Degenerate, Deviant, and Devilous - - The Invisible College & Wretched New Flesh Post Cards From Avalidad - The Cult of Typhon

 Alright, so let's dive into the deepness of the cult of Typhon within the Invisible College rpg. And how it relates to the Wretched New Flesh Post Cards from Aviladad. And this is going to pick right up from here on the blog.The Cult of Typhon is an off shoot of the Black Lodge & they are explorers or worshippers  after the entities from  the qlippoth. 

What exactly is the qlippoth? Well simply put it is the dark reflection of the tree of life and the filter between Gods holiness and our reality. But it's also the layers of unreality between our reality and the seven layers of Hell. Or an unreality of alieness completely immicial to mankind. 
And what does this have to do with Wretched New Flesh Post Cards from Avalidad?! Well a bit of everything really because the Beyond just might be another aspect of  the qlippoth. And the cult of Typhon worships the entities that live or dwell there. The cult itself works through a caches and networks of cults that it fronts. The cult of Typhon works through a net work of agents, priests, occultists,etc. each trickling knowledge to thier patsies. And what does this have to do with Avalidad? Well everything. Because Avalidad itself is the front lines for weird technologies, alien presences, and high tech weirdness. The cult of Typhon is going to have it's agents and presence there at ground zero. What does this mean for the PC's?! A few things .. One is the fact that the cult of Typhon is going to be interested in or behind any rips in reality. The cult  is interested in  &  exploration of foreign intelligence such as extraterrestrial life and daemons, and on the darker aspects of occult existence. This is done through agents, cults, temples, and a thousand other fronts. 

“The sin which is unpardonable is knowingly and wilfully to reject truth, to fear knowledge lest that knowledge pander not to thy prejudices.”
― Aleister Crowley, Magick: Liber ABA: Book 4

The cult of Typhon doesn't have the resources of the Black Lodge & therefore uses other resources such as alien presences. Machinatores takes full advantage of the cult of Typhon as experimental fodder. Well actually it's the cult of Typhon's operatives and cache cult fronts. These are given many of the alien occult technologies and artifacts of the Machinatores. Zone Tec is well aware of a wide variety of front cults and even one or two operatives of the cult of Typhon. They are not aware of the heads of actual Typhon organization that keeps it's own hands clean of any wrong doing. 

The  qlippoth itself as dark reflection of other aspects of unreality is also home to the dangerous apostles of pain. Alien entities who are interested in exploiting and using the human race for sensation and further reaches of extreme experience. The cult of Typhon often uses it's other cult fonts to feed it's agreements with the apostles. 

And finally the cult of Typhon is most often dealing with aliens and demons from   the qlippoth using operatives and humans as fodder. 
The cult of Typhons ultimate aims are ill understood. They may help or hinder PC's depending upon thier own NPC aims. They are at best unpredictable and at worst enemies who could murder the PC's at the drop of a hat. 

And then there's the fact that the cult of Typhon's main source of income is the selling of illicit alien drugs as a secondary source of income. When I say,'alien' I mean alien as in manufactured by beings who are from outside our reality. 
And a really solid introduction into the cult of Typhon might be to use the adventure In Wretched Depravity By Miguel Ribeiro Joe Coombs

The events of the house are actually by the cult of Typhon who are experiementing with the local reality. And your PC's are sent in to investigate from both Zonetec and the Invisible College. Things start to go sideways really fast so be prepared when running  In Wretched Depravity.
Another fun one to bring into the fray with the cult of Typhon is The Memorial by Miguel Ribeiro. The Memorial takes place in a run down hospital with all kinds of occult and supernatural as well as mundane weirdness going on. The cult of Typhon is behind some of the more bizarre goings on and this adventure could easily be placed within Avalidad. 
The Cult of Typhon is bizarre, mad, dangerous, and utterly obsessed with bringing the entities of  the qlippoth into the reality of Aviladad. Why? Because the cult of Typhon has deep ties into the fabric of society on all levels in Avalidad. 
And the cult has worked hard to get it's front cults to be fashionable from the gutter to the halls of the elite. And they frequently take risks that other factions in the occult war wouldn't dream of. Because the cult of Typhon is always recruiting through thier other cult fronts. 
They do this with promises of hidden knowlege, power, lust, sex, and all of the tools that have serviced the cult for centuries. And in the world of Avalidad the cult of Typhon's leaders have gained a level of immortality through mutant drugs and through the use of forbidden technologies. The sect of the cult of Typhon may be cutting edge but it's an edge that cuts both ways. They are always serving thier own interests and the interests of thier masters from beyond. 

Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign Commentary - Dragon Issue #113 Sept 1986 - Hunter Class Robots vs Aliens, Creatures, & Mutants

 Looking through the classic Dragon magazine issue#113 Sept 1986  for an NPC idea for our  post apocalytic White Star & Warriors of the Red  rpg powered campaign last night. I came across an old classic article for Gamma World 2nd edition. 

 The classic second edition  Gamma World rpg article 'Cold Steel' by Scott A Hutcheon  details the Hunter class of robots. These cybernetic organisms have appeared in my campaign time & again.  Since we're almost done with the Red Shadow faction. Perhaps it's time to introduce the players to another rather nasty NPC. 

Hunter-class robots for Gamma World (Bruce Mackley, Dragon 113, September 1986)
via the old school tumbler here. 

We've used these cybernetic organisms before to call them simple robots is a disservice to these entities. In our games over the years we've given them personalities, motives, and goals because these things are equipped to take on full blown mecha and survive. Sure their no match for a Gamma World second edition death machine. But these things can & will take out mutant demi gods with little issue. And when your dealing with experienced players there should be entities way above your party's paygrade. The Cybohunter is a beast ;'TYPE: Cybernetic Hunter/Tracker NUMBER: 1 ARMOR: 1 HIT DICE: 30d10 CONTROL: D/G SENSORS: A/B/D/E/F (Scent) POWER: A/D200 MS: 1d4 + 12 IN: 1d10 + 11 DX: 1d10 + 11 PS: 5d10 + 30 SPEED: FEET = 24/1800/72 STATUS: Rank' 
Monsters like Magic Pig Media's Star Kraken or the Cosmic Behemoth are capable of ruining a party's day from  Outer Space Raiders Volume 2: Aliens, Creatures & Foes. So entities like the Cybohunter are not that far off base when it comes to higher level encounters. 

A post apocapytic solar system is one that will be frought with perils and the Hunter series takes this into account. According to 'Cold Steel's author; "Take, for example, the Hunter series of combat robots, which was founded on one basic concept: The bigger they are, the harder they hit. Although not as powerful overall as Death Machines or Warbots, these devices provide much more challenge to an overconfident adventuring group than Security Robots. Note that some specimens of these devices have been modified in the postholocaust years to take into account mutational powers possessed by animals, plants, and humans. Numerous variations on these basic designs may also exist." 
Surely I'm being unfair with such a powerhouse of a series of cybernetic entities?! Well yes & no, let's turn the clock back to 2015 when Ivanhoe Unbound was publishing material. And Aliens, Androids, & Aberrations slid across my desk. 

As you can see it doesn't take a genius to combined these various resources and AAA gives yet another perspective rpg resource to this campaign. Combined with the mecha rules from White Star Galaxy Edition then the threat of the Hunter class doesn't seem so far fetched 

Next time forbidden technologies, The Mutant Future connection, and more coming up. 

Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign Commentary - A Sister's Touch - Dragon magazine #119 & The Sisters of the Aquarian Order

 Classic Dragon magazine issue # 119 March 1987 has some really remarkable ideas within it for minor  Cryptic Alliances & these have implications for  our solar system White Star campaign.
 Besides having a killer cover by artist Daniel Horne; "Daniel Horne, our cover artist this month, was in the mood to do a historical

subject. His painting, entitled The Real Reason the Romans left Britain, depicts a

little-known episode in British history, in which two Roman foot soldiers have

bumped into Kostchtchie, the surly fellow from page 40 of the Monster Manual II.

Of the unsquashed legionnaire, Daniel writes, Boy, is he going to get it!"  Sorry got distracted by that awesome Dragon magazine cover. God I miss the real Dragon magazines. Right, so let's pick this up from this blog post here & talk about doing a solar system centric White Star game with the Starship Warden thrown in. Going over some of the huge swath of White Star titles that I own one in particular came to the fore. And perhaps it was talking with the author Timothy Brannan the other day ( hope your feeling better Timothy). The Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Aquarian Sister) dragged themselves kicking & screaming to my attention last night. Who are the Sisters of the Aquarian Order?! 

Well, according to this May 2015 blog entry by Timothy; "The Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Aquarian Sister) have their geneses not only from my witch class (they can be considered to be the evolution of the Aquarian Tradtition) but also from such sources in Sci-Fi like the Bene Gesserit (Dune), the Sisterhood of Karn (Doctor Who) and the Night Sisters, the Witches of Dathomir (Star Wars)." What does this have to do with Dragon 119? Well, there's the Gamma World article, 'Politics Among The Rubble' by Lent and it happens to feature 'The Sisterhood of the Sword' aka 'The Sisterhood'. The Sisterhood breaks down as follows; " Tech Level II TYPES (females only): PSH (50%); H (45%); MA (15%) NUMBER: 1d10 

BASE: B (2d6+3); C (3d10+25); D (3d100 + 50)

SECRET SIGN: Ancient symbol for womanhood, with a dagger and crosspiece as the

tail, emblazoned on shields, banners,

armor, and clothing.

LOCATION: East coast of America.

DESCRIPTION: The Sisterhood of the

Sword believes that the Shadow Years and

the fall of mankind were brought about by

violent, male-dominated governments, and

only females are suited to lead the way

back to civilization by assuming all defensive and leadership positions. Despite

these views, the followers of the Sisterhood do not, with the exception of a few

splinter groups, force their views upon

others, preferring to gain converts from

example and other, gentler means of persuasion. Their bases are test sites for their

doctrine, with regular reports to the Sisterhoods main base. The Sisterhood is on

good terms with the Brotherhood of

Thought, the Healers, the Friends of Justice, and the Knights of Avalon. Their own

beliefs, however, often put them at crosspurposes with the Followers of the Voice,

Restorationists, the Created, the Iron

Society, the Ranks of Fit, and Zoopremists.

The Sisterhood is well equipped to Tech

II standards but is always eager to gain

functioning Ancient technology. The Sisters are most often armed with swords,

spears, and crossbows. They prefer chain

mail armor and usually have some sort of

riding mount. There is a 30% chance that

each will have some sort of minor artifact.

The warrior elite are usually known as

Amazons, Valkyries, Black Widows, or

similar terms." 

What if the 'Sisterhood' is the militant arm of the The Sisters of the Aquarian Order ?! An organization hiding in plain sight with their upper edges of the orgnization's military arm actually being run by Magic Pig Media's Outerspace Raiders Amazons?! 

So why would these three organizations actually be one in the same?! Well there's one cause for that and it's war! The tenets of  The Sisters of the Aquarian Order  are well established when mankind get's cut off by the intergalatic war with the Hyperboreans. But the order suddenly finds itself facing a foe with access to technologies, magicks, and weaponry greater then it's own. And they turn inward creating cults, hidden cells of the sisters and stoking the fires of warriors in backwater colonies and other places. The sisters earn the grudging respect of the star knight but there is great distrust between these two. The war is over 200 or so years later but the sisterhood endures in pockets on Mars, Venus, Earth's colonies, and even aboard the Warden. The sisters will endure.