Iracundia, The Eternal Slaughter

The Eternal Slaughter Iracundia

"I am born of your feral desires and violent dreams, mortal. You and your kind birthed me, birthed all my kin, however I am the eldest. The first, the truth of your kind. You play at kindness, and hope, and what you call decency. In truth you are naught but animals with brains too large. You are vicious, brutal, violent beasts meant to cut, rip, tear and slaughter. You are children of anger dwarfkin, and your kind are mine to reap and to feast. You think yourselves so different from the greenskins, your mortal enemies, yet you are siblings, and I am the father of your kind, of both of your kinds. I am the aspect of Domhan that none wish to remember, the violence locked in the earth and stone. I am the slaughter, the wrath, the thunder. You are mine, your soul is mine, and you will fight, bleed and die again and again on the sands of this Pit until you accept your place and swear fealty. My realm is the only sanctuary you will find amongst the Void, and the Maelstrom does not offer this freely. Blood, blood, blood, is the price. So fight, cut, rip, kill. Bleed for me and spill blood for me. Kneel before you progenitor, and take your place amongst the wrathful."
The words of a so called prophet of Iracundia speaking to dwarven prisoners they were going to force to fight to the death.

Iracundia, generally percieved to be either the first or second eldest of the fell gods, for the question of which came first, cowardice or wrath is a philosophical quandry without any solid answer, is the Void God of Wrath. Known as the Eternal Slaugher, the Great Slaughter, or simplyt he Butcher, this is a Void God tied to the Endless Maelstorm, and more specifically, the Hateful Pit. He is seen as the father of slaughter, the progenitor of rage, fury, and violence. Like all the Void Gods, his worship is outlawed. It is understood that emotions cannot be outlawed, and thus, he cannot avoid being empowered by some behaviors and natural aspects of simply being a mortal being, however the power and influence he wields can be limited, like any of the Void Gods, by not engaging in divine practices in his name.

He is known to be a male aspect, and is depicted in a variety of forms and imagery. A hulking monster with six arms, four bat like wings of hacked and slashed flesh and cracked bones of his victims, his conquests. Bull headed, with vicious feline like eyes, four of them. Some depictions show him armored, others forgo it, showing him more like a braserker. He wields weapons of shrieking bones and steel, the bones likely from fallen opponents. The weapons are not static, though they are always melee weapons, said to form to his whim based on his needs. His six arms are not parellel, but oft depicted as slightly offset in pairs, for he is said to be capable of wielding six weapons and fighting six foes at once with ease, each arm acting independently, as if he can see all surrounding him.

The truth of the matter is Iracundia is not known to have a proper physical form or manifestation however. The Void Gods, even in the time of the Sundering, could not manifest or cross over from the Void, the Realm of Nightmares, into the Material Realm. Even with the Aether having basically failed during the Sundering, the weave of the Aether was still present enough, the barrier of Dreams still present enough to insure naught but his firstborn avatar, Iraith, the Tireless Hate was able to cross over, along with countless hordes of the nightmares, terrors and horrors of his realm.

However in spite of this, we have artwork depicting this entity, from people whom claim to have seen him in their darkest nightmares. Most of whom oft eventually have gone mad, turning into brutal murderers, skilled killers and soldiers without morals or scruples. The thing about these individuals is they are clearly inspired beyond mere madness, for even if they had no skill previously, they are soon enough found to be highly skilled at arms and in the martial practices, and such individuals will not stop, unless they are killed, and killing them only feeds the power of Iracundia and the Endless Maelstrom, sending another soul to be twisted into a foul entity of that realm.

Divine Domains

Iracundia is the Fell God of Wrath, his name literally means Endless Hate or Endless Violence. He is Slaughter, Violence, War, and Bloodshed. It is oft noted that his followers, though the least organized, his cults having a habit of murdering each other just as much as anyone else in violent duels to appease him, are the most dangerous individually. They all have masterful skills at arms, and cannot be swayed, intimidated or talked down. They are violence for the sake of violence and are unafraid of death, seeming to feel no pain.

"We need not fight, why do you wish to die? Drop the axe, we can help you?" Beliana told the young human man, barely a boy of fourteen years. "You are bleeding badly, you cannot keep this up. I have no desire to kill you." She took a hand off her halberd, wanting to believe the boy would listen to reason, wanting to heal him, to stem the bleeding from the dozen or so cuts and puncture wounds she'd inflicted with her halberd, all of which were bleeding heavily.

As she reached forward, she felt the pressure, the cracking in her mind, as reality rippled around her. A chain of bone and blood erupted from the boy's gut wound and his laughter, human, yet vicious, haunted her. He felt no pain, he seemed unbothered by the blood loss, nor the sudden dark magick and mutation erupting forth from him, as it lashed out at her, intending to manacle her. In that moment Beliana believed she'd made a fatal error, however suddenly she was tumbling to the ground, pushed aside. "I loves ye me wife, me love, but yer a damned fool sometimes!" came the snarling voice of her husband, whom had tackled her aside, letting the strange nightmarish chain manacle him instead. "Iracundia's touched t'is lad, 'e's gone, only blood an' death remain." The dwarf locked eyes with the boy, growling as he let his fury take over, claymore at the ready.

"It be violence ye seek, ye an' yer fell master, I'll give ye more than ye can take. Blood an' Death!!!" the dwarven braserker roared, throwing himself towards the creature, what once was a stable hand and a friend to them all, one of the Sickles staff, in a full battle fury, intending to kill this creature.

The beast that was once Muhata smiled, showing pointed teeth, and threw itself forward with frightening speed and excitement, laughing wildly. "Fool dwarf, you tap into my master's power. He cares not from where the blood flows or bones shatter. You honor him just as much as me, your just too cowardly to acknowledge where you draw your power from! Now you will die in shame!"

Artifacts

There are not many known objects tied to any of the Void Gods directly, merely to their Avatars, that is their first born nightmares, or to their realm within the Void. In the case of Iracundia there is said to be an axe simply named 'Everslaugher', a vicious black bladed weapon said to drive any whom touch it mad. It is believed to be a living weapon, with a small spark of Iracundia within it, desiring and demanding constant battle and bloodshed, though it might be simply a story, as no knowledge or record of its location exists any time Post-Sundering or in the modern day.

Holy Books & Codes

His followers and cults, such as they are when they do form, do not generally utilize written works, and though they live for violence they do have a strange sort of code they follow. In a way they are perhaps the most understandable of the Void cults, particularly by those of a military background or history, whom sadly are also often enough prey to his wiles. Below are some example behaviors which may help one understand the idea of what this code might look like, for no real unified or written reference exists;

• They see magick as cowardice, for the most part, and will refuse to kill or incapacitate with magick, even their crude shamanic blood magick, though they will use it to force targets to fight them to the death in a variety of ways, and to sustain themselves quite willingly.



• They will not engage in ambushes or traps/trickery. They will use tactical positioning and such, they are not fools. But they will always allow an opponent to take up arms. Iracundia demands constant proving of your skill at arms against all comers and foes. Killing a foe with no means to defend or fight back is cowardice, and cowardice is not tolerated.



• Surrender is never an option nor a thing to accept. This is the only time they'll violate their rule about skill at arms. If someone attempts to surrender, to drop their weapon, Iracundia will not see striking them down as weakness but as strength. Surrender is cowardice, accepting it is weakness. Fight, bleed, kill and die, that is existence and that is all there ever should be.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Two symbols do exist that are universally recognized, the first being a simple depiction of a humanoid skull being split in half. The second is what's known as the spine manacle, a scarification/tattoo of sorts. It is oft marked upon the non dominant arm, showing a bracer of bone, sinew and vertebrae in stunning and gorey detail, and a chain forged of different bits of vertebrae and tendon spiraling up the arm to the shoulder. This marking is not just a marking but is a simple bit of blood magick known as the Wrathful Duel, that all followers of Iracundia can utilize, summoning forth this chain, manifesting it, in all its bloody horror, into reality, and manacle themselves to a target. These manacles will protect both from outside interference, seeming to make them invulnerable to all outside influence and violence, however it also drives them both into a blood frenzy, and they will attack each other in melee combat without thought or worry paid to defense or injury. They will not be released until one of them kills the other.

Tenets of Faith

Fight, Bleed, Kill and Die.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Show spoiler

In truth, like all the Void Gods, Iracundia is not as simple as he would seem. The truth of the matter is he seeks to capture souls, hence the gift of the chain and the Wrathful Duels. The loser's soul is drawn to the Hateful Pit and will be forced to fight, kill, bleed and die over and over until their very essence, what was the purity of their soul, is poisoned, tainted and corrupted by the endless cycle of slaughter, and eventually all of the Meanma, the spirit that forms that soul is poisoned with naught but rage, bloodlust and a thirst for violence and death. When this occurs a new Voidling, a creature from the Void, a living nightmare, is born. So though is followers seem simple minded, they are instruments of a wider goal, one way or another. Simply pawns meant to kill or die. For no matter which happens, Iracundia gets what he desires. A new soul to torture, twist, taint and turn into another willing Horror for his realm. A further soldier for all the wars across the Void and the realms Material he constantly loves to wage.

Bloodshed, all he needs is bloodshed. It matters not whom bleeds, it matters not whom dies. So long as violence, hate and war are available, he will feast and his realm will swell with power.

Source unknown, from a journal without an author named.

Divine Classification

Fell God, Void God, True Daemon

Realm

The Endless Maelstrom

Church/Cult

Cults of Slaughter

Age

Believed to be as old as Sapient thought.

Pronouns

Seen as a male aspect, so most often referred to as He/Him

Sex

Generally referred to as a Male aspect, and in such foul artworks, is depicted as male in every sense.

Gender

Generally perceived as a Male entity

Presentation

Masculine, always, massive, muscled, with war scars from head to toe, and in such foul works, depicted hung as a horse, though this too is scarred.

Eyes

They are shaped often like the eyes of a hunting cat, and are oft the reddish-brown of long dried blood

Hair

Depicted sometimes without any, sometimes blood and gore drenched braids, countless of them, each with blades woven into their length

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Often depicted as heavily scarred, battle-torn. Sometimes with open wounds instead of scars, leaking blood

Height

generally depicted towering between 10' to 15'

Weight

Unknown, depicted as cracking stone when striding