Be the Light you Wish to See in the World
The world of Cult of the Red Heifer takes place in a dystopia. The media and government are controlled by a fanatical cult who seek to create a perfect Red Heifer in hopes of bringing the end times. As the roads of America begin to resemble that of Bosnia, the cult uses the United States as its personal piggy bank, siphoning out billions upon billions of dollars for use in their project.
What is the Cult?
The Cult is all powerful and cares nothing for the people they rule over, seeing them only as a resource to squeeze more money out from. The cult's members are diverse, however they all share a general indifference towards the suffering of the regular folk of the USA and a rabid support for their project in the Holy Land.
Who is the Firestarter?
The cult controls the people by pitting them against each other. Using their control over the history textbooks and the media they fearmonger against foreign enemies while omitting genocides favored nations have committed.
Growing up, the Firestarter was promised if they just worked hard everything would work out for them, and the people in enemy countries hated friendly nations because they were backwards, irrational, and obsessed with the past, unable to see the system the young Firestarter grew up in was the greatest system.
Yet as the Firestarter entered their adult life, they discovered everything they had been told was a lie. "You will prosper as long as you work hard," was not the truth, but instead a cudgel. The real ideology was "those who are not prospering are lazy." And once the Firestarter discovered the true history the cult had been suppressing they learned the grievances of "the aggressive, hate filled enemy" were quite reasonable.
The Game Begins
The Firestarter's awakening did not change the reality they lived in. The resources of the cult were near unlimited. The people are still distracted from their true enemy through endless culture wars, both sides led by the cult. Yet it takes only a single spark to ignite a wildfire.
Gameplay
Setting and Objective
The game is set in one of the many facilities the cult controls, serving as warehouse, data center, and laboratory to create the perfect Red Heifer. Each area is designed to look distinct. From the dimly lit corridors of the warehouse section where an overworked skeleton crew toils at the behest of the ruling elite, to the sanitized labs where the cult experiments to create a perfect Red Heifer. Your goal in all these areas is the same, start a fire that cannot be controlled.
Stealth and Combat
The Firestarter knows the Cult does not care about their workers, working them as much, and paying them as little as possible. Thus the Firestarter seeks to avoid unneeded deaths, and the gameplay reflects this. The player does not start the game with a gun, instead it and similar objects will be found throughout the game. Instead, hiding and avoiding enemies is encouraged however fighting your way through the game is still possible.