Bah.
100 scholar cultists: do research to find a summoning ritual that only uses an Orb of Stalwart, but destroys it in the process and may have side effects.
43 normal cultists: if the summoning ritual is successfully researched, use it and the Orb of Stalwart to summon Quarken. If not, work with Quarken to recruit scholars to join his cult.
Quarken: if the summoning ritual is successfully researched, prepare to be summoned. If the ritual is not successfully researched, work with the 43 normal cultists to recruit more scholars to join your cult.
Research: [4] Through careful reading of the runic matrices, they discover a way to burn away the orb itself to perform the summoning. They aren't quite sure what negative effects it will have, but their best guess is that it will weaken you for a few turns, effectively setting all your stats at 0 until you can recover. (Discovered Burning orb summoning [req Orb of Stalwart, afflicts those summoned with crippling weakness])
Summon: [2] Not one to waste time, you order them to immediately do it. However, your followers are a little more hesitant, and choose to put off the ritual in case they can find any more information.
Recruit: [4] You get more people to help you. No reason to worry about the summoning, your peons probably have it under control. (+50 cultists)
Vol-Kriit+15 cultists:recruit
30 cultists:find orb of stalwart
30 cultists:find dragons blood
Recruit: [5] You and a few of your new workers get the word out about how you are the best overlord. Without alerting your inquisition, of course. (+180 cultists)
Orb: [2] They search high and low, but can't find the one orb of stalwart that has been disowned.
Dragon blood: [2] They heard that dragon blood was extremely toxic and chickened out of collecting it. After having to wait this long, you are quite annoyed at their reluctance.
BOF: Recruit
Cultists: Go claim Orb of Stalwart 3 from the other cult
Recruit: [2] You consider trying to get more people to help you, but decide to enjoy a nice bowl of crude oil instead. Mmm, oil... Can't get this stuff every day without industries collecting it, but soon you'll have all you can burn...
Steal OoS3: [6] They completely forgo stealth and go barreling through Quarken's not-base, snatching the orb and rolling it out as fast as they can. Some of the cultists stay behind to hold off Quarken's cult while the others escape, and are never heard from again. (Obtained orb of Stalwart 3, -100 cultists)
Archon: Get some more mind-controlled pets.
10 beasts: Recruit humans. Seriously, how difficult could that be?
1 insane cultist, 1 cultist, 5 beasts: Complete the salmoning. Leader 1 can supervise if there's a roll involved in that.
2 cultists, supervised by leader 2: Summon a mini-horror.
1 insane cultist: Delve deeper! Gain a semblance of mastery over the arcane secrets you have discovered.
Also, make a mental note that you were the guy who finished researching the mini-horror ritual. The whole insanity thing was... unfortunate, but the end justifies the means.
More mind control, ALL TEH MIND CONTROL!: [1] You suffer psi-shock, and lose the ability to use your abilities for [2] turns. Luckily, you manage to maintain your hold over the beasts you have, otherwise you may have had a slight disaster to deal with. (Lose abilities for [2] turns)
Recruit hoomans: [3] They bark and screech and do other cute animal things to draw humans in. Your cultists see fit to inform you that you would be much better off doing recruiting yourself, or at least sending larger groups. (+2 cultists)
Salmoning: [4] They finish the ritual and summon a fishie to help you. Aww, it looks just like you. (summoned Sharkon)
Name: Sharkon
Appearance: a pale shark with jellyfish-like appendages
Homeworld: The aquatic world, where all is sea and fish
Abilities:
Mind control: well, to the best of it's ability
Summon fish
Water control: can move, freeze, and boil water at will... Again, to the best of its ability
Fish: takes damage if not in water
Skills:
Presence: 0
Mindlock: 0
Power: 1
Physique: 2
Appeal: 0
Summon mini-horror: [5] They do an excellent job etching the symbols and manage to summon someone actually useful! Well, sort of... (summoned Baby Beldroth)
Name: Beldroth
Appearance: a small furry animal with six legs and two heads.
Homeworld: A world conquered by the legions of Beldroth the conquerer. Beldroth, of course, named all his pets and soldiers Beldroth, in honor of himself. He's kind of an asshole and you're glad you stole his mutant weasel.
Abilities:
Juvenile: 5 turns after being summoned it will grow to its adult form, gaining 1 physique and 1 power
Detect poison: can locate poisonous materials
Rabid: its bite can cause a plethora of diseases
Stats:
Presence: 0
Mindlock: 0
Power: 1
Physique: 0
Appeal: 0
Stare into the void: [3] He sees such strange things it warps his mind and he gains some minor telekinetic power. Or maybe he's just seeing things. You don't really have any second opinion on it, so you'll just have to trust him. (insane cultist now weak esper)