[Organisations] The Brotherhood of the Pheonix

[LightDark]

The Brotherhood of the Pheonix

General

The Brotherhood of the Pheonix is a Tzeentch-worshipping revolutionary group supported by the Alpha Legion, masquerading as one of the many organisations that worship the Emperor and steadily subverting the hive-world of Invictona and several other planets. Their general goal is a complete collapse of law and order in the Anargo Sector, followed by the establishment of an Alpha-Legion controlled government to help pave the way for the fall of the Imperium. They recruit in the same way as many other such organisations; by converting them to its official beliefs. The lower orders do not know of the heresy that they commit, but as they rise in rank they begin to understand the cult's real god - Tzeentch, and begin to be entrusted with missions such as sabotage and assassinations, using information forwarded to them by the Alpha Legion to discover their targets.

Base

Their main Chapter House on Invictona is in the midhive, and is mostly built 'underground', but from the surface, appears to be just like a normal Imperial church. Under this however, lie torture chambers, sacrificial halls, ritual chambers, secret arsenals, and finally, the throne room of the being they call the Almighty, founder of the cult. He (or perhaps she), is always shrouded, and beholding its form is viewed as a death sentence in the Brotherhood. It is unknown what it looks like, if it has a form at all.

Religion

The Brotherhood worships Tzeentch in the form of the Pheonix, always reinventing itself and never dying, and they often sacrifice people by fire as an offering to the Pheonix. They are supported by the Alpha Legion, which tends to send agents to assassinate potential informers and those too close to the Brotherhood's dark secret, in exchange for the invaluable aid that the Brotherhood gives in infiltration. The Brotherhood also worships the Almighty, venerating it as the mortal avatar of the Pheonix, and the closest thing they have to a prophet. It also claims to venerate the Emperor, but this is a lie, and the Changer of Ways is their real god.

Physiology

The senior members of the Brotherhood, known as the Flaming Ones, often manifest mutations such as pyrokinesis, wings of fire or eyes that appear to be caverns of flame. Their hair eventually turns blond or red, and thus they are marked among the Brotherhood as high priests, remaining in the Chapter Houses and communing with Tzeentch when not conmducting unholy rituals. The higher members of the Brotherhood wear ceremonial red and gold clothing, a stark contrast with most followers of Tzeentch, and have a preference for flamers as weaponry, although they are not averse to other types of weapon when the need arises.

History

The Brotherhood began its history five centuries ago, founded by one Gaius Ignatius, and Tzeentcfh soon saw it as a useful pawn, subtlely corrupting it until it worshipped Tzeentch alone. they have successfully infiltrated Invictona's PDF and subverted at least part of the nobility, and have managed to spread off Invictona to at least 2 other worlds, although their presence there is minor, consisting of only a few Chapter Houses, unlike on Invictona, where they have one for each province. Their rituals include sacrifice by fire, particularly that of children, summoning daemons of Tzeentch, and the initiation of new members, which is done by walking through a (cold) fire, and held to symbolise their rebirth. They are as of yet undiscovered by the Inquisition, and constantly continue to grow in both outward power and secret influence.

Activities and Assets

Aside from their rituals, their activities include selling immateriaphiliacs (drugs that manifest latent psychic abilities), stealing weapons and vehicles, spreading social unrest and performing Alpha Legion-sanctioned missions such as assassinations and infiltrations of certain important facilities, all in preparation for the day when the Anargo Sector descends into absolute chaos, and the time when the Alpha Legion can finally make open their secret influence, paving the way for the absolute destruction of the Imperium. The Alpha Legion also recruits from them, taking the strongest and youngest members and turning them into Marines, though  their deal goes further than that.

The Brotherhood of the Pheonix owns several stolen military vehicles and a large arsenal of weapons.

[Malika]

One thing I'm not really getting. On one hand they are all secretive and infiltrative, but on the other hand they all wear the same colour clothes and have bright fire like hair. I mean, if I were part of the Invictonian security forces I would start picking out those who only wear gold/red clothes.

Perhaps the Alpha Legion also recruits from this cult? Taken the best members to form squads who are then slowly upgraded and trained.

As for the psykic drug, the name you are looking for is "Spook", it's a similar drug that is used on Necromunda. However it's very possible that there are different drugs out there with the same effect.

One more thing...FORMAT! 

[LightDark]

Formatted it.

[LightDark]

One thing I'm not really getting. On one hand they are all secretive and infiltrative, but on the other hand they all wear the same colour clothes and have bright fire like hair. I mean, if I were part of the Invictonian security forces I would start picking out those who only wear gold/red clothes.

I changed them to ceremonial robes and restricted them to the Flaming Ones.

Perhaps the Alpha Legion also recruits from this cult? Taken the best members to form squads who are then slowly upgraded and trained.

I've added it. A very interesting idea.

As for the psykic drug, the name you are looking for is "Spook", it's a similar drug that is used on Necromunda. However it's very possible that there are different drugs out there with the same effect.

I know, but there could very well be similar drugs.

One more thing...FORMAT! 
[/quote]

[Dragon Lord]

I quite like the idea of the Brotherhood of the Pheonix.  I definitely think it is better now that only the senior members wear brightly coloured robes, this wouldn't really seem out of place to the Imperium as I'm sure all Imperial sects have their own robes for members of their clergy.  One presumes that the Flaming Ones either remain inside the chapter houses away from the public eye or make efforts to conceal their mutations when outside.
I think the Alpha Legion links need to be developed a bit, as at the moment they seem a little bit like they were added in as an after thought.  The main idea of the cult works very well without them though.
Another point of interest, though the Inquisition may not yet have discovered their true goals have their differences with the primary Imperial Cult caused any friction with the Ministorum?
Just one last thought/point, doesn't Invictona have quite a few cults now?  It might perhaps be better to move it to another world so Invictona doesn't become 'chaos cult haven'.

[LightDark]

I quite like the idea of the Brotherhood of the Pheonix.  I definitely think it is better now that only the senior members wear brightly coloured robes, this wouldn't really seem out of place to the Imperium as I'm sure all Imperial sects have their own robes for members of their clergy.  One presumes that the Flaming Ones either remain inside the chapter houses away from the public eye or make efforts to conceal their mutations when outside.
I think the Alpha Legion links need to be developed a bit, as at the moment they seem a little bit like they were added in as an after thought.  The main idea of the cult works very well without them though.
Another point of interest, though the Inquisition may not yet have discovered their true goals have their differences with the primary Imperial Cult caused any friction with the Ministorum?
Just one last thought/point, doesn't Invictona have quite a few cults now?  It might perhaps be better to move it to another world so Invictona doesn't become 'chaos cult haven'.

I think that their official beliefs definitely do cause some friction with the Ministorum. The Flaming Ones and the Almighty definitely do stay in the chapter houses, and the 'official' priests are actually relatively low-ranked members. The Alpha Legion bit does need to be more developed, and I'll make sure to fix that. As for Invictona becoming a 'Chaos cult haven', I think that it's a bit too unrealistic for only one cult to exist on a world, particularly a hive world. Multiple cults should definitely exist on a single planet, which leads to interesting possibilities if they run into each other...

[Dragon Lord]

As for Invictona becoming a 'Chaos cult haven', I think that it's a bit too unrealistic for only one cult to exist on a world, particularly a hive world. Multiple cults should definitely exist on a single planet, which leads to interesting possibilities if they run into each other...

That seems fair, I suppose it's just that Invictona is the only world that people have based their cults on so far.  Anyway I look forward to seeing this develop further.