The Horned Hunter
The Horned Hunter is the deified personification of the largest moon in the night sky, which is third to appear behind The Gray Rabbit and The Red Dame. It is made of dark rock and is nearly black itself in the sky. It is particularly remarkable by the mass of jagged, angled spires that arise from near its north pole, appearing from the northern hemisphere of the earth as a crude rack of antlers or a crown. The lore below is the mythos as believed by The Doctrine of the Four Moons. Similar beliefs are maintained in Animism.
Elim was the only son of Emir, The Sun God, and had been promised the hand of any nobleborn maiden that could be found in the courts of Palatium. When Mae, The Red Dame, ascended to knighthood, his heart lit up with desire and want. She spurned his advances.
When he protested under the law of the old promise, he was reminded that it did not apply, as Mae had not been born of the nobility. Thinking himself clever — and some say, tricked into this path by a younger, ambitious sibling — Elim challenged Mae to a duel with marriage on the line. She accepted, but Elim's martial skill lay in the hunt, and this was no doe. Mae handedly outfought him, and repelled all advances.
Unwilling to yield, Elim eventually succumbed to the multitude of wounds, and all of the life and light bled out of him. All that remained was death and darkness, and he could not bear the light of his Father. Out into The Void he went, relying on the hunt for both sustenance and focus. He would take pity on the lost souls he would find there, seeing kinship in their shared plight, and he would allow them to follow him in safety. For all others, he held no mercy and no love.
Whenever he takes sight of the Red Dame and her friend The Gray Rabbit, all other considerations fall and he hunts them with abandon. The only thing that remains of his princely upbringing is Baenna, the crown gifted to him by his Father, which has long since turned into a black rack of antlers, spired and stony upon his head. He wields Dorcha, the black bow strung with the arteries from his own heart.
Only The Old Widow, who had been his wetnurse and caretaker, retains the ability to shine some light into him and to calm his anger. It is when he is calmed by her that he turns to the lost dead who have been following him, and leads them to their final resting peace.
Elim was the only son of Emir, The Sun God, and had been promised the hand of any nobleborn maiden that could be found in the courts of Palatium. When Mae, The Red Dame, ascended to knighthood, his heart lit up with desire and want. She spurned his advances.
When he protested under the law of the old promise, he was reminded that it did not apply, as Mae had not been born of the nobility. Thinking himself clever — and some say, tricked into this path by a younger, ambitious sibling — Elim challenged Mae to a duel with marriage on the line. She accepted, but Elim's martial skill lay in the hunt, and this was no doe. Mae handedly outfought him, and repelled all advances.
Unwilling to yield, Elim eventually succumbed to the multitude of wounds, and all of the life and light bled out of him. All that remained was death and darkness, and he could not bear the light of his Father. Out into The Void he went, relying on the hunt for both sustenance and focus. He would take pity on the lost souls he would find there, seeing kinship in their shared plight, and he would allow them to follow him in safety. For all others, he held no mercy and no love.
Whenever he takes sight of the Red Dame and her friend The Gray Rabbit, all other considerations fall and he hunts them with abandon. The only thing that remains of his princely upbringing is Baenna, the crown gifted to him by his Father, which has long since turned into a black rack of antlers, spired and stony upon his head. He wields Dorcha, the black bow strung with the arteries from his own heart.
Only The Old Widow, who had been his wetnurse and caretaker, retains the ability to shine some light into him and to calm his anger. It is when he is calmed by her that he turns to the lost dead who have been following him, and leads them to their final resting peace.
Divine Domains
Nature, The Hunt, Intrigue, Death, Undead, Grave, Anger, Nostalgia, Unrepentance.
He embodies the predatory and wrathful aspects of nature and the hunt.
As an undying god, he feels kinship with the souls lost in The Void.
He protects those he finds, and understands those whose unfulfilled wills push them beyond death.
When calmed by The Old Widow, he releases his dead followers and shows them to the afterlife. This is thought to happen just after the Winter Solstice, and for three days, this is when faithful mortals hold their last rites.
He is vengeful and long to forget.
He is often called upon when oaths of blood and anger are sworn in great passion.
He may also be petitioned to soothe those suffering of sad memories and loss.
Artifacts
Baenna, Dorcha
Holidays
The Winter Solstice
Divine Classification
Deity
Religions
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
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