The Midget's Deity-A-Week Thread!

[I'm A Banana]

SEKOLAH
The Great Shark

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Worshipers: Sahuagin
Domains: Evil, Law,Strength, War
Favored Weapon: Trident
Home Plane/Domain: Baator/Night Sea
Pantheon: Greyhawk
Divine Rank: Intermediate Deity (12)
Classes: Fighter, Ranger
Portfolio: Sahuagin, Sharks, Battle
Salient Abilities: (15) Alter Size, Avatar, Banestrike (Elves), Call Creatures (sharks), Control Creatures (sharks), Divine Blessing (Strength), Divine Fast Healing, Divine Ranger, Divine Storm, Divine Water Mastery, Extra Domain (strength), Grow Creature (shark), Rejuvination, Speak with Creatures (sharks), Wound Enemy
Special Possessions: None
Alternate Domains: Animal
Symbol: White shark

Description
From Defenders of the Faith: "the god of the sahuagin, Sekolah is lawful evil. He is the Great Shark, the Joyful Hunter, and the Caller from the Deapths. Besides being the patron of sahuagin, he is god of plunder, hunting, and tyrrany"
Sekolah appears as a massive white-skinned shark, when he appears at all.

Dogma
Take what you want. Dominate those who have it now. Feed on their spoils, and make them your own.
The teachings of Sekolah reflect his role as an icon of bloodlust, gluttony, and rulership. He is ever-hungry, always searching for a new feeding frenzy, continually scanning the seas for any nourishment. And when he finds it, he destroys whatever has a claim on it, and makes them and all they have his own. Similarly, he teaches the sahuagin to find what nourishment they can in the work of others, to destroy and dominate those who posess what they desire, and to lay claim to all the sea that they wish to. A sahuagin who is lazy in this, or who treats prey with compassion and kindness, is an abberation and a blasphemer.

Clergy and Temples
The priests of Sekolah (who are nearly always female) wear white, and often adorn themselves with pearls. Frequently, they are also found in white sharkskins, and many wear the jaws or teeth of sharks as decoration. They serve their community as the leaders and organizers of raids and battles, and are considered the authorities on the distribution of goods. The are second in authority only to the nobles (who are nearly always male).
Temples are gaudy affairs, often made of bone and stone, and decorated with hanging sharkskins, trophies of war, and the occasional pearl.

Rites and Rituals
Priests of Sekolah will make grand rituals out of battle preparations, stirring their poeple into a frenzy before leading them out to the "hunt." Much of Sekolah's rites revolve around hunting, from finding the "prey" (the town to be raided and conqueored), and tracking them down to destroy them.
They also enjoy a tradition of embodying sharks in their battles, many sahuagin taking a joy in organized hunting and killing and taming of the wild creatures that are their raid targets.

Mythography
Sekolah is interesting, mythographically, in being a lawful creature associated with traditionally chaotic stereotypes. The solitude of a shark's existence. The intense fury that is a feeding frenzy. The secrecy. All normally point to a subverter of order, rather than an imposer of it.
The motivation likely simply lies in the "top of the food chain" status of the shark. It is solitary not because it doesn't have order, but because it inspires terror in the other sea life. The sahuagin are more concerned with evoking that same terror than in emulating a shark's every action. Like everything to these people, the shark is just a tool to be used. It is intimidation, not imitation, that causes the shark to be utilized by the sahuagin.

Legends
The myths surrounding Sekolah are few. Many describe him taking on and devouring some monster as another, and this often serves as an allegory for the sahuagin's victory over that creature. The sahuagin are not known for their artistry or creativity, but they are known for their power -- to them, the shark is an allegory for their race as a whole, and so every conquest of theirs is a victory of Sekolah's.

Etc.
Prestige Classes
· Hunter of Flesh: A PrC revolving around a "lawful barbarian," with frenzy powers and divination and plant/animal magic.
· Sharkmaster: A PrC revolving around the acquisition and usage of sharks in many areas of life.
Plot Hooks
· Frenzy Control: Something has gotten out of hand in a sahuagin villiage. A mutant has flown into a blood frenzy, and causes it in others near him. The frenzy has snowballed so that most of the inhabitants of the villiage are now blood-crazed. A sahuagin baron has called upon the PC's to quell the riots -- using any nessecary means.
· Fish out of Water: Recently, coastal villiages have been besieged by "flying sharks," many of them diving into the town and killing much of the population. The mystery is not only who made the sharks fly, but how, and why? Odly, they seem to be searching for something, as non-food related items are also smashed or broken to bits.

 

[Piratecat]

I have bad news for you. In 1st edition, our group was exploring the Nine Hells; we had just killed Tiamat, and we were feeling frisky. Anyways, we were marching next to the Styx. Sekolah swims by, 90 feet of raw sharky power. And much to our horror, one of the PCs decides to shoot him with an arror.

<roll> Critical. <roll> To the head. <roll roll> Instant kill.

"Dude, you killed a God with a single arrow!"

We all went up like two levels.

So you can't stat up Sekolah the shark God; we killed him! Too bad, so sad. Next?

This is a true story. I was playing a dwarven fighter.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Hahaha...take a look at Rejuvination...

Sekolah came back the very next day...and let's just say he's gotta have a bit of a grudge...mwahahaha!

 

[Tonguez]

Ya know - I always though Sekola was a girl...

 

[Piratecat]

Oh. Crap.

My next vacation will be to Arizona.

 

[Nail]

Oh. Crap.

My next vacation will be to Arizona.

Bad Idea.

According to Dragongirl's sig., that's the 5th layer of Hell. And I hear there's a tributary of the Styx running through.......

...nice sharky.......

 

[National Acrobat]

I bow in the prescence

Wow. What a great thread. Good work here and very interesting. I would like to thank you for the work that you have saved many of us slackers. And with that I would like to add a request too, although mine is a bit more obscure.

Mythrien Sarath (The Watcher, Protector of Mythals)

Last seen wandering around in 2E in Dragon #251.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Everybody enjoy the holidays?

You guys were supposed to get a deity-a-week style god with a LOT of trimmin's, so I'll use that to justify why I haven't updated in a while.

But now, I think, it's time for another...

 

[I'm A Banana]

HRUGGEK
The Decapitator

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Worshipers: Bugbears
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Trickery, War
Favored Weapon: Morningstar
Home Plane/Domain: Perdition/The Hall of Heads
Pantheon: Bugbear
Divine Rank: Intermediate Deity (15)
Classes: Ranger, Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian
Portfolio: Stealth, Ambush, Violence, Bugears, Lightning
Salient Abilities: (18) Alter Size, Avatar, Battlesense, Call Creatures (bugbears), Control Creatures (bugbears), Divine Blessing (Strength), Divine Blessing (Dexterity), Divine Celerity, Divine Inspiration (Dread), Divine Skill Focus (Move Silently), Divine Weapon Focus (morningstar), Divine Weapon Specialization (morningstar), Energy Storm (electricity), Extra Domain (war), Increased Spell Resistance, Instant Move, Irresistable Blows
Special Possessions: "Striker," a shocking, screaming, shocking burst, screaming burst morningstar that Hruggek uses two-handed due to it's size
Alternate Domains: Strength
Symbol: A morningstar

Description
From Defenders of the Faith: "He is the god of violence and combat, delighting in masterful ambushes and sneak attacks."
Hruggek appears as a powerful-looking bugbear, often clad in dark, stormcloud grey, weidling a morningstar that glows with an eerie, blue Saint Elmo's Fire when wet (with blood or water). He delights in random and senseless violence, especially if the victims are caught off guard

Dogma
Strike from the shadows unseen. Never be noticed unless it's too late. Revel in the power secrets give you. But negelect not your strength and brawn, for that is what makes sure the hidden strike hits home. Like a bolt of thunder, you must surprise, frighten, and destroy.
Hruggek preaches the virtues of sneakiness and or destruction, teaching those who would follow him to grab what the desire, and to desire the act of grabbing itself, done in such a way that the victim only knows what has hit them as their life is flowing from their flesh.

Clergy and Temples
Those who pay homage to the Decapitator generally serve as advisors and wise men, and often cheiftains themselves. They are great warriors who pride themselves on striking the others unprepared. They advise courses of action -- which game to hunt, which city to raid -- based on which will be the easiest to catch unaware. Surprise is paramount to them, and they often will refuse to go with a plan if they do not have that advantage, and, by extention, Hruggek's blessing. They often dress in stormy gray, and many take levels in any of the classes Hruggek posesses (fighter, ranger, barbarian, but especially rogue) as well as being clerics.
The temples of Hruggek's faithful are dark and ominous, often only being lit by a single sputtering fireplace in the center of a vast cavern, which barely illuminates the unsettling decor: the heads of the tribe's victims are clearly and prominently displayed, hung from the ceiling, nailed to the wall, or driven onto spikes in the ground. Often, they will be surrounded in an effect not unlike Faery Fire, glowing with an eerie radience, and perhaps flickering with electrical energy. The priest will frequently speak from these heads instead of revealing herself, adding quite a bit of fright to those who are being talked to by the head of one of their own people. These serve as planning rooms for raids and wars, and sometimes as storehouses for the trophies.

Rites and Rituals
Priests of Hruggek make a habit of adorning themselves with the heads of their conquests. They are well aware of the proper csevering, uring, tanning, and shrinking methods for the heads (covered in their Knowledge (religion) skill), and frequently use these heads as a divine focus for their magic, causing the head to speak and the spell to manifest. They'll also carve their morningstars to look like heads on spikes. They most often clad themselves in dark grey, with adornments of copper that easily conduct many of the electrical spells they are fond of.
Great rituals occur in the society whenever storms brew, and bugbear raids will often be planned to coincide with great nighttime lightning storms, earning the creatures a nearly supernatural reputation in some communities. Copper is considered a sacred metal to them, and many words of affection would be said to it, including the copper coins they receive, which they tend to buff and care for very much.

Mythography
Witness the evolution of Zeus, here in the dank caves of the bugbears. Hruggek is on the cusp of becoming a god greater than many of the deities of the savage humanoids. His portfolio is expanding, and his areas of influence and control continue to grow. Originally a simple god of stealthy ambush, the meatphor with lightning has nearly catapulted this thuggish god into the realm of natural storm-god. He has recieved worship from even savage human and degenerate orc tribes in recent years, and his popularity is growing in unexpected ways. He is becoming something of a fey, a spirit of the natural world, the wickedness embodied in the sneaky, ambushing lightning, and his race is becoming more and more honed by that direction of worship. Largely, it is how he has been able to keep such a tight hold on the leadership of this chaotic and free society -- he has the most powerful motif behind him, and his priests do not balk any nay-saying. Quickness, sudenness, and wrathful power have been the concerns of the Decapitator, and this has led him to association with a powerful force in the world -- powerful enough to perhaps cause him to break the cusp of intermediate godhood, and channel himself into greater godhood. Certainly, the budding pantheon is ripe, his people growing stronger and more numerous daily. If this happens, it will be the latest example of a goblinoid race 'evolving' a greater god, since Maglubiyet took up the mantle, and the bugbears being such a mighty race in comparison, one would hope that they don't become more concerned with domination and conquest than they have been, recently. Speed and power of lightning...but will they crave a world of thunder?

Legends
Like many goblinoid deities, there are legends of the alliances and betrayals of Hruggek, but they are infrequent. Hruggek makes few alliances, because all are worthy prety in his book, and there is little virtue in 'teaming up' with anyone who will cause his hunts to fail. There are many legends of him hunting great beasts, and surprising them, and the more canny and cunning the beast, the greater the victory. Many tales are sung about his defeat of one of the sons of Corellon Larethian of the elves, and the head mounted in his hall in Perdition. Trophies of beasts, and of people, are many in this great room, and exhaustive lists of the creatures both extinct and alive that adorn his walls and floor are one of the most popular legends.
There also exists a tale of Hruggek's domination of a human storm god, from which he recieved his morningstar, considered to be one of his crowning achievements. It is said the storm-god's head is located inside his morningstar, and that is what causes it to glow eerily, and scream.
Finally, Hruggek's few interactions with the rest of the golin pantheon are told about in dark corners, where the lesson is to fear the bugbear lord, and to turn the enemy against itself. Workds of his teaming up with Khurgorbaeyag, a goblin god of slavery, captivity, and hopelessness, and urges him to work against the goblin god Maglubiyet. This serves to keep his main competators busy with their own petty squabbles. His main enemy in these efforts of stirring up troule is Bargrivyek, a goblin god of unity, but recent slight alterations in the pantheon have shown that the bugbear strategy has perhaps been fairly successful -- the goblins do not get along nearly as well as they used to, and Maglubiyet's stranglehold on the race seems to be weakening.

Etc.
Prestige Classes
· Stormstriker: A PrC that focuses on stealth and speed, and adds a few electric and sonic powers to boot
· Taskmaster: As the natural dominators of the rest of the goblinoids, having one focused on getting slaves to obey you is somewhat important, whey you can't just threaten to kill them in their sleep.
· Fetishist: A PrC whose point revolves around heads. The use of, the severing of, the animating-for-various-purposes of...head games.
Plot Hooks
· 'Twas a Dark and Stormy Night: Bugbears are moving into the area, with a coalition of disposed orcs and human barbarians. A stormy summer night is interrupted as the creatures descend upon the town that the PC's are in, glowing with a blue light, and flying.
· Get Ahead (And Other Bad Puns): When the local bugbear tribe have gained posession of a head that was said to be from a powerful wizard -- that is still alive -- it falls to the always-effective Adventurers to find the brain-case, wrest it from bugbear control, and hope that it doesn't get crushed or somehow damaged in the process.

 

[Olive]

nice... this thread still rocks hard.