Hruggek
Hruggek is the bugbear deity of Violence and Combat. His symbol is a morningstar.
Hruggek appears as a huge, powerful bugbear, twelve feet tall. He has great fangs and clawed hands and feet, and wields a ten-foot long morningstar.
Other gods worshipped or feared by the bugbears include Grankhul, the god of hunting, senses, and surprise; Stalker, the god of darkness and death; and Skiggaret the god of fear. Hruggek and the other gods of his pantheon have an understanding - they don't act contrary to his interests, and in return he leaves them alone. He has a slight alliance with the the goblin god Khurgorbaeyag, and urges him to work against Maglubiyet, chief of the goblin gods. He doesn't get along with Bargrivyek, who seeks to unite the goblins and hobgoblins, something Hruggek sees as dangerous. He urges Maglubiyet to act against Bargrivyek, and thereby he attempts to keep the goblin pantheon divided, and less of a threat to him.
Meriadar is particularly opposed to the gods of the bugbears, including Hruggek
Hruggek's cave in Hruggekolohk, his realm in the second layer of Pandemonium, Cocytus, is surrounded by severed heads of various races, which continually cry his praises or beg for mercy, and gift him with powers against their respective peoples. Hruggek didn't make the heads - they were already there when he arrived, remnants of more ancient gods who carved the plane's tunnels.
Hruggekolohk is unusually honeycombed and filled with many standing pools, interspersed with bones and garbage. These pools are magically heated, and various forms of pallid, grublike life grow within them. The petitioners congregate in villages on the banks of these pools, often hunting the sickly pond creatures.
Hruggek delights in savage combat, but he believes his people are too small in numbers to make mass warfare practical. Instead, he urges that stealth and wiles be used to pick off foes in small groups.
Hruggek's worshippers are the warriors of their bands, who use stealth and wiles rather than mass combat to acheive their goals.
Hruggeks' priests dress in black and wear skulls on their heads. They're warriors and leaders, and keep an eye on the priests of other bugbear deities. They cooperate casually with the priests of Khurgorbaeyag. Hruggek will occasionally send his priests omens in the form of gruesome utterances from severed heads. Their favored weapon is the morningstar.
Temples to Hruggek take the form of halls built in natural caves.
Sacrifices of blood are made to Hruggek once a month, when Luna is full.
Hruggek was created by James M. Ward for the Deities and Demigods cyclopedia (1980).
Bugbears: Hruggek (battle, death), Grankhul (hunting, senses, stealth).
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