Cult Magic

This guide was written with the assumption that you have read and understood the Cultist guide beforehand. If you have not yet done so please read through that page first and then come back when you're more familiar with the Cult of Nar'Sie!

The Cult of Nar'Sie is a blood-magic cult that has infiltrated the station with the intent to sacrifice a crew member and then either spread its influence or summon Nar'Sie to destroy the station.

Before jumping into a guide here's a few quick tips:

• There are no defined cult 'heads'; all cultists are equal but each original cultist starts with a special 5-use talisman in their backpack as well as knowing the meaning of one rune word.
• All cultist tomes start out with the complete kit of runes - meaning that you've always got a plethora of options, right from the get-go.
• The Chaplain can use his holy book to reveal hidden runes and his null rod to destroy visible runes. See the the Chaplain page for more details.
• Cultists draw runes from their own blood, requiring arcane tomes to do so. This causes a small amount of brute damage. Experienced players may take notice of anyone who has sustained minor brute damage on several limbs. Saline-glucose pills are a handy way to heal this damage an disguise your status as a cult member. Remember: this damage shows up on crew monitors so turn them off if you plan to use a lot of runes/talismans!
• Using the imbue talisman rune cultists can inscribe the following runes on pieces of paper: stun, blind, deafen, communicate, teleport, summon tome, summon armor.
• For a quick escape a cultist can carry around a paper imbued with the teleport rune. If he or she is worried about getting caught they can use the talisman to teleport away. Doing so in view of non-cultists, however, will alert them to the presence of a cult!
• The shuttle is possible to call and will end the round. If the cult does poorly, one possible cult objective is to have a certain number of cultists on board the shuttle by the time it docks at Central Command.
• It is impossible to convert either the Chaplain or the Captain regardless of whether or not they have a loyalty implant.
• Using cult magic, whether a tome, rune, or talisman, is very visible and obvious to anyone who can see you. If your cult is trying to be stealthy do your best to avoid using any sort of cult magic out in the open unless absolutely necessary. If you are apprehended by security for some reason but they are not aware of the cult it may be better for you to accept a stay in the brig rather than use magic to escape and reveal that a cult is on board! Remember, however, that if they find cult items on your person the cult will be discovered!

Cultists should work together to achieve their objectives, and have access to many otherworldly powers to bring this about.

At Round Start

File:Talismanandtome.png

A cultist begins the round with a starting talisman in his backpack. The talisman has 5 charges and is good for a number of things including summoning an arcane tome. You also start with the ability to silently communicate with your peers - which is important, as you must work together in quite a literal fashion in order to expand the cult. Your first act should be to find an isolated place, and summon a tome.

Summon your tome in a secluded place. It drops at your feet upon using the talisman and if you do this anywhere people can see you they WILL notice! This is important enough to reiterate: DO NOT summon a tome where you can be seen by non-cultists as it will appear on the floor where you stand!

Now pull out your arcane tome and activate it in your hand. Your tome has 2 options:

File:Youopenthetome.png

- Read it allows you to study spells, and what each spell does.

- Scribe a rune allows you to scribe any of the various cult runes. All runes are immediately available, so take advantage of your variety.

File:Cultrunescrayonrunes.png

A comparison of crayon runes (top) and cult runes (bottom.) Finding a Hideout The NSS Cyberiad has a myriad of places where you might be able to set up a cult hideout. Where possible, try to set up a hideout in a hidden room in maint. No cameras, little foot traffic. Out in space you might get lucky and find the white ship. The engineering outpost is nice because it has several rooms that are not visible from space and no AI cameras at round-start so you don't have to worry about the AI spying on you! The mining outpost has cameras but is rarely monitored by the AI, has a medical sleeper to heal brute damage, its own telecomms equipment which is easy to sabotage, and as a bonus the ore boxes that miners use can completely conceal a rune drawn on the ground! The research outpost is also a common place to set up a cult base as it, too, has a medical sleeper as well as many nooks and crannies that aren't visible to an AI's cameras. Be warned that cutting a camera's wires can instantly draw the AI's attention so sometime's it's better to simply set up shop where the AI already can't see you. Creating Talismans File:Imbuetalismanrune.gif Talismans are pieces of paper imbued with the power of a rune. There are 10 runes in total which you can imbue on a piece of paper: Electromagnetic Pulse Reveal Runes Stun Veiling Disguising Arming Summon Tome Teleport Horrors Shackling To imbue a paper with a spell, all you need is the rune of Imbuement, and a sheet of paper, placed on top. Once you do so, you may select from any of the above talismans, which you'll create from the paper after a short delay. Keeping a bin of paper on-hand is wise - you can pick one up and carry it around by dragging it onto your character. The Runes Rune Required Cultists Scales by # Invokers Short Description Teleport 1 No Takes an arbitrary keyword, which will be used as an identifier for this location. Can either be teleported to by other teleport runes and talismans, or be used as a means of teleporting objects and creatures on top of the rune elsewhere. Does not work in the away mission. Rite of Enlightenment 2 No The most important rune to a successful cult. This requires 2 cult members adjacent to the rune - so be sure to cooperate! Does not work on the Captain, Chaplain, or loyalty-implanted crew. EMP 1 Yes EMPs with a radius of 12 tiles away per invoking cultist. Drain Life 1 No Deals 10-20 brute damage to living humanoid that is not you on the rune, in return for healing an equivalent amount of brute damage to yourself. Rite of Resurrection 1 No Allows you to pulp a nearby non-cultist corpse (including non-human!) in order to bring an (including non-human) body on the rune back to life. You may select the targets as you invoke the rune. Astral Communion 1 No Invoking allows you to ghost temporarily, allowing you to both glean information, and request ghosts for other rituals (particularly the rite of Manifestation). You will take damage slowly while in the astral plane. Rite of Spectral Manifestation 1 No Causes a ghost on your tile to manifest as a naked human. They will die once you leave the rune. You will take 1 damage every 3 seconds while the manifestation is alive. Rite of Binding 1 No Place a sheet of paper on top of this rune and invoke, and you'll get to choose from the 10 talismans mentioned above. Sacrifice (Everything here and below is out-of-date) hell blood join Reveal Runes blood see hide Wall Rune destroy travel self Free Cultist travel technology other Summon Cultist join other self Deafen hide other see Blind destroy see other Blood Boil destroy see blood Communicate self other technology Stun join hide technology Summon Horror hell join self File:Teleportrune.gif Making use of a teleport rune. Teleport The first two words for this rune are "travel self" The teleport rune is a special rune as it uses the first two words to designate that it's a teleport rune while the third word acts as a destination marker. When you have two runes with the same destination invoking one will teleport you to the other one. If there are more than 2 runes using the same destination marker you will be teleported to a random one. Since there are 10 words you can create 10 independent teleport networks. You can imbue a teleport rune into a talisman which, upon use, will teleport you to the destination rune. Teleport Other The first two words for this rune are "travel other" This variation of the teleport rune allows you to teleport objects between the runes. You need to have 3 cultists standing adjacent to this rune to properly invoke it. Summon a Tome File:Summontome.gif The words needed for this rune are "see blood hell". Use this rune to summon a new tome. Most of the time you will use this rune to create new tomes for converted crew members. You can imbue this rune into a talisman to make it slightly more concealable. Whether you use the rune or the talisman the new tome will always be summoned on the floor. Cult Armaments File:Summonarmor.gif The words needed for this rune are "hell Destroy Other". When it's time for the cult to go loud it can pay to properly equip them. The cult armaments rune or talisman creates and equips a cult robe, hood, boots, and blade on the person who activates it. Before you activate this rune it is a good idea to make sure are not wearing anything on your head, your feet, or in your exosuit slot, and that you have at least one hand free, otherwise the equipment for the unavailable slot will not appear. Convert The words needed for this rune are "join blood self". The single most important rune, the convert rune, is used to convert other people into cultists. To properly utilize it you need to put the victim on top of the rune and then click on it. Most folks don't want to be converted so make sure they are properly subdued first (stun talismans work wonders for this.) Also note that you cannot convert the Chaplain, Captain, or anyone who has a Mindshield Implant. If you attempt to convert someone and it does not work then they are immune to it and should be dealt with in a more lethal manner. It is possible to remove Mindshield implants via surgery and then convert someone or to convert the clone of someone who previously had a Mindshield implant (provided they do not receive another Mindshield implant before you attempt to convert them.) EMP The words needed for this rune are "destroy see technology". This rune creates an EMP effect in a 3 tile radius around it when activated. An EMP talisman creates the same effect but centered on the user. The EMP rune is useful for shutting down any cameras that the AI might use to spy on you without giving a notification to the AI. An EMP talisman is handy to have for use against borgs, mechs, or IPC security who are Mindshield implanted and cannot be converted. Be cautious using this spell if you have artificial limbs or internal organs! Drain Blood The words needed for this rune are "travel blood self" This rune instantly heals you of some brute damage at the expense a person placed on top of the rune. Whenever you invoke a drain rune ALL drain runes on the same z-level as you are activated (including those made invisible by a hide rune). If you happen to be standing on a drain blood rune when you activate it you will drain blood from yourself, however it immediately heals you anyways. If you find this rune early on it can help you stay healthy while researching other words. One drain heals up to 25 damage per victim, however the rune can be activated nearly as fast as you can click it for rapid healing. Drain blood works on people, monkeys, and even manifests. Blood hunger is a special condition you get when draining over 50 HP in one go. When afflicted by blood hunger you will keep slowly losing health until the hunger goes away or is satisfied. See Invisible The words needed for this rune are "see hell join". This allows you to see invisible objects and people as long as you stay on top of the rune. Mostly you'll want to use this to spot ghosts nearby for when you're attempting resurrections or building a construct army. When using a see invisible rune you will also be able to see hidden runes, people using the cloak of shadows or chameleon genetic abilities, and even the AI eye if it is nearby. Resurrect The words needed for this rune are "blood join Hell". To properly utilize a resurrect rune you must draw two of them in adjacent tiles. Place a living body (either a crew member or manifest) on one rune and a dead body on the other. The ghost being resurrected should stand on the same rune as the dead body and then you can activate the rune underneath the living body. If done correctly the living body will immediately gib while the dead body will rise at full health, now inhabited by the ghost that was previously hovering over it. If there are multiple ghosts on top of a dead body when it is resurrected then only one of them will be resurrected. Beware that if you stand on the same rune as the living, "sacrificial" body, it is possible to accidentally gib yourself! Hide Runes The words needed for this rune are "hide see blood". File:Obscurerune.gif When it becomes necessary to conceal a rune but you don't want to completely erase it you can make use of a hide rune. This rune, which you can also make with your starting talisman, makes nearby runes invisible. Note, however, that you cannot invoke the runes if you can't see them, so you need to either use a "see invisible" rune, or use a reveal rune. Oddly enough, though you can get a hide rune talisman from a starter cultist's 5-use talisman you cannot actually make more using the imbue paper rune. The hide rune conceals all runes in a 4 tile radius of the rune when activated. The hide rune talisman conceals all runes in a 2 tile radius from the user when activated. Both the hide rune and the hide rune talisman work through walls. One of the most effective uses of a hide rune is when you combine them with wall runes. A wall rune which is activated and then hidden makes a completely invisible and impassable barrier. This is great for blocking off entry points to your cult hideout as you can use teleport runes, which are unusable by non-cultists, to get in and out of the hideout. Ghost Self The words needed for this rune are "hell travel self". This rune allows you to leave your mortal body and become a ghost. This comes with all those benefits of being a ghost including being able to communicate with other ghosts, seeing invisible people/items, and so on. Of course as a ghost you are unable to control your body and if you fly away you will have no idea if something is happening to it. You can re-enter your body using the "Re-Enter Corpse" verb in your Ghost tab on the right half of your game window. While floating around as a ghose your body slowly takes damage. It is recommended that if you must make extended use of this rune that you have someone capable of healing you on standby to keep you patched up. Also beware that if your body is removed from the rune while ghosted you will not be able to re-enter it! Manifest a Ghost The words needed for this rune are "blood see travel". This rune is close to the resurrect spell but works slightly differently. It does not need any dead bodies or sacrifices, just you and a ghost both standing on top of a rune. Placing a paper with a name on the rune will give your manifested ghost a name, otherwise he will appear as Unknown. Once the rune is invoked a new body will appear right where you stand. The body will last indefinitely as long as you are standing on the rune. You, however, will begin to take damage. Once you die or leave the rune the ghost is banished from the body, gibbing it in the process. Imbue a Paper The words needed for this rune are "hell tech join". This useful rune imbues an empty piece of paper with the power of an adjacent rune. See the Creating Talismans section for more information about which runes can be imbued onto paper and how to do so. Sacrifice The words needed for this rune are "hell blood join". The sacrifice rune is used to gain favour of Nar'Sie by sacrificing living things to him. You need 3 cultists standing adjacent to the rune and any one of them can activate it by clicking on it. You can use this rune to research words with the Sacrifice Method. More importantly you will have an objective to sacrifice a specific crew member utilizing this rune. Reveal Runes The words needed for this rune are "blood see hide". The words for the reveal rune are always the same words for the hide rune except in reverse. Functionally the reveal rune makes hidden runes invisible. It has the same 4-tile radius range as a rune and 2-tile radius range as a talisman. Despite the fact that you cannot create hide rune talismans you can create reveal rune talismans using the imbue paper rune. Wall The words needed for this rune are "destroy travel self". File:Wallrune.gif This rune, when activated, magically thickens the air above it making an invisible wall. When activated again the wall is removed and you can move through the space. Once a wall is activated the rune for it can be hidden so that it cannot be deactivated until the rune is revealed. Free Cultist The words needed for this rune are "travel technology other". While this rune requires three cultists to activate it can be used to free fellow cultists from restraints, including cuffs, locked DNA machines, locked/welded closets, etc. If the cultist you are attempting to free is both cuffed and buckled to a chair or bed you must use the rune twice on them to free them completely. Note that this rune will not allow a cultist to escape a straitjacket, nor will it move the cultist to safety. Summon Cultist The words needed for this rune are "join other self". Best when paired with the free cultist rune, this rune allows you to summon any cultist to the rune. You need 3 cultists adjacent to the rune for it to work and the target must not be cuffed, buckled, or hiding in a closet. Deafen The words needed for this rune are "hide other see" . This rune temporarily makes all non-cultists in visible range deaf. You can imbue this rune into a talisman which has the same range but the duration of deafness will be shorter. Blind The words needed for this rune are "destroy see other". Blind rune works exactly the same way as the deafen rune except blinding everyone in visible range rather than deafening them. This rune can be imbued into a talisman which has the same range but a shorter duration of blindness. Blood Boil The words needed for this rune are "destroy see blood". Another rune which requires 3 cultists invoking it to work. When activated it deals massive damage to all non-cultists in visual range while dealing very little damage to cultists. There is a probability that the rune will simply explode after being invoked, badly damaging everyone in a small radius around it. File:Communicationrunebox.png Communicate The words needed for this rune are "self other technology". This spell allows you to safely and easily communicate with other cult members. Invoke it and a window will pop up prompting you to enter a message. Type a message and click OK and it will be transmitted to all cult members in big red letters so they hopefully won't miss it. You can get a communication talisman using your starting talisman and it should be one of the first things you do in the round (after summoning an arcane tome) in order to share your rune word with the other cultists. Stun The words needed for this rune are "join hide technology". Unlike other runes this one is generally meant to be used in talisman form. When a stun rune is invoked directly it stuns everyone in visual range for 1 second and blinds them for three seconds, including the cultist who invoked the rune. Though this may not seem useful it can be used as disarm and disorient pursuers. When imbued into a talisman and used on someone they are stunned for 10 seconds and silenced for 15 seconds - plenty of time to cuff them and remove their headset, or even to drag them to a nearby convert rune and activate it. If you are fast enough you can even draw a new convert rune right next to your victim, activate it, then remove the rune with your tome before the stun talisman wears off. Summon Horror The words needed for this rune are "hell join self" NAR-SIE HAS RISEN! The final spell, used to summon Nar'Sie. This rune requires nine cultists standing in a 3x3 grid with the rune in the center. Any one of the nine cultists can activate the rune, and so long as all nine cultists are are properly positioned Nar'Sie will be summoned. The summoning will prompt the message "NAR'SIE HAS RISEN!" in giant red letters in the chat-log for all players to see, and if the evacuation shuttle isn't already on the way it will be automatically called. Take note that not all cult rounds involve an objective to summon Nar'Sie. Doing so on a round where it is not required is not against the Server Rules but it is generally frowned upon as it reveals the presence of a cult in the most glaring way possible and the chaos that results can make it difficult to achieve the sacrifice objective if that hasn't already been done. File:Joinus.gif Cult Magic Guide updated May 2016 by Keroman (added Nar-Sie Gif & some formatting, dadols) Thanks to the following players for their valuable input: Lukesf (Neri Nalvi), Kyet (Colin Black), and Cid777 (Cid Squishings)