Overview

The Red Line Cult is feared by everyone living within the ruins of Houston, and should be feared by everyone living nearby. They are a radical cult living within the Houston metro tunnels, and controlling territory in the city around many of the metro stations. Their core beliefs are deeply rooted in the idea that humanity was meant to die in atomic fire and thus all survivors are living blasphemy.

Its difficult to add detail or nuance to their views due to how fiercely devoted they are to this idea. The cult’s spent generations breeding zealots in the tunnels, figuratively and literally. All Children of the Red Line have been fully indoctrinated into their teachings, those who do not embrace these lessons are exterminated.

The result of the Cult’s generational indoctrination is a den of true believers. If there are any who are more devout in their beliefs than anyone in the Red Line, they can be found only in the most extreme sects of the Children of Atom. Thus, to summarize the Red Line, one must simply summarize their beliefs.

There are two:

1. Mankind was meant to die on October 23, 2077.
2. Only by cleansing the Sin of Survival can anyone escape eternal damnation.

The Red Line Cult is simple. They do not want power, wealth, or comfort. They seek only the destruction of all remaining human life. That is human life specifically. The Red Line has no quarrel with mutants, who many believe to be the rightful inheritors of Earth despite any core religious tennant saying as much.

Unlike your conventional group of murderous zealots, the Red Line plays the long game as safe as can be while making progress. They know they are few and the enemy is ironically everyone else. Thus they work from the shadows, striking at farms, water treatment plants, hospitals, and other vulnerable life sustaining institutions. They commit acts of slaughter and genocide only when practical, and due to their machinations those opportunities are more frequent than one would hope.

Like most doomsday cults in history, the Red Line has plans to commit suicide once their mission is complete. Given their use of suicide bombers is frequent, regular, and entirely voluntary, they would likely follow through with that belief.

This behavior comes from their origins as a group of communist sympathisers and would be revolutionaries. Their founders established their organization using a mixture of cult tactics and Communist instructions for setting up revolutions. Once religious beliefs were added to the mix during the aftermath of the Great War the group solidified into a stable mass of hatred and cruelty.

The exact origins of the cult are not known, but the most commonly believed version of events is a group of would-be revolutionaries were trapped on the red line metro when the bombs went off and were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive. They broke under the shock and trauma of the war, and raised their children to carry out their insanity as if it were the word of god.

While that may be true, misleading, or even false, the exact truth hardly matters. To the Badlands they are why you don’t go to Houston alone. To Houston they are dangerous psychopaths in red robes who carry weapons made from salvaged metro equipment, raid your communities via the metro tunnels, and kidnap people and indoctrinate them into going back home with a pound of plastic explosives in their gut and the detonator in their hand.

As they say in Houston “Only wearing red? Make them dead.”

Organization and Culture

The Red Line Cult is a tightly-knit and hierarchical organization. At the top is Father Mathias, who is the cult's spiritual and political leader. Under him are several high-ranking officials who oversee different aspects of the cult's operations, such as recruitment, indoctrination, and raid planning.

Below the high-ranking officials are the cult's foot soldiers, who carry out the cult's missions and act as enforcers within the cult's territory. These foot soldiers are often recruited from the ranks of captured prisoners or disillusioned settlers who are convinced to join the cult's cause.

The cult's organizational structure is also reflected in its use of the abandoned metro tunnels. The tunnels are divided into different sections, with each section controlled by a different group of cult members. Each section has its own set of rules and customs, but all are ultimately answerable to the cult's central leadership.

The cult's methods of operation are ruthless and uncompromising. They see anyone who doesn't share their communist ideology as an enemy, and are willing to use violence and intimidation to achieve their goals. They frequently raid nearby settlements, stealing supplies and capturing prisoners to either convert or use as forced labor.

In short, The Red Line Cult is a formidable and dangerous organization that is willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve its goals.

Leader

Father Mathias is the supreme Leader of the Red Line Cult. He is believed to be a ghoul as he has led the cult since its inception. It’s possible Father Mathias is a mantle passed from one person to another, especially as he was believed to have been killed twice only to reemerge a short time later to mock whomever killed “him”.

Regardless of the truth behind Father Mathias, his policies, leadership, and capabilities are the same. This lends support to the notion of him being a ghoul who favors the use of body doubles, but in any case the Badlands have a problem. Father Mathias is a genuine psychopath.

As one might expect of the leader of an omnicidal band, Father Mathias plots and schemes the downfall of all other factions of which he is aware. Unfortunately for everyone, he seems to have some genuine training in espionage as the Red Line is able to operate an extensive spy ring and seemingly knows a little bit about everything happening in or around Houston. He’s also excellent at planning clandestine operations, particularly assassinations and abductions.

Many people both within and outside of the cult believe Father Mathias was not only alive pre-war but worked for the  Defense Intelligence Agency. If this is true, he would have to have been at one time or another both a trainer of DIA agents and a mission planner as he is equally well versed in both activities. Combined with his ability to radicalize seemingly anyone given enough time being strong enough to take a sane person and convert them into someone willing to kill their own family via suicide bombing, and you have the genuine threat that is Father Mathias.

Its often said his weakness is he is slow to plan and execute operations. Others are not so sure his cushion before action is a weakness.

Headquarters

The End of the Line is a chapple built within a subway station somewhere on the red line of the Houston Transit system. It’s believed to be one of the main terminations, but could be one of the spurs. Its hard to tell due to the cult using all of the red line, surface or otherwise, as part of their operation. The End of the Line may be decentralized, with all endpoint stations serving as the headquarters equally.

It’s additionally difficult to tell which station (if it is a single one) serves as the End of the Line as the cult sees it as sacrilegious to clean or repair pre-war architecture. Such places are the tombs of the old world where Humanity is buried. They are not to be molested, save to extract what is truly necessary to complete the great work.

Regardless of how the cult has arranged their HQ, what is known as it serves as a church building first and foremost. The Cult does not necessarily preform its operations in designated spaces. At least, not ones outsiders know of. It is content to use the easily defended and fortified metro tunnels to its advantage.

Of course the End of the Line holds great symbolic value to the Cult. If it were to be found and occupied or destroyed the cult’s response would be swift and brutal.

Unique Assets

Stealth Trains

The Red Line Cult makes use of sicily modified train cars which are able to move through the intact metro tunnels beneath Houstin quietly. These vehicles were designed by the Red Line Cult to move their troops and equipment in secret through the abandoned metro tunnels beneath Houston. The trains are heavily armored and equipped with advanced stealth technology, making them difficult to detect by radar or other surveillance methods.

The trains are also equipped with powerful engines, allowing them to reach high speeds and quickly navigate the narrow tunnels. The cult has modified the trains to include hidden compartments for storing weapons, supplies, and other equipment.

To ensure the safety of their operations, the Red Line Cult has a dedicated team of engineers and mechanics who maintain and repair the stealth metro trains. They also have a team of skilled operators who are trained in driving and maneuvering the trains through the complex tunnel system.

The cult keeps the design of their stealth metro trains a closely guarded secret, and few outside of their organization know the details of their construction and capabilities. Those who have encountered the trains describe them as silent and almost invisible, making them a formidable force to reckon with in the dark, claustrophobic metro tunnels.

Salvage Scavenging Drones

Salvage scavenging drones are a modified version of eyebots designed to search and collect valuable resources from the ruins of buildings and other structures. These drones are equipped with advanced sensors and cameras that allow them to identify and locate salvageable items, such as metal scraps, electronic components, and other materials.

They were first created by the Red Line Cult by modifying eye bots to equip them with a variety of tools, such as cutting torches and grappling hooks, that enable them to retrieve items from hard-to-reach places. They are able to be controlled remotely by a skilled operator who can navigates them through the dangerous and unstable ruins with more precision than the robot can on its own.

While other factions have created their own similar robots over time, the Red Line Cult’s drones continue to be the best, most numerous, and have superior software capabilities. The Red Line Cult uses their drone fleet to collect materials to support their cause. The drones have proven to be incredibly effective at gathering resources, and they have helped many groups to survive and thrive in the harsh and dangerous environment of the post-apocalyptic world.

However, the use of salvage scavenging robots is not without its risks. They are vulnerable to attack by other factions who may view them as a valuable resource or a threat. Additionally, navigating them through ruins too damaged for their autonomous functions requires skill and experience, and accidents can easily occur if the operator is not careful. Despite these risks, salvage scavenging drones remain a vital tool for many in the post-apocalyptic world.