Church of the Ancients

The **Church of the Ancients** is a secret cult dedicated to the worship of the ancient being known as “Xivass” the Psycho Entity. The church was started by evil leader AJ Shepherd after he himself became possessed by the banished spirit of Xivass. The Monster in question made a deal with Shepherd to start a new evil pantheon that would provide him with servants and followers as a resurgence of his old long-lost primitive civilisation.

This religion acted as the catalyst for both Xivass & Shepherd’s shared power over the masses as the church worked from the shadows and inducted many famous clients with influential positions. The Church of the Ancients was something akin to an illuminati.

## History

### Long Long Ago

When Xivass first came to power, he did so in Parts Unknown by raising a primitive civilisation in his own image to devoutly worship him. This civilisation stood for quite a while before the English arrived and tried to claim the land by force. The tribe stood their ground and valiantly fought of the invaders until the Christian missionaries arrived and Xivass became unable to fight them off.

The tribe fell in vain and Xivass was banished by the holy power of the Cleric’s holy rituals. As Xivass was pulled away from the material plane his “Bite the dust” curse was activated and all life nearby was destroyed. For a long time there was nothing; the only sign that a civilisation had ever stood on that barren landscape was a desolated city of ruined stone buildings and a Black Crystal Orb.

### The Founding of the Church

Parts Unknown lay completely undiscovered for centuries, the curse that lay upon the land made the location un-plottable and invisible to anyone who attempted to go there. This was until Shepherd lead an expedition with his private military unit to discover to mysterious land that was magically impossible to find. Shepherd worked out that by plotting out every area on earth left Parts Unknown as the only place in the entire world that was unable to be pinpointed. The Unit was left with a detailed map of the world with a blank un-plottable region left empty exactly where Parts Unknown is situated. This lead them exactly to the place they were looking for. They came across what looked like an empty jungle until stepping inside the boundry of the spell’s effect when the curse was lifted and the ancient civilisation’s legacy became visible.

When exploring this forgotten civilisation, he climbed the stone pyramid at the heart of the city and found a hidden temple inside. Upon the altar depicting a mysterious god, Shepherd found the Black Orb. When touching the orb, it revealed itself to be Xivass’ “Phylactery” a pure evil object made of dark magic that acted as the creature’s failsafe, the artefact contained a shred of Xivass’ soul that linked him to the material plane (even in banished). Through the Phylactery he could silently observe (but not interact with) the world he was sealed off from. Touching the Phylactery set loose Xivass’ soul for a brief moment and allowed him to make a deal with Shepherd.

Xivass agreed to share his power with Shepherd and in exchange, Shepherd would recruit a following of worshippers greater than the tribe he had ruled centuries ago. From this moment, they worked together to form the cult and to amass a following of devout believers to command. Another shred of Xivass’ soul now lived within Shepherd and provided a multitude of unnatural powers.

### Rise of The Pantheon

The cult gained traction fast. Xivass’ power provided Shepherd with the ability to influence and charm the masses. His unnatural charisma lead the Church of Ancients to span worldwide and gather hundreds of thousands of members. Thanks to Shepherd, the cult had its own private army that had been repurposed from being a private militia for hire, this group became “The Defenders of the Faith” a cultist task-force lead personally by Shepherd himself to enforce their rules and spread their influence by force. Additionally the faith became widespread in famous circles with many celebrities signing up and pledging up-to millions of dollars each for the cause so they can reach “higher levels of enlightenment”

Eventually the cult became millions strong. Shepherd regularly gave sermons under the pretence of being a profit by channeling his Psycho persona to pretend he was a “seer” receiving visions from their god. Through these means he could influence the entire cult and command them to do Xivass’ bidding as well as his own. The Defenders of the Faith continued to recruit followers by force while the more gullible or easily influenced were brainwashed and joined of their own free will.

Shepherd expanded the cult beyond the church. Using his Warlock powers of persuasion and influence, he moved into the worlds of business and crime. Secretly under the Church of Ancients banner, he set up high end evil corporations to dominate the business world and mass organised crime syndicates all around the civilised world, none of which were officially known to be affiliated with the church.