most unusual bargain; he claimed to
represent a group of investors that wanted
access to a certain commodity. The group felt
that Shoal was the right man to leverage their
way into Scintilla’s upper society. In exchange
for settling his debts and smoothing over his
past difficulties with the law, Shoal would help
set up an organization that would help facilitate
his new patron’s request. Shoal quickly agreed
and, over a relatively short amount of time, the
former merchant recreated himself as a preacher,
correctly guessing that he could more easily
sway Imperial society with the power of faith.
Thus the Joyous Choir was born.
Shoal started small at first, focusing on the downtrodden citizens of the hive and building up a loyal cadre of followers. Theodosia and his backers supplied what sums Shoal needed for his initial set-up, however, the Choir’s spiraling success soon rendered ongoing monetary assistance unnecessary. Shoal’s brilliant scheme to quietly bankroll his cult members into prominence has worked perfectly. In just five years, Shoal’s little cult has slowly but surely gained eminence---the moment it caught on with the bored young scions of the nobility, Shoal knew that the Joyous Choir had truly arrived at last. Theodosia has occasionally assisted Shoal over the years, coming and going with some frequency, usually with “cargo” in tow. In time, Shoal discovered that the group Theodosia fronts for was known as the Serrated Query, however, he knows nothing more about his patrons than this: that the fiercest underhive scum that he had ever hired went as pale as alkali dust when they heard Theodosia whisper but a hint of their actual employer’s name. That, and the riches that the Choir have brought him, means that he asks few questions, merely delivering psykers as asked.
Shoal is starting to get very worried though as his personal history tells him that great success always seems to draw the “wrong” sort of attention. Sadly for poor Caros, his instincts haven’t failed him. Not only is the Inquisition very interested in his new cult, but also followers of Slaanesh, the Chaos god of illicit pleasures, have begun to infiltrate his congregation, drawn in by the rumors that the upper echelons of the Joyous Choir are involved in all sorts of delicious and illegal activities---which of course, they are. In addition to the business of supplying psykers, Shoal and his most trusted followers are active in moving a drug for the Serrated Query, a potent narcotic called farcosia. This highly addictive drug causes a powerful high to its users, who report that they can see “the threads that hold the galaxy together” when under the drug’s influence. Shoal’s ongoing anxieties have finally prompted him to begin seriously looking into the background of his mysterious patrons. So far, all he has discovered is that Theodosia appears to operate from the eternally moving desert city of Ambulon, whence the farcosia comes…