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I must admit I am a bit confused with the distinction between the Brothers of the Seven Society and the Skinsaw Men.
What is the Brothers of the Seven and what do they do?
One of the cult's leaders (Ironbriar) also leads a second cult called the Skinsaw Men (worshippers of Norgorber). This is actually a cult of murderers that comes from old blood - a master cult in the city of Vyre, although it is now very much its own entity.
It actually says that Ironbriar established the Brothers of the Seven as a cover for the Skinsaw Men cult. Why would you use one illegal organization to cover another? That doesn't make much sense to me. And what kind of cover are they supposed to provide? Is the cover just the lending the Seven's Sawmill? You would hardly have to establish a semi-secret organization just to operate a Sawmill...
Also, the Sawmill is called the Seven's Sawmill, and is supposed to be a cover and a safe place to meet for the Brothers of the Seven. However, it seems only Skinsaw Cultists work there and visit sermons.
Are All Skinsaw Men also members of the Brothers of the Seven?
All in all, the two names seem to be used interchangably and this can be confusing. For example, on p. 40 it says "Magnimar's guards aren't equipped to handle a cult as crafty and sneaky as the Brothers of the Seven "- when talking about the Skinsaw Men's murder spree.
There's probably a bit of confusion generated there by the simple fact that we were still in the early days of Golarion ourselves, alas. But the basic breakdown between these two groups are as follows, more or less:
Then, Ironriar joined the group. And that's when things went bad. He used the Brothers of the Seven as a cover for his own nefarious cult of Norgorber worshipers—the Skinsaw Men. Over time, the members of the Brothers of the Seven basically met one of two fates; either they converted and became worshipers of Norgorber, or they got murdered and replaced.
Today, Ironbriar's continued using the Brothers of the Seven as his cover, with the Skinsaw Men being the REAL secret cult. It's basically a secret society hidden inside of a secret society. There's no real distinction anymore between the two, but while Magnimar's society more or less knows about the Brothers of the Seven, very few, if any, know about the Skinsaw Men.
I see. Thank you very much James - that explains a lot.
Like everybody here, I really appreciate getting a response directly from the designers and developers. This is not something we take for granted, and I think it is amazing how much time you guys can spare, while at the same time churning out these great products.
Keep up the good work!
As an aside, I would suggest to any GMs running Rise of the Runelords -change the name of The Brother's of the Seven. It's a painful red herring, right when most of the players are starting to figure out what sin magic is.
Oh...that seven pointed star we've been ordered to carve in our victims? That's something else. Snake lady told us to do it. Total coincidence."
As an aside, I would suggest to any GMs running Rise of the Runelords -change the name of The Brother's of the Seven. It's a painful red herring, right when most of the players are starting to figure out what sin magic is.
** spoiler omitted **
On the other hand I would argue that the red herring is perfect and exactly the kind of thing the pc's need to chase around for a bit.
