May 30, 2005

HM: Monster cults

Cult of the Silent Death: worshippers of Hoorooru, the great Horned Owl. Their master desires the service and worship of all mice, particularly in the form of regular sacrifices of talking mice and rats. Hoorooru promises power and protection to his followers, saying that his priesthood will become the new rulers of the empire after the White Lords are overthrown. There is a secret community of owl-worshippers in the Great Forest just beyond the empire's boundaries, where they plot and scheme to topple the empire.

In traditional fantasy terms, these are death-worshippers who sacrifice outsiders to their dark god. Hoorooru is bound by ancient geases, but his magical powers have grown over the years to the level of the original White Lords. He is intelligent and patient, but ambitious. Honestly, he doesn't need the sacrifices... between his skill as a hunter and his magical powers, he can eat his fill of the common, mindless mice outside the empire whenever he wants. He has come to crave the ego boost of being worshipped and now thinks of himself as a real god.

The Keeper of Secrets: some mice believe that Ssa the great serpent is a divine being of incredible wisdom. Certainly the serpent is a persuasive and charming figure who generally communicates with mice from hiding, so as not to spook them with his great size. He claims to feel a great loneliness and offers advice and magical aid to those who come to him. He is skilled at corrupting people in slow and gradual ways, leading them to greater and greater depravities in his service. It's not certain whether he is working towards the destruction of the empire, or simply amusing himself by toying with the lives of his followers.

Ssa's "cult" is small and scattered, but he maintains a magical link to all of his actual priests and they can contact him when they need his aid. Ssa is a master of the lost magical art of Delving, which allows him to see through another's eyes and work magic through his agents. While establishing these permanent magical connections does weaken his powers in the usual fashion, Ssa can generally get his investment back by simply eating the follower in question once their usefulness is over.

When one of his servants needs a particular thing, Ssa usually directs them to an out-of-the-way location, often outside the boundaries of the empire itself. There they will find what they wanted... or possibly meet Ssa in person, which is usually short and fatal. The items are generally provided by other servants... if Ssa needs, say, a bag of gold for a greedy underling, he might compel a merchant who serves him to carry a bag of gold to an isolated spot and leave it there. To the merchant, it's a mysterious and purposeless chore... but to the other underling, it's a miraculous gift.

Sethias, the Black Lord: according to his own account, Sethias was one of the original White Lords who was betrayed by his fellows and murdered. But so great was his magical power and his righteous rage that his spirit never truly left this plane. When the secret tomb that his corpse had been hidden in was finally opened, Sethias emerged as a spirit of power and vengeance. Now he has his own cult of fanatical worshippers who feed him the blood of noble mice whenever they can, and common mice when they can't.

Sethias is basically a lich. He has extraordinary magical powers but physically is dead and mostly rotted. As such, he slowly but steadily "bleeds off" magic whenever he uses his powers. He recharges by soaking in the blood of talking mice, particularly mages.

Sethias is largely insane. He constantly plots to overthrow the White Lords but is paralyzed by his own paranoia and delusions. He sometimes confuses the current lords for his own siblings, forgetting that they are all long dead. He is served by several outcast mages (all of common descent, not white mice) who are eager to learn his magical secrets, including the ability to reanimate corpses.

Posted by Kiz at May 30, 2005 08:08 PM
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