Xaanke (Zan-key)
Overview
Daughter of Ordum. Xaanke is the aggressive, domineering and fearless patron of torturers, slavers, sadists, and bullies. She has a cold and calculatingly cruel nature and an icebound heart. The Maiden of Pain has an instinct for inflicting both physical and psychological pain, always striking at the biggest flaw in her victim’s emotional armor. Unlike most bullies, she does not feel pain herself, but her plans often inherently rely on her belief in the innate selfishness of human nature.Portfolio and Responsibilities
She is a goddess whose portfolio includes pain, emotional manipulation, slavery, agony, torture, and punishment. The church of Xaanke, dominated by female humans and half-elves, is the strongest in large, decadent cities, where newcomers are often recruited from the ranks of the bored and wealthy and the authorities are often tolerant of degenerate activity. Clerics of the Maiden of Pain work tirelessly to cause suffering, both widespread and personal. This work may be as brutal as flogging an encountered band of orcs until they flee or as subtle as breaking hearts among young nobles by pretending to falling in love with the gallants (while disguising one’s Xaankean faith), working to break up existing amours and friendships, and engaging in scandalous dalliances before coldly spurning the victims and departing. The most successful Xaankean are those who understand the ways and natures of folk and so know just how to cause them the most pain and to manipulate them toward that end. Xaankean clerics also find their way into working in slaving guilds, and most slavers or slave owners pay some respect to Xaanke.Divine Domains
Destruction (Only Torture), Evil (Including Fear), Law (Including Tyranny, Slavery, Kyton, and Devil), Strength
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Holy Weapon - Scourge
Holy Animal - None
Holy Colors - Red, Grey, Black
Holy Mineral - None
Holy Symbol - Nine-tailed barbed scourge
Tenets of Faith
Edicts - Suffer pain and deal back twice as much to those you hate. Be kind to those you will hurt before you do, as kindness will make it more painful. Act alluring and then give pain and torment to those you wish. Fear Xaanke and long for her.
Anathema - Be focused on unswerving cruelty instead of focused torture. Allow mercy to those who must be punished.
Holidays
Xaankeans celebrate all four seasonal festivals with the Rite of Pain and Purity: a circle dance that chanting, singing clergy members perform upon barbed wire, thorns, or broken glass or crystal, where the whips of high-level clerics and the drumming of lay worshipers urge the participants to greater effort. Every twelfth night (unless such a night coincides with a Rite of Pain and Purity, which preempts it) the clergy members celebrate smaller Candle Rites wherein they sing, chant, and pray as they dance around lit candles, passing some parts of their bodies through or over their flames repeatedly until the rite ends with the highest-ranking cleric extinguishing her candle with consecrated wine.
2: Power over Passion (Su) Like Xaanke torturing the souls of the damned, you know that the passions of your enemies only give you more fodder with which to torment them. Once per day, when one or more creatures within 60 feet of you is under an emotion or mind-affecting effect, as a standard action you can speak a profane prayer to Our Lady in Pain. When you do, the creature or creatures must succeed at a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + half your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier) or be paralyzed for 1 round and then staggered for a number of rounds equal to your Hit Dice. A successful saving throw negates this effect. When this ability targets multiple creatures, you can choose to exclude one or more of them. Once a creature has been targeted by this ability (whether or not it succeeded at its saving throw), that creature cannot again be the target of power over passion for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting emotion effect.
3: Emotionless Void (Sp) Adherence to the ways of Our Lady in Pain has taught you how to siphon desires, dreams, fears, and hopes out of your enemies, until the void of dispassion steals the very breath from their lungs. Once per day, you can cast mass suffocation as a spell-like ability.
Meta Information
Obedience
Take a small, humanoid-shaped doll and slowly insert needles, small daggers, or other sharp implements into its pressure points. Throughout the process, dispassionately narrate what you’re doing, detailing the steps you take to maximize the physical pain you’re symbolically causing. After each step, repeat a mantra dedicating your efforts to Our Lady in Pain. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws to resist pain effects and effects that would cause the nauseated condition.Divine Boon
1: Excise Fervor (Sp) ray of sickening 3/day, calm emotions 2/day, or nondetection 1/day2: Power over Passion (Su) Like Xaanke torturing the souls of the damned, you know that the passions of your enemies only give you more fodder with which to torment them. Once per day, when one or more creatures within 60 feet of you is under an emotion or mind-affecting effect, as a standard action you can speak a profane prayer to Our Lady in Pain. When you do, the creature or creatures must succeed at a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + half your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier) or be paralyzed for 1 round and then staggered for a number of rounds equal to your Hit Dice. A successful saving throw negates this effect. When this ability targets multiple creatures, you can choose to exclude one or more of them. Once a creature has been targeted by this ability (whether or not it succeeded at its saving throw), that creature cannot again be the target of power over passion for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting emotion effect.
3: Emotionless Void (Sp) Adherence to the ways of Our Lady in Pain has taught you how to siphon desires, dreams, fears, and hopes out of your enemies, until the void of dispassion steals the very breath from their lungs. Once per day, you can cast mass suffocation as a spell-like ability.
Antipaladin Code
- Recognize pain as a tool and a weapon. Through pain, truth and loyalty are revealed.
- Every being has a vulnerability. Find it, exploit it, and use it to bring them under the dominion of Xaanke.
- Mercy is the refuge of the weak. To inflict pain is to display strength, and to bestow agony is to exhibit dominance.
- Emotions are tools, not guides. Always act with cold calculation, understanding the outcome you desire and the pain required to achieve it.
- Uphold the tenets of dominion and ownership. Every being has its place, either as master or as servant.
- Love, friendship, and loyalty are but chains to be used. Break bonds, sow discord, and let chaos reign, for in chaos, pain thrives.
- To deceive is to control. Wear masks, play roles, and become whoever you need to be to inflict the greatest torment.
Physical Description
Body Features
She is often depicted in leather armor and a long dark cloak, using her scourge to crush the will of those beneath her. She is depicted mostly as a tall and neatly trimmed woman, sitting on a spiked throne covered in impaled hearts.
Divine Classification
Rank 14 Intermediate Deity (Dead Power)
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Realm
Church/Cult
Honorary & Occupational Titles
“The Maiden of Pain”, or “The Willing Whip”
Circumstances of Death
Killed by Milani
Children
Pronouns
she/her
Aligned Organization
Ruled Locations
