Z is for Zealots

from dczanik.deviantart.com

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”

Hiding in the dark corners of your Star Wars universe are a myriad assortment of religious fanatics and cults. Each of them are backwards, strange, and deadly. Many can be found leading villages of primitive civilizations at the galaxy’s edge, or preaching their dogma to the masses on the busy streets of a core world. Z is for Zealots provides a way for Galaxy Masters to step out of the rational and dip their toes into the mad.

When a bizarre cult is needed, this is the place to look. Try not to get hung up on the Force and Force traditions from previous Star Wars media when designing zealots, as this is creating something distinctly different in style and occupies a different storytelling niche altogether than the honorable, fallen Jedi. These cults are not necessarily magical or supernatural, though perhaps they have control of a powerful A is for Artifact which grants them such powers. These groups of fanatics are weird, scary, dangerous, and maybe even a little depressing in their mania.

To create a cult of zealots, one must design a name, a principle path to enlightenment, and a principle sin to rail against. Cult names tend to take on the format “Name of the Adjective Noun“; so to create a new cult, simply choose or roll 2d10 three times and consult the table below.

Thanks go out to In Places Deep for their hard work that inspired the naming section of this entry.

2d10		NAME	of the	ADJECTIVE		NOUN
2		Sect		Bloody		Dragon
3		Brotherhood		Blessed		Icon
4		Cabal		Blind		Warrior
5		Faithful		Unnameable		Fire
6		Masters		Glorious		Father
7		Servants		Unconquered		Star
8		Congregation		Secret		Eternity
9		Knights		Sacred		Dawn
10		Society		Emperor’s		Legion
11		Order		Galactic		Sith
12		Protectors		Golden		Void
13		Kingdom		Holy		Hand
14		Followers		Divine		Justice
15		Temple		Ruby		Night
16		Students		Elder		Mother
17		Coven		Enlightened		Light
18		Church		Burning		Apocalypse
19		Sisterhood		Shining		Child
20		People		Terrible		Blade

The ideas of virtue and sin are different for each cult; however, the vast majority of cults that should be designed extol core values which most would find repugnant and then label many norms of society as vice. While not all cults follow this generalization, the ones that don’t do so tend to make for boring stories, and are not worth our consideration. Choose or roll 2d10 once for both the Path to Damnation & Sin and the Path to Salvation & Enlightenment from the table below.

2d10		PATH TO DAMNATION & SIN		PATH TO SALVATION & ENLIGHTENMENT
2		gluttony		pacifism / peace
3		pride		truth / omniscience
4		cowardice		astral leviathans
5		mammals		serpents
6		the poor & unemployed		personal combat
7		space travel		self-mutilation
8		lust / love		cannibalism
9		greed / money		species purity
10		false idols		physical pain
11		the Force		The Emperor
12		technology		ritual sacrifice
13		mercy		genocide
14		cybernetics		galactic annihilation
15		human dominance		resurrection / immortality
16		machine AI / droids		military conquest
17		species co-mingling		wrath
18		privacy		anarchy
19		sloth		hunger / extreme fasting
20		envy		meditation