Whether it be the trenches of World War I, the lawless plains of the American West in the 18th century, the royal court of King Arthur, the province of Nazareth under the rule of the Roman Empire, or even prehistoric ice age cultures... There is an undying fascination to the idea of playing Kult in other time periods.
However, under closer scrutiny, such ideas are often easier to quickly come up with than they are to actually get just right, for that trademark Kult feel.
A big part of the challenge is that, by default, Kult is very much tailor-made for a late 20th / early 21st century setting.
Many of its motifs and themes, such as The Vanishing of God, the War of the Archons, the Encroachment of Inferno, and several other All-Caps Setting Elements are highly defining for its atmosphere, style, and mood.
Therefore, to me, the greatest challenge of playing in vastly different time periods is making the game's underlying themes work in them - or drifting them to still fit into the big cosmological narrative, while also staying true to the anarchic-dystopian spirituality and gleefully nihilistic philosophy of the original setting.
When running Kult in vastly different eras, you'll need to develop a firm idea of:
- where in the timeline of cosmic aeons / metaphysical cataclysms* are we?
- how does that generate horror to suffuse the game with?
* Note: I am using the idea of Aeons and Cataclysms as presented in the classic fanmade Book of Walls, which can be found on the Nyboria website, specifically in the section about Time and Space.
In order to answer these questions, it behoofs us to draft up a preliminary History of Elysium. I will do that in this post. Once we know (or can at least wildly guess at) the cosmological circumstances of its most defining eras, we can then attempt to answer the second question.
(Which however would have bloated this post beyond all reason, so I will attempt to do that in a separate, follow-up post to this one, at some point in the future.)
When imagining what such a metaphysical timeline of Elysium could look like, I realized that in my view, the history of the world in Kult is like the history of a very old prison. There have always been inmates, but they would have run through phases of variable unrestfulness and compliance. The were changes in management style, putting the guards under different orders, and more or less scrutiny upon their actions. Sometimes there were riots, crackdowns, close escapes...
Much of this will be pure guesswork and wild conjecture, naturally. But here's a rough idea of what it could look like:
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| History is a Prison |
The Seeding of the Garden
Malkuth forms Elysium from slices of Gaia, and the Demiurge imposes the Illusion upon it. Human souls begin incarnating in it. Their lives are short, brutish, and nasty.
The First Purge
The original, ultra-primitive environment turns out unsuitable to contain human souls for long; too many of their minds break under the pressure and limitations, they go mad and see through the Illusion. An age of ice, fire, floods, and darkness purges the human incarnations from Elysium, upon which it is metaphysically and arcanely expanded, strengthened, and "rebooted" by its masters.
The Lenience of the Archons / The First Uprising
Humankind now given at least some basic outlets in the possibilities of creating tools, crafting habitats etc, rapidly advances in both technologies and cultures. But the new system works very well in keeping their souls contained in the eternal cycle. The Jailers become complacent and humans achieve things we remember as Babylon, Atlantis, the Bronze Age high cultures, some of the Old Testament biblical shit...
The Crackdown
Some say the emergence of writing was what broke the camel's back, and the Jailers finally retaliated, and vehemently. The Bronze Age Collapse occurs as lictors and angels cut numerous civilisations back down to size.
The Jailers Revel in Glorious Dominance
As ancient mediterranean cultures develop, pantheisms become common since lictors, angels, azghouls etc are worshipped as local or regional deities. Mythical beings walk the earth thinly disguised and prey freely on humans, while the Illusion has gotten stronger in the wake of The Crackdown, and keeps humankind itself within tight reigns.
The Rise of the Sun
Abrahamic revolution, rise of montheism as the Demiurge contralizes His power. Many otherworldly beings are pushed out. The Illusion is stronger than ever, to the point that some of the "ground crew" type Jailers themselves go into Sleeper mode - some mancipia, eldermensch, lictors etc no longer consciously remember what they are, yet still, albeit unwittingly, continue doing their work in the Great Plan.
The Silence of God / The Stirs of the Snake
During the Medieval times, miracles no longer happen, and prayers are no longer answered. God is still watching, and judging, but He no longer speaks. Archons find themselves "forced" to step in when the Demiurge remains unresponsive and matters are urgent. The Illusion is becoming a bit weaker than before - although it happens unnoticably slow at first - but it starts to feel barren, desolate, and uncaring on some deep level.
Inferno stirs, its envoys and cultists more active than ever since The First Uprising.
The Vanishing
We all know this one: God is dead or gone, the rise of rationalism, enlightenment, modernity, postmodernity... the whole shebang. The Illusion feels increasingly empty, derelict, and abandoned. Even many Sleepers can feel this.
The War of the Archons
From at least the 30 Years War to at least Vietnam, this metaphysical conflict has (had) countless echoes in Elysium. It was (is) being fought across several of our our perceived centuries... The Principles are struggling for supremacy, seeking to control or destroy each other as each grasps for as much Influence over Elysium as possible.
Inferno Arising
Astaroth's magnificent and terrifying will is cryptic, but the Death Angels clearly act in accord at least some of the time, and a widespread onslaught of their attempts to manifest in Elysium is undeniable.
...
(The Ungiven Future)
(...yes we should talk some more about Kult in Space some time!
Remind me to get back to you on this :))
What do you think? Could there be cool, horrifying scenarios set in these time frames? Do you agree with this history? Spotted anything I left out or got gravely wrong? Have your own inspirations for a scenario in a different historical period?
Thrilled to read about it in the comments here, or over on Discord or FB!
