The Bloodletter's Cult of Redfall Reach

You've opened the book, and now it's too late. Yes, yes, horror of horrors, all of your fears have become real! You thought you'd found something really good this time, didn't you? You saw the fine, well-aged spine of an old tome and thought you'd found an artifact of a lost library or one of those displaced compendiums of secret knowledge. But, no, you found this instead, and as soon as you read the first word the curse took hold. Yes, it's true. You're dying. Right now, you're already dying. Isn't that terrible? But isn't it also a little bit funny? Yes, it is, I promise. It's funny! You picked up a book and now you're dying! Have a laugh. You might as well, for you haven't long now.

-This article is excerpted from a transcription of a cursed tome, one of Sof Sator's Fabled Compendiums. It contains knowledge that is uncommon, forbidden, or perhaps even dangerous.-

Redfall Reach has a charmingly tragic history. It was once named for the color of the sunset glowing upon the sweetwater falls pouring out of the Seafont Mountains, the same flows that fed the Ossean Sea and filled the Satorseas. It was always a place of menacing aesthetic, you must understand, but that was only because the mountains were an igneous black rife with ore, so everything was made of black stone and iron, all exuding the fumes of refining metal, of the forging of arms and armor. But, as I said, the waterfalls were pretty, so it had that much gonig for it.
The name came to take on a different meaning after the Ossean Campaign and the day they call the Tortured Reawakening, around the same time people renamed the Seafont Mountains to the Bloodletting Mountains, on account of the sweetwater turned to blood. That's no euphemism, mind you. The world is literally wounded there. Blood does not pour as water once did, but it trickles in sickening reviulets over the cliffs where the falls once were. That red fall, sanguine now, coincides with the drying of the Ossean Valley and the draining of the Satorseas, and perhaps through no coincidence with cursed skeletons rising into the sky and singing hymns of universal damnation.
If you had lived in Redfall Reach at that time, assuming you survived the Ossean Campaign, you would have joined the cult as well. Think otherwise if you like, you predictable and prideful beasts, you silly little self-sung souls so quickly fading, but I know each and every one of you have been on your knees beneath that screaming sky howling along with the rest of your god-cursed kin: "Salvation is past and gone. Lose all hope. The demon is won."
-Jack o'Shadows
1052 CR

History

It goes like this: King Hysmal of Revan and King Alor'al'uy of the the Golden Reef decide that the Osseans are too uncomfortable to think about and would rather they not exist, so they send out their armies to exterminate them. Meanwhile, Redfall Reach takes the opposite opinion. That's the Ossean Campaign, and it does not end well for Redfall. Now, you might think it short-sighted for Redfall's leaders to turn to religion to motivate their failing troops, but you're mortal, so don't be a hypocrite about it. Redfall resisted with such fanaticism that victory required Revan and the Golden Reef to completely crush the spirit of Redfall's people, which involved some incredible slaughters, a few mass graves, and some public torture of public servants.
Then came that whole bit with Tortured Reawakening, wherein those tortured leaders arose as singing skeletons, ascending into the air and singing some magnificently performed hymns of self-worship and universal condemnation. It was impressive. I'd think it was rehearsed if I didn't know better; I seriously doubt you can rehearse that kind of thing. It's not very hard to imagine that this had a transformative effect on the militaristic faith of Redfall, as now their leaders had risen into the sky proclaiming that all creation was hereafter condemned to hell, that salvation was not possible for anyone, and that this is just how things are from now on.
Revan and the Golden Reef decided to leave things like that. After all, it isn't their problem any more. This while the Seafont Mountains dry up, with all the calamity that brings, and the world begins to bleed.
Incidentally, the Everliving comes on the scene about this time. He's immortal, you see, which helps him convince everyone he's divine, along with the idea that he can offer eternal life to others. Once the belief catches on, that the only thing that exists after death is ceaseless, inescapable torment beyond all imagining, the idea of simply never dying becomes very appealing. The Everliving found it incredibly easy to recruit a rapidly-expanding cabal of devouts, which he orgainzed around himself, and it really only took a few years -- I'm thinking, five? -- for this to completely overtake Redfall Reach. From there, they began to bring the horrible, horrible news of damnation to surrounding regions, building cathedrals in as many cities as they could, and attracing congregants from all over Sof Sator.

Hierarchy

The Cult of the Bloodletters organizes their hierarchy very clearly and with fanatical rigidity. It's for good reason, too, though I'm not sure I'll tell you why. Here is your clue: the Everliving is the name of their leader, the director of all the faith's various activities and the de facto ruler of the city of Redfall Reach. Beneath him is an extensive netowrk of Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests, beneath whom is the Congregation of Damned Sinners. That's not me cursing them; they held themselves thus cursed. There's one Everliving, a handful of Cardinals, a few hundred Bishops, some thousand or so Priests, and however many congregants they can maintain while also harvesting them in ritualistic bloodrites and living sacrifices. You wouldn't think a cult of hopeless damnation would be very popular, but they maintain their numbers. Some beings are born to such utter macabrity that they seek things like this by nature.
Don't act like you aren't such a being yourself. I promise you that your end is no different than the worst among these bloodlet bastards. You don't set yourself apart by pretending otherwise.

Culture

Let's cut to the chase: the only way for anyone to escape eternal damnation is to be killed in battle against Revan or the Golden Reef during the Ossean Campaign. If you did not die in that specific way, during that specific war, you've missed your chance and are now destined for eternal torment beyond all imagining. There's literally nothing else to it. Therefore, you must make sure that you never die, and the only way to do that is to devote yourself to this specific person known as the Everliving, who demands that you conform to a wildly complicate set of rules, recite specific hymns, and participate in rotely performed rites that involve bleeding yourself, soemtimes drinking blood, and often times killing fellow converts. The entire magical aparatus required to ensure your unending existence depends on your perfect performance of all rites and adherence to all rules, and failure to do this correctly could end not only in your death and damnation, but the death and damnation of all other converts who rely on you.
Therefore, the Bloodletter's Cult most powerful cultural touchstone is draconian enforcement of religious practices. This is all based, incidentally, in the military tradition of Redfall's previous society, which helps everything along very nicely. They're very good at military order, which translates well into religious order, and they're very good at armor and weapon and pain, and at conforming to hierarchies. Almost everyone who lives in Redfall Reach is a member of this cult, and almost everyone who is not pretends that they are, because almost everyone who lives outside of the cult will be murdered by the cult for failure to conform or else cpatured and used in blood rites. After all, if they can't find foreigners to use in their blood rites, they have to use members of the congregation. You can't just not do the blood rites. That blood has to come from somewhere.
The sweet spot for living well in the cult, by the way, is about at the level of Cardinal. Congregants end up getting sacrificed, and priests sometimes get murdered by the congregants they're trying to sacrifice, but nobody really ever gets up to killing a Cardinal, you get choice access to all the best magic the blood rites power. I'd say the sweet spot is to be the Everliving himself, but nobody really understands who or what the Everliving actually is, so it's hard to say if it's really a very nice existence. Tradition holds that the Everliving is an anthral blessed with divine knowledge, chosen to offer eternal life to those who follow the faith properly, but it all sounds a little convenient to me. I've met plenty of beings that will live essentially forever, and none of them are starting cults to avoid damnation. I'm not trying to say it's wrong, or that it's right. It's not my business.
Alright, you're right. You're here for forbidden knowledge and I'm not being fair. Fine. I enjoy that idea that the Everliving is just an anthral who's set up a cult that's doing all this horrible magic designed to keep him from dying. It's a fun story. The turh is a little more complicated. I'll just give you a few clues. The big one: the Everliving is the same thing that I am. There's four of us in Sof Sator. Out of all of us, I'm the worst at doing what we're meant to do, but the Everliving? He's a master of our craft. It's almost not worth competing with him at all. He's outclassed the rest of us by an order of magnitude. I'd be impressed, if I wasn't worried that sooner or letter he'll remember I exist and snuff me out.
Now, let's be done with that. Back to my earlier point: Redfall Reach insists that it is in a continuing state of war with the Golden Reef, and its congregants tend to walk around in black armor, all covered in blood, and it's just not a very good look. That's just how I feel about it.

Assets

Having essentially supplanted the government of Redfall Reach, the Bloodletter's Cult has at its disposal all the resources of its economy, infrastructure, and significant military. They practically worship dead soldiers from the last big war, so it makes sense that the military is a popular career choice. And they can more than support all the soldiers they have. Redfall Reach produces so much armor and arms that they sell the excess to the Greater Sabine Trade Compact.
Now, I know what you're thinking: why would they join a trade compact run by Revan, their previous enemy? It has something to do with submission to their conqueror, an upside-down acceptance of their damnation. Their endless war against the Golden Reef is actually the same sort of thing. They just love getting killed the by the Reef's Sanguinates more than they love selling them things.

Monotheistic Faith

Center of power

Redfall Reach

Founding Date

920 CR

Population

500,000 congregants. I'm guessing.

Cult?

Yes, very much

Alternative Names

Redfall Cult
Church of the Bloodletters
Children of the Everliving