The Ring

The Ring is a cult believed to be active in and around the city of Lundeinjon. It is the subject of inquiry by the Esoteric & Occult Branch of the Lundeinjon Metropolitan Police, and has drawn the attention of journalists from the Albion Mirror, as well as clandestine orders such as the Knights of Niðhögg. Despite these efforts, little is firmly established regarding the cult or the nature of its patron.

What is certain is that the Ring maintains a variety of underground blood-sports within the city and its environs. The contests differ in form: they are associated with animal combats such as cockfights, dogfights, and bear-baiting, and with human bouts, particularly bare-knuckle boxing. Rumors persist of darker entertainments still - contests in which unwilling victims are subjected to a catalogue of cruelties, for the sport and wagering of a select audience.

Investigations suggest that the purpose of these events lies less in the contests themselves than in the effect upon those who witness them. As with many cults, potential recruits must undergo a psychological alteration that creates an opening for the alien patron to exert its influence - a breach through which thoughts, impulses, and commands may be impressed upon the mind. In the case of the Ring, this alteration is achieved by the deadening of empathy and human connection, until the initiate can observe dreadful crimes without care, concern, or even the faintest stir of pity. Interrogated cultists have demonstrated profound dissociation from their fellows, and their uncovered schemes reveal a complete indifference to the welfare of others, whether within the cult or without. What remains is only the pursuit of their aims - pursued with methods at once cruel, brutal, and efficient.

It is unclear how many members the Ring commands, as only a small fraction of the cult is directly involved in the recruitment arm that administers the blood-sports. The remainder appear to operate as independent agents, acting upon commands impressed upon their minds - perhaps without even realizing they are under the direction of an entity from Beyond. Although the Special Branch has traced several such individuals, it is difficult - perhaps impossible - to estimate their total number.

The cult does not appear to have progressed to the stage of attempting to summon their unnamed patron. Rather, their efforts seem directed toward the gradual remaking of society into something more callous and cruel. Disturbingly, a number have been identified within the royally-connected Greythorne Trust, where they appear to be shaping that body's influence over charitable policy throughout the Empire. The police have thus far been denied permission to extract those individuals, though they remain under surveillance.

No reliable method of deprogramming has been established. Those members who have been identified and successfully detained are confined in facilities across the country, most under the diagnosis of criminal insanity.