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The black-robed figures
Kind Cult 9
Leader(s)
  • Victor Raine 12
Base A semi-independent sub-space entered through the Step under the Mist Capital Psychiatric Hospital 12
First appearance Ch6391

A cult of hooded black robes whose members live as workers, dockhands and shopkeepers by day and act only at night.25 It harvests life force with the Shadow Thief and hopes a Catastrophe Grade Strange would win it the Association's recognition and a nation of its own.6 Led by Victor Raine from a sub-space under the Mist Capital Psychiatric Hospital, it is destroyed when the Association storms that sub-space.121315

Overview

The cult fields gunmen on expensive gene enhancement drugs with submachine guns and five poorly coordinated Spirit Mediums between peak Hazard Grade and Threat Grade.2 Members meet in an oval lamp-lit basement by condensing out of the air, and the Association's crackdown cuts most of their supply channels.8 A stone tablet with a dark red crystal shows the life-force reserve; at a third, three weeks remain.6 Its backup plan forces fused Stranges into human hosts at seventeen percent stability and eight percent will synchronization, with hosts losing control within hours.10 Captured members die at the same instant by a preset seal release, and remote monitoring keeps the cult informed of the Association's operations.4

Structure

  • Leader Victor Raine, with the short black-robed wizard as his second.712
  • Rank and file hidden in day jobs.5
  • Armed wing: Drug-enhanced gunmen and five Spirit Mediums.2
  • Key assets: The Shadow Thief and the Rift Dweller.6
  • Base: A semi-independent sub-space entered through the Step under the Mist Capital Psychiatric Hospital.12

Notable members

Member Role Notes
Victor Raine Leader Dies as the sub-space collapses.1215
The short black-robed wizard Victor's second Present through the cult's final weeks.7
Collins Fusion subject Host in the Strange-fusion backup plan.14

Relations

  • Association: Enemy; its crackdown starves the cult and its raid on the sub-space ends it.813
  • An unnamed wizard: Patron; the shark monster bears wizard-world biological modification technology, and he writes the faction off after its fall.315

History

  • Ch639: Reported acting suspiciously outside the city before the attack.1
  • Ch647-648: Attacks the shipyard operation from east, south and north; a wizard-modified shark monster breaks a sealing node and frees the Shadow Thief.23
  • Ch649: Captured members die by preset seal release.4
  • Ch654: Releases the Rift Dweller to locate the Shadow Thief.8
  • Ch659: Concludes a mole leaked its secrets and suspends all in-person contact.10
  • Ch660: Sends the Ghost Ship against Pier 3; an operative watching the Association is told "We've collected enough."11
  • Ch661-665: Located by the Prophet; the Association storms the sub-space; the leader dies and the sub-space collapses.1315

  1. Chapter 639: Cooperation ↩↩

  2. Chapter 647: The Disruptor ↩↩↩↩

  3. Chapter 648: Monster and Escape ↩↩

  4. Chapter 649: Improvement and Eyes in the Dark ↩↩

  5. Chapter 652: Contemplation ↩↩

  6. Chapters 654-659 ↩↩↩

  7. Chapters 654-665 ↩↩

  8. Chapter 654: Gathering ↩↩↩

  9. Chapter 657: Conjectures on Fusion and the Visitors ↩

  10. Chapter 659: Speculation and Research ↩↩

  11. Chapter 660: Assault of the Ghost Ship ↩

  12. Chapter 661: Assembly and Assault ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  13. Chapters 661-662 ↩↩↩

  14. Chapter 663: Fusion and the Blood Net ↩

  15. Chapters 664-665 ↩↩↩↩