The Cult of the Symbiote - August 15, 2015

A few things I had not mentioned previously in this thread: three more new abilities had been added for the sake of weapon balance: Disarm for Pistol (lowers enemy attack to 0.25x for 3 turns, same as Sulfur Ball's Melt Weapon), Handcannon for Pistol (Pistol attacks at melee range inflict knockback) and Purifying Flames for Flamethrower (Flamethrower attacks do more damage and restore ammo for each additional enemy hit in the Flamethrower's area of effect).

Also, as per the showcase thread yesterday, the final testing phase is around 70% complete and word count for story/NPC dialogue stands at over 115K.

Daily posting, on the topic of the Cult of the Symbiote.

The Cult of the Symbiote's roots formed in 2026 (during Skylight 1's time) in Prince Edward Island, when Skylight Symbiote was first leaked to the public. Though its hazardous nature made it illegal, the focus on it was very lax in Prince Edward Island due to a brilliant scientist named Dr. Theus, who managed to find away to turn Skylight Symbiote (originally thought to be used only for turning people into monsters) into a method of creating automated beings from thought into matter using the Symbiote's self-replicative traits. PEI had become known in the Skylight universe for treating Skylight Symbiote as a tool for the advancement of science, as opposed to other provinces that feared its mutative powers on living things.

When the Northern Burning, a Skylight Symbiote powered nationwide firestorm, raged across Canada and wiped out almost all traces of Skylight Symbiote, a lot in PEI were left devastated. When the shadow agency, Severin, brought back a reboot of the Skylight Symbiote, one undetectable by the Anti-Symbiote (that caused the immolation and total removal of the original Skylight Symbiote), many in PEI were thrilled.

However, many feared losing Skylight Symbiote again after the Northern Burning, as there was nothing in place to prevent something similar to the Northern Burning from occurring. When Skylight Symbiote was legalized in 2043, a Prince Edward Island based group known as the "Symbiote Regulators" were formed to protect from misuse of Skylight Symbiote now that it had been legalized. The Symbiote Regulators gained widespread support throughout Prince Edward Island made just about every PEI citizen a Regulator by 2044.

The Symbiote Regulators knew that their reach would need to stretch across the country to continue safe and effective use of Skylight Symbiote. Feeling confident that they could easily get other provinces to accept their message, the Regulators tried to spread their word to New Brunswick. However, the Regulators were too forceful in their deliverance of their message, and the following year had several bloody skirmishes to the point the fighting was considered a civil war, and the fighting in New Brunswick did not end until 2045.

The rest of the country had seen what the Symbiote Regulators had done to New Brunswick, and were quick to label the Regulators a "cult", with the moniker of "Cult of the Symbiote" being attached to them. The name stuck when a large number of Regulators began using the term, as stated by the Cult propaganda, as they will "wear their CULT OF THE SYMBIOTE slur as a badge of honour", in an attempt to show that they are the true victims in being named a cult.

The Cult of the Symbiote, still wanting to make it seem that they are not villains and actually the victims, tried expanding into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, this time making a more peaceful and indirect attempt to prove they are not violent (though many cases throughout Skylight Freerange 2: Gachduine show this to be less the case).

Your custom main character spent over a year, from 2047 to 2048, ending Cult expansion into Newfoundland. On their return to the Gachduine in June 2048, they will attempt to end Cult influence in Nova Scotia, though the Cult has a large presence in Halifax and other cities, due in part to their numerous threats they deal out, as well as the supportive voices of big name celebrities speaking out in favour of the Cult.