Cult Of M'dweshuu

The Cult of M'dweshuu was a brutal religious sect originating on the Nikto homeworld of Kintan. This cult, which predated the Republic, worshiped the nearby star M'dweshuu, whose radiation caused a high Nikto mutation rate. Followers of the Cult sought to appease the star through blood sacrifices. As such, its followers were common among violent or dangerous professions. The Hutts put down the M'dweshuu Cult "on numerous occasions", but never quite succeeded in eradicating it. The Cult once ruled Kintan, which necessitated the planet's brutal annexation by the Hutts centuries before the Clone Wars.

Practices and beliefs

The Cult of M'dweshuu was considered bizarre by those who studied the records of it. Cultists performed blood sacrifices on those they deemed impure, hoping to appease the spirit of the M'dweshuu Nova.

History

Origins

M'dweshuu was a volatile star located in the heart of the Si'klaata Cluster in the Outer Rim Territories. Millions of years before even the rise of the Republic, the dying star hurled massive amounts of radiation emanating from its death throes, which reached the nearest star system, home to the nondescript, blue-green world of Kintan. After making its way into the planet's biosphere, the radiation wiped out most of Kintan's native inhabitants. Some species survived, but the radiation caused great mutations in them. During a sped-up process that lasted thousands of years instead of millions, giant, fearsome monsters, similar to the likes of the feared rancor of Dathomir, were formed. Creatures such as spine dragons, tuskbeasts, and horned trogwhales made the world a dangerous place. However, the radiation affected different species in different ways, and it caused a diminutive, non-sentient quadrupeds to evolve into an intelligent, sentient species: the Nikto.

Living in such a dangerous environment made the Nikto a hardened, warlike species, and after many technological advancements, they conquered the world, using atomic weapons to clear their homeworld of some of its more vicious predators, but turning it into a desert wasteland in the process. The Nikto's scientific advancement eventually led to the discovery of the M'dweshuu Nova, and the source of the creatures they had ruined their planet to annihilate. Word of the radiation and its effects on the planet spread quickly, and from it a death cult known as the Cult of M'dweshuu arose.

Reign

Details about the cult's founding were few and far between in later eras. Some Nikto began to worship M'dweshuu as a death god, and a religion sprouted from this, advocating living, sentient sacrifices to the deity. Its followers also believed in a doomsday prophecy related to the star. Later historians came to regard the cult as bizarre, and no-one was really sure of how and why it had come about. The cult grew in size and influence, beginning a reign of terror. Thousands of "infidels" were put to death or "purified" by the burgeoning cult; thousands joined the cult and embraced its beliefs; but most Nikto hid, waiting for the tyranny to end. The cultists established numerous strongholds on Kintan, as well as a main, though relatively small, headquarters in the planet's northern continent.

Those that joined the cult in the interests of their own self-preservation spread the cult's beliefs to each and every corner of Kintan, until the cult took power over the world. Its followers were brutal and fanatic, fierce and unpredictable warriors; its subjects lived in fear. Even though the cult's members numbered less than its terrorized subjects, it had a firm stranglehold over Kintan's population and ruled comfortably for thirty years from its small, northern seat of power. However, while the cult's leaders believed their subjects to be loyal, the Nikto were in fact a disgruntled people, who hated the Cult of M'dweshuu.

Enter the Hutts

Three decades after taking power, however, the cult finally met a worthy adversary. The Hutt Empire, embroiled in a struggle against Xim the Despot, ruler of another interstellar empire, sent envoys into the Si'klaata Cluster, looking to recruit warriors to aid in the struggle against Xim and his empire. Churabba was the Hutt envoy dispatched to the Kintan. During their time in the Si'klaata Cluster, the Hutts had already recruited the Vodrans and Klatooinians to their cause, but the Nikto presented a far greater challenge, because they were more technologically advanced. Upon arriving in the Kintan system, the keen, business-minded Churabba realized that the cultists were feared by the Nikto population, and that they were a people ripe for a rebellion in which they were destined to be victorious. It was said that Churabba respected the cult, because it was few but ruled many.

Churabba decided to simply bombard the cult's seat of power from orbit. She did so, without regret, destroying the stronghold and killing many cultists, while at the same time displaying the Hutts' might and the infallibility of the cult. Many Nikto regarded the Hutts as saviors, and all were grateful for Churabba's actions; thus, it took little persuading for them to sign the Treaty of Vontor in -25,100. The treaty bound the Nikto and two other species, the Vodrans and Klatooinians, to the Hutts as permanent slaves. This represented something of a coup for the Hutts, as the Nikto were far more technologically advanced than the Vodrans or Klatooinians, and Churabba feared it would take much bargaining or trickery to recruit them. Hordes of Nikto warriors fought against Xim's empire at the Third Battle of Vontor, helping the Hutts to defeat him. The pact between the Nikto and their Hutt masters stood unbreakable for centuries, and the cult was thought to be vanquished.

Resurgences and insurrections

However, the Hutts began taking much of Kintan's population to worlds such as Nal Hutta and giving the Nikto less and less say into their own affairs. The species began to resent their once-saviors and question the value the Hutts had brought to their lives, for millions had perished fighting the Hutts' wars and millions had been forced to leave their homes for their masters. Around Year -4,000, the Cult of M'dweshuu rose again. Looking at their history, the Nikto found that the cult was opposed to the Hutts, and saw it as their best way to achieve freedom. The entire population fully embraced the cult, unlike before, and the Cult of M'dweshuu quickly rose in popularity and power. Its members overthrew the minimal Hutt presence on Kintan, but the Hutts retaliated by sending in an army of mercenaries to brutally quell the uprising. The Republic was embroiled in a war of its own, so it did not come to the Nikto's assistance.