Hello, how's it going. I'm currently trying to write a personal sidequest for one of my players, but i'm a bit stuck. Their story is basically that they are part of a cult they think has good intentions, but is secretly evil. I'm trying to come up with some subtle hints for them to notice that they are actually part of an evil cult, but i'm only drawing blanks right now. Does anyone have any ideas or knows any resources i can use on that matter? As always, thank you very much for the help. 

1. Everything the Cult does is gloryfied.
2. They're not allowed to question the motives and methods of the cult, or orders that are given.
3. Punishment always borders on torture, but is justified with "It's for the better of them"
4. Any outside relationships are only to be contacted with permission of the cult, and are probably chaperoned.
5. A "Them vs Us" attitude.
6. Cultivating double standards.
7. Recruitment often focuses on rich or influential people, elitism is encouraged. "Primus inter pares"
8. "Grunts" get told if they prove themselves enough, they might one day be invited to join the elite - rivalry is encouraged.
9. Members dissapear. They always "have been assigned to other locations".
10. Core propaganda is repeated daily.
11. Truth is only what the Cult teaches, no exceptions.
12. No matter how well Members perform, they're always told they could have done better/more.

Some of them might not be subtle, but telegraph a certain mentality.

here are some ideas:

1: They witness a suspicious exchange between a cult member and a robed figure somewhere shady, but when they confront the cult member, they defend themself.

2: The cult leader offers them a strange side quest (such as gathering newt eyes or finding somebody's house), and won't tell them why.

3: The cult members are being especially secretive, as if they are hiding something

4: They say that every bad thing they do is 'for the greater good'

5: The players are forced to sit in on lectures, and are told not to question anything they say

6: There are ranks within the cult, but nobody actually ever seems to get promoted (the leader wants to stay in power and eliminate risk of being overthrown)

Supporting eveil aims and practices could show in a variety of ways. The cult could openly support evil people and religion, cruel laws, not support good causes, let people or instutition fall in decline, spread lies, fake news and public panic, control critical supply in high demand such as clean water and food,  seize lands and properties of people who don't pay titles, taint reputations of good aligned people, religions and institutions require pay passage on lands they control  etc..

Take on the debts of poor citizens who have got in trouble with money lenders. Feed and clothe them in shared accommodations. Of course, they need to work to pay off their debt and there are always additional expenses that get added to their debt, simple luxuries for example. Indentured servitude becomes debt slavery.

The cult would have the "public" establishments where the government can see the program in action, all the happy workers, housed and well fed. The ones who are shipped to the less public establishments - brothels, fighting arenas, out of town assignments to mines/farms operated by cult members or supporters - aren't heard from again. However, the "cult" or benevolent organization as it is publicly known is a savior of the poor and is associated with a local religious group to give it a better public image. Of course, the cult has long ago corrupted the local religious leaders with kick backs from their operations.

P.S. To add spice have the cult quietly operate the money lenders and use them to tempt people specifically to take money so they can convert them to slaves.

P.P.S. The vast funds earned by the cult from their nefarious operations are used to surreptitiously fund politicians and buy votes so that the apparently free councils make rules that aid the cult expansion and hidden domination of society. Publicly, they are just one voice among many objecting to some of the negative and bad things done by their local, regional and neighbouring nation's governments while behind the scenes they are taking every penny they can and driving decisions by rulers and townsfolk alike which ultimately aid the cult. The cult is like an iceberg, 10% apparently honest and public, 90% evil and hidden with the 10% acting as the shield behind which the rest hides. Your PC is one of the 10%.

So, I'd suggest having a look at a computer game called Trolley Problem Inc. It takes a lot of Philosophical questions and challenges people to answer those questions. What would you do if...

Utilitarianism on the face of it seems reasonable: the greatest good for the greatest number of people. If you're forced to chose to divert a train down tracks on which one person is standing to save the lives of five people that are standing on the other set of tracks that would seem fair and reasonable.

However upon further analysis it's quite clear how corrupting such a philosophy could become. Utilitarianism for example could be a philosophical backing for saying that it is okay to kill and harvest the organs of one destitute person in order to save the lives of several other organ recipients who have productive jobs upon which other people rely. This is, of course, something I can't imagine any society ever condoning. Actively killing someone in such a way could, and I would argue should, be considered evil of a sort no matter how many people benefit.


Taking this as an example perhaps an organisation has captured a fiend. The only way to keep it contained however is to tax the citizenry and melt down all silver they can in order to keep the fiend contained within a silvered prison. The subtle evil action could be as simple as a tenant of the cult not having paid their tax/levy/tithe. The party could then be sent to retrieve either the silver, or anything that might raise the monies required by any means necessary. Going further what if sacrificing one innocent life keeps the fiend on side and prevents it from massacring hundreds of other innocent people?

I draw toward suggesting you look into philosophy because it does provide many a good answer for how human beings in the real world can conduct what many see as evil action. This understanding could help enhance your fictional characters though.

One minor detail that could be useful, is the information given to the various people you interact with is slightly different.  Oh the money is going to the children, the money is going to build housing for the poor, oh the money is going to hire protectors against that bad baron.  Everyone has a slightly different version of events and the reason why.

I think the idea of people being sent out on missions, or reassigned and never being seen again is a pretty decent one to stay subtle.  Maybe something along the line of everything seems very minimal and utilitarian to all the 'front facing' areas, but if you sneak into the back it is much nicer.  Nice food, wine, beer, and a super plush bed in the head persons locked room.

When you deliver the cart full of food to the drought stricken town, a couple of the boxes go missing.  Boxes of hidden weapons or something contraband.

Or the Tax collector is best friends with the leader of the cult.  Thats a bit of a red flag right there.

All excellent points, though not quite what i had in mind. I was more thinking something like certain scenarios, where the character looks back on them and realizes that things weren't quiet as they thought they were. For example, two of the scenarios i came up with, based on some of your suggestions:

-As part of one of the cult's humanitarian endeavours, the character is send to deal with a group of evil orc raiders, threatening the safety of a nearby town. They defeat the raiders and are celebrated for it by the cult and potentially some of the townsfolk they helped protect. However, upon closer inspection, a more perceptive character might notice that most of the "raiders" were unarmed or were only using improvised weapons, while those that did wield proper weaponry are somewhat smaller than the rest (aka a lot younger), indicating that these weren't actually raiders at all, but mostly civilians the cult were targeting for some reason. 

-As part of one of the cult's humanitarian endeavours, the character is tasked with giving out free rations to the townsfolk. The townsfolk seems very happy and thankful for receiving the handouts. However, upon closer inspection, a more perceptive character might notice that most of the villager seem to be in a very poor state. This is because the handouts are containing drugs and the villagers are all addicts who are itching for their next fix and are overjoyed by the character providing them their drugs to keep them complecent.

Now, these action may seem benevolent on the first glance, but upon closer inspections turn out to be a lot more sinister than the characters realize at first. I think those two are a decent start and I have a couple more concepts I think I can work with. Thank you all for your time and efforts, I very much appreciate your input. 

Sometimes all it takes is hearing ideas that don't work for you, to find ideas that make sense for your scenario.

The cult has a ceremony in which their members are physically sent on to “Heaven,” except it’s actually just disintegrating them after they’ve signed their wills, leaving the cult all their money.

Sending them to headquarters...