THE
CULTS
Learn of the divitinites secretly worshipped across Tralodren.
TRALODROEN CULTS
Cults have risen and fallen over the millennia across Tralodren. Often kept hidden from the general public in hopes of working their agenda without being stopped or hindered by the gods and/or their followers, it’s not entirely easy to know where they might have been or if they are still operating at a given time. The only time most find out about them is right before they are judged but the pantheon and/or broken up by other authorities for various reasons.
While each cult is different in many respects it does share a basic similarity, they all are tied around the worship of a divinity outside the pantheon. Who this divinity is can and does vary through the years. And some are more repeat offenders than others, reforming their cults after they had been disbanded or censured by the pantheon.
AZRIN
The Dark Sage
Azrin is one of the five original devilish princes who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. He represents to many a source of dark wisdom and power whom some have a desire to gain. Seen as a sort of dark sage—which is his most common title—those who seek greater insight often hunger for something either forbidden or kept from them. Some may be just fascinated with evil and have no other way to access any additional information. What they seek this information for can and does vary from cultist to cultist throughout history. In all cases, though, what is shared is far from beneficial to anyone and the means by which it is granted can further create even greater harm and evil in the process to the cultist and even those associated with them. For one soon quickly learns that with Azrin nothing is shared for free and the greater the knowledge desired the greater the cost is exacted.
Adherents
All those who follow Azrin are called Azrinites and naturally keep their affiliation hidden from those who would seek to do them harm.
Basic Tenets
The more that’s forsaken the more that’s gained.
The greater the sacrifice the greater the reward.
He who looks back is not fit to advance.
Leaving the Cult
It is also understood that those who try and leave the cult once they have sworn their allegiance to Azrin, are often killed in a sacrifice to prove their loyalty as well as keep word from getting out among the wider populace.
Afterlife Beliefs
Those who die in the service of Azrin believe they will enter his domain in the afterlife and be rewarded with how well they served him in life. There they will be able to live a debauched life, rivaling and enjoying deeper dark truths that no mortal can fully understand outside the Abyss.
Places of Worship
Azrinties find old fiendish ruins or places of power ideal meeting areas for their dark deeds and activities, though old ruins in general or other out of the way places are also sought to maintain their secrecy. Though in a pinch, they can learn to make due with just about any location that isn’t already claimed by another deity or divinity.
BETHRA
The Pale Princess
Bethra is one of the five original devilish princes/princesses who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. Those who worship the Pale Princess, as she is sometimes called, do so for her promises of power, riches, and influence in the world. For those who make up her cult are used to infiltrate places of power, rule, and influence in a given region. Here they make sure Bethra’s agenda is carried out to the letter. This means her followers can be in courts in kingdoms, as rulers in independent cities, part of or head of trade guilds, and the like. Wherever there is a concentration of power and wealth and influence over the region/population it’s a prime candidate for infiltration. Given this unique nature of the cult her followers are often people of place, power, or influence themselves or those who are on climbing the social ladder to attain them.
Adherents
All those who follow Bethra are called Bethrians and naturally keep their affiliation hidden so they can perform their mistress desires and plans.
Basic Tenets
He who steers the rudder, rules the entire ship.
Riches bring power and power allows command.
Sentiment and morality are dross of the soul.
There is only one command to which total service is required.
Leaving the Cult
Naturally, given their activities, should anyone try and leave the cult they are quickly put to an end and anything tied to them and the cult destroyed. In some cases they have even used those who wish to leave the cult as scapegoats for various troubles and ills, making it look like once they are put out of the way the threat from the cult dies with them (and usually some other conveniently attached loose ends or others they want to dispose of in the process).
Afterlife Beliefs
Those who die in the service of Bethra believe they will enter her domain in the afterlife and be rewarded with how well they served her in life. Those who did very well will have a opulent life of power and influence while those who did lesser amounts on Tralodren will have lesser degrees of reward in their afterlife.
Places of Worship
Bethrians often gather in the very places of power they seek to infiltrate. This means they can be found in a hidden part of a palace or estate, along a rich trade route, or other such locations. While they can and do gather in lesser locations most prefer to keep close to their where they are working Bethra’s plans, enjoying the setting as a sign of their success in their efforts.
HABADAK
Angels’ Bane
Habadak is one of the ten fiendish princes and princess who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. Credited with the creation of Trolls, it isn’t uncommon for some to find their way into his worship from time to time across the planet and centuries. Other than this most of those who follow after him tend to be from the monstrous races with the rest coming from the mortalkind and even the odd giant. He promises those who side with him the means to become powerful in their own right—a law until themselves—able to topple and supersede the old laws, morality, and other things that would hold them back from their truest desires and purpose. In return they will serve the intents and purposes of Habadak for the rest of their lives.
Adherents
All those who follow Habadak are called Habadakites.
Basic Tenets
The basic rule all follow is to obey the commands of Habadak. Since they have no scared tome or collection of rules or regulations and their organization is simple and often rises and falls quickly at best, this is the only rule they need look to obey. The idea is that by looking to aid Habadak he will, in turn, aid you—and richly—for your service to him and his needs on Tralodren. Even more so should someone be the one to finally help bring him into Tralodren and/or secure a large area of power for him on the planet.
Leaving the Cult
If one attempts to leave the cult they are killed in a the most horrific way possible as part punishment and warning to others in the cult. This killing is also seen as a form of worship, the dead body being burned as a sacrifice to Habadak.
Afterlife Beliefs
When they die, Habadakites believe they will be granted a place of honor in Dalgrana and there get to rule and continue to improve for the time when they finally ascend to Paradise and make the plane their own.
Places of Worship
Most cults have been gathered in hidden locations or wilderness locales far from the common encounter with other people. Part of this remoteness helps them grow and develop in their own natural strength and abilities and endurance/toughness, that adds to their own dark designs.
JEBULON
The Secret Spider
Jebulon is one of the ten fiendish princes and princess who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. Those who follow him are often thieves, spies, and other less than noble persons who are tempted by the pull of riches, influence, and power over the common person and environment. Given this appeal and purpose, those who follow Jebulon are from many different races and social standings. He takes all, which helps foster an additional sense of equality among the cultists as he weaves his web over all he can. Though equality really isn’t the goal, but rather gathering information, and influence and using it for Jebulon’s dark designs and personal profit.
His followers keep themselves cloaked and masked in meetings, keeping each other’s nature and person secret from the other.
Adherents
All those who follow Jebulon are called Jebulists.
Basic Tenets
Loyalty above life; secrecy above all.
Truth is a shackle to those lacking ambition.
Help spin the web and you can profit from the strand.
Those who strive for more shall have and enjoy it, no matter the cost.
Leaving the Cult
Given the nature of what Jebulon commands, it isn’t uncommon for some to have second thoughts at times and even try and leave or expose the cult to others. And it is at such times that these are hunted down and killed. While the other members of the cult might not known each other the priests do have knowledge of just who is involved and can either send out someone to deal with them or take on the matter themselves.
Afterlife Beliefs
Followers of Jebulon who die in his service believe they are sent to Kralix, his domain in the Abyss. There they are rewarded for their service and enjoy a life of ease as they continue serving their master in various capacities.
Places of Worship
Given their nature and purpose a cult can be formed and run from just about anywhere in the world. Though they prefer a more secure and private location often times one finds them operating right under the noses of the unsuspecting—almost hiding in plain sight as it were. They also have the tendency to move, especially as certain operations or actives call for more of a presence toward or even away from a given area. Moving around also keeps them from being detected as well as gives them a greater air of mystery as to their true whereabouts.
KADEN
Various Titles
Kaden is one of the ten fiendish princes and princess who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. Unlike the other princes his cult is less focused than others, being a mutable collection of ideas that has over the millennia pulled in many varied persons from all across Tralodren. This makes putting it into a clearer perspective challenging as it often becomes whatever the current priests running it want it to be.
Adherents
All those who follow Kaden are called Kadenites.
Basic Tenets
Since Kaden keeps his cult mutable there is no real set of tenets that are consistent, these mostly being made up by the current priests in charge of the cult, which can and do vary as they gain new revelations or have new ideas about the direction of things.
Leaving the Cult
Since the cult is so fluid there is no real clear and cut manner in which those seeking escape from the cult are treated. Only that each is killed if they failed to see the error of their ways.
Afterlife Beliefs
Those who die in service to Kaden believe they will be richly rewarded in keeping with their current belief, joining him in Calbrix, his personal domain in the Abyss.
Places of Worship
Places where people worship Kaden can and do vary, depending on how each new incarnation of the cult seems themselves and their mission.
LYRA
The Golden Lady
Lyra is one of the ten fiendish princes and princess who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. By all accounts she’s rather sadistic and inspires and demands that in her followers. Those who worship the Golden Lady, as she is also called, are some of the most sadistic people once can find, taking delight in the suffering, pain, and misery of others. They also are slavers, kidnapping and trafficking in people for profit as well as victims of their dark lusts. Needless to say such actives tend to keep them unpopular with most of the general population.
Adherents
All those who follow Lyra are called Lyrinians and naturally keep their affiliation hidden so they can perform their mistress' desires and plans.
Basic Tenets
In another’s misery you can find your joy.
In all pain there is profit.
Mercy is for the weak, compassion for fools.
Life is cheap; profit where you can.
Leaving the Cult
If someone is caught trying to leave the cult or seeks to betray it then they are subjected to the most horrendous type of torture, ensuring for the most prolonged and agonizing death possible. This can also entail torturing their loved ones before them as well.
Afterlife Beliefs
Those who die in the service of Lyra believe they will enter her domain in the afterlife and there finally come into and know the deepest of dark delights. Some imagine they will rule with her others that they will be set up as minor dark nobles in their own right, enjoying a life they can know only imagine.
Places of Worship
Given their nature and purposes, Lyrinians seek places that are well hidden from the common day-to-day life. They prefer underground tunnels and complexes for ease of trafficking their victims and plans and also can end up in old abandoned locations and ruins they often will repurpose or remake for their own uses.
MORCANE
The Exalted One
Morcane is one of the ten fiendish princes and princess who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. Unlike the other devilish princes, however, he puts forth a greater appeal to his followers, claiming if they will help him return to Tralodren and rise to the rank of god he will be able to bring about this golden age upon the world and even cosmos. Those that sided with him and helped him would be rewarded and get to rule with him in this blessed age, enjoying a life none can fully envision. Those who flock to him are people who have become jaded with the current reality presented them in the world: anarchists, those who are more fluid in their morality, and even those who hunger for greater truths and are tempted with the desire to rule as divines in their own right.
Adherents
All those who follow Morcane are called Morcanists and naturally keep their affiliation hidden so they can perform their master's desires and plans.
Basic Tenets
The glory to come is worth any present suffering.
The past is not worthy to share the future.
The greater the loyalty the richer the reward.
The present is tyranny, the future glory and great joy.
Leaving the Cult
People who leave the cult often don’t fare that well. Their fellow cultists ostracize them while a certain few are tasked with doing them away all together and making it look like an accident or natural causes of some sort. In this they can keep their veneer of a more benevolent god in the making while also dealing with traitors.
Afterlife Beliefs
Those who die in service to Morcane hold they join their master and soon coming god in Bytrin, his domain in the Abyss. There they serve their him in a taste of the future glory that will fall upon all his loyal followers when the Exalted One is finally exalted.
Places of Worship
Morcane prefers his followers and priests assemble in former places of fiendish power, adapting ruins or other places for their purposes. But since this is not always the most ideal, he allows them to assemble in just about any location that suits his purpose. This often means it's unassuming, often hidden from public scrutiny, and hard to locate or stumble upon by accident.
NARSULLA
The Mother of Minotaurs
Narsulla is one of the original ten fiendish princes who came to Tralodren during the end of the Titanic Years. Because of her actions then she has since been tied very closely to minotaurs, whom she has kept an eye on and used to various degrees toward her own ends. Her history with them has also limited any other races from following the minotaurs in her worship. Those who do worship her do so because they want a better place in the world in which minotaurs are often viewed as the outsider and imperfect to the divine order the pantheon sought to establish upon Tralodren’s creation. Others simply seek power, which Narsulla is also willing to share from time to time for various followers and reasons.
Adherents
All those who follow Narsulla are called Narsullins.
Basic Tenets
Embrace your true nature and flourish.
The strong shall rule and the weak shall serve.
If it does not advance the race it hinders it.
Devotion and loyalty to Narsulla bring power and place.
Leaving the Cult
While some minotaurs might turn aside from Narsulla after having joined her cause for a while, there is little forgiveness for such a turn. Seen as weakness or even betrayal, those who turn aside for their old Narsulla worshipping ways instead find themselves hunted and even brought before the cult to stand trail for their perceived crime. A swift execution follows with the victim acting as a sacrifice for Narsulla.
Afterlife Beliefs
Narsullins belief that with their death they travel to Tasana and there help their creator with her plans and schemes, serving her in various capacities and growing into their fullest potential.
Places of Worship
It will come as no surprise given her connection to the minotaurs that her cults often are found in the lands they occupy and often near or in older places of prominence or power. And then these are often hidden in various ways to keep them from obvious detection until they can take a more prominent location once they have found a way to to dominate more thinking of the people gathered around the location.
TAGARIN
The Debaucher
Tagarin first encountered Tralodren with the ten other fiendish princes during the close of the Titanic Age. Those who seek him out are ones who have fallen for his temptations of a life free from moral restraint of any kind. One is free to delve into excess of all types and any sensual pleasure goes. This lax and wide view of things spreads into who is allowed into the cult. For the most part anyone is free to join provided they prove true to Tagarin and his ways.
Adherents
All those who follow Tagarin are called Tagarites.
Basic Tenets
If it feels good, do it.
Life is short, enjoy all you can of it.
Codes and Conduct are not for others to impose; Morality is a mutable thing.
Leaving the Cult
While there are some who sometimes have a change of heart and decide to leave the cult or even turn against them these are quickly dealt with by the priests or even higher ranking members of the cult. If they cannot be tempted to rejoin then they are killed as a sacrifice and warning to others harboring any doubts in their allegiance.
Afterlife Beliefs
Tagarites when they day hold they will spend the rest of their afterlife in Rolis, the domain of the Debaucher as he is often called. Here they believe they’ll get to enjoy endless lives of pleasure unlike anything they’ve known in their mortal lives.
Places of Worship
Given what they’re about Tagarites tend to keep to more private locales for their gatherings. These, though, are far from hovels but instead often will be lavishly decorated and well suppled with food and drink and other necessities as well as having areas to provide said food and drink. It’s also not uncommon for them to have a banner or two sporting Tagarin’s symbol for added effect.
VODAN
The Scaled Sovereign
Vodan is one of the ten fiendish princes and princess who found their way to Tralodren during the close of the Titanic Age. Most who side with or side with Vodan are deltarians and to a lesser extent lizardmen. His association alone with these darker races is reason enough for more to steer clear but some ryu have been tempted in times past to join their corrupted kin in bending the knee. He offers a greater hope for the races he helped create and a new power they can wield and use by helping bring about his return to Tralodren.
Adherents
All those who follow Vodan are called Vodanians.
Basic Tenets
Vodan’s will is your command.
The glory to come is worth whatever the cost.
Anything that hinders Vodan’s will shall be destroyed.
Anything that would corrupt Vodan’s creation shall be removed and destroyed.
Leaving the Cult
While leaving his cult is a rather race occurance, should it ever occur all the one attempting to depart is brought before the whole throng and there beaten to death by all present.
Afterlife Beliefs
Those how did in service to Vodan or even just a deleterian or lizardmen are tough to go to Quantora, Vodan’s domain in the Abyss, and there live out the rest of their lives helping their creator and god in his plans of returning to conquer and rule Tralodren.
Places of Worship
Given the makeup of those who follow after Vodan it isn’t unheard of the places his cults gravitate toward are in deletarian and/or lizardmen communities or nations. In more friendly territory they might brave something a little close to civilization while in more hostile terrain they will opt for something hidden and remote, kept secret for the most part from as many prying or even passing eyes as possible.
SHADOR
The Silent Shadow
Shador is a mysterious figure who is found more often than not in large cities where he likes to find those to do his bidding. He is said to be a rebel Lord of Darkness looking to take command of things and/or usurp the reign of Gurthghol. He promises secret knowledge, power, and aid to those who serve him while he keeps them hidden away doing his will from the shadows of cities and societies the cults form in. Due to their nature it isn’t unusual for thieves to find and follow him as well or those who have similar tendencies/morals to fill the ranks of the faithful.
Adherents
Those who follow after Shador are called Shadorians.
Basic Tenets
Since they lack any sacred text and the majority of their inside information is kept a secret in some way, shape or form, they tend to do what the priest or head priest (depending on the size of their cult) orders as being the main focus for the cooperate body. Always this agenda is tied around what they believe Shador has spoken to them to be about.
Leaving the Cult
No matter what they look to focus on as a body, they all take an oath to cut the throats, remove the tongues, and disemboweled anyone who should reveal the secrets of the cult (doing the same to members and non-members alike). In fact, many members are encouraged to kill themselves rather than be caught and be pressed to reveal anything to enemies.
Afterlife Beliefs
It really isn’t known what is in store for the follower of Shador when they die—this is the best kept secret of all. Many have some ideas of an enjoyable life in some reposts but just how much so and what it all entails Shador doesn’t share the details with anyone else, keeping this the ultimate secret all have to keep faith in him to receive.
Places of Worship
It is hard to keep track of the cults the spring up in that they are so secretive. It is known, however, that Shador favors the Midlands for some reason, keeping to larger cities and urban areas to establish his cults (or at least that is where the majority of them tend to gather).