XI - Act
[This chronicle is best read from the beginning.]
It was of course inevitable that a pleasure world like Barfunweltz-2, whose entire economy was based on the entertainment of wealthy off-worlders, would foster some followers of the Ruinous Powers, most especially Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure. Nonetheless, one of the most impressive accomplishments of the Schrödinger dynasty's governorship of the planet was that such heresies were efficiently and effectively subdued. This was achieved by actively supporting a network of numerous Ordo Hereticus inquisitors operating all over the world. For centuries, the planetary governors had funded a special branch of Arbites known as 'The Watch' to work alongside these Witch Hunters and they had done their job very well indeed.
Nonetheless, Chaos is nothing if not persistent and some heretical sects did manage to go undetected, at least for a time. One such pleasure cult operated behind the front of a troupe of circus performers known as the Toxophilites. As a young girl, Lady Schrödinger herself had been enthralled by their act. Beautiful athletes in diaphanous gowns danced and threw themselves around the auditorium, all the while shooting at one another - and occasionally the audience - with archaic projectile weapons. Sometimes they would snatch one another's arrows out of the air; other times they would achieve extraordinary feats of marksmanship such as shooting a gem stone from between another performer's teeth. The thrill of the entertainment was that it was said that their deadly darts had never once injured a single person, not in all the long history of the troupe. The performance was based on an ancient tradition of the earliest settlers on the southern hemisphere of Barfunweltz-2.
But these elegant, acrobatic archers secretly worshipped the Lord of Excess in acts of appalling hedonism, often while intoxicated by hallucinogenic vapours. And at the moment of the Cataclysm, the troupe was performing to a delegation of Imperial dignitaries on board the Anotoecus. Thus they survived, and have lived among the armada ever since, worshipping what they call 'The Bane of Barfunweltz'.
Over the years, some of these sybarites have succumbed to their chaotic desires and fallen to madness or mutation. These have either been hunted and killed or have hidden themselves deep within the Anotoecus and other sparsely inhabited ships of the refugee fleet. Yet most of the cult remain undetected, working alongside their fellow crewmen in the armada.
As part of Rogue Trader Schrödinger's endeavour to preserve and celebrate the culture of their lost planet, the Toxophilites have been encouraged to maintain their act and occasionally provide performances to raise morale within the armada. Thus Schrödinger's Syndicate harbours a small sect of Slaanesh's hedonites, hiding in plain sight.
Who knows what monstrous aberrations are waiting in the wings...
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| Keri the Godly & Daraob, Devotees |
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| Leez Atar & Morgana, Devotees |
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| Juker & Joshwid, Devotees |
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| Mae & Wozniack, Devotees |
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| Mortimer & Khendaal, Devotees |
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| Hornéd Lex, Iconarch |
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