Blood Cult: Difference between revisions

== '''FOR THE LOVE OF NAR-SIE, PLEASE READ THE GUIDE''' ==

Several cultists will arrive on the station. When you spawn, you'll find a piece of paper, which is really a three-use summoning talisman in your backpack. The three-use talisman will allow you to do summon useful talismans and other objects.

* Summon Nar-Sie,

* Esacape with a certain amount of converted crew members.

# Contact your allies through your Commune verb. The Commune verb sends a whispered message to all cultists.<br>'''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!'''

# Setup a teleport rune, so all cultist can access it.

# Convert new members and give them a tome.

==[[File:Tome.png|60px]] The Tome==

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 Commune verb, but do this in private, to prevent people from hearing your whispers.  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.'''

<span style="color:red;">'''REMINDER:'''</span> One cultist is required to sacrifice a dead body, three for a live one, standing adjacent to the rune.

To please Nar-Sie, you must find and sacrifice targets using a sacrifice rune.

=== The Starting Talisman ===

You will 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 number of useful objects, including a regular 1-use talisman of varying types, a soulstone or a construct shell. Make sure to hide the talisman from everyone who does not serve Nar-Sie.

! style='background-color:brown' width='830px'|Description

! style='background-color:brown' width='73px'|In Starting Talisman

!Summon a construct

|Summons a construct shell for use with soulstone-captured souls..

|Only starting Talisman.

!Talisman of Tome Summoning

|Summons an arcane tome, used to scribe runes and communicate with other cultists.

|Yes.

!Talisman of Teleportation

|A single-use talisman that will teleport a user to a teleport rune, which you can choose from a list.

|Yes.

!Talisman of Veiling

|A multi-use talisman that hides nearby runes. On its second use, will reveal nearby runes.

|Yes.

!Talisman of Disguising

|A talisman that will make nearby runes appear fake.

|No.

!Talisman of Electromagnetic Pulse

|A talisman that will cause a moderately-sized electromagnetic pulse.

|Yes.

!Talisman of Arming

|A talisman that will equip the invoker with cultist equipment if there is a slot to equip it to.

|No.

!Talisman of Horrors

|A talisman that will break the mind of the victim with nightmarish hallucinations

|No.

!Talisman of Construction

|Use this talisman on at least twenty-five metal sheets to create an empty construct shell or on platsteel to create runed metal.

|No.

|-

|Use this talisman on a victim to handcuff them with dark bindings. Can be used several times.

|No.

=== The Tome ===

The tome allows you to scribe a random set of these runes, using Scribe Rune, or to access information on these runes, with Read Tome, though you clearly don't need to do that if you're here.

!{{anchor|Offer Rune}}Offer

|Instantly converts a normal crewmember on top of it to the cult, healing him for 75% of his brute and burn damage, and spawning an arcane tome. Does not work on mindshield-implanted crew.

If the target is dead, uneligible for conversion or is the required sacrifice target, they'll be sacrificed instead, gibbing them and creating a soulstone that can be used to power a construct.

|1 to sacrifice, 2 to convert, 3 to sacrifice the objective

|[[File:Convert_rune.png|64px]]

!Form Wall

|This rune magically thickens the air above it when used, stopping everything trying to pass through it, including cultists. Invoke the rune to toggle this effect, at the cost of some damage. When activated, it also activates nearby wall runes for free, but turns off after 90 seconds.

|[[File:Wall_rune.png|64px]]

!Boil Blood

|When invoked, it instantly deals extreme amounts of damage to any non-cultists who see it. However, cultists in range of the rune will take some damage. The rune itself will lightly explode when used, so be careful!

|3

|[[File:Boil_rune.png|64px]]

!Electromagnetic Disruption

|Whenever someone is sacrificed on a Convert rune, they add one (global) charge to this rune. Placing a corpse on the rune and activating it will bring it back to life, expending one charge.

!Teleport

|This rune warps everything above it to another teleport rune, which you can choose from a list.

|[[File:Teleport_rune.png|64px]]

!Summon Cultist

|This rune allows you to summon any cultist to the rune. This works across Z-levels, including the escape shuttle. It's deleted after being used.

!Astral Communion

|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. 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 the rune will automatically keep your body anchored to the rune itself.

|1

||[[File:Astral_rune.png|64px]]

!Manifest Spirit

|This rune allows you to manifest ghosts as semitransparent homunculi, which are effectively weak, humanoid cultists with no self preservation instinct. To sustain these homunculi, you must remain on the rune, and each homunculi you have summoned will cause you damage.

!Create Talisman

|This rune transforms paper into powerful magic talismans. You put a paper on top of it, invoke it and choose which one you want to create. After a brief channel, it will convert the paper into a talisman. For possible Talismans and their effects, see above.

|1

|[[File:Talisman_rune.png|64px]]

!Summon Nar-Sie

|This rune tears apart dimensional barriers, calling forth the Geometer. To draw this rune you needs a free 3x3 space around you. Starting to draw this rune creates a weak 3x3 forcefield and alarms the entire station of your location. Requires 9 invokers. Can only be invoked, if all other objectives are fulfilled.

By using a construction talisman on platsteel, you are able to get runed metal. With it you can build several structures, with unique powers. You can unanchor cult buildings by hitting them with your tome.

 

|A bloodstained altar dedicated to Nar-Sie. By using it, you are able to create a Eldritch Whetstone, to sharpen your weapon, a Zealot's Blindfold, which lets you see in he dark or a Flask of Unholy Water, which heals cultists. After using the altar, it needs some time to recharge.

|5 runed metal

|A forge used in crafting the unholy weapons used by the armies of Nar-Sie. By using it, you are able to create a Shielded Robe, which creates a powerful shield around the user, a Flagellant's Robe, which makes you faster, but at the cost of increased damage or a Nar-Sien Hardsuit, for space walks. After using the forge, it needs some time to recharge.

|5 runed metal

|A floating crystal that slowly heals those faithful to Nar'Sie. Also slowly turns the surrounding floor into engraved floor.

|3 runed metal

|A desk covered in arcane manuscripts and tomes in unknown languages. Looking at the text makes your skin crawl. By using it, you are able to create a Supply Talisman, the one a cultist gets at the start of the round, a Veil Shifter, a 2 use random teleporter for medium distance or a Shuttle Curse, which when used, delays the escape shuttle for 2 minutes. You can only use a certain amount of shuttle curses each round. After using the archives, it needs some time to recharge.

|2 runed metal

|Only opens for cultists. Useful securing your base, but a dead giveaway that a cult is onboard.

|3 runed metal

* 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 a construction talisman on 25 metal sheets, from an artificer, or from a starting talisman.  

[[Construct|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.

Even with access to a large amount of different runes and talismans, there are still several threats to the cult on the station.

The followers of Ratvar want nothing more than do summon their machine god, so it can take revenge on our beloved Nar-Sie. Due to their connection to Ratvar, they or their constructs can not be converted, but they also can´t convert followers of Nar-Sie. As such, Ratvarian magic will be more effective against Nar-Sian cultists. The opposite is also true; much of Nar-Sie's magic is more effective against Ratvar's servants.

=== Security and the Chaplain [[File:Generic_hos.png]][[File:Generic_chaplain.png]] ===

Even the best prepeared cultists will have trouble to defend themselve against the united power of security .Especially if the Chaplain Helps them. The Chaplain is able to turn normal water into Holy Water, which will turn cultist back to normal people, if it stays long enough in their system. The Chaplain is also immune to cult magic and his bible is able to make hidden runes visible.

* Your tome is a robust burning weapon.

* The chaplain is immune to your magic. Don't attempt to use talismans on him, or you will get discovered and beheaded.

* Keeping a shade in a soulstone with you will allow you to use two-person runes by yourself, by releasing and then recapturing the shade.

* Cultists often find a use for medibots. 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. Pylons also serve this purpose very well.

* Engineering staff during cult are top-priority converts, as they can sabotage telecomms for you, or build secret bases in space.

* 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. Right-click the papers to label them and keep track of their effects, or just examine them.

* Get some platsteel either from mining, stealing it from robotics, engineering or EVA storage, or deconstructing reinforced walls/tables if you are desperate.

* Drag paper bins onto you to pick them up. A single paper bin holds 30 papers, and that's 30 potential talismans!

* Always be ready to summon a cultist in trouble. He will likely not be able to call for help on the cult chat, so keep an eye on normal comms. Even better if you have someone in Astral Communion to warn you.

* Astral Communion is an incredibly powerful exploration tool, and ghosts can give you precious hints.

* The EMP rune's area of effect scales with invokers, and can hit most of the station if placed in a central enough spot, effectively working as a powersink. Combine this with crowbars for free access everywhere.

* Are almost all other cultist dead? Get a medibot and create a ghost army with Manifest Spirit and arm them with Talismans of Arming.

With a cult on board, you quickly become both very important and very vulnerable. For all your gear, nothing but the Chaplain can protect you from a heretic with a piece of rune-etched paper. Success in defeating a cult is based primarily around resource management and thoroughness in your actions - It can be very difficult for the dark one's followers to complete their task when faced with a responsive Security team. It's important to acknowledge firstly the danger of a cult: It's members, much like during a revolution, blend in with the crew at large, yet can disable you instantly and drag you off to be sacrificed while you try in vain to scream for help.

The Chaplain is easily the most important person on board, barring almost nothing: They provide you with an endless source of Holy Water, your primary weapon in staving off the cult and rescuing crewmembers from it's grasp. It should be your top priority to secure them inside the Brig the instant a cult presence is confirmed, as they will very likely be an early target. Luckily, their null rod keeps them safe from magic, and can oftentimes mean the difference between victory and defeat. Force-feeding enough holy water to a cultist will force the darkness out of them, bringing them back to your side. Similarly, when applied to the floor, it is an invalid location for Wraiths attempting to jaunt.

Administering '''30u of holy water and waiting for 135 seconds''' is enough to deconvert a cultist. ''¡There is a chance of flavor text too!''

One of your greatest allies outside of the Chaplain is the AI: It's constant camera view of the station cannot see runes, but it can easily report and lock down suspicious congregations of humans. Equipping it with a P.A.L.A.D.I.N. lawset gains you an extremely powerful surveillance unit that can single-handedly flush out the cult into your waiting arms. Be aware, however, that a Wraith can very easily kill the AI. Your comrade may be sadly short-lived.

Oftentimes, the cult will transition from a stealthy threat to a very blatant one with constructs and armor. Apply judicious amounts of laser fire and try not to get in melee range. Constructs are incredibly dangerous in the later stages of the game where they are able to mass-produce shells and shards. More often than not, it's best to begin evacuation when constructs start appearing en masse, as it is indicative of a very strong cult presence.

Constructs, as mentioned, can be a massive mid to end game threat from a cult. Juggernauts will make up the bulk of the cult forces, not only do they have a heafty health pool but their unique armor will deflect a good portion of energy attacks, the best way to kill a Juggernaut is to use a ballistic weapon, such as a buckshot Riot Shotgun or a cargo ordered Auto Rifle.