Oshihime the Unbroken
Saint of Battle, War, Strength, and Weapons
Titles: Saint Oshihime the Unbroken, The Manmelter, The Demon of Mount Hironai, Demon Queen of the Seventh Expanse, The Two-Horned Terror, The Glassfields Guillotine, The Plasma Projectress, The Six-Step Conqueror, Lady of Everwhispers
Favored Weapon: Greatsword
Alignment: Fire
Elemental Lord: Nazzon, The Godflame Duke
Obedience: Spend one hour practicing your battle techniques and training. Once the hour is up, write the name of a sworn enemy or foe you wish dead onto the hilt of your weapon, writing multiple names if you have multiple weapons, jamming them into the ground face-first if possible once done.
Effect: Every time you deal fire damage, you turn a number of dice of it equal to your HD into hellfire, which bypasses all fire resistance and immunity. Hellfire does not bypass your innate fire resistance.
Divine Domains
Fire, War, Strength, Destruction, Evil(Corruption, Devil, Fear Subdomains ONLY)
Holy Books & Codes
The Demon Queen's Dictations
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A down-facing tetsubo with a ball of fire resting atop it
Tenets of Faith
A weak flame is destined to be snuffed out. Seek power and passion to vivify your life - True Strength is born of having the ability and the will to enact carnage, but the wisdom to know when it is needed.
He who is feared shall know victory. Let your kills be gruesome, your wars be violent, and your victory be absolute - let your foes tell tales of your terrors, and you will win your battles before they begin.
Your weapons are your life. Maintain your gear, keep it in top shape, and know the right weapon for each situation. A poorly upkept weapon will fail you when it is needed most.
Draw no weapon lightly. Choose your battles wisely - carnage is a thing not given lightly. When drawn, however, a weapon must always be slaked with blood and destruction.
Victory at any cost. Kill every creature, burn every structure, and salt every inch of soil. True strength means ensuring your foes will never challenge you again.
A weak life must never prosper. Ensure all earn their place and bring those that do not into line beneath those that do.
Followers & Priesthood
Oshihime's followers are not just exclusive to the Giant Populations she rallied together around her in life - the Othraka, Eldragi, and more - she is the Matron Saint of Mercenaries and Soldiers, and even some Knight Orders and especially Generals and Commanders, whom she is quite popular with. She is the counterpart to the raucous Saint Sunder, the goddess of unbridled carnage who does not seek out her battles, but when provoked to the edge or when her enemies do not back down, commits acts of such wanton brutality her enemies once feared her as the avatar of oblivion itself. Her followers tend to be those who make war and bloodshed their living, or those who deal with it frequently - from soldiers and mercenaries to knights and generals or commanders. They tend to organize themselves in order of who has the most raw battle experience to those who have the least, and those with higher seniority will often organize expeditions to teach the younger members of the faith of the ways of the church - as well as the wisdom to know when to use them. They tend to place the church in just as high a standing as any ranking they may have with their tribe or country, and will rarely discriminate between teaching members of the faith they will one day fight in battle and those they will fight beside - teaching both tends to be equally important to them. Her followers are typically distinguished by a small piece of jewelry or brooch, or something easily hidden on one's person but recognizable to those who know how to look, which tends to take the form of a necklace or bracelet with her holy symbol on it, notched to distinguish rank. To her followers who exist outside of an organization like a country such as mercenaries or tribesmen, the churches they tend to form are sprawling walled complexes known as "Battle Cathedrals", where all members undergo training, live combat simulations, and engage in study of military history and combat tactics. These Battle Cathedrals tend to work as makeshift mercenary guilds, and often attract even warriors not of the faith who enjoy the accomodations and security afforded to these complexes run by members of the faith. Though Oshihime's faith tends to be in large part based in Giant Culture and made up of largely Giants, they are not the sole members of her faith - her creed of not seeking out violence unless others are fool enough to not back down means that any are free to approach a member of the faith and ask to join - a request that is not often denied if they seem strong enough. However, their initiation rituals are notoriously brutal - if an aspirant seems weak or proves unworthy during the trials, they are liable to meet their end squashed flat beneath the foot of a giant, boiled alive in the scorching grip of an Eldragi's hand, or simply killed in the lethal initiation rituals that see them undergo countless tests of skill, then hold their own against an established member of the faith - typically a giant or veteran warrior. These fights are not quite to the death, though killing the aspirant is often encouraged to the one fighting them - they are often rewarded with a promotion or better gear if they succeed in killing the aspirant, and weeding out a weak member of the faith. Her churches are run by the head warrior of the area, typically holding the rank of "Shogun". In Giant communities, this "Shogun" is often held by the chieftain of the village or the strongest chieftain in the area, but in areas of mixed population it might be held by one of any race, provided they are strong enough.Ethics
Unlike the followers of the rowdy Saint Sunder, Oshihime's followers do not believe in strictly seeking out carnage in the traditional sense. That is not to say they avoid war or battle - but when given the change, they will usually give their foes a chance to back down and do the proper thing, that they might survive. If pushed, or if their foes do not relent, they believe that it is only right and just to bring absolute death and destruction down upon them - they believe that morality has no place on the battlefield, so they hold no qualms about performing the worst acts of brutality imaginable, from burning entire buildings full of children or noncombatants, or horrible maiming entire legions of warriors and mounting them upon pikes as a terror tactic. They will do anything it takes to win the battle once it begins, but are often flexible about allowing their foes to back down beforehand to avoid such a fate. To this end, they cultivate reputations as mass-murdering butchers often enough, and followers of Oshihime will often relish developing horrible reputations that strike fear into the hearts of others - they relish in causing fear and sowing terror, for it means that even fewer will seek to challenge them and make the mistake of forcing their hand. They may not strike the first blow, but one can count on Oshihime's followers to strike the most brutal, terror-sowing blow for sure - whether that be sappers sending an enemy camp full of women and children up in hellfire, or torturing their foes mercilessly, they will often do anything to win, anything for victory. They believe that to have the strength to do these things is important, as is having the will and desire to do them, but equally important to them is knowing WHEN such carnage should be deployed - just as there is not a one size fits all solution to things, they believe that having the wisdom to know when to 'draw one's blade' so to speak, is equally important. If forced, they will commit such brutality, but if an enemy backs down and kneels, they will see no need to do so. And finally, they both constantly seek power, skill, and to hone their skills and craft - just because one might not have a need is no excuse to not let one's weapons or skills grow dull. They believe in constant training and improvement, on and off the battlefield, for they venerate strength above all others. To them, on a battlefield and in life, there are two breeds - The Strong, and the Weak. The weak, to them, are beings not inherently worthy of death per se, but are creatures who are destined to exist at the whims of others, and the whims of the strong. Weak creatures are not worthy of tears, nor sympathy - they consider it only just that they do as they wish with them and yoke them beneath themselves and the strong - if the weak hate being slaves or forced around, they need merely get stronger, or die in the process. A pitiless outlook, to be sure, but a brutally fair one - a weak creature is afforded no sympathy, and is often enslaved or outright killed for amusement, but those who hang around and get stronger are given due respect and an equal place at the table.History
The history of Saint Oshihime is one covered in blood and brutality - and one that is seen drastically differently depending on who is being asked to tell it. Regardless of the interpretations, however, what is known for sure is that Oshihime was an Eldragi who lived not long ago - she lived a scant 500 years ago or so, during the height of the Age of Conquest. She, unlike any other Eldragi, was born with a terrifying and horrible power that even her own people feared her for - not only did the flames of hellfire beat within her bosom, but something much worse - a blue-white flame so hot nothing could resist melting around her...plasma. Feared for this horrible heat which melted even her own kin in her presence, she was taken to the top of Mount Hironai as a child, and sealed away in an ancient Eldragi temple famed for its evil-sealing qualities. She was bound to this temple, and forced to live and hunt there, alone - abandoned by her people. Growing up on Mount Hironai, Oshihime did not die as her people hoped she would - instead she flourished and thrived, and in time fostered a horrible, terrifying reputation as the Red-skinned she-demon of Mount Hironai, who would kill and maim passers by, sack caravans, and cause mayhem. She was feared far and wide on reputation alone - her attacks left no survivors, and though countless would-be heroes and saviors set off to slay her, they all ended up falling like straws before her awesome power, the would-be heroes' blades melting into liquid as they touched her flesh as the heroes themselves melted not long after, crushed beneath her footfalls. Eventually, having reached adulthood, Oshihime grew bored of her life on the mountaintop and, after slaughtering so many heroes sent to kill her, had grown strong enough to melt the wards keeping her in and around the temple - escaping and traveling down the mountain to return to her people. And return to them she did, wasting no time rallying them around her by force - many a chieftain found themselves melting in her grip if they dared to disobey her. She spoke of a great kingdom they would found - just as the smallfolk were doing, they would form an empire of their own that stretched from one side of the Great Gyatsoshin Desert to the other. She promised her people a kingdom that they had always dreamed of, and had the power and charisma to do so - she rallied the disparate tribes together, killed all who opposed her, and mixed the Eldragi and Othraka as they never had before - forming much of the modern day structure of the tribes - and went to war against the world. And not once in her life did she know defeat - her brilliance, tactical ingenuity, and terrifying reputation for wanton genocide, even against women, children, and noncombatants, gave her such a fearsome reputation few would engage her and her forces in battle. In a scant few years, she yoked nearly every tribe of the desert under her rule as she aimed for total dominance over the lands - entire human cities vanished beneath her towering footfalls, her body big enough to block out the sun, and members of all races and creeds had flocked to her banner, drawn by the lure of a tyrant who cared for nothing but loyalty and ability. However, at the height of her rule, as she sat poised to take the last great city and establish her reign, she was betrayed by one of her own, and slain just in sight of her goal. Without her leadership, her armies splintered and fell to infighting, though her remaining loyal lieutenants hunted down the traitor who saw her killed and gave them a due punishment. After her death, for her legendary achievments, she was given a spot at the side of Nazzon, The Godflame Duke and made a saint in his name - her carnage and terror would live on eternally, carried on the backs of her scattering armies. The giants she rallied would retain her ingenious tribal structure to live within, and she would become a role model for Eldragi and Othraka for centuries to come - her faith becoming the dominant faith all across the Giant Tribes of the desert, defining what it meant to be a Giant then and now.
Morality will not win you any battles. In a battle, you fight to win. And if that means killing every last living creature, combatant or not, then you do it. War is ugly - you fight to win, no matter what the means doing. But there's no reason to seek it out. If others wanna step to me and make that mistake, they'll regret it. True strength is making sure your enemies never challenge you again, sure, but it's just as admirable to make others never want to fight in the first place.
Example Divine Oaths
Oath of the Destroyer: Never turn your back on a fight. Leave no foe alive. Never craft or create an item or birth a creature. Never solve a problem with guile or wit when power will suffice.
Oath of the Carnage-King: Never perform a clean kill - make your foes suffer wherever possible before they die, to evoke fear in others. Never attack a foe who backs down or who kneels in acceptance of your power and desires before the battle begins - spare them. Once a battle begins, however, ensure no foe escapes or survives the encounter to the best of your abilities.
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