Monday, November 9, 2015

The Daughters of the Eel Cult


A Confession: I've been using the Daughters of the Eel as antagonists in a couple different games, but I haven't really fleshed-out what they're all about. But I have some dice and some random tables, so we can fix that.

Some things we know about the Daughters of the Eel:
  • The members of the cult are drawn exclusively from the ranks of female artists who are inspired by the terrible and sublime power of the primordial sea. Only women who evidence an affinity with the dark depths of the ocean can hear the call of the Eelmother. Since all its members are artists, it is a tenet of the cult that beauty and aesthetic pleasures are to be celebrated. Conversely, those whose art is mockery--such as clowns and buffoons--are to be stripped of their motley and tormented without mercy.
  • The Eelmother promises to bring her faithful Daughters wealth and prosperity. Those who survive shipwrecks and drownings are thought to be blessed by the Eelmother.
  • One rite practiced by the Daughters of the Eel is the profane mixing of sacrificial blood with that of monstrous creatures from the deep to create an injectable, magical substance they refer to as "the Mother's Nectar."
  • The Daughters of the Eel seek the entrance to an ancient reliquary hidden within a seaside cove; they believe that the reliquary houses a potent artifact that will allow them to raise the Eelmother from the depths.
  • Those who serve the ends of the Eel Cult are granted a transformative boon: their skin becomes as tough, rubbery, and protective as that of a great eel. Furthermore, the recipient of this gift is able to survive the crushing pressures of the undersea. 

The above details about the Daughters of the Eel were generated with Rafael Chandler's Obscene Serpent Religion supplement; I modified things here and there to be less about snakes and more about eels, but it was really useful as a starting point.