Lao Shu Po

Titles and monickers: Grandmother Rat, Granny Rat, Old Rat Woman, Mistress of Plague, Lady of Night
Areas of concern: Rats, Night, Plague, Thieves
Followers: ratfolks, smugglers, spies, thieves, poisoners, wererats
Domains: Death, Nature, Trickery
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Legend has it that long ago, Lao Shu Po was simply a rat, skulking in the shadows. After gnawing on the corpse of a dead god, however, she absorbed some of that deity’s divine power and became a goddess herself. Originally a goddess of night, Lao Shu Po has turned her focus more to those who prowl under cover of darkness, and then to the spread of diseases. Hers is the poisoned cup, the dagger in the back, and the stealthy sabotage. She keeps her eyes and ears always open, for an incautious moment or a careless word might reveal a secret that she can later turn to her advantage.
Lao Shu Po remembers her humble beginnings, and she teaches that those who have nothing should do whatever they can get away with or whatever it takes to survive, be it murder, sabotage, or theft. The universe gives away nothing for free, and it’s up to the individual to take what she needs or wants and jealously hide it away. It may sometimes be advisable to band together with others for strength and protection, like a pack of rats, but in the end, you can rely on no one but yourself.
Lao Shu Po is the Mistress of Plague and confirmed to be so many times before the Silence. Her dark symbol, an emaciated rat curled in on itself, used to appear spontaneously anywhere a plague strikes a community.
Before the Silence, she bagan to instruct her followers about some great work in the making, which would entice the privilege of their collaboration. It is considered the greatest consolation for the tragedy that was the Silence, that Lao Shu Po did not follow up to her stated intentions and left her cultists in the dark, to their agonizing dismay and desperation.
Her sacred animal is obviously the rat, and she and her followers are particularly protective towards the rodent, more than what would be expected by any other cult or organized religion.

Territories

While most of society root out and destroy cults of Lao Shu Po, further strengthening the faith’s verminous association, there are always those in power who appreciate her followers’ ability to get things done. Completely trusting one of her followers—who refer to themselves as “grandchildren”—is foolish, but Grandmother Rat has no problem with her followers staying loyal to an employer or cause so long as it serves their ends. Even some of the most upstanding governments and businesses sometimes quietly employ Laoite spies, seemingly oblivious of the risk of a mysterious plague appearing somewhere in their domains as time goes by.

Mythology & Lore

Legends tell that Lao Shu Po started her existence as a normal rat who gained divinity by gnawing on the body of a dead god, whose identity and allegiance are now lost to history, but theologians conclude that it must have been a god of night in some form, as at first Lao Shu Po was a goddess of darkness. She eventually turned to those who conduct their business under the cover of darkness, but she took her greatest feature from Urgathoa, goddess of undeath. It is unclear how and when such a thing would have happened: some suggest right after a rat ate of a fallen god to become Lao Shu Po, Urgathoa took the new goddess as her disciple; others suggest Lao Shu Po was never an ordinary rat, but a profane herald of Urgathoa. Whatever the truth, it is an accepted truth, for those few who delved deep enough in ancient religious lore, that Lao Shu Po once had Urgathoa mentoring her, and that as the two evil goddesses parted ways, Lao Shu Po retained her mentor’s dominion over pestilence. It is impossible to say if this separation was consensual or conflictual, and even today cultists of the two goddesses have ambiguous relations, unable to tell if their goddess want them to be enemies or partners in crime. So they often try to be both.
Lao Shu Po rarely appears in divine tales and legends, and it is even unknown if she was already a goddess during the war against Tharizdun. She is almost always seen as a source of pestilence in the few lore she is known for. On the other hand, she is quite popular in folklore and cautionary tales that parents teach their children.
Tales seem to confirm Granny Rat’s nature as a loner god, who seek no relations with other gods and is barely concerned even with her own followers, although she has soft spot for rats, and a few tales show that Lao Shu Po actually look out for them, or used to do so before the Silence.

Tenets of Faith

1. The world is decay. I am decay.
2. Darkness and silence are the only marks of my work.
3. Seek and exalt places where no light touches.
Few conducts are anathema to the mistress of plague, in the form of the Last Interdicts given by her to her priests before the Silence.
1. You shall not be known for your dark dealings.
2. Never light a candle or destroy a roof.
3. You shall not sabotage the Great Work of your Grandmother, either willingly or unknowingly.

Worship

Assassins, smugglers, spies, thieves, and all who wish to hide their activities under cover of darkness and escape the notice of the authorities worship Lao Shu Po. She is widely regarded as a patron of the ratfolk race, but most of the ratfolk pray to Grandmother Rat only to placate her and avoid her notice, rather than embracing her values. Her followers rarely organize in congregations, but some of her priests still travel the land as a way to keep their few congregations in touch and somewhat united.
Lao Shu Po is prominent among evil gods to be particularly jealous with her blessings, even more so than those who goals are at least as mysterious as hers, if not even more, such as Asmodeus. Yet Granny Rat often show a twisted mercy to those who, for the first time in their life, turn to her and implore her to be saved from illness: Lao Shu Po does not cure them, but suppresses any sickness, thus saving their lifes. Yet the disease is still in them, and if they won’t accomplish her will by spreading pestilence she will retract her protection leaving them to suffer tenfold what they were already destined to suffer.
Lao Shu Po’s temples and shrines are few, always small and unassuming, and often hidden in plain sight—a back alley apothecary where poisons are sold, a dark chamber in the rear of a drug den, the sprawling maze of a sewage system, or the the silence of an abandoned building.