[Organisations] The Recondium

[CELS]

A chaos cult that came to me. A bit of a strange concept that I can't quite get a good grip on myself. In an attempt to avoid any direct rip-offs by trying to mix and match, I feel that the cult lacks a strong theme. Then again, perhaps that's a good thing. Maybe not all cults have strong themes, sitting down around a table, saying "I don't know, Jon - machine guns are good and all that, but they're not quite us. We're trying to be more of a subtle evil and go with a more poison-ish theme."

So I hope you like it, despite the lack of a distinct theme.

«Cadelburg, Anargo Primus – 980.362.M41
It has been ten days since Miss Katherine von Adelcom made her last performance in St. Lucian’s Hall. I was stood not twenty yards away when she took the stage, wearing a blindfold, yet deftly making her way to the front, bowing to the audience and finding her seat by the clavier. It was her most tantalising, most hypnotic performance. A powerful, melodious High Imperial melody, but with a certain arrhythmic quality. To say that her concert received mixed reactions upon its completion would be a gross understatement. As enthralled devotees stormed forward to congratulate her, they were engaged by crazed detractors in a violent melee, ending the concert in pandemonium.
Two hours later, her assistants found Miss Katherine in her personal chambers, covered in blood as she had just cut off her own ears. She professed that the cartilage polluted her hearing. She was immediately admitted to the Odalreich Sanitarium, where she was kept under close surveillance. My interrogator, Gabriel Varn, made daily visits. Seven days later, he found Miss Katherine’s cell empty, but for what appeared to be two ruined eyeballs. They were later revealed to be hers, clawed out by her own hands. In the western wing, the warden lay squirming in his own blood, missing all ten fingers. They appeared to have been bitten off. His belly was literally chewed open, missing some of his entrails inside, yet miraculously he lived for a few more hours, though incapacitated by pain. Of Miss Katherine, there was no trace. She had vanished during the night.»

-   From the journals of Inquisitor Herman Stadvolst

The Recondium

Though it has existed in the Anargo sector for over a century, the Recondium is one of the least understood chaos cults known by the Ordos Anargo. Even its status as a cult is debated, as many regard it simply as a chaos-spawned epidemic resulting in spiritual corruption. What ever its true nature, the Recondium has spread to the Dorvastor and Anargo subsectors and caused a hundred thousand deaths, only a fraction of which are known by the Ordos Anargo.

The Recondium is the creation of a minor Chaos power known in the Grimoire Daemonicus as Ghaezun, the Lord of the Blind. It is a Chaotic spell hidden within complex melodies which are imbedded in mortal minds. When the melodies are brought to life, their insidious nature will corrupt the weak minded. Great composers, artists and street musicians may find themselves inspired by the dreams and visions spawned by Lord Ghaezun, in turn creating musical works of tremendous complexity, often far beyond their own capabilities. As the unnatural music is played for the surrounding world, the effect is not noticeable at first. The corruption progresses slowly. The few victims find themselves mesmerised by the Chaotic melody, repeating it in their head, desperately seeking to hear it again. If the victims do manage to hear the melody several more times and give into their irrational obsession, their soul is forfeit.

The recondiasts will often form secret societies either in isolated settlements or in abandoned parts of large metropolises and hivetowers. In their refuge, they fully give in to their urges, making music the soul purpose of their existence. Eventually, the visions and voices of Chaos will enter their mind, encouraging them to remove their own eyes, in tribute to their daemonic master. This is often carried out as a ritual of initiation by the cults and societies of the Recondium. Eventually, the spiritual corruption begins to warp their body. Small mutations such as growth of fangs, elongated fingers or bony skeletal protrusions are common. The victim’s hearing abilities grows far more sensitive, to the point where they may navigate perfectly by sound alone. It is this sensitive hearing that prompts Recondium cults to seek isolation, as the noise of an Imperial metropolis is far too painful for them to bear.

As the victims of the Recondium reach their third and final stage, their irrational and schizophrenic behaviour progresses into complete insanity. They begin to wander out from their habitat, overcome by cannibalistic urges, hunting humans by sound alone, to consume their living flesh. While insane, the recondiasts do maintain a high intelligence and fleeting moments of clarity, making them dangerous predators and highly elusive. Unlike many other cults, the recondiasts do not normally engage in large plots for global domination or large scale destruction, nor do they actively seek to terrorize the population. Instead, the Recondium is elusive, secretive, hunting only to sustain its own population and maintaining a slow rate of recruiting in order to carefully evaluate new candidates.

The cults of the Recondium are especially difficult to detect because of the sinuous way in which new victims are corrupted. In many cases, a famous composer or artist will compose a strange new melody, desperately presenting it to the world whilst their behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. The composer or artist may be admitted to mental institutions, but often ends up taking his or her own life. Meanwhile, random victims in the region who have heard the melody will suddenly go through the stages of corruption, perhaps having never even met or seen its composer, leaving investigators very few clues to trace the corruption. Because the tool of corruption is simple music, the vessel can be anything from an underhive night club to an unassuming street musician wearing ragged clothing and a blindfold.

Structure
-   Large cells, up to several hundred members
-   Members go through various stages, around which a hierarchy is formed
-   Musically gifted members will rarely leave the habitat, being obsessed with creating and performing their increasingly complex and strangely arrhythmic music.
-   Members of lower stages will prove themselves by spreading the music of their habitat to nearby cities and settlements. Skilled artist inductees do this by performing, the non-skilled do it by taking control of vox casters, announcement systems, infiltrating comm channels and so forth.

Religious beliefs
-   The Recondium worships the minor Chaos power, Lord Ghaezun.
-   Only the inner circles of each Recondium cell is informed of Lord Ghaezun’s true nature, due to the fact that their members are not necessarily recruited from malcontents and anti-Imperial separatists. Recondiasts may be loyal citizens, Imperial adepts, even preachers, who are first broken down and stripped of their sanity, and then made into devout worshippers of Chaos.
-   The Recondium is not aligned with any of the four greater powers of Chaos, although there are some in the Ordos Anargo who believe it to be aligned with either Slaanesh or Tzeentch.

Technology
-   The recondiasts will usually form habitats in abandoned areas with poor infrastructure, often living without light, electricity, ventilation or access to comm networks. This is partly because recondiasts cannot bear high levels of noise for extended periods of time, but also because it allows them to hide away from local law enforcers or Arbites.
-   Unlike many slaaneshi cults, the Recondium is not known to employ sonic weaponry.

Trade and assets
-   The Recondium has only one higher purpose, which is to give more power to Lord Ghaezun and spread his work throughout the galaxy. Recondiasts will normally reach a stage of mutation and insanity that leaves them only with the imperative to kill and to seek solace in Lord Ghaezun’s warp-spawned melodies.
-   Any trade or pacts with outsiders is very rare indeed.

Physiology
-   Initially, recondiasts bear no physical evidence of their corruption. Only when they reach the second stage of their transformation do they remove their eyes.
-   As recondiasts proceed deeper into damnation, they are gifted with a variety of minor mutations. The most common mutation is elongated fangs, longer and more flexible necks and multi-jointed limbs.

Psychology
-   Recondiasts are, with few exceptions, quite insane. They do maintain a certain fleeting intelligence and moments of clarity, but are easily overcome by bloodlust and the urges brought from their hypnotic melodies.
-   Recondiasts are unusually social creatures, compared to many other Chaos cults. They look after one another, always looking to serve the greater good of their cell and showing special loyalty and love towards any members with musical talent.

Language and dialect
-   The recondiasts do not have any specific language of their own, although educated members will often switch to speak High Gothic due to its perceived beauty, applying a melodious accent in a low voice that is almost a whisper.
-   Recondiasts will almost never speak with outsiders, even if captured and tortured.

Armed forces
-   The Recondium is by no means a militant cult and few cells have been known to maintain any kind of organised armed forces.
-   The bloodlust prevalent in most recondiasts is so strong that most prefer to hunt their prey unarmed or wielding only simple weapons such as daggers, rocks or stranglewire.  Recondiasts will not normally attack any dangerous foes capable of defending themselves, preferring to attack lone and unarmed humans.
-   While recondiasts do not engage in massed, organised attacks of any sort, any intrusion of their habitat is usually met with tremendous resistance. Recondiasts are very attached to their habitat and will fight to the death to defend it.

History

- Once upon a time, there was a prince with a magic pie, but then he ate it. The end. (I haven't written this part yet...)

[Malika]

Hmm, you just made up this cult so I would hurry up with the potential Anargo Sector Project Official Soundtrack do you? 

So Lord Ghaezun is a Chaos God too right? I like the return of the Minor Powers in the fluff. The Daemons Codex left me very disappointed (understatement) because I hoped there would be more about other Chaos powers/Gods and what not. So far we've been left with the "removal" of other Minor Powers, meaning that the Warp is just filled with the Big Four. So you mentioning Lord Ghaezun (picked that name randomly by the way?) means that in our interpretation of the 40k universe there are more Chaos Gods out there (who are of course weaker than the Big Four).
But yeah, Lord Ghaezun is the "Chaos God" of "blindness" or something along those lines. The story you've presented seems to suggest he is more focussed on sound and hearing than on blindness (which is but a minor aspect of him I guess). The eyes are probably sacrificed to Ghaezun and in return he gives them that melody or the abilities to hear/create all sorts of music. In a way it could be seen as an aspect of Slaanesh or something...

Now I'm more curious about Lord Ghaezun than the cult itself! 

I like the way you have presented the corruption of these figures, especially the beginning in which the music of the corrupted is starting to change. I assume that consonant (normal) music would be replaced by more dissonant music. The "new sound" while uncomfortable for most people is that sound that corrupts those sensitive to it. The original composer might have been corrupted by a melody which might have been totally different but this creation of him/her will only further the corruption, carrying the corruption into it's second stage.
The "new music" of the corrupted composer would thus be considered noise/garbage/whatever by others who are not sensitive to it (those who are might become corrupted by it too). For some reason this makes me think that an artist like Merzbow (check out one of his "songs" here) would probably be preventively be executed by Imperial authorities as being a (potential) Recondiniast.

[Haarken]

A new cult and a new god.

First off I like it, it's original to my mind, glad you steered away from the global domination master plan, not sure it would suit these guys, that said to what end is Ghaezun working to? Presumeably he has a plan?

Also as Malika points out Ghaezun seems to focus or at least The Recondium focus on the single attribute of sound/music, are their other attributes and will we be seeing an accompanying article on Ghaezun?

Anyway just wanted to pop in and say that I'd read it.

Haarken

[CELS]

Thanks for the quick feedback! 

Hmm, you just made up this cult so I would hurry up with the potential Anargo Sector Project Official Soundtrack do you? 

Well, yes. Though hopefully your soundtrack won't drive us all insane.

So Lord Ghaezun is a Chaos God too right? I like the return of the Minor Powers in the fluff. The Daemons Codex left me very disappointed (understatement) because I hoped there would be more about other Chaos powers/Gods and what not. So far we've been left with the "removal" of other Minor Powers, meaning that the Warp is just filled with the Big Four. So you mentioning Lord Ghaezun (picked that name randomly by the way?) means that in our interpretation of the 40k universe there are more Chaos Gods out there (who are of course weaker than the Big Four).

Yes, this is very much back to C:CSM (3rd edition) and the mention of minor powers (or minor gods, if you will). Reminds me of a project that a guy from Australia named Phil Thomas was working on. Basically, it was a wargame set in the warp, and all the playable armies were daemons of different alignment, belonging to the major or minor gods. A cool idea that unfortunately never was not fully developed.

And yes, I did pick the name randomly. And I hate the name. Does anyone have a good name for a Chaos god?

But yeah, Lord Ghaezun is the "Chaos God" of "blindness" or something along those lines. The story you've presented seems to suggest he is more focussed on sound and hearing than on blindness (which is but a minor aspect of him I guess). The eyes are probably sacrificed to Ghaezun and in return he gives them that melody or the abilities to hear/create all sorts of music. In a way it could be seen as an aspect of Slaanesh or something...

Well, I didn't quite think of an emotion or concept that was special for this Lord Ghaezun. Blindess is a bit daft, because it almost implies that there is a god of Deafness and Lack of Smell. Then again, does really each chaos god have to be connected with a specific emotion? Daemons seem to form naturally from dreams and nightmares, and then the most powerful daemons become greater daemons and daemon princes. From there, I would assume that they may ascend to become minor gods and finally major gods. At what point do they get connected with an emotion or idea?

If anything, I guess Lord Ghaezun is the god of music. And I do realise that the music bit is reminiscent of Slaanesh, which is why I included the bit about the Ordos Anargo mistaking it for a Slaaneshi cult. But then again, the whole complex pattern of chaos within songs is kind of reminiscent of Tzeentch, and the eating of flesh is reminiscent of Khorne. So like I said, they don't really have a specific theme

I like the way you have presented the corruption of these figures, especially the beginning in which the music of the corrupted is starting to change. I assume that consonant (normal) music would be replaced by more dissonant music. The "new sound" while uncomfortable for most people is that sound that corrupts those sensitive to it. The original composer might have been corrupted by a melody which might have been totally different but this creation of him/her will only further the corruption, carrying the corruption into it's second stage.

Well, this is where I wanted to steer away from the typical Slaaneshi image, like in the novel Fulgrim where the chaotic music is just increasingly uncomfortable, to the point where it just becomes a wall of noise with screams and all kinds of instruments played together in a disorderly fashion. I wanted to steer away from the whole noise / garbage kind of music, and more towards the typical Chaotic "unnatural angles" and "shapes that hurt the eye". So basically very weird patterns, music that is arrhythmic in a way that almost makes sense, yet makes sane people uncomfortable.

Reminds me of the metal band Mudvayne, whose bassist I believe used mathematic algorithms to write music. The same thing, but with added insanity and chaos

For some reason this makes me think that an artist like Merzbow (check out one of his "songs" here) would probably be preventively be executed by Imperial authorities as being a (potential) Recondiniast.

Sorry, I can't see that video due to my computer trouble. But the Imperium wouldn't prosecute anyone for being potential recondiasts. The Recondium is far too unknown, not well enough understood for Imperial investigators to make that connection - yet.

First off I like it, it's original to my mind, glad you steered away from the global domination master plan, not sure it would suit these guys, that said to what end is Ghaezun working to? Presumeably he has a plan?

Thanks! Well, I suppose all Chaos-aligned creatures (especially the gods) are simply working towards becoming more powerful, with a few side goals along the way (rivals and such). I can't really think of any goal besides becoming more powerful. Open for ideas though.

Also as Malika points out Ghaezun seems to focus or at least The Recondium focus on the single attribute of sound/music, are their other attributes and will we be seeing an accompanying article on Ghaezun?

In time, perhaps
Other attributes, good question. I rather see him having a way of weaving spells into patterns, whether the patterns are found in music, literature, buildings or even biological constructs. I guess this sounds reminiscent of Tzeentch, but I would see Ghaezun (who still needs a better name) more as an artisan rather than a schemer. Perhaps that is his other goal, besides having more power. Creating works of art and beauty. Of course, a minor chaos god might have a different perception of beauty from humans. Hmm, yes, I like to think of him as the artisan and artist.

Of course, it's hard to separate him completely from any other Chaos god, unless one is extremely specific.

Anyway just wanted to pop in and say that I'd read it.

Always appreciated.

EDIT- Another possibility, as the Lord of the Blind, I suppose would be the whole aspect of ignorance and isolation. Not being able or willing to see some aspect of the universe. Maybe that's an idea to build on, unless it's too abstract.

[Dragon Lord]

I must say that I rather like The Recondium too, in fact it has made me think I should do a bit more work on my own daemon/warp entity, who is also a little bit different from the norm, basically a once powerful Lord of Change who was smited by Tzeentch which shattered his psyche and left him deeply insane and paranoid and he now lives off, and induces, paranoia in humans.

As far as a better name for Lord Ghaezun goes I find Aztec sounding names work quite well (basically things that end in 'otl', something like Quatzyalotl).

Well, this is where I wanted to steer away from the typical Slaaneshi image, like in the novel Fulgrim where the chaotic music is just increasingly uncomfortable, to the point where it just becomes a wall of noise with screams and all kinds of instruments played together in a disorderly fashion. I wanted to steer away from the whole noise / garbage kind of music, and more towards the typical Chaotic "unnatural angles" and "shapes that hurt the eye". So basically very weird patterns, music that is arrhythmic in a way that almost makes sense, yet makes sane people uncomfortable.

I think that is quite a good idea, the 'unnatural angles' concept is a little bit overdone in Chaos background.

Thanks! Well, I suppose all Chaos-aligned creatures (especially the gods) are simply working towards becoming more powerful, with a few side goals along the way (rivals and such). I can't really think of any goal besides becoming more powerful. Open for ideas though.

You could create him a particular nemesis that he rivals with in the warp and that he would like nothing better than to see destroyed.  Alternatively perhaps he has a particular hatred for a certain Imperial organisation (maybe the Ministorum for their use of music in hymns to the Emperor) and so his cults work to undermine that organisation.

EDIT- Another possibility, as the Lord of the Blind, I suppose would be the whole aspect of ignorance and isolation. Not being able or willing to see some aspect of the universe. Maybe that's an idea to build on, unless it's too abstract.

I think that is a little on the abstract side, plus it seems to be a little bit at odds with your original description (at least the ignorance part).  I would think that the epithet 'Lord of the Blind' was given to him by humans probably as a result of the blindness of his follows, which is to enable them to better appreciate his music, rather than for its own ends.

[Malika]

Yes, this is very much back to C:CSM (3rd edition) and the mention of minor powers (or minor gods, if you will). Reminds me of a project that a guy from Australia named Phil Thomas was working on. Basically, it was a wargame set in the warp, and all the playable armies were daemons of different alignment, belonging to the major or minor gods. A cool idea that unfortunately never was not fully developed.

Where was this? Portent, Warseer? 

Well, I didn't quite think of an emotion or concept that was special for this Lord Ghaezun. Blindess is a bit daft, because it almost implies that there is a god of Deafness and Lack of Smell. Then again, does really each chaos god have to be connected with a specific emotion? Daemons seem to form naturally from dreams and nightmares, and then the most powerful daemons become greater daemons and daemon princes. From there, I would assume that they may ascend to become minor gods and finally major gods. At what point do they get connected with an emotion or idea?

The new fluff seems to suggest that daemons and such are servants created by the Big Four and that the Big Four (and thus Chaos Gods in general) are being connected to "emotions"

EDIT- Another possibility, as the Lord of the Blind, I suppose would be the whole aspect of ignorance and isolation. Not being able or willing to see some aspect of the universe. Maybe that's an idea to build on, unless it's too abstract.

I love the idea of this figure being the God of isolation. This does not only have to be about music though, surely most of his followers would be musicians and such and poke their eyes out, but I also assume there could be figures who do the exact opposite so they make themselves deaf so that they can see better. So it's the "state" or "emotion" of isolation and focus, destroy the other senses so that one will remain the strongest and even replace the others.

Other attributes, good question. I rather see him having a way of weaving spells into patterns, whether the patterns are found in music, literature, buildings or even biological constructs. I guess this sounds reminiscent of Tzeentch, but I would see Ghaezun (who still needs a better name) more as an artisan rather than a schemer. Perhaps that is his other goal, besides having more power. Creating works of art and beauty. Of course, a minor chaos god might have a different perception of beauty from humans. Hmm, yes, I like to think of him as the artisan and artist.

I like that idea, all the current existing Chaos Gods seem to be focussed on destruction, their goals are to destroy in one way or the other. Tzeentch schemes to change (thus destroy the past), Nurgle makes it all rot away, Slaanesh makes everybody descent into decadence and with Khorne it's pretty obvious. Even Malal, who can be considered the anti-Chaos, is a destructive force since his goal is to destroy all. Ghaezun would thus be different, he creates... Or maybe he is the same after all because creation are a form of destruction of it's own. Kind of how destruction could be considered creation and that whole weird circle thing.

Well, this is where I wanted to steer away from the typical Slaaneshi image, like in the novel Fulgrim where the chaotic music is just increasingly uncomfortable, to the point where it just becomes a wall of noise with screams and all kinds of instruments played together in a disorderly fashion. I wanted to steer away from the whole noise / garbage kind of music, and more towards the typical Chaotic "unnatural angles" and "shapes that hurt the eye". So basically very weird patterns, music that is arrhythmic in a way that almost makes sense, yet makes sane people uncomfortable.

Dissonant patterns, noise music (like Merzbow or Nic Endo) and stuff like that, while it might seem like random noise or whatever it remains very much based as actual music. It's just a shift in patterns, instead of making people comfortable it does the exact opposite. So while it still makes sense it's still a cause of discomfort.

Reminds me of the metal band Mudvayne, whose bassist I believe used mathematic algorithms to write music. The same thing, but with added insanity and chaos

Hmm...mathcore huh? I think when putting the Recondium along modern music styles we should look at avant-garde stuff such as noise music, no wave, musique concrète, ars subtilior and so on. If Lord Ghaezun is going to incorporate different types of creation besides music you might want to look into avant-garde arts in general I guess.