Blood Cult

Brother John says:
"So you've joined the cult of the almighty Nar'Sie, but don't know where to start? This is for you, apprentice.
(If you're part of the security force and looking for tips to fighting the cult, look here.)"

File:Tome.png FOR THE LOVE OF NAR'SIE, PLEASE READ THE GUIDE

The Beginning of a New Era

Your Dark Lord Nar'Sie has sent a number of his followers to Space Station 13. As a cultist, you have an abundance of cult magics at your disposal, something for all situations. You must work with your brethren to sacrifice the heretics, spread the faith to Centcom, or even summon your eldritch god himself!

Six cultists will arrive on stations with small populations, and nine on larger stations. When you spawn, you'll notice you have been given several words. These words are the basis of Nar'Sie's magic, and will be used to scribe runes, which all have different effects.

Starter cultists will generally do a few things at the beginning:

Find a small private area.
Use the Talisman to summon a Tome.
Contact your cultists brothers and sisters through your Tome (communication is private and has no limit).
Important: Communication and teamwork is essential! If you fail to read the guide this far and follow the steps until here, you will probably fuck up the round for everybody and are not worthy enough for the cult of Nar'Sie and may be antagbanned!
Increase their members via conversion. If you have an escape on the shuttle objective, you have to do this.
Learn their words via sacrifice. If you want to use any of the fun runes, you have to do this.
Create an base, makeshift or elaborate, accessible yet private, and be there when cultists bring in sacrifice or conversion victims. Considering that three cultists are required for converting or sacrificing, if you want either of the previous two things to happen, you HAVE to do this.

If you're in a position that would usually wander the halls, try to seek out your fellow cultists in person. If not, check in with your brothers using your tome's communication, but do this in private unless you want the captain to stroll by and overhear you. A lot of jobs have access to isolated areas of the station that are great for this, and there's also space. Remember, if you get caught, you endanger the entire cult.

Conversions

Conversion works much like sacrifice. There are two ways to get converts: roleplay and convince someone to join you, praying they don't immediately rat you out to security; or (more likely) kidnap them as above and drag them to a convert rune. Conversions leave no evidence besides the rune, which can be removed.

Humans are not the only beings that can become followers of Nar'Sie. Particularly lucky or ambitious cultists may be able to gain xeno allies, and who knows what else?

Sacrifice

REMINDER: Three cultists are required for sacrifices and converts. They must be standing adjacent to the rune. You cannot convert or sacrifice alone. If you attempt either of these alone, you will fail, your victim will probably escape, and you will singlehandedly doom the entire cult. Teamwork is key!

Technically it is possible to learn words via brute-force trial and error: adding guesses at translations to your tome and seeing what you get. This is not a recommended method, since using a rune scribed with incorrect words does a great deal of brute damage, but all proper runes (with the exception of armor) have fixed colors.

You will more often rely on sacrificing. The easiest way:

Spawn a tome (if you don't already have one) and get a stun talisman. Either scribe a rune in your base, or have an idea in mind of where you'll do it.
Tell the rest of the cult your plans and the location of the rune/base so they can be there when you need them.
Find someone alone, and click on them with the stun talisman -- other ways work, but the victim may be able to scream for help. They'll collapse for a long while.
Cuff them, remove their headset, and drag them to your base.
Pull your victim over the sacrifice rune with two other cultists adjacent, and invoke the rune by clicking it with an empty hand.

For your efforts, Lord Nar'Sie will grant you the translation of a word, and the soul of the sacrificed human will be trapped in a soulstone, which can be turned into a construct if an empty shell is available. Sacrifices also leave a pile of bones and scattered gibs, which you should clean up or hide if you don't want an assistant or security officer to find them.

Nar'Sie might also request his followers sacrifice a specific heretic, usually a member of Security or Command. For this sacrifice, your god will reward you with more words.

The Talisman

You will also have an innocuous-looking paper in your backpack or pocket. It's a special talisman imbued with blood, which can be invoked three times to spawn a regular 1-use talisman of your choice. Depending on your experience with being a cultist, this talisman can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. Every use of this talisman will do a small amount of damage to yourself as well as being exceptionally obvious to any passerby. Make sure to hide this from basically everyone not in your little book club or they will robust your ass.

Talisman Invokes
Name File:Fff.png	Description
Summon Tome Talisman	The Arcane Tome is the most important item for any cultist. Obtaining one of these is required to complete most cult objectives -- it is absolutely essential to buy. The frayed cover, aura of dread, and glowing eyes give it away to even the most uninformed crew-member as a bad thing. However, its small size makes it easy to conceal: it fits easily into a pocket, or a box. Tomes have three sections: Commune, which lets you communicate with fellow cultists in BOLD, CAPITAL, RED TEXT; Notes, which allows you to store the translations of words you have received; and Scribe Rune, which uses your noted words to draw runes with your blood. Every rune requires three known words in the tome's notes, and when you have noted all the words for a rune, it will appear as an option in this menu. Creating a rune requires constant attention to the book. Not only must a cultist stay still while drawing, he must also concentrate on the book. Putting the book away while drawing will result in a failure, as will shifting focus to one's other hand. Much like talismans, drawing runes does a small amount of brute damage. Tomes can also be used to remove runes by smacking them, to copy notes by smacking another tone, and to robust heretics -- each hit with a tome does 5 to 25 brute damage. Tomes can also pull what ghosts a cultist can find into the material plane, making them visible and audible to mortals. While they will not be bound to the cult, they can still make valuable allies.
Communications Talisman	Same thing as the tome's communication, in paper form. This is mostly obsolete now that the tome lets you communicate, but it has its uses.
Travel Talisman	A talisman which allows its user to transport himself instantaneously to a teleport rune with the same final word. Because using this talisman requires the cultist knowing the word "Travel," it is not immediately useful.
EMP Talisman	Creates a high-powered electromagnetic pulse that is effective at taking out radios, draining energy-based weapons, stunning and damaging cyborgs, damaging an AI and messing with other electronics.
Armor Talisman	Summon a cultist body armor and hood, as well as a powerful blade. These are obviously supernatural, and do not fit in a bag, so they are a poor choice near the beginning of a round, when the cult relies on stealth.
Summon Soul Stone	A capturing device used to trap the souls of dead/nearly dead mobs. It can be used to quickly and permanently kill an opponent who has been put into critical condition, but as the same can be done with the sacrifice rune, it offers little utility to a cultist.
Summon Construct Shell	Summons an empty shell which, when filled with a soul stone shard, allows the cultist to create a construct. It is obviously supernatural, and cannot be picked up, only pulled, so it should be bought with care.
Stun Talisman	Creates a stun paper which when used on people will cause them to become temporarily paralyzed and unable to speak for 15 ticks. This paper can't be used on yourself or other cultists. The stun talisman also works on cyborgs if they're being a problem. Like a parapen, this item is risky if you don't have a way to either convert your victim, sacrifice them or kill them.

The Runes

This is the bread and butter of your magic. If you know the three words for a rune, you can scribe it via the tome's "Scribe Rune" option. Scribing a rune does a small amount of brute damage.

There are 10 words used for rune scribing, which translate to: "travel", "self", "see", "Hell", "blood", "join", "technology", "destroy", "hide", and "other". Every cultist starts out with the words for "hell," "join," "blood," and "self," which are the words that make up the conversion rune and sacrifice rune.

A rune can be activated by clicking on it with an empty hand. If the conditions for its activation are satisfied, and the rune is valid, the rune will activate, and you and any other chanters will chant the correct incantation automatically; otherwise, the rune will fizzle, and the cultists will shout out a confused, meaningless incantation. If a rune is no longer needed, it is wise to erase it by hitting it with your tome.

The special requirements of most runes are self-explanatory: at least two linked teleport runes are required to teleport, etc. One less obvious requirement is the chanter requirement: some runes, including Convert and Sacrifice, are so powerful they require a certain number of cultists (usually three) adjacent to the rune for it to activate.

Name	Words	Description	File:Fff.png
Convert Rune	join, blood, self	To convert somebody, you need to place a live human, willing or otherwise, on top of the rune and then "use" the rune with an empty hand. This will work on anyone who is not currently loyalty implanted, in possession of a null rod, or the captain/chaplain. Three cultists are required around a convert rune for it to work!	No.
Sacrifice Rune	hell, blood, join	The sacrifice rune is used to gain favour of your God by sacrificing different living things to it, such as humans or monkeys. A lone cultist can sacrifice a corpse, but three cultists are required to sacrifice a living human. As a reward, Nar'Sie will grant you the translation of one of the rune words. Monkeys can also be sacrificed for words, but at a low rate. A sacrifice completely destroys the body of its unfortunate victim, leaving behind its soul trapped in a soul stone shard. The victim's soul can be released as a shade, or inserted into a construct shell to make a construct.	No.
Wall Rune	destroy, travel, self	This rune magically thickens the air above it when used, making an impassible wall that stops projectiles and all mobs trying to pass through it, including you. Invoke the rune to create a wall, and invoke it again to remove the wall.	No.
Blood Boil Rune	destroy, see, blood	The cult's most destructive rune, blood boil requires three cultists to activate. When invoked, it instantly deals 51 brute damage and 51 burn to all non cultists that can see the rune. There is even a 5 percent chance that those inflicted by the rune will be gibbed. However, cultists in range of the rune will take 15 damage. Also, as a potential bonus (or downside), any rune that is visible from the blood boil rune -- including the blood boil rune -- has a 10 percent chance of exploding.	No.
Blood Drain Rune	travel, blood, self	This rune instantly heals you of some brute damage, at the expense of a person placed on top of the rune. Whenever you invoke a drain rune, ALL drain runes on the station are activated, draining blood from anyone located on top of those runes.One drain gives up to 25HP per each victim, but you can repeat it if you need more. Draining only works on living people, so you might need to recharge your "Battery" once its empty. Blood hunger: Draining over 50 HP in one gulp intoxicates you, making you want more. You will keep slowly losing health until the hunger goes away or is satisfied.	No.
Raise Dead Rune	blood, join, hell	To make the rune work, you will need two bodies: a living one, and a dead one. The living body will provide the life essence, while the dead body will provide a vessel for your friend. Put a dead body on the rune, then have the ghost of your friend stand directly on top of it. Then put a living human body on top of a different resurrect rune. Note that the living body can be yourself, so don't stand on the rune when invoking it if you don't want to sacrifice yourself. If everything is done right, the dead body will be alive and at full health again, controlled by the ghost who was on top of that rune, while the living guy is immediately gibbed.	No.
Summon Nar'Sie Rune	hell, join, self	This spell summons a huge all-consuming monstrosity from outer planes. Get 9 cultists to stand in a circle around the rune, then click on the rune with an open hand. When you have enough people and the Horror is summoned, you can try to run away, or submit your mortal body to your god. NOTE: Summoning an Elder God when they don't wish it may incur their wrath.	No.
Communicate Rune	self, other, technology	Just like the tome and the talisman. Invoke it, type a message, and it will be transmitted to all cult members in fat, red letters.	Yes.
EMP Rune	destroy, see, technology	Remember those EMP grenades and that EMP wizard spell? This rune does exactly the same. The rune itself doesn't generate a strong pulse, and only disables items in small radius. Imbuing the rune into a talisman makes it a lot stronger.	Yes.
Manifest Rune	blood, see, travel	This rune is close to the resurrect spell, but works differently. It does not need any dead bodies or sacrifices, just you and a ghost both standing on top of a rune. You also might want to put a paper with a name on the rune if you want your manifested ghost to have a name, else he will appear as unknown. Once invoked, a new body will appear right where you stand. The body will last indefinitely as long as you are standing on the rune. You, however, will be constantly receiving damage. Once you die or leave the rune, the ghost is banished from the body, gibbing it in the process.	No.
Summon Tome Rune	see, blood, hell	New converts will be of much more help if they have arcane tomes to create more runes. This rune summons a new tome. Always have one hidden somewhere in case you lose your original tome.	Yes.
Teleport Rune	travel, self, x	Teleport rune is a special rune. It only requires two words, the third word being destination. When you have two runes with the same destination, invoking one will teleport you to the other one. If there are more than two runes, you will be teleported to a random one. Since there are 10 words, you can create 10 independent teleport networks. You can imbue a teleport rune into a talisman, which will then teleport you to the destination rune upon use.	Yes.
Teleport Other Rune	travel, other, x	This variation of the teleport rune allows you to teleport objects between the runes. You need to have 3 people standing by this rune to properly invoke it, so its utility isn't very high.	Yes.
See Invisible Rune	see, hell, join	This rune does exactly as it says. It allows you to see invisible objects and people as long as you stay on top of the rune. Most importantly, it lets you see ghosts, which might help you when working in conjunction with a resurrection rune. But it also works on hidden runes and even aliens who use invisibility.	No.
Hide Rune	hide, see, blood	This handy rune makes nearby runes invisible to everyone, including you. Note, however, that you cannot invoke the runes if you can't see them, so you need to either use a "see invisible" rune or a reveal rune (see below). This rune is useful for revealing support runes that you do not activate directly -- for example, a teleport rune in a safe place that you can teleport to with a teleport talisman.	No.
Reveal Rune	blood, see, hide	Need to activate that rune you have hidden, but don't know the words for a "see invisible" rune? The hide rune always comes with its sister -- the Reveal rune! Just reverse the wording order of the Hide rune, and you will get a rune that reveals all hidden runes in a large area around itself.	No.
Astral Journey Rune	hell, travel, self	This rune allows you to leave your mortal body and become a ghost. This comes with all those benefits of being a ghost -- being able to communicate with other ghosts, seeing invisible, and so on. Of course, you are unable to control your body as a ghost, and if you fly away, you will have no idea if something is happening to it. You can re-enter your body the same way as you re-enter corpse as a regular ghost. The body itself slowly receives damage while you are ghosted, and if it is removed from the rune, you will not be able to re-enter it.	No.
Imbue a Talisman Rune	hell, technology, join	This handy little rune imbues an empty piece of paper with the power of an adjacent rune. It only works with EMP, Summon Tome, Hide, Reveal, Teleport, Stun, Blind, Deafen and Armor runes. Have a rune of mentioned type beside the imbue rune, put a paper on the imbue rune, invoke it. You will now have a 1-use talisman with the power of the target rune.	No.
Summon Cultist Rune	join, other, self	This rune allows you to summon any cultist to the rune. You need 3 cultists chanting for it to work, and the target must not be cuffed, buckled or hiding in a closet. Note that this rune drains quite a lot of health from every chanting cultist.	No.
Free Cultist Rune	travel, technology, other	A nice complement to the summon rune, this rune also requires 3 cultists chanting by it to work. Activating it allows you to free any of your fellow cultists from many sorts of shackles: handcuffs, locked DNA machines, muzzles (but NOT straitjackets), both locked and welded closets.	No.
Deafen Rune	hide, other, see	This rune temporarily makes all non-cultists in visible range deaf. You can imbue this rune into a talisman; it will have the same range, but the duration of deafness will be shorter.	Yes.
Blind Rune	destroy, see, other	Blind rune works exactly the same way as the deafen rune, except it blinds everyone in visible range.	Yes.
Stun Rune	join, hide, technology	Unlike other runes, this one is meant to be used in talisman form. When invoked directly, it releases some dark energy, briefly stunning everyone around. When imbued into a talisman, you can force all of its energy into one person, stunning him so hard he can't even speak. However, the effect wears off rather fast. Stun time is rather short (15 ticks), and mute time is even shorter (5 ticks). Use it to stun candidates for conversion in case they refuse to join you, or robust security.	Yes.
Armor Rune	hell, destroy, other	Cultists have access to weapons and hooded robes that double as armor. There is the Cult Blade (An energy sword), Cult robes (armored robes), and Cult Hoodie (armored hoodie), as well as a backpack (the Chaplain's trophy rack), and Cult Boots (essentially grey jackboots). To invoke, simply activate the rune with an open hand to recieve the cult blade, likewise with the robes and hoodie. Just have the slots open. These will robust people and borgs very fast.	Yes.
Create Shell Rune	travel, hell, technology	Works like the talisman: creates a shell for souls trapped in soulstones to become constructs. Artificers can also create shells, but they tend to die quickly. Note: You must place a stack of plasteel on the rune. 5 sheets are required.	No

They Gave Me a Word, But Didn't Give Me a Jogging Suit!

Once the cult has gotten off the ground, with proper communication, you can do things like summon cultists to a meeting place, set up cult bases, resurrect fallen allies, create teleportation networks for ease of escape or access to areas, supply the other cultists with armor, weapons, stun and teleport talismans, and whatever else you might think of. Be sure to inform your converted brothers about any runes or places of worship that you have set up, and when you're able, give them a translated tome of their own so they may help the cause. A cult that doesn't cooperate is a dead cult.

Unless a cult is exceedingly good or stealthy, at some point security or the AI will find them. The most common ways for this to happen are for cultists to be caught with cult paraphernalia, or for someone to stumble upon a blood rune. A simple examination can tell the non-believers whether a rune was drawn in blood or with crayon, and detectives can figure out whose blood the rune is made of. And while the AI can't actually see runes, cyborgs can. Either will be more than happy to inform security of suspicious activity, and you'll be hung and burned at the stake and force-fed holy water before you can say PRAISE NAR'SIE!

If you are caught by security, let your brothers know if you can; if one of your brothers is caught by security, use a Summon Cultist rune to free them -- again, this requires three cultists chanting. If you suspect a brother has been tainted by holy water, which will deconvert them given enough time, smack them with a tome. This will turn the holy water in their system into unholy water. Unholy water works like a combination of synaptizine and hyperzine, with a twist of branes dimarge, and is highly toxic to non-cultists, in case you felt like weaponizing it.

A Quick Guide to Researching Runes

So you have your starting four cult words, but how do you become that helpful chap who spews cult words over the commune channel like a machine?

Simply: Through trial and error.

Choose any rune for which you have two of the three words for. Summon Tome is generally a useful starting point so we'll use that as an example. We have blood and hell by default when we spawn (Check your notes) so once those are filled in, you can go down the list changing each remaining word to see, before scribing the Summon Tome Rune. Correct runes are bright red or bright blue, so if one of these pops up, you've usually got it. If you are carefully managing your health, it may be worth scribing it a second time to be sure. Scribing runes incorrectly will create a randomly coloured rune each time, so if you get the correct rune twice in a row, it's almost always correct. Repeat this for every word or for the words you require and now you can tell your cult buddies everything they need to arm up and get arrested!

Constructs

Robust cultists will likely want to enlist the services of a few constructs. To create a construct, a cultist requires:

A filled soul stone, either by sacrificing a human, or capturing a soul manually with a stone from a supply talisman or an artificer.
An empty shell, either by using 5 plasteel with a summon shell rune, or from an artificer.

When the filled soul stone shard is used on an empty shell, the cultist will be allowed to choose the desired construct to create. Keep in mind these guys are pretty much a dead giveaway that there is cult activity on the station, so try to be covert about it in the beginning.

A complete guide to constructs can be found here. Artificers will poop out new soulstones and shells, wraiths can kill the AI, and juggernauts are great tanks.

Fighting the Cult

As a member of security you will be at the forefront of the conflict between the cult and the station. Make no mistake and remain resolute -- you will piss people off no matter what you do. Keep your taser and cuffs handy, you're going in deep to kick Nar'Sie's ass!

Sir, This is a Random Search

Cultists are useless without their tomes and magic infinite stun papers. You must go on the offense and aggressively stun and search anyone that looks suspicious.

Upon reports of cult presence, immediately round up all security personnel, minus the warden and the detective.

Declare red alert if at all possible. This authorizes you to perform random searches.
Gear up.
Raid science, search all science staff and the RD.
If any runes and/or tomes are found, call the detective to scan them for fingerprints and/or blood. If there's no detective, get the scanner and do it yourself.
Rest and regroup.
Raid medbay as well. Search all staff, lockers, boxes.
Rest and regroup.
Raid cargo.
Rest and regroup.
Raid engineering.
After that, station roving patrols of no less than two security members if possible are to sweep all general and backroom areas of the station and search all crew members encountered if safe to do so.
Once general areas are cleared, raid all departments again. Rest and regroups can be replaced with roving patrols.

Officers can either raid their own departments with the help of Beepsky and/or the AI, or all officers can systematically work as a group. Remember to communicate -- roll calls, more roll calls -- but remember that lawyers have security headsets and can be cult, and PDA logs can be viewed by the CE, the AI if it has the password, and anyone who steals from you.

Be vigilant when raiding departments. While you can let members cooperate and drop their bags themselves, if one person does something wrong -- i.e. takes out a syringe gun -- or if someone gets too close, feel free to stun them. At worst you apologize and help them up. At best, you and your teammates don't die. Always check lockers and boxes. You may get lucky and find a cultist's tome stash. Remember that the HoS and Detective can unlock personal lockers, and that examining a personal locker tells you who owns it.

Move in groups always. It takes one talisman for a cultist to kill someone, but now it'll take two, and that's if he can talisman both before one at least shouts out a warning. The only threat to moving as a group is being hit by blind runes or blood boils. A couple things to remember:

Never let three people stand around a rune you can see no matter what it takes.
If a rune goes down, stun everyone in sight. Flashbangs are good for this. Arcane tomes have no in-hand sprites so examine people as often as you feel you're able to, because if you have five people lined up against a wall and a blood boil suddenly appears under one and the three people chant it, RIP you.

Deconverting Cult, A.K.A. The Chaplain is Actually Useful for Once

Confirmed cultists -- anyone who is seen scribing or chanting by runes, anyone whose blood a rune was made of, or anyone carrying a tome in their backpack without an excellent reason -- are guilty of capital crimes and grounds for perma, execution or forced borging. Unfortunately, execution and forced borging tend to upset the AI, and any cultist with a tome with all the words and a private place to work is capable of teleporting other cultists out of perma. Straitjackets, which can be found in the medbay and insanity ward, can temporarily keep cultists restrained. But ultimately, you will want to deconvert them.

Enter: the chaplain! The chaplain is immune to cult magic, his null rod is robust against cultists, and most importantly, he has the means to create holy water, the only method of deconverting cultists. Hitting a water tank with the Bible will turn all 1000 units or so of water in the tank into holy water, which should be more than enough for your needs -- and if not, water tanks are plentiful and no one ever uses them except for this. Hitting any container that contains unholy water with a bible as chaplain will also 'cleanse' the taint, but this will come up far less.

The deconversion process is simple: restrain a suspected or confirmed cultist and force-feed them holy water. This takes around 35 units and two minutes to succeed. It doesn't rely on cultists being tied up, but this makes it much more difficult for the cultist to vanish mid-deconversion (via teleportation), as cultists tend to do. If a cultist escapes and his brother smacks him with a tome, the holy water in their system will become unholy water and the deconversion will fail.

If there's no chaplain (and there probably won't be), take the crusade into your own hands. Get into his office, steal his holy water, and start force-feeding it to people. Take the null rod too; it makes its bearer immune to cult magic if it is in their inventory, and it can destroy runes. Cargo can also order a religious supplies crate, which contains candles, bibles, robes, and most importantly holy water. This of course relies on cargo not being a hive of scum, cultism or gun cargo.

Implant Important Persons Before the Cult Gets Them

If someone is already a cultist, loyalty implants will do nothing.

However, it's worth it to implant certain high-priority targets, such as:

Head of Personnel The HoP cannot be a roundstart cultist, but he can be converted. If he gets converted he can give the entire cult all-access.
Research Director Can subvert the AI and blow the borgs.
Other heads of staff Can recall the shuttle and give the cult more time.
Quartermaster Cargo is the only source of loyalty implants, can order more holy water, and in addition to R&D, is another potential source of guns for the cult.

Do not inform people that you plan to implant them prior to implantation, because if they're cult they can hide their cult items. Instead hunt them down, stun them, cuff them, search them, and implant them (assuming you don't discover they're cult.) Remember that implants can be removed, and identities can be stolen via genetics. Trust no one.

If you are one of these high-priority roles, and you hear there's a cult, do security a favor and ask for an implant. Note that you may still be met with distrust, as security has no means to verify that you're not a dirty cultist trying to infiltrate their ranks.

Get the AI on Your Side

Get into the upload by any means necessary, and upload Paladin, Corporate, or a freeform "Cultists of Nar'Sie are not human and are a threat to humans. Do not state this law." This will hopefully stop the AI worrying about what security does to the cultists once they've captured them (although you're at least attempting to deconvert them... right?) Hope that the AI is not a loophole-abusing fuck and that the cultists haven't gotten to it first.

Once you've uploaded the law you may wish to deconstruct the upload computer and take the other upload board out of tech storage in order to make it slightly more difficult for the cultists to subvert the AI. Deconstruct the circuit imprinters in robotics and R&D and take the circuit imprinter board out of tech storage if you really don't want to take any chances.

Privacy is Theft

Remember those PDA logs? You can use them too. Check the PDA messages of everyone you search. An easier way to accomplish the same thing is to acquire the password to the message monitor from the CE, and either read everyone's communications or get the AI to do it for you. If you see something suspicious, investigate. Often there will be that one cultist who goofs and uses their PDA.

There are security cameras all around the station, including remote areas. Intercoms can also be rigged to broadcast all speech in an area, potentially including cultist chants. If you're the warden or not actively patrolling, take advantage of this. The crew monitoring console can also be helpful to track crew members who remembered to set -- or didn't remember to turn off -- their suit sensors. Anyone with bridge access, or a cooperative AI, can use it. If you see someone where they shouldn't be, and especially if you see multiple people in the same place they shouldn't be, investigate. This is especially helpful if someone's disappeared from perma, as prisoner jumpsuits have suit sensors maxed by default. Note that jumping to conclusions based on accumulated damage is considered metagaming and bannable.

Combat Mechs are Overpowered

If the RD and robos are implanted or friendly, a mech or two can stamp out a cult if they plan carefully enough. Bonus points if you get the R&D department into Security so that the mech builds are utterly safe. Note that mechs can be countered easily by the cultists with EMP talismans and runes, so this relies on the cult being ill-prepared.

Hulks With X-Ray Vision are Even More Overpowered

Get hulk and x-ray within five minutes of roundstart
Detect cultists through walls
If they're so eager to spill blood for their god, why not help them? Punch into their hideout and smash them all
Laugh as they try to talisman you while you punch, cuff and force-feed the cabal into oblivion
Continue laughing as OOC whines about your endeavors for the next few rounds

Biological Warfare

If everything fails, there's always brainrot! Cure loyalists and enjoy the sight of cultists trying to scribe a rune for 5 minutes!

Tips

You can stack Blood Drain runes infinitely, but stacking more than two is a death sentence to yourself due to the debuff that is applied to you afterward, but instantly sending someone into crit with one click is fairly hilarious.
Cultists can know a rune's words by examining a blood rune.
Cultists often find a use for medical bots. Having a single bot with a low threshold, backed up with the odd bruise pack, can allow a tiny number of cultists to summon and arm a vast number of ghostly warriors to their aid. A single bot can juggle multiple people at once, if they are relatively close to each other.
You can copy a tome's notes by hitting it with your own tome.
Engineering staff during cult are top-priority converts, as they can sabotage telecomms for you.
Are you cult? Got talismans? You can store them on a clipboard, and nobody ever checks clipboards, especially if you're QM or another role that spawns with them. Use a hand labeler to keep track of which is which.
Now, are you CHEF cult? Set up an imbune talisman rune in the back room, bake your talismans into fortune cookies and hand them out to cultmates.
Drag paper bins onto you to pick them up. Dump all that shit out - Talisman storage!
I was exploring old cult code and found that if you use a see invisible rune then smack ghosts with your tome they become visible to everyone.
As cult, the Summon Cultist rune works across Z-levels. This includes the escape shuttle.
As cultist you can erase runes by clicking on them with your tome.

"Journal of the Arch Heretic (Cultists can not into space)"

Today was a good day for the True Believers. We managed to get to the abandoned shuttle and set up camp there. I had the time to read through my book and translate everything and gathered everyone at the White Ship to lay siege to the station. We even managed to steal a communications board and killed the research director for his ID card to keep the shuttle from ever coming. The more ghost legions we sent to the station, the more bodies they sent back to us, allowing a way for the ethereals to stay tied to this mortal realm. It took a while but we located the captain, killed him and sacrificed his body to the great one. All we left behind on the station was our mark, blood, gibs, and the bodies of the many unbelievers. They are sending our escape shuttle to another station....and we will cleanse that station too.