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# System prepended metadata

title: Xenocults
tags: [Templates, Book]

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Xenocults
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Cults have existed as a half baked "event" mechanic in code for a while now that don't function well even with admins directly running the show. Integrating both openly hostile xenocultists and hidden role cultists as part of standard gameplay is both thematic and conducive to a higher standard of roleplay.

Goals
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- Add the posibilty for cultists to generate roundstart among the surviving colonists
- Add more opportunities for natural, in character conflict between colonists/marines
- More sensical in character responsibilities for MPs
- Remove the metaknowledge that all colonists must be sane and trustworthy and can be handed a rifle and set loose without a second thought

Content
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### Fanatics

At first glance regular colonists, these disaffected souls have been somehow convinced to turn their backs on humanity and fight for the "next step" in our evolution. Typically generated roundstart amongst a collection of other cultists and normal colonists, your life has already been dedicated in service to the hive. Unlike the cultists of today, you do not don purple robes of foreboding evil or have any special abilities like night vision. You are just a normal colonist, at least in body. Your goal is not your own survival, but to advance humanity to its next stage of evolution.

### Guardians

Judiciously borrowed from Dark Descent, the guardians are near opposite the fanatics. Obviously insane from a glance, they visibly are willingly carrying a larva within, completely dedicated to the cause. What they lose in subtelty they gain in increased hardiness and survivability from the larva they host.
![guardian_tests](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/r1HsJSPNlg.png)


### Xenocult Items

The inclusion of hidden role xenocultists would necessitate the inclusion of actual mechanics for them to engage with to give them the opportunity to engage in sabotage without just blowing the heads off of people. To this end, research items that have the dual purpose of actual research and sabotage are part of the package. A storage box capable of indefinitely storing a live hugger or larva might be suspicious, but not without practical application. A degree of plausible deniability is necessary to promote real suspicion. 
![hugger_boxes](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HkEnJrwEex.png)

### Other Sabotage

The possibility of player driven sabotage occuring shipside creates the need to also rework many key systems that have been baby-proofed to make sabotage a more streamlined process and less gamey. Cultists with the appropriate technical expertise would be able to sabotage key systems, much like the queen can hijack the shuttle. A cultist with proper engineering knowledge would be able to temporarily disable the orbital cannon, for example. These acts of sabotage would also be able to naturally occur as random events to remove the metaknowledge that "thing goes wrong = cult". The players in the round should be left wondering whether systems failures are due to bad luck or deliberate sabotage, and suspicious of each other as a result. Added bonus of increasing the believability that the ship is supposed to be falling to pieces.

How is this actually implemented?
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So by now you might be wondering how this would actually play out in a round, and here I present a few different possibilities:

### Option 1: Straightforward:

The survivors can spawn as a team of guardians. They're basically just a different flavor CLF that's aligned with the hive. They don't have any of the benefits of "old cult" like being able to speak xeno, having nightvision, or being able to interact with resin to discourage frontlining with the xenos. Easy and straightforward, but the least interesting option. 

### Option 2: Hidden Role:

Some or all of the colonists roundstart are informed they are xenocultists, and given a free hand to act as they see fit. Their blind fanaticism would mechanically prevent them from directly harming xenomorphs, and xenomorphs from directly harming them in turn. They may choose to embed themselves amongst regular survivors to gain their trust or choose to go it alone. Open hostile combat with marines is a technical possibility, but ill advised. Your allies are few in number and your combat abilities severely limited. Under normal circumstances, survivors have increased combat skills to give them a chance, but as a xenocultist this wouldn't be needed.

### Option 3: Hidden Hidden Role:

The same as the second option, except your status as a xenocultist is unknown to even yourself until the marines arrive. Xenomorphs would be aware of the presence of cultists beforehand so they can plan around it.

### Option 4: Mixed:

A full team of a mix of regular fanatic colonists and a guardian as their leader. Stay groundside? Go shipside and attempt to infect others secretly? Bring one of your own infected shipside intentionally? Go shipside clean but perform sabotage? The world is your oyster. 

Some notes
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Non-lethal hvh combat is completely unbalanced as an intentional design decision right now and is fundamentally at odds with engaging HvH combat that doesn't involve a firearm. MP equipment is absurdly overpowered and bare knuckle fighting is a joke. Completely changing this status quo would likely also be needed to fully and seemlessly integrate this kind of content.

The playerbase needs to be allowed the freedom to create interesting scenarios by themselves without admin intervention for this kind of feature to work. Players need to be roleplaying their character in the round, not worrying "will I get in trouble with the admins for this?". I could log in right now and pretend to be a cultist and nobody would give a fuck because they know that it'd be against the rules for me to actually do anything that could remotely impact them. Actual IC consequences are important to getting people engaged. If intentionally releasing huggers into the vents is a credible threat people are more likely to give a shit.

Losing is part of the game.
Your character will frequently die, sometimes without even a possibility of avoiding it. Events will often be out of your control. No matter how good or prepared you are, sometimes you just lose.


