Soul-Snatcher Cults

Soul-Snatcher Cults
Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight, Grimdark Future: Star Quest
Species:	Human-Alien hybrids

The Soul-Snatcher Cults are bands of humans, aliens, and hybrids enhanced through advanced biotechnology. These Cults rely on their enhanced speed and fanatic loyalty to overwhelm their enemies, combining the alien strength with heavy weapons that provide support from afar.

The Cults are usually founded by ambitious Soul-Snatchers who strike bargains with other species, before slowly establishing psychic control over them, amassing cults of adoring followers. Despite their power within the Cults, Soul-Snatchers must still rely on manipulation and act as hidden advisors, to ensure their true nature is not discovered by outsiders or initiates.

Background Story

Most Soul-Snatchers serve the Alien Hives as powerful advisors, valued for their psychic powers and intellect. Despite their vast psychic power and ability to influence and control others, the Soul-Snatchers are always subservient to their Hive Lord.

Many Soul-Snatchers find themselves frustrated by this relationship, and as a result, some decide to strike out on their own, away from the Hives. The easiest means of departure is convincing a visiting merchant or diplomat to take them along, often with the aid of psychic persuasion.

Usually these Soul-Snatchers will seek out people in positions of power, in order to secure their place in the new community. The Soul-Snatchers can offer a number of benefits to any interested patrons, from their knowledge of biotechnology, to their services as powerful psychics and bodyguards. Those who accept the Soul-Snatchers’ offer will slowly become increasingly dependent on them, as the Soul-Snatchers covertly exercise their psychic influence.

These Soul-Snatchers will work to slowly convert their patrons and other powerful allies to their way of thinking, carefully presenting themselves as messengers and messiahs, offering salvation through their creed. Susceptible patrons soon become disciples, eagerly spreading the Soul-Snatchers’ message to both superiors and commoners alike. As they amass a following, the Soul-Snatchers will work tirelessly to enhance their flock, using their knowledge of biotechnology to create hybrids drawing on the strengths of both species.

As these Cults grow in size, they accumulate more and more sincere followers, who are unaware of the influence of the Soul-Snatchers. These disciples embrace the creed whole-hartedly, unaware of the manipulation at the core of the Cult. Whether fanatical and eager to serve, or merely following their community, they form the greater part of the Cult. Followers eagerly seek to serve their mysterious masters and fulfill their ambitions as though they were their own. As time goes on, these Cults have begun to seek each other out, working together to extend their reach throughout the sector.

How will you spread your creed through Sirius?

History

In the Hive

Soul-Snatchers serve the Alien Hives as powerful advisors, valued for their psychic powers and intellect. While they are respected within the Alien Hives, they are always second to their Hive Lords. Their Lords are not as susceptible to their psychic influence as others, and so conflict may arise between the Soul-Snatchers and their Lords. Within the Hive, the Lord always has final say.

Striking Out

A Cult begins when a frustrated Soul-Snatcher strikes out from the Hives, possibly joined by some like-minded apprentices. They will convince visiting merchants or diplomats to allow them to hitch a ride away from the hive, either through natural or psychic persuasion. They will then seek out a new community with people more open to their influence.

Infiltration

Typically, the Soul-Snatchers’ first step will be to seek out people in positions of power. They may offer biotechnology and their psychic powers to increase the fortunes of their patron. The leaders who accept their offer will slowly find themselves increasingly dependent on the Soul-Snatcher, as the Soul-Snatchers exercise their psychic influence.

Messiah Complex

As Soul-Snatchers become more influential over local leaders, they will begin preaching their own doctrine. They will present themselves as messengers and messiahs, offering salvation through their creed. The Soul-Snatchers will gradually share their biotechnology to enhance their flock, offering them stronger and more durable bodies.

The Masses

These cults attract many sincere followers, especially among the lower ranks. These disciples embrace the creed wholeheartedly, unaware of the manipulation at the core of the cult. Whether fanatical and eager to serve, or merely following their community, they form the greater part of the cult.

Wolves in the Flock

Built on manipulation and existing power structures, even cults with the most benign creeds often have cutthroat politics at their core of their community as Soul-Snatchers do what they must in order to maintain their cult and their power. At the same time, more ambitious followers will seek to rise through the ranks in order to get closer to their messiah, denouncing those who are lax in their faith.

Society

The Soul Snatchers are a species originating from the Alien Hives. They are bred to be counsellors to the Hive Lords, imbued with traits such as ambition and cunning on a genetic level.

Some of these Snatchers, may be born in Hives that don’t have available positions for them, or frustrated with constantly being second in power, venture out by themselves into the Sirius Sector. Using their psychic powers and their sharp intellect, they convince humans (and sometimes other species) to become their affiliates, promising riches or enlightenment.

As their influence grows, the first followers will recruit others into the organisation, creating a vast network under the guise of being a church, a corporation, a union, or some other entity.

Pathologically Driven

Many from the Alien Hives see these rogue Snatchers as akin to sick animals. While a Snatcher’s mind is capable of extremely complex calculations, their lust for power is something that the other species from the Hive need to balance.

The societies these rogue Soul-Snatchers build are designed to brainwash their followers, having them constantly strive to prove their worth and climb the ranks, eager to get closer to their ruler. These individuals rarely matter to a Snatcher, so long as the Cult’s power keeps growing. The Snatcher’s own ambition bleeds into the Cult’s mentality and makes them both efficient and ruthless, even internally.

Assimilation

Snatchers Cults adapt to local culture until they can alter it. A lot of these cults blend into the local culture, with the Snatcher using every advantage he can find to attract followers, integrating local beliefs and ideas. The larger the cult, the less of its members are aware of who is at the top. Souls Snatchers will use their alien knowledge to biologically modify their servants, while they also exert a powerful psychic influence that makes their entourage blindly faithful to them.

Once the cult is large enough, it can start to use military force to extend its influence even more, with cult militias taking over the local government.

Organisation

While some Soul Snatchers present themselves as an explicitly divine figure, many more will pretend to be a business mogul, promising continuous growth to their low-level recruits as long as they keep bringing in more members. Soul Snatchers will also adapt to the weaknesses of the community they operate in.

If they have managed to convert a few soldiers, they will act as pragmatists who want to put the best officers in command of society; if they meet pilgrims, they will learn about their beliefs before manifesting supernatural powers that mark them as envoys from the gods; and if they roam a merchant district, they will attract greedy businessman into a masterfully crafted pyramid scheme.

Fanatic Fighters

Rank and file members of Soul-Snatcher Cults are sincerely devoted and will fight with all their strength to carry out their patron's whims. The low-level militia fighters are backed by biologically modified mutants and powerful machinery repurposed from the cult’s civilian activities. The high-level cadres of the cult are there to stoke their followers’ resolve and drive them further. In dire situations, the Snatcher may even personally appear to lead them.

Play Style

The soul-snatcher cult is what happens when you slap together the HDF and she soul snatchers from the alien hives. While your base goons act like the basic infantry and guardsmen - that is being a bunch of disposable fodder - but the elites are somewhat more different.

Similar To

• Warhammer 40k: Genestealer Cults

Miniatures

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See Also: Soul-Snatcher Cults Miniatures

Soul-Snatcher Cults
Overview - Miniatures

Grimdark Future factions
Alien Hives - Battle Brothers - Blessed Sisters - Custodian Brothers - DAO Union - Dark Elf Raiders - Dwarf Guilds Elven Jesters - Eternal Dynasty - Gangs of New Eden - Goblin Reclaimers - Havoc Brothers - High Elf Fleets - Human Defense Force Human Inquisition - Infected Colonies - Jackals - Machine Cult - Orc Marauders - Prime Brothers - Ratmen Clans Rebel Guerrillas - Robot Legions - Saurian Starhost - Soul-Snatcher Cults - Titan Lords - Wormhole Daemons
Retired factions
Feudal Guard