The Cult of the Jade Sceptre is a Chaos cult dedicated to Slaanesh widespread in the high society of the Empire.
No one knows who founded the Cult, but for many years, its core was a group of wealthy young men and women known as Deviants & Decadents. Though only twenty or so in number, these young nobles possessed enough power and money to draw in other members, and each formed a larger group in his or her home city. The Deviants & Decadents controlled the Cult, leading its rituals and approving its new members, and the Cult grew in size and power until its tendrils were ensconced in every large town and city across the nation.[1a]
The Cult’s strongest base was always in Middenheim, where many believe it began. One of the nobles involved, a young woman named Anika-Elise Nikse, moved from Nordland to Middenheim and caught the eye of none other than Graft Boris Todbringer. They eventually married, and in her new role as mistress of the city, Nikse was able to raise the Cult to new levels.[1a]
Unfortunately, their new prominence brought the Jade Sceptre to the attention of several rivals, including the Purple Hand Cult. Nikse was brutally murdered at the tender age of twenty-three, and with her death, the Jade Sceptre lost much of its direction. The more casual members fell away, frightened by the notion that the same violence they practiced on others might be turned upon them as well.[1a]
Organization[]
According to some Witch Hunters, the Jade Sceptre is barely an organisation at all. The cult seems to consist of a large number of local cells, some of which maintain a loose and intermittent contact with each other, but no hint of an overall leadership or power structure has been uncovered.[3a]
Worse, the name ‘Jade Sceptre’ has sometimes been adopted by a variety of pleasure-seeking organisations that are unconnected with the worship of Slaanesh and do not seem to understand the import of the name: it has become an umbrella term under which all manner of gourmands, dilettantes, and hedonists gather. The name has become a sign of devotion to unbridled pleasure and contempt for morality by those who do not know its place in the lore of Chaos.[3a]
A true Jade Sceptre cell can consist of up to forty individuals, and like the cult itself, most cells have no particular structure. Some are led by cult wizards, others by the wealthiest and most powerful members, or those whose homes are most commonly used for meetings, and others still by those who have the greatest interest in managing the calendar of events.[3a]
Once established in a city, a cell of the Jade Sceptre devotes itself to corrupting public morals, especially at the upper levels of society. Nobles and governing burghers become more and more openly dissolute and spend less and less time on the necessary tasks of government, trade, and the law. The end goal seems to be to turn the whole town into a morass of self-indulgence, utterly lawless and without ready defences. The process has only been completed in a few cases, though, since a point is usually reached where suspicions are raised. Witch Hunters descend on the town, trying and burning a great many innocent people and the handful of cultists who did not flee at the first sign of danger.[3a]
Storm of Chaos[]
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Attention, Empire Citizens!
This article or this section of the article contains information regarding the Storm of Chaos campaign and its aftermath, which is now considered a non-canon, alternate timeline.
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Like the other great cities of the Old World, Middenheim has long been home to followers of Chaos, secretly plotting the downfall of the Old World or simply giving in to their own perverted pleasures. Several years ago, the city was rocked by scandal when it was revealed that a cult called the Purple Hand, loyal to Tzeentch the Changer of the Ways, had reached into the highest echelons of Middenheim’s government, and into the very court of Graf Boris Todbringer. Severe measures were taken, and those cultists who were not caught are presumed to have fled the city.[2a]
The Cult of the Jade Sceptre, on the other hand, had no such lofty ambitions. Recruited from among the city’s idle rich by the promise of endless indulgence in forbidden pleasures, these followers of Slaanesh the Dark Prince sought nothing more than to slake their darker appetites undisturbed.[2a]
All that changed, however, with the approach of Archaon and his forces, in particular the Slaaneshi contingent of Styrkaar. As his followers assaulted the southern causeway, Styrkaar commanded the Jade Sceptre to rise up within the city and slaughter the defenders from within the walls. The pleasures he promised would reward their success were such that none could resist.[2a]
The uprising of the Jade Sceptre was not an unqualified success. From their base in an Eastgate den of vice known as the Templar’s Downfall, they summoned a handful of Daemonettes, with the idea of attacking the South Gate from within and letting Styrkaar’s forces into the city. However, the cult priests proved too weak and unskilled to control the Daemonettes, who ran wild through the streets of the Eastgate district. Because of Archaon’s continued attacks along the eastern causeway, the East Gate was one of the most heavily defended areas of Middenheim, and the Daemonettes were cut down by wizards and priests of Ulric as soon as they showed themselves. The surviving cultists were rounded up and executed, and the Templar’s Downfall was razed to the ground.[2a]
Once the largest Slaaneshi Cult in the Empire, the Jade Sceptre has fallen on hard times. Named for the jewelled rod carried by Slaanesh, the Cult worships the Chaos God and revels in debauchery and torture. Their goal is to spread pain and pleasure as far as possible, breaking down the social strictures and allowing people to delight in the full expression of their bodies and senses.[1a]
Several of the core members decided it might be a good idea to lay low for a while. They let the larger Cult disperse and spread tales of the organization’s destruction to deter further attacks. But this was merely a ruse. Several key Cultists escaped Middenheim, taking the Cult’s central treasure with them. They fled the Empire altogether, leaving behind only a few visible former members as bait for their enemies.[1a]
Whether the Jade Sceptre Cult will resurface as a potent Empire-wide force or pursue its goals in private remains to be seen.[1a]