| Title |
Alignment |
Weapon |
Portfolio |
| The Wound |
NE |
Morningstar |
Despair |
The Church of Saveus
A wellspring of eternal loss and suffering, Saveus is the source from which all despair flows. They are the hand behind plagues, the breath behind pestilence, the father of famine, and the mother of misery. They are evil in its most understandable form - all that is wrong and wicked. They are the pus of the world. They are The Wound.
Saveus is often shown as a boil-covered humanoid in ragged, soiled robes. Their body may vary depending on the region, but it is always frail and gaunt, and often has imagery of rats, flies, and their offspring front and center in the depiction. Deep gashes often cover their body, and in particularly unholy sites, actual blood has been seen seeping from the open wounds.
While the clergy of Saveus often war against the good-aligned gods, they count as their chief enemy
Deku, the god of Hope. There is no greater honor to a Savean worshipper than to do harm to a Dekinite, whether by sword, poison, or more sinister and gradual means. Some of the most horrific butcherings in Enosian history have happened to followers of Deku by Saveus' cults, including the Doom of Branchport, in which every single one of the town's two-thousand-three-hundred-and-fifty-two members were killed in the same night, eaten alive from the inside by a fog that boiled their organs while they slept. The city, which laid on an island off the coast of what is now
Ephistius was sank below the waves by druids afraid of the plague reaching the coast.
Worship and Hierarchy
Churches of Saveus are found in every large settlement across Enos. Any darkened alleyway, condemned ramshackle squathouse, or abandoned space can serve as a temple, as the despair itself desecrates the area in the name of The Wound.
Above all else, worshippers of Saveus follow the idea that the flesh is weak. They suffer pain and carry plagues in the name of their god, gladly serving as agents bringing Enos closer to their ideal future - one in which there is only suffering cries to praise their unholy deity.
The church is led in local cults by priests called Vectors. The Vectorship Blight is the meeting of these leaders in larger groups, and every Blight has resulted in significant plague, famine, or loss of life. Aside from the leadership of small cults, there is no known larger organization of Savean clergy, and they have been known to sabotage each other's plans due to lack of communication in the past.
Priests of Saveus are often immune to poisons and diseases, though they are capable of carrying and spreading such plagues themselves. Their morningstars are often hollow-tipped at the points and filled with excrement, salt, and other horrid substances to further injure those struck.
Holidays
Mor’tahr: This yearly event brings fresh strains of disease to both flora and fauna, as it is when the cultists of Saveus release their work from the last year.
Traditional Dress
Soiled bandages, rat-chewed sackcloth, and tattered wrappings often adorn those that worship Saveus. Those that wish to blend with upper society often wear the usual clothes appropriate to the area, but some part of their body is bandaged. More rarely, cultists line their shoes or other garments with small tacks to remind them of their purpose.
Aphorisms
Every Child of Faith is Another Mouth to Feed. No matter how devout you are, you still consume resources.
There are More Rats than Lions. Life favors the most successful, not the most noble.
Those Who Stare at the Light Go Blind. Hope can cause one to lose grip on reality; waiting for rescue that will never come.
