This was meant to be another RPG Antagonists article, but trying to describe or group the many myriad antagonists and monstrosities in Kult is like trying to come up with names for every different type of breeze. In Kult, literally everything that isn't you is your enemy. Kult is a fantastic setting, definitely one of my favorites because it does paranoia like nothing else, and totally turns the overworked Lovecraftian story on its head.
So, for those not familiar with the setting of Kult, it essentially takes the ideals of Gnosticism, a belief structure that goes has elements from a variety of different religions and mythologies, but primarily posits that reality as we see it is a lie. Humans were once some of the most powerful elder beings imaginable, infinite beyond space and time, omnipotent and capable of molding reality itself like clay. In our golden age, we built Metropolis, an infinite and hyperdimensional endless city, to house both our brilliance and all our servants. One day, a being that clearly didn't like humans too much, placed a curse on humanity. A curse that lowered us to the state we're trapped in now, seeing in only linear time and three dimensions, cursed to live only a mere century at a time. Cursed to remain trapped in a cage of perception and matter. This being was called the Demiurge, and he is basically responsible for everything bad that has happened to humanity.
The Demiurge, in Kult cosmology, has suddenly disappeared, however, with absolutely no warning, leaving his legions of servants, primarily the Archons, suddenly bereft of any kind of purpose. His opposite number, a powerful demon named Astaroth and his lesser demonic lieutenants, the Death Angels, were suddenly with no opposition. Suddenly, the entire metaphysical framework that kept humanity trapped had lost the single most important cog in the machine, the one guy who knew how the entire system worked. Instantly, everything outside the lie fell into an orgy of backstabbing and civil warfare, as every alien abomination wanted to take the throne of the Demiurge for themselves, and remake reality the way they saw fit. Hell leaked out of its prescribed boundaries and started infesting the physical world as demons and lost souls found new prey on earth. All these things fall to the wayside, however, when the Lie begins to fall apart. The prison that once contained humanity is breaking, coming apart at the seems without the power of the Demiurge to maintain it. Humans are Awakening, becoming aware of the world behind the world, and remembering the actions of their wayward servants, and boy, are they pissed.
In Kult you play a human, usually a blind one, but one who has taken certain steps toward true Awakening. Now, one of the core principles in Kult (or at least my interpretation of it. Anyone who knows Mage: The Ascension or has read my drabbles on it will know that I essentially give the same interpretation to the Nephandi) is that there is a portion of the human mind that wants to remain trapped in the cage forever. This portion is essentially the part that recognizes comfort. Everything that you do that is comfortable or keeps your sanity stable and keeps you feeling 'safe' is your mind unconsciously clinging to the illusion of reality, and wanting to accept it. The more deviant your mind gets, the more a human breaks out of the prescribed framework that keeps them trapped. This is why Awakening is seen as a horrifying process, because in order for it to work, a human has to force their minds away from the mold of comfortable humanity, and learn to become something different. This can manifest as absolute, ascetic and chaste sainthood, where the human denies all earthly pleasures and temptations, eventually growing into a brilliant and unflinchingly bright angelic being that rivals the most beautiful of the Heavens, or degenerating into the absolute depths of depravity, murder, cannibalism and other such perversions until you are cleansed of all delusions of normality or society. Both ways are equally valid paths and both ways eventually lead to the aspirant confronting their light or dark sides, and killing them, the final tether to this reality. When that's done, they Awaken, and leave this world for Metropolis, to walk the cosmos unchallenged.
Part of what makes Kult a great horror story, especially from a cosmic horror perspective, is the idea that being a normal human being is inherently wrong in the Kult universe. When you get up, have breakfast, go out for drinks with friends, go to work, or try to live a healthy and normal life in any way, you are actually and genuinely mutilating your spiritual essence, denying what you are and what you could be, and condemning yourself to be a blind, mewling slave for all eternity. It all seems pretty horrible, but realistically, the way out of bondage is equally horrible. Are you really prepared to butcher a family down the street, who have done nothing wrong and consign their souls to hell just so you can erase the last bleeding shreds of your own conscience? Are you prepared to set atop a mountain in serene meditation while a village below is slaughtered? Kult asks the question of what a person values more, humanity versus power. To be human is to be a victim, but by that same corollary, being powerful inherently makes you an abuser. For a person with any type of conscience at all, that's a horrible dilemma, but one that ultimately every human will one day have to make.
Kult, like every other good horror RPG has great antagonists as well, from the magnificent Archons, who are literally living, extradimensional cathedrals in Metropolis, to the incredibly disturbing machine-beings the Techrones, or any denizens of Inferno. It does paranoia so well because all these things literally inhabit the same world we do, hiding in our metaphysical blind spots. Every human, every day is being watched by invisible eyes, eyes belonging to beings that have experienced slavery at our hands and want horrible, torturous revenge. Kult isn't like the World of Darkness or the Esoterrorists, where there's a nice dimensional boundary between this world and the eldritch horror one. In Kult, we already live in the Eldritch Horror world. We walk through it every day, going about our business blind to everything outside our narrow field of vision. Every city on Earth is a subconscious reflection of Metropolis, and going down the wrong alleyway can lead an unfortunate person to the endless twisting spires of the City Without. Escaped demons, torturers from literal hells, set up minor pockets of Inferno behind closed doors and work to further the degredation of the world and the human psyche, counting on humanity's own reality warping power to work against it and to elevate its tormentors. Behind illusionary masks, alien entities walk among us, forever dividing us and keeping us from claiming our birthright.
One of the major themes of Kult however, is that no monster is quite as bad as the monster that lives at the heart of every person. Humans are gods, literal, omnipotent gods bound in material bodies, and as gods, we come up with atrocities that can make even the most sadistic Death Angel pale. There is a long way before true Awakening, and humans on that path tend to become minor reality warpers, as their powers begin to corrode the illusion. No enemy in the entirety of the Kult bestiary are quite as scary as those who came from humans. Nepharites, the chief torturers of Inferno, are occasionally converted humans, who have joined them Hellraiser style, and they outdo their alien counterparts with vigor. There are humans that have almost succeeded in ascending, but become trapped in the void between worlds, becoming angry ghosts. The most terrifying are the truly Awakened humans, who combine the creativity and spirit of humanity with a completely and fundamentally alien outlook, and worse, is the implication that that's what mankind is supposed to be. One key feature to remember when running Kult is that all the alien architecture, all the mind-bending beings and monsters that haunt every shadow of the material world are ultimately created by us. In the distant past, we found these eldritch shapes and being pleasing and bent them to our will. How exactly does that reflect on us? It makes you wonder exactly what kinds of gods we were, and whether we can truly blame our former servants for being twisted and evil. We did after all, make them what they are.
Kult is an awesome RPG, despite following similar themes to Mage: The Ascension, The Awakening and The Esoterrorists (all of which it predates by the way), because it asks the question of whether it's a good thing for humanity to reach its full potential. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and looking at everything humans do to each other without endless reality-warping powers makes you wonder if it really is worth it. Still, if you give up, what else is there beyond being blind and defenseless forever?
Here are some cool pieces of fiction to inspire a Kult Game.
The Evil Within: A really, really fun, recent survival horror game, even if it is a bit derivative (and I will be reviewing it when I finish it), and it really shows the utter, perverse and still somewhat familiar darkness within the human mind. The Evil Within plays the gnosticism card for all it's worth, with the characters trapped inside some kind of illusory, platonic cage controlled by a sociopath. It shows you exactly what a twisted mind could create with no limitations on it, and the visuals are perfect for places in Kult like Metropolis or Inferno.
Hellraiser: One of the primary inspirations for the game (and yes, I am aware I've referenced it before. Hellraiser is just that groovy.) and could almost be slotted into the Kult universe with no alterations. Hellraiser, for all its supernatural elements (at least for the first two movies) were ultimately about very human darkness given form. All of the villains were human and all the Cenobites ever did was give people what they want in their hearts, and my, do they have such sights to show you.
Sauna: A very little known, twisted and surreal Finnish movie, following two brothers who come to terms with who they are, and spoilers, but it isn't very nice people. Set on a background of the 25- year war between Russia and Sweden, the brothers trek through a dead looking, hellish swamp, haunted by the ghosts of their past victims while something follows them, leaving grisly souvenirs as reminders of their sins. It's a nice historical setting, and a great example of a blending of personal and cosmic horror.
- Kephn
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