Sample Character: Internet Cult Leader

Reading Chronicles of Darkness makes me want to create some new characters, both to explore the rules and how those rules might be exploited. In this series I'm detailing some of those creations.

Spoiler Warning: This character concept comes from the anime series Durarara!! which I've been enjoying on Netflix recently. So as a warning, this character spoils a major reveal of the first half of the show.

The concept is that of a cult leader whose real identity is unknown even to his followers. Through secret signs and an online forum he manipulates his disciples. But to what end?

Character Concept: Internet Cult Leader

A couple of years ago Eugene was just an ordinary middle school student. Clever but bookish, he spent more time online than with people. Amid its forums and chatrooms, he honed his skills of debate and persuasion.

Bored with his day-to-day life, he found himself trawling the internet for the weird and unusual. He discovered accounts of many strange occurences scattered across the web: a woman with eyes like electricity, people who entered rooms and exited as someone totally different, and events that could only be described as supernatural.

He and several other like-minded individuals began a forum to collect these accounts. They drew others into helping their research. He never met the others in person and to this day Eugene is unsure if his fellow administrators were even be human.

Slowly a picture formed as to the source of these strange events. Dubbed 'demons', the beings appeared to be more mechanical than alive, wearing human disguises to hide their inhuman features. They reacted violently to investigation, leading the growing organization to coordinate their efforts, both to safeguard their members and to make sure no information was lost if events escalated.

They learned that these demons had powers, powers that might be useful if the group, now calling itself the Invisible Web, could control them. However the demons had a maddening habit of vanishing when studied too closely, erasing any evidence that they ever existed. Still the inner circle directed their members create ever tightening nets around the demons they discovered, hoping to capture one in their web and thus bind it to their service.

Now three years later, Eugene sits at the top of this ever-growing group of investigators and thrill seekers. One by one his fellow administrators have gone dark. He guards his anonymity, keeping his head down in school and continues reviewing the intelligence as it comes in.

Eugene Jones

Virtue: Curiosity Vice: Anonymity

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 4, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation (Demons) 3, Occult 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Stealth (crowds) 2
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 3, Persuasion (recruiting) 4, Subterfuge (hiding emotions) 2

Merits: Anonymity 2, Mystery Cult Initiation 5

The Invisible Web

The cult Eugene and his friends built continues to spread its threads across the world. Devoted to tracking down the strange beings they have designated 'demons', they collect information on people who act strangely, sightings of infernal or angelic beings, and note unusual locations.

Connected via a message board, they compile data on these individuals which the inner circle one day hopes will allow them to capture and compel a demon into service.

To date their success has been limited to a few Pyrrhic operations and many dead ends. A few cells are able to show new members the preserved biomechanical organs of their quarry to rally the faithful and convince the skeptical. But thus far no demon has been captured alive. Most end up destroyed by beings that can only be described as angelic.

The ranks of the Mystery Cult Merit are:

1. All new devotees learn to follow the traces of their quarry. They gain the Investigation Speciality (Demons).
2. Now trusted by the general community, disciples learn to draw on the cult's widespread connections. They gain Contacts (Invisible Web).
3. At this point the faithful have seen some of the artifacts of the cult and perhaps had several brushes with demons. They gain Unseen Sense (Demons).
4. The inner circle of the cult can call on the faithful to support them. They gain Allies (Invisible Web 3).
5. Years on the hunt grant the leaders of the order an almost supernatural ability to hunt down the truth about demons. They gain 9 agains to rolls for investigating or studying demons.