024.03.2023 Cultists

Hey there, Dustblue again.

In our fourth week, we focused primarily on the playable one-shot and worked on the antagonists the player will have to face - a cult that revers not the molochit but the conquering, destructive force behind it. Promising power and embracing the subsequent oblivion it brings. Jona and I worked out the visuals and story behind it. The cult figured out how to directly implement the molochit stone into a human ( it usually does not grow there) and join their minds together into a sort of hivemind, that exerts more and more control over a cultists body the more powerful the stone inside them grows. Essentially controlling them like puppets, sending them out into the world to spread this harmful belief. 

The cult is controlled by an extension of the molochit nexus: a corpse reanimated by molochit energy and the dark vines that are known to grow from discarded empty molochits. 

What does this entity want? Is it a part of the larger molochit ecosystem or something new? Well, I do not want to give away everything (things like this are subject to change and we rewrite a lot of lore every week) but the undead cult overlord emerged accidentally but proved useful to the molochit nexus and its goals. 

We had some whacky ideas regarding the origin of molochit stones. 

Some time ago, the planet was hit by a rather small meteorite. The impact did not cause much harm but what it brought to earth will. The crater in the middle of a deep forest, we are calling it the molochit nexus, for now, is the source of all the mutations and powerful blue glowing stones, known as molochit. This meteorite was an ancient alien weapon designed to destroy all life on a planet for their paranoid extraterrestrial maker. The molochit stones themself are more like fruit, the easily harvestable energy attracts animals and humans, who spread it naturally throughout the whole continent, subsequently discarding it so that the vines can grow far away from the nexus and make the land inhabitable. In only a few years, the vines have already begun to creep over roads and towns, making the earth toxic, but especially humans would never give up their precious wonder stones just because it may cause the end of the world, for poor people who can't relocate, in one or two decades. Seems a bit familiar, does it? 

Anyway, that was just one idea we had and Vik might write something completely different next week because we changed it again. On the topic of Vik, he was busy finishing up the current set of playable cards, creating a prototype in Tabletop Simulator, and developing a “fate” card set, inspired by tarot cards. He was, sadly, not able to playtest this week. 

We also realized how helpful it was to explain our concept over and over again to multiple different people, letting them ask questions and pointing out plot holes we might have missed. 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment them below c: