Loviatar is the goddess of calculated violence, suffering, and pain. She is hatred unrestrained, empathy denied, and mercy forgotten, an entity whose very presence incites mortals to violence. Soldiers fear succumbing to her bloodlust lest they dishonor themselves, but the vengeful and forsaken call to him for the gift of her inspiration- for the gift she gives in exchange for feeding off their pain.
Loviatar's anger and bloodlust is not hot and all-consuming. Her unending drive towards sadism is cold and cruel. She is the commander that sends soldiers into battle, the audience to games of blood sport. She does not draw blood herself, but commands her followers to do it for her.
Loviatar most often appears as a woman with long dark hair, entirely black pupils, and leathery bat wings protruding from her shoulders. Typically clad in contemporary military garb, she usually wields a whip and wears a crown of dark iron and rubies upon her brow.
Loviatar's Influence
Loviatar governs pain, suffering, cruelty, and war. But while Tyr thrives on the glory of honorable victory, Loviatar revels in sadism, destruction, and the utter humiliation of the vanquished. She drives warriors to acts of cruelty and malice in their pursuit of victory. She offers strength in exchange for pain, because unlike the other gods, she believes that no gifts should come without a price.
Loviatar can often come across as a very seductive goddess to the vulnerable. While other gods require worship for them to confer their gifts, Loviatar promises to make the pain of those who follow her into power, and thus attracts many followers who want to believe that the pain they have gone through has a purpose. In suffering there is strength, and Loviatar revels in this fact.
Loviatar's Goals
Loviatar's goals are nebulous. On the surface it seems she has little goals aside from pure sadism, but beneath that exterior she shares a goal with her consort Bane- to herald the rise of the gods of the Lower Planes. She believes that through collecting loyal followers on the material, and by conspiring to undo the barrier between the planes, she can bring about the rise of fiendish gods and overthrow the gods of the heavens.
Of course, a goddess so calculating would not simply be content as a second in command to Bane. Loviatar, who in some circles is called the Iron Queen of Hell, desires to rule. She is one of the three gods touched by the dark power of the Void, and as an elevated demoness, she does believe she is destined to rule the Hells and Material alike, with the other gods as her subjects.
Divine Relationships
Any divine relationships Loviatar might enter into are born of convenience and as a means to the end. Loviatar is more pragmatic than she is loyal and should be expected to break any pact or agreement once it has outlived its usefulness.
Loviatar's closest relationship is her partnership with Bane. She acts as a consort to the god of tyrants, and rules beside him in the hells, serving as his lieutenant in battle as well. She, naturally, conspires against Bane, and would not hesitate to destroy him if he showed weakness.
Loviatar shares a complex relationship with her "sibling" gods Caethes and Sehanine. One one hand, she does not want to destroy them due to their ties as kin, but on the other hand, both are concerned with bringing aid to the suffering rather than harnessing it, so in her eyes, they are undermining her domain.
Loviatar has a grudging respect for Tyr, but mainly delights in taking champions of Tyr as her own- turning their desire for glory into bloodlust. For her, it is easy to corrupt a former soldier haunted by horrors of war into a sadistic killer.
The Raven Queen has a deep dislike of Loviatar. The Raven Queen is a deity who seeks to bring calm to the spirits of the departed, but for those that have prmoised themselves to Loviatar get no rest in their afterlife, forever fighting as demonic spirits under Loviatar's command.
While Loviatar respects Erathis and her iron hand of law, Erathis detests the goddess of pain, seeing her sadism as an unnecessary complication to achieve a goal. Erathis of course, aslo is fiercely opposed to any of the fiendish gods rising from the hells.
Worshipping Loviatar
Loviatar exhorts her followers to channel pain and anger into strength and power. Pain creates power, and power can cause pain, leading her worshippers to an ever-increasing cycle of growing in strength. She demands actions over words, making her followers an active and dangerous lot.
Followers of Loviatar often participate in self-harm to garner the favor of their goddess. This can range from small acts, such as passing a hand through the flame of a candle or pricking a finger on a needle, to more drastic displays, like flagellation.
The appearance of the Blood Moon is said to be a sign of Loviatar's watching eye, and is often celebrated by worshippers of Loviatar. At blood moons, followers of Loviatar will gather for a feast, often of freshly-slaughtered animals, and dances upon broken glass- undertaken by the devout as well as captives forced to do such.
Loviatar's Favor
Loviatar's favor is not hard to earn. She lavishes praise and blessings upon those who devote themselves to her cause and demonstrate their willingness to give her their pain. Would-be champions should realize, though, that the god of suffering invests in her followers with the expectation of receiving great returns. Those who disappoint, proving themselves incapable of sufficient cruelty or bloodshed, might find themselves on the wrong end of her blade.
To Loviatar, the ideal follower is one who sheds all moral compunctions in the course of bringing suffering to the world. She also cultivates grievances and bitterness in those not ordinarily disposed to acts of wanton violence. Over the eons, she has found that the betrayed, the disgusted, and the disfavored are readily turned to a life of service, to be discarded just as easily if they don't satisfy her. The Loviatar's Favor table suggests a few ways that a mortal might come to Loviatar's attention, or vice versa.
| d6 |
Sign of Favor |
| 1 |
You were born under a blood moon, the symbol of Loviatar's's power. |
| 2 |
You successfully carried out a brutal vendetta against a rival family. |
| 3 |
You called on Loviatar's power to settle old scores by becoming an instrument of her wrath. |
| 4 |
You have suffered from great physical or psychological pain in your past, and Loviatar offered you the opportunity to turn that into power. |
| 5 |
You were pledged to another god from whose favor you fell, and Loviatar stepped in to recruit you. |
| 6 |
You have no idea why Loviatar showed interest in you, and you might sometimes wish she hadn't. |
Devotion to Loviatar
Following Loviatar is a definitive rejection of ethical codes and adoption of bloodlust and cruelty. As a follower of Loviatar, consider the ideals on the Loviatar's Ideals table as alternatives to those suggested for your background.
| d6 |
Ideal |
| 1 |
Devotion. My devotion to my god is more important to me than what she stands for. (Any) |
| 2 |
Hate. Hatred of my foes warms my heart and gives me power. (Any) |
| 3 |
Ruthlessness. The ends justify the means and victory is to be obtained at any cost. (Evil) |
| 4 |
Pride. No one can best me in my chosen endeavor and woe to those who try. (Any) |
| 5 |
Power. I relish having mastery over life and death. (Evil) |
| 6 |
Equivalence. What I give to others must be repaid in kind, and what others give to me I shall repay in full. (Neutral) |
Myths of Loviatar
Myths of Loviatar usually detail her cunning mind as well as her sadistic nature.
The Shattered Sword.
In the final days of the Divine War, Bane, seeing the Loviatar's prowess on the field of battle, entrusted to her the sword Taharial. She wielded it well, but against the gods of light, she could not stand. The blade was in her hands when it was shattered by Pelor, and so she bears guilt for it's destruction. She and her cultists seek to reform the blade and present it back to Bane, as a reparation for her weakness.
Crimson Rites.
Though Caethes is the founder and patron of blood magic, it is Loviatar who inspired the first blood hunter's crimson rite- converting pain inflicted upon oneself into power . Loviatar's own blood, once spilled, can be used as a deadly weapon- burning whatever it touches like searing fire.
The Origins of Loviatar.
Before she became a goddess, Loviatar was an Erinyes devil- a warrior under the direction of Asmodeus. She had the desire to elevate herself beyond the demonic hierarchy, and made a bargain with a mysterious force of darkness to ascend to godhood. Because of this bargain, she forgot all memories of making the bargain, and thus believes she became a the Iron Queen of Hell of her own accord.
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