Secret Circle of Secrets: Difference between revisions

Some [[Cult|Cults]] are all about the mental manipulation and brainwashing in order to inspire devotion to a leader. Other cults, however, are all about [[Religion of Evil|the demon worship]].

[[Evil Minions|The members of such groups]] meet in [[Evil Is Not Well Lit|the middle of the night]], and when they meet are almost always garbed [[Black Cloak|in cloaks that hide their body shape]], along with identity-concealing masks. The leader of the cult, of course, will almost always be wearing a much more extravagant, often differently colored cloak (red is a popular option), and his mask is usually more elaborate as well.

* Showed up at all the time in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Moloch the Corrupter apparently auto-generated them wherever he went. A frat house sacrificed people to a demon snake in exchange for the power and wealth of their families. [[Big Bad|The Mayor]] was a particularly effective single person version of this, to the point that most of the demons that appeared were working for him. The Harbingers of the First Evil probably qualify, a group of high school cultists tried to sacrifice a fellow student in exchange for money, and on and on. Even [[The Mentor|Giles]] was a member of one when he was younger.

** And of course, the Circle of the Black Thorn, [[Ancient Conspiracy]] and [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness]], complete with black robes and Venetian masks.

* The Regents from ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' invoke the general idea of this trope as an acerbic jab at Artie's expectations.

* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' features the Shadow Cults, an invention of the Mekhet that allows them control over humans (and other fringe benefits) by promising to unearth the secrets of existence. One of them, the Moulding Room, promises to reveal the power behind modern pop culture but is explicitly revealed to be a Situationalist prank -- in other words, founded entirely [[For the Evulz]].

* ''Dark Matter'', a roleplaying game for the ''[[Alternity]]'' system based enormously on contemporary conspiracy and ''[[X Files]]''-like science fiction, had the Final Church, THE worldwide conspiracy for demons and satanists - basically, pretend that every paranoid rumor regarding Satanism mentioned in the 'Real Life' section was actually true, and you get the gist. There was even a web book devoted solely to the group at the end of ''[[Alternity]]'''s run, and the group makes a comeback in the ''[[D20 Modern]] Menace Manual''.

* Subverted with the Lords of Waterdeep from the [[Forgotten Realms]] D&D setting, who dress like this trope, engineer secretive political schemes, and conceal their membership from the public, but aren't actually evil and work to ensure their city's security and prosperity.