Maw
Maws are the primary recruiters of the Cult, and they are the only cultists who regularly travel between cult strongholds and civilised society. While other hidden ones often integrate deeply into a society for years at a time, acting as sleeper agents and deep-cover insurgents, maws journey extensively on the lookout for potential cultists. They seek the angry, the downtrodden, the insane, and the suffering...and then use a variety of sophisticated psychological techniques to convert these people to the Devourer’s faith. For some prospective cultists, it’s only a matter of stoking their existing rage at society, teaching them to find meaning and savage joy in destroying the civilisations that caused them such pain. For others - those who’ve suffered but haven’t yet plunged into destructive nihilism - the key is often regret or grief: the maw teaches that the Devourer's destruction of this reality won’t simply end the universe but retroactively erase it, thus ensuring that the incidents that caused their guilt or pain never happened in the first place.
Most maws are experts at sliding easily between strategies until they find the right one for an individual, and some utilise drugs or magic to help make their targets receptive; yet, almost all such conversions involve offering new recruits a helping hand and giving them a sense of acceptance and agency in their own lives. These strategies are largely rediscovered by each cell through trial and error, but a few helpful maxims exist, such as “Heal a soul so they may break a thousand.” While not all potential recruits make the leap from disaffected citizen to bloodthirsty cultist, there are always more individuals who have suffered terrible tragedies or injustices, have lost their moral path, or just want to see the Material Plane burn. The cult sometimes maintains those who don’t convert completely as useful contacts, but more often such potential recruits meet with unfortunate accidents before they can have a change of heart and blow the Maw’s cover.
A Maw may bring new recruits to a nearby active cell or use several recruits to begin a brand-new cell. An experienced maw is thus also likely to be a longtooth, acting as the senior advisor and planner for a network of cells the Maw established or strengthened.
Most maws are experts at sliding easily between strategies until they find the right one for an individual, and some utilise drugs or magic to help make their targets receptive; yet, almost all such conversions involve offering new recruits a helping hand and giving them a sense of acceptance and agency in their own lives. These strategies are largely rediscovered by each cell through trial and error, but a few helpful maxims exist, such as “Heal a soul so they may break a thousand.” While not all potential recruits make the leap from disaffected citizen to bloodthirsty cultist, there are always more individuals who have suffered terrible tragedies or injustices, have lost their moral path, or just want to see the Material Plane burn. The cult sometimes maintains those who don’t convert completely as useful contacts, but more often such potential recruits meet with unfortunate accidents before they can have a change of heart and blow the Maw’s cover.
A Maw may bring new recruits to a nearby active cell or use several recruits to begin a brand-new cell. An experienced maw is thus also likely to be a longtooth, acting as the senior advisor and planner for a network of cells the Maw established or strengthened.
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments