Runequest Thursday #180 - The Cult of Crawral!
The Cult of Crawral is the cannibal cult that makes its home in Starving Mountain and the Cavern of the Charnel Cult. Herein you will learn the structure and some measure of the terrible secrets of the cult.
Note: If you wish to see the Actual Cultists, or the other inhabitants of the Cavern, as well as the rules for Sorcery and for Witchcraft, follow the above link and check out the attachments.
The Cult of Crawral
Mythos and Pre-History
Crawral is one of the Blood Gods, terrible beings who seek domination over life and the lands of the Elder Age, and have done so for thousands of years. But they began as powerful mortal sorcerers of the Dawn Age – Sorcerers who delved to deeply into the Outer Realms and awakened a force that they could not control. That force, The Black Sun, overwhelmed, corrupted, and ultimately enslaved them so thoroughly that they are willing participants in its ongoing war of multiplanar domination.
Few of the Blood Gods are obedient to the Black Sun unless forced, and Crawral, though seemingly subservient to his master, is no different. The Eater of All Flesh is a being of wild excess and forbidden cravings, not a tactician or a courtier by nature. He, and his cultists, are mad by all mortal standards, and wish only to be left alone to pursue their appetites.
That being said, Crawral has never actually rebelled agains the Black Sun, as others of the Blood Gods have done with greater or lesser success. Instead, he has aided his master when feeding opportunities were plentiful and fled when the pickings became lean. Crawral has avoided the ire of his fellows, and of his master, but at the expense of also losing any alliance or trust they might have in him that is not bought by ample access to tasty morsels.
History
Crawral has occasionally spawned demigods as depraved as he himself and sometimes entire cannibal societies. But such things tend to be short-lived, as they have trouble keeping their neighbors from crusades of eradication.
The best known example of a people ruled by the worship of Crawral is that of the Flailing Ones of the Northeastern Steppes, who carved out a mobile kingdom of terror three centuries ago as they brought greater numbers of enemy tribes under their banners – and their butchering knives. Founded and led by the Great Maw Tuhlga, the Flailing Ones were a scourge for a century before falling afoul of the Empire and their own instability. Scattered pockets of holdover sects and cults still exist that claim lineage from the Flailing Ones – The Cult of the Charnel Cavern is one, claiming to be derived from the Great Maw himself.
More often, hidden cults form, often in areas of famine, when some folk are more willing to entertain the notion of expanding their diets to include others of their own species.
Numerous cult centers are said to exist in the Wodeland hill country, some of which (like the Charnel Cult) may derive their origin from the Flailing Ones and The Great Maw. The recent war between Wodeland and Sonderland exposed several pockets of Blood God worship, as have the actions of an as yet unknown but effective Blood Mage Hunter, rumored to be operating somewhere north of Gryphon Pass. Some speculate that this Hunter is the halfbreed Jarl of Dunraven, Donnan Corag. Others look elsewhere for the one who has scoured Blood mages from places on the Icedragon Coast.
Cult Ecology
The Cult of Crawral exists to prey upon the weak – those of weak will succumbing to its seductive offer of ready flesh and power, those lacking in authority or defense serving as food for the first category. Vicious politicians and plutocrats, madmen and the worst sorts of murderers are common adherants. Some operate secretly, maintaining a public persona of respectability, others flee the ordered life of men for the chaotic revelry of the forbidden feast.
The Cult has no set holy days, instead suiting their rites to the availability of prey and the grinding orations of the Great Maw from the Cavern’s depths.
The Cults Runes are Chaos, Death and Man.
Initiates (The term Procuror is more common)
Among the Cultists of the Great Maw, Initiates are collectively referred to as “The Cabal of Dessiccata”. They abstain from all food except that acceptable to, and blessed by Crawral – in the form of the Great Maw. Blessing the food is done by hanging it in the fumes arising from one fo the pits that descend to the Great Maw, recognizable by the pinkish mist rising from below, the writhing lights in the same depths and the groan “Orations” of the Maw, which are said to be decipherable only by the Carrion King, leader of the cult.
Requirements:
Members of the Cabal must sacrifice at least 10 POWer per week to the Great Maw, as well as half that each to the Carrion King and to the High Executioner. In addition, Cabal members are the most common providers of food for the cult, and must venture out, usually led by the High Executioner, on hunting expeditions, regularly. Any Dessiccata who do not provide at least 5 ENCumbrance of food to the cult per Month risk exposure to the Breath of the Great Maw (the Pink Mist), which slowly robs the exposed of their minds and transforms them into Mad Flesh – the mindless killing machines who serve the Carrion King without reservation or thought of their own well-being.
Trusted and suitably skilled Dessiccata may be sent to infiltrate nearby halls or settlements as scout of the cult. Thus the cult encourages Cabal members to train skills such as Influence and Courtliness as well as those used to defend and procure food.
Benefits:
Dessiccata are granted access to any magic known to the Carrion King or the High Executioner, generally in exchange for personal loyalty, service, or procurement. The Cult of Starving Mountain offers the Rune Spell: Cannibalize, which may be used to gain knowledge and power from meals, but also makes the spells known to other members available when possible. Though there is considerable posturing and jockeying for position within the Cult, little of it leads to outright attack, because the cult is the enemy of nearly any creature it encounters.
Currently, the cabal offers training in the Witchcraft Skill and spells: Menace, Spiderclimb, and Widdershins, as well as the skills Move Silently, Hide in Cover, Claw attack, Knife attack, and Evade.
Of course, a major benefit of being a Procuror in good standing is not being exposed to the Breath of the Maw and become Mad Flesh.
The Mad Flesh
These despicable creatures have lost nearly any sense of themselves, or of their humanity, essentially operating as fast-moving living zombies, often controlled by the Carrion King directly.
They rarely leave the slopes of Starving Mountain, but infest many of the caves therein. They are constantly ravenous, will eat any meat offered, and much that is not. They are bound to the Carrion King, and will never harm him. In fact, they are his greatest defense against an ambitious High Executioner.
Mad flesh prowl the caverns attacking anything that is not clearly more dangerous or that is not in the cult. Sometimes they are overcome by the whispers of the Breath, and hurl themselves into the Great Maw.
The High Executioner
The High Executioner is the equivalent of the rune lord or lay in other cults, and serves as the most deadly defender of the cult and its most puissant procurer. She also leads the butchering services of the cult, bathing in the blood of the sacrificed and preparing the meat for dispensation by the Carrion King. The High Executioner is pitiless, deadly in the extreme, and usually utterly mad, though not in the mindless way of the Mad Flesh.
Requirements:
The High Executioner must butcher any prey to be used in sacrifice or to gain magic or power, and thus must be skilled in Butchery and Flensing. She must lead procurors on raids to gather food and any other supplies the cult might require. Finally, she must be loyal to the Great Maw, and its representative – the Carrion King. There have been High Executioners who have come to believe that the Great Maw could better express itself directly through them, and bloody coups are not unheard of.
The High Executioner must have 90% in Butchery, Bladed Weapon Attack, Any Stealth Skill, Influence or Courtliness, and one other skill of his or her choice. She must make sacrifice to the Great Maw and survive hanging in the Breath for a full Day and Night.
Benefits:
The High Executioner has power eclipsed only by the Carrion King. In addition, she may freely leave Starving Mountain so long as she pursues cult business. She has first pick of loot taken from victims, and may assemble a cadre of loyal Dessiccata to help on missions and safeguard her against attack. She need feel no loyalty to these Dessiccata who may be sacrificed to the Great Maw if they displease her.
A High Executioner is either presented with, or must acquire, her preferred Butchering blade, which is often one and the same as her favored weapon.
The Carrion King
In addition to acting as Priest of the Cult, the Carrion King trains other priests if there are such, and maintains the hordes of Mad Flesh through regular sacrifices to the Great Maw. The Carrion King bestows the holy word of the Great Maw, interpreting the Whispers, as well as granting the Rune spells: Cannibalize, and Consume Soul, from which the cult gains much of its power.
Requirements:
The Carrion King must conduct the actual sacrifice of any meat offered to the Great Maw or given to cultists as part of worship. The sacrificed victims are then butchered by the High Executioner. The Carrion King also must commune regularly with the Great Maw, exposing himself to the Breath and interpreting the wishes of the Maw, ideally while not becoming Mad Flesh. Finally, the Carrion King must have POW 18 or higher, and a ritual or ceremonial skill, as well as Blood Lore at 80% or higher.
Benefits:
The Carrion King is the spiritual ruler of Starving Mountain and makes most decisions regarding the cult’s goals and future. No mad Flesh will ever harm the Carrion King. In fact, the Carrion King can command any and all Mad Flesh in his presence and can project his consciousness into certain favored Mad Flesh via the Spell: Communion. Further, the Carrion King can bestow the terrible power of Crawral upon his favorites in the form of the Rune Spell: Cannibalize.
Cult Magic:
Communion - 3 Point Spell (Range: POW x5 Yards, Duration: 5 Minutes)
The caster can commune with the mind of the target, which may resist via a POW contest, which allows him to use the sense of the subject as his own. With a separate POW contest, he may attempt to speak through the mouth of the target.
Rune Magic:
Cannibalize - 2 Point Rune spell (Ritual, Time: 1 Hour, Duration: Next New Moon, Special)
This ritual spell is cast during the cannibalization of a humanoid corpse, which may or may not be alive, but must be within 1 hour of death to allow the Cannibal to learn the secrets of the flesh. The Cannibal must succeed at a POW contest against the soul of the one being eaten. For each full 10% by which the roll succeeded, the Cannibal may learn one of the following (chosen by rolling 1d10 randomly: 1-2: A point of common magic from the victim, roll again from all available spells; 3-4: 5% in a skill possessed by the victim, roll again from all skills known; 5-6: A deed of renown or shame pertaining to the victim; 7-8: A piece of secret information known to the victim; 5: 9: Roll 1d10 again, but choose freely the specific spell, skill, information or secret, that you learn, so long as the victim possesses that knowledge. Note: the information or secret is known as the victim knows it, which may not be truthful or accurate. 10: Roll 1d10 again as in 9 above, but whatever is learned is known permanently.
Any spell, skill, information or secret that is learned fades with the next New Moon, so rituals of Cannibalization are often carried out immediately after the New Moon in order to retain the stolen lore as long as possible. In the case of 10 above, retention is permanent, and Skills learned may benefit from experience rolls in future, as if they were yours all along.
Consume Soul – 2 Point Runespell (Range: 10 Yards, Time: Major Action, Duration 15 Minutes)
You designate a target within range. For as long as they are within range, you can spend a Major Action once per turn to attempt to drain them of 1d6 Temporary POWer. The victim loses the rolled POWer, and you instantly gain it as a writhing blood red mist passes from the victim to your outstretched hand. If your characteristic POWer is below your maximum, this power will replenish it, otherwise it is lost unless you are not in combat and have the luxury of storing the stolen POWer in a power crystal or other such storage device. POWer stolen from a victim reduces the temporary POWer they have, but does not affect their permanent POWer Attribute. Any stolen POWer is unavailable to the victim for spellcasting or other purposes, but replenishes normally over time.
