-Nate
Disciples
of the Destroyer
This
band of fanatics is dedicated to the worship of Lamashtu, the Mother
of Monsters. They embrace all of her destructive aspects, in which
way she acts as the antithesis to Gaea, the Earth Mother. As such,
these ruthless zealots are known to conduct blood sacrifices to honor
their patroness, to conduct orgiastic rites in which they hope to
spawn more of their kind, and to practice ritual scarification of
themselves. In this way they are very popular among all manner of
ogres and their misshapen offspring, along with clerics, blackguards
and certain types of magi.
Goal: Sacrifice
and Destruction
Those who dedicate
themselves to the service of Lamashtu seek nothing more than to help
others reach the ultimate end of life's cycle—that is, death, and
in the most painful and gruesome way possible. In this way they test
their own bodies through scarification and even mutilation, a
practice that sometimes costs them their own lives.
Alignment: CE
Since they view
death as the ultimate and inevitable end of all things, the Disciples
care little for any sense of ethics or morality. Instead, they seek
to shed blood in honoring the Mother of Destruction, and they compete
among themselves to determine who is the most capable of doing so. In
that way they establish the pecking order, or hierarchy, of the
organization.
Leader
Ultimately the
Disciples of Destruction answer to a magus-cleric named Mother
Edimmu. Given the violent nature of the organization, of course,
details regarding that individual's identity and location are a
closely guarded secret. Easier to find are one of the organization's
pit-fighting champions, Utukku, and the gladiatorial match promoter,
Leopold Kurtz.
Headquarters
While the location
of Mother Edimmu is a closely guarded secret, it's easier to find the
fighting pit that Kurtz runs on behalf of the Disciples. While this
one is located in the Holy City itself, underneath the very noses of
the Ptah priesthood, it is typical of others from around Homewold and
even on other planets.
Refer to the
appropriate maps for the following area descriptions.
1. Entry
From the outside,
this building looks like nothing more than a typical warehouse—a
facade that Kurtz carefully maintains. It has walls made of thick mud
brick, with double iron-banded wooden doors that provide entrance.
There are no windows.
2. Spectator Area
The main floor of
the structure, along with each of the upper levels, consists of a
broad, open area centered on the fighting pit, which is encircled by
a wooden railing. Sconces for torches line the walls, since there are
no windows.
3. Stairways
The spiral
stairways lead up to additional spectator areas, as well as down to
the quarters provided for the faithful and other combatants.
4. Fighting Pit
This area, little
more than a hole in the ground with a packed earth floor, is where
Disciples and others fight to the death. In addition to numerous
bloodstains, doors lead out to the combatants' quarters.
5. Quarters
Each of these
small chambers is furnished with a crude but functional bed, along
with a table and a couple of chairs. Ordinarily, only combatants and
one or two assistants are allowed to occupy them. On occasion,
however, certain associates of the Disciples capture wild beasts and
bring them to the fighting pit, where they are kept until being
unleashed against competitors. (See below for a list of such beasts.)
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