Erythnul (god of Hate, Envy, Malice, Panic, and Slaughter)

Title: The Many

Symbol: Red blood drop or a bestial mask.

Portfolio: Hate, envy, malice, panic and slaughter

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Worshipers alignment: Any Non-lawful and Non-Good

Domains: Chaos, Evil, Trickery and War

Favoured Weapons:  Morningstar

The deity of slaughter, Erythnul (eh-rith-null), is a terrible sight to behold. He usually appears as a human with knotted muscles and a blocky frame. His skin is mottled and ruddy, almost as though blood oozes from his pores. In battle, his features change between human, gnoll, bugbear, ogre, and troll. This mutable form is reflected in his title, The Many. He wields a two-handed morningstar in battle. A hole in the head of the mace creates a whistling noise as Erythnul swings it; the keening howl of the mace has been known to send those who hear it fleeing until they collapse from exhaustion.

Erythnul has a long-standing rivalry with Hextor due to the latter stealing Erythnul’s portfolio of War.

In civilized lands, Erythnul’s followers (including evil fighters, barbarians and rogues) form small, criminal cults. In savage lands, evil barbarians, gnolls, bugbears, ogres, and trolls commonly worship him. Many factions of Erythnul’s cult exist, fighting one another as often as they fight nonbelievers. In cities, they tend to be less overt, forming a nebulous organization known as the Temple of Carnage. Most of Erythnul’s faithful are chaotic evil, though a few are of other alignments.

Erythnul is a brutal deity who delights in panic and slaughter. The chaos of battle is the sacred charge of the worshippers of Erythnul. In all the myriad forms of terror and suffering that war creates, there is a strange kind of unity. This is part of the reason that Erythnul is called the Many. Battle is a test of merit and strength, and living and dying by the sword is the definition of the good life. Many of Erythnul’s worshipers believe that blood spilled in battle feeds their god, increasing his madness and bloodlust. Chaotic neutral worshipers believe that non-combatants and weak opponents are meaningless, and that killing them does nothing to satiate their god or prove their ability; killing those unworthy of a warrior’s death even angers Erythnul, they believe. Chaotic evil worshipers, who are far more common, disagree, believing that all slaughter is a sacrament, and that the dying screams of innocents are music to Erythnul’s ears, hymns in the church of the battlefield.

Erythnul admonishes his followers to shed blood for its own sake, to covet what is not theirs, and to destroy anyone who would deny them anything. He further urges them to bring ugliness and strife to pleasant locales. To take something away from someone else—especially from a rival—is an exalted act in Erythnul’s eyes. Foes who cannot be killed should be maimed, and that which cannot be stolen should be destroyed.

© Copyright Winwick Pig Publications - Leigh & Ellard 2021