Church of Maglubiyet
Maglubiyet's priesthood and shamans are of major importance to this deity. The god himself is forced to spend much of his time dealing with the eternal warring of spirits between goblins and orcs in Acheron. Unlike Gruumsh, Maglubiyet doesn't have a number of capable second-rank intermediate gods such as Ilneval to command these troops when needs be, so he has to spend much time watching over this conflict. So, the priests are vital tools for Maglubiyet's purposes on the Prime Material plane, and they have major influence in goblin tribes. This is just as true of shamans as it is of the much less numerous specialty priests. Shamans are sometimes tribal leaders in their own right, but much more often they are the right-hand goblin of the warrior-chief, and their role in preparing for warfare, improving the morale of their tribe, and advising the chief is considerable.
Maglubiyet is a deity who demands sacrifices from his priesthood. These are always sacrificed by beheading with an axe, and the priesthood teaches that these sacrifices yield up life-energy which Maglubiyet consumes and uses in his sacred war against the treacherous orc spirits in Acheron.
The priests and shamans of Maglubiyet were his mouthpieces on the Material Plane. They fulfilled his demands for blood sacrifices by dispatching victims with an axe. They believed that these sacrifices strengthened Maglubiyet. His clergy was almost always drawn from the goblin and hobgoblin races. The tasloi also worshiped an aspect of Maglubiyet.
Maglubiyet communed with his priests through omens. Blood flowing from the edge of an axe, abnormal behavior in worgs and wolves, and speaking directly through shamans in a trance were all ways he makes his will known across the worlds.
One thing that gives divine scholars pause is the notion that a deities' strength is derived from the number of worshipers of that deity. If that is the case, Maglubiyet's divine power may exceed that of many human and demihuman deities.
Divines
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