Kali, The Broodqueen
The Patron Saint of the Vrykus Throne, Mother of Monsters, Savior of the Inhuman, and Major God of Blood, Heresy, Monsters, Death, and Nightmares
In Life, Death. Through Death, we find our new normality and need not fear the dark. Through Life, we shape ourselves in her image and do not survive, but thrive. In Death, Life.Title(s): The Broodqueen, Mistress of Blood, High Duchess of the Houses, She who Survived, The Unforgotten, Queen of the Vrykus Line, The Night Wind Alignment: Neutral Evil Favored Weapon: Bite Attack, Rapier Obedience: Spend one hour in darkness or moonlight surrounded in some way by blood(fresh blood if possible). Daub your finger in the blood while chanting unholy litanies to The High Duchess of the Houses, then mark your forehead with her unholy symbol. Once the symbol has been drawn, seal it with magical energy sparked directly into the symbol's center and drink whatever blood remains once the hour is up. Effect: You are warded against the worst of Numiastra's Broken Leylines and Rampant Magics, and roll twice and take the preferable result on all wild magic rolls and similar unstable magical charts. You gain a +2 on all saves made versus Divination Magic, and may as an immediate action once per combat when a creature you can see within 30ft falls below 50% health heal for 2HP per HD they possess by feasting on their spilled blood. A creature you feed on this way is shaken for 1 round.
Divine Domains
Madness, Destruction, Death, Evil, Nobility, Trickery, Knowledge, Weather
Artifacts
Though the lands of the Vrykus Throne are a secretive place where little in the way of information leaks out into the wider world, enough has leaked out over the centuries and millennia since the Skyfall calamity that two artifacts have become well-known superstitions in the lands of the Vrykus Throne and far afield - striking fear into the hearts of mortals and living creatures everywhere.
Firstly, a legendary artifact known as Sunpiercer - an arrow that, when fired, is said to be able to extinguish the legendary Iron Suns that burn above the cities of Tavross, The Iron Emperor and protect The Iron Empire's population centers from the influence of undead and sun-hating monstrosities; ever burning artificial suns that require enormous amounts of fuel that stand as a bulwark against the darkness. This arrow, while only fired a handful of times in millennia, has nonetheless accrued a monstrously terrifying reputation amongst the Iron Empire and other mortal beings across Numiastra, for its arrival heralds a feast of unprecedented proportions.
Secondly, a more esoteric artifact believed to be a technique known among the nobility of the lands of The Vrykus Throne known as The Veinsplitter Mutation - a technique pioneered by Kali herself bestowed unto the immortal heads of the Throne's Noble Houses that is capable of allowing a vampiric being to not only drink the blood of a given creature, but to forcibly mutate them into an undead or similarly unholy form more suited for survival in the lands of the Vrykus Throne. This technique is kept a closely guarded secret of the Houses and is considered a great honor bestowed onto only the most worthy of outsiders, who are typically either kept as low-class slaves or citizens or merely slain and tossed into enormous Blood Vats to be processed into food and turned into undead.
Holy Books & Codes
The Veinsplitter Grimoire
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A human skull held in a fanged mouth, a goblet emblazoned on its forehead
Tenets of Faith
Become every nightmare, slit every vein, and feast upon every heart. Spill blood, relish the act, savor the taste, and let it flow freely until life's light is extinguished from this world.
Death is the only path for life. Bestow the gift of death to all who yet live. Only in death can survival become prosperity.
Embrace the outcast and heretical. Welcome that which lurks in the unseen corners, and show them the path to darkness.
True power lies in the self. The self is justice, and your greatest source of power - burn yourself upon the pyre and use its might to bend the world to your will.
The Industries of Man must be destroyed. They seek the strength of steel to supplant the weakness of their flesh and the sickness of their spirits - tear down the industries and innovations of man wherever they can be found.
Holidays
The Bloodbath - a Holiday taking place on the anniversary of the Skyfall Calamity where the followers of Kali and citizens of The Vrykus Throne engage in enormous, debaucherous, cannibalistic feasts where living beings are hunted for sport in great, sadistic games to celebrate the calamity which showed the world its true nature.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
To extinguish the sun and plunge the world into eternal icy darkness.
To kill all living beings and turn grant them new forms better suited to survival.
To see Tavross, The Iron Emperor and his followers exterminated.
Followers and Priesthood
The followers of Kali are much more diverse and spread out than those of Tavross, The Iron Emperor, and a great deal less organized to boot - they lurk within every village, everywhere the light of the sun doesn't quite reach, and in every corner untouched or unfound by civilization. All ethnicities and races are present and even welcomed into the Priesthood, with most entering the faith after underoing a rite known as The Baptism in which they are either slain and brought back as an Undead or transformed through other more direct methods(Such as The Veinsplitter Mutation technique used by the Priesthood's most powerful and notable members) and inducted into the faith as "members of the new world order". Despite this being the main means by which most enter into the faith of Kali, it isn't uncommon in many places for creatures to be born into the faith(Particularly among the Great Noble Houses of the Vrykus Throne) or accepted into the faith if they are hunted by the faith's enemies(Most commonly that of Tavross, The Iron Emperor), whom the faith will offer asylum readily for the simple fact of spiting their enemies even if that creature offered asylum is a living creature. For the most part, the Priesthood of The Broodqueen is a scattered and loosely organized mob loosely directed by powerful leaders of the faith known as "Coven Matrons" or "Coven Patrons" - these leaders are almost universally Vampires or some other form of powerful undead that have served the Vrykus Throne and thus the will of Kali for long periods of time, with the more regular members of the faith being indistinguishable from the normal citizens of the Vrykus Throne which Kali rules as its queen; The faith truly makes little distinction between "citizen" and "soldier" or "cleric" - all who count themselves as a faithful of The Broodqueen find themselves having little need for such divisions, as they know their place and do what they can to defend it; making the faith a strangely stark contrast from the brutalistic, tyrannical divisions of the faith of Tavross, The Iron Emperor who organize themselves zealously. Instead, the faithful simply do as they wish in whatever ways that best further the cause of their Goddess in whatever ways they are best suited to, occasionally taking instruction from the Coven Matron or Coven Patron if particular tasks require more directed supervision or instruction. This makes them incredibly free-form and difficult to pick out amongst a crowd, as when not in active service to their faith they simply carry about with their normal lives - a fact which has likely played a large part in fostering the ever-suspicious nature of the followers of Tavross, The Iron Emperor. Because of this, followers of The Broodqueen rarely bear ostentatious signs of her faith outside of the higher ranking and longer-standing undead members of the faith such as the Vrykus Throne's numerous Great Houses, whose Undead and Vampiric Lords and Ladies take great pride in festooning themselves with symbology and iconography to honor and gain the favor of their Eternal Queen. Most members of the faith, however, satisfy themselves in the knowledge of their usefulness to The Broodqueen and bear little to no symbology of her faith - though in areas under the influence of the Vrykus Throne, some might display subtle holy symbols or such iconography proudly.Ethics
The Ethics of the followers of The Broodqueen is best described as "Random Acts of Violence" - though the faithful themselves would likely correct this saying to "Random Acts of Faith", the main point remains the same. In strange contrast to the faithful of Tavross, The Iron Emperor who zealously place the greater good above all else, happily burning their lives for a single inch of ground if it means protecting their empire and their faith, the followers of The Broodqueen have no such zealotry - instead, they form a sort of "Grand Commonwealth of Undead" where each member of the faith knows their part based on what their skillsets are and what they are willing and able to do for the faith, using their often inhuman physiology to make up for the fanatical zealotry of their enemies. In short, they are most laid back and unified in their efforts(though infighting and scheming amongst the faithful is EXTREMELY common, as are power struggles) against their enemies, shrugging off blows that would kill normal humans a dozen times over and laughing in the face of their enemies' efforts - sowing terror and fear within enemy lines with their unstoppable advance when they march to war. Above all, the followers of The Broodqueen see themselves as the new standard for what "Life" is on Numiastra - the new apex species which is best suited to thrive in the continent's new environment Post-Skyfall as opposed to the living, who they view as an inferior, outdated species clinging to extremist ways to survive in a land that no longer requires them. They believe that the world cannot be made right until the last breath is extracted and the last light leaves the eyes of the last living being on the planet of Ea - that then and only then can the land of Numiastra and the Planet of Ea truly begin to thrive under the reign of the beings best suited to live within its harsh, unforgiving ecology. Because of this, they see themselves as natural allies of that which all others cast out - making them ready allies of witches, heretics, magic-wielders, and all sorts of monsters and beasts which they eagerly welcome as allies if they can but accept the truth of The Broodqueen into their cruel, blackened hearts. Often selfish, unforgiving, and cruel as a matter of course, the followers of The Broodqueen see innovation and industries are paltry tools of the weak created by an inferior species to make up for the weaknesses of their flesh and the frailties of their spirits - things to be torn down and reduced to rubble and little else, for they see no value in such things, instead viewing the alteration of the body and its nature as the one true path to power. In direct contrast to the followers of Tavross, The Iron Emperor, the followers of Kali view things like "humanity" and "mortality" as useless and irrelevant, and "souls" as useful only as a means to acquiring power and stability in one's life - they will toss anything aside and commit any atrocity if it means empowering themselves, and consider it a matter of natural selection that they do so; that life itself cannot thrive in Numiastra without such acquisitions. As such, they view transformations into Undead such as Liches and Vampires as the greatest things to aspire to, though all manner of undead or transformations of any kind are things to be revered in general. Finally, they delight most in holding up a mirror to the living as a whole and showing them for what they truly are - ugly, inferior beings who are destined to die out in the face of natural selection. They often delight most in corrupting and turning the living to the beliefs of Kali, though they will almost always extend an offer to the living to "join the winning side" and accept a transformation into an undead or, at the least, some sort of corruption into a form more suited for life under the Vrykus Throne and Kali herself. However, if this offer is refused, they will often become wrathful or sometimes simply depressed or annoyed, seeing it as wasted potential before snuffing out the lives in question and putting their flesh and souls to use in other more base needs, such as food or construction.History
The history of Kali herself is described in "The One who Survived" on the sidebar of this page, but beyond her history as a survivor of The Skyfall Calamity, Kali herself is something like an idol or an icon to her people - even the most insidious and scheming members of her faith and The Vrykus Throne as a whole dare not move against Kali herself, though not for the reason many assume; indeed, the true reason is one that few can find it in them to accept, for the mere notion of any Undead or a follower of Kali feeling such a thing is a ridiculous notion...however, the truth remains that the rule of Kali after the founding of The Vrykus Throne and the spreading of her faith is one of love. Love for the savior who taught them how to return to normality, love for the queen of the icy dead who delivered them truth and salvation, love for the lady of blood who saved them from the tyrannical rule of Tavross, The Iron Emperor - all are common sentiments, though her followers do occasionally need to be reminded through force why exactly she sits atop The Vrykus Throne, and why exactly it is their ancestors threw themselves at her feet and begged for her truth to be bestowed upon them. Ever since her installation on the ruling seat of The Vrykus Throne alongside her council of advisors and lords and ladies of the night, Kali has slowly expanded her empire outwards from her capital of The Vrykus Throne(Named for the country itself) and turned it into a continent-spanning monolith where once was mere anarchy and infinite suffering - connecting far distant realms and uniting them beneath the banner of the Queen of Icy Death and her realm of the dead. It is through her that most forms of Undead on the Continent are said to stem from, and from her accursed, freezing blood that the most powerful of Blood Magicks flow from, and it is from her that any who seek mastery over Magic in any capacity most commonly turn to for protection against the rampant energies of the land which threaten to unmake spellcasters and entire countrysides unless power from beyond the mortal coil is sought to aid the spellcaster in his or her grisly work. And ultimately, it is through her that her subjects hope to one day extinguish the light of the Sun and overthrow the humans lands of Tavross, The Iron Emperor to truly show the world that only through Death, can Life be found anew.
Live always evolves - given a new environment, the beings best suited to that new environment will prosper. That is Kali - that is her truth. This land has changed, and we simply must accept that. Death is the new life. The new norm. The new standard that this environment favors. We can fight it with steel and smog, choke the planet and kill it, or become that which can survive upon it unimpeded.
Divine Classification
Major God
Alignment
Neutral Evil
Children
The One who Survived
Whereas her eternal rival Tavross, The Iron Emperor rules his people through innovation, fear, and the raw power of industry, Kali's right to rule, ironically, comes from nothing less than true and total admiration of her subjects - unlike the fear-inducing totalitarian rule of her rival. When the Skyfall Calamity rocked the entire continent of Numiastra and beyond when an ancient Skycity crashed from the sky and created the Black Desert, land of unending Blackpowder whose initial detonation almost cracked the Planet of Ea in twain, all but the hardiest and most well-protected beings survived the apocalyptic destruction of that terrible event and the nightmares that ensued(and ensue to this day). Among those who survived was Kali herself - a simple woman who, by the grace of her own passion and desire to survive, managed to endure Skyfall and the decades of ashfall that followed where Mage-Tyrants ruled the broken land. However, where Tavross, The Iron Emperor quickly turned his people to the construction of the Iron Empire's Hive Cities to endure the apocalypse raging outside, turning to atrocities and totalitarian rule to survive in the face of the calamity of the age yet retaining their humanity and mortality(Which they viewed as most important), Kali found a simpler solution - embrace the new normality and abandon her humanity to become something capable of mastering the new apocalyptic landscape she found herself in. In this way, she became the first Vampire post-Skyfall on Numiastra, and quickly brought her truth to the suffering tribes of the land who feared the arrival of Tavross, The Iron Emperor and his autocratic cruelty, bringing them death and showing them the path to true normality in this new age of death and anarchy - creating a land where its people need not live in fear of what lurks in the night, for they have thrown away that about themselves they see as useless to attain a new "normality" wholly unlike that of The Iron Empire and its God Tavross, The Iron Emperor. Because of this, the people of the Vrykus Throne and to a lesser degree Inhumans and Undead everywhere on Numiastra view Kali as their Goddess who stands in defiance of Tavross, The Iron Emperor who would either enslave them, force them into line, or kill them by offering them a simpler(and merciful, to many) choice: Accept the Truth of Kali, and become the new form of "Life" suited to thrive in Numiastra, or watch as all they hold dear comes crumbling down around them in bloody, brutal fashion.
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