Chaos Cult - Warp Cult Organisation: Throughout the wars of the Horus Heresy, cultic factions organised themselves in many different ways which remain still largely incomprehensible to Imperial observers.It was only much later that the numerological and esoteric significance of certain patterns and formulae were apprehended and categorised in the broadest terms by the agents of the Imperium's own more esoteric agencies such as the Inquisition.Countless variation was observed and any concerted effort to quantify or categorise cult formations was invariably doomed to failure. Despite this, certain common factors were observed across a wide range of cults, and while there were always examples of bodies with unique structures or no structure at all, some degree of commonality was recognised.The task of studying these groups was entrusted to a small number of savants and logistae on the staff of Malcador the Sigillite -- the Regent of Terra.While most of the work was carried out in secure isolation deep within the labyrinthine bowels of the Imperial Palace on Terra by adepts sifting through countless thousands of reports and accounts, some came about through first-hand observation by field adepts operating at great danger to themselves. It is from a combination of these two sources that the information presented here was collated.The majority of Warp cultic groups were organised in a broadly pyramidal form, with a single individual at the apex and other members occupying subsidiary interstitial nodes with varying degrees of power and responsibility below them.Invariably, this person was either highly charismatic or otherwise able to exert an inordinate degree of control over the cult's members.In some cases the leaders were possessed of psychic ability, either recently developed or else repressed for many Terran years before being revealed. Others were possessed of such darkly portentous and forbidden knowledge, they were able to bend the multitudes to their will with words and phrases that struck horror into the souls of all who heard them.Prior to the revelation of the Warmaster Horus' betrayal of the Emperor, the cult leader or "magister" was the only member of the group who was aware of the existence of other cults and invariably this individual kept such knowledge to themselves, apportioning small amounts out to underlings as rewards for service.In most cases, and in particular during the early days of the Horus Heresy, the leader was the only member of the Warp cult with any contact with outside powers, namely the Traitor Legions or their agents, or indeed other cults.The magister was master of the cult's numerous ciphers and secret tongues, without which both internal and external communications were all but impossible. This perspective invested cult leaders with enormous power, and made it less likely they would be challenged or usurped, for in doing so any challenger would win only incomplete control of the group.Below the magister there often existed an inner circle, sometimes referred to as a "coven," of especially trusted lieutenants, co-conspirators, seers, enforcers, advisors, consorts, bodyguards and even family members, forming a malignant dynasty at the Warp cult's heart.Such acolytes shared some of the leaders' burden of command and assisted in the occult rituals and murderous pursuits around which the Warp cult's activities were focused.When the call to rise up and fight for the Warmaster came, the individual members of the coven might serve as sub-officers, leading the greater masses of the cult into battle against the hated Loyalists. The realities of war very quickly weeded out those not suited to battlefield service and those who survived were often potent warrior-leaders indeed.The greater mass of a Warp cult was made up of seemingly normal people, subjects of the Emperor and citizens of the Imperium who, despite appearances, nurtured a deep and twisted hatred for all the Great Crusade had achieved.When called upon to turn their hand against their masters, the masses did so with cruel relish. The majority of the cult's members had only the most rudimentary knowledge of tactics and weapons, but made up for this deficiency in wanton savagery, suicidal fervour and deluded courage.Under the fell influence of the magister and the cult's inner circle, the rank-and-file cultists would obey any order and perform any deed, utterly certain that even should they die, they would be resurrected into a new and supremely powerful sphere of existence as just reward for their sacrifice.As with other tiers, those cultists not suited to warfare were cut down in the opening salvoes, leaving behind a core of warriors that in sufficient numbers could overwhelm almost any foe.