The Crimson God is a god of the old South, one of the last
major surviving, or at least, still active Old Gods of Deshret. The only other deity
remaining from that era that has any sort of significant following is the
Silver Lady, by legend his sister and/or wife. Some sages have conjectured that
Kryx is his, her, or their son.
Also known as the Old Serpent, the Great Scorpion, or the Demon Jackal, the Crimson God is a god of the desert and wastes. He is a wrathful god, harsh and demanding of his followers and priests. Being the only remaining major Deshreti god, his worship is widespread in the Scarlet Wastes and throughout the South. His cult is still found to the north, as well, but is not generally openly practiced, as it was severely repressed in the days of the height of the
The Old Serpent requires regular sacrifices of wealth, animals,
and human lives. In most temples the animals and humans are sacrificed on an
altar, their blood spilled by sharp blades of obsidian. In other temples, they
are thrown to giant serpents, giant scorpions, or packs of temple jackals.
Stylized versions of any of these three creatures are used as his holy symbol.
Half of all treasure sacrificed is hidden away in the vaults of the god; the
other half is used to support the priests. His priests truly know their god’s
wrath on the occasions when his vaults are pilfered by thieves.
The priests of the Crimson God are mighty in the all ways of
magic, priestly, sorcery, wizardry and eldritch wizardry. They command powerful
spells of fire and wind, death and necromancy, and are masters of summoning
demons to do their bidding. They possess no spells of healing, but are talented
at the arts of alchemy, and thereby provide their worthy and wealthy followers
with healing poultices. Priests wear crimson robes trimmed with hieroglyphs and
don gold jewelry in the design of snakes, scorpions, and jackals. They wear
headdresses of various sizes and forms that indicate their rank.
Priests must shave off all hair, including eyebrows; many
have the holy scriptures of their faith tattooed upon their bodies. They must
remain vegetarian, giving unto their god the animal flesh that they would
otherwise consume. Both men and women may serve the Crimson God; they have no
requirement to remain celibate or chaste, and often are quite depraved in
tastes and practices. If they should have children they must sacrifice their
first-born child to their god.
Followers of the Crimson God, when they die, find themselves
being judged by their god personally. If they have been obedient and fulfilled
their allotted place in their mortal life, they are granted more of the same in
eternity, in the Crimson God’s Great Hall of the Afterlife. If he feels they
have failed him, he casts them into one of many, many different Hells, depending
on their sins and failures. The worst of the failures are consumed by the god
himself in his serpent aspect, to ever burn in the acids in his gullet.
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