Incabulos (in-CAB-you-lohs)

The Black-Rider, Lord of Pestilence, Master of the Bitter Cup, Lord of Evils

Evil, Plagues, Sickness, Famine, Drought, Disasters, Nightmares

Greater God of The Grey Waste

Aliases: Sevelkhar the Waster (Bakluni)
Domain Name: The Grey Waste/Gholgorahk, The Socket of Woe
Origin: Unknown
Superior: None
Allies: Nerull
Enemies: Geshtai, Pelor, Phyton, Rao, Sotillion, St. Cuthbert, Zodal
Symbol: Eye of Possession
Worshipper's Alignment: LE, NE, CE

Incabulos is the god of evil sendings, feared by good and evil folk alike. The black cloaked rider of the nightmares delights in woe and wickedness and enjoys being feared as much as being revered. Incabulos has few worshipers in the Flanaess, but many seek to propitiate him with offerings. This is especially true in lands ravaged by famine, where disease has spread from unburied bodies on battlefields, and where fear grips the common people. Despicable folk of all sorts venerate Incabulos, respecting his power and malignancy. Religious depictions of Incabulos only begin to approach the true hideousness of his horrible visage, deformed body, and skeletal hands.
Incabulos despises Rao and Pelor and maintains a loose alliance with Nerull for the purposes of opposing these two greater deities. The other deities he considers enemies are of little consequence to him. It should be noted that Incabulos is known to the Bakluni as Sevelkhar the Waster, Master of Famine and Drought, the Poisoner of Wells. In the Bakluni culture, Sevelkhar is the eternal opponent of Geshtai, and both are viewed as subservient to Istus. This is contrary to the common belief of the Flanaess, where Incabulos is one of the few greater deities, an equal of Istus, and vastly more powerful than Geshtai, a lesser goddess.

Manifestations

Manifestations of Incabulos are much more commonly seen than his avatar, especially since Incabulos will not send his avatar to a Prime Material Plane world during daylight hours. This is not to say that his manifestations are that common, though Incabulos will not hesitate to remind his priests of the price of failure, afflicting them with horrible nightmares, or rarely, a disease of some sort. (An interesting side note to this is that any priest of Incabulos who has renounced their worship of him has died within one year of a horrible wasting disease. Such priests are said by others of the faith to have “Evil Edge hanging o’er them”). Incabulos will also manifest as a bronze Eye of Possession, through which he may speak or cast spells.
Incabulos is served by hags of all kinds, particularly night hags, and hordlings. He may dispatch other creatures as his ambassadors, including incarnates of covetousness, envy, gluttony, lust, and sloth; maruts; dust and salt mephits; nightmares; tanar’ri (bulezua, succubi vargouille; yeth hounds; vaporighu; wastrels; bats (common, large, and huge cloakers; feyrs; ghouls; formorian giants; grimlocks; lycanthropes of all species; mummys; gibbering mouthers; magebanes; marrashi; parasites (all ghost (ker great ghuls; ghul-kin; dream-spawn (all dreamweavers; dream stalkers; and boowray. He sometimes show his disfavor with defaced coins or scarred gems, upon which the victim can make out the symbol of Incabulos in the scratches. The Black-Rider sometimes endows these with the ability to cause disease if they are given away as currency.

The Church

Clergy: Clerics (30%), Mystics (5%), Shamans (5%), Specialty Priests (60%)
Alignment: Any evil
Turn Undead: No
Command Undead: All except Mystics

All clergy of Incabulos receive the religion (common) proficiency for free.
Those who worship this deity are intensely secretive; many clergy members are paranoid to the point of insanity. Fear and threats are used to maintain secrecy and the obedience of junior priests. Priests of Incabulos revel in suffering, slow torture, and inflicting disease and misfortune (the grander the scale, the better) on others. Many priests also become afflicted with lycanthropy on purpose, considering it advantageous to their position in the church.
Worship of Incabulos is certainly not common, though one might be surprised at the number of people who plea and propitiate him to avoid the attention of the Master of Disasters. Temples dedicated to Incabulos, be they in enlightened or forsaken lands, are always subterranean affairs, and usually in desolate areas. It is the opinion of most members of the faith that “ out of sight is out of mind”, as even other evil priesthoods (notably Nerull’s, who occupy a similar niche in the food chain, so to speak) revile their existence.
Clergy members are known as Incabulites, both within the faith and to outsiders. Clergy are as likely to work alone as they are to work in a group, and a group of clergy in a given area are collectively known as a coven. Another similarity between Incabulites and hags is the ability of higher level clergy members to create eyes of possession; these items are similar in power to hag eyes, and given to agents of the priesthood. Such items are not bestowed casually, and great care is taken to ensure that the bearer cannot reveal the source of such an item, through means both magical and mundane.
Members of all sexes and races are welcome to join the faith. Humans dominate the clergy, and comprise almost all of the specialty priests (who are known as Pathogens) and mystics who venerate the Lord of Evil Sendings. Most clerics are also human, though there is the occasional half-orc, half-ogre, orc, or hobgoblin. Specialty priests are addressed as Ambassador by peers and by the title “Your Malignancy” by juniors. Clerics are addressed as Emissary by peers and by the title “Your Virulence” by juniors. Within a coven, senior members address initiates as Larvae, with higher ranking clergy members usually awarding themselves the titles (in ascending rank Acolyte, Deacon, Vicar, and finally Bishop. Heads of covens are referred to as Patriarchs or Matriarchs, regardless of level. Such titles may be expanded with self-important add-ons, and therefore one might hear a high ranking cleric referred to as “His Most Dreaded Virulence, Patriarch of Pestilence and Famine, Bishop So-And-So..” Many of these titles are not official bestowals by the faith as a whole, and recognition of status by other clergy members can lead to deadly internecine strife.

Dogma

The suffering of the world is meat and bread to Incabulos. Sickness, famine, and other curses bring him power. Some feel that the Black Rider can be warded off or appeased by prayers; but this only delays the inevitable. The world of dreams is his battleground, and he wages war against minds just as he rots bodies.
Clergy of this power are taught to spread as much evil as possible in the world, and be vigilant in opposing those who seek to do good. Priests are also instructed to prey upon the weaknesses of body and mind of other beings, and utilize these weaknesses to their advantage. Clergy of Incabulos derive great satisfaction in formenting fear and hate, and making others commit evils for them. Members of the faith are told to always seek to “put a dark shroud”, as it were, over the true cause of great natural disasters, to ensure that Incabulos receives his due tribute.

Day-to-Day Activities

Most priests spend much of their time increasing their personal power, influence, and material wealth coupled to acts of evil in the name of Incabulos. Such acts include kidnapping, slave-running, arms-dealing, and undead-brokering. Priests of this power also love manipulating people for their own use, using threats as well as magically interfering with the integrity of people who might be of use to them. Many priests also devote much time to researching diseases; what causes them, how they can make them more effective, and how they can best be delivered to large populations. To this end, such priests often work with insects and animals, such as pigeons, bats, and of course, rats.
More inventive priests may work with exotic vectors such as slimes, oozes, and even non-sentient undead. Clergy of this power are always plotting schemes to cause misery among the masses, and are quick to capitalize on any natural disasters of the region, spreading rumors and encouraging placation to the Lord of Evils.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies

Services to honor Incabulos have weird humming and droning chants in the background. Multiple evils are celebrated by the faithful, while flickering black candles dimly light the altar areas, sending a continuous thick and wretched smelling smoke into the air. All vessels used in these ceremonies are of old bronze, bloodstone, or carnelian. There are no set times for daily or weekly worship, as Incabulos encourages his worshipers to commit acts of evil with as high of a frequency as possible. Many devotees keep their faith secret, and such secrecy is encouraged by high level clergy members. Therefore, holy days and ceremonies celebrated by the faith as a whole are few and far between.
Like many other evil faiths in the Flanaess, Incabulites celebrate the Festival of the Blood Moon, which occurs on the 11th of Coldeven. Incabulites usually make a point of spreading their particular brand of evil, while worshiping in long ceremonies involving sacrifice and the like. An interesting addendum to this is that Incabulites also take particular pleasure in engendering the hate felt by other faiths during this time; it is generally held by members of the faith that one may receive the blessing of Incabulos by taking the life of worshipers of another faith who actively oppose what Incabulos stands for, be they good or evil.
The Feast of Famine also occurs during the winter months in some isolated regions of the Flanaess. Clergy members go without food on this day, and certain ascetics may fast for a week. During this time, when surplus food is low, even the poorest farmer is wise to set aside an offering of food to please Incabulos. If not, clergy members in the area may receive a vision, commanding them to visit those villages not paying proper respect; such visits often entail burning granaries and killing livestock, along with painting the symbol of Incabulos on some buildings, a sober reminder to the greedy and foolish.
Another important holy week in the faith of Incabulos only occurs once every decade, and is known the Eye Convene. Here all the higher level priests of Incabulos meet in several areas throughout the Flanaess to contemplate in the presence of a manifestation (or rarely an avatar) of Incabulos. The purpose of this is to coordinate region-wide plots and schemes, to result in a disaster of some type on a grand scale, be it a plague, famine, or drought.

Major Centers of Worship

The priesthood of Incabulos is scattered throughout the Flanaess, with no major recognized hierarchy. Major centers of worship only remain so for as long as their exists opportunity to sway the hearts and minds of common folk in places of despair.

Affiliated Orders

There are no knightly or military orders dedicated to Incabulos. There does exist, however, a group known as the Bronze Cabal, who work with and communicate with clergy and representatives of Incabulos. Consisting of some sages, as well as some mages who have interests in areas of necromancy and disease, members work more towards the knowledge of disease and the causes behind catastrophes such as famine and drought. The use of such knowledge, however, is up to the one possessing it. In addition, many hags work with agents of Incabulos in spreading mayhem, and the odd were-creature may also work with a priest or priests of Incabulos.

Priestly Vestments

All clergy wear vestments of dull black embroidered with the Eye of Possession in verdigrised bronze, repeated in dull orange on the robes of higher-level clergy. Name level specialty priests have orange trimming, whereas name level clerics have green trimming. All priests possess special robes known as soulshrouds awarded by a superior. Once a priest has been given one, he or she will keep it until death (and possibly beyond!), unless lost or destroyed. Many priests often wear ritual masks with horrid visages as well.

Adventuring Garb

Incabulites, being practical and cautious to the point of paranoia, are masters of disguise and try to blend in with the culture of the area they live in. To this extent they wear simple clothing, never trying to draw attention to themselves if possible. Some priests do have a penchant for acquiring jewelry and art objects which are made of bronze or feature carnelian or bloodstone. Priests of Incabulos don’t possess the greatest hygiene and are generally a dirty and unkempt lot.
Although Incabulites are not inclined to be drawn into open combat, they are careful to wear armor and take any other protective measures necessary.

Specialty Priests (Pathogens)

Requirements: Constitution 13, Wisdom 11
Prime Requisite: Wisdom
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Weapons: Staff, Bastard Sword, Dagger, Sap, Garrote
Armor: Any non-metal armor
Major Spheres: All, Animal, Astral, Guardian, Healing (rev), Necromantic (rev?), Summoning, Sun (rev), Thought, Weather
Minor Sphere: Charm, Divination, Protection
Magical Items: As Priest
Required Proficiencies: None
Bonus Proficiencies: None

• Pathogens may be of any race, though most are human
• Beginning at 1st-level, all Pathogens are immune to natural diseases, including those caused by creatures such as green slime. Magical diseases still afflict these priests as normal, though these priests receive a +4 to any save they have to make against disease. In addition, any disease cast by a Pathogen may not automatically be healed by the use of a Cure Disease spell. Rather, an opposed check similar to that described under dispel magic must be performed. If the attempt to cure the disease is not successful, that particular healer may not attempt to cure the disease until he or she attains a new level. (Of course, that may be too late for the victim).
• At 4th-level, Pathogens may cast cloak of fear (P4) upon themselves once per day.
• At 5th-level, Pathogens may cast hypnotism (W1) 1x/day.
• At 7th-level, Pathogens may cast contagion (W4) 1x/day
• At 8th-level, Pathogens may cast weirding sleeptouch 1x/day.
• At 10th-level, any disease inflicted by a Pathogen becomes even more potent; if an attempt to magically cure the disease is made, and the caster fails, then he or she not only may not attempt again until gaining a level, but he or she also contracts the disease, and may not cure himself or herself of that affliction! (This can be absolutely lethal to small isolated communities with only one low level cleric or priest.)
• At 13th-level, Pathogens may cast mummy rot (W5) 1x/day.
• At 18th-level, Pathogens may cast uncontrolled weather (W9) 1x/week.
• At 20th-level, any disease inflicted by a Pathogen may not be cured by any means short of a limited wish, wish or a heal spell cast by a priest of at least 20th-level.

Incabulite Spells

It should be noted that Incabulos grants the following spells to all of his clergy, regardless of sphere restrictions.

Fourth Level

Cloud of Pestilence
Plague

Fifth Level

Wierding Sleeptouch

Sixth Level

Transmute Water to Dust

Seventh Level

Earthquake
Tsunami

[Adapted from Oerth Journal #9; Incabulos: Lord of Evils by Russell S. Timm and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer]