Chainbreakers of Tharizdun

Structure

Many temples are led by charismatic high priests known as the Witnesses of Tharizdun. The leaders of the cult are known as the Doomdreamers. Doomdreamers collect rare and esoteric knowledge, such as the names of demons.

Public Agenda

Their goal is to bring together all of his artifacts, and to free the Ebon God from his imprisonment, where he will destroy the multiverse. Although the cult's leaders are fully aware of this, many low-ranking members merely seek revenge against society, and are unaware with the full extent of the Dark God's destruction, should he be freed.

Assets

Many temples are led by charismatic high priests known as the Witnesses of Tharizdun, who live in opulent surroundings and partake in lavish food, drink, and other base desires at the expense of their underlings. Those forgotten temples which survive are in dark, underground places, kept freezingly cold by ancient magic placed by the fanatics who built them. They make heavy use of black stone and an archaic trapezoidal building pattern. Newer temples to Tharizdun exist in the abandoned buildings of cities, disused sewer chambers, and the cellars of converts. A few operate more openly in remote wilderness areas where the locals are too few and too cowardly to challenge them.

Mythology & Lore

The Book of Incarum, a holy text of the church of Rao, tells that Rao is the creator of mankind. Humans in ancient times turned to Tharizdun for magical power and brought upon an era of despair and eternal night. Rao created the two moons of Agnesia to create light for those who repented and sent his servant Incarum with the Crook of Rao to cast out the forces of Tharizdun from the world.

Tenets of Faith

Tharizdun's exact dogma is unknown, as the ages he was imprisoned in the Abyss along with his own growing insanity left him unable to communicate in a meaningful manner. Even when he appeared to his followers, he only spoke to them in the form of a shrieking babble that was impossible for mortals to comprehend. The following are his assumed teachings, followed by his cults.

Channel power to the Chained God, so he can break his chains. Retrieve lost relics and shrines to the Chained God. Pursue the obliteration of the world, in anticipation of the Chained God's liberation.

The Commandments of the Chained Oblivion are:

Uncover, restore, and exalt forgotten shrines in his honor.
Offer and siphon power to the Chained Oblivion until his liberation comes.
Ruin and raze the realms to prepare for the Epoch of Ends.

The creed of the Chained Oblivion is:

Light must be snuffed, perfection decayed, order dissolved, and minds fragmented.

Worship

Tharizdun is mainly followed by intelligent aberrants, crazy people and evil rogues who believe him to be a Primordial named the Elder Elemental Eye. This form comes from the rare but dangerous periods of lucidity that the mad one occasionally has. In this guise, he appears within the nightmares of his worshipers as a roiling black chaos that speaks in a shrieking babble. They seek to free him, which is about as bad as you think it would be. Also, due to the inherent nature of Chaos, Tharizdun is the only elder thing (deity OR primordial) to actively encourage his followers to destroy him. Let's all just assume worshipping him is a terrible idea. Those who are foolhardy enough to follow such twisting destruction as the Chained Oblivion are often spurned, hateful, and chaotic souls who fall through the cracks of society. A bit of inherent madness left unchecked opens the door to the creeping Void that draws those who worship this entity. The characteristics of the Chained Oblivion’s influence are bouts of uncontrollable hunger, uncharacteristic aggression, and eventually violent mania. Tharizdun's few followers are almost all insane, and those who are not are extremely dangerous. Contact with the imprisoned Dark God is only possible in proximity to one of his remaining artifacts or forgotten unholy sites, and even then his blessings come at the cost of madness. Many cults are unaware that the entity that they worship is Tharizdun. Unable to act upon the world directly, he dispenses his power from cover identities and aspects. Tharizdun's followers are highly secretive, and his temples are well hidden. Many follow him in the optimistic belief that he will spare his loyal servants when he destroys the multiverse. Followers of Tharizdun conduct terrible rituals of sacrifice. Most of their rites involve failed attempts to commune with their deity, or learn the secrets to unlocking the chains that bind him.

Priesthood

Clergy: The clergy of Tharizdun preach that all things eventually crumble, and in time Tharizdun's victory over the gods will be complete. The higher acolytes of Tharizdun, as part of their ritual of ascension and to show their true faith, often remove their eyes so they can peer through shadow and light with his boon. His clerics traditionally wear black or purple robes. Clerics of his aspect typically wear ochre-colored robes, sometimes altered to represent one of the four elements.

Granted Divine Powers

Clerics of Tharizdun cannot gain spells from him in the normal way, due to his imprisonment on some unknown plane. They must be in contact with one of his few holy artifacts, or one of his ancient holy sites. The channel divinity for this faith is Invoke duplicity and Cloak of shadows.

Sects

The Chained Oblivion and his followers often deceive other sects into aiding their efforts by creating a false idol entirely. Its intent, as best can be ascertained, is to consume and destroy.