Third Coming

Think of the Mafia, crossed with a 14^th Century Devil-worshipping cult, crossed with a psycopathic leader with a penchant for spontaneous murder. Think of that for a while, then stop, because it's not a very pleasant thought. Unfortunately, this is what Night City must face in the Third Coming. So called after their self-predicted, eventual domination of the planet, this really is one group you don't want to get on the wrong side of. If you anger the police, you might get busted. If you anger a bank robber, you might have your leg blown off. If you anger the Third Coming, you might find yourself next on the dinner table down at Gates Manors.

History

The Third Coming were originally believed to have been founded late in the 2010s, just prior to the peak of the cyberpunk movement of the early 2020s. This estimation was based on the knowledge of the government of the time, who observed the rise of a small cultist group led by a notorious local criminal, Donnell Conner. For the past two decades, Conner had plagued the West coast of America, travelling up and down it's length, conducting armed robberies, drive-bys and all manner of gruesome murders, rapes and torturings. In those times of weak government and police departments more concerned with their next budget than putting criminals behind bars, Conner never found himself under any sustained pressure and his activities continued unchecked.

Roll on the late 2010s - or to be more precise, 2018 - when Conner found himself in a sticky situation during his latest bank robbery. He and a few cronies had pulled up outside the First National in LA, expecting the usual easy ride from cashiers following the corporate line... "the money can always be recovered, people can't". That always made Conner laugh, particularly because they had never recovered a cent of the money he'd earnt in his career.

This time, though, things didn't go to plan. Seemed one of the cashiers had been hit on by Conner before, maybe raped or something... he didn't know why, but she didn't lie down like the rest, and perhaps he'd got a little over-confident and let his guard slip. Before he had time to react, she'd pulled an NC4 pocket pistol out of her jacket and blasted a hole in his knee the size of a pool ball. Donnell barely had time to blow her brains out before making his get-away, sans money...

Beginnings

That was the last the West coast heard from Donnell Conner, master-criminal at large, for over a year. No-one, not even his closest henchmen or biggest buddies, knew where he'd got to, least of all the police. With other matters more pressing, most forces gave up on Conner, figuring he'd finally got his come-uppance and wasn't up to the game any more. It wasn't long before they were proved wrong. In late 2019, Conner announced his return to the scene with a spectacular bust of the Empire and National in downtown Night City. Conner personally destroyed the first and second floors of the forty-storey monster on a whim; he'd set up the semtex as a last-ditch threat in case things went wrong, but as it turned out, things went so well, he felt like celebrating and seeing so many burning corpses tumbling out of the elevator doors had done just the job.

Arasaka, owners of the bank, weren't best pleased by Conner's actions. They sent out three elite agents (or assassins, depending on how much you know) from their Japanese division to finally rid the city of Conner's nuisance. Within three days of their departure, the agents returned to Arasaka HQ in Tokyo. In body bags. Each corpse had a neatly-placed bullet hole through the skull, the top of which had been removed and the brains of the agent gouged out. No-one liked to speculate what had happened to the brains of the victims, but most made a pretty good guess.

From then on, Conner has been effectively untouchable. He still conducts armed robberies and the like himself, but to a less and less extent as the Third Coming grows and more petty criminals sign up to his cause. In return for their unconditional devotion to Conner and his wife Sara, members can expect a healthy slice of the returns from the organisation's activities, as well as insurance cover for any family members (presuming they too join), and an unparalleled degree of protection and freedom along pretty much all of the West coast. The Third coming has branches in most major cities along the coast - LA, San Fransisco, Night City, San El Paso, Seattle and recently, even Vancouver to the far North.

Cyrus and Sara

Conner has, on one or two occasions, let slip his reasons behind the Third Coming. While away for a year after the shooting incident, Conner fled to Brazil, the safest place he knew to recover and collect his thoughts. He'd intended his stay to be a short one; heal wounds, make plans, then get back to business. In Brazil, though, Conner met a small tribe of Amazonian villagers, who for millennia had hidden away in the jungle, safe from civilization. They worshipped a Devil-like figure and somehow, this connected with Donnell Conner on a level nothing before had. He was profoundly influenced by his time with the villagers and extended his stay again and again, learning more about their ways and the philosophy of their God. Called by them, "Behemut", the God represents all the anger of the human soul and obviously appealed to Conner's own inner fire. It was a year later when he felt ready to return to America and he took with him the words of Behemut.

Conner adopted the name given to him by the villagers, Cyrus. In their language, it roughly means, "leader". Conner thought this appropriate and set about creating the first non-Brazilian branch of Behemut's fan club, by gathering up his old cronies and promising them great riches if they signed up. These proved not to be insincere words; the rewards of crime have been plentiful.

Cyrus' closest colleague is his wife Sara, who he married in the summer of 2024. Very little is known about her, except that she met Cyrus shortly after his return to America, sometime in 2020. She appears to have fallen for Cyrus' story hook, line and sinker, and is one of the group's most dedicated followers. How much influence she has over Cyrus is unknown, although it can be fairly assumed she has some say in the Third Coming. The duo's public appearances have always seen them together, never apart, and they seem to share a deep bond of some sort, perhaps love, perhaps something more.

Activities

The Third Coming's criminal presence is unparalleled in Night City, if not the entire West coast of America. They have quickly and efficiently usurped previous dominating organisations, including the Mafia, Team One, the Chicago Cartel and for all intents and purposes, the police. The only legal threat remaining is from the truly great Corporations - BioTechnica, and of the giant news corporations, and most of all, Arasaka. If they saw fit, any one of these organisations would have the resources and ability to eradicate the Third Coming, but this situation will not last forever and if they are to be stopped, it must be done soon. Under Cyrus' charismatic (and financially rewarding) leadership, membership is his cult is booming all across the coast and withing four or five years, they will in effect be their own military power. As it stands, the Third coming has been careful not to provoke any single Corp into action, and they have prospered for it.