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After a long hiatus, I was re-reading what the Maelstrom's Edge rulebook has to say about the Karists. In general, there's still a lot to flesh out (concerning what is publicly known) regarding the Karist enclave. No doubt some of that is intentional, meant to be left to the player's imagination, as the Horus Heresy fluff was until the endless book series rolled out and spelled out everything that happened to every single faction in every single moment. Some of that is probably also practical, as releasing a dedicated rule / lore book about each ME faction may not be practical right now.

Regardless, I find this faction very interesting, and am finally working up my own squad. For anyone not too busy, I have some questions.

First, what do Karists call each other? Would a trooper respectfully address a Kaddar Nova named Linus as "Linus," "Kaddar Linus," "Father Linus," "Commander Linus," "Hierophant Elephantus," "That Bald Guy Over There," etc.? The Karist religion isn't centered around an anthropomorphic diety or pantheon (the Maelstrom is an "it," not a "Father,") so in general, do Karists even use a family structure (Brother, Sister, Father, Mother, etc.) to address each other?

From the rulebook, my sense of Karist ascension is that it requires a lot of voluntary self-preparation. Is it correct to assume Karists don't practice forced conscription, as this would essentially be impossible? (Can't really "save" a person who isn't genuinely invested in the rigors of self-preparation for ascension. Imagine trying to force someone to practice Zen Buddhism effectively.)

Are there stupid Karists who believe that you only need to accept the divinity of the Maelstrom and you're saved, with absolutely no moral effort, self-examination, or critical thinking required?

Considering GW's well-trodden ground, was / is there a considered attempt to step away from Roman Catholicism and Latin language when it comes to the Karist religion? The idea of postponing your own ascension to help others ascend seems particularly Mahayana Buddhist. On the other hand, like Hinayana Buddhism, Karist religion seems to lack any central god or pantheon of deities, with "ascension" functioning much like enlightenment, as an escape from the Samsara of this reality to a higher reality. Does this concern with the abstract force of the Maelstrom instead of holy persons mean that Karists eschew figurative sculpture, as in Buddhist aniconism (or, for different God-centered reasons, Islamic iconoclasm?) To bring this down to earth, consider modeling Karist temple scenery. Would a Karist temple be decorated with statues of the fourteen, or only with abstract patterns and stylized text?

Is "Karism" a word? I.e., Do Karists practice Karism?

Would I dare to make a bad pun about "Karisma Karpenter?"

Are the fourteen Karist founders considered Saints / Arhats? Do they have different areas of intercession / specialization that correspond to their personalities? Is one associated with healing, another with asceticism, etc.? Do Karist branches identify particularly with certain founders above others? Are the founders public figures, or a shadowy cabal operating behind closed doors in a temple fortress?

I asked about Karist baldness and got an interesting response over on the news and rumor thread. I had been wondering about the Kaddar Nova in particular, as the Model is bursting with vitality (the well muscled arms, large frame), but the face shows signs of wasting, as if different parts of the body were affected at different rates. I presume this model is of a Kaddar Nova in his prime, before his body is ravaged by Cybel exposure. An older Kaddar Nova, presumably, would be considerably more withered throughout the body? My first Nova will be in the "classic" mode, but I'm tempted to do a more wasted, weathered Nova as a project in the future.

(As a brief aside, having just finished assembling the Nova, bravo to Spiral Arm Studios on the ingenious, sophisticated model design. It goes together like a well designed puzzle, and the face has exceptional character. I hope there will be more sophisticated character models in plastic like this in the future.)

Speaking of which, is there considerable variation in the lifespans of Kaddar Novae? I.e., due to genetic and other physical factors, do some Kaddar Novae resist the influence of Cybel poisoning significantly better than others?

Is there a Karist script? That may seem an esoteric question, but it really isn't where scenery modeling is concerned. It would impact a Karist temple, Karist scrolls, even Karist graffiti on ruins, Karist signs, Karist logos on ships, etc. (Think of how the Unitology script from the Markers was applied to create an eerie atmosphere in Deadspace.) There's no obvious source for the Karist script like the Deadspace Markers, but perhaps the original fourteen survivors conceived one, inspired by their collective visions? Perhaps the script attempts to capture some aesthetic associated with the Maelstrom itself?

Is there a Karist Bible, or Sutras, or central sacred text(s)? What are they called? Given the Maelstrom's nature as a manifestation of light and color, is there a mystic interpretation of those aspects, perhaps evocative of the Kabbalah? Given the relative newness of the religion, are the holy texts still evolving, generating new canon and apocrypha? Or has there already been a sort of "Council of Nikaea" moment?

Is it safe to assume that Karist visions occupy a provocative grey area, being too accurate to entirely dismiss as nonsense, but too cryptic to take as definitive proof of precognition? I assume the idea is to suggest that the Karists may be on to something (i.e., the Maelstrom, unlike other known space phenomena, does seem to confer mystic / psychic abilities), but not absolutely confirm or deny it, as that would take away the "faith" element and render the Karists the unambiguous heroes (if they're right) / villains (if they're wrong) of the game?

That said, are the Karists the first and only humans to evince psychic powers? Or were there already traces of it, so the idea is that the Maelstrom doesn't so much "give" these abilities, but rather activate and / or augment hidden, latent human traits?

Do Kaddar Novae get a euphoric "rush" when they channel large amounts of Cybel energy? We know Cybel energy wracks their bodies, but does it also unbalance their minds over time? Or are they generally able to keep sane and steady through their meditation practices? Do some Kaddar Novae nevertheless get addicted to the rush and lose control?

How do Karists justify their enslavement, starvation, and torture of the Angels? According to the text, angels were called angels before the Karist religion started, so do Karists perceive Angels to be in some sense divine, or do they see them more like dogs to be trained and used? Perhaps they see them like Americans view dogs, as family members, but subordinate? Thus starving and enslaving Angels, like spaying / neutering dogs, would somehow be "for their own good?" Do Karists see themselves as saviors to the distressed Angels driven mad by the Maelstrom?

Is it correct to say that, somewhat like Alpharius, the Karists have hidden agents in all the other factions, but no other faction has hidden agents among the Karists? The rulebook hints that, so far, all efforts to infiltrate the Karists have resulted in a lot of missing agents. If this isn't absolutely the case, it would seem that percentage-wise, the Karists are still the current masters of subterfuge and infiltration in ME.

On the other hand, it's inevitable that there would be Karist defectors. Would Karists shun defectors, ignore them, or hunt them down and kill them? Would they only bother to send Shadow Walkers after "high value" defectors, or would even low-ranking ex-Karists be marked for death or "re-education?"

Would a starving Angel perceive a Karist suffused with Cybel energy, like a Shadow Walker or Kaddar Nova, to be food?

Are Angels the only known beings that feed on / have a particular relationship to Cybel energy? Or are there other species like them (perhaps even plant species with a sort of photosynthetic response), and if so, would the Karists perceive a connection to those creatures?

Finally, during the last season of Maelstrom's Edge, will Starbuck turn into an Angel and grow tentacles after we find out that the Karists were basically Space Mormons all along?

That's an impressive collection of thoughts, there! I can answer some of this, and some of it is stuff that I don't think we've really explored yet, but I'll shoot a message to the fiction guys to see if one of them has some time to jump in and answer some of the more obscure bits.

Quotes spoilered for post size...

IIRC, in the fiction so far they've generally used rank. Organisation leans more towards military heirarchy than what we would normally think of as a church structure, although some cells will lean more into the religious devotion than others. We'll expand on this further as we flesh out the differences between the Karist religious, military and super-sneaky sects.



Yes, and no. People may be 'recruited' (read: press ganged) against their will, but you are correct in that they would have to at some point accept their path voluntarily. Different cells will have different approaches to recruiting - some will round people up and try to convert them, others will spread the word about ascension and only take those who come willingly.



I would expect so. As with any real-world religion, adherents will be a mixture of people who genuinely believe, those who are struggling with their belief, those just giving lip service without really committing, and those who don't believe at all but are using it for their own ends.



Yes, it would definitely lean more towards Buddhism than Catholicism. The Maelstrom isn't a god, just a pathway to Ascension, which is the end goal.



Where it's been referred to in that way, it would generally just be 'Ascension'.







Not exactly saints, but definitely mythical figures within the movement. The interests and varying beliefs of the Fourteen were what initially led to the formation of the Karist Priesthood, military and the Heirachs, and those organisations would certainly cling more closely to their founders. Exploring the Fourteen on an individual level is something that may come later.




The goal with the Nova model was to make him large and imposing while still looking gaunt and wasted. From the exposure to cybel energy he's beefed up and enlarged, but gaunt and with no spare flesh - so while the model's arms and legs are muscled, they're also relatively slender for his height compared to other models. Picture something more like Wolverine from 'Logan' than, say, Conan.



Thanks! It's one of my favourite models as well.



Not something we've explored so far, but I would imagine so.



Also not something we've explored to date, so far as I'm aware, but would make sense for a group that relies on infiltrating other factions to have their own language for secretive communications, if nothing else.



The Book of Scripture (They're a pragmatic bunch) holds the words of the Fourteen, and would evolve with the experiences of the different cells. Obviously, that's going to create some conflict due to different cells disagreeing over what, beyond the word of the Fourteen, is 'true' scripture.



Pretty much, yes. There's a deliberate vagueness written in there to keep things interesting. We didn't want to say 'Yes, Karists have the right idea' or 'No, they're a bunch of loonies' but instead leave that up to personal interpretation. Having said that, we have plans to explore some aspects of this later... It's possible that Ascension is not exactly what Karists think it is.



The next faction we're introducing are pan-humans who communicate telepathically. Genetic and artificial augmentation are established things within the universe, and with that things like telepathy, augmented senses and other 'psychic' phenomena are certainly possible, but whether or not actual precognition is a thing would, like the Karist Ascension, be down to whether or not you want to believe it.



Yes, the rush is a large part of what makes communion attractive despite the side-effects. And Kaddar Nova in particular are known to embrace that... they're not the most stable of battlefield commanders.



The name 'angels' was given to them by spacefarers who only ever saw them in passing and didn't really have any idea what they were - they're still considered mythical in many systems, where people have never encountered them. When the Karists adopted them, their connection with cybel energy and the Maelstrom made them important, but more in the way of a tool to be utilised than a 'divine' being, although this varies between different groups.



Pretty much, yes.



Given the cell-like structure and intense secrecy, a defector would generally have very limited information that would be damaging to the Karist organisation. A lot of Karist society members are more or less normal people, doing normal people things when they're not Communing or pulling mandatory priesthood time. Particularly high-ranking Karists would be a potential danger, although the higher they move in the organisation the more they're going to be trapped by their need for Communion.

Having said that, a Karist defector trying to hide from a 'recovery' team while trying to beat their communion habit would potentially be an interesting hook for a story...



Yes. Hungry angels are bad news.



They're the only known one so far, although there's certainly the possibility that others are out there. The Cybel network has been around for a very long time, so it's conceivable that other forms of life have found ways to tune into it, and these would, like the Angels, be affected in some way by the approach of the Maelstrom.



Don't joke. I'm still bitter about the last season of BSG.




Hope that all helps!

Many thanks, Insaniak, for your detailed responses. Great stuff. As I said, I'm working on assembling my own Karist force, which is time consuming because I like to modify things a lot. I can't help but think about the characters & backstory as I'm working on the models, which is why I sent out that ridiculously long email with questions in the first place. Thanks for indulging me.

Based on your description of the next faction, I'm going to guess it will be the Kaigus Pact. You don't need to confirm or deny, but here's hoping so. Very interested to see what you guys do with that group.

As for future plot points, I'm particularly intrigued by "Ascension may not be what the Karists think it is . . ."

I realize now that I forgot to ask the most obvious question: what's with the Karist mask's 3-eye motif?

One of the things I like about the look of the faction is the way the mask visually rhymes with the multi-eyed Angels, giving the troopers and alien creatures stylistic coherence. Burning out your eye with cybel energy and replacing it with a (3-eyed?) augmetic is an established part of Karist ritual. (I forget for whom exactly - possibly just the Kaddar Novas.) If that augmetic is cybel-powered, this might be assumed to be a ritual of burning away the limited vision of the human condition to a partially-Ascended state of seeing the world through the agency of the Maelstrom itself. In other words, the same cybel energy that destroys their natural eye powers their enhanced augmetic sight.

So I guess this question is really two questions. What's the symbolism of the three eye cluster (why not five? etc.), and what practical benefit does it give Karist troopers in the field? Do they see in three different spectra?

I will admit here that I have ambitions down the line of kitbashing a Karist temple together, so I'm trying to get a better sense of the symbols they use and what their import is, to better incorporate them into architectural details.

 Vermonter wrote:

So I guess this question is really two questions. What's the symbolism of the three eye cluster (why not five? etc.), and what practical benefit does it give Karist troopers in the field? Do they see in three different spectra?

Practicality-wise, I think we just saw it as some sort of HUD system, although just how advanced it is would vary between the different types of troops. Symbolically, it's a representation of the eyes of the Angels. While angels eyes can be in different specific configurations depending on their current form, they always have 6 (3 on each side). That triple-eye motif is something that we'll be exploring further as we develop the Karists' background.