Barotrauma Dev Tracker

A crucial part in gaining reputation for the secondary factions is completing the "main event chains". The cultist chain starts when you encounter some young cultists, one of whom has tried to ascend a little too soon, and the clown chain starts when you encounter a Jestmaster.

Both should appear frequently - it seems strange that you wouldn't have encountered them by the 3rd zone. I wonder if it could be that someone from your crew already talked to one of them and was given a task of some sort, but you haven't completed that task yet?

But in any case, this isn't the first time we've gotten reports about it being too difficult to gain rep for these factions, so I think we definitely need to make the secondary faction content harder to miss.

True, but the cause isn't Jove (at least directly). ;) There are several other hints in the game that might help you piece it together - probably the most explicit ones in the conversations you can have with a certain researcher in the beacon station right next to the center of the Eye of Europa.