Factions of Source, part III: The Fold

The Fold:

            The subject of whispered myth and rumor, the Fold is a loose confederation of zealots, sages, diviners, cultists, and madmen, loosely allied in pursuit of forbidden lore.  Paranoid and insular at the best of times, the Fold is a dangerous and unpredictable force.

            Followers of the Fold are often preoccupied with prophecies and great doom.  Many of them are talented diviners, but mortal minds were not meant to understand the frayed and contradictory threads of fate.  Frequently, members of the Fold are mentally unstable, but they view this as little more than a minor inconvenience.  They know that their sanity is a small price to pay to receive even a small measure of knowledge of the dark truths that they relentlessly pursue.

            Dark and dangerous beings of alien intent frequently find the Fold to be loyal followers.  The Scrounge know that they are not alone in the walls between reality, and they tell tales of cosmic predators that leave fear and madness in their wake, and devour the bodies and souls of men.  The Fold is one of the few universal organizations that welcomes Scrounge without prejudice, knowing that the manners and appearance of the mad rodent-men is irrelevant compared to the secrets they know.  Some members of the Fold have learned dark methods to call upon these transdimensional beings and court their favor.  It seems that only a fractured mind can contain the bizarre, alien majesty of the Ones From Beyond, and some accounts hold that entire worlds have been bargained away by Fold cults.

            The Fold is extremely opaque in its organizational hierarchy.  Cells of cultists and scholars work together in darkness toward questionable ends, and rarely have any reliable knowledge of the rest of the organization.  Only the Fold’s Inquisitors seem to have any real knowledge of the size, scope, and true goals of the organization. 

            Naturally, the Fold strongly venerates Taelyst as their Source of choice.  Ansetal is difficult for them to effectively draw upon, as the requirements of law and consistency are inimical to the Fold’s twisted minds.  The chaos and power of Voroc and the howling waste of Nysroth are frequently used by more aggressive Fold: many times, prophecies of doom seem to need some help in coming to pass.  Additionally, Umuon’s depths often conceal dark secrets that have been lost for centuries.  The Fold finds the prospect of such forbidden knowledge to be irresistible.