TEXT: Cultists
  CREED
  JAKUB OSIEJEWSKI
  ANDRZEJ STÓJ
  THE DARK
  
  Authors:
  Andrzej Stój
  Jakub Osiejewski
  Editing:
  Andy Slack
  Layout and typesetting:
  Irek Winnicki
  Cover:
  Ania Jarmołowska
  Pictures:
  Ania Jarmołowska
  Special Thanks to:
  MK
  This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group 
  at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle 
  Entertainment Group. Used with permis ion.
  Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of 
  this product. 2017 Gramel ,Nemezis and all related marks and logos are trademarks of Gramel . All 
  Rights Reserved.
  
  Introduction 3
  The 
  universe 
  of 
  Nemezis 
  is 
  a 
  technological one. Omnipresent global 
  networks and advanced technologies, 
  including genetic engineering and 
  nanoid treatments, redefine humanity 
  and its limits. This makes humans on 
  most planets think in terms of “here and 
  now”. They put their faith in science, the 
  half-life of elements, the heat death of 
  the universe and the cloning of bodies. 
  This world. Religion is almost dead. 
  Churches aren’t exactly popular – they 
  collect weak, broken, hopeless people, or 
  ones raised on theocratic planets, little 
  different from totalitarian hells. Most 
  religions these days are essentially sects. 
  Usually they’re run by strong leaders, 
  able to control the acolytes.
  Most planets simply don’t have a place 
  for faith, nor do they practice religions. 
  But many people, even though they 
  don’t admit it openly, have some hope 
  for a life after death. Even though the 
  transfer of consciousness is fairly well 
  known, it’s unclear why the soul can’t 
  fully be reduced to data, and can’t be 
  copied an infinite number of times. This 
  so-called “clone decay” is the basis of the 
  few large churches still in existence. Few 
  scientists can explain this anomaly – and 
  the handful who do, often use the phrase 
  “something like the immortal soul”. 
  Ordinary people might not believe in a 
  creator deity, but quite a lot of them still 
  hope that after death they will still exist 
  in some way.
  But this matters little for the game itself. 
  In your games of Nemezis you want 
  races, shootouts, politics, power grabs, 
  advanced gadgets, space battles, psionic 
  duels or exploration of the Galaxy. You 
  can enjoy Nemezis without dark gods, 
  cultists and black magic. If you want to 
  rely on conflicts between Infinity, the 
  nobles of Bariz and Thenard’s totalitarian 
  government, you can play out an entire 
  campaign without introducing a single 
  Horde creature. You can even destroy a 
  great adventure by introducing a guru of 
  an evil sect who summons monsters. In 
  fact, introducing the eponymous Nemezis 
  of humankind might be problematic.
  I, Cultist
  The common image of a cultist of an 
  evil deity in RPGs is ghastly, grotesque 
  and unreal. Imagine a drooling madman 
  with bloodshot eyes, brandishing a 
  poisoned dagger and babbling on about 
  weird spells. And of course, inevitably 
  their role is to die, whether by steel, lead 
  or plasma. The cultists’ dark plans end 
  just minutes before they can reach their 
  nefarious goals – brave heroes inevitably 
  stumble upon the cult’s HQ when the 
  acolytes are unarmed, have no guardians 
  and can’t defend themselves.
  
  Cultists 4
  How about we abandon this 
  approach?
  Let’s not call evil people “crazy” or 
  stupid. They shouldn’t just be motivated 
  by the mere fear of death, greed for 
  power and money or outwardly noble 
  goals like the need to protect their 
  friends. No, their system of values will 
  inevitably be warped and their mind 
  shattered when confronted with the 
  evil of the dark gods – but an ordinary 
  cultist might not even go insane, and 
  they certainly shouldn’t be stupid. 
  The mentally ill don’t join cults. They 
  have difficulty just living their lives. Most 
  cultists try to form an organization. But 
  are they fully aware what they worship? 
  The end goal of Nemezis is not control, 
  but the total destruction of mankind – 
  and that is widely known, if disbelieved. 
  Is there anyone reasonable who’d join 
  such a cult wanting vengeance for 
  some perceived slight? Would anyone 
  honestly hope that a massive, star-
  eating snake flies into your star system 
  to eat the boss who fired you? It’s like 
  tossing an A-bomb at a mosquito.
  And there’s of course the spiritual side. 
  Most people don’t accept the existence 
  of magic; and so, if you’re one that does, 
  you probably believe that it means total 
  damnation. If you want to sell your soul 
  to “the devil”, you must also believe that 
  there is a good god. And that’s no small 
  thing to reject in the world of Nemezis.
  So what does a cultist look like? Well, 
  the less a potential cultist knows about 
  his future patron, the greater the chance 
  that they will find some common 
  ground with the sect. In Nemezis, cult 
  membership is essentially a business 
  deal – especially when only one of the 
  sides knows the full conditions. The 
  potential traitor to mankind doesn’t 
  actually have to be totally unaware. 
  It’s good if he or she knows what she’s 
  getting into – she’ll be more careful and 
  willing to care about the needs of the 
  church. However, at the beginning the 
  sect should seem harmless. What sounds 
  more interesting: a group of people who 
  worship a planet-eating snake or a circle 
  who have discovered a strange method 
  to bend the rules of the Ashian stock 
  exchange? For the beginning cultist 
  the organization is not a church – it’s a 
  club, a brotherhood, a secretive guild or 
  a gang. They will mention dark gods, but 
  not outright - and there will be other 
  pretexts to act secretively.
  Another reason cultists aren’t crazy 
  is because the cult selects prospective 
  recruits carefully. There should be no 
  unstable war veterans, ex-mainstream 
  priests, unstable psis or wiccans. No, 
  instead they should pick a mercenary 
  bodyguard who simply wants the 
  extension of his detective license, or a 
  lawyer with strange sexual preferences. 
  Someone with a certain amount of power 
  and some money – and the willingness 
  to get more, often by crossing lines - is 
  a perfect candidate. The cult can easily 
  give them some suitable tasks (provide 
  protection for our night club, tell us 
  what the attorney general is really guilty 
  of), and provide them with solutions 
  (concessions, illegal drugs, solving their 
  amorous problems). With each month 
  the demands and requirements will 
  grow. After a couple of years (yes, years!) 
  
  Introduction 5
  in a sect, the cultist will have a warped 
  sense of right and wrong and they will 
  have no problems even in witnessing a 
  ritual that works.
  In fact, it’s quite likely that they will 
  want to gain this power themselves.
  Magic in Practice
  Summoning monsters is useful – 
  when you work in a strange circus or a 
  gladiatorial arena on Sparta. Because, 
  why would anyone bother to learn 
  how to summon a slimy, tentacled 
  monstrosity of the Devourer? The 
  summoning rituals are overrated – 
  sure, you can throw the beasts at player 
  characters... but remember that the cult’s 
  plan should be to avoid being found by 
  investigators in the first place!
  Okay, the wounding rituals are better – 
  but why do you need to gather acolytes 
  and perform sacrifices when you can 
  simply grab a plasma rifle and shoot 
  pure energy? Perhaps a magic bolt 
  has some advantages over a plasma 
  pistol, but plasma weaponry is also 
  available. If you’re determined and 
  intelligent enough to master complex 
  spell formulas, and can keep sane when 
  meeting the servants of the dark gods 
  – you’re probably smart enough to buy 
  plasma weapons or hire a bodyguard. 
  In the time a cultist needs to master 
  the Incantation of Black Fire, he could 
  probably hire a psionic assassin.
  And speaking of psionics... it’s available 
  and understood, which can actually be 
  a point in favor of black magic. While 
  a psi could bend the will of his victim, 
  they can defend themselves against it, 
  investigate it and discover the guilty 
  party. But dark magic works in a 
  different way. While a psi scan resonates 
  with the thoughts of another person, a 
  cultist will summon a demon which will 
  poison the soul of the victim, and send 
  interesting memories, ideas or decisions 
  to its master. A Psi can telekinetically 
  choke the victim – a dark mage will 
  send a curse of slow rotting of the flesh... 
  or simply cause an incurable cancer in 
  an organism.
  But still – these folks are using black 
  magic as a tool. It’s not a kind of religious 
  faith. The sect is still a gentleman’s club 
  for mutual assistance, and the more 
  experienced black magicians can now be 
  more self-sufficient.
  So when do you cross this invisible 
  barrier? When does the reasonable (or 
  at least rational) human being lose her 
  mind and become a fanatic actively 
  fighting to destroy humankind?
  You need something more than a 
  magically induced insanity. This isn’t the 
  19th century – people do not go insane 
  just after seeing a giant with a squid for 
  a head. The human has to realize that 
  going deeper, reciting a strange poem 
  at the precise moment of sinking the 
  obsidian dagger in the virgin’s chest, will 
  bring him palpable benefits he would 
  not gain otherwise. Black magic is a 
  shortcut – a secret way to help a young 
  manager become a CEO, multiply your 
  money, destroy the enemy base, predict 
  
  Cultists 6
  the next move of the rival family. The 
  more benefits a cultist gains, the closer 
  he will be to the end game – becoming 
  a human-like beast, devoid of empathy, 
  the faithful servant of a vile deity who 
  has elevated him to the top.
  And of course, 
   there’s a catch.
  The dark gods aren’t just “tools”. Black 
  magic is not a natural law. It’s not 
  psionics. Casting a spell a second time, 
  in the same conditions, on the same 
  target might cause an entirely different 
  effect. The deities don’t care that much 
  about rituals – they want devotion and 
  the destruction of everything humans 
  hold dear. Black magic is Nemezis’ 
  psychological warfare. And it’s not 
  particularly easy for traitors to use. 
  When you fail to use a psionic power 
  you can cause brainburn at worst – but 
  a failure while using a dark magic spell 
  can cause a wound that never heals. 
  A failure when using dark magic can 
  create a spiky parasite to inhabit your 
  guts. Every senior cultist should know 
  this, but only the select few who have 
  tried to cast spells believe it. Casting 
  a spell to harm another might require 
  only a ritual and faith in the Devourer, 
  but summoning a powerful servant 
  requires total devotion – born out of 
  pain of failure, rage against the system 
  and fear of greater punishment.
  High Priests
  At the very top of the cult there’s no place 
  for people with doubts. Vile gods don’t 
  give humans their power because they 
  like it, but to send mankind to its doom. 
  All decisions made by high priests and 
  their servants should eventually lead to 
  destruction of humanity. Their effects 
  should not always be immediately 
  visible, but they’re always in the service 
  of pure evil devoted to the destruction 
  of mankind.
  So who are these vile 
  traitors?
  A few of them are humans faithful to 
  their new masters. Studying the occult, 
  learning new spells (often demanding 
  vile human sacrifices), and just contacting 
  the servants of the dark gods does not 
  benefit the human mind. Month after 
  month it’s digested through the vile 
  corrosion and eventually something 
  just clicks in the human’s mind, and he 
  realizes that humanity is all fine and 
  dandy, but the Devourer and its servants 
  are closer to him. A small fraction of 
  these traitors believe that they will be 
  transformed into a powerful demon and 
  receive an eternity of immortal inhuman 
  existence. They are quite likely wrong.
  Some cultists are possessed. Physically, 
  they’re humans, but mentally they’re 
  demons. Their awareness is subdued, the 
  human part of the high priest is just now 
  an observer. The demon is now able to 
  
  Introduction 7
  fully control the body, access the mind, 
  and act effectively in the human world.
  But the vast majority of the leaders of 
  the cults have never been human. They 
  are just constructs of Nemezis, shaped 
  like human beings. They hide under 
  false identities and never reveal their 
  secrets. They’re practically immortal, 
  brilliant and patient. They don’t feel 
  human emotions, but can mimic them. 
  They can’t be intimidated, bargained or 
  reasoned with. They just follow their 
  orders.
  Cult Hierarchy
  Every sect has its own form of 
  organization, 
  but 
  most 
  of 
  them 
  operate with certain levels of initiation. 
  Some give their members fancy titles 
  depending on their talents or skills: 
  some are soldiers, some are spies, 
  recruiters, priests. But in general what 
  matters is the circle of initiation.
  The outer ring is composed of everyone 
  making deals with the cult. Few of them 
  know anything palpable about it, most 
  assume it’s just some kind of club or 
  lodge for rich people.
  In the trusted circle are the tested 
  members of the sect. They don’t fear 
  the dark symbols, but don’t necessarily 
  believe in their power either. Perhaps 
  they suspect there’s something more 
  to the organization, but they don’t fear 
  their fate. Their dealings with the cult 
  have given them so many benefits that 
  
  Cultists 8
  they don’t dare cross it. Many of them 
  subconsciously feel that they have 
  crossed some sort of line already.
  The circle of the blackmailed is 
  somewhere 
  between 
  the 
  regular 
  members of the cult and the inner circle 
  – they were careless enough to allow the 
  leaders of the cult to control them, but 
  not involved enough to show loyalty. No 
  one openly threatens them, but they are 
  aware that a single move against the cult 
  will end their lives. These aren’t rank-
  and-file troops, but often very influential 
  people – often both within and outside 
  the cult. They have their own tasks, are 
  able to give orders to regular members, 
  and are often protected by an armed 
  escort (sometimes against their will).
  The inner circle accepts only the most 
  faithful followers, tied to the cult so 
  strongly that they have no future outside 
  the sect. Seemingly, they lead normal 
  lives but this is just a facade – all their 
  efforts are supposed to strengthen the 
  cult. This level means learning some 
  mysteries – spells, rituals, and often 
  performing human sacrifices themselves. 
  These people have permanently distorted 
  systems of values by now – they believe 
  themselves superior, and considering 
  their influence, money and powers they 
  do in fact stand above the masses. Many 
  of them are, for the want of better term, 
  insane; all of them are dangerous.
  From the inner circle the high priest 
  selects a couple of people who become 
  his advisors. These are utterly devoted to 
  the sect, but not necessarily to the dark 
  gods. Some are actually sane enough to 
  ignore the faith aspect and their loyalty 
  is to the brotherhood. But their psionic 
  powers, intellect, influence, connections 
  or magical mastery are too valuable to 
  the priests to abandon (though some 
  use their powers to possess the cultists). 
  However, most are faithful followers of 
  their dark faith. Some of them aren’t 
  fully human. In some sects their identity 
  is somewhat open, but there are some 
  where the advisors hide in the inner 
  circle. 
  The sect is led by a high priest – often 
  inhuman, with vast knowledge and 
  planet-wide influence (the older and 
  more powerful the cult, the more power 
  the priest has). Some cults might believe 
  that there’s no single leader, but in reality 
  the orders come from a single vile being.
  What Do They Want?
  The current goal of Nemezis and the 
  dark gods is the total destruction of 
  mankind – and ultimately, of every life 
  form that is not “of Nemezis”. They 
  wish to eradicate all Earth-based life 
  on all planets and even put the stars out. 
  Well, in theory. It sounds great on paper, 
  but it’s pretty vague. The cult is a tool 
  for Nemezis, perhaps as useful as the 
  Horde of crawlers. The existence of cults 
  is important for the Enemy – they use 
  them to investigate mankind, to prepare 
  defectors and to destroy mankind from 
  within. But how realistic it is that a 
  single secretive organization can doom 
  a planet? A planet with a modern 
  planetary network, constant monitoring 
  and psionic cops? Well, as the example 
  
  Introduction 9
  of Alvernia shows, it’s possible, but it 
  takes decades.
  People are great at self-destruction. If 
  they’re left alone, they can destroy the 
  surface of planet with atomic fire. It 
  has happened before even without the 
  temptations of Nemezis. And nuclear 
  holocaust is just one of many possibilities. 
  You can release a nasty pathogen, poison 
  the atmosphere, reprogram terraformers 
  or introduce invasive species into the 
  ecosystem. You can lead civilization to 
  totalitarianism, and constant warfare 
  until natural resources run out. You can 
  ruin the planet economically... or make 
  it beautiful, rich or harmless, ready for 
  neighbors to invade.
  Most cult leaders aren’t human. They 
  have their goals, an outside, inhuman 
  perspective and are immortal – so they 
  will work for decades to realize their 
  goal. They need to recruit involved, 
  smart, aware humans, and depend on 
  them when building the sect. One 
  planet may need a couple of years to 
  be self-destroyed, others might need 
  centuries.  Time does not mean the 
  same to Nemezis as it does to humans. 
  The dark gods are patient – and they 
  don’t want to overuse the Devourer and 
  the Horde.
  And so, most of the time the cult acts 
  like a business, syndicate, guild, psionic 
  foundation or some other organization. 
  In fact, some of its acts might seem 
  beneficial – a cult might kill criminals, 
  reveal corruption in political circles, 
  save alien ruins. However, their ultimate 
  goal is the destruction of their planet. 
  They might buy a promising company, 
  promote nuclear weapons, or take over 
  a medical corporation. Each step is 
  seen by the cult as a milestone on the 
  way to their ultimate goal. Bribes, 
  assassinations, recruitment – everything 
  ultimately serves the conquest.
  The heroes can effectively work for a 
  sect, even thinking that they do good, 
  and not realizing the real goals of their 
  employer. Their effects will be visible 
  only in the next generation – but the 
  high priest is not omniscient, and PCs 
  can actually spot the thread and destroy 
  the cult.
  When running Nemezis you should 
  treat the cult as an ordinary organization. 
  There’s no sense or need to show the 
  sect as a group of mad idiots. The cult 
  is growing in power without the use of 
  monsters and black magic. It will use 
  them when there’s no other way, not 
  at every opportunity. Ordinary cultists 
  don’t believe that their superiors even 
  have magic – after all, psionicists can 
  read their minds. Why make an ordinary 
  cult member participate in rituals? Wait 
  until they prove their utter loyalty.
  Contact with the Cult
  The first contact the heroes have with 
  black magic can take place when they 
  follow your standard cyberpunk/space 
  opera mission. The employer won’t warn 
  the heroes about magic and monsters, 
  assuming that the PCs won’t want to 
  work for a crazy person. However, it’s 
  inevitable that the party will encounter 
  
  Cultists 10
  supernatural elements and witness the 
  true power of the cult. If they survive, 
  the PCs will probably learn about the 
  supernatural, the actual threat of the 
  dark gods and the necessity of defeating 
  them.
  The contact with the cult will be a real 
  nightmare for the characters. If the 
  sect has some connections with the 
  police, the army, politicians or special 
  forces the party will land in real trouble. 
  Sooner or later the government will find 
  a way to get to the PCs – tax evasion, 
  perjury, bribery, blackmail... Of course, 
  they don’t have to implicate the PCs 
  in murder – it’s easy to frame them 
  in smaller-scale crimes. And for the 
  characters themselves there’s no real 
  difference between three and thirty 
  years in the slammer. Their reputation 
  will be ruined, friends will forget about 
  them, and any employers will wish the 
  heroes luck in other systems.
  Of course this should rarely be used – 
  few parties can fight their way through 
  the planetary police. The GM should 
  scale the strength of the cult up or 
  down to match the PCs. They won’t 
  drop an A-bomb to eliminate a group 
  of murderhobos – they want to destroy 
  the planet, and so they simply want to 
  discourage the player characters from 
  investigating. Unless their actions could 
  lead to blocking or revealing the plans 
  of the cult, the sect won’t bother with 
  destroying the heroes.
  Cult Generator
  Looking for inspiration or help when 
  creating a cult? Well, here’s a simple 
  generator for dark cults. Take four dice 
  – d6, d8, d10 and d12. The results will 
  help you create a dark sect. The more 
  powerful organizations use two or three 
  d10, reflecting the greater influence of 
  the cult.
  The generator does not show what dark 
  god is worshipped by the sect. You could 
  choose one of the gods described in the 
  core Nemezis book or use the generator 
  in the next section. Also you should 
  determine the identity of the leader 
  of the sect – is he or she a demon, a 
  possessed being or traitor to mankind?
  Example: We want to create a sect that’s 
  relatively influential. We roll five dice, 
  with 2d10 for its areas of influence. 
  Our results are: 3 on the d6, 5 on the 
  d8, 1 and 6 on the d10s, and 9 on the 
  d12. We have a lodge of the rich, who 
  want to destroy the planet with a killer 
  ecosystem. They have some influence 
  in the media and science, but their 
  biggest problem is their flawed arcane 
  methodology. 
  I imagine a brotherhood of scientists 
  fascinated with the Horde and the 
  powers of the dark gods. They have 
  managed to capture a couple of beasts and 
  experiment on them – their data suggest 
  a possibility of a real breakthrough in 
  genetech. The brotherhood accepts 
  only talented researchers who have no 
  scruples about discovering the mysteries 
  of the monstrosities. After three years 
  of existence the group has achieved 
  
  Introduction 11
  a lot – mostly thanks to disgusting 
  experiments, like vivisections or the 
  deliberate infection of innocent people. 
  The group, however, does not have an 
  arch-priest. There’s a single power-mad 
  researcher who will soon become their 
  leader – but he has no supernatural 
  powers of his own. Their goal - to create 
  a perfect Horde-animal hybrid that 
  destroys the ecosystem – seems to be 
  quite distant.
  Result
  d6 – Structure
  d8 – Ultimate Goal
  d10 – Influence
  d12 – Problem
  1
  Separate cells
  World war
  Media
  Competition
  2
  Company cover
  Global epidemics
  Local politics
  Poverty
  3
  A lodge for the 
  rich
  Totalitarian 
  government
  Global politics
  Lack of faith
  4
  Criminal 
  organization
  Return to savagery
  The military
  Cor Alliance
  5
  Network cult
  Killer ecosystem
  Government 
  agencies
  History of defeat
  6
  Band of brothers
  Global ecosystem
  Science and 
  technology
  Psionic foundation
  7
  -
  Horde invasion
  Charities
  Imprisoned high 
  priest
  8
  -
  Summoning a dark 
  god
  Transport and 
  logistics
  Resilient populace
  9
  -
  -
  Education
  Flawed methodology
  10
  -
  -
  Economy and 
  banking
  Silent patron
  11
  -
  -
  -
  The veil is broken
  12
  -
  -
  -
  Political opponents
  Below we present the definition of each 
  idea in the table.
  Structure
  Separate cells – the cult believes in 
  deep secrecy. It exchanges information 
  in small separate groups, thanks to 
  networks, psi or some other medium. If 
  one of the cells is discovered, the rest of 
  the network will survive. The drawback 
  is that it’s hard to plan large-scale 
  actions.
  Company cover – a business with a 
  bonus. It can have an R&D department 
  investigating the effects of black magic 
  on the human mind, or a board with a 
  very strange silent partner, who doesn’t 
  shy away from sending monsters on 
  hostile takeovers. The cult has rarely 
  recruited all the workers – if this has 
  happened, the company is just steps 
  away from fulfilling its goal.
  A lodge of the rich – a secret society 
  of influential people. Most of them 
  were already ruthless, immoral bastards 
  before they joined. They will sacrifice 
  innocents for their companies – and if 
  they gain magic powers it’s just a nice 
  bonus. The truly rich are hard to oppose 
  and often they stand above the law.
  Criminal organization – the dark cult 
  demands violence and illegal action, and 
  since a mob is already doing it, why not 
  
  Cultists 12
  gain control over dark magic? If you 
  have to kill a shopkeeper that won’t pay 
  protection money, why not use her as 
  a sacrifice? And you can make massive 
  amounts of money trading in substances 
  that are impossible to synthesize via 
  natural means...
  Network cult – sometimes the basic 
  kind of human interaction on a planet 
  is a network. The people use drones 
  or surrogates to interact and live in 
  their own bubbles. On some worlds 
  human bodies are secondary to virtual 
  reality – and skilled hackers can hide 
  their identity. It’s easy for them to gain 
  new members using games, forums or 
  communities – but they might find it 
  hard to fulfill rituals.
  Band of brothers – sometimes a cult 
  does not recruit. A cult can be a family, a 
  group of veterans that discovered a dark 
  secret, or a circle of best friends. They 
  love each other, know their capabilities 
  and will do anything for their sisters or 
  brothers – and their strange inhuman 
  patron.
  Ultimate Goal
  World war – The cult wants to start 
  a 
  global 
  conflict 
  using 
  advanced 
  technology. Most planetary governments 
  can eradicate all life on their planets, 
  and the few that don’t can at least bomb 
  the planet back into the Stone Age.
  Global epidemics - a nasty, genetech 
  modified 
  pathogen 
  can 
  eradicate 
  an entire planet only if there is an 
  organization who can coordinate a 
  global terrorist outbreak. If the cult 
  creates a disease, it also needs to disable 
  or eliminate people who would create a 
  cure or vaccine.
  Totalitarian government – Humans 
  are humane in humane conditions, but 
  you can create a hellish state where the 
  insane elites will manipulate the masses 
  – until there’s no one left to be ruled. 
  The few oligarchs remaining will fight 
  for scraps and death will come sooner 
  or later.
  Return to savagery – remove the 
  energy sources, healthcare, transport, 
  communications, 
  entertainment, 
  industry... and everything goes to hell. 
  Society breaks down, and savage hordes 
  will roam the ruins, until a small group 
  of cultists eradicates them.
  Killer ecosystem – you can run away 
  from the enemy, but what if the enemy 
  is every animal and every plant? With 
  genetic engineering you can twist the 
  ecosystem so that its only goal is to 
  devour human beings.
  Great depression – the Galaxy is 
  bound by a network of treaties, business 
  deals and contracts. If the planetary 
  government starts to break them, no one 
  will deal with them again. Neighbors 
  will become enemies and the local 
  currency won’t be accepted. If the planet 
  is not self-sufficient, its economy will 
  quickly collapse.
  Horde invasion – the Horde is an 
  unstoppable force. The monsters are 
  
  Introduction 13
  present in the Horizon system, but the 
  dark gods can create more of them.
  Summoning a dark god – this is harder, 
  but more effective, than summoning 
  the Horde. Humans can kill the Horde 
  monsters. They can’t destroy the deities. 
  And few things would delight the cultist 
  more than being one of the victims of 
  the Wyrm of the Void, the Devourer of 
  Worlds.
  Influence
  Media – many people don’t think 
  for themselves. They think what the 
  journalists and politicians tell them 
  to think. Control the media and you 
  control the population’s souls.
  Local politics – most people don’t care 
  much about the planetary capitol. All 
  they care about is whether they have a 
  job, what to do about the chemical plant 
  poisoning the area, or who will get rid of 
  the youth gangs. Local leaders can have 
  greater sway than the president or the 
  senate – especially if they speak with a 
  single voice.
  Global politics – a single order of 
  the president is enough to release the 
  nuclear arsenal. To arrange this you 
  need only win the election and provoke 
  a conflict...
  The military – a modern army is almost 
  always professional, often cybernetically 
  enhanced with at least a dozen true 
  cyborgs per planet. They are killing 
  machines, ready to unleash hell at a 
  single order.
  Government agencies – 
  planetary 
  police, security forces, investigators, 
  prosecutors, 
  health 
  service, 
  secret 
  service... heck, you’d be surprised to 
  learn how useful housing agencies can 
  be for preparing a global apocalypse.
  Science and technology – if the cult 
  doesn’t have the tools to fulfill its goal, 
  these people will design, create, test, 
  improve and mass-produce them.
  Charity organizations – the dark gods 
  don’t do irony. But still, these people are 
  honest, believe that they’re doing good, 
  and are willing to work for free – great 
  tools to prepare nuclear destruction.
  Transport and logistics – On the planet 
  of the ground-bound the guy with a 
  spaceship is king. Modern spaceships 
  and planetary transportation are fast, 
  allow smuggling, contact, and access to 
  unusual wares. They’re the perfect tool 
  for the cultists.
  Education – the youth are our future. 
  So to destroy the future, you need to 
  control the youth. Secret incantations 
  hidden in textbooks, easy access to 
  demoralized youth, creating student 
  fraternities to serve as cult cells…
  Economy and banking – everything 
  is possible if you have enough money. 
  Everything.
  Problem
  Competition – there’s nothing in the 
  cult’s unholy tenets about loving your 
  fellow cultists. Two cults worshipping a 
  
  Cultists 14
  different dark god don’t have to hate each 
  other, and can sometimes cooperate... 
  but this isn’t such an example.
  Poverty – a lot of people join the cult 
  to improve their lot in life. This can lead 
  to a situation where the sect can count 
  on thousands of members, but they can’t 
  effectively achieve their goals due to 
  poverty and pressure.
  Lack of faith – sometimes the cult is 
  disguised as a club, a brotherhood or a 
  research society. In this case, the cult is 
  more devoted to the cover story than to 
  actual worship. There’s no authority and 
  discipline among the inner circle, and 
  many initiates might defect.
  Cor 
  Alliance 
  – 
  the 
  planetary 
  government funds and participates in 
  the Cor Alliance, sending soldiers and 
  equipment to fight the Horde. In return, 
  it receives experienced, smart officers 
  familiar with the machinations of the 
  dark gods... who would shoot anyone 
  who’d even consider joining a sect 
  worshipping the Devourer.
  History of defeat – this isn’t the first 
  attempt to conquer the planet. The 
  sect has been destroyed and reborn 
  numerous times. The leaders don’t 
  believe in the cult’s success, but young 
  and eager neophytes can carry the dark 
  flame.
  Psionic foundations 
  – 
  Psi 
  has 
  numerous advantages over dark magic – 
  especially when you remember that they 
  can learn about the cult just by reading 
  the minds of its members. They can 
  learn the identity of the sect members 
  instantly, and quickly reach the high 
  priest... without leaving a trace. The cult 
  must involve psionics in their master 
  plan now.
  Imprisoned high priest – a beheaded 
  dragon is helpless. The archpriest is 
  imprisoned in a completely secure place, 
  and contact is difficult. The cultists don’t 
  know her will and she can’t guide them 
  to her vision.
  Resilient populace – the inhabitants of 
  the planet have probably witnessed some 
  great event, perhaps a planetary war. 
  They have become jaded, and are hostile 
  to any conspiracies, indoctrination or 
  ideology. They just want to rebuild, 
  recover and forget.
  Flawed methodology – the cult might 
  be numerous, rich and influential... but 
  it lacks an occult component. Perhaps 
  the high priest can’t curry favor with the 
  dark gods, doesn’t know what they really 
  expect, disbelieves the principles of 
  dark magic, or maybe he just constantly 
  mispronounces ‘fthaghn’.
  Silent patron – hundreds of cultists cut 
  hundreds of hearts from the chests of 
  their victims, and still the dark patron 
  is silent. Is it angry? Offended? Does it 
  exist?
  The veil is broken – someone important 
  knows. And they will soon use their 
  knowledge. And this person is not 
  easily removed, or it’s an entire major 
  institution. The world might learn about 
  the existence of the cult soon... Unless 
  the cult makes some kind of a deal.
  
  Introduction 15
  Political opponents – they don’t 
  have to know the truth. It’s enough 
  that they have a conflicting goal and 
  sufficient power. Democracy might 
  be easily manipulated by the cult, but 
  unpredictable election results might 
  throw the cultists’ plans in jeopardy.
  Gunsang
  Gunsang could be a paradise, if not for 
  one very annoying planetary trait – a 
  highly active sun. There are a couple of 
  planets like this, for instance Blue Wave 
  – but unlike Blue Wave, Gunsang’s 
  atmosphere protects the humans from 
  the high radiation. However, the asteroid 
  belt around Gunsang resonates with this 
  particle stream – and as an effect there’s 
  no wireless planetary network. There 
  are no satellites, and spaceships need to 
  be manually piloted. Gunsang has no 
  radio, no jacks, and all communications 
  networks are made using miles and 
  miles of wires and cables. 
  Few people mind – and newcomers to 
  Gunsang often decide that life here is 
  simpler, and truer than on most other 
  planets. On Gunsang face to face 
  meetings are more common than on 
  other planets – they could use computer 
  terminals to chat via wire, but still they 
  dislike virtual meetings.
  The planet is inhabited by around fifty 
  million people, focused in about a 
  hundred cities on the smallest continent 
  called Hijau. Gunsang, apart from 
  the lack of a planetary network, is not 
  exceptional. The discharges in the 
  asteroid belt protect the planet from 
  mass organized invasions, and they 
  are free from terrorism. Off-world 
  imports and exports need to be carefully 
  arranged, and there are smugglers and 
  pirates around, but these are hardly 
  exceptional traits. Apart from the lack 
  of jacks, Gunsang is well-known for its 
  cafes, restaurants and other places you 
  can meet in public.
  However, the planet has a secret – and 
  it’s called Taskari-Ra-Kasi. It’s a name 
  of a dark god who has been summoned 
  and worshipped by a group of cultists. 
  Few planets have their own private 
  dark deity – and the Obsidian Snake 
  is even more exceptional, claiming that 
  he wants to protect the planet and its 
  inhabitants.
  Life Offline
  Many people go crazy during their stay 
  on Gunsang. Imagine actually having to 
  talk to people, unable to switch off their 
  jacks... They tend to avoid company, 
  use a locally made jack adapter and use 
  the cable network to roam VR. Some 
  actually go insane – but it’s fairly easy 
  to restore their sanity with a couple 
  of weeks of therapy, psionic memory 
  alteration and you’ll be back to normal.
  For other people the quiet is the reason to 
  stay here. Runaways, burnouts, has-been 
  celebrities, people whose reputations 
  have been ruined – all are welcome 
  here. Gunsangites aren’t particularly 
  interested in galactic gossip, fashion or 
  the newest interplanetary reality show. 
  
  Cultists 16
  They will walk past a fallen priest, a 
  crippled vet or teenaged junkie fresh 
  out of rehab. Gunsangites tend to meet 
  people in person and judge them when 
  they have met them – yes, sometimes 
  behind their backs. Even if Gunsangites 
  hear some gossip... they will treat it as 
  gossip, not something specific to base 
  their judgments on.
  Of course this is a generalization. 
  Gunsang has her share of bounty 
  hunters, who are often interested in the 
  backstory of newcomers. There are fans 
  of VR games, galactic soap operas, and 
  network geeks. And sometimes a visitor 
  will be infamous enough to be instantly 
  recognizable even to Gunsangites. But 
  without the omnipresent jacks, they 
  won’t be able to check who a person is 
  and instantly learn his criminal history.
  The Ruins
  The current civilization is not the first 
  on Gunsang. When the first colonists 
  discovered the planet, they found a 
  world perfectly suited to human life, but 
  also ancient ruins of a previous presence. 
  It seems that ages ago, someone landed 
  here, built terraformers, exploited some 
  of the minerals... and disappeared. Most 
  people assume that they were human 
  colonists from the second colonization 
  period. Gunsang was a terrestrial planet, 
  but the human colonists could not use 
  automated courier ship or interstellar 
  communications – and so, they couldn’t 
  ask for help when some disaster 
  happened. Eventually, the colony died 
  out.
  Of course, Gunsang has conspiracy 
  theorists believing that the ruins were 
  built by aliens, then destroyed by the 
  Devourer and its servants. They clamor 
  this despite the proof to the contrary – 
  for instance those terraformers found 
  here are very similar to early designs, 
  or machines built millennia ago. They 
  ignore these who claim that the Horde 
  destroys all traces of life and human 
  civilization – and that sometimes the 
  monsters completely eradicate the 
  planet. For them, the government is 
  creating false evidence to hide the 
  inconvenient truth.
  At this point the ruins aren’t particularly 
  interesting. They have been scanned and 
  analyzed. The remaining artefacts are in 
  museums or in private collections. Of 
  course, there’s plenty of gossip about 
  hidden bases, space-age technologies 
  and 
  underground 
  cities 
  full 
  of 
  hibernating aliens... but there’s no proof. 
  Especially given the number of delvers 
  and would-be delvers in the ruins. After 
  three centuries of colonization, someone 
  should have found whatever any earlier 
  expedition missed. The ruins seem to be 
  empty.
  Hidden Societies
  There are five states on the planet, 
  and they formed a global union just a 
  couple of decades after landing. They 
  have separate customs, separate legal 
  systems and their own small armies, 
  but in practice the Gunsang Union is 
  a planetary government. Officially the 
  entire planet belongs to the five states, 
  but in practice only a single continent is 
  
  Introduction 17
  inhabited. The only settlements on other 
  landmasses are a few mines or tourist 
  attractions – at least officially.
  In practice, things are different. There 
  might be hundreds of small villages 
  isolated from the rest of the world and 
  the Galaxy. The government sometimes 
  sends flying drones or human scouts to 
  monitor them, but without a planetary 
  network or orbital satellites they can’t 
  be very effective. It often turns out 
  that what seemed to be a logging or 
  mining camp was actually a temple 
  of a cult, a smuggler’s base or a secret 
  lab. The Gunsang government and the 
  people hate it when someone uses their 
  unclaimed land for their own nefarious 
  purposes. Theoretically, the unsanctioned 
  “colonists” are gently asked to leave, and 
  if they’re causing trouble they have their 
  memories altered (at best) or are simply 
  sent six foot underground (usually).
  Again, the lack of a planetary network 
  makes it hard to coordinate scouting 
  efforts. Some communities easily evade 
  surveillance – underground complexes 
  under the ancient ruins, underwater 
  bases, habitats in the arctic. The bases 
  might be hard to locate – but the supply 
  chain for them might be easier to find. 
  Some bases are self-sufficient, but others 
  need regular deliveries of supplies and 
  fuel.
  One such complex is a temple of 
  Taskari-Ra-Kasi.
  The Obsidian Snake
  The physical form of the Obsidian Snake 
  has only been seen on scanners. It seems 
  to have a snake-like body hundreds of 
  meters long, as thick as a man’s thumb 
  – locked in a massive, eroded stone egg. 
  The egg’s surface was evidently once 
  covered with strange writing, but time 
  has eroded most of it. There are only 
  some fragments left, describing the 
  amazing power of the Snake, lord of 
  a dimension where time and space are 
  reduced to a single point.
  This isn’t the exact definition of 
  hyperspace; probably the place where 
  the awareness of Taskari lies is not the 
  same “place” where starships disappear, 
  but the Obsidian Snake seems to be 
  tied to it somehow. When the cultists 
  leave regular space, they can directly 
  communicate with the deity and receive 
  his gifts.
  And the Snake is very generous with his 
  gifts.
  He claims to be the guardian of 
  Gunsang, 
  a 
  being 
  distinct 
  from 
  Nemezis. He claims to be imprisoned 
  by the dark gods because he was a friend 
  of humanity. In his velvet, telepathic 
  speech there’s a note of falsehood. 
  The Snake doesn’t seem to speak the 
  truth, but it is not exactly lying. It is 
  imprisoned somewhere on the planet, 
  but not exactly to protect the Gunsang 
  Union.
  Taskari-Ra-Kasi can fold space. He 
  can be very precise over small distances, 
  especially on Gunsang. The further 
  
  Cultists 18
  you need to go, the more risky and 
  painful it is. The Snake claims that he 
  can reach the heart of the Galaxy, but 
  the cultists have never left the volume 
  of human-occupied space a couple of 
  hundred lightyears across. He can also 
  send inanimate objects – once, he sent 
  an A-bomb into an enemy colony.
  Once. To all attempts of the cultist to 
  repeat this feat he has answered that 
  this attempt would be detected and 
  intercepted. It seems that the Snake is 
  the master of time and space, and can 
  perceive various events in the future. 
  He sees the most beneficial outcomes 
  in the future and can force his followers 
  to act so that they come true. He can 
  even bestow the gift of precognition 
  on mortals – but their minds can’t 
  understand the visions. Eventually they 
  lose their minds and become babbling 
  madmen.
  Use in Play
  The obsidian Snake is great for the 
  role of a mysterious patron who will 
  eventually become a nemesis of the 
  PCs. The players certainly won’t believe 
  in the fairytales that this deity is just a 
  guardian of the planet and will begin 
  an investigation. After tracking down 
  cultists and discovering hidden lore, the 
  PCs might learn the truth – Taskari-
  Ra-Kasi is one of the Hounds created 
  by Nemezis. When the Snake failed 
  at the task, the Nemezis decided to 
  reabsorb him – but in the meantime 
  the Snake had managed to gain his own 
  personality. He’s not imprisoned – the 
  “egg” is a protective shell, protecting him 
  from the Devourer. The Snake indeed 
  protects Gunsang from the Horde – but 
  only to ensure his own safety.
  But how do you direct the player 
  characters to Gunsang? Well, it’s a 
  great place for a hideout. Gossip seldom 
  reaches here and most people ignore it. 
  The heroes can run away from the law 
  or become bounty hunters looking for 
  criminals using pre-network methods.
  New Spells
  The Nemezis core book describes a 
  couple of spells from the arsenal of the 
  dark priests. The following spells give 
  them new capabilities, and hints on 
  how to create your own. Remember, 
  dark magic is powerful and hard to 
  understand. It breaks the laws of 
  physics, has strange side effects and 
  bends reality in strange ways. You can 
  present it in many ways other than 
  simple descriptions.
  Banishment
  Modifier: See description
  Range: 10 km
  Casting time: 1 hour
  Duration: Instant
  This ritual banishes a summoned beast. 
  It has been created and written down 
  in the books mostly to tempt ordinary 
  people fighting the devourer or its allies. 
  Sometimes it’s the only choice when 
  you’re fighting the monsters and their 
  supernatural powers – but it’s a trap. If 
  
  Introduction 19
  you fail to correctly perform the ritual 
  you are subject to all regular rules and 
  you still need to train the relevant skill.
  Therefore, the spell is simple enough – 
  if cast correctly, any being summoned 
  by the Summoning ritual is removed 
  from reality. The modifier is increased 
  by –2 compared to the difficulty of 
  summoning the creature. Example: To 
  summon a weak beast of the Horde you 
  need to succeed at a Ritual roll at –2, 
  and so the penalty to banish it is –4. 
  You have an additional –2 penalty if you 
  can’t name or describe the target.
  And of course, there’s a catch. If you 
  don’t have the Cultist Edge, this spell 
  might instead cause possession. If the 
  caster fails a Spirit –4 roll, they will fall 
  into temporary madness for at least one 
  scene, or be possessed by a malicious 
  spirit. The demon will depend on the 
  power and abilities of the banished 
  monster – it might be its malicious echo 
  or total opposite.
  Blessing of Chance
  Modifier: -2
  Range: Touch
  Casting time: 10 minutes
  Duration: 1 month
  This spell shows the cultists how 
  profitable worshipping the dark gods 
  is. The target receives a free reroll (two 
  with a raise), and can use it in any roll 
  – including a Trait test, a damage roll or 
  a roll on a table. The spell manipulates 
  probability – the cultist can also use the 
  reroll to win money on a lottery or a 
  stock exchange. He gains 50% chance to 
  win 1d6 x 1000 Eagles ($) or 1% chance 
  to win the main prize – 1d6 x 50 000 
  Eagles.
  You can receive a blessing of chance once 
  per year. If you cast the ritual twice on 
  the same person, she becomes unlucky, 
  and the GM gets “anti-rerolls” to make 
  him reroll a successful test, or make him 
  lose money when he risks them. The 
  hero can resist the spell if he’s a victim, 
  by succeeding at a Spirit –2 roll.
  Kiss of Memory 
  Modifier: -8
  Range: Touch
  Casting time: 10 minutes
  Duration: Instant
  This innocently named spell is a 
  powerful ritual able to force even the 
  toughest merc to submit. The cultist 
  kisses the victim, stealing their most 
  precious memories. And despite the kiss, 
  the warlocks seldom focus on emotional 
  moments. They steal the more powerful 
  memories – training, experiences, or 
  successes.
  The spell is resisted by a Spirit –2 roll. 
  Each success and raise can reduce the 
  victim’s skill by 1 die step, and every two 
  successes can allow the caster to increase 
  his own skills by one die step, but not 
  above the victim’s level. The loss and 
  gain are permanent, but you can restore 
  memories using mnemonic implants or 
  by restoring backup copies of your own 
  mind. A character can retrain lost skills, 
  and this costs him only half the normal 
  advances.
  
  Cultists 20
  Rejuvenation
  Modifier: -12
  Range: Smarts
  Casting time: 1 hour
  Duration: Permanent
  This spell is more bait for the desperate. 
  This spell makes the target 1d6 years 
  younger. It does not remove Wounds 
  or other damage (you won’t regrow that 
  arm you lost three months ago), but it 
  could remove the Elderly Hindrance. If 
  you recast the Rejuvenation ritual again 
  within a year of an earlier casting, you 
  automatically age 6d6 years – this is the 
  punishment for a mortal who dares to 
  abuse the divine grace.
  This spell requires a human sacrifice, 
  and the murderer needs to be the person 
  to be rejuvenated.
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 21
  The Nemesis of the human race are the 
  dark gods, vile monstrosities. They’re a 
  swarm of tentacles, claws, maws, fangs 
  and wings. Blasphemous, grotesque, 
  and unnatural. Disgusting sacks of flesh 
  overgrown with a forest of constantly 
  mutating limbs, covered with parasites, 
  boils, blood, ooze, and scales. Constant 
  ululating, howls, the inhuman sounds of 
  screaming victims. Just a single gaze is 
  enough for a man to turn insane and be 
  forever transported into madness.
  That is what people found scary at the 
  beginning of the twentieth century.
  But we live in 2016, not 1916. Space is 
  not scary, it’s something we’ll explore. 
  Strange creatures are animals we study, 
  and atomic horrors are something we 
  tamed. And in our sessions we can 
  pretend our characters are scared, track 
  down dark cults who wish to summon 
  their blasphemous overlords, or roleplay 
  how our investigator goes insane. But 
  frankly, it’s mostly affectation; we 
  pretend to be writers of a Lovecraftian 
  story. While this horror is still popular 
  in the 21st century, it can’t be treated 
  fully seriously – at least not in Nemezis.
  Dark gods with vile shapes do exist in 
  the game world, but they’re not supposed 
  to frighten the players. Their heroes can 
  face many monsters safely. A typical 
  opponent is a Horde monstrosity which 
  appears on screen only to be shot with 
  a plasma barrage and evaporate. There 
  are other beings like nemotics, which 
  are more dangerous and unsettling - 
  but their role is to act as opponents for 
  the player characters. They’re an enemy 
  which can be stopped, studied and 
  defeated.
  Terror from Space
  Most gamers would probably agree 
  that every role-playing setting needs 
  a conflict or two. It requires some 
  opposing factions, places where enemies 
  clash fighting for power, influence, 
  territory, resources, magic or faith. 
  Nemezis would work without dark gods 
  – it could be a game about humans, 
  their desires and ambitions. The Horde, 
  the Devourer and other deities can be 
  simply an element that enriches your 
  galaxy, giving the players and GMs 
  some other campaign models. If your 
  PCs are corporate couriers, free psis or 
  terrifying smugglers, the players will 
  certainly get into trouble – but you don’t 
  always want to cut through genetically 
  modified soldiers or chase drones run 
  by a mad cyborg. Dark gods are another 
  layer, the next axis of conflicts. Thanks 
  to them, you can change any other space 
  opera into Nemezis.
  
  Cultists 22
  The Monsters are there to Be 
  Shot At
  The vile, blasphemous deities are the 
  perfect enemy. They’re essentially pure 
  evil, want to destroy mankind, have an 
  unlimited supply of servants (including 
  traitors in normal society) and they’re not 
  omnipotent or omnipresent – they don’t 
  have to appear in the game if you don’t 
  want them to. They’re also inhuman, and 
  there are no negative consequences for 
  destroying their servants. The monsters 
  don’t need motivations or goals – and 
  no one will put you in prison for killing 
  a crawler. If a weird monstrosity kills 
  colonists on a backwater world, killing it 
  is not a crime but a heroic deed, even if 
  the heroes destroy a unique terraformer 
  in the process (although Thénard and 
  its corporations would love to hold the 
  heroes responsible).
  The Horde and the gods’ servitors 
  are unnatural, ruthless and definitely 
  opposed to human civilization. When 
  you blast through them with your 
  plasma rifles, you are a hero. And it’s 
  different with humans. Sure, your heroes 
  could be violent but heroic vigilantes 
  hunting only the psychos, serial killers, 
  terrorists, rapists and dictators – but this 
  would get boring very easily. Nemezis 
  is based not around “good vs. evil” but 
  around conflicts of interests, where you 
  can’t point to one side and say “these 
  are the bad guys”. The corporation vs 
  the government. The government vs. 
  the military. The military vs. the media. 
  Media vs government. Corporations 
  vs. Gangs. Gangs vs. Nobles… We can 
  play this all day long. In these human vs. 
  human conflicts the heroes can actually 
  take sides, adapt the point of view of 
  one of these factions, and can help 
  them achieve their goals. They have real, 
  actual alternatives. With the Horde the 
  only choice is turning into a cultist or a 
  monster, and that’s hardly a choice.
  Learning the Secrets
  One of the histories which can interest 
  the players is the nature of the dark 
  gods. What are they in reality? Who 
  created them, how and why? Why did 
  they awake so suddenly? Why do they 
  want to destroy mankind? The heroes 
  can ask dozens of questions with no 
  answers. Questions about how to 
  protect oneself, how to imprison the vile 
  gods once again or how to destroy them. 
  And they will probably investigate black 
  magic, too.
  Once the players start asking these 
  questions, you should start thinking 
  about the answers. You have a lot of 
  leeway concerning the nature of the 
  Enemy. The official vision is just a vague 
  outline you can ignore and replace 
  with something else. Besides, you can 
  ignore the deepest secrets of the Horde 
  – it’s unlikely that the player characters 
  will face the Nemesis itself, and they 
  probably won’t encounter the beings 
  which existed before the Devourer 
  arrived. They can, however, if they’re 
  determined enough, learn some core 
  facts that will allow them to create some 
  image of the dark gods – their goals, 
  motivations and capabilities.
  The heroes can at least encounter ruins 
  older than mankind. The vast majority 
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 23
  of humanity will assume that humans 
  have never – until the awakening of 
  the dark gods – encountered sentient 
  alien life. Some will know that many 
  planets had terrestrial climates, with 
  ecosystems, but they have never evolved 
  intelligent beings. Most of the media 
  ignores mentions of strange structures, 
  which could be remnants of cultures 
  existing millions of years ago. Only a 
  handful of people know, for instance, 
  that the Great Pyramid of Black Iron, 
  the tomb of Mesu, was found before the 
  Devourer awakened. The people in the 
  know – governors, rulers, delvers, agents 
  or masters of psionic foundations – are 
  mostly aware that humankind is not 
  alone and it’s endangered. They decided 
  not to investigate the alien constructions 
  too closely, but they were too much 
  of a temptation – and so, Earth was 
  destroyed, and civilization gained an 
  almost invincible enemy.
  While delving in the ruins the heroes 
  will definitely learn one thing – this 
  isn’t the first time the dark gods have 
  invaded civilizations. They will discover 
  prehistoric fossils of beasts resembling 
  Horde monstrosities, strange structures 
  which could be monuments of some 
  alien race, disgusting scars visible on 
  strange extinct worlds – all of these will 
  be a clear sign that similar wars have 
  taken place before.
  And the Horde has won them all.
  Dreams of Power
  For an average human, the Enemy is a 
  vague presence. These who portray it, 
  show a massive black worm devouring 
  suns. It could be a weird crawler ripping 
  the body of a screaming, dying civilian. 
  And sometimes it can be a humanoid 
  mutant shrouded in darkness, eyes 
  blazing with hate. This is how Nemezis 
  is shown in media, how the people are 
  warned against the cultists, and that’s 
  how armies prepare for Horde attacks.
  People tend to think in terms of ancient 
  classical mythologies. The Devourer is an 
  avatar of destruction, Lij is the Poisoner 
  of Technology. An average person – 
  especially an inhabitant of the Horizon 
  system who knows more about the 
  Horde than propaganda portrays - has 
  some vague idea of a pantheon. Every 
  god has some role and specialty. All this 
  is very vague and imprecise – among 
  the beings that really seem to exist 
  there are cults of imaginary creatures or 
  beings taken from Earth history (indeed 
  some cults worship Tezcatlipoca or 
  Gozer the Gozerian, taking an ancient 
  Earth picture as a divine truth), and 
  the gods that do exist are imagined to 
  have human-like motivations and new 
  powers.
  So what’s the dream of the 
  dark gods?
  Of course, the total extinction of 
  humanity. The destruction of all the 
  civilizations of humankind, down to the 
  final, smallest colony. The Galaxy must 
  remain “pure”, and no other species 
  outside Nemezis must be allowed to 
  exist. This is not a matter of morality 
  – the Galaxy’s resources are finite, and 
  the coexistence of many advanced 
  
  Cultists 24
  civilizations would inevitably end in 
  war. From Nemezis’ point of view, it’s 
  better to pull the weeds up before they 
  start taking roots. But it seems that 
  humankind isn’t a weed – it’s a young 
  tree that is very quick in rooting itself.
  It is hard to actually determine the 
  common traits of the entire “species” of 
  the “dark gods”. Some of these beings 
  are sentient, others aren’t. Some can 
  ignore spatial distances – others must 
  use some sort of spaceships. Some 
  of them have physical bodies, others 
  seem imperceptible by regular means. 
  And others yet actively communicate 
  with humans. Some of the dark gods 
  even used to be humans – but did they 
  actually become gods or are they just 
  transformed servants?
  Their main common trait is the finite 
  effectiveness of their form. They’re not 
  omnipotent. They have their weaknesses. 
  All of them are technically mortal, 
  though humans at this point might not 
  have access to ways of killing them. But 
  they don’t perceive the world as humans 
  do. They don’t have emotions (although 
  some of them can be quite good at 
  simulating them), they act according 
  to some complex algorithm, subject 
  to an ultimate goal. If necessary, they 
  run away – but not in fear, only logical 
  effectiveness. This is somewhat rare, 
  though, and applies to only the weakest 
  gods – the stronger ones act almost 
  solely through their servants: monsters 
  and humans.
  The heroes probably won’t encounter 
  one of the dark gods directly (unless 
  maybe in the finale of an epic campaign). 
  They can, however, meet their creatures, 
  cultists and possessed victims. These 
  shouldn’t be just regular fanatics 
  dreaming about the destruction of 
  civilization. You don’t want to introduce 
  more world-eating monsters or another 
  plotting schemer. These aliens see the 
  world in another way than humans – 
  they don’t grow old, don’t eat, and don’t 
  need anything to survive. This doesn’t 
  mean that they can’t change – they 
  can change shape, lose and gain new 
  powers, learn new tricks. They can even 
  cooperate with humans if they can gain 
  something by doing so.
  Godlike Generator
  This generator is supposed to inspire 
  you to create your own vile deity. You 
  can build its stats from the ground up, 
  but it’s better if you work on the results 
  of the random rolls, adjusting them to 
  your campaign, conventions and the 
  specifics of the group.
  Take one d6, one d4, and at least two 
  d10 to determine powers of the being 
  – the more d10s, the more powerful 
  the being is. Start with some basic idea 
  about your dark god, and use them to 
  shape the generator rather than roll 
  blindly.
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 25
  Result
  Form – d6
  Awareness – d4
  Power – d10
  1
  Demon
  Predator
  Possession
  2
  Human
  Genius
  Destruction
  3
  Spirit
  Hivemind
  Temptation
  4
  Swarm
  Nothing
  Transformation
  5
  Massive object
  -
  Divination
  6
  Technological
  -
  Warlockry
  7
  -
  -
  Legion
  8
  -
  -
  Labyrinths
  9
  -
  -
  Coccoon
  10
  -
  -
  Reproduction
  Form
  Demon – a massive, giant silhouette; 
  hatred, evil and darkness. Bat-like 
  wings, wolf-like maw full of steel teeth. 
  Black fire, dark iron, muscles and claws.
  Human – more or less a mortal. Usually 
  it’s invulnerable, perfect in every aspect, 
  with strength and agility beyond even 
  the artificial bodies of true cyborgs.
  Spirit – an immaterial being, able to 
  interact with the world only indirectly, 
  using followers, creations or unholy 
  places.
  Swarm – unity in multiplicity. Each 
  piece of the swarm has a tiny sliver 
  of power, and taken together they’re 
  greater than the sum of their parts. You 
  can’t destroy them all, and this deity can 
  easily be reborn if even a single part of 
  the swarm survives.
  Massive object – a massive form, 
  building- or even planet-sized, traveling 
  the Galaxy contrary to the laws of 
  physics. It contains swarms of beasts, 
  temples of servants or ancient ruins.
  Technological – a possessed monastic 
  ship. A corrupt Dyson sphere. This is 
  usually a man-made object awakened 
  thanks to rituals, mankind’s misdeeds or 
  intervention by other deities.
  Awareness
  Predator – a savage beast driven only by 
  instincts.
  Genius – a being considering itself a 
  free-willed individual. It has some major 
  goals, but it is free to choose for itself.
  Hivemind – a group of minds thinking 
  together. A collective usually takes 
  action thanks to a majority “vote”.
  Nothing – pure energy. Pure force acting 
  according to some laws or directives. 
  There are no emotions, goals or soul.
  Powers
  Possession – the deity can enter people’s 
  minds and talk directly to them. While 
  it can’t just “make humans serve it”, it 
  can slowly whisper to them, corrupting 
  them and changing them into inhuman 
  creatures. Multiple rolls of this result 
  
  Cultists 26
  allow the being to gain stronger 
  influence, directly control a human’s 
  body, or influence groups – even entire 
  planetary populations.
  Destruction – the deity can annihilate 
  matter, including living tissues. It 
  doesn’t “cause damage”, it doesn’t give 
  you a sporting chance. It simply kills. It 
  can disintegrate you instantly. Multiple 
  rolls of this result allow the beings to 
  extend the range or area affected, or to 
  affect multiple targets at once.
  Temptation – this being is a prince of 
  lies. It appears amazingly trustworthy, 
  and could transform a fanatic inquisitor 
  into a faithful follower. If you roll this 
  power multiple times, the deity can 
  bestow this power upon its followers or 
  can manifest it through media (a video 
  recording works as well as meeting the 
  god in person).
  Transmutation – the power can change 
  the bodies of living beings, reworking them 
  into crippled mutants... or superhuman 
  physiques. Multiple instances of the power 
  widen the range of changes or allow them 
  to affect other targets (reanimate dead, 
  manipulate inorganic matter), or affect a 
  larger mass at once.
  Divination – the deity can see the 
  future. Usually, it can see one of the 
  paths the future holds, and learn what 
  should happen for that variant to 
  become true. What it sees is not 100% 
  accurate, but quite likely. Multiple 
  rolls of this power allow the god to see 
  further into the future, or include more 
  variables (including the actions of player 
  characters).
  Warlockry – the god can bestow black 
  magic on its followers. The more rolls of 
  warlockry, the more varied and powerful 
  are the rituals. On the other hand, the 
  Nemezis black magic system assumes 
  that it’s the cultists that generate magical 
  power – so the more ritual adepts, the 
  better.
  Legion – many deities have only mortal 
  followers. This power allows the being to 
  create and command a large number of 
  monsters, alter their abilities and change 
  them according to its whims. The more 
  results of this power, the larger and 
  stronger the legion.
  Labyrinths – the deity can warp space: 
  make corridors twist and turn, move you 
  to extradimensional mazes, create sub-
  space tunnels to travel instantaneously 
  between distant planets. Multiple results 
  allow the deity to create permanent 
  portals, bestow this power on followers, 
  or transfer more and more matter.
  Coccoon – if necessary, the deity creates 
  some sort of protective shield and 
  transforms itself. It wakes up as someone 
  or something different – not necessarily 
  more powerful, but better adjusted to 
  the mission it’s about to undertake. It 
  can change its powers – and the form 
  and awareness of each occurrence of this 
  power. More rolls of this result allow 
  faster and easier transformation.
  Reproduction – depending on the 
  conditions, the deity is able to create 
  offspring, 
  another 
  powerful 
  being 
  desiring to destroy human civilization. 
  The child will not be as strong as the 
  ancestor, but that’s no consolation. If 
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 27
  this power is rolled again, the “birth” 
  is easier and faster, or the deity can 
  transform its faithful followers into 
  other powerful beings.
  Example: For my next campaign I want a 
  relatively weak deity which could be destroyed 
  by the player characters. Therefore I’ve already 
  decided it’s human-shaped. I roll 3d10 to 
  determine powers, and 1d4 to determine its 
  intelligence. I rolled 2 – genius and 1, 3 and 6 on 
  d10. This being has the power of “temptation”, 
  “possession”, and “warlockry”. That’s pretty 
  funny – it’s an archetypical devil in human 
  form. I like it. A powerful CEO, a patron of the 
  arts, or maybe the head of a religion?
  Let’s Get Scary!
  Dark 
  gods, 
  frightening 
  monsters, 
  demons, black magic, ancient iron 
  pyramids... While Nemezis is meant to 
  be an action game, it could work as horror. 
  Perhaps not exactly like Lovecraft’s or 
  King’s, but more like “Alien” or “Event 
  Horizon”. This is not a classic horror 
  story, but in a fantastic space opera, it’s 
  hard to play out adventures assuming 
  that the party is going to go insane or be 
  devoured by monsters.
  Toys and Terrors
  Let’s start by stating the obvious. 
  If you want to scare the players (or 
  at least make them afraid that their 
  overpowered cyborgized merc will 
  die), don’t use another brainless Horde 
  monster who just wants to feast on 
  warm flesh. The scary creature must 
  be intelligent (or at least have a 
  great amount of cunning), know and 
  understand the customs of humans, be 
  able to use their environments creatively, 
  and still manage to be dangerous despite 
  the characters having access to advanced 
  technologies (not just arms and armor, 
  but also instantaneous communication 
  or detection systems).
  Making such a monster indestructible is 
  unfair to players – it should be dangerous, 
  but also have a couple of weaknesses 
  at least. It should be dangerous to the 
  players, overpowering them with speed, 
  supernatural powers, or vitality. Direct 
  confrontation with the creature should 
  carry a risk of death for the player 
  characters – and so the players should 
  start thinking strategically.
  You can always gift the beast with powers 
  and skills allowing it to disappear, pass 
  through barriers, avoid detection – 
  and simultaneously be able to observe 
  the actions of humans. A daemon of 
  Lij could travel through fiber optics, 
  control sensors, create holograms, or 
  attack heroes’ cybernetics. A powerful 
  beast should have some capability to 
  hide, have amazing combat skills, and 
  be fast, tough and strong. A brain 
  parasite could pass through most 
  barriers, control its victims and have 
  some black magic spells… but all of 
  these should also have weaknesses. The 
  first should be entirely dependent on 
  human technology, and be harmless 
  outside the infrastructure. The second 
  should be fairly easily shot with plasma 
  weaponry if cornered in a trap. And 
  the parasite needs to be detected 
  and removed from the carrier, and 
  subsequently squashed like a bug.
  
  Cultists 28
  If the monster is supposed to be a 
  challenge it needs to fit the environment. 
  A massive creature won’t work when 
  skulking in the corridors of the 
  spaceship. A brain parasite is useless in 
  scenes where apart from the PCs there 
  are only one or two other characters. 
  And a stealthy creature won’t work 
  in open, well-lit spaces. If that seems 
  obvious, it’s because it is. Nevertheless, 
  the environment is almost as important 
  to the adventure as the monster itself.
  For instance if the heroes have to 
  face an immaterial Lij daemon, let 
  the adventure take place in a medical 
  complex where the minds are waiting 
  to be transferred into cyborg bodies. 
  There’s plenty of dangerous machinery 
  daemons can possess... and the heroes 
  struggle not only to remain alive, but 
  to save the mind of an important ally. 
  What if a newly resurrected cyborg 
  preserves both his mental abilities and a 
  terrifying Lij-altered body?
  Or consider another alternative. The 
  heroes land on a sun-burned planet, 
  where the human colonies are deep 
  underground. Arrival and departure is 
  possible only during the night – once 
  per four standard weeks. The party lands 
  shortly before the dawn… and a Horde 
  spawner arrives there too. The heroes 
  can escape – leaving the colonists to 
  the mercy of the Horde predators. The 
  heroes must fulfill some other mission 
  (deliver a message, activate a device), 
  dodge the Horde monsters, and decide 
  whether and how to save the colonists.
  Sometimes the environment is there for 
  the heroes to defend, sometimes it limits 
  their mobility or forces them to make an 
  uneasy choice. And there are other ways 
  to use the environment. If the adventure 
  is set in a jungle, desert or some other 
  inhospitable area, the heroes are cut off 
  from technology. In a city, a humanoid 
  enemy can stay anonymous. In the 
  narrow confines of a space station, you 
  can’t use plasma weaponry, and fighting 
  in close confines limits the effectiveness 
  of ranged weapons. Open space, 
  poisonous atmospheres or volcanic 
  dust force the players to use space suits, 
  limiting their communications and 
  perception. A shape-shifter at a charity 
  ball on Bariz will probably will limit the 
  PCs’ eagerness to use plasma weapons, 
  grenades or flamethrowers (although 
  we are talking about RPG characters 
  here…). 
  Skills, 
  supernatural 
  powers 
  and 
  environments are three crucial elements 
  of the world which you can use to 
  introduce horror to your campaign. The 
  entire environment can be adjusted to 
  your desired conventions – for instance, 
  the surrounding society. If you want 
  a dark monster to devour people, add 
  some NPCs to the mix (even as a buffer, 
  before the creature starts hunting the 
  PCs). And what if the victims aren’t 
  helpless civilians? What if you set 
  the adventure in an army base full of 
  veterans of battles on Cor? The monster 
  appears and starts killing the vets, one 
  after another. How is this possible? 
  How do the PCs defeat it when the pros 
  are gradually being killed?
  Or maybe set the game on a space ship, 
  where the heroes discover that most of the 
  crew and passengers are in fact cultists… 
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 29
  and that a rival sect has summoned a 
  supernatural predator aboard the vessel. 
  The heroes can’t face it on their own, 
  but the local archpriest could banish the 
  creature if protected (by the PCs) and 
  able to make a nasty human sacrifice…
  Hypercube (Wild Card)
  These creatures are from another space, 
  where angles, distances and other 
  relationships between objects are fluid 
  and malleable. Here, they manifest 
  as grey cubes made of something like 
  matted metal. They’re able to alter their 
  shape, based on lengths and angles – 
  create mono-nuclear blades literally 
  one atom thick or massive heavy 
  cylinders hitting like clubs, reduce 
  themselves to two dimensions to enter 
  any narrow opening etc. They move by 
  shifting their center of mass. They don’t 
  have sense organs – but they are able 
  to detect air vibrations like sounds, and 
  electromagnetic radiation (“seeing” in 
  a wider spectrum than humans).
  Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit 
  d10, Strength d8, Vigor d10
  Skills: Notice d10, Fighting d10
  Pace: 10; Parry: 7; Toughness: 13 (6)
  Edges: No Mercy, Level-Headed, Sixth 
  Sense. 
  Special abilities:
   
  ! Adaptable Build: Hypercubes can’t 
  be Shaken.
   
  ! Armor +6: Mystical aura (protects 
  from plasma weapons).
   
  ! Fearless: Hypercubes are immune 
  to fear and Tests of Will.
   
  ! Improved Frenzy: The hypercube 
  can make two attacks per turn, with 
  no penalty.
   
  ! Pseudopod Bash: Str+d6.
   
  ! Transformation: Hypercubes can 
  freely change their shape, being able 
  to shift any dimension from 1 mm 
  to 10 m. They can even reduce their 
  thickness to that of a single atomic 
  particle – and thus bypass most 
  natural barriers. 
  Breaking the Laws of Nature
  As long as the creatures act exactly 
  according to the same rules that 
  constrain the player characters, the 
  players can stay in their comfort zone. 
  They know that the monster can’t pass 
  through walls, replicate instantly or 
  jump through hyperspace, and thus 
  they are, if not in control, at least able 
  to create a plan to protect themselves or 
  destroy the enemy.
  So what happens if the monster starts 
  breaking these laws?
  What if it can travel through time, 
  being able to jump to the past and 
  future? It could split into several copies, 
  and killing it wouldn’t solve the problem 
  – what if it had jumped into the future 
  and it was some future copy that got 
  blasted? What if it’s a two-dimensional 
  shadow which can be affected only 
  through the material on which it’s 
  projected? What if it absorbs the energy 
  of plasma bolts and regurgitates it… as 
  gamma radiation?
  With the powers like that, you need 
  to give the beast some limitations, 
  some weaknesses players can use to 
  defeat it. Perhaps the beast is immune 
  to energy barrage, but it’s wounded by 
  
  Cultists 30
  low temperatures. If the players discover 
  this secret, they can use it to prepare an 
  ambush – and evict the creature into 
  space or freeze it in liquid nitrogen. 
  And you can even plan a sequel, where 
  it will turn out that cold merely makes 
  the monster hibernate. Some time later, 
  someone unfreezes the monstrosity – 
  which then returns, ready for vengeance.
  Taking Them Out of Their 
  Comfort Zone
  Okay, so those were the basics – taking 
  the players out of their comfort zone, 
  forcing them to confront a monster 
  which breaks the laws of physics. Let’s 
  do something more advanced and start 
  breaking other unwritten rules to create 
  horror. Most players hate it when the 
  monster can permanently twist their 
  character – her image, character traits 
  or skills. Sometimes they’d prefer their 
  character to die rather than become 
  mutated or limited in some other way. 
  It’s worth using.
  The monster doesn’t have to claw/claw/
  bite or shoot lasers from its eyes. It can 
  for instance be able to shape matter 
  (including living tissue) like plasticine. 
  It can affect one of the PC’s friends and 
  deform his body. The victim will suffer, 
  maybe even ask for quick and painless 
  (or painful) death. Will the players be 
  ready to take on the creature after such 
  an encounter? And what if you limit the 
  heroes, setting the monster loose on a 
  space ship? Remember that the monster 
  doesn’t have to shape just human skin, 
  flesh and bones – it could also make 
  holes in the ship’s hull! The corridors 
  are narrow and you can’t prepare an 
  ambush… and even airtight enclosure 
  in the hold won’t protect the heroes.
  And let’s return to the monster able to 
  jump in time. What if it’s smart, able 
  to affect the world around the heroes? 
  The party is protected by mercs in 
  power armor? Well, what if the monster 
  jumps 3 months back and assassinates 
  the merc leader, and the bodyguards 
  are now somewhere else. The heroes 
  have a spaceship full of fuel and can 
  safely escape from the haunted planet? 
  Well, actually the price of the fuel was 
  artificially heightened, the characters 
  didn’t want to overpay, and they filled 
  only one quarter of the tank. This 
  kind of monster doesn’t have to be a 
  powerful beast, it works equally well 
  as a humanoid, or a possessed man. 
  It could be even a cultist who, instead 
  of physically travelling in time, can 
  send his own awareness to the past or 
  alter the minds of people he observes. 
  Although, 
  if 
  the 
  time 
  paradoxes 
  this creates are permanent and the 
  heroes find themselves in an entirely 
  different the universe, this can be very 
  uncomfortable. After defeating the 
  opponent, the changes it made should 
  be undone – the players might hate 
  this one-sided change of the setting, 
  especially if they fought to protect it for 
  a long time.
  Altering Perceptions
  Hallucination. Ghastly sounds. The 
  feeling of being watched. The distortions 
  of perceptions are a great tool for 
  creating the horror atmosphere, but they 
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 31
  need to be used wisely. While a movie 
  character will be freaked out by walls 
  covered in blood or a small girl crawling 
  out of the TV, the RPG character will 
  reach for her plasma gun. Don’t even try 
  to deny it – that’s not the way to go.
  While the players might appreciate this 
  kind of atmosphere, roleplaying their 
  fear to show that they’re having fun, it 
  ultimately ends with drawing cards and 
  rolling for damage. Use hallucinations 
  to confuse the players so that claiming 
  “I shoot it” would be the ultimate 
  choice. Let’s consider a simple example 
  – the heroes find themselves in a desert 
  settlement next to a terraformer – out 
  of which a strange beast crawls. Only 
  singular victims die. The attacks always 
  occur outside the village, but it’s not 
  clear why the victims leave the safety of 
  town. It will turn out that the monster 
  can create realistic illusions in the heads 
  of the heroes. When the monster tries to 
  manipulate one of the heroes, singling 
  him out with this mirage would be 
  pointless – unless you try to manipulate 
  all the players. For instance, one of the 
  heroes notices a potential victim – a 
  wounded villager outside the town. She 
  asks other characters to follow her, but 
  when they get close to the victim – all 
  the characters except the one targeted 
  by the monster disappear. They’ve never 
  been there, they were part of the mirage. 
  Of course, the players shouldn’t know 
  that they are illusory in this scene, until 
  the monster attacks.
  Let’s try another way to mess with sight. 
  Imagine a marketplace in the center of 
  a big city. A group of monsters attacks – 
  humanoid beasts with jaws full of sharp 
  fangs! The crowd rushes, panicked, to 
  the heroes… and suddenly they all look 
  like monsters. The party sees that over 
  a hundred beasts roam the city, they 
  clearly know it’s an illusion and that 
  there are only a couple of enemies, but 
  they’re unable to distinguish them in 
  the crowd.
  Hallucinations should make the players 
  question what GM is telling them. 
  For instance, a character answers her 
  communication jack, hearing the voice 
  of her greatest enemy who claims that 
  he will attack her today. Or another hero 
  turns the TV on, and instead of the race 
  he expects, he sees a recording showing 
  his best friend fighting – and eventually 
  getting devoured – by Horde monsters 
  in a secret arena. Or the team leader logs 
  in to his banking account to see that all 
  the party’s assets have been deleted, 
  withdrawn by the hero himself just a 
  few minutes ago. Of course, the players 
  will start doubting their heroes’ senses, 
  but the problem is not them seeing 
  through the lies – rather that they might 
  ignore the truth. If they ignore unusual 
  things, eventually they will get into real 
  trouble. If a character starts seeing a 
  swarm of crawlers in every alley, they 
  will eventually stop checking whether 
  they’re an illusion. And the hero who 
  has to face phantom threats every day 
  will eventually dismiss similar threats to 
  the boss of the Syndicate.
  Voices in your Head
  The character who gains the attention 
  of the dark gods might gain a constant 
  companion – a voice in his head. It 
  
  Cultists 32
  should only rarely appear (we don’t want 
  a session to change into a monologue by 
  an immaterial spirit). It might speak 
  of tortures, which await the character 
  after death if she doesn’t worship the 
  Devourer or some other deity. It might 
  offer him great power – for the small 
  price of his immortal soul. It will give 
  them access to secrets of black magic, 
  betray the darkest secrets of their foes, 
  warn about threats, or tell them about 
  traps and surprises.
  The voice in the head needs not to be 
  a hindrance. The player should be able 
  to quiet it down, for instance by making 
  a Spirit roll – but the voice should 
  also speak things which will cause 
  the whole party to listen. Sometimes 
  it’s an opportunity for you to pass the 
  players some knowledge that can’t be 
  given in any other way – and will prove 
  true later. The voice can give out good 
  advice without any explanation of how 
  it knows things. It should also make an 
  effort to protect its carrier from damage 
  – especially if it’s other people that are 
  a threat. If someone wants to sell them 
  an Old Earth relic, the voice will warn 
  them that’s a forgery. A corporate drone 
  gives them a mission? The hero with the 
  voice will also hear that there’s a hidden 
  agenda and tell them the truth.
  Of course, there is a catch.
  The being inside the character’s head 
  doesn’t really want to help him, but turn 
  him into another slave of the Enemy. 
  And naturally, the player will always 
  ignore any temptation for power, wealth 
  or influence, since well, the game would 
  be over for him, unless the entire party 
  turns evil. So don’t tempt the player to 
  act evil – let the voice offer something 
  interesting, 
  valuable 
  or 
  necessary 
  completely for free. No small print, no 
  strings attached. Of course, the voice 
  will do some of the spiel about terror, 
  power and magic, but this is just because 
  it’s expected. The real goal of the demon 
  is to make the heroes depend on its 
  knowledge and advice. The player will 
  be careful, especially at the start. You 
  need to make it clear: the voice will tell 
  the truth, and that truth will be valuable. 
  It will start twisting the truth when 
  the players take it for granted. Initially 
  everything will go smoothly – it will tell 
  the hero the access codes to the account 
  where a gang launders their dirty money. 
  In reality it will be the life savings of an 
  honest man… Or the voice will lead 
  them to a murderer who did really kill 
  his wife (but who was, however, an agent 
  of Infinity living under a secret identity). 
  Their mysterious benefactor doesn’t care 
  about the figurine for its value – but 
  for the memory chip hidden inside 
  containing a couple of weird rituals. 
  The voice will serve the hero with half-
  truths, things not so easy to verify. It will 
  say things to warp the perceptions of 
  the character and to change how she is 
  perceived. The hero will think of himself 
  as the same person he used to be – but 
  to others he’ll gradually change into a 
  ruthless, greedy and ambitious bastard.
  Then there will be time for a harder hit. 
  The party will accept a task, the voice 
  will tell them how to solve it, and in the 
  end it will turn out that the heroes have 
  become the villains. Their employer was 
  a cult leader, their opponents – harmless 
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 33
  victims, and everything was recorded 
  and reported to the authorities. The 
  heroes will stop being bounty hunters, 
  mercenaries or Syndicate enforcers and 
  will turn into dangerous criminals. And 
  this will be the time when the voice 
  will be open, tell them exactly what’s 
  happened, and will show them the only 
  way of survival – the cult. And if they 
  refuse? The voice will disappear to help 
  those who hunt the PC.
  This is an extreme scenario. It won’t 
  work for every party (a tale of the fall 
  is not a universal theme in Nemezis), 
  and many players will distrust the 
  voice from the start. There’s nothing 
  wrong with that. The voice is supposed 
  to be a background element, showing 
  that the capabilities of the dark gods 
  are beyond human cognition. Where 
  does the knowledge of the voice come 
  from? How does it know everything? 
  And what exactly is it? Of course, it’s a 
  demon.
  Demons and Possession
  Possession in space opera? Well, it’s 
  hard. It’s not enough to watch an old 
  movie – because when something 
  goes wrong, the heroes will just shoot 
  the possessed. And when the demon 
  threatens something the party cares 
  about, possession in the game will be 
  resolved simply, boiling down to using 
  the plasma weapon on the victim - and 
  there’s nothing wrong with that!
  So how to show the real horror of 
  possession? Just take the players’ favorite 
  NPC and throw him into the heart of 
  the cult – as a sacrifice or a follower, 
  whatever. As the result of a terrible 
  ritual, he will become the carrier of 
  an alien, bodiless intellect which will 
  transform a sympathetic character into 
  a horrible villain. The characters can free 
  their friend, but the sect can also let him 
  loose; after all, he’s a fellow worshipper. 
  And further developments depend on 
  the style of the campaign. The players 
  could suspect the existence of the 
  demon, but it should not manifest from 
  the first moment. A possessed cultist 
  is not a monster waiting to receive a 
  beam of energy from a CW laser. He 
  will act normally through two or three 
  games, being helpful to the players... 
  and then he will start his nefarious 
  activities. To achieve his goals he will 
  need allies, money and influence – so he 
  will start earning money, hiring workers, 
  organizing parties for businesspeople 
  and politicians. He will start low, but 
  thanks to demonic powers and inhuman 
  determination he will become a major 
  player on the planet. And then his 
  inhuman nature will show – his parties 
  will be ever more decadent. He will 
  start a club for VIPs and offer “strong 
  experiences” to his customers – and use 
  the materials for blackmail. And if he 
  doesn’t find any leverage, he will hire 
  thugs to get rid of his opponents. And 
  what will it lead to? Well, that depends 
  on how much power he gets. He could 
  create his own cult, try to cause more 
  degeneration, introduce a dictatorship. 
  Anything that will cause the planet to 
  fail and strengthen the cults of the dark 
  gods.
  Yes, don’t think of possessed humans as 
  monsters. They don’t turn their heads 
  
  Cultists 34
  180 degrees, they don’t look like zombies 
  nor do they have nine inch long claws. 
  If the players confront them directly, the 
  demon might reveal its presence, but 
  why would it do this?
  So when can you use a dangerous, 
  possessed monster with fire in its eyes? In 
  specific conditions, on the chaotic worlds 
  overrun with anarchy – on Copernicus, 
  torn by war, or in the slums of Ash. There, 
  a possessed isn’t a slick businessman, but 
  a nasty killer who doesn’t need to hide 
  his nature, goals or capabilities. And so, 
  imagine a party of tough, cocky bounty 
  hunters who don’t believe in hellfire – 
  and need to reassess their beliefs when 
  the possessed use their amazing powers.
  The possessing demons aren’t killers 
  – the Enemy has other tools for that. 
  They’re schemers, and they won’t risk 
  trouble just to kill a mortal, however 
  powerful. It’s better for them to wait it 
  out – escape, leave the foe’s empire. After 
  all, it will be able to regain its power, but 
  it might not return to the human world 
  if the carrier dies or it becomes exorcised. 
  And this is a good time to consider what 
  the demons really are. Are they nanoids 
  that infect the body and reconstruct 
  the brain? Immaterial beings that 
  devour the souls of the victims? Beings 
  from another dimension controlling 
  humans like puppets? Consider this 
  before statting up the demons in your 
  game and deciding how to defeat them. 
  Can the demons be destroyed or just 
  exorcised? If they leave the body of their 
  victim, do they retain the memories and 
  knowledge they absorbed? How hard it 
  is to summon the same demon again? 
  Do you just need the gift and the power 
  or are there other limitations? You don’t 
  have to have the details for all demons, 
  but you should have answers for that 
  one specific demon. And will it return 
  to have its vengeance?
  Game Mechanics of 
  Possession
  The demon needs just a couple of traits. 
  It has only Spirit and Smarts, can 
  have only social or mental skills like 
  Gambling, Persuasion, Streetwise, Taunt 
  or Intimidate, and the Possession arcane 
  skill, based on Spirit. You can add any 
  non-physical Edges and Hindrances if 
  necessary. Demons are Wild Cards.
  To enter the mind of the character, the 
  demon must maintain eye contact with 
  it (if it’s in some other’s being body) or 
  be summoned. This is an opposed Spirit 
  roll – if demon succeeds, the character 
  has a major problem. The monster can 
  speak to him; the voice is quiet but 
  irritating. In any scene during which 
  the demon speaks to the PC it needs to 
  spend one power point. During action 
  scenes like combat, quieting a demon 
  down requires spending an action 
  and defeating the demon in another 
  opposed Spirit roll. Outside combat 
  you can easily silence the spirit after a 
  minute of concentration.
  The demon can directly take control 
  of the character – treat this as using its 
  puppet power, which will work until the 
  end of the scene.
  It’s not easy to get rid of the demon. You 
  can exile it using plot-related methods 
  
  Demons: The Dark Breed 35
  (exorcisms), but you can also muster your 
  own will and get rid of it with a series 
  of psychic duels. To start this combat, 
  you have to spend a Benny. A success 
  and a raise means that the monster 
  permanently loses 1 Power Point. When 
  the PP drop to 5 the monster is exiled. A 
  player character can automatically exile a 
  demon by forgoing an advance.
  Arcane Background (Possession)
  Arcane skill: Possession (Spirit)
  Power Points: 10
  Initial Powers: Puppet plus two others.
  Possession is the most powerful weapon 
  of demons, allowing them to turn an 
  ordinary being into a faithful servant of 
  the vile deities. Each demon is different, 
  and has different abilities – some can 
  empower their carrier, others cure, 
  others can cause wounds. Most of them 
  use their abilities to help the carrier, but 
  if they are running the show, they can 
  wound and even kill his friends.
  Overpower: If the demon rolls 1 on his 
  Possession skill die (regardless of Wild 
  Card), the awareness of the demon is 
  crushed by the host’s mind. It can’t spend 
  Power Points until the end of the session 
  (including whispering to its victim).
  Show Me What You Can Do
  Any GM worth their salt knows better 
  than to describe the monster directly. 
  The effects of the monsters’ deeds should 
  be more visible than the monster itself. 
  A dead patrol of marines, a transient 
  fried to a crisp, a nosy reporter driven 
  mad. Strange trails on the walls, acidic 
  holes in the floor. Screams of murdered 
  victims coming from the other end of 
  the starship.
  And what do the players think? Well, if 
  you’re good, it might be unsettling. But 
  why would a typical RPG character be 
  afraid of a monster? We have plasma 
  weapons! And that’s entirely an intended 
  effect. The basic horror rules won’t work 
  in 100% in Nemezis. You can spin a yarn 
  about claw markings on the wall, pools 
  of acid and screams of victims, but at 
  the end of the day the players know that 
  they will draw the initiative cards and 
  roll to hit the monster.
  But consider another thing – let the 
  monster show its disgusting deeds 
  to the players. This is a high-tech 
  environment: the characters can watch 
  camera recordings, send scout drones 
  or use psionic powers to observe the 
  world. It’s hard to hide the monster – 
  so let it demonstrate its power and toss 
  Extras around like rag dolls. Honestly, 
  in Savage Worlds you don’t even have to 
  break the rules – you can even give the 
  players some Extras to play out with d6 
  in most stats. After all, a monster that 
  leaves deep claw marks on spaceships’ 
  steel bulkheads won’t be a weakling.
  Of course, you shouldn’t overdo it, or 
  eventually the party will take a couple 
  of dozen Extras in red shirts on every 
  adventure. But if you provide the players 
  with other actions besides hunting the 
  dark gods, the horror will turn into 
  grotesque comedy.
  
  Cultists 36
  All information concerning the secrets 
  of Nemezis has been presented so 
  as not to directly influence events in 
  the campaign. They’re supposed to be 
  elements of the background and a set 
  of instructions for the Game Master. 
  Therefore, if the GM has a different 
  vision of the nature of the vile gods, he 
  can introduce it without significantly 
  changing the cohesion of the world. The 
  notes below can be used during games, 
  or as an inspiration to design your own 
  adventures – their purpose is to explain 
  not only the abilities of the gods, but 
  
  Nemezis: The dark, Freed 37
  also their goals and the reason of their 
  war with mankind.
  Nemezis
  No one can understand the true nature 
  of Nemezis. The origins of the most 
  destructive force in the Galaxy were 
  forgotten millions of years ago, before 
  the human race existed. No one knows 
  whether this is a supremely developed 
  civilization, whose energy needs are so 
  strong that it’s able to destroy all life 
  so that no species will ever threaten its 
  superiority – or maybe an ancient evil 
  force, created during the first moments 
  of the Universe. For the purposes of 
  gameplay there’s no difference which 
  version is considered canonical. The 
  following version is the “official” one, 
  created for the GMs who want to be 
  100% compatible with the author’s 
  vision.
  The evil emerging from the dark 
  between the stars has never encountered 
  beings similar to humans. For untold 
  eons it has destroyed all the intelligent 
  life which has appeared on any of the 
  planets of this Galaxy. Wonderful 
  civilizations, not knowing the ideas of 
  war or death, have been defeated by tool 
  of this evil force, the Wyrm of the Void. 
  This dark power is called Nemezis.
  Whenever it perceived any potential 
  threat, it used all its arsenal of weapons, 
  and 
  destroyed 
  all 
  the 
  intelligent 
  lifeforms which could in time threaten 
  it. It kills to survive, and all resistance 
  is futile. This vile being was powerful 
  enough to eradicate young, often very 
  peaceful, societies in a matter of a few 
  decades.
  However, never before in the history of 
  Galaxy had there emerged a species the 
  members of which had such separate, 
  individual identities. At a certain level of 
  development each previous culture has 
  created a collective consciousness, able to 
  decide the fate of the entire community. 
  These collective decisions, optimal for 
  the entire race, allowed them to develop 
  much faster than humans, but in the war 
  with Nemezis they became the cause of 
  their doom. When an entire culture is 
  driven by a single idea, there can’t be 
  surprising, insane, even suicidal – but 
  brilliant – decisions. Humans argue, 
  fight each other, are primitive, cruel and 
  merciless – but they’re free. They’re able 
  to commit thousands of mistakes just 
  to make the right choice at the right 
  moment and win. They’re able to fight 
  even where there’s no chance to win. 
  Hope, tenacity, passion – these are the 
  greatest weapons of mankind. Without 
  these, we’re destined to fall.
  A tale of dark gods put to sleep for 
  eons is a lie. Landing on Nyx was not 
  the true cause of destruction of Earth. 
  Nemesis has been observing the Galaxy 
  and detected humanity at the beginning 
  of their era of colonization – luckily for 
  them, it focused on destroying another 
  race, much more developed, which had 
  colonized almost an entire dwarf galaxy 
  in Canis Major. Since humans were a 
  fledgling species, Nemezis decided to 
  destroy the more threatening opponent. 
  
  Cultists 38
  This decision gave humankind enough 
  time to build their own galactic empire.
  Nemezis noticed humans again when 
  they colonized the Eclipse system. It 
  remembered Mesu and the conflict 
  which had once destroyed its unity 
  – and it realized how dangerous the 
  human race had become. It could not 
  allow Mesu to be freed. The decision 
  of starting an invasion of human 
  colonies was only a matter of time. And 
  yet, Nemezis is weak. A destructive 
  conflict with the Canis Major galaxy 
  has drastically decreased its options. 
  However, the available arsenal of 
  weapons should allow it to destroy the 
  young human race.
  The Devourer of Worlds (or maybe even 
  a couple of other beasts like that), the 
  Poisoner, Nnyrt and the Horde are the 
  most powerful basic tools of the enemy. 
  They are mindless tools with only one 
  priority – the destruction of all life. Fear 
  and suffering are deemed by Nemezis to 
  be as effective as direct attack, and that’s 
  why it uses them so often. It seems that 
  the beasts have somehow reached the 
  consciousness of humans and reflect 
  their deepest fears – the vile monsters 
  assume shapes so monstrous that it’s 
  hard to believe that they’ve been created 
  by intelligent beings.
  Nemezis might seem simply the oldest, 
  the most developed form of life in the 
  Galaxy – but the truth might be even 
  more frightening. Would nature create a 
  civilization so vile, whose entire purpose 
  is destroying other thinking beings? 
  Nemezis behaves more like a virus 
  destroying everything it encounters – 
  and not everything it creates using its 
  black magic can be explained rationally. 
  If the cultists are able to spawn vile 
  creatures thanks to nanotech, why 
  doesn’t Nemezis create an entire army 
  of spawn? If the Devourer can destroy 
  stars, why doesn’t Nemezis destroy 
  all other systems? Why can neither 
  Nemezis nor its creatures use psionics? 
  Perhaps the answer to these questions is 
  not understandable by the human mind. 
  Or maybe Nemezis is pure evil, a vile, 
  malicious force whose only goal is to 
  destroy good? Perhaps human science is 
  not the answer to all our questions? If 
  there actually exist creatures which don’t 
  have to conform to universal laws, will 
  humanity be able to accept the nature of 
  the evil gods?
  Use in play: Nemezis is so powerful 
  that the dream of freeing humankind 
  from the clutches of the dark gods is as 
  beautiful as it is impossible. The GM 
  shouldn’t even suggest the possibility 
  of defeating it. Why, even perceiving 
  Nemezis in its natural form – reaching 
  one of its remote, dark planets – is 
  beyond the reach of any human. In no 
  supplement or splatbook are we going 
  to describe what Nemezis looks like, 
  feels or thinks – it’s an alien, purely 
  evil force which needs to be an element 
  of background, and will never appear 
  directly.
  However, while humans can’t destroy 
  Nemezis, this doesn’t mean that they are 
  doomed to failure. Millennia of war with 
  the Canis Major galaxy have drained its 
  forces. The war with mankind has been 
  started by an attack of the Devourer of 
  Worlds and the Horde – primitive tools 
  
  Nemezis: The dark, Freed 39
  it hasn’t used for hundreds of thousands 
  of years. Nemezis is powerful and 
  immortal, so even a unified human race 
  won’t be able to destroy it, but they will 
  be able to defend themselves.
  The basics of the Nemezis universe, and 
  one of basic assumptions of the makers, 
  was the thought that the evil gods fought 
  by the human race are a supernatural 
  force, coming from primeval ages when 
  the laws governing the world were not 
  fully shaped yet. Ideas like good, evil, 
  life or death did not have any meaning 
  back then – the universe was inhabited 
  by strange, almost omnipotent beings. 
  Nemezis has retained parts of this power 
  until today. It wanders the universe, 
  destroying intelligent life whenever it 
  meets it. Its vile power is driven by the 
  pure hatred of beings with souls – while 
  it delights in destroying their bodies, 
  it’s aware that it can’t destroy their 
  immortal spirits. The only way to do 
  so is voluntary sacrifice by a mortal – a 
  creature that gives its soul as a sacrifice 
  to the gods, dies forever when it dies.
  The future of mankind is dark. The aliens 
  from the neighboring galaxy have been 
  eradicated. There is no good, mystical 
  force which would intervene to save 
  human civilization. Human technology 
  is nothing compared with the dark 
  powers of the gods, their servants and 
  cultists. The fate of mankind isn’t set in 
  stone – but if they don’t unite against 
  Nemezis, they will disappear within the 
  next thousand years.
  Death
  The claim that the aliens don’t 
  understand the concept of an individual 
  person isn’t exactly true. They lost their 
  
  Cultists 40
  own individuality so long ago that each 
  sign of independent thought is treated as 
  an evil, one that needs to be completely 
  uprooted. Hundreds of thousands of 
  years ago in the Nemezis collective 
  there appeared a new thought: not to 
  destroy the attacked races immediately, 
  but enslave them – investigate, use 
  them, and when the slaves have nothing 
  left to give – only then should they be 
  destroyed. The new dissidents named 
  themselves Mesu – the Death. A strange 
  name, given that Nemezis is immortal, 
  but perhaps they referred to the death 
  of unity.
  The “civil war” of the Mesu and main 
  body of Nemezis went on for millennia 
  – and the majority won, and locked 
  the minority in five graves hidden 
  throughout the Galaxy. So far people 
  have encountered only one of them.
  Mesu is hardly an ally of humankind. If 
  it ever breaks free it will turn humans 
  into its puppets. What it really wants is 
  the destruction of the part of Nemezis 
  which has enslaved it – a simple, 
  all too human revenge, with all the 
  associated emotional scars. Death can’t 
  liberate itself from its prison – but the 
  Great Pyramid of the Black Iron can 
  be destroyed by humans, if there were 
  someone insane enough to do it. Mesu 
  believes that General Marrow is that 
  person.
  Just the existence of Death is proof 
  that Nemezis is not a monolith, and 
  that it’s able to make mistakes. Yet, the 
  fact that Mesu has been imprisoned 
  gives hope to humans – if someone 
  managed to shackle a powerful deity, 
  perhaps humans would be able to repeat 
  this feat? A discovery of technology 
  or a ritual which would allow them to 
  shackle the Devourer, Poisoner, or other 
  vile gods would give mankind a chance 
  to survive. Sadly, there is practically no 
  chance to understand how Nemezis 
  has imprisoned Mesu. Perhaps humans 
  could copy some elements of Death’s 
  prison, but such an artifact could shackle 
  only the lesser tools of the vile race, or 
  perhaps the stronger ones for a short 
  period of time. 
  The Pyramid will not be Mesu’s prison 
  forever – and not just because in a few 
  billion years Cor will be destroyed when 
  the natural lifecycle of Eclipse-2 comes 
  to an end. Even now, the vile deity is 
  able to communicate with its followers, 
  send dreams and nightmares, and raise 
  the dead and Horde beasts as undead. 
  It’s a clear sign that the seals on the 
  gates of Death’s prison won’t be able to 
  hold it forever. Sooner or later they will 
  be broken – and humans would do well 
  to prepare themselves for that.
  Use in play: Mesu is the most powerful 
  creature able to appear in sessions of 
  Nemezis. The Cor part of the Death is far 
  more powerful than the Devourer, and all 
  the vile gods combined wouldn’t be able 
  to defeat all five parts – only the Nemezis 
  has greater power. The awakening of 
  Mesu is the easiest way to destroy 
  Eclipse and hundreds of other systems. 
  Playing in a galaxy torn between the 
  Death and Nemezis would have its own 
  charm – titanic clashes of two powerful 
  forces would destroy star after star, while 
  humans travelled the universe in search 
  of a safe place to save themselves from 
  
  Nemezis: The dark, Freed 41
  extinction. If you find this a good theme 
  for a campaign, you can safely base it on 
  the destruction of the Black Pyramid 
  – but remember that this will be an 
  alternate reality, and future materials for 
  Nemezis will follow a different route.
  The key to the survival of mankind 
  (and Eclipse) is learning the nature of 
  Mesu. No one, except the most powerful 
  cultists, is aware of Nemezis’ existence. 
  For Infinity, the Founder Families or 
  the Syndicate the vile beasts of Horde, 
  Devourer and Mesu are different faces 
  of the same, foul power. They think that 
  the attack on Cor was intended to free 
  the Death. Humans need to learn the 
  truth that the Horde is supposed to keep 
  Mesu imprisoned, and that the Wyrm 
  of the Void and monsters thought to 
  be his spawn are just dumb tools of 
  some far greater power. Once humans 
  are aware of the existence of Nemezis 
  and its goals, they can research possible 
  methods of survival.
  The Outcasts of Nemezis
  During untold millennia of existence 
  of this foul race, it has many times 
  experienced the cancer of dissent. The 
  only time the offshoots became powerful 
  was the first time, when the Death was 
  imprisoned. Only in a few examples 
  were such beings allowed to exist in a 
  weakened, castrated form. Now, when it 
  feels threatened, the evil has let its slaves 
  loose, to terrorize mankind. The human 
  race knows names of two such beings – 
  Gryt, Lord of War, and Zei-Aes.
  Even though they have access to amazing 
  powers, they’re nothing compared with 
  the power of the Devourer, the Horde 
  or Nemezis proper. An ordinary human 
  is just a mote of dust which they can 
  destroy in a second, but they’re no threat 
  to human civilization as a whole. The 
  aliens sent them to sow fear in the hearts 
  of mortals, so just a single thought about 
  the power of dark gods filled them with 
  terror. Many people aren’t brave enough 
  to stand and fight the dark spawn. Some 
  are too overwhelmed by the power of 
  the Enemy and would rather sell their 
  souls and join one of the cults. And yet, 
  fear is not enough to defeat mankind. 
  There are millions of brave men and 
  women throughout the galaxy, ready to 
  pick up a weapon and go to the front 
  lines to kill the Horde beasts.
  The greatest weakness of these outcasts 
  is their intelligence. Even though on 
  the human scale they’re monstrously 
  
  Cultists 42
  smart, able to create complex plans and 
  use humans to further their own goals, 
  you could predict their movements 
  and counter them. An ordinary human 
  probably couldn’t outdo these beings, but 
  maybe a group of experienced strategists 
  assisted by advanced AIs and a group of 
  psionicists could equal these lesser deities.
  Use in play: Destroying even one of the 
  Outcasts is a task far beyond a group 
  of mortals – even heroic ones. If an 
  Outcast appears during the adventure, it 
  should be a visible signal for players that 
  something has gone very, very wrong, 
  and their last resort should be escape. 
  If the players fight these things, they’re 
  on their own. A GM can design some 
  stats, but that’d be mostly a pointless 
  endeavor: reaching 500 points of 
  Toughness or withstanding an attack 
  dealing d12+100 damage is beyond 
  powers of ordinary characters.
  However, if the party can select the 
  place and circumstances of the combat, 
  it’s a different kettle of fish. If during 
  the campaign the player characters 
  obtain technology able to imprison one 
  of the Outcasts and are able to trap the 
  monster, they should be able to free the 
  Galaxy from it. But even if they are able 
  to surprise it, there’s still a significant 
  chance that the vile creature will outwit 
  the characters and doom them.
  Madness and Hounds
  The tools of Nemezis aren’t able to 
  understand the human mind. They can 
  understand certain behaviors, are able to 
  sense weaknesses, or understand what 
  the average person fears, but they’re 
  unable to think exactly as a human 
  would. Nemezis has lost many battles 
  because the enemy behaved differently 
  than the vile force predicted. The key 
  to victory seems to be understanding 
  the human soul – and that’s possible to 
  achieve only with the support of traitors.
  The three Hounds and Madness are 
  creations that the Enemy created to 
  understand its new enemy. Madness is a 
  construct created to analyze the human 
  mind, and simultaneously reshape it 
  to resemble the identity of Nemezis, 
  while Hounds are the first cultists 
  who sacrificed their own identities to 
  the Devourer. In both cases the aliens 
  have failed. The Unnamed one can’t 
  understand the human mind nor can 
  it change it so that it functions like 
  
  Nemezis: The dark, Freed 43
  that of Nemezis. Just a touch of this 
  creature drives humans insane – but 
  the Madness can’t see the difference 
  and investigates the subject until he or 
  she dies. Hounds received numerous 
  powers and their bodies became more 
  appropriate to their tasks – but they 
  lost their souls. They don’t think like 
  humans anymore – instead, they behave 
  more like machines with a complex, 
  self-improving algorithm. Initially they 
  were supposed to gather memories, but 
  when they failed to do this, Nemezis 
  changed them into spies. They gather 
  information, sabotage the war effort and 
  support the cults. They aren’t a serious 
  threat to mankind – sooner or later the 
  Hounds will be destroyed.
  Use in play: The Hounds have been 
  created especially for the players who 
  like to hurt the Big Bad. They’re doomed 
  to fail, and exist to be destroyed by the 
  PC team. This is a demanding opponent 
  – tracking down and confronting one of 
  the Hounds is more a matter of entire 
  campaign than a single adventure, yet 
  it’s still within the reach of experienced 
  characters. The Hounds won’t be 
  significant players in the development 
  of the entire universe.
  The Ancient One
  The Poisoner picked the Ancient One as 
  a target many years ago. Shortly after the 
  beginning of the war with mankind, the 
  venom of Lij started to poison nanoids, 
  creating the body of Infinity’s CEO. The 
  fight lasted for decades – sometimes the 
  goddess won, but often the human’s 
  willpower overcame her. Lij is the 
  source of the evil infecting Eclipse. She’s 
  responsible for the damage done to the 
  terraformers on Ash, and for allowing 
  the Horde beasts to infect Cor. The 
  Poisoner eventually lost. The Ancient 
  One proved to be stronger. He destroyed 
  the nanobots infected with evil, and 
  exiled Lij from his mind; currently, he 
  wants to exile her from Eclipse.
  The Poisoner has left a visible mark on 
  the boss of Infinity. The war with vile 
  gods became his obsession – victory over 
  the Devourer of Worlds and its spawn is 
  a goal to be achieved at any cost. That’s 
  why he doesn’t even treat humans as 
  individuals – he uses them as tools and 
  discards them when they’re unnecessary. 
  Even though he’s an ally of mankind, it’s 
  hard to label him as “good” – the Ancient 
  One himself claims that at his degree 
  of advancement the ideas of good and 
  evil have no meaning. What matters is 
  
  Cultists 44
  survival – us vs. them. It’s easy to see 
  similarities to Nemezis in his behavior – 
  the destruction of the enemy is the most 
  important objective, justifying even the 
  most cruel and despicable deeds.
  The Ancient One does not just want 
  to destroy the Poisoner. He wants to 
  uplift the human race, to advance to a 
  higher level of development and transfer 
  human 
  consciousness 
  into 
  nanoid 
  swarms. Sadly, he has no idea that such 
  a move will not protect humanity from 
  destruction – dozens of other species 
  have done this already, and all of them 
  have been eradicated by Nemezis.
  Use in the game: The Ancient One is the 
  key to the survival of Eclipse. Purified of 
  Lij’s venom, with great intelligence and 
  the massive resources of Infinity, he’s 
  able to purify the system and eliminate 
  the influences of the Horde and the 
  dark gods. However, human feelings are 
  completely alien to him. If he considers 
  that destruction of Bariz is necessary to 
  save Ash and Cor he will sacrifice the 
  planet without hesitation – a few million 
  deaths is nothing to him compared with 
  the horror of a freed Mesu.
  The Ancient One can also be a 
  great curse on mankind. He’s almost 
  completely lost his humanity – perhaps 
  during his centuries of existence within 
  microscopic machines he’s lost his 
  soul? He has defeated the Poisoner, but 
  the victory could’ve come too late and 
  now his mind might resemble that of 
  Nemezis rather than a human being. He 
  certainly won’t become another servant 
  of this vile race, but he’s closer to the 
  enemies of the human race than anyone 
  else. Perhaps he would like to “civilize” 
  the primitive monkeys and start to 
  shape more and more beings in his own 
  image?
  Alternate Visions of 
  Nemezis.
  Join or Die
  The ultimate goal of Nemezis is still 
  to be the only being in the Galaxy, but 
  its preferred method is not eradication, 
  but assimilation. From the perspective 
  of a human who’s just had his family 
  eaten by crawlers this might make no 
  sense, but from the perspective of the 
  Nemezis collective, humanity needs 
  to be “formatted”. Prepared. Ready to 
  accept what seems to be “black magic” 
  and is really the change of the universe.
  Some humans need to be terrified 
  into submission – hence the existence 
  of the Devourer. It is also just a tool 
  for Nemezis, devoid of consciousness. 
  Some of the Horde monsters are also 
  mindless creations, but more powerful 
  ones like nemotics are actually remnants 
  of other species previously absorbed into 
  Nemezis. The same goes for Hounds and 
  some of the gods – many of which were 
  basically the unified consciousness of 
  their species, with Lij, for example, being 
  a collective civilization of machines.
  Some of the cults are right in this 
  approach. This does mean a degree of 
  immortality – but also the death of the 
  
  Nemezis: The dark, Freed 45
  individual. Humans must also become 
  a collective... and the plans of Nemezis 
  might mean leaving a single human 
  being alive to merge with the swarm. 
  Some cults might be somewhat saner, 
  and they might even be right – they want 
  to coexist with Nemezis. Convincing 
  it to study humans until they unify is 
  impossible... but hiding the human race 
  from it might work.
  Mesu is somewhat of a special case 
  here. Mesu is another alien collective 
  – now united into a singular will, but 
  like humans it is “incompatible” with 
  Nemezis. While it might seem that this 
  is beneficial, the main goal of Nemezis 
  is assimilation. The main goal of Mesu 
  is destruction and recreation – which 
  explains its preference for zombies. This 
  offers some hope for mankind – you 
  could try let loose Mesu on Nemezis, 
  and make these two forces damage 
  each other in a cycle of violence. Such a 
  titanic clash could destroy the Horizon 
  system.
  The goals of the Ancient One are 
  ambiguous in this scenario – he might 
  study Nemezis without much risk to 
  himself. What would be his end goal? 
  Maybe he would want to merge with 
  Nemezis himself? Or become a host for 
  it?
  Born of the Dark
  Nemezis is truly our Enemy. Ours, no 
  one else’s. When the first ape started 
  to dream and have nightmares, on the 
  opposite end of the Solar System a dark 
  force became aware. Some people call 
  it Gryt, lord of War, others point out 
  the duality of Zei-Aes. The Enemy has 
  many masks, and thorough our history it 
  has tempted us to destroy and embrace 
  the darkness. And when humans landed 
  on its homeworld, it unleashed its true 
  power.
  Nemezis is simply a vile force, a 
  materialization 
  of 
  capital-E 
  Evil. 
  Monsters it creates are drawn from 
  human nightmares. The gods are aspects 
  of its destructive might. And the more 
  advanced the capabilities of humans, the 
  more powerful the Nemezis becomes.
  This scenario seems bleak, but at least 
  it’s straightforward. Nemezis is evil, 
  and we need to fight it. Does that make 
  us good? Well, to an extent. Nemezis 
  can’t be defeated as long as humans are 
  free-willed creatures. However, here 
  Nemezis has an obvious heart – the 
  actual Nemezis homeworld, still drifting 
  near the remnants of the Solar system. 
  Destroying this world would not destroy 
  Nemezis... but it would reduce it to 
  several strange alien creatures, without 
  a single will behind them.
  Other alien races before us all faced their 
  demons. All of them were destroyed, 
  and all of the previous Nemeses 
  perished in the moment when the last 
  sentient enemy died, not realising this 
  consequence. And many species will 
  face their Nemezis after us...
  Well, except Mesu. Mesu is what 
  happens when a species finds balance 
  with its evil twin. It’s reduced to a force, 
  a snake eating its own tail. Mesu is not 
  sentient as we understand the term. It’s 
  
  Cultists 46
  two mutually exclusive consciousnesses 
  locked in eternal conflict – and the 
  psychic waves emanating from this 
  cause madness and nightmares in 
  Corisian soldiers. There’s little hope of 
  “releasing” Mesu – the destruction of 
  its prison would probably destroy all 
  sentient minds on the planet and cause 
  madness on Ash and Bariz. However, a 
  psionic collective could at least try and 
  delve into Mesu’s consciousness, and 
  fathom the motivations of Nemezis. 
  With time, protection against insanity 
  and determined leaders like the Ancient 
  One, we could lock some parts of 
  Nemezis away – but we would have 
  sacrifice some of our humanity.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Savage Worlds System (SWADE) [multi]/Nemezis/Savage Worlds - Nemezis - The Dark Creed Cultists.pdf