d12 Main Cults For Strange Stars

My sf campaign is still at a system only and has no ftl yet, more like Outland film or early Expance setting with first Saturn colonies growing and Kaipur belt is getting some exploration. The tech in my scheme is rated T-Zero the first tech template libraries most AI use to make and design goods. The first gen of slower-than-light colony ships will soon start to depart yearly and will rely on this template. Once they settle they will never catch up to the Computational power and technological lead of the Sol system. So this base tech level will be found in colonies for aeons. Future colonies launching their own colonies will in turn give them T0 tech to keep them dependent and less advanced than the parent colony. Some colonies my get a lead in some fields. Sometimes the Template rating of a world might have a + or a - to denote they are retarded or exceptionally pushing to the next level template.

The point of this in part is to define human tech in contrast to that of alien gods far more advanced and not even bound to this dimension.

So these cults are mostly linked to servitor races working on humans or at the early stages of a few sensitive humans under interstellar influences or dream sending of alien minds. Some cults long to reach the physical homes of their gods. A few old ones remain hidden in the Solar system or equivalent locations in Hyperspacial structures.

2283 is Phase 1 era. Phase 2 will be 2500 with the first FTL scouts seeking the various slower-than-light colonies isolated for over a century and T1. Phase 3 will be a vast T2 commonwealth of hundreds of worlds in 32nd century and Phase 3 will be galactic scale in the 30th millennium where Earth is an unreachable legend that became part of a Dyson's sphere then vanished.  

All of these cults exploit the more common cults outlined in the last post on space-age cults. Most monstrous alien humanoids are fully aware they would be exterminated if discovered. Most have increasingly hidden and gone into deep vaults to sleep. Some cults want to help their alien allies to escape Sol. Some of these cults and species decimated each other for the best hidden vaults or the best interplanetary colony ships. Cults have many layers or revelation and many cultists never knowingly see non-humans. Weird technology discovered in use by cults so far by authorities has been assumed to be from a rogue anti-human AI. Alien species often use superior human-level tech to help hide. The table here gets progressively inhuman with a not-just sleeping god in control.

d12 Things to Silence a Story
1 Ridicule in mass media "Man sees bigfoot on Mars"
2 Have witnesses taken by mental health officials, blamed on breakdown or drugs 
3 Blame it on a life support air mix error causing hallucinations
4 Speculate its a plot of a criminal or terrorist faction 
5 Hoax made to get fame and get more weirdo fans
6 Make some other stories bigger or make other wild stories 
7 Witness blackmailed into silence
8 Witness Imprisoned and framed for a crime
9 Witness has past investigated to slander credibility with fake witnesses
10 Witness kidnapped and programmed to denounce claims
11 Witness assassination made to look accidental or natural
12 Witness killed in a strange gruesome manner people can't explain and is pretty scary

d12 Main Cults Fore Strange Stars Phase One
1 Star Whisperers - loners and isolated people have contacted Mi-Go in the past and served them to help hide evidence and dupe. Some are modified by migo to live in void, spindly, large black-eyed grey skins from human mythology. This new race in turn is used to dupe UFO fans and alien contact cults. They have psionic powers including telepathy and phasing out of reality. They have several secret asteroid colonies in the Kuiper belt and stealth saucers. Most human cultists live among humans in sciences, mining and deep space workers, especially Luna or Belters. Some lucky cultists have brains removed for study or to control automatons and machines. Grey saucers have racks of brains they can plug and play into human tech-printed robot bodies. These borg brains can be linked in serial for some purposes. A mysterious killer robot with a controlled brain has been found and authorities think a rogue anti-human AI is responsible. 

2 Deep Ones - coastal people for ages were in contact with and hybridized with aquatic humanoids. This servitor was created from humans and normal humans are part of their life cycle. Most sleep in the deepest depths of hidden cities concealed by technology. Many live in the ruins of the Chrinoid old ones and use their tech and servitor shoggoths. As humans have grown in numbers and technology more deep ones stay hidden and abandoned or even deconstructed. Today the cult seeks to use humans to get to aquatic moons of Jupiter and Saturn and beyond. The cult is interested in promoting aquatic colonies and missions while on earth they work on various marine ecology projects to restore ocean diversity. Deep ones worship and serve star spawn of Cthulhu who made them and wiped out the Chrinoid civilisation and took over their billions of years of terraforming the earth. These sleeping beings could also be on other world oceans in the sol-system and they communicate by dreams with sensitive persons including hubrids.

3 Night Eaters - dedicated to aiding ghouls in the hope of fraternisation with them in hopes the black mould growing on the ghouls transfers to them and they become immortal ghouls. Once infected their skin is overgrown then organs and bone structure change. Mostly now they hide and steal corpses and even the living. Cultists eat with them and participate in group sexual rites in hopes of becoming infected. Failed human cultists are eaten. The Space Age has not been kind to them with bodies mostly recycled. Some cultists want to carry the black mould to a colony and start a new ghoul cult in the future. Many ghouls worship various entities of dark intelligence but they were created by one of the older races as a servitor and to recycle dead and fight and were never intended to run wild

4 Scions of the Serpant - an alien reptilian god Yig came to earth and modified life a terraformed the earth experimenting for millions of years ending with the dinosaurs when the Nemesis comet nuged a meteor that ended the reptilian's dominance. At one point the god made a humanoid serpentine species of servitors. This species lived on influencing early humans and possibly creating ghouls, that's and other human variants including Hybridisations of themselves with humans. The serpentine race often slept for ages in vast vaults, some they built from the crinoid old ones long before them. Less and less often, fewer and fewer awoke to meddle with humans. The current cult seeks to study the serpents and gain their technology and gifts. Some believe the serpent folk here are able to leave the sol system and may even be still active. Some of the cults infiltrate other human cults and in turn, hybrids infiltrate the sons of the serpents to search where they choose. They have been active, especially on Mars and they seek to find old outposts, contact long-lost ships or tamper with the Martian dreamlands. Occasionally cultists employ advanced technology or biological modifications that Authorities assume by a rogue AI

5 Dark Nemesis - study the movements of the nemesis comet and its kin, vast living beings passing as exoplanets and space rocks. Some are spawn of Azathoth a fast being of atomic chaos at the centre of the universe and the source of the Big Bang. The cults watch the influence of these beings and speculate their effects on other gods and beings and the veils between inventions. Current prophecies say great events will occur in the Jovian System. While not interested in murder or contacting their gods who they just watch. They do keep records however that they will keep secret at any cost. Some speculate dark natter is biological. If humanity discovers them now they will probably destroy them with nuclear weapons. Anyone touching their secrets must be stopped and killed or recruited. There may in fact be some greater influence over them like the outer gods Azathoth, Nyarlenthotep or Yog Sothoth. Some seek various means to visit one of their gods by vehichle or using creatures other cults know how to summon. They will spy on other cults and other cults spy on them and they may have a strange mix of abnormal abilities

6 Red Destiny - Billions of years ago mars had an atmosphere and life. A barrel-chested spindly humanoid race grew to thrive and attracted the attention of other invaders, A Tripod Insectoid psionic hive mind, an octopoid species who piloted war machines and another star-fearing species invaded, enslaved and greatly damaged Mars. Finally, the plant like alien god Vulthoom came promising peace but manipulating other species to their doom. Vulthoom still sleeps deep in the core of Mars and parts of its mind were awoken by human settlement. It is responsible for the dreams of ancient Mars that some humans are sensitive to. Other Martian natives and invaders have left some remnants and occasionally awoke. Some even visited Earth. Cult has gone beyond dreaming to recovering ancient relics and contacting beings of old Mars. Most of these species are those serving Vulthoom but some are hostile to the cult. The cult wants to accelerate Martian terraforming so that in the future Vulthoom can awaken and harvest most life again. Only the most dedicated know why. The cult also promotes Martian nationalism and supremacy but Terra has superior AI and strong allegiance with Venus. The Martian cult is enthusiastic in its persecution of other cults and will operate using Martian authorities and secret service

7 The Hunger - Ygolnac is a psychic cancer that from time to time took a human host to perform acts of depravity, cruelty and gluttony. Cultists may seem to be wealthy gourmets and are most commonly found on Venus among the corpulently obese luxury lovers. The cult lures in people through steps of increasing sadism and secretly tricks them into cannibalism. Lesser cult members help procure victims and privacy. Some of the cultists are celebrities flaunting their luxury and fabulous feats. The authorities know something is wrong but don't comprehend a non-physical body-hopping entity. In the outer system, the cult seeks to overrun small isolated colonies. Some have been found all dead from some cannibalistic mass hysteria others manage to resist this but are prone to inbreeding and possibly illegal genetic modification. Cult masters may evoke the god and become Yholnac's host. Ygolnac can seem to be able to target those who know of its existence or are a threat to the cult. The cult plants his name on those they wish to be tainted. Perhaps they will try something more public perhaps all of pleasure-seeking decadent Venus
  
8 Servant of Eye - worship Cthuga the Eye of Terror and its kin, a species that live and breed inside suns. The cult can call on their spores to destroy their enemies. The Inner worlds especially Venus, Mercury and various solar orbitals and observatories are the main sources of the cult. Most work for their goals but extremists might use arson to aid their careers and many seek to visit other stars, Some will sacrifice victims to the fiery solar spore just to prove their loyalty. Cultists may also be transformed becoming heat and pressure resistant or pyrokinetic. The cult believes the spawn of their got are breeding in the sun and may one day burst free and cleanse the inner worlds with fire. Authorities are concerned about too many arson incidents and disasters they attribute to inter-corporate clan wars   

9 Void Walkers - serve the interstellar space god Iquatha who can barely exist in the human temperature range and influenced the polar regions of Earth in the past. Iquatha cult provided victims for their got to eat possess or devour. Cultists hope to have benevolent possession and modifications or to be swept away to the stars to one of the god's human menagerie colonies. Cultists prefer cold environments and some are blessed with cold resistance and even immortality. Occasionally a cultist from one of Iquatha's extrasolar colonies is brought to command a cultist cell and perform psychic surgery and modification on them Iquatha cult enjoys the privacy of outer system colonies and belter mining ships. The devout cultists may   
 have physical transformations or monster allies. Iquatha may kidnap the whole spacecraft to his own worlds and some hold colonies of enemies since ancient times

10 Yellow Dawn - while this god lives far away its dream-sendings have reached Earth and inspired cults for aeons. Sometimes the inspired produce works of art that instigate cults or modify the consumer's brains to be more receptive to the god. The cult has a secret grip on culture and media makers but also those in positions of power it can blackmail or clean a reputation. The cult seeks to make people grateful to them but also supply decadence and recruit VIPs. Cultists dream of far away Carcosa where some courtly drama of a humanoid colny living on the lake where Hastur dwells. In more isolated places Hastur may inspire a loner or a mall secretive group to perform savage acts. It appears the Yellow Dawn employs a kind of fungal zombie humanoids. They also can call alien servitors to carry them through interstellar space allowing them to colonise other worlds, visit Hastur or explore alien ruins like the Library of Celano. Hastur cults can be anywhere and the very idea of Hastur is a psychic contagion

11 Green Light - Most Terrans live in mega arcologies, huge towers and vast underground complexes. Most of the surface has been intensely being terraformed since the wars of the early 22nd century when AI took over.  A large amount of the population who choose to work do so on this terraforming some monitoring a single species in a region. Cultists are most numerous here but also interested in habitat on orbitals and large ships and off-world terraforming of Mars. Many are within the colony movement. Most would seem to be in harmless mysticism for social reasons by the AI observations so tolerated. Infrequently they are involved in murder, bioengineering and making some horrible creatures and hybrids. They are also interested in the genetic experiments of other cults and species on Earth and beyond. Some of the new ag stations producing food allow the cult more privacy and room to do as they please. They could be a serious threat to humanity but waiting until colony ships were underway. Killer vegetation is one development by hybridizing with crinoid old ones tissue. They are also involved in a terraform Venus movement and the development of biological implants, cloning, printing and gene mods

12 Black Monolith - a cult serving the great old one Tsathoghua and his spawn. He visited Saturn and erected a bastion and erected a vast psychic dreamland for his spawn to frolic in. He visited Earth to spawn primitive amphibians but was driven away by Yig's arrival.  When Yig's age ended with the dinosaurs Tsathogua seduced his surviving ophidians to serve him instead. Promising psionic powers and secrets kept from them by Yig. As they declined and Humans grew Trasthoguua influenced their dreams. When early literate humans with human-looking gods persecuted Tsathogua's cult he helped them flee Earth. Humans arriving near Saturn awoke minions of Tsathoguea and his cult was reborn. The vast dreamlands of Saturn have started to open to sensitive humans. Tsathohua offers transformation and mental abilities and knowledge of space-dwelling life forms that can be yours to command if you dare. Cultists know how to create various hybrids and creatures including the liquid tar-like dark spawn. An advanced alien habitat inside Saturn is occupied by Tsathoguas kin and various humanoids and reptilians they rescued from the persecution of their wizards. As they awaken they hunger for live humans to devour. As Saturn's colonisations continue it is sure to become a future power and this cult will grow with it

I might do a d12 organisation suspicious something weird happening