Xeno Cult

Humans have always been fascinated with the unknown. This fascination pushed the Star Traders to explore the Galactic Core in millennia long past, mapping new territory and discovering new worlds to settle. However, this fascination does not always result in good things. Many have fallen to the allure of the Xeno both before and after the Exodus. These individuals and groups often begin by trying to learn more about the Xeno or their biology, and almost always end by worshiping them, trying to control them, or trying to use them as weapon, but as the Templar Order can attest, these Xeno Cults never end well. Cults often attempt to purchase Xeno Artifacts to further their foul designs. Many a Xeno Cult has been destroyed by the very horrors that they worshiped.

# Infamous Xeno Cults

## The Cult of Shelgeroth

In the century following the end of the Exodus, a maleficent presence made itself known among the Star Traders who had fled the Galactic Core and the Narvidian scourge. Rising up in rebellions and coups across the many of the fledgling Quadrants, the Cult of Shelgeroth made violent attempts to grasp power. The Cult’s promises to its followers are vague and often confusing -- anything from the return of powerful xeno gods, to unlocking the Zendu secrets, to the rise of the Narvidians--but all lead to the same end result: immortality and taking the throne by which to rule all of humanity. While the madness seems evident to those outside the cult, such promises whispered in the ears of malcontents and confused citizens have turned all too many into loyal followers.

Regardless of their delusions, the Cult has proven to be extremely well-organized and disciplined. While in many Quadrants, the Cult was defeated and stamped back into the shadows, it has had its share of successes. Some Quadrants entirely were lost in the civil war that broke out around their rebellion, while others were razed by xeno or Narvidian incursions. Where Shelgeroth has been defeated, it has been time and time again the Templar Militant who have had the required strength and foresight to see such victories through. Still, with the tightly compartmentalized cult-cell organization, at least some of the leaders and powers behind Shelgeroth have almost always slipped into the shadows, only to to rise again generations later.

Much to their chagrin, the Princes of Rychart have always been closely associated with Shelgeroth. The Templar Knights estimate that more than three quarters of the Cult’s uprisings have spawned from Rychart Princes or worlds in the wake of the Exodus.

In the century following the Exodus, most of the Shelgeroth power-base was destroyed, and the unification of the Quadrants has only further allowed the Faction militaries to unite against the occasional appearance of the Cult. But in the end, the cult is clearly biding its time and gathering power once again, and patience and secrecy have always been the greatest strengths of Shelgeroth.

## Gux Malleus: Mastermind Cult

Once a loyal and promising military lieutenant, Gux Thulun broke from his path to greatness within House Thulun for unknown reasons. Whatever the cause, Gux turned his back his bloodline and his almost assured spot as a commander of a planetary defense battalion. The rest of Gux’s story has become a great black mark on his family and his impressive ancestry.

For unknown reasons in 42.01 AE, Gux betrayed his Thulun command to the great advantage of a treacherous space pirate known as Captain Eli Hrake. In this bloody first betrayal, Gux sacrificed the lives of more than a hundred Thulun merchant marines and enabled Captain Hrake to assault, conquer and loot a Thulun military base stationed on the system moon, Terrot 5. For a while, it is known that Gux served as a chief officer on Captain Hrake’s crew, taking the name Gux Malleus. Here the records become inconsistent and after a time, Gux slid out of view of history.

Sometime after the year 50.01 AE, Gux Malleus resurfaced as the Captain of his own ship, an Aperio Caliga of Thulunian design. Captain Malleus proceeded to murder, plunder, and kill across the galaxy -- in the process accumulating great wealth and a great many contacts in the darker corners of space. His heinous crimes earned him bounties from both the Syndicate and Houses, and Death Warrants were issued by over 30 Princes.

When it became clear that Captain Malleus was involved in a budding xeno cult on the system known as Olggavan Hold, the Templar Knights took action and became involved in his case. Relentlessly, they hunted down the traitor but at every turn he stalled them with new tricks, false leads, and bloody resistance. The hunt revealed that the threat Gux Malleus represented was far beyond that of a pirate, but that of a criminal and dark genius. At last, the Templar Knights cornered Gux in his stronghold in the moon of Oblivion where he had unearthed and attempted to control a xeno lord from a lost age possibly captured by the Xarth from the Galactic War Alfaan and Xarth . At this time, it was believed--and, in fact, witnessed by several Templars--that Gux Malleus was killed by the hand of the enraged xeno lord. History would prove otherwise.

Almost 150 years later, clues that Gux Malleus was alive began to surface in Templar and Faction military circles. In time, many black-hearted pirates, sinister spies, and devious cult leaders were linked back to Gux, and it became clear that from whatever shadowy realm he was pulling strings, Gux had assembled, and possibly trained a great cult of baleful villains and predators. Undermining the law of the Factions, starting uprising, stealing military hardware, and gathering relics of power and ill-repute--this shadow army has become known as the Mastermind Cult. The leaders of this cult employ Malleus’ tricks and tactics, seem to serve some greater dark purpose, and some have even sworn under the pain of torture that they have seen or were trained by Gux himself. However, for all the signs and whispers, Malleus has never resurfaced, but either way his vile legacy lives on.