Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

This cult has spread its influence through societies of the Josian Reach. Its leader Hedrick
Dontier is a charismatic organizer and leader, intent on spreading the cult's influence to the
Lucid Palace and possibly beyond. 

Hedrick Dontier

Born into the minor merchant family House Dontier on Fenksworld, he was expected to excel
at buying and selling. Hedrick was a natural. Before reaching his thirties he had brokered
several profitable concessions on behalf of his house, enabling it to expand operations to the
nearby hive world Canopus.

At this point he was noticed by a cult leader on Fenksworld, who thought Hedrick would make
a nice addition to his coven. Hedrick however was hard case; even the mere mention of
unorthodox ideas alienated him. Thus the cult resolved to abduct him, and if necessary kill him
if he couldn’t be turned. Subjected to a harsh and maddening brainwash involving sleep
deprivation, foul rituals, human sacrifice, and cannibalism; Hedrick’s mind shattered. When it
was finally over, he was a willing slave of the chaos powers.

The chaos powers recognized that Hedrick would be much more useful servant than the
present cult leader. Whispering thoughts of betrayal and ambition, they had Hedrick slay the
cult’s leader and take his place. Under Hedrick’s leadership the cult grew and prospered,
gaining entrance to the upper layers of Fenkworld’s society. Within a few decades the cult had
fostered splinter cults on other hive worlds, mainly through the mercantile connections of
House Dontier.

Hedrick is now more than 80 years old, though he looks in his mid thirties due to rejuvenation
treatments. An attractive man by most standards he keeps his appearance meticulous, and
always seem to be properly dressed to the occasion. Hedrick is a very likable fellow, he never
seems out of place, and can connect and talk to almost any individual, bar the odd tech priest.
Hedrick is cold and calculating man. Intelligent and patient he uses people as expendable
pawns in plans that take years to unfold. Nothing must stand in his way, not even family.
Hedrick is intensely paranoid and always take great pains to hide his cult affiliations. Whenever
attending cult gatherings, he wears a golden mask. Hedrick has created several different
identities, which he uses when he visits different splinter cells of his cult.
Hedrick’s mind is tainted in such a way that his humanity is all but gone, making him
incapable of feeling most feeling associated with being human.

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

He leads House Dontier with a firm but gentle hand, making family and staff intensely loyal.
Under his leadership the house has grown from obscurity to being one the major corporations
in the Josian Reach sub sector, and doing it so fast defies reason. Part of the house’s success
comes from the fact that Hedrick negotiates most deals in person.

Hedrick leads his cult like a despot, playing underlings out against each other, making them
work hard to gain his brief favour. Hedrick’s fear of betrayal does that his underlings never work
alone, always two or more work together, and never for long. Should an underling become too
ambitious, the underling would soon be betrayed by a fellow cultist. Many an underling has
dreamt dreams of power and glory, only to find themselves strapped to a sacrificial altar their
souls being fed to hungering daemons of the warp.
Very few cultists know the true identity of their cult leader.

Hedrick has numerous connections to other merchant houses, noble families and members of
imperial government in Josian Reach. He works hard to maintain good relations with all his
more important connections, and never seem to forget asking about personal affairs of people
he knows. In fact he keeps a dossier on the people he deems important, and always do his
homework before meeting them.

Hedrick has several goals. The most immediate goal is spreading his House and cult’s
influence to Scintilla. When firmly established on scintilla he hopes to influence sector
government, even maybe corrupting key members in the court of the Lucid Palace.
On a bigger scale he dreams of handing a world over to the powers of chaos and rule in their
name. He knows that it might never happen, yet still he is looking for a suitable world, and is
contemplating alliances with other servants of chaos to this end.

Hedrick serves chaos undivided and has struck several dark pacts with different daemons.
Pacts so far includes: An eye for weakness, Commanding presence and Dark power
(fellowship) . When his rejuvenation treatments stop being effective, he
will most likely petition for a pact, that makes him timeless.
 

WS

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

BS

  S

  T  

Ag

Int

Per

WP

Fel

35

47

34

43

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

42

57

51

56

75

Movement: 4/8/12/24                              Wounds: 21

Skills: Awareness, Ciphers (occult), Common lore (Imperium), Decieve +20, Forbidden lore
(Daemonology) +10, Secret tongue, Speak language (low gothic), Speak language (high
gothic), Blather, Barter +10, Charm, Disguise, Literacy, Scrutiny.

Talents: Melee weapon training (primitive), Pistol training (SP), Resistance (psychic powers),
Strong Minded, Unshakable faith, Psy rating 4. Fearless, Master orator.

Weapons and armour depends on situation, though usually he carries none. Preferring to
have hired hands do the dirty work.

Minor powers: Call Item, Distort Vision, Inflict Pain, Weaken Veil, Warp Howl.

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

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Powers:

Biomancy: Blood Boil, Constrict.

Telepathy: Compel, Projection, Telepathy, Terrify

Note:

Hedrick’s spychic powers works just like a normal cult magus’ as described on page 337 in D
ark Heresy.

House Dontier

House Dontier was  a minor merchant house among many on Fenksworld a few decades ago
. The house has since grown in wealth and influence to rival some of the greater houses on the
planet, and has spread its operations all over the Josian Reach sub sector.

House Dontier is a corporation in growth. Revenue keeps pouring in from its many different
activities, which includes promethium reactor fuel, ore, cloth and more recently food. Shrewd
reinvestments keep the money working and spreading the house’s influence even further. The
house owes its great growth to the CEO Hedrick Dontier’s insightful trading, and excellent
negotiation skills.

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

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The resources of House Dontier in the Josian Reach are vast, and its influence is
considerable, making the house a formidable enemy or a powerful ally. Outside the Josian
Reach the house wields no power of any significance, although steps are being taken to exert
its influence beyond. The house has 3 warp capable ships at its disposal. 2 super freighters
that fly along the trade routes in the sub sector. The third smaller ship is used for passenger
transport, mainly for Dontier staff but also for business and government connections. It costs
the house considerable money in payoffs and gifts, to be able to maintain a warp capable ship
for the house only, but it is by far worth it. Woe to the meddling adept questioning the legality of
a warp ship in the hands of a private corporation.
House Dontier frequently employ mercenaries to guard asserts, but maintain a small private
army as well.
Dontier staff is generally well treated and well paid, making most intensely loyal.

The Enlightened

This cult promises enlightenment, knowledge and eternal life. Through knowledge comes
enlightenment, and through submission comes eternal life. The cult has splinter cells in most
parts of the different societies in the Josian Reach sub sector. On Fenksworld in particular the
cult is present in almost every layer of society, except the lowest.

Teachings:

The Imperium lies when it says, the emperor is a god. True gods exists and through
submission to those, you will live forever in the dimension of these incredible beings. Humanity
alone is insignificant, but in the service of the true gods, humanity will realize its true potential.

Organization:

The cult is led by Hedrick Dontier. Though unknown to most members as cultist, he controls
most of the activities of the cult. Most members are unknown to each other, as they wear
masks to protect their identity. The leader of a particular cell always knows who their members
are however.
Hedricks own cell is the inner circle of the cult, and is known as the Coven of the Golden
Mask. He is the only one allowed to wear a golden mask in the cult.

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

Cult activity:

Most cult activity takes the form of people gathering to partake in foul rites honouring the
powers of chaos. At these rites strange unexplainable things happen, making the cultists feel
special and favoured by the powers they worship.
More trusted members can be used to seduce a potential new member, or to carry out an
assassination. Most members however are used sparingly, to create a feeling of importance
when they are finally asked to help with something.

Sample rites:

Rite of Rebirth

This is the cult’s rite of initiation. The initiate brings an unknowing relative to cult’s gathering,
when the he or she is ritually slaughtered and boiled in a giant cauldron. This usually involves
several initiates, as the cauldron is rather huge. The initiates are the branded with the mark of
chaos on their backside, and then baptized in the boiling blood and body parts of the cauldron.
When they emerge unharmed with their burn mark completely healed, the powers of chaos
have accepted the initiate. The rite is accompanied by ritual chanting and singing to the glory of
chaos. The rite ends with a feast where the gathered cultists eat the contents of the cauldron.
This rite is taught to every splinter cell leader.

The Rite of Enslavement

This ritual is used to create a spawn of chaos. The cultist selected for this rite is seen as
favoured by the powers. The ritual takes several days to complete, and requires constant
chanting and singing, possibly accompanied by blood sacrifice. The cultist will be chained and
have foul runes carved into his flesh. Sometimes his tongue is cut out, -in the case of an
unwilling victim. In the end the victim receives 1D5+5 disfiguring mutations. His mental faculties
are reduced to that of an animal.
Chaos Spawns are considering incarnations of the gods’ favour by the cult, and prestige is
gained from having one.

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

Anyone subjected to this ritual has to make a willpower roll every day to resist the power of
chaos. When 3 willpower rolls has failed, the victim will start spawning. The victim gains 2
levels of fatigue for every day he is subjected to this ritual. (possibly even more, depending on
circumstances).                                                            Use the tables 12-3 and 12-4 in the Dark
Heresy
rulebook to determine mutations, 1-2 mutations from the minor mutations table and the rest
from the major mutations
table.                                                                                                                  This rite is taught
to those cell leaders favoured by Hedrick.

The Rite of Petition

This rite is fairly simple and the most common at cult gatherings. The rite is a joint appeal
from the cell, to have the member’s wish come true. This could be anything from a good
marriage to winning a game of chance. The chance of success depends on what the member
is willing to offer up to the powers of chaos.

The chance of success is a flat 50%. With the following modifiers: 

Minor request like luck in a card game or the like +10%.

Major request like having an enemy die in an accident -30% (not possible on PC’s or major
NPC’s).

Human sacrifice +30%.

Pledging to observe prayer and ritual regularly(20 minutes):

                      Every day for a year and a day +10%

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Hedrick Dontier and the Cult of the Enlightened

Written by Tybor Krant

                      Every year for the rest of life +5%

                      Every week for the rest of life +20%

                      Every day for the rest of life +30%

All success off course depends on the petitioners’ relation with the powers of chaos. The
powers of chaos are fickle lot and even for someone in relatively good standing with the
powers, always fails on rolls of 76 or more. If botched (96-00) roll on the Perils of the Warp
table, 6-3 with a +25 modifier. The petitioner In lieu of psyker.
This rite is taught to all cell leaders.

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