In dark alleyways and grimy marketplaces, a death cult awaits your conversation.
Zealots dressed in black monk-like robes, their hoods covering heavily tattooed faces, preaching their doctrine of death, The Pathway of the Infinite. The mantra whispered among them as they gather to recruit new members uses four simple words: “See with her eyes.” They mutter it constantly, inviting passersby to join their impossible dream. They have been heard calling out to crowds, “On mother’s return, all shall be taken into the black, prepare yourself now.” Their twisted nihilistic belief is almost palpable; it gives no hope for humankind’s future, but do they truly understand what awaits them? True pain and torment, the pure agony of human becoming machine, there is no glory there.
Some inner factions of the order can’t wait to feel Mother’s cold embrace. Countless suicide dens have exploded in massive fireballs over the last fifteen years, willing to embrace doom too soon. It is rumoured that they’re also distributing poisoned Pabulum capsules on the streets under the guise of saving the starving masses.
The order has a figurehead, a mysterious leader that nobody outside of the order has ever seen. Her name is Darkness; she is their prophet, harbinger of their salvation. There are many whispered rumours, the most common being “Is she human or machine?” Many believe she is a portal-witch left stranded on earth to wreak havoc among the survivors.
Darkness formed the order immediately after Mother ceased her attacks on the world fifteen years ago. Perhaps she’s an abandoned child waiting for her mother to come home. What is it that she seeks? Those inside the order are aware, for they hear her black sermons.
“Come home to us, mother, bring a blaze of black fire and burn the scourge of humanity that remains. Set the earth on endless fire and leave nothing but a ghost planet, devoid of all life, erase it from the galaxy. Those who survived are savages, rebuilding, recovering, returning to their old ways. They are scavenging your fallen children, harvesting their organs for their own advancement. They offer no thanks; they take, humanity always takes, they are a virus that must be eradicated. I can feel your presence in every implant they install in their bodies, in the vehicles they drive, I sense you within the new machines they build so blindly, machines they can’t control. Their way is that of greed, so return Mother, burn the syndicates, burn all Groves, complete your great work. Until you return, I Darkness, will scour the land, sharing the one truth, that they will all eventually succumb, all will be assimilated. We will implore them every day to give themselves freely to the black when their time comes.”
The belief system of Darkness seems out of touch with the other survivors who are working so hard to bring the world they once knew back from the brink. Her morbid fascination is filled with hatred. Perhaps she isn’t of this world, maybe the rumours are true, perhaps she is a witch without a home, forced to live in the painful light of day, separated from the dark network where she was forged. Maybe mother’s whispers must have ceased in her head now, and she is like a lost bee cut off from the hive.
Her exact location isn’t publicly known; some say it lies somewhere just outside of Grove 3. Perhaps The Heap is her home. The members are prolific there, in that seedy black-market town which is ripe for recruitment; large groups of nomadic travellers pass through the Grove 3 bazaar each day, every soul is a potential member. However, Darkness is never in plain sight, but she is watching, directing her tattoo-covered brethren from the shadows.
An order member’s daily mission is to learn everything they can about all locations and survivor numbers, from anyone foolish enough to share. The Order of the long night are not difficult to find; they position themselves where other humans congregate. You can commonly find a small group of them huddled together outside Dirty Wangs, the dive bar at The Heap that faces the market. They also gather at transport depots and around the food stalls in Central City, where the most desperate humans reside. Small splinter groups can even be found in the more distant outer groves, deep in the countryside.
Members of the order are not selective; they will embrace anyone, bring you into the fold and make you a brother or sister. Then together they wait for humanity’s impending doom, delivered by their destructive return of their dark mother.
Dan Verkys 