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Seekers of the Great Void

The Seekers of the Great Void are one of the most “out there” cults I’ve done. They push mechanics quite a bit, with new Gifts, use of multiple types of magic, as well as a Creature Ability as a Gift and are unabashedly inspired by the AD&D 5^th edition Warlock. You can see that in the spells mainly, as well as the progression of those. The folk magic spells like Disruption, Darkness, and Protection map directly to equivalents in the warlock. The theism spells Mindlink and Illusion also translate somewhat closely to their analogs.

However, I wanted some things that were a bit more Mythras flavored. Something a little darker, something that leveraged the tools that Mythras provides. Some of the other spells (Corruption, Madness, Obliterate) felt appropriate and give it a real edge that make it distinct. In addition, I’ve added an Oath and a Taboo, leveraging the restrictions for a cult. In so many ways, restrictions like this provide flavor and defined the “space” that a cult operates in. A GM could easily change the Taboo to a Geas if it felt more appropriate to have the planar being granting power be more involved, but the Taboo makes it more of a social faux pas, and potentially dangerous to the Seeker.

 You can also see this pull between the desire for the familiar and pushing to uniqueness in the Gifts. Several of the Gifts translate directly to similar abilities on a 5e warlock, but with a Mythras nuance by affecting folk magic spells they already gain access to. Lastly the Chaotic Blessing is designed to be a gamble. Not all of those are going to be easy for the warlock to deal with. They make the warlock clearly in consort with mind breaking beings. They do then to have a bit more power behind them. At the high end, one is required – those beings want their advertisement as well.

Setting Suggestions

The Seekers (perhaps under another name) can fit into many settings where you desire Lovecraftian spice added to the campaign. A blighted hermit in Mythic Britain, shunned by Druid and Christian alike, would make a wonderful Seeker. Perhaps Luther Arkwright’s WOTAN has determined that dabbling in the darker arts and making unsavory pacts is how to beat the Disruptors, and a few agents volunteer to be the instruments of their sanity-shattering will. Men of Thennla’s Jekkarene Theocracy denied entry into the Moon Goddess’s cult and access to theism or sorcery might seek an untraditional route. It is designed to be a pretty ominous cult, and would be incongruous with some campaign flavors.

Mythos and History

Humans have long sought forbidden lore, pushing them to the very edges of sanity. The mind-bending, multidimensional, dark gods who dwell in the deep outer realms whispered promises of power and wealth across time and space, heard the call, and provide power for their own unfathomable reasons.

Nature

At its very heart, this cult works to bring its dark master from the beyond into this dimension. Occasionally this works, but most of the Great Old Ones are too alien to even understand their demanding followers. Because of this, they work to gain temporal influence and maintain their position, recruiting those in positions of power or with control over particularly valuable resources. This brings them into conflict with local authorities or entrenches them more fully.

Organization

Small cells working towards their dark master’s ends, hidden from the rest of the population, make up the organization. Associates come from family members and others who have close relations, and take a trial of loyalty, ensuring those entrusted with any secrets are well vetted. Sometimes, new members are recruited from the children of those in power, or from those in power themselves.

Membership

Standard. Most who follow the Great Old Ones are insane or desperate, but occasionally heroic characters manage to balance their own natures with the mind-bending desires of their otherworldly patron. These too serve their master, in their own inscrutable way.

Restrictions

Everyone in this cult takes an Oath towards the cult, starting at 30%+POW+INT, as well as a Taboo towards revealing its secrets. Violation is punishable by death.

Skills

Deception, Devotion, Exhortation, Insight, Lore (Great Old Ones)

Magic

Initiates of the Great Old Ones learn a modicum of Folk Magic, including Babble, Befuddle, Curse, Darkness, Disruption, Frostbite, Phantasm, Protection, Shove, and Witchsight. They also learn the Theism spells Illusion and Mindlink. Acolytes learn Madness and Mindblast. Priests learn Corruption (transforming the target into a tentacled monstrosity) and Obliterate.

Gifts

At each rank above Initiate, Seekers gain a gift from the list below.

• Unfettered Disruption - when the seeker cast Disruption, they may choose up to one twentieth of their Folk Magic in targets to suffer the effects. This does not allow a single target to be chosen more than once.
• Puissant Disruption - step up the damage of the seeker’s Disruption spell to 1d4.
• Writhing Protection - your Protection spell does not end when triggered, instead lasting for the entire scene.
• Familiar - as Animal Familiar Mythras, p202. This is an extra dimensional being in the form of the natural animal with unearthly mutations, though it has an INT score equal to the animal’s INS score and can follow more complex commands. It can speak telepathically to the Seeker within 3 meters.
• Chaotic Blessing – The seeker gains a chaotic feature, rolled randomly from the Seeker Chaos Feature table below (reference the Chaos Features table, Mythras p275, for effects)

Seeker Chaos Feature Table

Roll	Feature	Roll	Feature	Roll	Feature	Roll	Feature
01-05	Acidic	26-30	Climbing	51-55	Mutated	76-80	Poisonous
06-10	Alluring	31-35	Disturbing	56-60	Nerveless	81-85	Projector
11-15	Boneless	36-40	Entangle	61-65	Obfuscating	86-90	Scintillating
16-20	Brainless	41-45	Levitating	66-70	Oversized	91-95	Shadowy
21-25	Chameleon	46-50	Mimic	71-75	Perceptive	96-100	Slimy

High priests automatically gain a roll on the Chaotic Blessing table as an extra gift.