Loviatar (Low-vi-Tar)

Loviatar is a deity of pain and suffering, with the Cult of Loviatar believing in the transcendence of suffering and pain, and that it is a path to power.

Where the Cult Thrives

The Cult of Loviatar can only said to have any real presence among slavers, as such the Atarsid Isles and Yhess Kingdoms are the only Kingdoms that temples to Loviatar are present. Throughout much of the Known World worship of Loviatar is outlawed or heavily stigmatised.

Tenets of the Faith

The Cult of Loviatar are said to be a sadistic group, who revel in the propagation of pain. To the Cult nothing is as transcendent as suffering, to most this means bring suffering to others lives; from the crudest barbarism, to the most sublime torture, to the emotional suffering of the heartbroken or the betrayal. Pain is also a path to power, in terms of both one's ability to inflict it and one's ability to endure it.
The Cult rarely gather in numbers except in the more populous cities. When small cadres of Cult operate quietly in such places, few citizens take notice or raise a fuss if they do witness cult activity. The sufferers who endure the lash, however, aren't always willing participants, and the Cult sometimes operate secret slavery rings, which can draw the attention of the authorities. The open worship of Loviatar and temples clearly dedicated to her are rarely seen except in lands where slavery is an accepted practice.

Temples

Temples to Loviatar are rare in most of the known world, however the faithful of the Maiden of Pain and temples dedicated to her are common throughout the Yhess Kingdoms, and Atarsid Isles, and elsewhere among torturers, slavers, interrogators, and others who need to break others wills, or inflict cruel pain. The Cult is favoured by sadists and masochists, and some of her followers form cultish cells of secret adherents.

Priests

The Priests of Loviatar possess a cold, cruel demeanour which they consider ideal because it best emulates the Scourge Mistress, and for the same reason her faithful appreciate beauty, cultural refinement, and a certain adeptness at manipulation. It is only the most powerful and cruel that rise through the strict hierarchy of the priesthood of pain.

Depictions of the Deity

The Scourge Mistress is commonly depicted as a beautiful and sinister feminine figure, oft surrounded and garbed in sadistic equipment.

Factions

Scarlet Talons are a despicable order dedicated to bringing about suffering in others and to the deity Loviatar. They capture freepeoples and slaves to torture those unfortunates they pray upon. They are particularly common amongst the corrupt nobles and elites.

Titles: The Maiden of Pain, the Scourge Mistress, the Willing Whip, the Queen of Slavery
Alignment: Lawful Evil, Lawful Neutral
Symbol: Nine-tailed barbed scourge
Domains: Death, Order

Type

Religious, Organised Religion