Rise (War Witch Book 1) (92 page)

Gol Mok

The Ram God of earthquakes and mountains.

Originally an Earth God, Gol Mok fell in status as more and more cities were built and then crumbled by the pounding of his hooves. Except for fear that he would open the maw of the World to swallow all of the races, worship of him would cease entirely. Gol Mok cares little for this, actually, and has long held that the races of the World would only bring about the downfall of the Gods. Regardless, he is a pragmatic deity, and knows that the box, once opened, cannot be closed again. Therefore, he is attempting to do what little he can to build trust between himself and the races of the World, if only to stop the Demon Gods from destroying all there is. Gol Mok, a force of change and upheaval, recognizes the Demon Gods as stagnation and ruin, and as such, is vehemently against their continued existence.

There are very few depictions of this God, for they are considered insulting to him. Those few that do exist are very old, likely dating as far back as the early part of the Second Age and show him as a ram-headed man standing atop a mountain.

His symbol is the ram horn. Gol Mok has no priesthood, and wants no priesthood, leaving that sort of vanity to the other Gods. He considers having mortals fawn on him insulting.

The Divine Gift bestowed upon Blessed of Gol Mok is
Shake the Earth
. With this awesome Gift, the Blessed gains the ability to cause earthquakes by simply stamping their feet on the ground. All but they and their allies are thrown off balance by the sudden tremors, giving an advantage in battle. More powerful Blessed have been known to open chasms that swallow Demon armies whole.

His Divine Mark is The Ram Head.

Amaron

The Horse god of travel, travelers, and road ways.

Where Asdrid watches over the gates of the High World, Amaron runs the roads that lead to these gates, trampling the Demon Seed under his thunderous hooves. Once a Sky God, he fell in status when man finally tamed the horse and began to see him in the light of a servant. While many Gods would be bitter over this, Amaron long recognized his duty as a servant to the races of the world, and does not see any insult. Perhaps alone among the Gods, he feels the place of the Divine is to serve the needs of mortals, a stance that has garnered him many strange looks from his brothers and sisters.

Amaron is most often depicted as a centaur, and indeed, he is the father of that race. Other depictions show him as a massive war horse with a jet black coat, his human aspect being well muscled and fearless in features.

His symbol is a long, curving line, symbolic of the roads he runs in defense of the High World. Like many Lesser Gods, he has no priesthood, and is quite content with that.

The Divine Gift bestowed upon Blessed of Amaron is
Powerful Strike
. With this Gift, the Blessed's bare hands and feet become lethal weapons, capable of dealing incredible amounts of damage without leaving so much as a mark on the Blessed. More powerful Blessed have been known to kick down the gates of castles, or knock True Form Demons unconscious with this Gift.

His Divine Mark is The Horse Head.

BORN OF THE TRAITOROUS
Ker Zet, the Demon Gods rule over the Low World with an iron fist, the terrible terrain of the Demon Plane a place of nightmares and horrors beyond the human imagination. Their sole quest is to storm the gates of the High World and slay the High Gods, taking their place and ruling over creation, turning everything into a mirror of the Low World.

The Demon Gods place their mark on the lower back of those they Bless, so that they may not be discovered with ease and may work to corrupt and destroy without drawing attention to themselves. Many of the Dark Markings are also deliberate corruptions of many of the High Gods symbols, blasphemy on top of blasphemy. Demon Seed have even begun using these marks as the symbols for their evil masters, intentionally causing confusion and contributing to the chaos the Demon Gods foster.

Likewise, the priests of the Demon Gods do not wear sashes, instead carrying a talisman of their god, often a specially formed symbol they can hold or wear, but can be put away if they must operate in secrecy. Some will mimic the sashes of priests of the High Gods, keeping the waters stirred up as much as possible.

Ker Zet

The Black Tiger, thirdborn of Rialda. The Fallen One, traitorous mother of the Demon Gods. Source of all evil. The Black Bitch.

Ker Zet is as evil as she is insane. Thousands upon thousands of years of festering jealousy and greed have warped her spirit and her heart into a bitter, hateful thing that desires only revenge and destruction. Where she once desired only to replace her sister, she now craves the death of both her siblings and their children. Only when she has undone all of creation and put it together in her own image will she be at peace.

Due to the curse placed upon her by Isel, Ker Zet is an unimaginably hideous thing with only her beautiful black tiger face left unmarred. Because of this, it is blasphemy for even her own followers to have depictions of her. She desires no reminder of her twisted image and the great beauty she has lost through her own manipulations and deception.

Ker Zet's symbol is the same as the mark she places upon her Dark Blessed, a black sun. Her priests wear this as a talisman around their neck when performing their dark rituals to her.

The Dark Gift bestowed upon Dark Blessed of Ker Zet is
Sow Corruption
. Perhaps the ultimate Dark Gift, this power grants the Dark Blessed the ability to corrupt a person, place, or thing to evil with but a word or a touch. Dark Blessed of Ker Zet are among the most dangerous of Demon Seed due to this power alone.

Ratal

The vile Goddess of disease, mother of suffering.

The youngest of Ker Zet's brood, Ratal is perhaps the most insidious. Through her power, she has brought more agony to the Middle World than any other Demon God. Daily, her influence spreads, as disease and pestilence grow. Few hold hope against her power, for it kills without sword or bow, and cares little for what victim it takes. In her realm, deep in the Low World, Ratal laughs upon her throne of decaying flesh and spews forth more filth, wrapped in her own rotting afterbirth.

Few depictions exist of this foul Goddess, but those that do show her as a small, emaciated child, covered in sores and blisters, her skin greenish from illness, wrapped in tattered and dirty clothing. She is most always blind in these depictions, her eyes great, wide white orbs.

Her symbol is the fly, the spreader of disease and eater of filth. Her priests often carry onyx rods with the end carved in the likeness of a fly.

The Dark Gift bestowed upon Dark Blessed of Ratal is
Poison Breath
. With this Dark Gift, the Dark Blessed becomes a deadly opponent, capable of exhaling a deadly gas that can suffocate, poison, and kill anyone who breathes it. Her Dark Blessed are immune to the toxic cloud, but greatly enjoy luring entire teams of Blessed into small spaces before unleashing it.

Her Dark Mark is The Bone.

Vorger

The dark Lord of chaos.

It is said that peace ended with the first scream of Vorger. His very birth ripped across the fabric of creation, and disturbed all that was. Often referred to as The Mad God, Vorger is consumed with hatred for the orderly nature of things, often screaming from his citadel at the pain it causes him. Of all Ker Zet's children, only Vorger hates creation as much as she does.

Those few depictions of Vorger that even appear as a depiction of him show him as a man might look if he were turned inside out and put together wrong. Many who look upon an image of Vorger feel as if they look at it too long, they will go mad.

His symbol resembles a star with the points turned inside instead of out. It stands for the ultimate destruction of all that is. His priests wear his symbol about a heavy iron chain around their necks.

The Dark Gift bestowed upon Dark Blessed of Vorger is
Chaos Warp
. This Dark Gift grants the Dark Blessed the ability to manipulate reality at whim, twisting and warping it to meet their own desires. Gravity, direction, and many other concrete laws of physics stop working and become dictated solely by the desire of the Dark Blessed.

His Dark Mark is The Spiral.

Xen Phal

The headless one, God of cannibalism and headhunters.

The savage and callous Xen Phal is easily one of the most violent of the Demon Gods. Born without a head, he was nourished on flesh stuck down his neck by his mother. As time passed, he spread his unsavory diet to others, corrupting them with the forbidden taste. It is said he is ever in search of a head, often using those he finds lying about, placing them upon the withered stump over his shoulders in a vain attempt to be whole.

He is most often depicted as an impossibly hulking being, bulging with muscle, wrapped in the chains Ker Zet uses to control him, his stump of a neck bleeding profusely. Around him the depiction show headless victims, flesh stripped from the bone.

His symbol resembles a tree stump, but is said to symbolize the headless nature of the God. Considering the Kobolds sprung from his loins, it is small wonder this symbology makes little sense, or is so crude. His priests carve it into their flesh all the same.