Antics — Roleplayer Guild

Basic Details

Settlement Name: "Sullivan's Cathedral" (known in full as "The Cathedral of the Children of the Eschaton") 
Government Type: Theocratic Dictatorship/Cult.

Starting Location: The cult's holdings are well established, having been settled well before the apocalypse. In actuality, they have been waiting for a catastrophe of this scale for years now. The teachings of their messiah, Sam Sullivan, told them the time of purging was coming, after all. The compound, which sits upon a hill, predominantly consists of several adjoined structures packed into close proximity in a roughly "L" shaped configuration. These consist of a former gymnasium now used for general storage, a sleeping quarters, a core building that serves as an entrance to the compound, Sam Sullivan's quarters (or the "HQ"), and the main building, which contains the chapel, kitchen, restroom, and several other facilities. In the courtyard space behind these buildings looms a watch tower (which doubles as an armory), as well as a water tower that is often used as a secondary sniper post. Enclosing the compound is a defensive, rectangular perimeter of concrete walls that stand as tall as a man. A small gatehouse is manned by paranoid defenders.

Currently Controlled Regions:
Indicated by the red circle here. I'll take whatever you give me in terms of size, though I imagine my initial territory is on the small side of things, given it's mostly confined to the compound as described above. 


Demographics

Total Number of Citizens: 45
Potential Military Force: 40, though all are expected to do their duty for the faith in the most dire of circumstances. 

Textbook Information
 (If a historian were to write a textbook, what would they say about your settlement?)

Brief History: As discussed, Sullivan's commune existed before the calamity. It originated with a doomsday cult called "The Eschaton Movement." It preached of a coming era of purging. In their view, only those who heeded the word of their god ("Providence"), and joined his people, were to be saved. However, the focus has shifted. Sullivan went from being merely a prophet, to perceiving himself as the earthly manifestation of the divine will. Accordingly, he also views himself as the rightful sovereign of the world that even now rises from the ruins. 

True to the movement's name, they believe in the eschaton, or the final, heavenly state of human history. They believe this present societal collapse and struggle is merely a test to weed out those who would be detrimental to the utopian world that awaits once the troubles are over.

Current Policies:
Proselytize, proselytize, proselytize - Sullivan's followers presently aim to convert as many survivors as possible to their faith. Accordingly, they also have adopted something of a "hearts and minds" campaign. A lot of effort is devoted to provide supposedly altruistic assistance to stragglers, be it through sharing resources, defending them from danger, or so on.
But a cult is a big responsibility! - In anticipation of their population growing dramatically, they also have to balance the competing interest of actually providing for them. While this mostly entails scavenging, this also has led to several agricultural programs of varying success.


Strengths:
We build the wall to keep us free - At first built to keep out nosey outsiders and to keep the chosen in, safe and secure, the walls around the compound now serve a genuine defensive purpose. The walls stand at roughly man height and fully enclose the compound. While the walls are decently good at keeping the roaming hordes of zombies at bay, it's doubtful they could withstand human interference such as sabotage, or even a siege. Climbing over is also quite possible, but risky.
The Voice of Sullivan - Sullivan's commune is possessed of what is presumably one of few active radio stations left in the world. Situated in the HQ, this is used to broadcast his word to the struggling masses, appealing for them to join the faithful and be saved. Of course, it's questionable how many survivors actually have operational radios in the first place.
Armed to the Teeth - They've been preparing for this for quite a while now. They have a disproportionate amount of small arms, ammunition and surplus military equipment stored away.

Weaknesses:
True Believers - The collapse of civilization has removed any remaining doubts of Sullivan's word. They are (for the most part) secure that their path is the righteous one, and that Sullivan knows best. This isn't as much of a good thing for them as it would appear. While a little fanatacism in combat never goes astray, the commune isn't possessed of any particularly astute military minds. So what you ultimately have are a bunch of people who are unflinchingly obedient, coupled with tactics that are generally clumsy at best, suicidal at worst. It also solidifies Sullivan's will as unquestionable, leaving them prone to all sorts of abuses of his power.
Flock of Sheep - The majority of those considered military able, aren't exactly what would be called ideal soldiers. While there are a few figures who are ex-law enforcement, ex-military and so on (around 10), the rest are just the bewildered, brain-washed masses who have received very little training.
Diplomatically Troubled - Though they have no particular opposition to outsiders (indeed, they would like to bring them into their flock and save them!), outsiders certainly object to them. It's simply natural that cults are looked upon with skepticism and derision. When the leader of their movement literally perceives himself to be a god, or at least an aspect of their god, this is also bound to cause some conflicts.

Leadership: Sam Sullivan, of course. Sam's "Disciples", his closest followers, also enjoy some sway. 

Other: MAY THE GOD PROTECT OUR FRONTIERS, MAY THE GOD PROTECT OUR SON. MAY THE GOD PROTECT THE CROWN, OUR SOVEREIGN KING REBORN.

Name: Samuel Sullivan. 
Age: 32
Appearance: (Picture, drawing, description, whatever. No anime.)
Values:
Faith.
Temperance.
Cooperation.
Persistence.

Goals:
To unify those considered worthy into a coherent whole and rebuild the world as one nation of humanity under his supposedly divine rule. This may very well have to be through force.

Strengths: 
Charismatic. You don't form and lead a cult without having some charisma at your disposal. Not that I'd know firsthand or anything.

Weaknesses:
Megalomaniacal. When you feel you are not only the one man who can save mankind, but also actually a god, this is probably the way to describe such a state of being.
Delusional. Also pretty much a given.

Bio: Samuel Sullivan was originally a preacher for a different religion - Christianity. This came to an end through his last, unusual sermon. He reputedly threw the bible to the ground and declared that they pay too much attention to "that old thing", and should listen to him instead. This went over about as well as you would expect.

From there he travelled around the country, spreading the word of what was ostensibly a variant of Christian dogma, but with more overtly apocalypse and salvation oriented teachings. The stringency with which the faith is enforced and how harshly deviants are treated today is ironic, when considering these origins and how it only grew into its own belief system over time. Soon the Eschaton Movement grew entirely detached from Christianity in any way but broadly similar thematics.

Taking the place as the central figure of the religion was Providence, a force believed to have indirectly orchestrated nearly all human activity, including the establishment of other faiths. They hold Providence to have constantly arrayed mankind against each other through assorted wars and other hardships to try and violently expunge sin. However, as none of these wars, no matter the scale had succeeded in Providence's goal, it was anticipated that there would one day be a calamity on a much larger scale than ever before as one final attempt to scour the degenerate and wicked. However, Samuel preached there would also soon be a day where there would be no more room in the afterlife for the souls of the deceased, and mankind would have to establish their own heavenly world in the mortal plane. These previously separate beliefs combined as a convenient explanation for the present horde of zombies roaming the entire world.

Soon enough Samuel had gathered enough followers and through them enough funds to establish what is today their "cathedral", as well as amass weaponry and other supplies, preparing to fulfill their divine sovereign's will and aid in the establishment of his heavenly domain on Earth.

 
Other: (Anything left out that you feel should be mentioned? This is the place!)
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