[OOC] The Cyber Cult Rises!! (cyberpunk cult rp)

[Jangel13]

What is the difference between cult and religion?

That is a question that is vauge and difficult to respond to but in this world where the 1% live in ivory towers while implants in the poor make them live meaningless exsistances just for the sake of living. The endless torture of living without meaning, without purpose, without a reason to even take a breath. This is the world that needs a true leader one that will bring light into the these neon streets. For he is The Prophet When he came we were freed from the implants that bound us to endless servitude and saw him as our messiah. For he has given us a reason to live and we shall fight for him, we shall die for him, and we shall kill for him. Long live The prophet!!!

Lore

The current year is 2119 the world has changed dramatically in the last century.

• Year 2030: The worlds first augmented human emerges. Beating every star athlete with minimal effort and causing a skyrocket in the augementation of human beings.
• Year 2033: Human purists from the church protest the augmentation of humans in its first mass protest
• Within that same year: The first riot came and caused millions in damage in italy and new york lives were lost.
• Year 2040: goliath industries becomes the worlds largest conglomerate dealing with all things augmentation
• Year 2042: Goliath industries "gives" its own private security to the police. Fully augmenated police became the norm
• Year 2050: After years of peace thanks to the augmented police force public opinion greatly increases and as a result 80% of the world population becomes augmented
• Year 2053: Goliath industries secrely develope an implant that allows the manipulation of peoples emotions and inhibitions.
• Within that same year: Goliath indistries starts human testing on convicts and death row inmates and immedaitly proved how potent it could be as none of them felt the need to harm or hurt others and were repenant.
• Year 2062: Organized religion dies as the implants force the masses to congregate at work rather then at mass
• Year 2070: By this point Goliath industries controls all major industries in the world and has secretly put the implant in all humans forcing them into unkowingly slavery
• Year 2100: The world has changed irrevocably as the last tree dies. Now the world has beocme a full industrial complex. Any naysayers were quickly dealt with thanks to the implants. The world is now in its entirity a neon jungle.
• Present day: All humans are living meanless lives as the implant forces them all into depravity and mindless slavery. They dont think they simply work and indulge in their pleasures.... at least, until the prophet came...

Cult Hierarchy

From highest to lowest:

• The Prophet: He is the man sent by the lord almighty himself! None dare to question him!
• high commanders: Those that followed the prophet in the begining and as such have earned their place at his side (i.e. you)
• Commanders: Those that have earned the right to lead a group under the supervision of the high commanders
• High priests: Those that follow the words of the prophet they leade sermons and heal those with the word of the almighty and the prophet himself. They only perform the most intricate and difficult of rituals.
• Monks: Devoute believers beyond a doubt. They have such strong faith that they are protected by god that they fear no bullets. They are the ones that charge into battle and lead small squads.
• Preachers: They have heard the word of the prophet and they seek to spread the word themselves. They recruit followers into the cult
• Confessors: They force the heathens to confess their sins one way or another! They are the blades in the dark, the assassins of the cult.
• Hackers: For those that are technologically gifted. They are the ones that commune with the numbers that the world now seems to run on. They can hack into infrastructure and steal from banks.
• Worshippers: They are much like devout sisters of the church. They pray on their knees and give thanks for all the lord has given them
• Purifiers: Believers with skill in weaponry. These believers use ranged weapons in a fight and are essential for any battle
• Fanatics: the second lowest worshipper, they believe in the word of the lord beyond all doubt and any word against it is considered blasphamey to them. They kill and die happily in the service of the prophet.
• Followers: The lowest of ranks, they are ordinary people who have been released from the control of the implants and are awaiting to know their calling from the prophet.

cult beliefs

The path of Cyber-occultism
The singularity is the next step to salvation.
Enhancements bring us to a better understanding of his sacred being.


We search for true sanctification in augmentations

This cult is one of self awakening and realization. The Prophet has opened our eyes to see that we were never living our lives, but droning through them. We were simply playing the part that society had picked for us, never getting a chance to choose for ourselves what career we want to pursue. Through the Prophet, the lord has shown us what true salvation is. He has shown us that cybernetics are the path to true perfection of soul, but have been perverted by the powers at hand. By our awakening we can turn what is being used for control, into the life giving freedom of the soul.

God's First Touch
An early development model of realistic Cybernetic Arms. They are prototype of the first human realistic augmentations, one masculine and the other feminine, and can not be touched by anyone but the prophet. They are considered to be the Adam and Eve of augmentations.

Advantage
With the cult being centralized on augmentations the engineers of the cult are always trying new enhancements and various modifications, this allows the cult to be on the bleeding edge of most body tech. Their work pushes the limits of physical capacities as the reverse engineer and restructure augments to be more durable, have faster response times, and better handling of various software. Their work has proven in some cases to be better than both commercial and private sector tech like security drones, and military armaments.

Disadvantage
With the modifications and enhancements being experimental in the early stages of use there is a "high risk equals high reward" mentality as the engineers try to push the limits of what can and can't be done. Most of these trials are carried out on volunteers and some times prisoners due to the potential for deadly consequences. Even when they do work out this tech is highly susceptible to Augmentation Rejection Disorder where the brain can't cope with the changes causing disassociation leading to catatonia or coma, and cyber-hijacking where outside forces gain access to the implants of an individual and corrupt the software that keeps it under user control causing them to go into a frenzied state.

Rules

1. What the Gm and co Gm says is law but we will listen to reason and will take suggestions.
2. You can kill each other but only if both parties agree to the death.
3. I don't mind if you get into a heated discussion OOC, however, any arguments that become name calling and hostile I will ask that you go to your PM we are not children so don't act like it.
4. If you have read these rules then add For the Prophet! in your CS
5. Finally, Have Fun and lets start the uprising :)

Character sheets

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Apperance:

Augmentations: (if any)

Weaponry:

How did you know the prophet?: (his first name was elliot so how did you know him before he became the prophet?)

What is your role?: (are you the leader of the worshippers? are you the master of the confessors? What do you do to help further the goals of the Prohpet?)

Personality:

History:

Other:

[Jangel13]

The types of paths that are open to us:

The path of purity: We believe that the human body was made to be perfect from the begining we believe augementations are the tools of the weak. We strengthen our body not replace it.

• Idol: A bleeding heart, when we fight our blood carries us forward!
• Of Godly make: Our prophet has given us the gift from our lord himself. A jar of blood from the last original human. The last human that was born without augemenations or the implants. It is truly pure.
• Advantage: We strengthen our bodies to the fullest and as a result we can contend with even those that have cybernetic implants to make them strong.
• Disadvantage: We believe that augmentations are a sign of weakness and as a result anyone who has augementations are targeted by the fantatics and priests, they can be attacked simply for having the implants

The path of neoshamanism: The path of the neo shaman is one that believes that the holy numbers of 1s and 0s is the language of god himself. We study the numbers and as a result we believe that implants and augementaions are tools to help us commune with god himself.

• Idol: A series of 1s and 0s that in binary translate: We are the chosen of god, we have seen the beauty of his work!
• Of godly make: The Prophet was able to get a hold of an old manual, the first instruction booklet on how to read binary in paper. This is considered holy teachings and is to be protected at all costs!
• Advantage: hackers and those cybernetically enhanced with certain augmentations are considered the readers of gods words. Hacking and downloading are much faster and easier.
• Disadvantage: because the followers of this path revere numbers and reading them they are much weaker to the physical attacks by heritcs

The path of Cyberoccultism: We believe in the ideal of the singularity. We much enhance ourselves with the great works of god (augmentations) and reach the ideal perfection of full synthetic beings.

• Idol: An image of a void behind a human with one half normal and the other half fully cybernetic. For we search for perfection in augementations
• Of godly make: A (stolen) blueprint of the first augementation desgin. It was an image made through the lords work and can not be touched by anyone but the prophet. It details the first ideal of the cybernetic man
• Advantage: All followers follow augmentaions and as such are stronger, faster, and smarter then the average robot or riot police that try to stop them
• Disavantage: If a strong enough hacker is on the otherside they can hack into the lower ranked fanatics. And some followers that have to much augementaion can become feral and attack any in their path

So what do you guys think the cult should be?

[Master Crim]

Sweeto! I will get started on a character tonight

[Shadow Dragon]

What kind of augmentations are there?

[Jangel13]

@Shadow Dragon

Think like Deus Ex, they are there but not seen unless used. Though there are extremes for example someone could have their arm removed completely and instead have a fully cybernetic arm. Then there are those that want augementations beyond human anatomy but if you get these and the cult is against augementations you wont be seen as a commander and may even be a target of our fantatics

[Jangel13]

@Nerdy Reference@Arreyis

You both still with us?

[Arreyis]

Yes! Sorry. Had a busy night. I'll be working on my character later today. :-) I have DnD meeting and schoolwork to do tonight, so earliest I'll be able to start RP is tomorrow.

[Jangel13]

Not a problem just glad to hear your still with us

[Master Crim]

@Jangel13 how old is the prophet and what did he do before his priestly endeavors?

[Jangel13]

@Master Crim

Right now he would be 25 in college he was a business major as expected of him from his implant. However he mysteriously left one day to see the rest of the world. When he came back he found a way to disable the implants and you know the rest. His young life is one where he was purposely groomed to be a business exec

[Arreyis]

What do you think of having an incoming interrogator? I wanna push myself just a little, and playing someone who is doing bad things for good reasons I think is something I want to do. So she'd be the leader of the Preists, responsible for vetting and interrogating all newcomers, making sure that they do not have hidden implants and are not controlled by outside forces. She'd occassionally have to hurt people to protect the cult/organization and she would hate what she does but feel that her hate for it makes her the best to do it.

[Jangel13]

@Arreyis

That's certainly interesting she can lead the priests and interrogate newcomers if she feels it's necessary. Just add blind devotion to the faith and your all set lol

[Arreyis]

Right, she'd hate having to hurt people but feel it's necessary to erradicate the unfaithful who would do them harm. She might even be slightly in love with the Prophet, or at least think that she is, making her devotion to the organization that much deeper.

Other than believing that Elliot is the Prophet, what type of religion is it? Would it be leaning towards Christianity, Paganism, Hinduism? Or is it something that you will give us as we go? If I'm writing sermons that she is listening in on I want to try to keep it consistent.

[Jangel13]

That is a good question I will address that in my second post.i wanted the group to decide what kind of religion we will have. It's late here so I'll put up the last tomorrow

[Jangel13]

@Nerdy Reference@Master Crim@Arreyis

So which cult type should we follow? I put the list in my second post

[Arreyis]

The one that makes the most sense to me is the path of purity

[Jangel13]

@Arreyis

Maybe but are you sure you want to live in a cyberpunk universe without augmentations? Anyone in the cult with them would be targeted

[Master Crim]

Side Rant

I think we need a custom tailored path that works with the story we are trying to play out. While these paths are great and make sense in the setting we fall into none of these as they don't match the calling Elliot seems to be putting out, he is combating the corporate and government overreach into the lives of the people. They are creating a world similar to 1984 where the populous is made submissive through pleasure or force. In this narrative it seems that we are controlled through behavior modification that pacifies any thoughts of discontent or individual aspiration. We are selected to serve a purpose and herded into that sector. This is what Elliot is saving us from. He is not saving us from Augmentation, not revealing a greater truth within our being, and not telling everyone that without augmentation your life if forfeit in the eyes of a god. This is where the religious cultism falls short on the story in my mind, we are rising against the corps and private sectors. If you want to go with a religious filter you would need one that paints them the evil in the world.

The Neoshamanism path could be molded in a way to work with the "Sacred Text" playing out the story of the Corps taking over and taking away individual freedoms, and a chosen uprising giving back that freedom and overthrowing the Corps.

[Arreyis]

The reason I say that is because if we're fighting a government that is forcibly implanting people, it makes more sense to bring a religion that is against augmentation rather than for it. People in the cult wanting more augments bring the risk that people would wind up being controlled again. If we're wanting to go full on cybernetic human mutants, then cool, but at that point would we not BE the government's right hand religion? Seeing as how that's what they want and all...

[Master Crim]

The way I see it, is not that the Corp/Government wants everyone Cybernetic, but just under control. This is achieved through the behavior mods that I assume give the feel of natural thought towards what they want you to do as well as being able to monitor your thoughts and actions. Without this mod we are free no matter how many implants and prosthetic you have. I don't think that all Cybernetics are Open Network Connected.