Intercessor
"The Four can give you everything you want, everything you crave, and ask only that you bring misery to strangers."
~Intercessor Yesanith Netharandi
Qualifications
The Final Ecstasy is shrouded in mystery, but involves a cell that has performed all four of the Dolorous Demands.
Appointment
Only one member of the cell seems to survive the Final Ecstasy, and this survivor is the new Intercessor. They consume the previous Intercessor (along with all former Intercessors) and take on the mantle with the knowledge of the ages.
Duties
The Intercessor is the conduit between the gods of shadow and the world. All Supplicants' prayers are channeled through the Intercessor, who brings these entreaties to their gods.
Responsibilities
Aside from their ceremonial function, the Intercessor is largely left to their own devices, free to fulfill their personal ambitions with the mundane power of a cult leader as well as the imbued, mystical power of the shadow. As a matter of practicality, they typically seek to weaken any group or entity that opposes the machinations of the cult, as well as outright murdering any who discover their existence.
Benefits
An Intercessor's orders go entirely unopposed and unquestioned. Within the cult, their word is law. They typically collect tithes from the various Auditors as well, to better fund their ambitions.
Forming a conduit with the shadow gods, the Intercessor bathes in the Umbral energies that gave rise to them. They gain control over shadows, and the deeper the darkness the stronger they become. In the pitch of an unlit cave, where no light has touched for a thousand thousand years, they are capable of miracles.
Accoutrements & Equipment
The Intercessor wears the Umbral Shroud, though it is visible as only a deepening shadow unless they wish it to be on full display.
Grounds for Removal/Dismissal
Intercessor is a lifetime appointment and beyond. When they are replaced by the next Intercessor, they are consumed, body and soul, and attach like a lamprey or remora to the new Intercessor's soul. Their knowledge, personality, experience and advice are available on demand to the new Intercessor in exchange for scraps of misery they cause, continued bathing in the energies of the shadow gods, and when those fail by causing and feeding on the anguish of their host.
Creation
This cult arose at some point in the Heroic Age, while the dragons still fought the saurians. While the first holder is unknown, it is believed that they were of the @Elven
Source of Authority
The Intercessor is imbued with power by their gods in a ritual called the Final Ecstasy.
Current Holders
Related Organizations
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