Shargaas

Shargaas is the orcish god of the cold, the dark, and the night, patron of orcs that act stealthily in the shadows. The brooding Stalker Below plots the death of the living from the lightless realms deep beneath the surface. The Night Lord is also their god of undeath, though not death itself, and an embodiment of their fears—the fear of the unknown, and the fear of what lurks in the night below.

Description

Shargaas appeared as a gaunt, 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall, ebony-skinned orc with jet-black eyes that seemed to glow an unholy light when in the darkness. He dressed in all black and wore a dark cloak. Manifestations

Shargaas was known to manifest his presence as an enveloping darkness, or a pair of eyes as pitch black eyes that floated in the air. He also sent omens in the form of sudden chills in the air, moans of lamentation, and his dreaded and painful "cold fevers".

Personality

Secretive, murderous, and frightfully cruel, Shargaas is the smartest of the orc gods. He is more cunning than even the general Ilneval, and his scheming is more cold and calculated than any of the others. Though it doesn't manifest as the traditional berserker fury of the orcs, Shargaas is nonetheless a hateful being, seemingly despising all non-orc forms of life. However, the Night Lord's hatred of non-orcs goes deeper than that, and is rooted in a basic hatred for life itself; in his glowing eyes, the orcs are little more than useful implements for killing that he will eventually discard once they outlive their usefulness.

His hatred of life extends to divine life as well, for Shargaas despises all other deities. Shargaas hates even his own life, and spends much of his time bemoaning his very existence, striking out (typically after careful consideration) at anyone who makes it more unbearable, which includes practically everyone in existence. Existence itself does not escape the hatefulness of the Night Lord, for Shargaas loathes the very forces of creation that brought him into being. In Shargaas's mind, the best way to avenge oneself upon creation is to steal everything creation holds dear, and the vile deity takes great glee in using his powers of undeath.

Divine Realm

The Night Lord's realm is known as the Night Below, a seemingly infinite series of tunnels and caverns that twist in all directions, inside and out, and sometimes over and around each other. In the Great Wheel, it is located on the fourth layer of Gehenna, Krangath, although disinformation spread by Shargaas's minions leads to reports claiming that it is on the fiery second layer or cold and acidic third.

The layers of Gehenna are finite (although larger than any known landmass on the Material Plane) and yet Shargaas's realm simultaneously seems to contain more space than all of Krangath can hold, while not comprising the entire mount. It is thought by some that Shargaas's realm extends beyond Krangath, reaching into the caverns in all worlds at the cold areas associated only with frigid temperatures, spots that Shargaas can supposedly see and reach through to grab someone at his leisure.

In the World Tree and World Axis models, the Night Below is in Nishrek, a natural setting twisted to fit orc ideals. Ravaged by eternal war and ceaseless carnage, entire orc tribes fight across its black seas, tangled forests, jagged badlands, and burning deserts when not preparing for future bloodshed from inside the fortresses and trenches that dot the terrain. In this bleak, bloody realm, the gigantic cavern system that is the Night Below is still separate from Gruumsh's Iron Fortress.

Regardless, the name \"Night Below\" is more than symbolism; no matter its location, Shargaas's realm is darker than the blackest night, and no matter the power or magical nature of light brought there, it can only illuminate a 5 feet (1.5 meters) area. Even infravision fails in the Night Below, although the darkness magnifies one's other senses, with sound and smell becoming extremely important. For those not blessed by Shargaas, this is a horrid curse, as they find their armor jingling, weapons clanking, storage containers creaking, and even the slightest sounds reverberating throughout the realm. Most have to actively will themselves to move faster due to the greater acuity with which they hear their own noises.
Inhabitants

For those who are blessed by Shargaas however (including his petitioners) the Night Below's qualities are exceptional boons. Those going through the tunnels can move silently with rarely the slightest shuffle betraying their skulking, and can easily mask their scents from others. In addition, only the devoted servitors of Shargaas and the Night Lord himself can see in the dark within the Night Below, with all of them possessing a sort of blindsight.

Anyone blindly stumbling through the realm attracts orcs like flies draw in spiders, and light is sure to draw the attention of many, though only one normally appears before the intruders. The rest (at least nine more and up to ninety-nine) are hidden in the shadows ready to strike, preferably from behind. The Night orcs, as they are known, are brutal and petty beings taken from the most wicked of Shargaas's mortal followers. They spend their afterlives in a desperate bid for Shargaas's approval, and kill anyone without a good enough reason to be there (with most reasons being insufficient). There are also rumors of other creatures in the Night Below, though the orcs surely know about them and likely control them.

The main towns in the Night Below are in the larger caverns, but even the most sizable strongholds only contain around 3000 individuals since the realm is big enough there is no need to pack together. The major town is known as Cold Fever (after one of Shargaas's punishments) and is just as inhospitable as the rest of the realm, although if one is lucky they might find a guide to take them there (not that they'll be safe even once they get to the realm). Shargaas's Audience, his citadel, is at the center of town, although one that doesn't belong is more likely to die before reaching it.

Only those looking to hire assassins or thieves receive any kind of welcome, as the Night orcs rightly pride themselves on being some of the best of both. They have near unrivaled knowledge of their trade—poison, accidents, and other matters of murder—if one is willing to pay the exorbitant price. Some also go to Cold Fever for information about the rumored layers of Gehenna below Krangath, (which if they exist only Shargaas knows about) but those who go for such reasons never return and likely end up in his undead army.

Activities

Shargass only sends out avatars when he is concerned with a conflict between orcs and other underground races, such as dwarves or gnomes. He seeks to spark war underground in order to obtain corpses for animation. His minions are sent out with some regularity.

Worshippers

Shargaas was worshiped as the patron of orcish (including half-orcs) bandits and thieves, and any among their kind that did their wicked work under the cover of darkness. He was considered by most orcs to be a god of pariahs, weaklings, and other outcasts, those that for whatever reason (injury, infirmity, ineptness, malnutrition, or seniority) were unfit for proper roles in the tribe. While this was somewhat true for the followers of Yurtrus as well, who also joined the cult of their god to avoid daily shame, banishment, or death, those under Shargaas were even greater rejects, deemed unsuitable to serve as custodians of the dead. Seen even by their fellow orcs as debased, dishonorable skulkers in the shadows, those forced into the deep darkness of the tribe would either be brought into the cult or Shargaas or sacrificed to the Night Lord.

Dogma

According to the dogma of Shargaas, the darkness was cold and everlasting, but the mantle of the black night provided cover for a hidden blade. The Night Lord was considered the patron of Underdark orc tribes, his own clans always dwelling underground, and it was the duty of his followers to eliminate all other races, and especially to go into the deepest tunnels and wage war against those intruding upon Shargaas's domain.

Much like with Gruumsh and Shargaas, the cultists of the Night Lord were sometimes called upon by orc chieftans to perform specific tasks when faced with foes that could withstand direct assaults, accepting payment in food, tools, or slaves in exchange for performing assassinations, thefts, kidnappings and other acts of sabotage.

Despite being despised by most other orcs, the secret society of Shargaas was a dangerous hidden force in most tribes, for one of their mandates was, while silent and unseen, to cull the weak. While most Shargaasan followers were forced to dwell far from the others, others remained with the main body, hiding their true affiliation while posing as ordinary warriors. These secret agents singled out the weakest warriors to strengthen the tribe as a whole and removed them based on the logic that a chain was only as strong as its weakest link.

Rituals

Shargaasan clerics prayed for spells at midnight, when darkness shrouded the world. The major holy days of Shargaas occurred during the new moon, when the sky was clouded and dark. Services in honor of the Night Lord cold be done anywhere, but during the monthly new moon ceremony, a grim event known as the Chant in the Abiding Darkness, the clergy of the Night Lord gathered under the dark sky to honor the Stalker Below.

Sacrifices to Shargaas took the form of stolen items, with supplicants to the faith being required to offer something during the Chant that was of great value to its original owner (preferably an enemy's heart). Orcs deemed unfit were also known to be sacrificed to Shargaas by being torn apart and devoured as tribute to the Night Lord. Afterwards, the assembled clergy would chant a series of ritualistic prayers, pledging their service to the Blade in the Darkness as his silent and deadly weapons.

Relationships

Shargaas hated all beings, not all of them equally, and his choice to ally with the other orc deities, who he tried to manipulate into serving his own despicable ends, was a purely pragmatic one. In particular he maintained a cold alliance with Yurtrus, the mouthless orc deity of death and disease, who silently backed Shargaas in his efforts to subtly counterbalance the warmongering influence Gruumsh, Bahgtru, and Ilneval. Ilneval loathed the two of them for their underhanded and cowardly approached, but the War-Maker was smart enough to utilize both their skillsets effectively when fighting other pantheons. Conversely, Shargaas secretly revealed the ambitious lieutenant's treacheries to Gruumsh to undermine him while cementing his own position in the pantheon.

Gruumsh didn't always look kindly on subterfuge and sabotage given that the traditional orc way of getting what one wanted was to do so directly. However, even the One-Eyed God found Shargaas's secretive services needed from time to time, and despite wanting to ignore the eternal war between orcs and goblins, Shargaas had little choice but to give him assistance. At Gruumsh's command, Shargaas would send teams of assassins to "dispose" of generals in the goblinoid forces before withdrawing so far into his realm not even Gruumsh himself could contact him for over a year. Shargaas was dangerous to all beings but Gruumsh, but the Night Lord still regarded the pantheon leader with vengeful hatred for all the indignity he put him through.

To express this hatred towards Gruumsh, Shargaas heaped abuse on his favorite proxy, Turgren the Half-Blind, so called because he was blind in one eye. Despite bearing no personal hatred towards Turgren, the sight of the orc reminded him of his bitter experiences with Gruumsh, so he nonetheless mistreated the unfortunate servant. Turgren abused anyone lesser then him, whether they were an actual subordinate or complete stranger, in turn, using his skills in physical and mental torment.

Outside his own pantheon, Shargaas was without allies, though his enmity for the dwarf, gnome, and goblin gods was greater than any other loathing.

Shargaas

Lesser deity

Basic Information

Titles

The Night Lord
The Blade in the Darkness
The Stalker Below

Adjectives

Shargaasan

Pantheons

Orc

Serves

Gruumsh

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Symbol

Skull on a red crescent moon

Realm

Bleak Eternity of Gehenna/Krangath/Night Below

Portfolio

Darkness, Night, Stealth, Theives, Trickery, The Underdark

Favored Weapon

Nightblade (short sword)

Following

Worshippers

Assassins
Blackguards
Orcs
Shadowdancers
Thieves

Alignments

CN, NE, CE

Domains

Darkness (Night)
Death (Undead)
Trickery (Ambush, Deception)

Favored Aspects

Animals/Plants

Bats
Dire bats
Boars
Dire boars
Owls

Monsters

Darkmantles
Night hunters
Spectral panthers
Shadow dragons
Shadow mastiffs

Minerals

Black opals
Black pearls
Black sapphires
Star rubies

Colors

Black
Red

Manifest- ations

Enveloping darkness

Floating pair of night-black eyes

Lamenting moans

Painful cold fevers

Sudden chills