The Fellowship of the Snake

Some artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer,
used with permission. All rights reserved.

The Fellowship of the Snake started as an idea to write up the cults that are in the core Mythras book. I was looking to have a Mysticism cult in the quiver, and something a little different than the traditional martial arts influenced eastern variety. I have a friend in my gaming group that likes this sort of character, so I knew I had a willing audience.

The angle of it being a storytelling cult came because I really asked myself “why would anyone make an organization dedicated to excellence at lying?” After all, lying is much harder to do well then telling the truth, and it would be very difficult to maintain a structure with so much deception. So, I decided to take a page from history and make it an organization of storytellers, who perhaps embellish and outright lie for the sake of entertainment. This provided them with plausible cover, and the Great Naga provides someone guiding their actions towards something constructive.

Once an Aspirant reaches the point where they are competent with their story telling abilities, they begin on the path to learn how to become truly unearthly in their influence and deceit. Even at the mere student level, a member of the fellowship will be able to augment their deceit and influence levels to make it nearly impossible to tell when they are lying or telling the truth. A few mere moments of concentration and they can manipulate chiefs and kings to whatever their ends require. 

Thus, many leaders employ special incense that makes it more difficult to lie in their presence, or employ members of the School of Impenetrable Silence, hidden away, to watch the conversations. Some keep one of the Sisters That Would Have Done Well, an order specializing in communication sorcery, in their retinue to cast Telepathy and read the minds of those who would speak to the leader.

Once they reach the level of Disciple, they start learning the art of Lying with Their Body. They learn to augment their Conceal skill, and those who have taken the time to find training in other places, how to augment their Sleight skill. Thus, many snakes become good smugglers, thieves, and black marketeers, but a bit of sleight of hand combined with superb storytelling skills will entrance many crowds. It is at this level they can change their eyes to have vertical slits, gaining the ability of Nightvision, allowing them to operate well in the seedy underbelly of civilization.

Once they reach the rank of Master, members learn the ability to enhance their movement, making catching them extraordinarily difficult, and become resistant to magics that may convince them to tell the truth. It is because of the latter that masters who show enough ability are allowed in front of the Great Naga – trust must be complete, and compromising the integrity of the fellowship must be nearly impossible.

Grand Masters, I felt, had nearly reached the pinnacle of lying, and didn’t really need anything to increase their skill. However, I felt that access to control the organization might allow them to have a wider influence. The ability to Change Gender also seemed appropriate. Note, it doesn’t allow them to alter their appearance outside of some alternative gender version of themselves, but a Grand Master may have forms for a male, female, and whatever other non-binary genders you have in your setting.

Setting Suggestions

Obviously, with the naga influence, a traditional fantasy setting works well with this fellowship, but it doesn’t have to be that way. An urban fantasy cyberpunk world could just as easily have nagas, perhaps as a counter to corporation-owning dragons.

As with any use of the Augment ability, it is important for your setting to have something that counters it, and have it show up occasionally. Fellowship members should be able to lie convincingly most of the time, should have the ability to talk people down from blows regularly, and so on. Taking that away is no fun if it happens all the time, but once in a while puts a little spice of life and helps them rely on some other skills (like a simple disguise).

Mythos and History

It is said that the Great Naga has existed since before the gods were born and witnessed their rise to the heavens. It seems farfetched, but there can be no doubt the Great Naga is incredibly old and wise. It (the Great Naga has not revealed its gender, and Naga is used as a convention. It has not corrected its followers) has been written in myth and legend for centuries and has been seen as recently as yesterday – if you believe its followers. The stories they tell of the Great Naga stagger belief, parting forests and mountain alike before it, stopping armies with merely a glance, and gods submitting before its glory and wisdom, and so it is easy to see how one might be skeptical. And yet, the honeyed tongues of its followers are quite convincing.

Nature

The Fellowship often takes the role of storyteller in society, but they can be and represent much more. Snakes can be found as deep cover spies gathering valuable information, as revolutionaries fighting against oppressive governments, and as politicians pulling the strings of power. Anywhere where deception might be needed, and the Great Naga sees need for them. Its own aims and aspirations are inscrutable, masked behind layer upon layer of its followers’ deceptions and fabrications.

Organization

The cult follows a traditional structure, with Aspirants practicing their skills under the tutelage of a Disciple. Once they are judged worthy and skilled enough, they partake in a ritual where they are led blind-folded into a room in the grand temple. There, they feel two pricks in their skin and venom coursing through their veins, transforming them. Assuming they survive this ritual, they advanced to the Student rank, and are given an assignment by the Master. Repeated success and training ensure progression to the Disciple rank, and eventually to Master. 

The most accomplished of masters are eventually brought before the Great Naga, seeing it for the first time. Here, the master must tell the story of his life to this point, with all embellishments and truth-stretching that the master can muster. This is a test of entertaining the Great Naga, and success advances the master to Great Master, and taking direction for running the cult directly from it. 

Membership

Standard. The character must have a 50% in all of the fellowship’s skills to progress to the Student rank. Students must show at year 70% In 4 of the fellowship skills to progress to Disciple rank, and Disciples must have 90% in 3 of the fellowship skills to progress to master rank. At the grand master rank, at least two cult skills must be 110% or better, though most have more. They must undergo the Trial of the Great Naga, which will test many of their skills against the perceptive abilities of the Naga, and failure will wipe the mind of the former member.

Restrictions

As one might expect with an organization that trains their members in deception, an Oath of Loyalty to the cult is taken. In addition, the venom of the Great Naga places a geas on them which punishes them for knowingly lying to others in the cult outside of training – though many are creative enough with their half truths to avoid this without explicitly lying. Some even think the Great Naga’s venom keeps their edge, at this risk of losing their abilities.

Skills

Deceit, Influence, Oratory, Meditation, Mysticism

Magic

Aspirants learn no magic. Instead, they must practice their skills exclusively and attend to their daily lives outside of the Fellowship. Those showing promise are likely to succeed, receiving the most attention from Disciple.

Students first learn to Augment Deceit and Augment Influence. Once they have advanced to Disciple, they learn to Augment Conceal, Augment Sleight, and Invoke Nightsight. Masters learn to Augment Willpower and Enhance Movement. Grand Masters gain access to a Sanctuary (as the Gift) and a retinue of cult members to assist in expanding the influence of the fellowship, as well as the ability to Change Gender (as the Gift) at will. Many Grand Masters also take the time to learn how to disguise themselves.