He Who Hungers, The Red Beast
Spheres of Influence: Death, Destruction
Symbol: A Red Beast Maw, often depicted drooling blood.
PLAYER INFORMATION:
Requirements for Worship:
Ravenos followers understand that above all other things, the Maw must be fed. Through Blood, Terror and Destruction. They are generally cold blooded killers and have little respect for life that doesn’t promote destruction. They understand that torture is key in extracting information and take pleasure in bringing pain to others. The clerics of Ravenos are often brutal in their divinity. Followers can only be NE or CE alignments.
Clerical Domains: Required: Destruction, Evil
Optional: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Healing, Knowledge, Magic, Plant, Protection, Strength, Travel, Trickery, War, Water
Banned: Good, Sun
Noted followers and faithful:
High Priest(ess): none known
The Torturer's Fist: none known
Jaws of Destruction: none known
The Red Beast's Maw (Sacred Items)
The Curved Fang: This four-inch fang belonged to some great beast of a poisonous nature. It is black and hollow, and you can tell that there is some liquid inside that sloshes when you shake it. It appears to have been removed from the maw of a powerful beast and still has the dried blood from its brutal removal.
The Red Beast's Lair (Places of worship)
The Tower of Melki: An imposing edifice in the village of Liana, the Tower of Melki is so named for one of the most destructive High Priests the Red Beast has ever known.
The Church in War
The Ravenites did not involve themselves in the War of the Sun. From their perspective, it was better to allow the Kingdom to tear itself apart then to involve themselves. As they predicted, the Kingdom did far more to itself than the Ravenites ever accomplished.
This is not to say the Ravenites have been uninvolved. But the Ravenites do not engage in war. No, that is far too civilized for what they do. Wars have rules which only get in the way of murder and destruction. They string atrocities together one after another, debilitate their enemies until they can no longer keep up the fight. And should they match the Ravenites, they escalate the atrocities tenfold. What others called the Liana War, the Ravenites called a crusade. In the end, they lost the war, but they proved their might, forcing all to unite against them just to stand a chance. The Ravenites brought to bear horrors of ages long past, created elite holy warriors of Ravenos, and even sent a messenger of the Destroyer to annihilate their enemies simply because they enjoyed the carnage.
And when the nations banded together and invaded Liana, they sent everything to meet them because they wanted to see what the "grand armies of Wilwarin" looked like. And for the first time, Ravenos was sated and slept a sleep so deep that it is possible he has yet to awaken.
VIEWS ON OTHER CHURCHES
- The Sun Church: (Hated) Murder. Kill. Destroy
- The Church of the Helmsman: (Hated) I quench my thirst on your blood.
- The Church of Branneggarr: (Hated) Not enough...
- The Church of Justin: (Hated) Prune? PRUNE?! I rip you up from your roots and watch you wither and die.
- The Church of Mysilvia: (Hated) Weaklings, all of you.
- The Church of the Quiet God: (Hated) Making one of these scream always seems to sound a little sweeter.
- The Church of Cyparthia: (Hated) Burn, my pretty ones, burn.
- The Church of the War Triad: (Hated) Why stop at war when you can take it so much further?
- The Church of the Death God: (Hated) We feed them. Soon we feed on them, too.
- The Church of Tyrannos: (Hated) You're next.
- The Church of Asoth Thal: (Hated) Should have taken us up on the offer.
- The Church of Ruhn Alesi: (Hated) Didn't listen.
DEITY INFORMATION
Alignment: Ravenos is Chaotic Evil in nature
Appearance: His appearance is unknown, rumored to be too terrible to imagine. The most blessed - or rather, cursed - of his followers claim to have seen an ethereal Red Beast feeding on the bodies of those they'd slaughtered, though such a sight is most likely the product of a deranged mind.
Messengers: The Beast....
Known Powers and Practices: He is the patron deity of torturers, berserkers and those who take pleasure in bringing pain to others. He Who Hungers is a demanding deity who cares for naught but the growth of His power and the screams of those who suffer. Whilst he bestows great gifts upon those that cause pain in His unholy name, he is never satiated and constantly demands more and more blood from His clergy..
Fellowships of Ravenos:
None Known
Bits and pieces of the history of Ravenos are found among a ruined city:
Little is directly known of Ravenos' early history. What is written about him by the followers of other powers speak of him universally as a great threat, a mindlessly irrational source of destruction and fury that would not hesitate to consume the world, even if it meant Ravenos' own destruction.
The early writings of the Drow, from before the first settlers arrived, speak of Ravenos being bound and sealed from Wilwarin. How this happened in unclear, each Drow House claiming the feat for their patron deity.
What is known is that a small but influential cult of faithful Drow priests, perhaps aided by a secretive power began breaking the seals shortly after the first settlers arrived, perhaps in response to the growing dominance of the Sun Kingdom. As the seals were broken, Ravenos' power grew stronger, and his cult grew rapidly in power. Ravenos began feeding on the binding forces of Wilwarin itself, and in the final days leading up to the Dark War he tore great rifts in its Source, allowing undead and extra planar creatures to stream through, while driving native creatures mad with violence.
Somewhere between the start of the year of the Dark War, and its completion Ravenos fell out of the picture. When the Lady of Light released her people, the remnants of the Sun Kingdom, Ravenos apparently had run his course, leaving a wake of destruction and slaughter but no longer an active force in the world and no priests or cultists speaking his name. What happened to Ravenos is a mystery, but his death is highly unlikely.
Silent as the night, the Red Beast Maw waits and watches. Since the beginning of all things, He has been there, to feed off the misery and pain of all living things.
He delights in the spilling of blood and the creation of chaos. He is the Lord of Slaughter, the Bloodletter, Reaper of Souls, the Ever-Hungry -- friend to none and enemy to all.
He is the patron deity of torturers, berserkers and those who take pleasure in bringing pain to others. He Who Hungers is a demanding deity who cares for naught but the growth of His power and the screams of those who suffer. Whilst he bestows great gifts upon those that cause pain in His unholy name, he is never satiated and constantly demands more and more blood from His clergy.
His appearance is unknown, rumored to be too terrible to imagine. The most blessed - or rather, cursed - of his followers claim to have seen an ethereal Red Beast feeding on the bodies of those they'd slaughtered, though such a sight is most likely the product of a deranged mind.
Ravenos, right from the start, saw and understood the plans of His brother, Tyrannos and did nothing -- He would, of course, not let His brother gain too much power, lest He achieve dominion over Tyrannos Himself. Still, he lurked and watched, his many mouths ready to feed on the chaos and slaughter that would eventually come....
