The Ouroborous of Hecate
(Art courtesy of a friend)
OST Atmosphere:
History
The young girl Kyros was born amongst the Ouroborous Tribe of eastern Arizona. Before the war, they were a cultish commune that believed in karmic cycles. After the war, their beliefs changed: time was a flat circle, man was doomed to repeat the same mistakes and pass onto one another our suffering, where one has been another will be again, and the Great War will come about again.
Conceived through considerable ritual, Kyros was born with a destiny: she along with the tribe's chieftan, Marrow, would conceive the Time Eater. One who would end the Ouroborous of humanity and break us free of time's flat circle.
At age 13 married to Marrow of 23, they repeatedly attempted to conceive but to no effect. Marrow repeatedly abused Kyros, until at age 16 she stole a blade and stabbed him 43 times in the chest, and gouged out his eye sockets. For this murder and for dooming humanity, she was sentenced to death but escaped into the Wasteland.
Starving and alone, she eventually came to the Nursery and Diana.
When she left she did so flush with technology, knowledge, purpose and ideas. She was Kyros the wife-slave no longer, she was Hecate, the Time-Eater. She had learnt much in the way of herbalism and illusions at the Nursery.
She came across the Sidewinder tribe in the Rocky Mountains - descendants of the US Army that venerated weapons and armor. At war with several other tribes, they were losing due to starvation - the tribes had cut off their resources. At first they approached Hecate as a potential concubine - but she had a "spell" ready, expelling a blast of coloured powder in a fanciful dust cloud from her sleeve, causing the nearest Sidewinder to choke - his throat sealing. She warned the others she had many such magics - but she was here in peace.
She became the tribes shaman, healing their wounded. She led them to victory by casting "curses" poisoning enemy sources of food and hunting ground. Join her or the curses would continue - and so they did so. Using the chemical processes she had learned, she turned their enemies heads into shrunken tokens worn around the hip by her and her followers. She seduced and offered herself to the Sidewinder's chief, and together they had a child she called Sampson. She blessed the tribe with chemical concoctions that instilled fertility.
By the time the Sidewinders and her confederation of followers left the Rockies, she had gone from Shaman, to Sorceress, to Goddess. She was leading them back to Ouroborous.
She declared her return, as the Ouroborous tribesmen gathered to the gates of their commune "I am both Time Eater and Hecate. I am your Goddess and your salvation from the flat circle of time. Worship me and you will be set free."
Hecate and her followers walked in unimpeded, the few that resisted were behead and reduced to shrunken heads. What were once Temple Followers were now Sons and Daughters of Hecate.
Beliefs and Practices
The Ouroborous believe that under the Goddess Hecate they can escape the flat circle of time. The power of her sorcery means all those born under ritual of her worship are free from the chains of time and the cycle of suffering, and instead of rebirthing into the body of another upon death, they will reach the Elysian Fields. This can occur for alive followers of Hecate, but only through ardent worship and tribute - they believe this will ultimately prevent a repeat of the ultimate suffering of man - The Great War - they believe they are saving the world.
The standard recruit for a tribe under Hecate's grasp is such - a Daughter arrives with Sons and preaches the word of Hecate, scouting the situation. If they believe the tribe is ripe, they summon more daughters. They organize a great campfire which they cast their sorcery over - creating strangely coloured flames, and through usage of rings specially designed to imbue chemicals, they dose the tribals with psychedelics and ask them to look into the fire, as they fervently preach the teachings of Hecate. Feeding them further with aphrodisiac - they initiate orgy.
In the days afterwards, the deal becomes more practical. Deal tribute to Hecate through your firstborn children and resources, or incur her curse (poisoning of hunting grounds and the seeding of farmland with chemical components that cause miscarriage). Most take the deal. Those that don't are slaughtered by her Sons after a prolonged period of cursing. If they don't submit before then.
Sacrifices are regularly performed of wildlife and livestock - their blood drank by the Daughters of Hecate in ritual ceremonies.
The Sons of Hecate imbue their blades with the poison of Giant Pit Vipers - a species drawn to near extinction by Hecate's doing.
Ouroborous
It has been well over 25 years since and Hecate has done little but expand to her 12 tribes. An age of stagnant worship.
Ouroborous is heavily fortified. An outside "tributary" is located outside the large junk walls where Brahmin bazaars are located - a wooden statue of Hecate at its center (a symbol of power via rare resource ala a gold statue) where each visitor must leave a trinket of value at its feet. The bazaar is overlooked by watchtowers on the walls - Sidewinders with sniper rifles.
The inside of Ouroborous proper can be divided into five distinct areas
- Temple of Hecate: A pyramid constructed of junk with an inner temple where the Daughters commune with their Goddess - who has her own inner sanctum at the peak of the pyramid with a balcony overlooking Ouroborous.
- Realm of the Daughters: where the children are raised, herbalist sorceries perfected
- Realm of the Sons: Where the males are raised and trained as warriors
- Ouroborous Square: An engraved Ouroborous symbol on the ground - the center of the city. Surrounded by banners of each tribe under her grasp and naked worshippers with Ouroborous tattoos on the back endlessly in prayer and praise facing the temple. Sampson, her son wearing barely functional Sidewinder ,T-45 and wielding a flamer, can be found here as a lone sentry.
- Temple of Pleasure: A hedonistic amphitheatre home to orgies, dances,frantic psychedelic evenings and chem abuse of all kinds.
Key NPCs of Ouroborous
- Hecate: At this point you can't tell if she buys her own act. Entirely manic and constantly "in-act" as the sorcereress tyrant - imitating the Shakespearean flair of Diana but letting her vanity and Wasteland attitude bleed through - somewhere between a witch and a raider-queen bitch.
- Sampson: Hecate's only son. An ego bigger than his power armor, he believes he's destined for greatness and the best warrior of Ouroborous. His stiff, malfunctioning armor may slow that somewhat. He's more a stationary flamer turret.
- Gaia: Head of the Daughters and a Prisoner 13 - a stubborn, venom tongued, sarcastic zealot in the vein of the women of the Westboro Baptist Church. Participates in many Pleasure Temple hedonisms
Quests of Ouroborous:
- As the players arrive a dying, bloodied Daughter of Hecate will stumble through the bazaar, dying at the gates, her final words a hysterical screaming about a spy of Caesar among them. Find the spy.
- The Sons of Hecate need more venom, go to the southern pits and commit one of the last surviving Giant Pit Vipers to death to retrieve it's venom sacks.
- A demon has been attacking Ouroborous caravans. Follow the trail and slay it. It is an Alpha Deathclaw seperated from its tribe.
- A Legion scout camp has been spotted. Wipe them out and bring back their uniforms.
- Utilize the Legion uniforms to disguise yourselves at Magnum Chasma and put Hecate's sorcery to work - poisoning food supplies, leaving wooden charms and generally instilling fear
- Raid slave caravans headed for Magnum Chasma and put a stop to them
- Someone has been poisoned at the Pleasure Temple - no simple overdose. Untangle the web of soap opera tribe drama and uncover the killer.
- Assassinate Caesar and bring Hecate his head.
