Los Illuminados

Los Illuminados is a cult that operated in a rural part of Spain and the main antagonists of Resident Evil 4. The cult first came into being sometime in the 18th century and worshipped Las Plagas, a breed of parasitic organisms that could control their hosts. However the first castellan of the Salazar family eventually outlawed Los Illuminados, sealing Las Plagas in a series of caves beneath his castle. Many years later, Los Illuminados returned under the leadership of Osmund Saddler and Ramon Salazar, eighth Castellan who wanted to make up for what he viewed as sins at the hands of his ancestor. Salazar had workers from the nearby village begin mining in the caves and his castle became a base for Los Illuminados. Eventually the Las Plagas were re-released, but it seemed as if they couldn't be brought back since all that was found were fossilized Plagas remains. However the parasites were actually alive, surviving all those years by lying dormant at a cellular level and taking a spore like form. These infected the workers, eventually becoming full-grown Las Plagas and Saddler began using them to produce more parasites, which allowed him to secure complete control over Los Illuminados and grant the members the mutagenic powers of the parasites. Saddler himself took in a Master Plaga to have complete control over every other and injected his higher ranking servants with similar lesser Plagas to let them direct the Ganados. The villagers returned to their normal lives, working on farms and in the mine, attending cult services, and protecting against outsiders while the main Los Illuminados members performed dark rituals in the name of Lord Saddler. However Jack Krauser came to the village, seeking Las Plagas, and kidnapped Ashley Graham, daughter of the U.S. president. Los Illuminados planned to use her in a plan to take over the world, infect her with the parasite and then give her back to her father (in exchange for a ransom), so that she would infect him and other major American political leaders. As a backup plan, Los Illuminados planned to use Saddler's paramillitary force to infiltrate the U.S. and generate discord from within, gaining new cult members at the same time. However when Leon S. Kennedy arrived, he did major damage to the Los Illuminados in his mission to save Ashley, taking down its key members before finally killing Osmund Saddler, destroying the Master Plaga and presumably bringing an end to the cult.