Church of the Starchildren
The Church of the Starchildren is a mysterious new faction that has entered the fray of The Imperial-Akshusian War. They display strange psionic abilities and use advanced illithid technology, the first in Akshus to do so in over a century. So far they have mostly spent their energies on raids of yeorite settlement and occasional attacks in Ælmesleóht, but further investigation conducted by Theowulf and the Owls have revealed that they have several large excavations where they dig out illithid artefacts and multiple temples and chapels built on illithid ruins where they conduct experiments and research into the nature of mind flayers. It seems likely that they are biding their time and fuelling tensions in the south so they may finish their numerous and danegrous projects.
Work done by Theowulf's witchhunters suggest that the church is divided into several sects, each with its own goal and mission in the broader plan. The church as a whole seems to be led by a man who calls himself "The Void Prophet", though there have been no confirmed sightings of him yet. The sects themselves are a mystery too, but two are known to Theowulf. The Knife sect and the Deep sect. The Knife sect enhances akshusian fanatics, with hate in their heart against the Gold Empire, and grant them powerful psionic abilites. These fanatics are known as the Knives, and they utilize psionic blades to commit terrorist attacks and assassinate imperials. The Deep sect seem to be responsible for digging out ilithid ruins, supplying the other sects with weapons and bases of operation. They are not merely workers and diggers however, as their dig sites are protected by well-trained veteran warriors, some of them sporting psionic powers or cybernetic enhancements. Other sects include the Faceless, the Iron, the Helix and the Astral.
Work done by Theowulf's witchhunters suggest that the church is divided into several sects, each with its own goal and mission in the broader plan. The church as a whole seems to be led by a man who calls himself "The Void Prophet", though there have been no confirmed sightings of him yet. The sects themselves are a mystery too, but two are known to Theowulf. The Knife sect and the Deep sect. The Knife sect enhances akshusian fanatics, with hate in their heart against the Gold Empire, and grant them powerful psionic abilites. These fanatics are known as the Knives, and they utilize psionic blades to commit terrorist attacks and assassinate imperials. The Deep sect seem to be responsible for digging out ilithid ruins, supplying the other sects with weapons and bases of operation. They are not merely workers and diggers however, as their dig sites are protected by well-trained veteran warriors, some of them sporting psionic powers or cybernetic enhancements. Other sects include the Faceless, the Iron, the Helix and the Astral.
Structure
Sects
The Church of the Starchildren is divided into a number of sects, each with their own purpose in the Prophet’s plans. The sects often work together, so there is no true dividing line, but some bases are more dedicated to one purpose than others. The sects can broadly be defined as either operational sects or research sects. The operational sects are the ones who are most out in the field fighting against the Gold Empire and the research sects are more obscure, deliberately hiding themselves so that they might continue their research in secret.
The operational sects are:
- The Knife sect, which produces the Church’s finest warriors is most directly embroiled in the fight against the Gold Empire through terrorist attacks and sabotage. It is lead by Al-Saif, a legendary akshusian swordfighter.
- The Deep sect, which unearths mindflayer ruins and find useful alien technology for use by the Church. This sect has no particular leader and is generally junior to the knife sect.
- The Faceless sect, a sub-arm of the Helix sect which works with creating doppelgangers for use as spies and infiltrators. This sect is lead by enlightened Suhayl Ahwar, an akshusian.
- The Astral sect, responsible for research on telepathic technology and psionite obelisks.
- The Helix sect, responsible for research on illithid gene-technology and biological weapons and the production of supersoldiers. The Helix sect is lead by Doctor Ingeborg Duhr, an imperial defector, who leads the research on project Omega Regenesis.
- The Iron sect, responsible for research on illithid mechanical technology, cybernetics and voidships, and the production of cyborgs. The Iron sect is lead by enlightened Sulaiman Rihn, an akshusian who discovered several illithid ruins in his youth and has now joined with the church to gain the technology needed to save his crippled son, who leads the research on projects Iron Wing and Avatar.
Assets
Temples
Perhaps the greatest assets of the Church of the Starchildren are their temples, illithid facilities and installations they have taken control over and now use for their own gain. Most of these also serve as the headquarters for the different sects, and many of them have unique machines and abilities that contribute to the Church's ability to fight its war.
Temple of Revelation
The Temple of Revelation was once an illithid astral communication hub and was also used by the mind flayers to spy on the thoughts of their slaves, to ensure that dissidence was kept to a minimum. During the many revolts against the mind flayers, this site often indirectly destroyed the rebellions by gathering important intel from unknowing subjects. As such it was a high priority target for a long time, and the fire genasi brothers Eamil and Tanin destroyed much of the facility together, sparking the beginning of the first successful uprisings.
While the site has suffered severe damage as a result of the attack from fire elementals, there were still a few operational telepathic pylons, both for communication with astral space and for spying on akshusians' thoughts. It was here that the Void Prophet received his first revelation and the Church today uses it as headquarters for the relatively small Astral sect, which is in charge of exploring possibilities for using the telepathic pylons in the Church's plans. Many of the leaders of the Church also undergo a pilgrimage to the Temple of Revelation to touch the astro-telepathic pylon, that they might recieve a glimpse of the revelation the Void Prophet received and further awaken their psionic powers.
The Star Temple
The Star Temple was once a secret fortress and command center built by the mind flayers to be used as a staging ground for reconquering Akshus should they lose it. With telepathic spoors allowing voidships to navigate the border between the material plane and The Astral Plane, the Star Temple would have served as the location for planetfall of a large invasion force and is designed to hold thousands of Illithid gene-troops and chuuls, as well as scores of mechanical warmachines and dozens of landing craft. It even has facilities to accomodate one battleship, should the Elder Brains deem it nessecary to bring such firepower to bear.
To protect the secret of its existence, the Star Temple is burried deep under the sands, so that enemies might forget its existence. The only way to enter it is through a hidden portal in the Glass Desert, though the Church has activated a teleportation hub in the depths of the Star Temple and connected it to their other temples, to facilitate quick transportation between these different wings of the Church. In addition to this elusiveness, Temple Prime is also protected by a retinue of chuul elite warriors that can be activated by someone with the right psionic command mantras and should it be fully activated, which someone with the right psionic activation mantras can do, it would unfurl to its full height and unleash Obelisks of Darkness, great towers that can fire corrosive psionic energy upon enemies.
The Void Prophet sits at the heart of the Star Temple, in one of the mind flayer command thrones, so that he might control his temple and rule the church.
The Star Temple is the main site where the church is assembling and storing its science projects and experimental devices, with the hope that a resurgent Church of the Starchildren may one day use it as a base from which to conquer the Gold Empire, should the plans of the Starchildren proceed as anticipated. The Star Temple thus has huge areas dedicated to storing weapons, equipment and information for use by successor organizations, and in many ways the Void Prophet regards Temple Prime as his greatest work, next to project Omega Regenesis, and will do anything to keeps its location hidden from imperial forces. The Star Temple thus has wings dedicated to:
- Project Iron Wing, where the church has tried to refit one of the mind flayer dropships as a gunship in one of Temple Prime's hangars. If they are succesful they will have one functional gunship, as well as the knowledge on how to refit dropships in the future, which will be a powerful addition to their arsenal.
- Project Avatar, where the church has tried to recreate its own version of the illithid battle-mechs that can be piloted remotely by telepaths. This has required them to become more humanoid in nature. So far one avatar is nearing completion, the only part that is currently lacking is the ability to control it over longer distances, as currently the avatar must be connected to its user within a short distance. The Avatar project was mostly completed relatively early, and the Church can make more avatars, though it has been deemed more prudent to spend resources on cybernetics and project Iron Wing for the time being. Much of the work with the Avatar project was done in the Iron Temple. A wing of the storage facilities is dedicated to housing the Avatar project and its associated experimental designs, scientific data and the completed avatar, along with the command throne connected to it.
- Project Omega Regenesis, where the church has used advanced genetic techniques and the splicing of many different materials, alongside cybernetic enhancements and psionic hypno-conditioning, to create a worthy host for the Starchild coming to the material plane. This is in many ways the most important project, and it has already been completed. The Void Prophet has created his successor, someone who will take the world and remake it in the image of the gods. He is simply making the way for this Dark Messiah, creating the predesessor for a truly grand church, that will make Akshusians the dominant race on Dain and eventually in the world. The host is housed in a cryogenic unit deep in the bowels of Temple Prime, ready for transplanting the Starchild once the church's work is done.
- Project Void Edge, where the church has learned to use illithid micromachines to create targeted poisons. They hoped these would work as powerful weapons against the elementals, but have thus far had no luck with creating this superweapon. Any attempts at finalizing it has been put on hold indefinitely as its chief scientist, enlightened Tarafa, was killed under mysterious circumstances. Temple Prime has a wing dedicated to storing information about the project, while the actual experimental asset is stored in the Knife Temple.
The Unknown's Temple
The Unkown's Temple as once an illithid installation for production of doppelgangers used in infiltration missions of rebel groups. The Helix sect took it over and has used it to produce and maintain a few doppelgangers used against the Gold Empire
The Helix Temple
The Helix Temple was once one of the big Mind Flayer gene clinics. Located near the Aghnia river, this facility was in charge of changing the aghniites, maridites and kaleites and had a lot of genetic material on these tribes. With scientific equipment, laboratories, vivisectoriums, cryogenic storage caskets, gene-factories and hormonal treatment caskets, the Helix Temple has served as the center of the Church's biological experiments, those beings its supersoldierprogram and project Omega Regenesis. The facility itself is located in the desert, and only the lowermost levels are currently active as the rest of the facility was destroyed during the war. Troopers and supersoldiers guard the upper levels, but take to not draw unwanted attention. A portal from the Helix Temple leads to the teleportation hub in Temple Prime, and it is also connected to the rest of the Church's teleportation systems. The Helix Temple is the headquarters of the Helix sect.
The Iron Temple
The Iron Temple was once on of the main illithid factories for producing war-materiel and cyborgs terrestrially. It suffered relatively little during the war due to its underwater location near the mouth of the Aghnia river making it difficult to reach, but once the Mind Flayers abandoned it it fell to disrepair. Many of the wings of the facility were flooded as water slowly leaked in, but through the use of the Akthu and hydrokinetic machines the Church has mostly fixed the water-level and made the tools of the temple available to the Iron sect, which uses it as headquarters and primary facility for producing cyborgs. The most advanced and powerful cyborgs are produced here, and many of the cyborgs designs replicated in other facilities were designed here. Most of the research for project Avatar is completed here, both theoretical research and the production of experimental devices, while the final product is assembled in Temple Prime. The schematics for project Iron Wing are also made here, while the actual gunship is assembled in Temple Prime. Due to this close relationship between the Iron Temple and Temple Prime, material and personell are often moved between these two and the portal between them is on near-constantly.
The Knife Temple
The Knife Temple is was once an illithid military installation designed to protect the psionite mines in the Azerheim mountains from Azerdwarf and frost giant raids, and the githzherai took control of and expanded it after the war, using it as a staging ground for attacks against the illithid remnant that fled beneath the earth. Located north in the Azerheim mountains, it also served as a monastery for the githzherai in training their monks in advanced combat techinques. As such the temple has both githzherai and illithid architecture. After king Ibrahim al-Iliesar Tanin conquered North Akshus the githzherai were forced to abandon their northern monasteries, and the monastery that would become the Knife Temple was surrendered to the elements. Al-Saif, the leader of the Knife sect, sought it out as an ideal place from which to operate his sect, as it had a great deal of equipment that would allow him to train perfect killing machines and was located in a near-impenetrable position in the mountains. The Knife Temple has since been reinforced with telekines, Knife troopers and Knife operatives, all of whom spend time between missions at the temple and train there.
As the Knife sect is responsible for the protection of other facilities it has the second-most complete teleportation hub next to Temple Prime, with its portals being able to reach most temples and not requiring confirmation from the other side. As the Knife Temple also frequently has to carry out especially important missions requiring quick extraction, it also has a dedicated teleporter allowing knife operatives to return from their missions. Project Void Edge, the only project under the purview of the Knife sect, was also assembled at the Knife Temple, though with the death of enlightened Tarafa it wasn't finished and remained a powerful weapon but not a god-killer.
The Knife Temple has a great deal of defensive measures such as energy shields, gravity mines, psi-lightning coils and more conventional things such as kill-zones and murder-holes. In the centre of the temple there are great cylinders where the githzherai used to practice fighting in astral space, with machines that create zero gravity and empty the room of air.
The Factory
The Factory was once an illithid recycling station designed for recycling used equipment and machines so that the mind flayers didn't waste valuable equipment they wouldn't be able to replace terrestrially. It was a secondary target during the war and so it was left to fall into disrepair. The Iron sect moved in and use it to sort the equipment from their excavations around Akshus. The Factory is located on the largest island off the coast of the Ye'or delta, and the Church has moved into the local village of yeorites and taken over the town at gun-point, though they maintain the illusion of peace to the outside world. They use the town and its associated grainships, as cover for smuggling the equipment from the excavation into the Factory, which lies in the hills behind the town. There is another entrance to the Factory underneath the water, where a drainage pipe leads into the Factory. The factory has teleport connections to the Iron and Knife Temples.
History
The Church of the Starchildren was formed as a conspiracy against the Gold Empire, after the Void Prophet received a revelation from The Starchildren and was revealed the true potential of his people. The Void Prophet travelled throughout war-torn Akshus, gathering people with special abilites to form the core of his church. These people, who would form up the core of the different sects of the church, were recruited over a period of several months in 488, and the Void Prophet found them using his telepathic powers with the aid of the complex illithid telepathic pylons in the Temple of Revelation. The list of people recruited in this time includes:
Once the sects and framework of the church had been established, the Void Prophet was revealed an ancient illithid fortress at the edge of Glasørkenen that would serve as the church's beating heart. This fortress was named Temple Prime, and the Void Prophet settled there, using it as a place to meditate, seek revelations from the Starchildren and direct the church.
The Church has spent most of its time working in the shadows, preferring to gain power through spreading propaganda among the disenfranchised and wounded tribes, recruiting young people into its army of troopers and labourers and excavating and exploring illithid ruins and technology.
There have been few overt operations, and as far as Theowulf has been able to decipher these have been mostly targeted at hindering the process of making peace in the south. He belives that the Church is buying time to finish it projects, and that discovering the nature of these projects and stopping them is of paramount importance if one is to defeat them.
- Al-Saif, the leader of the Knife sect
- Sulaiman Rihn, chief scientist of the Iron sect and expert on cybernetics and robotics
- Doctor Ingeborg Duhr, leader and chief scientist of the Helix sect and expert on genetic modification and synthetic organs
- Majida Alzaj, scientist of the Astral sect
Once the sects and framework of the church had been established, the Void Prophet was revealed an ancient illithid fortress at the edge of Glasørkenen that would serve as the church's beating heart. This fortress was named Temple Prime, and the Void Prophet settled there, using it as a place to meditate, seek revelations from the Starchildren and direct the church.
The Church has spent most of its time working in the shadows, preferring to gain power through spreading propaganda among the disenfranchised and wounded tribes, recruiting young people into its army of troopers and labourers and excavating and exploring illithid ruins and technology.
There have been few overt operations, and as far as Theowulf has been able to decipher these have been mostly targeted at hindering the process of making peace in the south. He belives that the Church is buying time to finish it projects, and that discovering the nature of these projects and stopping them is of paramount importance if one is to defeat them.
The Stars have answered
Founding Date
488 Imperial Age
Type
Religious, Sect
Demonym
Starchildren
Leader
Notable Members
Comments