Guiliana Mortidus

Cleric-The Horned Society

Guiliana Mortidus was born to members of the Horned Society. Her mother was an evil fighter and her father was an evil priest. They dedicated their child to the service of the Society before her birth. When she was old enough, she was tested exhaustively, and the tests indicated that she had the potential to be a cleric. Accordingly, she began clerical training at the earliest possible age.

Guiliana Mortidus was not a popular pupil-her sneering contempt for those who were less talented, combined with her ability to hold a grudge ensured that she would have few friends.

She advanced through the school precisely on schedule, but did not show any unusual talent. She performed the menial tasks that were assigned to the pupils without complaint, although without enthusiasm. When she had completed her training, she was invested with the rank of cleric.

She had carefully concealed her burning hatreds from her superiors and teachers, estimating that they would betray her to her enemies. Secretly, she raged that she was not in a position to crush everyone who had ever dared offend her. When she was assigned to a low-ranking task in the temples of the Horned Society, she smiled politely and accepted, biding her time.

After several years, her patience was rewarded. She was given a position as a clerical “adviser” to the armies of the Horned Society, which were preparing for a war. She happily went off with the armies with her eyes open for possible means of promoting herself.

She gained experience rapidly with the armies, and gained a few magic items, but none of any great value. The valuables always went to the high command, and seeing them flaunting objects she craved for herself made her blood boil.

Finally, after a battle against the Shield Landers, her patience was rewarded. Searching among the dead and wounded Horned Society members for those who needed healing, the young cleric found a ring of human influence on a dead leader of Shield Lands troops, and a talisman of pure evil on a wounded and unconscious Horned Society cleric, whom she promptly killed so that she could take his talisman.

She has used these items ever since, but always carefully: She doesn’t want anyone to know she possesses them. She has seen many of her colleagues stabbed or smothered in their sleep for their magical items, and does not wish to share that fate. Using the ring, she has suggested to her peers that they shouldn’t oppose her in her climb to the top, and she has been experimenting with suggesting to her superiors that she is worthy of promotion.

Owning these two items makes Guiliana even more vain and unpopular than before. Previously, she was merely unbearable, with her disagreeable behavior and her well- founded defensiveness about her unattractive appearance. Now, with her special magic items, she has alienated nearly every one of equal or lower rank in the Society. She is carefully watched by her superiors, who correctly suspect her of ambition.

Guiliana Mortidus is a thin, slatternly woman with stringy brown hair, weak features, bad teeth, and faded blue eyes. She wears a battered suit of banded mail and carries a shield in battle.,She does exactly what her superiors in the Horned Society tell her to do, and nothing more.

She has started a small network of spies who work directly for her, consisting mostly of hobgoblins who think that this activity is authorized by the Horned Society. With their information, she plans to try to incriminate her enemies, so that she can avenge herself. She is not aware that a lowly potboy she recruited is really an assassin using his disguise to spy on her.

Her superiors do not currently have reasons to be concerned about her schemes, but they want to be sure that her schemes do not endanger them. Ifher plans are consistently inept, she will be brought up on charges, condemned, and executed. If her plans show promise, she will be subtly encouraged to adapt them to the overall plans of her superiors.

Guiliana is currently a cleric of medium rank at the main temple of the Horned Society, in the city of Molag. She has been on several minor missions to allies of the Society, such as Iuz. She has a few underlings, whom she rules by threats and abuse. Everyone unfortunate enough to be beneath her in rank hates and fears her.

In addition to her other items, Guiliana owns a staff of withering which also functions as a staff sling +2, and a mace +l. She is currently negotiating for a set of chain mail +2 with the hobgoblins who captured it in a recent fight. Unfortunately, the hobgoblin shaman who owns the armor is quite aware of its value and is asking a high price.

Except for her ambition for revenge, Guiliana is completely loyal to the ideals and goals of the Horned Society. Her relative lack of experience with the outside world has left her with almost no comprehension that any other view of life is even possible, much less reasonable.

Secretly, she thinks that anyone who fails to convert to the tenets of the Horned Society is at least guilty of willful self-deception, if not insanity. She has seldom conversed with prisoners, and the few times she did, she was unable to comprehend that the prisoners could hold views so diametrically opposed to her own. She will gladly argue points of philosophy and alignment, but will not be convinced that the Horned Society is anything but a paradise on earth for those wise souls who work hard and obey the Society’s laws.

AC 3 (banded mail + shield MV 9”; C 8; hp 50; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon or spell type (mace, staff, staff sling, club Str 10, Int 11, Wis 16, D 18, Con 14, Cha 18; THACO 16; AL LE; SA Spells: 5-lst, 5-2nd, 3-3rd, 2-4th; SD spells