Scion of a Secret Society
We may have just dropped a whole pile of new backgrounds on you, but what’s an extra cultist among friends, eh? Now you can finally build your secret doomsday cultist character without having to bend Sage or Hermit, or your self-insert ‘recovering Catholic’ without having to just run opposite day Acolyte. Just try not to bring the inquisitors down on your fellow players, ok?
Scion of a Secret Society
There are many organizations that keep themselves out of the public eye for one reason or another. Secret clubs of the wealthy and educated, strange cults with unaccepted practices, factions with machinations unclear to even those that serve them—and you spent much of your life within such a group. Perhaps your parents were members and brought you into the fold at a young age, or you were inducted by a senior member for showing great promise.
Discuss the nature of your society with your GM, determining its broad goals, methods, size, and any other interesting aspects of its members and beliefs that continue to influence your character as an adventurer out in the world. Whatever the goals and nature of this organization, it has left a lasting mark upon you and your life.
Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Religion
Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, poisoner’s kit
Equipment: A disguise kit, a set of traveler’s clothes, five pieces of chalk, a symbol of your societal membership (such as a tattoo, piece of clothing, or small tool), and a pouch containing 5 gp.
Reason For Departure
Access to membership of secret societies is difficult to obtain. To leave such a society is not an easy thing, especially when one has spent much of their life belonging to such a group. What is the reasoning behind your departure from your organization?
d6 Reason
1 You have been sent out into the world by your society for a clandestine and vital purpose.
2 You were exiled from your society for a crime, real or imagined.
3 Your society was attacked and almost wiped out. You are one of, if not the only survivor, forced to flee your enemies.
4 You left your society due to some great difference between their views and your own.
5 You fled an important obligation or duty that you were not willing to fulfill.
6 Something more important than your society’s goals drew you away, such as love or vengeance.
Feature: Eye for the Obscure
Your upbringing in a clandestine society has given you ample experience noticing the subtle behavioral tics and obscure iconography such groups use to communicate. You can spot the hidden markings and gestures of groups such as cults, clubs, and other groups hidden from the public eye. You do not necessarily understand what these symbols and gestures mean, but can decipher them at your GM’s discretion.
Suggested Characteristics
Scions of secret societies often hold double-lives, or they are so sequestered from regular customs that the pleasantries of normal life are entirely alien to them. They might subscribe wholeheartedly to their society’s teachings, or they could reject what they see as indoctrination. Whatever their attitudes, their involvement with their society leaves them with deep-set beliefs—or scars.
d8 Personality Trait
1 I avoid looking those who do not know my true name in the eyes, lest they sense my deception.
2 I am constantly searching for subtle marks or quirks that could give away secret truths.
3 I find it difficult to rest without the proper preparations, which others sometimes find strange or unpleasant.
4 I proudly espouse my society's values and goals.
5 I believe that friendly animals I meet may be messengers for my society, and I sometimes whisper secrets to them.
6 I’m often homesick, finding the customs of the general public offputting, alien, and distant.
7 I always keep a symbol of my society on me, be it worn, carried, or borne on my skin.
8 I am quick to try and recruit new members to my organization.
d6 Ideal
1 Order. The values of my society are central to my life and the way I view the world. (Lawful)
2 Progress. Groups like the one I was raised in are worthless if they cannot make the world better. (Good).
3 Family. Not all families are ‘normal’, but loyalty to your kin, blood or otherwise, is paramount. (Neutral)
4 Rebellion. I find the rigidity of societies like mine stifling.. (Chaotic)
5 Power. There is no point in an ideology or community if it does not convey strength. (Evil)
6 Wanderlust. I am eager to see the world and learn what I can from it. (Neutral)
d6 Bond
1 I leave notes and resources in hidden dead drops so that others may one day find them.
2 Despite my departure, I will return to my society someday.
3 I have been tasked with a vital assignment in the world beyond my society.
4 Someday I will start my own society, be it a branch of the original or a new order entirely.
5 I have a friend in a society, mine or another, whom I hope to see again someday.
6 Having experienced the lunacy of secret societies, I work to undermine factions like the one in which I was raised.
d6 Flaw
1 I have great difficulty trusting others, especially when my safety is in their hands.
2 I cannot resist the urge to argue with those of differing beliefs.
3 I always assume those around me have ulterior motives to their stated intentions.
4 I have difficulty becoming close with others—even physical touch is something to be avoided at all costs.
5 I expect those around me to conform to my esoteric behaviors and rituals.
6 I am very trusting of the simple folk that do not belong to organizations such as mine, as they have no concept of real deceit.
If you are looking to join our secret society, the first step in your initiation is to subscribe to our Patreon. Perhaps the oldest tradition across cultic communities is ‘money up front’, but unlike those older cults, we actually offer something in return for the cash: tons of top-shelf homebrew. And, if you want to hear our societies ancient wisdom and old memes before or even after joining, come talk to us on Discord, where we share lots of ancient stuff that may more may not actually be ‘wisdom’.
