Faction Name: The Disciples of Yre-Keltha
Faction Type: Theocratic tribal community
Capital: Vulkorrth, the Crepuscular Shrine
Holdings: The Disciples make their home in a vast maze of subterranean caverns and tunnels whose main mouth is located near the Ashlands, and which extend to unfathomable deeps beneath the barren wastes. None has ever explored them in their entirety, and those who venture into the lower reaches often fail to return. Vague tales and rumours tell of impossibly vast chasms, black, boundless oceans which never saw the light of day and creatures strange even by the standards of the cavern-dwellers; yet none of them has ever been confirmed.
Aside from their main settlement in a number of large chambers below-grounds, the Disciples maintain a few outposts at a certain distance from the cavern mouth, both in the Ashlands and the wastes to the south-west. These spots serve as observation and guard points, as well as staging grounds for hunting or raiding expeditions.
Flag/Banner:
Leader: Elder Skotarch Alth-Vuul
Persons of Importance:Skotarch Darr-Nrath
Handler-Master Koluun
Great Overseer Tramnos Vallin
Racial Demographics and Population:Species Demographics
Ulthari - 52%
Humans - 41%
Other - 7%
Ulthari - The Ulthari are a roughly humanoid species originally hailing from a distant sector at the outskirts of the empire whose heart Nabushan once was. Following their integration, they spread throughout its territories, establishing communities on those planets which most abounded with native wildlife, and extensively interacting with select components of the latter. Presently the Disciples are probably the only Ulthari remaining on Nabushan, as said settlements seldom amounted to more than one per planet.
The Ulthari appear as robustly built, slightly hunched figures with thick grey-brown skin and heads tapering to many-eyes worm-like appendages, a large extension of which is effectively a four-jawed mouth with a toothed interior. Despite their anthropoid shape, they do not possess a spinal endoskeleton to support their frame, but a web-like structure of cartilaginous filaments which likewise functions as a lymphatic system. Their organisms, though naturally rather strong by human standards, are unfit for life in a desert environment. This factor prompted them to settle underground after the Calamity struck, and is likewise the reason for them only venturing outside at night.
Besides the Ulthari, a number of various individuals has joined the Disciples throughout the years, either by voluntary choice or through being born within their fold. These converts are prevalently human, but a few surviving aliens have likewise found their way to the Crepuscular Shrine, rendering the sect yet more demographically diverse. The Ulthari are largely indifferent to their fellows' species, with the only existing discriminatory restrictions being that no outsider may detain religious authority; indeed, the current Great Overseer is a human, which stands as a testament to the Way's hierarchical meritocracy.
Culture and Religion:It would be impossible to speak of the Disciples' culture without mentioning their religion, and vice versa. The entire community's social structure is founded upon the Way of Yre-Keltha, a faith native to the Ulthari homeworld, and followed by virtually the entire species. This religion, monotheistic in nature, maintains that the cosmos is, in all its aspects, a physical manifestation of the power of the deity Yre-Keltha, and its existence is made necessary by the fact that it constitutes a necessary point of reference for the fathoming of an otherwise entirely abstract concept. Of Yre-Keltha itself there exists no exact description, as the only trait it ontologically shares with the universe, and therefore the only one comprehensible to its inhabitants, is its power. The basic tenet of the Disciples' faith consists in honouring this entity by fulfilling at the best of their ability its intent for the world - namely, by growing as powerful as possible to better reflect Yre-Keltha's divine potency.
Unlike the abstruse basis of their cosmology, the definition of "power" adopted by the worshippers of Yre-Keltha is almost surprisingly simplistic, as it is no more than elementary physical vigour and health. What their religion effectively dictates is that it is the duty of every individual devotee to strengthen their body through continuous exertions, and likewise demonstrate this strength by subjecting themselves to various ordeals and privations and being none the worse for it. Such a philosophy ensures that the Disciples' lifestyle remain nothing short of Spartan; it is common for them to sleep upon bare rock, subsist upon a monotonous diet of bland-tasting fungus and spend their days at work, with no recreational activity other than ceremonial functions being permitted and breaches of the sect's rigid discipline being severely punished. Emotional ties to anything else than the Way and the community itself are likewise regarded as a sign of weakness, and eradicated whenever they are discovered. There thus happen to be no families among the Disciples; while this is not an issue for the oviparous Ulthari, who do not possess distinct sexual characteristics and whose spawn are naturally disposed to being raised communally, it has resulted in many of their human fellows' psychology developing abnormally, and growing to resemble that of their alien "brethren" more than others of their own species.
A relevant part in the Disciples' society is played by Nabushan's fauna. Most Ulthari possess an innate aptitude at establishing rudimentary communication with, and eventually domesticating invertebrate animals - a most useful trait for the followers of the Way, whose lack and poor opinion of inorganic technology would otherwise have left at a severe disadvantage in a hostile environment. Trained beasts are commonly employed for all manner of tasks - from transport to the cultivation of edible fungus - and are widely regarded as a boon of Yre-Keltha for their usefulness, though this sentiment is seldom ever more than general. The only exception is formed by especially ancient, rare and impressive creatures, who are regarded as direct embodiments of the deity's power and venerated as a sort of totem animals.
While the Disciples have no particular interest in conflict, aggression, as well as being a source of necessary equipment, is regarded by them as a trial of strength as good as any other, and it is thus not uncommon for their outriders to assail inhabitants of the wastes, or even expeditions from major inhabited sites, for no reason whatsoever. While this does probably not create a positive image of them, they are unconcerned by such minutiae, and even the prospect of retaliatory action is seen as nothing more than a potential challenge to be overcome.
History:The group which is now known as the Disciples of Yre-Keltha was once one of the many Ulthari enclaves which settled on numerous worlds worthy, in their view, of their attention. The purpose of these expeditions was to scout different ecosystems and try and discover such creatures as were presumably closest to the ideal of might glorified by their religion; Nabushan was an excellent candidate, given its abundance of diverse and redoubtable life-forms. The expedition had, indeed, encountered many an interesting specimen when the Calamity struck, destroying its headquarters and leaving many of its members dead in the chaos.
The surviving Ulthari managed to regroup and, after some wandering about the devastated landscape, eventually found shelter within a labyrinthine system of caverns and tunnels on the edge of what had become the Ashlands. Having lost all communication with the rest of their species and finding themselves woefully under-equipped to survive in the wastes, they fell back upon their religion, and drew from its somewhat nebulous cosmology a set of rigid, practical teachings to guide them in their struggle. Though the first times were all ut simple, the Ulthari firmly clung to their resolve, and gradually succeeded in rooting out weakness from among their ranks. Many perished in the attempt to adapt to this arduous new life, but those that remained were the fittest and strongest - those who most pleased Yre-Keltha, and who throve in the arid desolation.
After a while, rumours of this strange cult spread throughout the nearby territories, and several wastelanders began to seek it out, either curious concerning its doctrine, or willing to join it to improve their own chances of survival. The Ulthari found no issue with others desiring to follow the Way alongside them - provided they could prove they were apt to follow its teachings by undergoing a series of perilous trials. Such an order was found to be quite efficient, and remains in practice to this day - would-be adherents either bolster the Disciples' numbers or die in the attempt, but there seldom is any shortage of them.
Military:The Disciples have no effective military force to speak of; that said, virtually all of them are fit for combat, and may organise raids and hunting parties on their own initiative. Due to a noticeable scarcity of resources, no standard armament exists, and everyone carries what they can find - be it stolen or looted firearms, armour, or even weapons fashioned from animal parts. A partial exception exists in the form of the Ulthari electrified weapons - the survivors managed to preserve a large stock of them, and many of the aliens possess either a basic shock-prod (which is also useful for herding unruly beasts) or a heavier electro-maul.
As in many aspects of the Disciples' life, they are aided in this field by their trained beasts. They are, for instance, unimpeded by their lack of motorised vehicles, as dunecrawlers and some breeds of sifter are an excellent surrogate; no group ever sets out without the support of a pack of ash locusts or tunnel stalkers, and on certain occasions even such strange creatures as pit bats or the dreaded sand worms can be mobilised.
Domesticated Animals:Dunecrawler: These vaguely scorpion-like creatures can, despite their natural ferocity, be reduced to obedience by Ulthari handlers, and are often ridden by Disciple raiders in the stead of machines. Older dunecrawlers can grow large enough to accommodate several passengers, and are employed as mobile "artillery platforms" by outriders wielding rocket launchers or other heavy weapons.
Ash Locust: A type of insectoid native to the Ashlands, the locusts actually bear greater resemblance to a hybrid between a praying mantis and a beetle, and truly owe their name to their voracity and habit to move about in large packs. Their size is comparable to that of large dogs, and it has been recorded for even a small number of them to reduce a man to a skeleton within less than a minute.
Tunnel Stalker: Odd beasts found dwelling in the caverns inhabited by the Disciples, tunnels stalkers are peculiar in it that certain of their vital organs are naturally replaced with a vegetal symbiont. This renders them capable of digesting virtually any form of organic matter, as the symbiotic organisms secrete strikingly potent enzymes.
Sifters: Sifters, similarly to such species as termites (whom they in fact markedly resemble, albeit they are much larger), live in hive-like nests, though their collective mentality is far less strong than that of their counterparts. Given their sedentary nature, they are often trained to tend to the Disciples' cultures of edible fungus and lichens; however, certain types of them are likewise suitable to be employed as mounts. On rare occasions, a few sifter grubs are consumed during ritual meals, and, despite their repulsive taste, this alternative to the usual diet is greatly relished.
Pit Bats: In spite of their name, pit bats are not mammals, but a strange sort of amphibian capable of limited flight as well as swimming. If properly instructed, especially large specimens can be capable of carrying riders in surface flight across brief distances, though their poor resistance to heat renders them ill-suited for diurnal journeys.
Sand Worms: Veritable leviathans of the wastes, these burrowing monsters can, if regularly fed, grow to prodigious sizes. Their immense strength and ability to rapidly bore their way through expanses of sand have many a time given Disciple attack parties an advantage sufficient to accomplish such feats as level a wastelander settlement or even breach the defences of a small city; however, significant efforts increase the beasts' appetite, making them unsuited for smaller-scale expeditions.
