Cults

[Style]

I'm just starting a Conan game, and one of my players wants to play an Argossean noble who is secretly a member of a cult. In particular, he likes the idea that his cult was destroyed, and he is trying to reform it, bring it back to power. I think this is a great idea, but could use some help coming up with a god (or demon?) for him to worship, and some useful story lines to get things started. Religion in Hyboria is something I'm still getting a handle on, and I don't know much beyond Mitra, Crom, Bel, and Set.

The campaign is going to start in Messantia, which I plan to use (at least initially) as a home base, a launching point for adventures.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Strom]

That is a good idea. I recommend you pickup the Faith & fervor supplement. It's filled with information on different Gods and their priests/cults. Really, he could pick any religion/cult from any region and create a backstory to fit any geographical area in the the Hyborian Age. We had fun with a Darfari/canabalism cult in the middle of Zamora. I would've loved to have the book Faith & Fervor when I ran that adventure but it wasn't out yet. That book will really help you.

Of course, he could be a part of the Golden Skull cult from the adventure in the Messantia box set.

Thulsa has a nice list of Hyborian Gods & Demons as well:

http://www.hyboria.xoth.net/gods/gods.htm

 

[UberDog]

I don't know that this will be of any help to you, but I had started prepping a Conan adventure that involved a cult.

Said cult was actually a group of monks devoted to Mitra who held a monastery deep in the mountains, isolated, left much to its own devices.

The monks, at some point, had stumbled upon a lost city where they discovered a huge stone. The stone was a meteor which fell to Earth in pre-cataclysmic history and was found by the dwellers of the lost city.

However, as with all good Conan stories, their veneration of the meteor and it's eldritch powers mutated them of the course of generations and caused the city to fall asunder.

Now, millennia on, the monks have discovered the stone as well as the strange descendants of the race of men that originally dwelt there. The monks, on the same path as the doomed city-folk, are of course attempting to exploit the secrets of the stone.

The stone itself is not merely a meteor but a kind of 'vehicle" by which a creature from the Outer Dark has traveled to Hyboria. Certain spells and incantations release the creature. Those not undone by these magics or the creatures escape could easily come to venerate as a God.

Your player could have been there during the fallout of the ritual or some such. I envisioned the Outer Dark creature as Lovecraftian and the servitors, who were once men, to be enthralled by the stone and capable of spitting a viscous poison at enemies which caused them to experience intense hallucinations.

This natural defense could also be extarcted into a drug by which members of the cult recruit others to their nefarious purposes under darkest night.

Hope it's of minor use to you. Big fan of cults myself.

 

[Majestic7]

Well, I'd see three ways to go with a cult.

First, some exotic foreign god.

I think that a Hyborian nobleman who wants to get dark powers, but doesn't really know anything about sorcery and gods would be inclined to start worshipping Set or Asura. They are kind of Satan in Mitran religion, so they are the natural target of adoration for someone who has grown as Mitran and now wants to swap to the darker side. Some Shemite gods, such as the Golden Peacock, might be sinister enough to require secret covens even in Messantia. It all depends on what he is after - secret network of influential friends, execuse for wallowing in perverted pleasures, forbidden knowledge or actual sinister sorcerous powers. First one might be served even by a sect of Mitran heretics, second by many Shemite gods and Zamoran-style sex cults, while third and fourth would require dealing with demons, (foreign) sorcerers or Mythos beings.

Second, true demon cults of the age.

Scrolls of Skelos and a few other books have demon lords listed in them. Ruins of Hyboria with the mysterious places might help. Perhaps the cult might be offshoot of a decadent Zamoran cult - it is quite far-fetched since Messantia is far from Zamora, but possible through immigrants and trade routes. Another possibility would be a ghoul cult! The City of Ghouls is between Zingara and Argos, so perhaps some decadent people might worship the demon goddess of ghouls or just somehow involve themselves with ghouls through magical, religious means. The meaning of such might be a misguided idea of gaining immortality by becoming ghouls or the like. I must add that I did not like the "demon breeding" explanation for the City of Ghouls given in the Ruins of Hyboria, my ghouls are more Lovecraftian creatures.

Third, there is always Cthulhu Mythos.

A sinister cult dedicated to Tsathoggua, Dagon or the like might certainly be able to make the character magically powerful, though it would quickly lead in to insanity and Corruption. It would be likely that a low level cultist would not understand what he is dealing with before it was too late, though - and the cult might well mask itself as a religious society of another kind. I think Cthulhu Mythos must always be very mysterious and if a character gets involved in a such cult, the horrible things underneath must be revealed very carefully, step at the time - not rubbed at their faces. After all, that is what the cults themselves would most likely do - first try to tie the new recruit at themselves at every possible level before starting to test him with the more sinister things.

Last, as a twist, perhaps the cult is just a cover for some powerful sorcerer that uses such cults to gain power and influence - that might be something that is revealed later in the campaign. All those sacrifices and rituals might have been just delivering power points to him... Or perhaps center of the cult is a God in the Bowl that has somehow ended up in Messantia from Stygia through trade routes? Possibilities are really endless!

 

[Style]

I recommend you pickup the Faith & fervor supplement.

Good idea, but I really do not want to purchase another book at this time.

Of course, he could be a part of the Golden Skull cult from the adventure in the Messantia box set.

I plan on running that adventure second. (The first being Slavers Caravan, just set in Argos instead of Zamora.) I suppose I could be the first person to run that adventure where the PCs were working for Zuthelia, but I think I'll keep it as it was intended.

Thulsa has a nice list of Hyborian Gods & Demons as well:

http://www.hyboria.xoth.net/gods/gods.htm

Nice. I'll definitely have to check this out.

I had started prepping a Conan adventure that involved a cult.

Said cult was actually a group of monks devoted to Mitra who held a monastery deep in the mountains, isolated, left much to its own devices.

The monks, at some point, had stumbled upon a lost city where they discovered a huge stone. The stone was a meteor which fell to Earth in pre-cataclysmic history and was found by the dwellers of the lost city.

However, as with all good Conan stories, their veneration of the meteor and it's eldritch powers mutated them of the course of generations and caused the city to fall asunder.

Now, millennia on, the monks have discovered the stone as well as the strange descendants of the race of men that originally dwelt there. The monks, on the same path as the doomed city-folk, are of course attempting to exploit the secrets of the stone.

The stone itself is not merely a meteor but a kind of 'vehicle" by which a creature from the Outer Dark has traveled to Hyboria. Certain spells and incantations release the creature. Those not undone by these magics or the creatures escape could easily come to venerate as a God.

Your player could have been there during the fallout of the ritual or some such. I envisioned the Outer Dark creature as Lovecraftian and the servitors, who were once men, to be enthralled by the stone and capable of spitting a viscous poison at enemies which caused them to experience intense hallucinations.

This natural defense could also be extarcted into a drug by which members of the cult recruit others to their nefarious purposes under darkest night.

I don't know that I'll use that for the PC's background, but wow, that's a good adventure seed. I'm going to have to put that in the 101 adventures thread. Hope you don't mind.

First, some exotic foreign god.

I think that a Hyborian nobleman who wants to get dark powers, but doesn't really know anything about sorcery and gods would be inclined to start worshipping Set or Asura. They are kind of Satan in Mitran religion, so they are the natural target of adoration for someone who has grown as Mitran and now wants to swap to the darker side. Some Shemite gods, such as the Golden Peacock, might be sinister enough to require secret covens even in Messantia. It all depends on what he is after - secret network of influential friends, execuse for wallowing in perverted pleasures, forbidden knowledge or actual sinister sorcerous powers. First one might be served even by a sect of Mitran heretics, second by many Shemite gods and Zamoran-style sex cults, while third and fourth would require dealing with demons, (foreign) sorcerers or Mythos beings.

This brings up a very good point. I don't know why he wants to be a cult member. At this point, I don't know that he knows why, just that it would be a good way to spice up his character. I'll have to have a talk with my player.

I've been meaning to read the free download City of the Spider God. If the player chose Zath, would it work well if we then ran that adventure? If so, it could be a good way to really highlight his cult background.

Second, true demon cults of the age.

Scrolls of Skelos and a few other books have demon lords listed in them. Ruins of Hyboria with the mysterious places might help. Perhaps the cult might be offshoot of a decadent Zamoran cult - it is quite far-fetched since Messantia is far from Zamora, but possible through immigrants and trade routes. Another possibility would be a ghoul cult! The City of Ghouls is between Zingara and Argos, so perhaps some decadent people might worship the demon goddess of ghouls or just somehow involve themselves with ghouls through magical, religious means. The meaning of such might be a misguided idea of gaining immortality by becoming ghouls or the like. I must add that I did not like the "demon breeding" explanation for the City of Ghouls given in the Ruins of Hyboria, my ghouls are more Lovecraftian creatures.

I do have S of S. I'll have to check out the demon section.

The ghouls idea is intriguing. I plan on finding some reason to send them through the ghoul city eventually.

Third, there is always Cthulhu Mythos.

A sinister cult dedicated to Tsathoggua, Dagon or the like might certainly be able to make the character magically powerful, though it would quickly lead in to insanity and Corruption. It would be likely that a low level cultist would not understand what he is dealing with before it was too late, though - and the cult might well mask itself as a religious society of another kind. I think Cthulhu Mythos must always be very mysterious and if a character gets involved in a such cult, the horrible things underneath must be revealed very carefully, step at the time - not rubbed at their faces. After all, that is what the cults themselves would most likely do - first try to tie the new recruit at themselves at every possible level before starting to test him with the more sinister things.

Now this is something I really like. I've been trying to find ways to work in Cthulhu, and this seems like a perfectly golden opportunity. It might prove difficult for the character to not end up insane or corrupt, but what the hey!

Last, as a twist, perhaps the cult is just a cover for some powerful sorcerer that uses such cults to gain power and influence - that might be something that is revealed later in the campaign. All those sacrifices and rituals might have been just delivering power points to him... Or perhaps center of the cult is a God in the Bowl that has somehow ended up in Messantia from Stygia through trade routes? Possibilities are really endless!

Majestic, you get the gold star for the day. That was a tremendously helpful post. You're right, the possibilities are endless. Which means I'd better find something really cool, or else I will have missed a good opportunity.

I guess I need to have a talk with the player and do a little more research. I need to come up with something soon, we play again in about 10 days, and he's suppose to meet a contact from the cult at the Beggar's Feast (in the Slaver's Caravan adventure).

You all are awesome. Thanks so much. And don't be shy if you think up more ideas!

 

[Majestic7]

I've been meaning to read the free download City of the Spider God. If the player chose Zath, would it work well if we then ran that adventure? If so, it could be a good way to really highlight his cult background.

I have only browsed through the adventure. In its setting the players are going against the cult of Zath, but I suppose it could be changed a bit so that the players would instead be defending the temple against attackers et cetera. Perhaps Thulsa can help you with that. I have two characters (one cohort and one PC) devoted to Zath in my current campaign myself, it is certainly a cool religion for something mainly out of post-Howardian stories.

Now this is something I really like. I've been trying to find ways to work in Cthulhu, and this seems like a perfectly golden opportunity. It might prove difficult for the character to not end up insane or corrupt, but what the hey!

Hmm... this gave me an idea. If you'd like to test some experimental crossover between two campaigns, perhaps cult of the Golden Lord from my campaign (with lagging campaign report buried here on the forums, guess I should update it soon) might be something you'd like to incorporate? It is active in Messantia and the player characters have messed with them there. In that case I could fill you in on the secrets and aims of the group and what my player group has done to oppose them - and you could use that as a background from stuff of your own, perhaps even feeding some material back to my way. Heh, just a wild idea - so it is okay to reject it.

Majestic, you get the gold star for the day. That was a tremendously helpful post. You're right, the possibilities are endless. Which means I'd better find something really cool, or else I will have missed a good opportunity.

Well, I'm glad if my ramblings were of any use. Hope you'll come up with something that is nice, entertaining and perhaps scary too to you, the player in question and the rest of the group.

 

[Style]

I was just thinking some more about this while mowing the lawn, and this could turn into a driving force for the campaign. Say I have his cult worship the big guy, old squiggly face himself. First, I would change the name to delay for as long as possible the player figuring out who his god really was. He would be some ancient all powerful god, asleep in the sea. Of course his cult's purpose would be to wake him up. This works well to spring several maritime adventures out of Messantia. This could lead to Pool of the Black One. They could get clues he might be sleeping in the Vilayet sea, and lead to the Devil in Iron. He could find out about a remote coastal village that worships his god, and run The Shadow Over Innsmouth. In the end, they would finally find R'lyeh and succeed in awakening him -> Call of Cthulhu.

They could also end up investigating other cults who they think might be worshiping the same god under a different name, leading to adventures like what UberDog proposed.

Hmm... this gave me an idea. If you'd like to test some experimental crossover between two campaigns, perhaps cult of the Golden Lord from my campaign (with lagging campaign report buried here on the forums, guess I should update it soon) might be something you'd like to incorporate? It is active in Messantia and the player characters have messed with them there. In that case I could fill you in on the secrets and aims of the group and what my player group has done to oppose them - and you could use that as a background from stuff of your own, perhaps even feeding some material back to my way. Heh, just a wild idea - so it is okay to reject it.

Let me read your campaign journal and get back to you. If it seems like a good fit, I would absolutely be up for something like that.

I also like the idea of the foreign religion that is a major religion elsewhere (like Zath), but could be played like a cult in Argos. There is a certain appeal to that as well.

 

[Style]

I posed some of the questions mentioned here to my player. Here's his response:

Forbidden knowledge or even perverted pleasures sounds like two if not both good aspects of a secret cult. I was thinking they could be animists, worshiping cats or tigers or something non-reptile or non-snake. The Advisor could have been one of many high priests, maybe he was training me to be a priest myself. When the cult was overthrown, he still follows many of the customs but Jyin (my character) is somewhat skeptical now that he has been out in the world and he's seen things for him self. The cult would have veins of influence throughout the region, though unfocused and sparse.

Your thoughts?

 

[Krushnak]

Ah sounds like he fell in with a cult thats originated in the Pictish Wilderness or even far off Kush and has been brought either through Zingara or from across the sea. The whole forbidden knowledge and perverted pleasures can work well with cat worship, the lazy little buggers. mines asleep infront of the keyboard right now, probably trying to think of a way to get rid of me and still get fed.

 

[Style]

Ah sounds like he fell in with a cult thats originated in the Pictish Wilderness or even far off Kush and has been brought either through Zingara or from across the sea. The whole forbidden knowledge and perverted pleasures can work well with cat worship, the lazy little buggers. mines asleep infront of the keyboard right now, probably trying to think of a way to get rid of me and still get fed.

Hmmmm. There is a Pict shaman in the party, and at some point I was planning on having a reason to send them to the Pictish Wilderness. This could be the reason.

Gullah is a Pict and Kush "God" with "Beast" as a domain: http://hyboria.xoth.net/gods/gods.htm

Course, Jhebbal Sag is the Lord of Beasts and is the most common god of the Black Kingdoms: http://hyboria.xoth.net/gods/jhebbal_sag.htm

Hmmm, just reading the above page on JS, and it says that Gullah is "the black gorilla-god". Course, I could have this particular sect worship him in tiger form, that being their doctrine. Or I could create a god for the cat totem, one that would be considered a servant of JS.

Of course, no matter which way I go, as they character quests for "enlightenment", he could discover the true origins of the cult and their god to be Cthulhu-based. :twisted:

What Shemite or Zamoran gods would be good choices for a cat theme?

 

[Majestic7]

If you want cats, how about Bast, a goddess from the Stygian pantheon? If I remember correctly, she is daughter of Set and a goddess of cat-like creatures and curses.

Pictish gods and goddesses could always be somehow linked to Shub-Niggurath - I've always seen Jhebbal Sag as just another name for the one with thousand children.

 

[Style]

Who are Bast and Shub-Niggurath?

After a long phone call with the player about it, working through various details, he wrote up the following new Deity:

Mata’Cima



Status: Lesser goddess (female)
Spheres of Influence: Beasts, Knowledge, Healing
Symbol: Red Cat (priests) or Cat Claw (prowlers, stalkers, rouges)

Manifestations
Mata’Cima sends avatars into the world to protect populations of cats in the wild. She often will send Sabor Tooth Tigers into a human population to teach them that she is more powerful than man.

Invoking Mata’Cima can help with the healing skill and for shamans can grant other boons.

Culture/Region
Mata'Cima's primary followers in civilized lands are Vendhyan, where the church is a direct rival to Hanuman. Among savages, the goddess is known as Kumah, where she serves the Beast Lord, Jhebbal Sag, as one of the totem animal deities. A smattering of tribes in the Black Kingdoms and the Pictish Wilderness have her as their patron (matron?) deity.

The Priesthood
Priests are considered kings over a small group of followers called a family. A typical family consists of 2-20 males all classified as warriors and named for their martial-styles as either: Prowlers, Stalkers, or Rogues. The female population varies greatly between the different groups. Typically, there are no more than 2 females for each warrior but all females are property of the king-priest. Females are pampered and well taken care of but essentially considered mere property of the men. In larger churches there may be several priests and only one king-priest; these lesser priests are still called king by those in their family but not by others.

Religious Ceremonies
Priests can chant and pray and study for days at a time. Fasting and then Feasting is a common practice. Human females are admired but held in the lowest standing as breeders and property. Orgies once a season is the primary breeding practice. Warriors are excluded from the breeding ceremony but are still allowed to mate with their partners privately. Annual Male sacrifice is called The Feast of Mata’Cima. Once a year a male warrior is selected by the king-priest to be eaten alive by Large Cats; it is dishonorable to decline where banishment is the only recourse. Among small clans The Feast often selects a new-convert or even kidnaps strangers and outsiders as offerings. Killing or even fighting back against any Large Cats is punishable by death by public disembowelment. Other practices vary greatly from region to region but include selling of females and a form of eugenics valuing intelligence, strength, and beauty.

Backgrounds
Among the Vendhyans, Mata’Cima is considered second to Hanuman and supported through mythology from both sides in which they are opposed and Hanuman has always been victorious over her. One story tells of Hanuman’s trick to mate with Mata’Cima and then later steals the lion-cub child. Followers of Mata’Cima are often persecuted by public humiliation that can lead to beatings, stoning and death. Many followers of Mata’Cima have died as a ritual sacrifice on the alters of Hanuman. Because of their small numbers and persecution they often travel or roam great distances and to other lands, hiding their faith and practicing in secret.

To outsiders the cult is considered a “breeding cult” because females are constantly pregnant. Followers are mostly strong, attractive, and even intelligent because they practice a form of eugenics by sacrificing the genetically inferior or lame during The Feast. Females born into the cult are often sold into slavery or traded at a young age for other girls from other families. All the women are considered breeders who take care of the young, while there are stories and tales of past women warriors, today it is looked down upon greatly.

The teachings of Mata’Cima tell that cats and more specifically Lions, Tigers and Sabor-Tooth are masters of this world. Also, that man is second to the felines and should strive to live more like them. Vendhyan faithful are rewarded with reincarnation as a cat, an improvement over their current existence, transcendence. Over the years, the focus has become an exploitation of females in human society, making a leader out of the most intelligent, strong, and attractive men, who in-turn produce the most offspring. They have learned better breeding practices by spreading the females between families and by killing off men with bad traits, they have reduced or even eliminated certain undesirable and recessive traits while claiming all of this as the secret knowledge of Mata’Cima.

Traits that are desirable among the Mata’Cima cult are: Dark hair color, Copper or non-fair skin tones, Little body hair on females, A lot of body hair among males, Strength but not always large size, Strength of Will, Conviction, and Charisma, Intelligence, they teach their women to read and sing and some secrets as well so they can be better teachers and trainers for the young but no longer teach the women martial skills for that is what the men teach the young, they value Stealth and some treacherous nature and actually prefer to kill enemies from behind or once in positions of submission.

The player knows Conan only through the movies. What do you think?

 

[Majestic7]

Who are Bast and Shub-Niggurath?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shub-Niggurath

Since you mentioned Cthulhu Mythos, I automatically assumed you'd be familiar with it/her/him. Shubbie is one of the gods from the Cthulhu Mythos, a wild creative force that spawns forth abominations. That "breeding cult" theme actually sound a lot like S-N.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bast_%28mythology%29

Bast is an Egyptian goddess. In Stygia - Serpent of the South, she has been morphed to fit better to the pseudo-Egyptian pantheon of Stygia, under the rulership of Set. In Dreamlands cycle of stories by Lovecraft Bast and cats in general are one of the few benevolent - or at least not actively harmful - forces towards humankind in the world.

 

[Style]

Oh yes, I remember Shub now! http://www.angelfire.com/extreme/kengage/cthulhu/critt14.html

Shub is conceptually my favorite Elder God. I was just thinking Conan/Hyboria rather than HPL.

You're right, Shub makes for an excellent fit for Jhebbal Sag. Nice!

 

[UberDog]

I recommend you pickup the Faith & fervor supplement.

Good idea, but I really do not want to purchase another book at this time.

Of course, he could be a part of the Golden Skull cult from the adventure in the Messantia box set.

I plan on running that adventure second. (The first being Slavers Caravan, just set in Argos instead of Zamora.) I suppose I could be the first person to run that adventure where the PCs were working for Zuthelia, but I think I'll keep it as it was intended.

Thulsa has a nice list of Hyborian Gods & Demons as well:

http://www.hyboria.xoth.net/gods/gods.htm

Nice. I'll definitely have to check this out.

I had started prepping a Conan adventure that involved a cult.

Said cult was actually a group of monks devoted to Mitra who held a monastery deep in the mountains, isolated, left much to its own devices.

The monks, at some point, had stumbled upon a lost city where they discovered a huge stone. The stone was a meteor which fell to Earth in pre-cataclysmic history and was found by the dwellers of the lost city.

However, as with all good Conan stories, their veneration of the meteor and it's eldritch powers mutated them of the course of generations and caused the city to fall asunder.

Now, millennia on, the monks have discovered the stone as well as the strange descendants of the race of men that originally dwelt there. The monks, on the same path as the doomed city-folk, are of course attempting to exploit the secrets of the stone.

The stone itself is not merely a meteor but a kind of 'vehicle" by which a creature from the Outer Dark has traveled to Hyboria. Certain spells and incantations release the creature. Those not undone by these magics or the creatures escape could easily come to venerate as a God.

Your player could have been there during the fallout of the ritual or some such. I envisioned the Outer Dark creature as Lovecraftian and the servitors, who were once men, to be enthralled by the stone and capable of spitting a viscous poison at enemies which caused them to experience intense hallucinations.

This natural defense could also be extarcted into a drug by which members of the cult recruit others to their nefarious purposes under darkest night.

I don't know that I'll use that for the PC's background, but wow, that's a good adventure seed. I'm going to have to put that in the 101 adventures thread. Hope you don't mind.

No, please do. I think I may submit it as an adventure to Signs and Portents. It started out as a viking screenplay of all things. A mashup of In the Name of the Rose and Beowulf. With some Lovecraftian goodness thrown in.

 

[Majestic7]

Style, how has your cult thing worked out in your game?

 

[Style]

Style, how has your cult thing worked out in your game?

We're going with Mata’Cima as his deity, who will likely end up as a lovecraftian entity. I'm running Slaver's caravan (and will hopefully finish it up next session). Right now the whole party is at the Beggar's Feast. The PC is traveling with his high priest (who is masquerading as the PC's man servant), and they have a secret agenda to meet up with someone at the festival. I haven't yet decided why they're to meet this contact, other than it's cult related. I'm leaning toward them receiving a religious relic, maybe ancient scrolls. Perhaps they're to take them back to Messantia to have them translated. I can use the content of the scroll as seeds for future stories, maybe even have it be a Hyborian age version of the Necronomicon, ultimately driving the high priest (and the PC?) insane.

Any other ideas for why the priest is meeting this person at the festival?

Oh Majestic, I just remembered I never finished reading your campaign report! I printed it off to read on a plane while going on vacation recently, and when I got on the plane I realized that I'd forgotten to print off more than the first page of the thread! I was enjoying it too. I'll have to go back and finish the thread. There was nothing about cults on the first page.

 

[Krushnak]

I'm leaning toward them receiving a religious relic, maybe ancient scrolls. Perhaps they're to take them back to Messantia to have them translated. I can use the content of the scroll as seeds for future stories, maybe even have it be a Hyborian age version of the Necronomicon, ultimately driving the high priest (and the PC?) insane.

How about this, the contact is a fence who either has sympathies with the cult or is just a known pervayer of weird goods. On the object itself my thought is to have it as some bizarre Pictish idol of a hybrid cat/woman carved from a strange green stone, Also there is a secret compartment inside the idol that holds some mystical and "holy" scriptures written on aged and crumbling scrolls in one of the forgotten tongues(either acheronian, demonic or even one of the pre-cataclysmic ones).

 

[Style]

How about this, the contact is a fence who either has sympathies with the cult or is just a known pervayer of weird goods. On the object itself my thought is to have it as some bizarre Pictish idol of a hybrid cat/woman carved from a strange green stone, Also there is a secret compartment inside the idol that holds some mystical and "holy" scriptures written on aged and crumbling scrolls in one of the forgotten tongues(either acheronian, demonic or even one of the pre-cataclysmic ones).

That's pretty good. There is a Pict shaman in the party, and I plan on sending them across the Thunder River before too long. I can use the Pictish idol as one of the links to get them there. Plus, the scrolls being in a forgotten tongue allows me to delay creating their contents until I know what I want them to be, which will of course be another story seed.

 

[UberDog]

Right now I'm working on a Cult of Yag (not to be confused with Yoggites) for an adventure. Have a Khitan as the leader.

Likely he and said cult will be looking for information on the Kings of Yag as their cult worships they rather then the rebels whom Conan first learned of.
I have always been fascinated with Yag and the implications for the alien in the Hyborian Age. There has been little done with the subject since that first story.

With the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull likely to have ancient aliens as part of its MacGuffin, now is a perfect time to bring out those of Conan's world.

After that I am going to develop the monastic cult of the Elder Things I had mentioned earlier.

As for my Khitan Priest, I'm debating whether or not to base him on Shoko Asahara, former master of Aum Shinrikyo.