Lost, Damned, & Salvation is launching next week!, and it's currently the most followed FronTier campaign on MyMiniFactory!
So far we've talked about the Infernals and the Grymkin, which means this week we're looking at the Convergence of Cyriss.
Want to know more about Cyriss and her adherents? You're in luck, because Loremaster Sherwin Matthews has dug through the ancient texts to find out what makes these machines tick...
The Maiden of Gears
The faithful of Cyriss, the Maiden of Gears, have lived among the people of western Immoren for centuries, quietly working to uncover the laws of the universe. They have long been tolerated as an enigmatic cult of mathematicians, engineers, and stargazers, but in remote temples and facilities the inner circle of the faith, known as the Convergence, have been advancing their agenda. There, they construct massive machines with which they intend to complete their Great Work and transform the very face of Caen to bring about the manifestation of their goddess.
Cyriss has only recently been recognized as a deity, waiting to reveal herself until humanity had gained sufficient knowledge in the fields of engineering, mathematics, and astronomy to understand her mysteries. Before this time, rather than seeking direct worship, Cyriss preferred quietly guiding the greatest human minds toward intellectual progress. As civilisation advanced, she subtly inspired great thinkers, called "nescient savants", who often worshipped other gods or even achieved divinity themselves.
Since the beginning, Cyrissist temples have been more than places of worship; they are centres of creation, analysis, and experimentation. Cyriss is an enigmatic goddess who does not provide simple answers, preferring to challenge her followers to decipher her will through scientific exploration and refining processes. Engaging in abstract sciences such as mathematics, astronomy, or engineering is considered a form of prayer. Those dedicated to the goddess quickly surpass traditional engineering limits, achieving remarkable innovations.
Not all Cyrissists are members of the Convergence, and a distinct dividing line must be recognised between the Convergence and these less devoted worshipers. Some priests reject the vision of the Convergence and its leadership, and are denied access to the higher mysteries. There are also many worshipers of Cyriss on the periphery of the Convergence, living in ordinary society.
The Convergence is not hostile toward these peripheral cults—to the contrary, it considers them extremely valuable. These sects serve as a vital bridge to the outside world, and Convergence agents periodically observe and make contact with them. The most important role of the peripheral cults is to serve as a pool for potential recruits; the vast majority of the Convergence’s membership were introduced to Cyriss as worshipers in this way.
Members of the Convergence consider themselves to have ‘awakened’ to the true faith of Cyriss. They follow the doctrine of the Nine Harmonics, set out during the founding of the Convergence, as conveyed from the Maiden of Gears to the Convergence’s leadership. The Convergence cannot risk its secrets being revealed and immediately isolates new recruits from outsiders, sending them to remote temple facilities to undergo extensive indoctrination. Becoming a member of the Convergence requires permanent commitment and, usually, the abandonment of one’s previous life.
The Convergence
The process of becoming a fully awakened member of the Convergence reveals a candidate’s aptitudes and skills, which help determine their role in the organization. New members with the right qualities may aim to join the priesthood, the most coveted Convergence career. Being a priest requires controlling arcane energies to help design, fabricate, or repair machinery. Some priests are less involved in this work than others. Arcane talent alone does not guarantee priesthood admission.
Most awakened lay members of the Convergence are referred to as technicians, unless they have other specific titles or functions. All are expected to contribute to maintaining, repairing, or operating temple machinery. Those who are highly skilled at these tasks may go on to become engineers, a status that represents considerable expertise and usefulness. A number of senior engineers are involved in more cerebral but equally valued tasks such as pure mathematics, astronomy, or research.
All awakened aspire to become clockwork vessels. For the members of the Convergence, transformation to a clockwork vessel is holy and profound, representing both their afterlife and a form of immortality. For over two centuries the Convergence has collected the souls of its members through this process, and as a consequence their numbers have grown rather than diminished. In most temples clockwork members outnumber the living. They continue to contribute to the work of the temples and also act as the soldiers of the Convergence.
The collective membership of the Convergence forms one of the most unusual but frighteningly effective fighting forces in western Immoren. All clockwork vessels have formidable combat capabilities, wielding advanced weaponry as well as being immune to pain and confident in the knowledge that even the destruction of their bodies is rarely permanent.
The Convergence is a self-contained, self-governed secret society with a distinct culture, beliefs, and goals that necessitate a large, technologically advanced military. It has no borders, with limited geographical reach. Its faith is spread across western Immoren, mainly within the Iron Kingdoms. Its temples are hidden, some in cities and others in wilderness. Nearly all are underground or partly subterranean, making them hard to find and easy to defend. These sites are chosen for their geomantic significance, harnessing underground mystical energies vital for their workshops, laboratories, and machines.
Such sites are much more than mere power sources, however. The overarching goal of the Convergence is to manifest Cyriss on Caen — the holy imperative of the goddess. Accomplishing this task requires attaining control over the world’s geomantic energy through a vast, interconnected network. In addition to being places of worship, workshops, research facilities, and Cyrissist communities, each temple also contains massive specialised machinery that enables it to serve as a node in the larger temple network. Together, this network and the geomantic energy flowing through it are considered a single great machine, albeit an incomplete one...
There is one perfectly harmonic pattern to which this network must conform. Reaching harmonic convergence is referred to as the Great Work, a convoluted sequence of construction that has been ongoing for almost twenty-five decades. In addition to establishing permanent temples, the Convergence must also realign geomantic flows across the continent, a difficult process that requires seizing new territories in exposed locations to build alignment machinery there.
The Phase of Alignment
Although in previous centuries the efforts of the Convergence had been directed toward enlightenment, at the dawn of 600 AR it became clear to the temple leadership that the foundries' priorities must change. The leadership had been watching both celestial signs and the ciphers of the goddess, while Convergence agents observed developments throughout the Iron Kingdoms. Analysis of all these factors prompted the declaration that the Phase of Alignment had arrived.
The work of establishing temples in hidden locations had gone as far as it could. For the Great Work to advance, the Convergence would need to risk deploying their arsenal to seize contested geomantic sites and secure them long enough to force their energy flows into proper alignment. It was time to lay the groundwork for a march to war.
While additional temples and workshops continued to be erected, work within them shifted from abstract research to military applications. Forge masters accelerated the production of fighting vessels, vectors, and weaponry, while senior designers set about creating a diverse fleet of clockwork vessels that could mesh seamlessly in battle.
Until the end of 608 AR, the Convergence advanced their agenda in secret, avoiding hostile contact with sovereign nations and limiting violent engagements to shadow wars against other clandestine groups. The year 609 AR marked the true onset of the Phase of Alignment, during which the Convergence unleashed its arsenals in open conflict. Battles during this phase were conducted in part to secure key locations where alignment machinery would be placed. Since many of these vital locations were occupied by the military or settlements, or controlled by other armed groups, the Phase of Alignment required open war against multiple nations and other formidable powers.
In the years that followed, the Convergence greatly broadened its activities to pursue the Great Work. Throughout the land, they built alignment nodes designed to reshape Caen’s energies, hoping to transform Immoren into a vast machine fit to welcome the Clockwork Goddess. This mission drew them into direct conflict with the cephalyx in particular, sparking a secret war fought in underground complexes across Western Immoren. Some geomantic site locations even led to disputes with the Iron Kingdoms, where entire villages were sacrificed for the sake of progress.
After years of labor, the Convergence was close to finally completing the Great Work. Their network of alignment nodes spanned all of Caen, focusing on an ancient power site in western Cygnar—a ruin marked by countless sacrifices since the Orgoth Occupation and even further back to the Molgur era. Here at Henge Hold, the Convergence built their Celestial Gate, intending to summon the Clockwork Goddess to Caen.
But before they could succeed, the Claiming began.
The Nonokrion Order of Infernals came to Caen, appearing through gates that had been carefully constructed by their human agents. Within mere days armies were destroyed and cities laid to waste by unholy horrors which materialized from thin air. The Infernals had come to claim a terrible debt long promised them by the goddess Thamar—two-thirds of humanity’s souls. Such a development was abhorrent even to the Convergence. Even though many of its cultists no longer possessed mortal forms, their souls remained within essence chambers, making them just as susceptible to the Infernals as any living person.
With the advent of this existential threat, it was determined that rather than drawing Cyriss to Caen, the Convergence would instead deliver the Iron Kingdoms’ fleeing refugees to the universe occupied by Cyriss, safely beyond the reach of the Infernals.
Thus began the final battle of the Infernal War. Many were lost, as heroes and armies from every nation and military fought. Yet, the Infernals were ultimately defeated, with thousands of refugees escaping through the gateway. As a precaution to prevent future Infernal forces from pursuing the fleeing refugees, the Celestial Gate was destroyed.
Several of the Convergence chose not to pass through the gate, and remain in Caen. Nonetheless, their violent reputation has left them outcasts. The Convergence was rightly seen by many as a dangerous organization, that believed their service to the Maiden of Gears justified the means of their actions, and engendered bitter resentment; it was not so long ago that the clicking advance of a clockwork legion was the preamble to bloody conflict.
In the years since, the Convergence has splintered, each temple facility becoming a self-governing body, following the teachings of the Maiden of Gears according to their own doctrine. Whether they will find common cause to unite once more remains to be seen...
Prepare your machinery for divine manifestion
Excited to print the Convergence of Cyriss at home? Follow Lost, Damned, & Salvation over on MyMiniFactory to be notified when the campaign goes live, and start preparing your painting station early.
That's all for today, but we'll be back soon with a Convergence of Cyriss gameplay update!
