Cult of the Serpent

Cult icon of the Cult of the Serpent.

Cult of the Serpent Acolyte Hybrids in battle.

The **Cult of the Serpent** slowly rose up in the Istronia system in 768.M41. Because it rose so slowly that by the time it ascended it had already claimed most of the planet, including the entire Imperial Guard on the planet resulting in little resistance. Since then the Cult of the Serpent has been slowly seeding other systems, in the Segmentum Obscurus, preparing for a grand ascension. Then the Hive Fleet Basilisk arrived in M42, and its plans changed to ensuring the survival of Istronia and The Serpent.

## History

The Cult of the Serpent is one of the oldest Genestealer Cults in the galaxy, dating back to the late M32 if some of the records within the cult are to be believed. The genestealer that would eventually become The Serpent arrived on Istronia hidden within a cargo vessel it then quickly moved down to the underworld, and started the slow process of infecting the worlds population.

Over the following nine thousand years The Serpent slowly grew his cult till almost everyone on Istronia was already part of his cult, additionally he had started using the Istronian Guard to bring other members of his cult to the planets that he would then use to increase his influence over the sector. The Serpent would also use the Istronian guard to bring back humans to Istronian so that he could keep the population fairly constant and keep Inquisitorial eyes away from the planet.

After the glorious ascension of the Cult of the Serpent, which was more a formality as the planet had already risen, The Cult of the Serpent started to prepare for the what they were calling the "Grand Ascension" in which they would seed Genestealer Cults across the Segmentum and then have them all rise up at once.

The Grand Ascension would never come to pass however due to the arrival of the Hive Fleet Basilisk, The Serpent fearing for his life, and the continuation of Istronia so he contacted the Hive Mind, using the link that typically draws Hive Fleets to Genestealer Cults. He made a deal, he would keep seeding worlds across the Segmentum with large Genestealer Cults that would be nearly ready to rise up making the claiming of that world easier, in exchange for the safety of Istronia.

## Home World

The Cult of the Serpent was formed on Istronia, and that planet is still the core of the cults operations as the home of the Serpent itself, however the cult has two other planets that it has fully overrun, and are key to its operations.

### Istronia

Istronia is an Imperial mining world that also provides a few regiments of Imperial Guard. Although the planet is currently controlled by the Cult of the Serpent if a casual visitor went there it would appear like a normal Imperial world, at least until they started exploring the mines.

### Stygros

Stygros is a Forge World formerly of the Adeptus Mechanicus. It was infected by the Cult before being taken by force in M38. Stygros is crucial to the workings of the cult as it provides the cult with far more weaponry than most opponents would expect.

### Ilothian V

Ilothian V is an Agri world that got slowly infected over a couple thousand years until in M38 it was entirely taken over by the Cult. The Serpent chose Ilothian V carefully as it is a crucial world for keeping the sector alive as it is one of the most fertile worlds in the Imperium leads it to provide food to the entire sector and beyond, food that can easily be infected, and sent by transports that can harbor unknown horrors for the cult to utilize.

## Notable Battles

### The War for Stygros

The first target of the Grand Ascension was the Forge World Stygros. The Serpent realized that in order to take over an entire Segmentum he would need to massively increase his weapon, and armor production, and to do that he would need a Forge World. After several years of planning by the Magos Orothas Tyron, and Primus Torios Tyron the planet fell overnight without managing to send out any distress signals due to the signal blockers set up by the cult.

### The Carreria Insurrection

In 939.M41 the portion of the Cult of the Serpent on Carreria was discovered and Space Marines of the Blood Serpents chapter were dispatched to eliminate them. Magus Mallick Kreel lead the initial defense, ambushing the marines under a pretense of taking them to the governor. With the help of the Acolyte Iconward Mordecai Kree he would keep these marines constantly on the move, however never managing to finish them off.

Then as more marines arrived Mallick's brother the Primus Vyrion moved in to intercept them with the aide of Crasker, an abominant, forcing them to retreat. The marines eventually met up, and managed to repel the combined forces of Mallick and Vyrion. However Mallick had infiltrated their minds and determined that they were planning to assault the central spire, and blow it up, to do this they would need to get reinforcements from their ship in orbit. Mallick set up a plan to stop the marines sending any communications to the ship, however after a few hard fought battles the marines were able to set up enough Vox-Relays to communicate to their ship, and a third wave of marines landed on Carreria.

The marines were pushing forwards towards the central spire, so Mallick and Vyrion gathered all the forces they could to stop them, however they knew it would not be enough to stop them. Then from the underground the Emissary of the Serpent, the Genestealer that had started their glorious cult, and his First Curse of Genestealers arrived and cut down the marines lines, though the Emissary of the Serpent was wounded by the marine's captain, his First Curse cut down the captain, and his command team with ease. Having seen their lords the cultists around Mallick fought with even greater vigor forcing the marines to split. Vyrion Kreel organized quick hit and run attacks against the marines to slow them down while other cultists prepared to defend the spire. When the marines finally reached the spire the combined forces of the cultists easily pushed them back, causing a full on retreat, with only a handful of marines escaping Carreria.

## Notable Cultists

### The Serpent

The Serpent is the Patriarch of the Cult of the Serpent. It is probably the largest Patriarch in the galaxy, and has harnessed its link to the Hive Mind and can communicate with the Hive Fleets. It spends all of its time on Istronia conducting plans for the fall of Segmentum Obscurus.

### Magus Orothas Tyron

Magus Orothas Tyron was the leader of the Cult of the Serpent during the uprising on Stygros. He has since taken over the Forge World, and has taken on many technological enhancements so that he better resembles a Tech Priest. It is rumored that he used the parts of the former Tech Priest Dominus to build his own mechanical shell.

### The Constant

Within the Cult of the Serpent there is only ever two female Maguses at a time. One of the female Magus has been dubbed "The Constant" by the members of the cult because as soon as the previous Constant dies a new one is born, this newborn will mature within five Terran days, and retain all the memories of all the previous Constants. The Serpent utilizes The Constant in many ways, but primarily as an diplomat to go to other planets within the Imperium and negotiate trade with them as a way to secretly bring cultists, and Genestealers to infect their worlds. The Constant is perfect for such missions, because if things go south she can attempt an assassination of whomever is causing her trouble before killing herself, and regenerating back on Istronia.

### The Mouth of the Serpent

The second female Magus within the Cult of the Serpent is known as the Mouth of the Serpent. The Mouth of the Serpent resides on Istronia, and always awaits psychic communication from the Serpent at which point she will go and commune with the appropriate cultists to inform them of the Serpents will.

## Relations

### Enemies

* Imperium of Man

* Blood Serpents
* Nehebkau Dynasty

## Gallery

Acolyte Leader of the Cult of the Serpent.