Cults of the Demon Verge

Here's the player primer I've written for clerics in my Demon Verge campaign. Again, I didn't want to dump too much information on anybody. I could have written three times as much, but this still might be more than a new player would realistically need to know.

CULTS OF THE DEMON VERGE

Axiom. The official religion of the Old Kingdom, centuries old. The Creed of Axiom venerates a single female deity called the Iconess, an embodiment of Law, who works to impose order upon the chaos which was the universe’s original state in a process that will eventually perfect all creation. Until very recently, the Creed was the only religion whose followers could work clerical magic, which in the minds of many supported the assertion that theirs was the one true faith. Many Axiomites are deeply suspicious of followers of Hosar, especially in light of reawakened tensions between the Old Kingdom and their southern neighbors, the Ekkesh Empire, and seek to regain a foothold in the eastern borderland of the Verge.

Axiomite clerics are members of an ancient and militaristic order, and drape themselves in various shades of blue, often trimmed in gold. Their holy symbols are the Eye of Providence (a triangle with an eye inscribed within) or a feminine face (uniformly depicted according to exacting mathematical specifications). They can use daggers as well as those weapons normally allowed to clerics.


Hosar. A young faith, Hosar has its origins as a syncretistic cult that combined some obscure elements of Creed theology (now largely considered heretical) with the beliefs of the southern Ekkesh people, equating their sun-god with an aspect of the Iconess as a bringer of light out of darkness. Hosar belief speaks of a great struggle between light and darkness more often than law and chaos, and an impending apocalyptic conflict between the two forces as opposed to the Axiom’s ongoing gradual process of perfection. One year ago, this belief led to an “alliance of Hosar” that united the border states of D’Ansor, Timur and Barthek and drove them to war with the neighboring Demon-controlled province of Nisshar -- a conflict which nearly led to the destruction of all involved. Many Hosarites are humbled in the face of this mutual defeat, but are nonetheless defiant against the attempts to reassert Axiomite influence in the Demon Verge.

Hosarite clerics, a warrior sect that only manifested magical powers within the past two generations, wear raiments of white, red and orange. Their holy symbols are the sun disc and the bull (or ram). In addition to the weapons normally allowed to clerics, they may wield torches in battle.


Other cults. Numerous patron saints, godlings, and devils are invoked by the common folk to aid in various tasks. Since the power of the Old Kingdom is on the wane, and in the wake of the alliance of Hosar’s disastrous military campaign, new cults have begun to form -- sometimes around these old petty gods, and sometimes around young deities previously unknown. So far those that call themselves priests of these powers have displayed none of the clerics’ powers, but there are rumors that say otherwise.