Empress' Children

The **Empress' Children**, or the **Children**are a faction based on the planet of Esolia and have established their presence in the Democratic Republic of Spudia. Their goal is to tend to the inhabitants of the republic the best they can.

Forgoing their old religious origins in favour of pure humanitarianism, the Children are generally welcomed by the inhabitants of the republic. Wherever they go, they seek to provide services to those in need, namely medical care and agricultural instruction. The truth, is much darker, behind a veil of secrecy and closed doors, the Empress' Children are actually a Ps cult that reveres the fallen Saint Spuddia.

## Children's Orders and Sects

### **Rangers of the Empress**

A militant order of Children tasked with guarding and patrolling the Great Garden of the Empress. Many of the groups' ranks were former criminals and lawbreakers, often found trespassing into the garden and forcefully undergo the Rite of Repentance; a rite which forces the recipient to face their mistakes and makes them repent, though some question if the rite is merely a form of hypnosis or even mind control.

### **Daemonists**

A obscure order who have experimented in the ways of combating daemons and any other negative beings, by this they created new rites to both seal and destroy said entities.

### **Dreaming Singers**

A small sect dedicated to ensuring Ps never awakens from his long sleep. Using dancing and singing to lull him back to sleep if he ever stirs, they carried out their task flawlessly, yet many say that over time they fell under the influence of Ps.

### **Rite-Keepers**

A order that's duty is to ensure that the rites are followed properly and that the forbidden rites are never allowed to fall into the wrong hands, least they be used for nefarious uses.

### **Daughters of the Empress**

An all-female sect that are warriors that fight to protect the weak and destroy the corrupt in the name of the Empress.

### **Alchemist Society**

An alchemical society exploring the inner workings of alchemy and brewing up new concoctions.

### **Oracles of Melphi**

A small sect that are gifted with foresight and divination, which like all divination varies in probability, however this doesn’t matter as often these unfortunates are driven insane by the visions. Members are feared by other Children for the risk of catching their madness.

### **Guardians**

A specialized order that are duty-bound to oversee and guard areas of great importance to the Children.

### **Mothers of Mercy**

An all-female order that operate numerous humanitarian projects, namely orphanages and soup kitchens.

### **Purifying Healers**

An obscure group of Children who heal the sick and tend to the injured, many of them believe that not only can they heal physical wounds but spiritual wounds as well.

### **Green Men**

A branch of the Children who still cling to the outlawed teachings of the Cult of the Empress, worshipping an aspect of a pagan fertility goddess. They have little to do with civilization and are known as wild and dangerous, even by other members of the Children.

### **The Brethren**

A secret sub-sect among the high ranking members of the Children, specially chosen through exposure to the forbidden truth, turning them into psionic mutants who's minds have been elevated to the point of near ascendance.

### **Sporetenders**

A small degenerate sect of the Children that inhabit a valley on Capsicum, tending to the Spore Tree, viewing it as a divine gift of the saint.

### **Pruners**

A fanatical sect among the Children, believed merely a paranoid delusion of the Children's critics. They are zealous radicals devoted to ensuring the spud bloodlines are kept in check even if it means exterminating entire communities and sacrificing them to the dread Potatonomicon.

### **Shadow Adepts**

A elusive and dangerous secret order which serve the enigmatic Shadowmaster.

### **Spinner Cult**

A splinter-sect of the Children that worship Saint Spuddia which in their teachings, she is depicted as a gigantic spider, sitting in the web of life and administering death and rebirth.

### **Red Shroud**

A small radical sect which despises The White Truth, viewing it as heretical. The members of the sect use the brutal Crimson Atonement ritual as a means to punish those of the White Truth and others who they feel have betrayed them.

### **Spirit Lodge**

A secret and closed fraternity of Children who feel a connection with spirits, creators of the fetishes.

### **Lost Tribe**

A long-lost tribe that are the descendants of a expedition that mysteriously vanished without a trace.

### **Star Children**

A scholarly sect devoted to the study of the stars and the meaning of their motions.

### **Junglelords**

A group of former Children turned cannibalistic tribals who underwent a mutation which gave them psychic control over various creatures. Believed to be a offshoot of the Green Men.

### **Shroomlings**

A large group of Spore Kin, wild and crazy. They view mushroom-kind as superior to the spud race and that they must be saved by turning them into their kind.

### **Twilight Hand**

A nihilist quasi-religious sect of the Children that fanatically serves and worships Saint Spuddia and seeks to bring about the end of the world as a means to facilitate her return.

## List of Rites and Rituals

The rites are a system of spells and or rituals used by members of the Children. They come in various forms.

* **Rite of Repentance**: A rite that forces the recipient to face their past actions and the moments they regret the most, allowing them to come to terms with their mistakes.
* **Rite of the Blood Sacrament**: A rite that involves the shedding of willing blood and forms a pact, linked to blood magic.
* **Rite of Combustion**: A rite that cause objects to explode by sheer force of will.
* **Rite of Bubbleward**: A rite that forms a sphere of energy to protect the caster.
* **Rite of Stunning**: A rite that temporarily deaden the senses and perceptions of a targeted enemy.
* **Rite of Transmute**: A rite that transforms physical elements such as simple led to gold.
* **Rite of Warding**: A rite that wards off the influence of negative energies.
* **Rite of Sealing**: A rite which seals away evil entities.
* **Rite of Lightward**: A rite that conjures a hovering orb of light that follows the caster.
* **Soul Shred Rite**: A dangerous and forbidden rite that shreds a creature's soul to pieces.
* **Rite of the** **Vampire's Kiss**: A rite that allows the user to drain the very life-force of a victim from their lips, leaving behind a desiccated body, declared forbidden.
* **Rite of Reincarnation**: A highly dangerous and forbidden rite allows the user to transfer their soul to someone else's body.
* **Rite of the Empress' Mercy**: A rite that grants the person, a instant and painless death.
* **Rite of Cleansing**: A powerful rite that cleanses all corruption.
* **Spirit Walk Rite**: A forbidden rite that induces a sleep like trance allowing the person to traverse the spirit world.
* **Cursed Resurrection Rite**: A highly forbidden rite that reanimates dead tissue and thereby returns the dead back to a somewhat unlife.
* **Rite of the Unseeing Eye**: A rite that allows the user to see what is unseen.
* **Rite of the Saint's Secret Truth**: A secret rite only know by the highest ranking members of the Children.
* **Rite of Resin Molding**: A unorthodox rite created by the Dreaming Singers to manipulate and mold the resin to their desires.
* **Rite of Genesis**: A forbidden rite that allows the creation of new forms of life, often twisted to be beget.
* **Rite of Spirit's Vengeance**: A heretical rite belonging to the Green Men, where one can become a spirit of vengeance at the cost of their humanity.
* **Rite of Nature's Wraith**: A heretical rite practiced by the Green Men, allowing them to animate and control plants and other vegetation.
* **Rite of the Hexed Mist**: A heretical rite used by the Green Men, which can conjure up a mist that can confuse and disorient those trapped in it.
* **Rite of the Sky's Tears**: A rite which conjures up a rain storm, controversial though with it having ties to the nature-worshipping Green Men's heretical rites.
* **Thread Cut Rite**: A heretical rite preformed by the members of the Spinner Cult that by using thread and cutting it, a chosen victim will perish.
* **Rite of the Saint's Brood**: A heretical rite used by the Spinner Cult to summon a swarm of spiders to aid them.
* **Rite of the Walking Dead**: A heretical and forbidden rite that reanimates corpses as undead automatons, created by the Spinner Cult.
* **Mind Blast Rite**: A dangerous rite of the Shadow Adepts which unleashes dark psychic energy at targets.
* **Rite of the Shadows**: A rite used by those of the Shadow Adepts which allows the user to manipulate and bend the very shadows to their will in unnatural ways.
* **Evil's Eye Curse**: A sinister and heretical rite which is said to unleash a deadly curse upon the victim, marking them to certain doom and terrible misfortune.
* **Crimson Atonement Ritual**: A heinous rite, the recipient is subjected to ritual torture before being sacrificed.
* **Rite of Fetish Creation**: A dark rite that creates an artifact that has been imbued with a bound spirit.
* **Rite of Falling Stars**: A rite created by the Star Children that forms star-like projectiles that fall from the sky.
* **Beast Mastery Rite**: A heretical rite of the Junglelords, which enthralls and psychically controls animals to do their bidding.
* **Rite of the Beast's Senses**: A heretical rite used by the Junglelords which usurps the senses of a creature to use as their own.
* **Boom Shroom Rite**: An unorthodox rite created by the Spore Kin of the Shroomlings which grows mushrooms that explode when thrown.
* **Rite of Twilight Blast**: A heretical rite used by the Twilight Hand, summons a blast of dark energy.
* **Rite of Twilight Storm**: A heretical rite of the Twilight Hand that summons a storm of devastating dark energy.
* **Rite of Twilight Bolt**: A heretical rite created by the Twilight Hand that fires a bolt of dark energy.
* **Rite of Sunder Reality**: A heretical rite used by the Twilight Hand which sunders reality itself.
* **Rite of the Twilight's Call**: A heretical rite used by the Twilight Hand that taints a person, slowly corrupting and warping their mind, driving them into the service of the Twilight Hand cult.
* **Rite of Twisted Elements**: A heretical rite practiced by the Twilight Hand forcing the elements into servitude, twisting them into burned-out ash, corrupted waters, oozing sludge, and toxic air.