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<p>While many Reiklanders find solace in the tears of @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.TjfeXu3fimHJ5I9Q]{Shallya}, @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.jza73azXzLy0oVCy]{Ulric’s} fury, or the uncompromising rigour of the @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.OclFlDGI5fC9ygoP]{Cult of Sigmar}, others succumb to darker impulses. Beneath the veneer of civilisation, the Empire is riddled with corruption and moral decay. Scratch the surface and you will find secret cults and fanatics willing to risk their very souls (and the lives of their neighbours) to appease and placate whatever dark master has them in thrall, whatever form they may take.</p><h3>Khorne</h3><p>Those who fall to Khorne, the Chaos God of Bloodshed, tend to be violent and unrestrained in their savagery — such displays of wanton ferocity run contrary to conventional Reiklander decorum, meaning cults of the Blood God are relatively rare. Thus, Khornate cultists tend to be visitors from the wilder northern realms such as Middenland and Nordland.</p><h4>The Crimson Skull</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/the-crimson-skull.webp" width="241" height="250" /></div><p>The Crimson Skull dates back to before the Great War Against Chaos. Rare amongst Khorne cults, its adherents understand the need to be circumspect in their bloodletting, ensuring their continued survival. To that end, the cult infiltrates military organisations, offering plausible justifications for extreme violence.</p><p>The Redclaw Monastery in the @UUID[JournalEntry.70sJnVPsNmeNnqdC.JournalEntryPage.i5oKhDottkJmwCzj]{Duchy of Aschaffenberg} is home to a cell of the cult. The Redclaw sect is not only not recognized by the Cult of Ulric, it was, in fact, founded by a cultist of the Crimson Skull to attract Ulricans and convert them. Abbot Hölleblut, and his inner sanctum of seven monks, secretly worship Khorne, dedicating their own kills, and those deceived Ulricans at the monastery, in service of the skull throne.</p><section class="secret hook no-image" id="secret-TbBp8yQKXWEZnwgb"><ul><li><p>Hölleblut has heard a rumor that a servant of Ulric, with the ability to shift his form into that of a great hound or wolf, is residing in Ubersreik. Should they capture and convert such a figure, they would become a powerful champion in the Blood God’s serried ranks, so they are willing to pay others to capture him.</p></li><li><p>The Redclaw Monks wage a near constant battle against the Creeping Death tribe of Goblins. Characters of a martial bent will have many opportunities to fight there, earning favor with Ulric or, if especially savage, a bloodier god...</p></li></ul></section><h3>Nurgle</h3><p>Sickness is everywhere in the Reikland, and wherever a soul should succumb to the ravages of disease, the infected, afflicted followers of the Plague Lord are sure to be lurking close by.</p><h4>The Tinean Fellowship</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/tinean-fellowship.webp" width="210" height="212" /></div><p>Tinea was an ancient city in the western Border Princes, not far from the border of modern-day Tilea. It was there, millennia ago, that Myrmidia, the Goddess of Strategy, discovered ancient texts penned by the Elf scholar Gaelen. She was intrigued by the complexity of the anatomical drawings found within, so passed them, on to the cult of her mother, @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.9bWE0Ayt5XGQf50r]{Verena, the Goddess of Wisdom}.</p><p>Over 2000 years later, Gaelen’s Anatomy is a primary medical textbook of the Empire, celebrated by the Tinean Fellowship. Doktor Festus, a prominent physician based in Salzenmund, founded the Tinean Fellowship. Ostensibly, the cult operates as a loose confederation of learned doctors, exchanging information on rare and infectious diseases, but it is so much more.</p><p>A secret follower of Nurgle, Festus is quietly recruiting chirurgeons around the Empire into his cult, enticing them with correspondences and seminars on rare contaminations, gently encouraging them to indulge in experimentation that contravenes medical ethics. As his malign influence grows, these erstwhile healers become the harbingers of disease, spreading sickness even as they learn its secrets. Thus, is the road to corruption paved with good intentions.</p><section id="secret-zRtzx6zVFODPQdBw" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Doktor Grat, of @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.XXEYah0l4NQV0Uhs]{The Physicians' Guild} of Ubersreik, is a recent convert to the cult. In addition to her experimentation with @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-starter-set.items.BBYmXJ5jiRUk93IJ]{Bronze Fever}, she is planning to release her variation of @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-core.items.UAwTqZ3hqNb7vq9s]{Itching Pox} (which can affect those who have suffered Itching Pox before, and afflicts sufferers with a visible rash) into the canalside community of Halheim. From here the cult plans to observe its spread to Nuln and Carroburg, where other cult members await, ready to record the illness in the Fly Lord’s pox-laden ledger.</p></li><li><p>Viktor Felken is another member of the cult recently arrived in Ubersreik, and is currently residing in the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.yY5DUbAdKg2MhDva]{Dunkelfeucht}. Felken is operating as a Barber Surgeon, offering reasonable rates for quick and dirty medical treatment. He charges half the going rate for treatment. Anyone treated by Felken must pass a <strong>Challenging (+0) Endurance</strong> Test, or contract a @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-core.items.1hQuVFZt9QnnbWzg]{Minor Infection}.</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Villagers of Saal</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/villagers-of-saal.webp" width="252" height="252" /></div><p>The village of Saal has lost all hope. Ever since the Greenskins sacked Saalenschloss decades ago @UUID[JournalEntry.70sJnVPsNmeNnqdC.JournalEntryPage.depCha3wADmJNilH]{County of Widow's Vale}, it has withered and waned. In their loss, the villagers turned to veneration of their former lord, Abelin von Saal, a man sainted for his sacrifices defending his lands. They appealed, they bemoaned, and they lost hope. Then, something listened…</p><p>The aging, increasingly erratic population now openly worship ‘Father Saal’. Many of the villagers receive visions spurring them to make pilgrimages to the ruins of the Saalenschloss, and to starve their bodies and excoriate their flesh once there. Unknown to all, their visions come from Nurgle, the Chaos God of Decay and Despair. As the villagers suck willingly from his pestilent teat, their souls slip slowly away.</p><section id="secret-xVGTPQRo15RD6MMp" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Abbot Berrener leads the Monastery of Blessed Saal. He has grown concerned with the Saal villagers’ extreme actions, and is looking for some devout Sigmarites (or those who seem such) to investigate.</p></li><li><p>Should the Characters offer assistance to the folk of Saal, they will be received as heroes, sent by Father Saal to aid them. Given the villagers are unwittingly worshipping the Chaos God of Disease, this may prove... unfortunate.</p></li></ul></section><h3>Slaanesh</h3><p>Cults of the Prince of Pleasure permeate the Empire. From silk-wearing nobles in brothels to the lowliest scum in seedy back-alleys, wherever flesh and desires exist, so too does the Prince.</p><h4>The Eldritch Order of the Unblinking Eye</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/unblinking-eye.webp" width="248" height="248" /></div><p>Cults of the Prince of Pleasure permeate the Empire. From silk-wearing nobles in brothels to the lowliest scum in seedy back-alleys, wherever flesh and desires exist, so too does the Prince.</p><p>The Eldritch Order of the Unblinking Eye thrived for decades amongst the wealthy intelligentsia of Altdorf. Their core tenets require observing the most horrific and disturbing occurrences, without balking, or looking away. The lives lost and bodies disfgured in their pursuit of this deed do not bear considering.</p><p>In 2505 IC, Magistrate Heissman von Bruner brought the cult to its knees. Witch hunters acting on his orders infiltrated then attacked, wiping out most of the cult and the exclusive, members-only club in which it was housed. But one cultist survived: Gregor Piersson. Piersson made his way to Ubersreik, plotting exquisite revenge. He entered the service of Heissman’s only son, Andreas, and slowly corrupted him. Thus, the Order was reborn and Piersson’s vengeance was secured.</p><section id="secret-xrUUaADPMdlvgYGX" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Andreas owns a special painting, one touched by Slaanesh’s profane influence. When the Characters are hired to steal it by agents of @UUID[.L5gV9pgaWXB3floP#the-fractured-eye]{The Fractured Eye}, they don’t quite realise what they are getting themselves into.</p></li><li><p>@UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-ua2.ua2-actors.ySYxwgeetYujddRC]{Gutele} and @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-ua2.ua2-actors.H4JTrhGvhlB8zc0a]{Boniel} are deeply suspicious of their secretive and moody cousin. They will pay well to find out where Andreas goes every week. Following him is uneventful until he is attacked in @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.BQA04SKWoMFPjb7T]{the Docks}. Should any step in, Andreas will be effusively thankful, and will be very keen they meet his servant, Gregor, who will want to thank them personally...</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Circle of Unmarred Flesh</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/unmarred-flesh.webp" width="198" height="198" /></div><p>The Circle of Unmarred Flesh only recently arrived in Ubersreik, brought to the town by unwittingly corrupt members of the State Army of Altdorf. A soldiers’ cult, ‘Circlers’ take part in illicit fights while off duty, reveling in the extremes of pain they can inflict and can themselves endure. Its members are prohibited from drawing blood. Instead, they wrestle with cloth-wrapped fists as they attempt to overwhelm their opponent and force submission. Veterans of the cult seem able to endure greater and greater extremes of pain, seemingly taking great strength from twisting flesh and tearing muscles.</p><p>Corporal Vielfrass is the cult’s leader. He is a lithe Altdorfer in his 30s, and he is known for his insubordination, and the many punishments he has had to endure because of this. He currently serves as a watchman, a detail that is widely claimed to be one of the worst in Ubersreik. Though the cult includes a number of officers who outrank Vielfrass, when it comes to Circle matters, ‘The Corporal’ is in charge, and he brooks absolutely no dissention amongst his brawling ranks.</p><section id="secret-YRrm1B5sOYmX2kyH" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Anyone skilled in close quarters fighting and serving in the Watch will be invited to join one of the Circle’s bouts as a trial. Should the Character take pleasure in the fight, and refrain from spilling blood, Vielfrass will groom them for eventual indoctrination into the Circle.</p></li><li><p>Silvi Kreutzhame has suspicions about the Circle. Though she has no concrete information, something is troubling her about their clandestine fights. Any PCs connected to her may be asked to investigate on her behalf.</p></li></ul></section><h3>Tzeentch</h3><p>Chaos Cults worshipping the Ever-Changing Lord arise wherever Humans gather and ideas foment. Change is Tzeentch’s purview, and humanity’s constant companion. Often the Great Architect’s followers can be found amongst students, freethinkers, and agitators, and wherever people seek to alter their lot in life or the world around them. @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-eis.journals.IZVgB7zmTm4rK2yJ]{The Cult of the Purple Hand} is particularly pervasive, and is directly responsible for the current political mess in Ubersreik (for more details concerning this influential cult, see <strong>The Enemy in Shadows</strong>).</p><h4>The Shifting Grasp</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/the-shifting-grasp.webp" width="234" height="255" /></div><p>In 2006 IC, a cult arose along the River Stir amidst smugglers involved in running a magical substance known as wyrdstone from the ruins of dread Mordheim. After several decades in the business, the smugglers eventually mutated, and not long after turned to the worship of Tzeentch, the Changer of the Ways. The resulting cult, the Shifting Grasp, believes the key to changing the Empire for the better lies in controlling river commerce, both legal and otherwise. They patiently convert lowly dock workers and riverfolk to their creed, promising a day when they will all share in the bounty of the goods flowing along the rivers instead of just shipping them for rich, uncaring merchants.</p><p>The Shifting Grasp now has adherents all along the Stir, @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.Zhp59VXYiv6dGfhR]{Reik}, and up many of Reikland’s richer rivers. However, the cult is strongest in poorer districts, such as the rickety shanties of @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.9WswKDPgqHAo8AcB]{Kemperbad} and the slums and rookeries of Ubersreik. Shifting Grasp cultists regularly smuggle tainted goods, so they sometimes have to work hard to keep their mutated members with obvious deformities well hidden. If such mutations become too severe to conceal, the cultists in question are saved for operations targeting their foes.</p><p>In Ubersreik, Alette Niedlich leads the cult. She’s a sturdy woman in early 40s, with a bright silver lock running through her dark hair. She’s publicly known as an expert in eel-flesh and their farming, while in criminal circles she’s renowned as a cunning smuggler. None outside the cult know that she’s also a formidable witch, with her magical knowledge learned from a witch who claimed to remember the times of Magnus the Pious.</p><section id="secret-YcySdyma0ZRBCFQM" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Elmeric Herzog, a smuggler for the cult, needs help moving a very special shipment (a crate of wyrdstone), but @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.UtDzFPhCEkeMyMRe]{Geldfinger’s} clerks are tailing his usual operatives. Herzog approaches the Characters for their assistance in causing a ‘significant distraction’ that will draw attention from the docks at just the right moment.</p></li><li><p>Now the Jungfreud trade is bypassing Ubersreik, Niedlich needs a cult member in their Waystation. If the party have any ties to the Jungfreuds, or the boatmen or dockers’ guilds, they will be asked to offer a letter of recommendation. After all: what’s the harm?</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Fractured Eye</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/the-fractured-eye.webp" width="259" height="187" /></div><p>The Fractured Eye is more akin to a clandestine spy network than a cult. It began life as a group of ‘enlightened’ souls who engaged in correspondence. The Old World, they knew, stood on the brink of destruction and war. Only through sharing knowledge and expertise could this be halted. And so they sought out books and scholars, recorded stories, legends, and histories, and shared this knowledge with one other.</p><p>An instinct for secrecy kept them from being open about their goals or affiliating with the Cult of Verena. Instead, they worked in the shadows, seeing themselves as the architects of a greater future. Of course, the problem with knowledge is it can be dangerous. When one member encountered a tainted text inscribed with runes of power, dedicated to Tzeentch, the Great Architect of Fate, he was quickly seduced. And as he shared this knowledge, so he shared this corruption.</p><p>Today, the Fractured Eye still works in secret, its members isolated, reporting and sharing knowledge between themselves. Primary communication is through correspondence using a complex cipher. Recruitment of new members is slow, and often cultists operate for years without meeting anyone other than their handler. They are keen to absorb all knowledge, and their members are not restricted to the educated and literate.</p><p>Skilled craftsmen and those with expertise in any area are highly valued by the cult. A high ranking Grey Guardian — a wizard of the Lore of Shadows — is a member, though whether she is infiltrating the cult to expose it, or is a true member, is anybody’s guess. Kurt Prochnow, a Guildmaster of the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.b7O2qxgkBbDE6ip5]{Boatbuilders and Chandlers Guild}, represents the cult in Ubersreik.</p><section id="secret-T4A237gL4IAjWmN9" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Kurt Prochnow is known as a collector of obscure texts and antiquities. Those looking for a buyer of such can hear word of the guildmaster with a <strong>Simple Average (+20) Gossip</strong> Test. He pays well, and is always looking for more.</p></li><li><p>If the party are skilled in any particular area (with more than 15 Advances in a given Skill), Guildmaster Prochnow will orchestrate a demonstration of that skill in order to catalogue it, and consider the candidate’s suitability for recruitment. The party may feel uncomfortable during this process, especially any characters with no Corruption and a high Intuition Skill or the @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-core.items.Nj3tC8A5fZ3zEdMR]{Holy Visions} Talent</p></li></ul></section><h3>Other Cults</h3><p>Not all that glitters is gold, and not all that corrupts is Chaos. In their weakness, depravity, and desperation, many Reiklanders are ensnared by other dark cults. And though not in thrall to the Ruinous Powers, such acts still lead inexorably down the path to damnation.</p><h4>The Yellowbellies</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/yellowbellies.webp" width="203" height="230" /></div><p>The Horned Rat is a God of Entropy and Schemes, worshipped by the chittering hordes of clandestine ratmen called the Skaven. These swarming creatures scuttle in the darkness beneath civilization, gnawing on the entrails of the Empire. Worship of the Horned Rat sometimes spreads to the unfortunates taken and enslaved by the Skaven. Should these slaves prove useful, and biddable, they may find themselves returned topside to serve as agents for the Under-Empire, procuring further slaves for their verminous masters.</p><p>In Ubersreik, the Yellowbellies are former slaves in thrall to Clan Sleekit, one of the many Skaven clans vying for power deep beneath the town. They are tasked with infiltrating Ubersreik, both to facilitate spying and to procure more slaves from those who will not be missed. Slippery Jacob is their highest-ranking member, an orphan kidnapped by the Skaven as a child, and released back into Human society after more than two-decades of slavery. He is utterly loyal to his Sleekit masters, and will enact any order they demand of him, even taking his own life.</p><section id="secret-B1M6WLQVBGDJaWgy" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>If the party are not local to Ubersreik, they may find themselves approached by Slippery Jacob, a garrulous bawd who will offer to introduce them to all manner of earthly delights. Should the players pass out in any of the taverns, weirdroot dens, or brothels to which he takes them, they will awake the following morning in chains, in a tunnel far beneath the streets of Ubersreik…</p></li><li><p>In the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.yJlaZDmJgb5rIkHM]{Magnussewers} a shadow war is being waged amongst the Skaven clans. Clan Skaab have sent a party of Skaven to eliminate the Yellowbellies, but their intelligence is faulty. Instead of the Yellowbellies’ secret layer in the Docks, they arrive in the basement of the building where the party are staying, convinced everyone there is a member of the cult, and determined to eradicate them. </p></li></ul></section><h4>The Faceless Ones</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/faceless-ones.webp" width="235" height="237" /></div><p>Constant Drachenfels remains the great bogeyman of the Reikland, his name used as a threat by mothers across the realm, but barely whispered by the superstitious. The vile deeds and horrid depravities of the Great Enchanter are too many and too foul to consider, yet their fetid legend remains, lingering in the dark recess of the mind, and on the tongues of those seeking the torrid thrill of forbidden lore.</p><p>Despite being finally killed, something of Drachenfels remains, lurking in the ruins of his castle in @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.w0YfGxsBuLoODCgc]{The Grey Mountains}. His spirit calls out to the weak-willed, great tendrils of malice and spite infiltrating the souls of the unwary. A cult serving their dark master’s wishes has arisen in the Suden Vorbergland, whose members wear masks when they meet, to venerate their lord and shield their identities.</p><section id="secret-Sb5TWyvKDhF4iJj2" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Benedict Gurkenfeld, owner of the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.szPqoGEOOQQ308mU]{Theatre Varieté}, is planning a revival of The Tragedy of Oswald, @UUID[Actor.HVtHpEXhGGMOmGzy]{Detlef Sierck}’s play recounting Drachenfel’s demise. The Faceless Ones work to disrupt the performance, poisoning refreshments and inciting a riot to begin as the curtains part. Of course, the party have been invited to the premiere…</p></li><li><p>A town councillor is a Faceless One, and plans to resurrect Drachenfels using the body parts of peers. But which one?</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Cult of the Bog King</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/bog-king.webp" width="243" height="245" /></div><p>Decades ago, in the small town of Ablegen, local residents began worshipping a creature from the miry banks of @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.CqIczLRZI265nrAR]{The Teufel}. Known as @UUID[Actor.LB1Qv7lfSY0b02HH]{The Bog King}, it was a mutated Bog Octopus, gifted with unnatural intelligence and the ability to communicate telepathically. As it learned of the Reikland, and the Reiklanders’ ways, it yearned for more.</p><p>Since then, the @UUID[Actor.LB1Qv7lfSY0b02HH]{Bog King} and its followers have moved to Ubersreik. A close-knit community of gong farmers and plumbers living near the docks on the Teufel’s northern bank, they meet regularly in their basement. Here they place their victims upon the sacrificial throne, a large, sturdy commode through which the Bog King can extend his mighty tentacles, and withdraw the unfortunate souls chosen for this ‘honor’.</p><section id="secret-XOp51DCogFM94eFw" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Marius Klempner, newly arrived from Nuln, disappeared shortly after his application to join the Plumbers’ Guild was rejected. Now his brother Ludwig has hired the party to locate him, little realizing he has long since been pulled down a commode and digested by a giant, intelligent cephalopod. Unfortunately, if the party investigate too closely, they may suffer a similar fate.</p></li><li><p>When passing by sewer grates, one Character hears whispers offering great wealth and influence in return for nothing more than information. For each night the Character agrees to discuss the finer intricacies of being Human, the @UUID[Actor.LB1Qv7lfSY0b02HH]{Bog King} leaves behind @Credit[5ss ONCE]{5 silver shillings}. The longer the Character engages, the more likely it is the Bog King will grow petulant and angry should it ever be denied. And the Bog King’s rage is terrible to behold.</p></li></ul></section>
<p>While many Reiklanders find solace in the tears of @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.TjfeXu3fimHJ5I9Q]{Shallya}, @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.jza73azXzLy0oVCy]{Ulric’s} fury, or the uncompromising rigour of the @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.OclFlDGI5fC9ygoP]{Cult of Sigmar}, others succumb to darker impulses. Beneath the veneer of civilisation, the Empire is riddled with corruption and moral decay. Scratch the surface and you will find secret cults and fanatics willing to risk their very souls (and the lives of their neighbours) to appease and placate whatever dark master has them in thrall, whatever form they may take.</p><h3>Khorne</h3><p>Those who fall to Khorne, the Chaos God of Bloodshed, tend to be violent and unrestrained in their savagery — such displays of wanton ferocity run contrary to conventional Reiklander decorum, meaning cults of the Blood God are relatively rare. Thus, Khornate cultists tend to be visitors from the wilder northern realms such as Middenland and Nordland.</p><h4>The Crimson Skull</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/the-crimson-skull.webp" width="241" height="250" /></div><p>The Crimson Skull dates back to before the Great War Against Chaos. Rare amongst Khorne cults, its adherents understand the need to be circumspect in their bloodletting, ensuring their continued survival. To that end, the cult infiltrates military organisations, offering plausible justifications for extreme violence.</p><p>The Redclaw Monastery in the @UUID[JournalEntry.70sJnVPsNmeNnqdC.JournalEntryPage.i5oKhDottkJmwCzj]{Duchy of Aschaffenberg} is home to a cell of the cult. The Redclaw sect is not only not recognized by the Cult of Ulric, it was, in fact, founded by a cultist of the Crimson Skull to attract Ulricans and convert them. Abbot Hölleblut, and his inner sanctum of seven monks, secretly worship Khorne, dedicating their own kills, and those deceived Ulricans at the monastery, in service of the skull throne.</p><section class="secret hook no-image" id="secret-TbBp8yQKXWEZnwgb"><ul><li><p>Hölleblut has heard a rumor that a servant of Ulric, with the ability to shift his form into that of a great hound or wolf, is residing in Ubersreik. Should they capture and convert such a figure, they would become a powerful champion in the Blood God’s serried ranks, so they are willing to pay others to capture him.</p></li><li><p>The Redclaw Monks wage a near constant battle against the Creeping Death tribe of Goblins. Characters of a martial bent will have many opportunities to fight there, earning favor with Ulric or, if especially savage, a bloodier god...</p></li></ul></section><h3>Nurgle</h3><p>Sickness is everywhere in the Reikland, and wherever a soul should succumb to the ravages of disease, the infected, afflicted followers of the Plague Lord are sure to be lurking close by.</p><h4>The Tinean Fellowship</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/tinean-fellowship.webp" width="210" height="212" /></div><p>Tinea was an ancient city in the western Border Princes, not far from the border of modern-day Tilea. It was there, millennia ago, that Myrmidia, the Goddess of Strategy, discovered ancient texts penned by the Elf scholar Gaelen. She was intrigued by the complexity of the anatomical drawings found within, so passed them, on to the cult of her mother, @UUID[JournalEntry.NcH9OhleJFfaUdon.JournalEntryPage.9bWE0Ayt5XGQf50r]{Verena, the Goddess of Wisdom}.</p><p>Over 2000 years later, Gaelen’s Anatomy is a primary medical textbook of the Empire, celebrated by the Tinean Fellowship. Doktor Festus, a prominent physician based in Salzenmund, founded the Tinean Fellowship. Ostensibly, the cult operates as a loose confederation of learned doctors, exchanging information on rare and infectious diseases, but it is so much more.</p><p>A secret follower of Nurgle, Festus is quietly recruiting chirurgeons around the Empire into his cult, enticing them with correspondences and seminars on rare contaminations, gently encouraging them to indulge in experimentation that contravenes medical ethics. As his malign influence grows, these erstwhile healers become the harbingers of disease, spreading sickness even as they learn its secrets. Thus, is the road to corruption paved with good intentions.</p><section id="secret-zRtzx6zVFODPQdBw" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Doktor Grat, of @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.XXEYah0l4NQV0Uhs]{The Physicians' Guild} of Ubersreik, is a recent convert to the cult. In addition to her experimentation with @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-starter-set.items.BBYmXJ5jiRUk93IJ]{Bronze Fever}, she is planning to release her variation of @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-core.items.UAwTqZ3hqNb7vq9s]{Itching Pox} (which can affect those who have suffered Itching Pox before, and afflicts sufferers with a visible rash) into the canalside community of Halheim. From here the cult plans to observe its spread to Nuln and Carroburg, where other cult members await, ready to record the illness in the Fly Lord’s pox-laden ledger.</p></li><li><p>Viktor Felken is another member of the cult recently arrived in Ubersreik, and is currently residing in the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.yY5DUbAdKg2MhDva]{Dunkelfeucht}. Felken is operating as a Barber Surgeon, offering reasonable rates for quick and dirty medical treatment. He charges half the going rate for treatment. Anyone treated by Felken must pass a <strong>Challenging (+0) Endurance</strong> Test, or contract a @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-core.items.1hQuVFZt9QnnbWzg]{Minor Infection}.</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Villagers of Saal</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/villagers-of-saal.webp" width="252" height="252" /></div><p>The village of Saal has lost all hope. Ever since the Greenskins sacked Saalenschloss decades ago @UUID[JournalEntry.70sJnVPsNmeNnqdC.JournalEntryPage.depCha3wADmJNilH]{County of Widow's Vale}, it has withered and waned. In their loss, the villagers turned to veneration of their former lord, Abelin von Saal, a man sainted for his sacrifices defending his lands. They appealed, they bemoaned, and they lost hope. Then, something listened…</p><p>The aging, increasingly erratic population now openly worship ‘Father Saal’. Many of the villagers receive visions spurring them to make pilgrimages to the ruins of the Saalenschloss, and to starve their bodies and excoriate their flesh once there. Unknown to all, their visions come from Nurgle, the Chaos God of Decay and Despair. As the villagers suck willingly from his pestilent teat, their souls slip slowly away.</p><section id="secret-xVGTPQRo15RD6MMp" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Abbot Berrener leads the Monastery of Blessed Saal. He has grown concerned with the Saal villagers’ extreme actions, and is looking for some devout Sigmarites (or those who seem such) to investigate.</p></li><li><p>Should the Characters offer assistance to the folk of Saal, they will be received as heroes, sent by Father Saal to aid them. Given the villagers are unwittingly worshipping the Chaos God of Disease, this may prove... unfortunate.</p></li></ul></section><h3>Slaanesh</h3><p>Cults of the Prince of Pleasure permeate the Empire. From silk-wearing nobles in brothels to the lowliest scum in seedy back-alleys, wherever flesh and desires exist, so too does the Prince.</p><h4>The Eldritch Order of the Unblinking Eye</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/unblinking-eye.webp" width="248" height="248" /></div><p>Cults of the Prince of Pleasure permeate the Empire. From silk-wearing nobles in brothels to the lowliest scum in seedy back-alleys, wherever flesh and desires exist, so too does the Prince.</p><p>The Eldritch Order of the Unblinking Eye thrived for decades amongst the wealthy intelligentsia of Altdorf. Their core tenets require observing the most horrific and disturbing occurrences, without balking, or looking away. The lives lost and bodies disfgured in their pursuit of this deed do not bear considering.</p><p>In 2505 IC, Magistrate Heissman von Bruner brought the cult to its knees. Witch hunters acting on his orders infiltrated then attacked, wiping out most of the cult and the exclusive, members-only club in which it was housed. But one cultist survived: Gregor Piersson. Piersson made his way to Ubersreik, plotting exquisite revenge. He entered the service of Heissman’s only son, Andreas, and slowly corrupted him. Thus, the Order was reborn and Piersson’s vengeance was secured.</p><section id="secret-xrUUaADPMdlvgYGX" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Andreas owns a special painting, one touched by Slaanesh’s profane influence. When the Characters are hired to steal it by agents of @UUID[.L5gV9pgaWXB3floP#the-fractured-eye]{The Fractured Eye}, they don’t quite realise what they are getting themselves into.</p></li><li><p>@UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-ua2.ua2-actors.ySYxwgeetYujddRC]{Gutele} and @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-ua2.ua2-actors.H4JTrhGvhlB8zc0a]{Boniel} are deeply suspicious of their secretive and moody cousin. They will pay well to find out where Andreas goes every week. Following him is uneventful until he is attacked in @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.BQA04SKWoMFPjb7T]{the Docks}. Should any step in, Andreas will be effusively thankful, and will be very keen they meet his servant, Gregor, who will want to thank them personally...</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Circle of Unmarred Flesh</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/unmarred-flesh.webp" width="198" height="198" /></div><p>The Circle of Unmarred Flesh only recently arrived in Ubersreik, brought to the town by unwittingly corrupt members of the State Army of Altdorf. A soldiers’ cult, ‘Circlers’ take part in illicit fights while off duty, reveling in the extremes of pain they can inflict and can themselves endure. Its members are prohibited from drawing blood. Instead, they wrestle with cloth-wrapped fists as they attempt to overwhelm their opponent and force submission. Veterans of the cult seem able to endure greater and greater extremes of pain, seemingly taking great strength from twisting flesh and tearing muscles.</p><p>Corporal Vielfrass is the cult’s leader. He is a lithe Altdorfer in his 30s, and he is known for his insubordination, and the many punishments he has had to endure because of this. He currently serves as a watchman, a detail that is widely claimed to be one of the worst in Ubersreik. Though the cult includes a number of officers who outrank Vielfrass, when it comes to Circle matters, ‘The Corporal’ is in charge, and he brooks absolutely no dissention amongst his brawling ranks.</p><section id="secret-YRrm1B5sOYmX2kyH" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Anyone skilled in close quarters fighting and serving in the Watch will be invited to join one of the Circle’s bouts as a trial. Should the Character take pleasure in the fight, and refrain from spilling blood, Vielfrass will groom them for eventual indoctrination into the Circle.</p></li><li><p>Silvi Kreutzhame has suspicions about the Circle. Though she has no concrete information, something is troubling her about their clandestine fights. Any PCs connected to her may be asked to investigate on her behalf.</p></li></ul></section><h3>Tzeentch</h3><p>Chaos Cults worshipping the Ever-Changing Lord arise wherever Humans gather and ideas foment. Change is Tzeentch’s purview, and humanity’s constant companion. Often the Great Architect’s followers can be found amongst students, freethinkers, and agitators, and wherever people seek to alter their lot in life or the world around them. @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-eis.journals.IZVgB7zmTm4rK2yJ]{The Cult of the Purple Hand} is particularly pervasive, and is directly responsible for the current political mess in Ubersreik (for more details concerning this influential cult, see <strong>The Enemy in Shadows</strong>).</p><h4>The Shifting Grasp</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/the-shifting-grasp.webp" width="234" height="255" /></div><p>In 2006 IC, a cult arose along the River Stir amidst smugglers involved in running a magical substance known as wyrdstone from the ruins of dread Mordheim. After several decades in the business, the smugglers eventually mutated, and not long after turned to the worship of Tzeentch, the Changer of the Ways. The resulting cult, the Shifting Grasp, believes the key to changing the Empire for the better lies in controlling river commerce, both legal and otherwise. They patiently convert lowly dock workers and riverfolk to their creed, promising a day when they will all share in the bounty of the goods flowing along the rivers instead of just shipping them for rich, uncaring merchants.</p><p>The Shifting Grasp now has adherents all along the Stir, @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.Zhp59VXYiv6dGfhR]{Reik}, and up many of Reikland’s richer rivers. However, the cult is strongest in poorer districts, such as the rickety shanties of @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.9WswKDPgqHAo8AcB]{Kemperbad} and the slums and rookeries of Ubersreik. Shifting Grasp cultists regularly smuggle tainted goods, so they sometimes have to work hard to keep their mutated members with obvious deformities well hidden. If such mutations become too severe to conceal, the cultists in question are saved for operations targeting their foes.</p><p>In Ubersreik, Alette Niedlich leads the cult. She’s a sturdy woman in early 40s, with a bright silver lock running through her dark hair. She’s publicly known as an expert in eel-flesh and their farming, while in criminal circles she’s renowned as a cunning smuggler. None outside the cult know that she’s also a formidable witch, with her magical knowledge learned from a witch who claimed to remember the times of Magnus the Pious.</p><section id="secret-YcySdyma0ZRBCFQM" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Elmeric Herzog, a smuggler for the cult, needs help moving a very special shipment (a crate of wyrdstone), but @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.UtDzFPhCEkeMyMRe]{Geldfinger’s} clerks are tailing his usual operatives. Herzog approaches the Characters for their assistance in causing a ‘significant distraction’ that will draw attention from the docks at just the right moment.</p></li><li><p>Now the Jungfreud trade is bypassing Ubersreik, Niedlich needs a cult member in their Waystation. If the party have any ties to the Jungfreuds, or the boatmen or dockers’ guilds, they will be asked to offer a letter of recommendation. After all: what’s the harm?</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Fractured Eye</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/the-fractured-eye.webp" width="259" height="187" /></div><p>The Fractured Eye is more akin to a clandestine spy network than a cult. It began life as a group of ‘enlightened’ souls who engaged in correspondence. The Old World, they knew, stood on the brink of destruction and war. Only through sharing knowledge and expertise could this be halted. And so they sought out books and scholars, recorded stories, legends, and histories, and shared this knowledge with one other.</p><p>An instinct for secrecy kept them from being open about their goals or affiliating with the Cult of Verena. Instead, they worked in the shadows, seeing themselves as the architects of a greater future. Of course, the problem with knowledge is it can be dangerous. When one member encountered a tainted text inscribed with runes of power, dedicated to Tzeentch, the Great Architect of Fate, he was quickly seduced. And as he shared this knowledge, so he shared this corruption.</p><p>Today, the Fractured Eye still works in secret, its members isolated, reporting and sharing knowledge between themselves. Primary communication is through correspondence using a complex cipher. Recruitment of new members is slow, and often cultists operate for years without meeting anyone other than their handler. They are keen to absorb all knowledge, and their members are not restricted to the educated and literate.</p><p>Skilled craftsmen and those with expertise in any area are highly valued by the cult. A high ranking Grey Guardian — a wizard of the Lore of Shadows — is a member, though whether she is infiltrating the cult to expose it, or is a true member, is anybody’s guess. Kurt Prochnow, a Guildmaster of the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.b7O2qxgkBbDE6ip5]{Boatbuilders and Chandlers Guild}, represents the cult in Ubersreik.</p><section id="secret-T4A237gL4IAjWmN9" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Kurt Prochnow is known as a collector of obscure texts and antiquities. Those looking for a buyer of such can hear word of the guildmaster with a <strong>Simple Average (+20) Gossip</strong> Test. He pays well, and is always looking for more.</p></li><li><p>If the party are skilled in any particular area (with more than 15 Advances in a given Skill), Guildmaster Prochnow will orchestrate a demonstration of that skill in order to catalogue it, and consider the candidate’s suitability for recruitment. The party may feel uncomfortable during this process, especially any characters with no Corruption and a high Intuition Skill or the @UUID[Compendium.wfrp4e-core.items.Nj3tC8A5fZ3zEdMR]{Holy Visions} Talent</p></li></ul></section><h3>Other Cults</h3><p>Not all that glitters is gold, and not all that corrupts is Chaos. In their weakness, depravity, and desperation, many Reiklanders are ensnared by other dark cults. And though not in thrall to the Ruinous Powers, such acts still lead inexorably down the path to damnation.</p><h4>The Yellowbellies</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/yellowbellies.webp" width="203" height="230" /></div><p>The Horned Rat is a God of Entropy and Schemes, worshipped by the chittering hordes of clandestine ratmen called the Skaven. These swarming creatures scuttle in the darkness beneath civilization, gnawing on the entrails of the Empire. Worship of the Horned Rat sometimes spreads to the unfortunates taken and enslaved by the Skaven. Should these slaves prove useful, and biddable, they may find themselves returned topside to serve as agents for the Under-Empire, procuring further slaves for their verminous masters.</p><p>In Ubersreik, the Yellowbellies are former slaves in thrall to Clan Sleekit, one of the many Skaven clans vying for power deep beneath the town. They are tasked with infiltrating Ubersreik, both to facilitate spying and to procure more slaves from those who will not be missed. Slippery Jacob is their highest-ranking member, an orphan kidnapped by the Skaven as a child, and released back into Human society after more than two-decades of slavery. He is utterly loyal to his Sleekit masters, and will enact any order they demand of him, even taking his own life.</p><section id="secret-B1M6WLQVBGDJaWgy" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>If the party are not local to Ubersreik, they may find themselves approached by Slippery Jacob, a garrulous bawd who will offer to introduce them to all manner of earthly delights. Should the players pass out in any of the taverns, weirdroot dens, or brothels to which he takes them, they will awake the following morning in chains, in a tunnel far beneath the streets of Ubersreik…</p></li><li><p>In the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.yJlaZDmJgb5rIkHM]{Magnussewers} a shadow war is being waged amongst the Skaven clans. Clan Skaab have sent a party of Skaven to eliminate the Yellowbellies, but their intelligence is faulty. Instead of the Yellowbellies’ secret layer in the Docks, they arrive in the basement of the building where the party are staying, convinced everyone there is a member of the cult, and determined to eradicate them. </p></li></ul></section><h4>The Faceless Ones</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/faceless-ones.webp" width="235" height="237" /></div><p>Constant Drachenfels remains the great bogeyman of the Reikland, his name used as a threat by mothers across the realm, but barely whispered by the superstitious. The vile deeds and horrid depravities of the Great Enchanter are too many and too foul to consider, yet their fetid legend remains, lingering in the dark recess of the mind, and on the tongues of those seeking the torrid thrill of forbidden lore.</p><p>Despite being finally killed, something of Drachenfels remains, lurking in the ruins of his castle in @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.w0YfGxsBuLoODCgc]{The Grey Mountains}. His spirit calls out to the weak-willed, great tendrils of malice and spite infiltrating the souls of the unwary. A cult serving their dark master’s wishes has arisen in the Suden Vorbergland, whose members wear masks when they meet, to venerate their lord and shield their identities.</p><section id="secret-Sb5TWyvKDhF4iJj2" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Benedict Gurkenfeld, owner of the @UUID[JournalEntry.TSyoR9nSk7cehypG.JournalEntryPage.szPqoGEOOQQ308mU]{Theatre Varieté}, is planning a revival of The Tragedy of Oswald, @UUID[Actor.HVtHpEXhGGMOmGzy]{Detlef Sierck}’s play recounting Drachenfel’s demise. The Faceless Ones work to disrupt the performance, poisoning refreshments and inciting a riot to begin as the curtains part. Of course, the party have been invited to the premiere…</p></li><li><p>A town councillor is a Faceless One, and plans to resurrect Drachenfels using the body parts of peers. But which one?</p></li></ul></section><h4>The Cult of the Bog King</h4><div class="journal-image centered"><img src="modules/wfrp4e-starter-set/art/bog-king.webp" width="243" height="245" /></div><p>Decades ago, in the small town of Ablegen, local residents began worshipping a creature from the miry banks of @UUID[JournalEntry.ozE2DMCMK64eE5pD.JournalEntryPage.CqIczLRZI265nrAR]{The Teufel}. Known as @UUID[Actor.LB1Qv7lfSY0b02HH]{The Bog King}, it was a mutated Bog Octopus, gifted with unnatural intelligence and the ability to communicate telepathically. As it learned of the Reikland, and the Reiklanders’ ways, it yearned for more.</p><p>Since then, the @UUID[Actor.LB1Qv7lfSY0b02HH]{Bog King} and its followers have moved to Ubersreik. A close-knit community of gong farmers and plumbers living near the docks on the Teufel’s northern bank, they meet regularly in their basement. Here they place their victims upon the sacrificial throne, a large, sturdy commode through which the Bog King can extend his mighty tentacles, and withdraw the unfortunate souls chosen for this ‘honor’.</p><section id="secret-XOp51DCogFM94eFw" class="secret hook no-image"><ul><li><p>Marius Klempner, newly arrived from Nuln, disappeared shortly after his application to join the Plumbers’ Guild was rejected. Now his brother Ludwig has hired the party to locate him, little realizing he has long since been pulled down a commode and digested by a giant, intelligent cephalopod. Unfortunately, if the party investigate too closely, they may suffer a similar fate.</p></li><li><p>When passing by sewer grates, one Character hears whispers offering great wealth and influence in return for nothing more than information. For each night the Character agrees to discuss the finer intricacies of being Human, the @UUID[Actor.LB1Qv7lfSY0b02HH]{Bog King} leaves behind @Credit[5ss ONCE]{5 silver shillings}. The longer the Character engages, the more likely it is the Bog King will grow petulant and angry should it ever be denied. And the Bog King’s rage is terrible to behold.</p></li></ul></section>
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