Pantheon: Vile Deities

Pantheon: Vile Deities

Book of Vile Darkness for D&D 3.0 describes several vile deities that could be inserted in any setting.

Karaan

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: broken bones and bloody teeth

Home plane: Abyss

Domain (-40%): animal spells

Portfolio: beasts, nature

Worshipers: lycanthropes, bugbears, manticores, evil sphinxes, gnolls, worgs

Known primarily as the Beast God, Karaan is a monstrous entity of savage lust and wanton destruction. Karaan is normally depicted as a hulking humanoid covered in fur, with terrible claws and teeth. He resembles no specific animal but has a predatory appearance. Karaan represents the dark side of nature, and thus he is the enemy of Obad-Hai and Ehlonna. He is often revered in association with Erythnul, although his cults are much more obscure. A few believe him to be related in some way to Yeenoghu, though that demon prince is not an actual god. Karaan is the patron of lycanthropes and bestial creatures such as bugbears, gnolls, worgs, manticores, and some sphinxes.

Dogma: Clerics of Karaan are as bestial as the god they serve. They despise civilization and love to destroy things - particularly objects fashioned through craftsmanship, for such skills are alien to them. They wear furs, hides, or armor in battle, or they wear nothing at all. Their hair is usually wild and flowing, and they are given to incoherent screams and grunts. They often undergo scarification as a part of their rituals and file their teeth into points if they are not natu-rally sharp. Karaan’s temples are places of natural power: secluded glens, rocky outcroppings, and deep pits in the wilderness. They are always full of the bones of their prey, sacrificial vic-tims, and fallen enemies.

  

Rallaster

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: a toothy mouth clamped down on abloody, razor-thin blade

Home plane: Carceri

Domain (-40%): spells that inflict pain, stealth spells, spells that cause madness

Portfolio: torture, pain, insanity

Worshipers: murderers, madmen

Rallaster, the Razor God, is a deity of murder, torture, and psychotic behavior. Religious scholars refer to him as the Insane God and the God of Madmen, but Rallaster’s followers find him completely sane and comprehensible. Rallaster is normally pictured as a tall, glistening, ebony-skinned humanoid without hair or wrinkles. Closer inspection reveals that his entire body is made of razors dripping with blood and oil to keep the blades sharp and rust-free.

Dogma: Rallaster’s clerics are psychopaths and mass murderers who lurk in the shadows or discreetly in plain sight. Many act perfectly normal, maintaining a second identity as shop clerks or artisans. Whether they camouflage themselves within society or remain apart from it, Rallaster’s minions delight in torturing and killing their victims, usually in seclusion. Rallaster has very few temples. His followers are usually loners, and as such they keep secret shrines just for themselves. Each shrine has a small altar made entirely of razors.

Scahrossar

Lesser deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: interwoven chain and whip

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-40%): malign bodycontrol spells, spells that heal wounds but not other afflictions

Portfolio: torture, temptation, agony

Worshipers: sadists, tempters

Known by all as the Mistress of Exquisite Pain, Scahrossar is usually portrayed as a woman covered entirely in tight, studded black leather so that even her face is concealed. She usually holds a whip and a hook. Temples to the Mistress of Exquisite Pain are hidden behind false facades. The clerics often maintain front businesses, such as bakeries, dairies, and curiosity shops, with the temples accessible through hidden doors. The temple’s rooms are soundproofed to muffle the cries of pain. Although most of Scahrossar’s clerics are compulsive about keeping their temples clean, it is usually impossible to keep a dribble of blood or a loose tooth from dropping to the floor at any given time. Altars are usually baroque monstrosities of spikes, spines, clamps, and chains.

            Scahrossar is related to another good deity, but the two deities have nothing to do with each other and conceal their relationship.

Dogma: Scahrossar is selfish, cruel, and domineering, and so are most of her followers. Scahrossar’s clerics dress as their mistress does, preferring to hide their identities with leather or iron masks. They are all sadists (and most are also masochists) who prefer to give pain rather than actually kill. Sacrificial victims dedicated to Scahrossar often take days to die, for they are tortured to death - the more slowly the better. Scahrossar’s followers delight in the sounds of screams and tearing flesh, and because they try to prolong a victim’s agony, many are skilled in the healing arts. In their spare time, the clerics devise new tortures and new torture devices.

Xammux, The

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a pair of glistening, razor-sharp steel calipers

Home plane: Hades

Domain (-40%): knowledge spells

Portfolio: forbidden knowledge

Worshipers: evil scientists, seekers of forbidden knowledge

Not a single god, but an entity composed of at least six separate beings, the Xammux represents cold, analytical thinking taken to its extreme. The Xammux serves as the patron of utter indifference and of delving into forbidden knowledge through exploration and experimentation.

Dogma: Clerics of the Xammux are cold, uncaring beings who are fascinated by knowledge. They think nothing of dissecting living creatures simply to learn more about their biology. They place creatures in torture chambers to see how long they can withstand terrible pain before their psyches crumble. The temples of the Xammux are stark stone edifices filled with traps and ingenious locks. White plaster often covers the interior walls. Altars dedicated to the Xammux are always made of polished steel.

Patient One, The

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a mouth surrounded by eyes, always done in dark colors

Home plane: Far Realm

Domain (-30%): darkness spells, knowledge spells, breaking spells

Portfolio: aberrations, secrets

Worshipers: aberrations, mind flayers, beholders

Waiting in the darkness, the Patient One - also known as the Dark Watcher - is a strange and alien creature. Always whispering secrets to itself, the Patient One waits until its time comes, and then it strikes, destroying or consuming everything in its path. Although never actually pictured in its entirety, this god is known to have many eyes, many mouths, and many clawed arms around its bulbous body. Though some humanoids worship this strange being, many more aberrations revere it. The Patient One’s temples are towers, often built on high hills in isolated areas. With beholders and mind flayers as clerics and worshipers, the Patient One’s towers are also found underground. At the apex of each tower is a stone altar, carved to appear as a mouth surrounded by eyes, stained dark red with blood.

            Dogma: Do not rush with decisions, think your plns throgh and attack your enemies  at the right moment. The whole world will be consumed bythe Dark Watcher, your job is to start the destruction.

Yeathan

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: dark blue-green spiral with a black center

Home plane: Hades

Domain (-40%): water spells

Portfolio: evil depths

Worshipers: sahuagins, aboleths, kuo-toa

Yeathan is the god of the evil depths, master of the gasping last breath and lord of the deep darkness below. He is the patron of all things foul and malevolent about the sea. His temples are always submerged and unlighted, filled with things found only in the deepest blackwater trenches.