Dark Zone Cultists

The logo of the cultists made by the last sane member: Joey North

## Background and CEV Reactor incident

The Dark Zone Cultists were a very small faction that resided on planets Exophidius and a colonized Pluto, both located in The Dark Zone. The cultists worshiped space anomalies as if they were non-hostile gods. They called themselves Degenerative Engineers, as they believed that because of the passage of time they could upgrade or construct non-organic lifeforms. Because of the hostility that they faced, they were only found on two planets.

The cultists had built temple like structures made out of material from old world Mars and rust from Iradius Moons on Exophidius and Pluto and made their mark around the solar system either by making carvings in White-wing Skin or carving drawings in random areas on Iradius Moons. Most of their works were abstract drawings of vessels, spaceships and other shapes. These things would point to the ‘Dying God of Virulence’ which in their language was called by the moniker of ‘Vol terio’ which meant “The Conqueror”.

The cultists never appeared on planets inhabited by Asimo, Military, Iradius, or CASC Members. This started a large spike of stories and myths to arise about the faction. The stories varied in many different ways, including some that held that the “Dark Zone” cultists were the ancestors of the White-wing and had created it.

The military looked into the strange stories about the cultists and traveled across every moon or planet inside The Dark Zone to find them. The first thing they found was a group of four who were trying to build a monument on the border of Iradius 987. The temple was made out of metal from Blood Moons. Once alerted of the Military the scurried off the moon Titan. The next group the Military encountered, were six of them. They were trying to build a temple on the moon Titan. The Military fought them, and took spacecrafts that were in their possession as well as pieces of escape pods and the skin of a Creepy. 3 weeks later the cultists had beat the military to a planet called Ireenas in which the military traveled there to recover a crashed Moonwalker ship. Inside the ship was a CEV Reactor that had a hard drive inside had recorded the crash happen. The camera on the ship survived and had extra battery life and recorded the cultists picking away at the scrap of the ship.

The CEV recorded the Cultists killing a few Creepies with acid and other materials before leaving the ship. When the Military returned to Ireenas they found that the ship was still there and three beings had set up a base on the moon. The Military entered the base and killed the three creatures. On the way out they tried to shut down the reactor, but the first attempt failed as they did not have access to the circuits. The second attempt to shut down the reactor succeeded, and the Military found out the cultists were using the CEV reactor to power up the lights in their base. It attracted Creepies which made the cultists flee.

## First Members 2130 - 2134

During their early years their members consisted of Asimo Homefront members who retired or the Military.

The Dark Zone cultists were commonly seen on the planets in The Dark Zone, usually wearing Dark Robes and respirators to breathe. Most members of the cult are clinically insane making them highly dangerous toward humans. By 2110 the cult grew to 200 members and had moved to a planet called Ipneeus. Ipneeus orbited some of the debris of the Hale Bopp Comet which was a large scavenging ground for the cult. Ipneeus also orbited a space creature known as a "White-Wing" a large worm-like being with wings and stretched throughout the Dark Zone.

While on Ipneeus, a large amount of terrorists from the organization The Children of the Covenant discovered the cult's headquarters. The Children had a communicator device that was capable of long-range communications. The Children planned to use the communicator to join the cult. The Children used the communicator to contact several leaders of the cult in the Moons Pulsapia and Eubul. The covenant had been given permission to join and the cult had 1,345 members after the negotiation. Due to the large number of members they had to relocate to a habitable yet dangerous Planet. They were forced to Travel to the radioactive Pluto and had to make new radiation resistant clothing for Military technology found across the Dark Zone. This, along with the internal turmoil, lead to the cult's downfall.

The cult had started to collapse by 1,113, with only 232 cult members remaining on the radioactive planet. They soon left in a stolen ship and traveled to Ireenas. They built a suitable base and found a crashed Moonwalker SSCD and stole its CEV reactor for power. This gave them an advantage on the uninhabited planet. The leadership of the cult decided to construct a machine to send an intelligible and a copy of itself to an inhabited world. With the newly acquired power they began building a machine with the intent of sending the original into the Pulsapia Nebula which is home to the Halo Array, a weapons platform capable of destroying a planet.

The plan went south very quickly as the Military showed up and the group fled. After the run-in with the Military they traveled across light zone moons and planets making carving of a God-like being similar to a white-wing. they soon went back to Ipneeus where they stayed for a whole decade without re-locating.

## White-Wing Supremacy

On Ipneeus they started a religion called White-Wing supremacy and by 2120 they built Chapels on Ipneeus, Ireenas, Pluto, Iradius 190, Iradius 12, And even built them in place of old Asimo Bases turning them into floating churches.

On Ipneeus they started a religion called White-Wing supremacy. They built Chapels on Ipneeus, Ireenas, Pluto, Iradius 190, Iradius 12, And even built them in place of old Asimo Bases turning them into floating churches. They believed that every child that was born on their planet would eventually become a Degenerative Engineer. The cult also believed that this was the will of the white-wing that chose the fate of people and groups. The cult prayed for the white-wing either in chapels or in person next to the creature.

After many years and much strife the cult reached a goal of 700 members. Because of this the leaders of the cult created a sacred relic with the purpose of bringing the light of the white-wing to a high powered ship. The relic was a video tape containing the Apple Tree from which Adam ate from. The cult believed the light of the white-wing was a sign of joy and peace although it meant the creature was annoyed and angry. The light became very bright causing members to become blind or die from radiation coming from the skin. Before this one member carved their logo into the skin, damaging it. When it was time to send the white-wing to an inhabited planet they would wait until all members were back at the base waiting for the signal from the relic. The sect split into two groups with shock sticks and tried to control the being to use its light as power sources. This only made the creature more aggravated and caused it to smack and destroy the moon Ipneeus and a Chapel. After these events the cult moves to Ipheenas once more.

## White-Wing Incident of 2150

After the first white-wing incident the cult members tried again in 2150. By that time they recruited another 400 members and were sitting at over 1,000 members. They planned yet again to "Steal the light" from its body to power a ship. This time they waited until the light hit Ipneeus to find that Ipneeus had become incredibly hot. The light was burning and using excessive amounts of power. They were afraid it would blow out the planet or attack them so they threw the shock sticks they used a into the vaccum of space and prepared to flee the planet when a rain of nuclear weapons hit the planet. The nuclear weapon was meant to hit the white-wing but instead missed and hit the planet the cult was on. All members were either killed or were launched into space because of Ipneenus's Gravity. In 2158 a member who survived managed to throw his shock stick at the white-wing's eye before being thrown to Space. The shock stick did not kill the being but it did knock it out. The being started floating throughout space and crashed into multiple moons, planets, and one Military base on Iradius 34.

After that incident, the cult was destroyed and all members were either dead or in custody of the Military. Most of all factions had to help the Military rebuild their base on a new Moon far from the Dark Zone. It cost 20,000 Credits to rebuild the base and by 2159 it was rebuilt.