Church of the Bloodthirster
Official Church of Ruthger, The Bloodthirster
Mythology & Lore
In the beginning, when the world was fresh and new from its inception, Bahamut was the first-born of the three Primordial Gods. Where his brother Moradin took domain of the ground, Law, and all that lay on and beneath the earth, and the third brother took domain of the water, life, and creation itself, Bahamut took domain of the Sky, of Morality, and Justness.
As Eons passed, eventually the Primordial of Water fragmented and vanished, replaced by two married oceanic deities. Bahamut and Moradin remained, and as Moradin took control of Creation from the vanished third Primordial, Bahamut inherited dominion over life itself.
After some time, as life began to grow and flourish into the beginnings of the races that would one day become those of the current era, they soon began to learn of the ways of life and what "living" truly meant...anger, wrath, sadness, tears, grief...all these emotions and more took root in the primordial races and even the gods themselves. As life began to hate in equal measure as it loved, it is taught that the festering wrath, the anger, and the negative emotions that naturally came along with life caused the dormant consciousness of Ruthger, who until then had been dormant for lack of power and reason to wake due to lack of anger and violence to feed on, to begin to stir from his long slumber since the death of his father, Atlas. With violence came hate, with hate came anger, and with anger came war and violence and bloodshed...and it is from this chaos that the Church of the Bloodthirster teaches that Ruthger was brought to full consciousness by the act of the first murder that took place. From this death he woke, brought to wakefulness by eons of anger, hate, and wrath in the minds of mortals and gods alike.
Ever since that fateful day, Ruthger has stood vigilant in his duties as he stokes the violence in the races of Ea, teaching them his bloody ways and helping them along the path of slaughter. It is Ruthger that supposedly brought weapons to the world, teaching his first followers how to sharpen their tools and use them to kill even quicker...it is Ruthger who taught the races of Ea the value of blood and when it is best spilled, and finally it is Ruthger who taught all the value of restraint during this violence, and the fine difference between mindless genocide and war. It is also taught that, from the moment of his birth, Ruthger's very existence was enough to spurn the entire Planescape into bloody action...from the devils of Hell to the Demons of the Abyss, war began on that fateful day long ago and supposedly...has not stopped since, and shall not stop until the day when all shall end and the gods will fall.
Divine Origins
The Church of the Bloodthirster can trace its history back to the very beginning of the entire world, and it is said that in the beginning when Ruthger had freshly awoke from his slumber and began to stir the Planescape into bloody motion, the site of the first murder that drove him to this wakefulness is said to have been burned with pages upon pages of ancient texts...these texts, inscribed upon the landscape, were dictations and the first thoughts of Ruthger himself as he woke. Seemingly a perfect and complete record of the nature of carnage, the Sanguine Apocrypha is a record of bloody slaughter, carnage, and death...but it is said to also be a record of the end of life itself, and a depiction of the Armageddon that will come to the Planes in the end-times.
Though the nature of the teachings in the Apocrypha have changed little over the eons, the followers of Ruthger have grown to fear the deepest secrets that lie inside its depths. For precisely because it is a complete record of the nature of the end of all things and of the very nature of violence and war, there is little to prevent those who truly delve into its depths from going howling mad from terror, fear, or simple madness itself due to learn these deepest secrets of how all shall end. Though the nature of these secrets are constantly debated, they are undoubtedly things that no mortal minds were ever meant to see...the firstborn thoughts of Ruthger himself are no doubt a thing meant for none but his holy conduits themselves.
Regardless, the nature of the origins of the Church of the Bloodthirster is one of anger, wrath, and violence...but at the same time, of control, order, and law. Though his followers strive to emulate and embody the violence and mind-numbing anger that woke Ruthger from his slumber at the beginning of time, they simultaneously embody the very same restraint and self-control that allowed him to temper the violence that he caused across the planes and hone it into a razor's edge. Where violence hits like a hammer blow, they believe it takes a true warrior to hone that violence into a blade capable of cutting the heart from the enemy.
Cosmological Views
The Church of the Bloodthirster believes that in the beginning, as Atlas the Progenitor God gave his great life in the beginning of time, his body formed the cosmos and planescape itself, creating everything as it is in the current era.
Yet, as the great Primordials sprang forth from the corpse of their father who died to give shape to reality itself and began to form life, the elements, and the foundation for all things, The Bloodthirster soon sprang into being as the first of the god's creations grew old and died, having experienced the anguish and pain of death.
With his arrival, the Church of the Bloodthirster teaches that Ruthger spurned the gods and their creations that existed at the time into bloody action. With his arrival, where before peace and relatively prosperity existed now came paranoia, war, murder, and fighting...and where before, as the races of the Planescape had previously been content to live in their new planar homes carved out for them by The Bonelord, Ruthger's arrival caused them to hate and fight each other in massive planar wars whose grudges spanned eons. It was then that Devils went to war against Demons, where Angels and Archons went militant into the darkness to engage evil itself, and where the races of Ea warred and kill their friends and neighbors for resources that had previously been shared.
Yet, The Church of the Bloodthirster teaches that not everything that came of Ruthger's awakening was bad. Where before peace had reigned, now the races of the Planescape were taught the art of war, how to defend themselves, and how to be truly strong in the face of the adversity that, until then, they had been powerless to fight against. Now, though they fought and killed each other, the races of Ea could finally fight and war against the beasts and evils that plagued their world.
Tenets of Faith
Never give in to fear, and never turn your back or run from a fight. Master your fear and keep the fight alive until the end.
Care for your weapons, armor, and tools of war. Keep them maintained and never let them rust. Restore and maintain the ruined tools of war to honor The Bloodthirster.
Obey the orders of your superiors without question, and command those under you with efficiency and zeal. Never break or subvert the chain of command.
Seek battle and delight in slaughter, both to hone your skills and spill blood in his name. Never leave your foes alive once a battle is finished.
A battle with no purpose is not worth fighting. Choose your battles and never dishonor your blade with senseless conflict, but once drawn, a weapon must be slaked with blood.
Ethics
Universal amongst the Church of the Bloodthirster is the art of war, carnage, and bloodshed as well as all of the ethics and interpretations that come alongside it. No act is, of course, considered more pious or holy than that of fighting, violence, and bloodshed...perfecting one's combat skills and learning the best means to deal death, attack, kill, or make war is considered a pious act and one worthy of veneration, while disobeying or going against the orders of a superior officer, clergymen, or commander is considered the most grievous sin possible for a Blooded to commit.
To the Blooded, the chain of command and power structures of militaries, their own church, and any other such organization is a holy place unlike any other that is not only holy but a direct manifestation and representation of the will and mind of The Bloodthirster himself. Naturally, to disobey and/or go against such an organization is a sin that is often worthy of an immediate excommunication or even death within the ranks of the church. They also consider cowardice a great sin, and often punish such offenses with excommunication or, in extreme cases, force those sinners back onto the battlefield so they may die on their feet and earn their place in The Bloodthirster's afterlife.
The Church of the Bloodthirster often believe in sharpening one's skill with making weapons and armor as well as one's skill with diverse arrays of weaponry, and many Blooded and many sects consider the act of diversifying one's arsenal and learning to maintain one's own gear a pious and goodly act.
Perhaps somewhat controversially, most within the Church of the Blooded hold little regard for the whys and hows of any given conflict...instead, to the Blooded, what matters is the act of the conflict itself. As a result of this, the Church of the Bloodthirster and the Blooded who make it up can almost always seen fighting on all sides of a given conflict as they simply consider the act of obeying orders, fighting, and drawing blood their worship to The Bloodthirster, and rarely concern themselves with the morality or end goals of the wars and conflicts they are fighting in, though there are exceptions. As a result of this, almost all creatures that have fought in battle have fought alongside an aspirant of The Bloodthirster, as nearly all warriors, bowman, or those who fight know his name and have fought beside his clergy once or more due to the pervasiveness of his faith.
For this reason, Ruthger is widely considered to be one of the most powerful and widespread gods of all the Divine Pantheons.
Worship
The easiest and most common form of worship within the ranks of the Blooded is the spilling of blood and the making of violence and war. Though, they often take issue with those who assume them to do so wantonly; indeed, they often do so under strict orders and codes rather than mindless attack and bloodshed. Marching to war, making combat or spilling blood is preferred when such is possible, but on the rare occasions when such things are not feasible or able to be done for one reason or another a commonly accepted form of alternative worship to the Blooded is that of forging and training.
Through forging blades and smelting armor they believe they not only hone their ability to commune with The Bloodthirster himself(for they believe a part of him slumbers in all weapons and armors of war), but also prepare gear that will be put to excellent use in future conflicts in the hands of either new recruits to the Church or by those who lose their gear and require replacements.
Though the Church itself doesn't make it public, the faithful also often go through elaborate rituals to prove their faith at or after moments where their faith was tested or they dealt with a particularly deadly encounter...these rituals, though varied, always involve draining themselves of a non-negligible amount of blood and using it to draw elaborate ritual circles on the floor and kneeling within them so that they might focus their minds and hone their battle spirits.
Priesthood
In the Church of the Bloodthirster, all clergymen and members of the flock are known as "Blooded". Each Blooded generally receives a suit of armor(Ceremonial or otherwise) that indicates his rank, though for existing warriors inducted into the Blooded their existing armor may be repainted or otherwise altered to fit their new station or rank. Blooded are broken down into further ranks, seen below:
Odogon: The Odogon are those of the Blooded who are found guilty of crimes against the church, cowardice, or breaking the tenets of Ruthger in any meaningful way. They are sent out headfirst into battle with little to no protective gear, their minds wracked with maddening battle-stimulants that whip them into a murderous frenzy, given deadly flails and weapons, and are told to die fighting so that they may be given the honor of a good death, and thus potentially earn their forgiveness at the hands of Ruthger. Rarely, those Odogon who survive many battlefields are re-instated to the hierarchy and allowed to return to the ranks of the faithful, as a sign of their survival being the favor of Ruthger. Acolyte: Lowest in the hierarchy. They are provided with leather armor and bucklers. Adept: Priests. They are provided with chainmail. Gijaak: Warrior-Priests. They are given breastplates and steel shields. Hokur: Battle Chaplains. They are given splint mail. Baargahk: Swordmasters, who are given plate mail and armor or shield spikes. Maaro: Guardians. They are given full-plate. Warkrys: High Priests, often named with the moniker "War Dogs" thanks to their rank name which means the same in the Orcish tongue. They are given gilded and enchanted full-plate that often lets them fly about. The Warkrys leaded the Blooded of their given Church or Parish, and oftentimes the surrounding Churches as well, depending on how many Warkrys exist in a given area. They each lead their followers as a "Unit", and each Unit is considered separate from one another, and not beholden to the commands of any other Warkrys. Thus, the Church has a great deal of flexibility when it comes to warfare, but this also means the Blooded also frequently end up in combat against one another, on opposite sides of a war. Rather than dislike or disdain this, the Church actually encourages this and welcomes it, believing it to be proof of their God's omnipresent power, and a chance to prove themselves the stronger and more faithful...whosoever should survive, is considered the stronger and is all the better for it. Adez-tor: A rarely used rank that holds power on par with the 'Warkrys' rank, given exclusively to a divine champion of Ruthger, should one come into being. These champions are chosen exclusively by Ruthger himself, and this status is verified by the faithful in a series of complex rituals which calls upon the power of the Bloodthirster to verify the status of his new champion. These champions are considered living conduits of their god's will, and though they hold no more official power than a Warkrys, the authority they wield within the ranks of the Faithful means that many Warkrys lead their Units into alliance with these champions when they appear, eager to serve alongside them. Commonly, though, a sometimes equal but often smaller number will ally against them for the simple pleasure of engaging a champion of their god on the field of battle.The Blooded are granted authority and station depending on a number of factors, chief among which is their proven ability on the battlefield. They are judged by a number of other factors such as skill and/or desire to learn many weapons, number of battles survived, amount of blood spilled, and often times, body count. The Blooded who receive enough glory or proof of their might such that they earn an advancement in their rank are granted their higher station through an event commonly referred to as "The Smelting", where their previous set of armor is burned and cracked off their body(often at great physical pain and bloodshed to the Blooded being promoted) and their new set of armor is locked around their body while it still bleeds and burns. Due to Ruthger's close association with weapons, each Blooded is expected to carry a weapon befitting of their station that they themselves either made or closely supervised the creation of, though more commonly than not it is considered a shameful thing to not make one's own weapon. Whenever a Blooded undergoes The Smelting, the second part of this ceremony is breaking down and reforging their old weapon into a new form to signify their new station and power. As a result of this, almost all Blooded have some skill with weapon making and by extension, metalworking and armorcrafting. Often, the Church of the Bloodthirster goes to great lengths to care for those Blooded who have grown unable to fight at their best or at all, and often form entire orders out of such clergy to grant them the ability to serve no matter the state of their physical body.
Granted Divine Powers
Often, those who gain the favor of The Bloodthirster himself are given a blessing the Blooded refer to as "The Aura of War", a fairly notorious blessing that causes those that show exceptional prowess or carnage on the battlefield to be surrounded with an aura as red as blood that both empowers allies and weakens their enemies. This aura, said to harden the skin and bolster the muscle, is often referred to as having the ability to turn even a common peasant into a machine of unending destruction due to the state of nigh-invincibility the one blessed enters into. Blessed with supernatural battle sense and clarity of mind, this "Anti-Rage" blessing is widely coveted, and those who receive it are often able to cleave buildings in twain and endure assaults from dozens of warriors at once.
Other common blessings include causing blood to flow quicker out from the wounds of one's enemies, causing blood to refuse to flow from the bodies of the faithful, correcting the swings of weapons mid-strike to ensure they hit their target, causing weapons and attacks to miss despite the impossibility of such a thing happening, and even calming those who fall into the depths of battle insanity.
Political Influence & Intrigue
Perhaps uniquely for the following of the God of War and Blood, the Church of the Bloodthirster and the Blooded who make it up often have a bolstering effect on the countries, nations, or other locales they take root within. Thanks to their rigid focus on law and obedience of existing command structures they often are welcomed with open arms in the realms of highly lawful governing bodies or those who favor order and law within their streets. In such places, the Blooded often serve as a reinforcing presence to the force of their new home's laws and traditions and go to great lengths to obey such laws and fit in as cleanly as possible, much to the surprise of others.
Though they don't often find it worthwhile to get involved in politics, the Blooded, when they do enter into the world of intrigue and politics, often do so violently and with a furious focus not commonly seen by other politicians. They are often ruthless and attack any perceived weakness in their foes without hesitation or restraint to disable their political foes before they can react...as such, they often become highly feared and cutthroat politicians who simultaneously are excellent are staying perfectly within the laws of whichever lands they inhabit, making them highly feared when they involve themselves in the grand game.
Brutality tempered by discipline.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Alternative Names
The Blades of Ruthger, The Demons
Demonym
Ruthgan
Divines
Controlled Territories
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