Cryptics are one of the Factions in Demon: The Fallen. Fallen who are Cryptics spend their time unraveling and examining God's creations to see if there are any answers they can use to their advantage. Some instead use the information to look for answers as to exactly how powerful God really is.
Houses that tend to have Cryptics as members include the Neberu, and to a lesser extent the Annunaki and Halaku.
They don’t like the thoughtless flailing and nihilism of the Raveners. To them, their fury achieves nothing. The Reconcilers are the inverse and too idealistic, but at least they ask questions. Both of these Factions suffer from the have a tendency to be constantly negative. Their statements lack coherence, yet they act as if they are the only ones deserving of sympathy. The Luciferians and Faustians, are the greater of the Cryptic rivals. They blindly following the ideologies that came before, the ones that ultimately failed them and the rest of the Fallen, rarely stopping to ask what their goals should be.
Goals[]
The Cryptics have the most vague goals of the Fallen, which serves as both an advantage and a disadvantage. While they do not have the restraining philosophies and goals that hold back the Faustians and Luciferans, it also makes them extremely disorganized as a group and limits their overall effectiveness.
Cryptics seek information on the nature of existence for a variety of purposes. Some actively work towards analyzing and picking apart what went wrong and wish to be restored to their former power. Others may want the knowledge to challenge God, either directly or indirectly. Still, a few Cryptics seek information on existence simply because it is there.
Organization[]
Their lack of a clear goal makes the Cryptics the most diverse of the Factions; those disillusioned by the ideals of the other Factions or lacking a clear ideal at all gravitate towards the Cryptics.
One of the few things that the Cryptics have organized are the catalogue of the Fallen, the Scelestinomicon, and the catalogue of the Earthbound, the Crucianomicon. These tomes contain every scrap of information the Cryptics can gather on their fellow demons from current location to True Names. Constantly updated and revised, the catalogues are invaluable resources to the Cryptics and give the Faction some power and respect among the others that they would otherwise lack.
The closest Fallen to a leader the Cryptics have is the renowned Neberu Ahrimal, who had the original visions of humanity's downfall. However, he takes the role reluctantly and would rather be left to his own studies than serve as the rallying point for a set of fallen beliefs. Behind the scenes, the real controlling force of the Cryptics is the Annunaki Gipontel, who aims to keep both the Cryptics and his own house running smoothly by staying objective and willing to share his knowledge with all interested parties.
The Library[]
Instead of being the Scelestinomicon and the Crucianomicon written down, 14 fallen - two from each House - have dedicated themselves to memorizing every word of every page of one of the texts, verbatim. Collectively called the Library or the Librarians, these 14 demons are essentially the heart of the Cryptic faction. Their names, locations and identities are carefully concealed.
The Quæsitori[]
The identities of the Library are known only to seven demons (again, one from each House) called the Quæsitori (singular is Quæsitor). As the public faces of the Library, they each know the names of four Librarians - two who've memorized the Crucianomicon and two who know the Scelestinomicon. When an approved request for information about one of the fallen or Earthbound is presented to a Quæsitor, they invoke the two Librarians and copies down exactly what they tell them. If there's a discrepancy, they go to another Quæsitor for a third comparison. Minor errors are simply pointed out to the forgetful Librarian. Big problems could lead to more severe measures, such as replacing a Librarian, but everyone hopes it won't come to that since the old Librarian could never be released with such precious knowledge.
Naturally, the Quæsitori are very tough, fanatically defended and very busy. Getting one of them to ask a question for you is fairly easy if you're a Cryptic, though they always insist on knowing why you want to know, and your answer about why then goes into your Scelestinomicon entry. If you're outside the faction, you're going to need to either befriend a Cryptic or pay up preferably with information, and it better be juicy.
References[]
- DTF: Demon: The Fallen Rulebook, p. 113-114
- DTF: Demon Storytellers Companion, p. 25-27
- DTF: Houses of the Fallen, p. 77
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