Bane

Bane, one of the Deities of the Lower Planes, is the ultimate tyrant and a thoroughly evil and malicious being who revels in hatred and strife and was worshiped by those who in turn enjoyed such wickedness. From his throne in the Black Bastion. In religious art, he is depicted as a looming, brooding black hand ready to crush the world in its palm, as an empty black throne, or as a shadowy, vaguely human-shaped figure garbed in garments of black streaked with red sitting on a throne of skulls. The one constant in these depictions is a jewel-encrusted gauntlet streaked with blood. Bane hates most of the Deities. He devotes much research to try to learn ways in which other gods have in the past subsumed the powers of rival gods whom they destroyed, for Bane desired above all to gain true supreme power by acquiring governance overall magic. This may be the underlying reason that Bane plotted to steal the Tablets of Fate precipitating the Fall of the Gods.

Divine Domains

War

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Green rays squeezed forth from a black fist

Tenets of Faith

All priests of Bane are ordered to submit to the word of Bane as uttered by Banite clergy members who outranked them and to "spread the Dark Fear" of Bane. Bane whispers to initiates in their dreams: "Serve no one but me. Fear me always—and make others fear me even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down those who stand against it in the end. Defy me and die—or in your death find loyalty, for 1 shall compel it. Submit to my will, since true power can only be gained through service to me. It is the doom of those unguided by me to let power spill through their hands."

Holidays

No rituals of Bane correspond to calendar dates, seasons, or lunar progressions. Rituals are held whenever clergy leading a congregation declare they will be, and these ceremonies are called by a wide variety of names. Personal prayers to Bane are to be uttered before going into battle and before eating or drinking anything to thank Bane for allowing his worshiper to live to taste the fare. Rituals are held in a place of darkness (often simply outdoors at night) lit only by dim magical radiances, moonlight, and flickering torches or braziers. Usually dark chambers, caverns, and ruins are used. The worshipers gather around the Black Altar, which was a plain stone block draped with black cloth or painted black, a block of obsidian, or anything over which a large, floating, black stone Hand of Bane hovers (levitating there by a wizard clergy member or a magical item used by a priest or through magic of its own). If no Hand of Bane is present, an empty black throne is always placed facing the Black Altar. Services in such evil churches involve rolling drums, chanting, and sometimes singing—and the sacrifice of intelligent life. Sacrifices have to be humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before dying to be acceptable to Bane, and they usually meet their deaths through slashing, flogging, or being crushed by the floating Hand of Bane.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Bane desires to rule the world so that all would know his tyranny. His clergy members are charged with the task of rising to power in every realm and if necessary leading a band, city-state, or kingdom to war to conquer its neighbors in order to bring ever more territory under the sway of the Black Hand of Bane. Hatred, strife, and destruction are to be spread—but under clear duress and control, not unbridled chaos. Domination is preferred to debauchery, and carefully limited discord to stability. Cruelty, torture, and mayhem are tacitly encouraged, but those caught at such activities have to pay the price unless they have served Bane so well by spreading fear that none dared speak or act against them. Superior Banite clergy members have to be obeyed at all times and in all things. The faithful are to work subtly and patiently—but tirelessly— to bring members of the faith to power in every guild, village, town, court, war band, fellowship, realm, and society. All rules of the church have to be followed to the utmost, but the rules of others were no rules at all. Priestly Vestments Banite clergy members always go armed and are required to always wear something black. Ceremonial dress for Banite priests consists of black armor with blood-red capes. The more prosperous the priest, the finer the workmanship of the armor was. The ceremonial robes of wizards of the clergy are always black; wizard clergy members of the highest ranks enspell these robes to swirl with ever-present illusions of glittering black stars and splashes of spilling blood. Facial tattoos are common among Banites. Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, priests of Bane retain their black armor, though their battle armor usually sported cruel spurs, hooks, and horns. Wizardly clergy members prefer long, flowing, black-and-red robes. Neither group wears such gear in public if it would expose them to persecution or hamper their service to their deity. Usually, the facial tattoos of Banites are enough to identify them.