Tiberian Cults

## The Death Cult

Tiberium's morbid fascination with death and mortality emerged during the later years of its long decline, the "**Interregnum**". The Ecumene had endured famines, plagues, invasions, and was a vestigial empire; as the attrition took its toll (it was not unheard of for whole generations of young men to be lost) women and nonhumans were admitted into the Legions. The "Death Cult" supposedly came about when soldiers on the frontline began praying and making sacrifices to Death itself, having lost faith in all other gods. After all, only Death answered a man's prayers. The Cult was institutionalized and its oracle-priests - the "**Blind Fates"** could foretell great tragedies and even prophesize the deaths of most people just by touching them, or tell if a weapon had shed blood by tasting the blade. They were all blind - some were beautiful, others old and ugly, or very young, and smelled faintly of sweet, sick decay with cold, pale flesh. They spoke in a tongue called the "Dead Speech", which sounded like no other tongue on Ur (it was actually ancient Greek).

Because the Tiberians were originally a polytheistic people it's not surprising that they had many faces of Death, individual deities as well as lesser "Deaths", each unique to a man like a guardian angel or psychopomp. The known deities were;

* The Burned Man - has no name because he cannot be recognized, claims the dead who likewise cannot be identified, feels around in their mouth and counts/collects their teeth (doubles as a tooth fairy), looks like a fresh burn victim
* Kori the Weeping Child - a naked child who weeps for those who are not mourned (the nameless dead, criminals, exiles, the lonely); often accompanies the Burned Man
* Taxidi Far Wanderer - seeks out those who have died far from home and watches over those who reclaim the dead (loved ones, soldiers, medics, etc.), looks like an ordinary, hooded/cloak traveler with a walking stick, patron of travelers, merchants, slaves, adventurers
* Kovo the Ghost Ship - a boatman who plies the waters out of sight of land, gathering in his nets the bodies of those lost at sea and taking them to Baathyal the Void Queen. He is attended by shark, who smell out blood (sailors, fishermen, explorers)
* Anth-Arotro the Plowman - chain and bent over his plow, claims those who die during or from their labors, sows seeds of famine as well as harvest, patron of farmers, craftsmen, settlers, cripples
* Luck - favors the bold, fickle, mutable, patron of soldiers, thieves, gamblers; a survivor of the First Gods
* Crone Mother - picks through battlefield for dying sons and cribdeaths for dead children, nursing them on withered teats; patron of mothers, babies, the very old
* Fanos the Moth and Moon Lantern - Souls become deathshead moths and fly away to the Moon, which is Death's lantern; another survivor of the First Gods
* Godeater - devoured the First Gods except Moon and Luck; is insatiable, rail thin, with no features other than a too-wide mouth, covered in loose skin, and depicted sitting at a feast table, the food untouched.
* Apalos Whisperer - the soft and sudden death, walks barefoot, naked/wrapped in ribbons, approaches from behind, has no face, is considered the most merciful of all his kind, patron of the fearful, mercy
* Obol Coin - those who are killed for, or die pursuing, wealth and profit; has coins over his eyes, rail thin, hungry looking, dressed in tattered finery; like a coin with two sides he claims either the poorest or richest of men
* Koraki Crow - looks like a Renaissance plague doctor (bird mask, bald head, long black cloak gives the impression of a human vulture, carries a clawed stick), tends to the sick, patron of healers and the ill. According to legend he was an aspect of Raven.
* **Baathyal the Void Queen** - also called Undine, she was the Queen of the deep, black sea and starless night skies, claiming a portion of the dead (anyone who died at sea). Her children are crabs and bottom feeders; she is supposedly much older than the First Gods, perhaps older than the **Shepherd**. A primordial, Calypso-like goddess.

Blind Fates – human oracles, know by touch when someone will die (or kill, if death hangs over them like a shroud), or if an object/place reeks with death; have death related visions of great battles, famines, plagues, etc. Cannot be touched (they’re treated like vestal virgins, brides of Death); are ritually blinded, advise Consuls and commoners alike (all men are equals before Death). Some are breathtakingly beautiful but their flesh is ice cold to the touch, and beneath their cloying perfume you can smell the faint whiff of corruption. The Fates are allowed to claim any woman they choose, without exception (even babies), which is ironic given that women are considered life bearers. When a great man dies they weigh his bloody heart on their scales,

## The Sex Cult

state sponsored orgies were grand social engineering on the part of the Tiberian ruling class; they wanted to break down family bonds so that people would identify more with their countrymen than whatever tribe or clan they came from (the Tiberian Ecumene is a continental empire).

Supposedly one of their original gods was a hermaphroditic sex god (they had a gigantic pantheon, and their religion was a melting pot of pagan cults they'd absorbed through conquest). this god's priests probably helped organize and took part in the...erm, festivities, and they proved so popular with the people that it became one of the empire's dominant cults. One can assume that people were getting it on everywhere; in bathhouses, alcoves, stadiums, gardens, streets, and of course temples to the sex god. it would have taken place at night after a day of feasts and revelry, and a lot of people would be high or piss drunk.

Tiberium became a very sexually liberated culture; most statues were nudes, you'd have giant frescoes of famous orgies in city squares, soldiers wore heavily muscled breastplates meant to emulate a heroic physique, women usually wore dresses that were little more than wisps of silk or sheer cotton (and often bared one or both breasts), etc. Same-sex fraternization was also encouraged among Legionnaires because that way soldiers wouldn't take out their frustrations on civilians.

Unsurprisingly one of the biggest plagues to hit the empire was an STD (probably syphilis)

## The Faith

Once the dominant religion in Ur, THE FAITH was all but destroyed during the Last Endings and the Fallow Wars that came after, surviving only in the simple prayers of common people, in the preaching of wandering priests, and scattered texts and relics.

Gradually The Faith was rebuilt by the new SYNOD in Tiberium’s catacombs, although it is still but an echo of its old glory. Unfortunately today the Synod is more concerned with preserving musty old texts and relics, copying scrolls until they go blind, than tending to the faithful.

This neglect caused a split between the Synod and many of the TEMPLARS, whose vows demanded that protecting the innocent, take precedence over all other duties (all people are icons of God). Templars are still technically obedient to the Synod so long as they can obey their vows (sometimes these vows obstruct the “greater good”).

o   The Templars are the oldest surviving institution of The Faith

o   When they are inducted they tend to already be seasoned warriors, and often are men indesperate need of redemption.Their old lives are forgotten and theyconsider themselves reborn, taking virtuous names that reflect their newfound purpose .Their crimes are forgiven (at least in the eyes of the Faith).

o   There is no hierarchy among them, except for the relationship between a Master and his apprentice (*there is honor in the circle)*

o   Many are travelling knights errant, taking vows of poverty and selflessness, and bring light to the darkness; others are hedge knights, watching over holy places or pilgrims. Some are bloodthirsty zealots, robbers, or broken men, while others are noble and kind, most are simply pragmatic warriors

There are other faithful orders that have survived

o   The SHRIVERS are travelling doctors (barbers, bonesetters, surgeons, etc.) and also care for the dead, giving last rites and burial. They wear bird masks, shave their heads, and look like vultures. They were founded during the Ecumene’s syphilis epidemic.

o    VIGILS/CANONS are the Templars who stayed loyal to the Synod

o   CONFESSORS are Inquisitors; originally formed because the Faith was troubled by Tiberium’s growing death cult, which it saw as deeply perverse. They’re mostly reactionary elements within the Synod.