Kindramar, the Lord of Death

 

Silent, mysterious, indifferent and neutral to any quarrel in heaven or earth, Kindramar is said to be the most powerful of the Ancient Ones. The most feared of the Ancient Ones is an enigma to all sages and historians, little is said about him in ascan legend, since he has apparently kept himself apart from the rivalry between his two siblings (Acron and Ascan); there has been only one direct mention found in ascan lore, a cryptic sentence that hints that even the Ancient Ones fear their terrible "brother".

Born at the same time as Ascan, Kindramar is the conscious expression of death, the dark reaper that takes care of all purposes (souls) that trascend into the great beyond. He is the great judge on creation, unpassionately saving or condemning all souls that come before him; it is he who decides who trascends into the greater dimensions of the new life, suffers forever in the planes of Athosdit, or goes to experience an eternity of nothingness in the Exnim.

Little is known about him, and his clerical servants have never helped correct this ignorance.

Kindramar's priests are unlike any others; they never seek any believers or followers, teaching their art and knowledge to only one single apprentice, and to no one else. It would seem that Kindramar has little use for praise and prayers. These priests are seldom seen, but command great fear and respect when they are seen.

Three variants of priests of Kindramar are known to exist, and each have their own mission and beliefs, and their own ideas of how to accomplish those goals. There are currently no established orders or churches dedicated to the lord of death. Instead, individual priests exist, and no two priests of Kindramar have ever been seen together, even though all clerics of death obey the same master and have the same beliefs (within their respective variants).

As a final note, priests of Kindramar are not allowed to have any children or revive anyone with their magic.

Considering all of this, it is no wonder that many people say that only the truly determined and/or completely mad can hope to become a servant of Kindramar.

 Note: All priests of Kindramar are inmune to Charm Person and recieve a +3 bonus on their saving throw against any and all forms of mind control.

The Grim Reapers

The most feared of the three variants, the power of these clerics is told in whispered legend all across the world. It is a common belief that when one of these priests is seen, that location is about to suffer a great disaster.

Cold and silent, these priests make no unnecesary movements, nor speak one more word than they absolutely have to. They have a strict code they must adhere to, even a minor infraction could cause them to lose all their powers.

Since they serve as the agents of Kindramar, these priests forever destroy any link they might have with other men before becoming a priest; they must leave their land, family and friends, adopting a new name and identity. They must cover their faces with a black mask that covers everything but the mouth and eyes, a mask they must wear from the day of their initiation till their dying day. They must also wear a long hooded tunic (even above their armor).

The main purpose of their existence seems to be hunting down anyone that has kept himself alive in unnatural ways, and slay them. They also seek out the undead, beings trapped between life and death, to destroy them and send them to their ultimate destiny in the realm of the dead; they may sometimes use these creatures at their advantage, but only to serve a greater purpose and not for long, they MUST destroy them later.

Also, they seem to have other duties not known to the common man, since it is quite disturbing how the priest almost always appears when a person is about to die.

Priests of death are not allowed to have any children or revive anyone with their magic.

Alignment: Neutral Neutral, no other alignment is allowed; they are single minded and determined to the extreme, they serve only death, and don't care about law or any other moral notion.

Minimum Requirements: Wisdom 15

Holy symbol: A human skull.

Required proficiencies: Religion

Weapons and Armor allowed: Priests of Death may use any armor, but are not allowed to use shields. Their choice of weapons is; scythe (Required, they must carry it always), sickle, short sword, Kopesh sword, dagger.

Mayor access: All, Necromantic (reversed when applicable), Combat, Astral, Divination, Healing (reversed).

Minor access: Guardian, Charm, Protection.

Granted Powers: Inspire Fear twice a day, Command Undead (see above). At level 5, the priest receives the power to Slay the Living once a week, but this is a power they must use very carefully, they are not allowed to use it against anyone but one who has greatly offended the priest (GREATLY offended doesn't mean mere insults and such) or avoided death for a long time (anyone who misuses or abuses this power would pay dire consequences).

 

Priests of Misery and Disease

Nobody really knows why Kindramar supports these evil, grotesque creatures. Many sages theorize that the priests of disease serve a greater purpose as part of the Ancient One's master plan for creation, trimming down the number of sentient beings and keeping it in check, heartless but effective. Still others, the fatalists, claim that for the priest's victims, death at his hands was "natural", since Kindramar had decided that they would die like that. And another theory states that these priests are nothing but a factor of balance within Kindramar's priesthood, opposonig the goals of the other variants.

As you can see, the support that the most neutral and impartial of all forces grants to these priests arises many questions from the sages and philosophers of Raokrá.

All these matters aside, one can see that the usual neutrality or sense of hard justice of the priests of Kindramar is plainly lost on these beasts. They are wild and evil, delighting in the misery and suffering of their victims; nothing gives them more pleasure than the scream of a mother who has just lost her child to a painful agony and subsequent death.

Their black heart is not the only reason people call the priests of misery and disease "beasts", the true reason is that these priests are always hideous to behold, they all have some sort of deformity. For example, many of them look as if they were lepers, suffering a very advanced stage, they are missing parts (lip, ear, etc,) of their face and such, some others have horrible pustules all over their body, while still others' pale skin hangs from their bones as if there was too much skin for their body.

Their existence seems to be dedicated to spread disease and misery wherever they go.

Alignment: Neutral Evil only.

Minimum Requirements: Wisdom 9, Constitution 15

Holy symbol: A Hekath, a special amulet which is a human eye in a bag of hardened leather, the eye must be nearly rotting, and has to be replaced when it has rotten too much to be useful.

Required proficiencies: Herbalism (focused on the brewing of potions and poisons)

Weapons and Armor allowed: All non magical armor and shields. They may use the following weapons; scythe, sickle, whip, dagger, knife, battle axe (an executioner's axe) .

Mayor access: All, Animal, Weather, Healing (reversed), Summoning.

Minor access: Divination, Combat, Necromantic (reversed), Protection (reversed when applicable)

Granted Powers: Immunity to all poisons and diseases, Lay on Hands (reversed, damages instead of healing). At level 3: Cause disease once a day.

 

The Holy Executioners

These priests probably represent Kindramar's role as the most impartial judge in creation, they are warriors and hunters, their sole purpose in life is to hunt those who have committed great wrongs and injustices and have not been punished.

Should anyone come before them to ask for revenge upon someone who has not been punished for his crimes, the priest must investigate and punish the alleged culprit if necessary. This act of revenge and justice may come years after it was asked, but unless the priest dies, it will surely come.

These priests believe that the law of man is corrupted and imperfect, and that they fill the hole where human justice is stopped. They hunt down all criminals, even those that have the money or influence to escape the justice of man; needless to say, the government does not think too highly of these vigilantes.

The good sects, for their part, believe that the executioners are too savage and cruel to be considered on the "good side". And the evil sects definitely do not like these hunters of evil. Because of this, the executioners are on their own, enemies lurking everywhere, it will take a great deal of effort to get an executioner to trust someone.

An executioner is nearly devoid of all feeling, they are the perfect hunters, swift, powerful, and merciless. They, like the grim reapers, are forced to leave their former life behind and start their new life as an executioner without any earthly ties. But unlike the reapers, they are not forced to abandon all hopes of a somewhat normal life, they are allowed to walk the streets without covering their faces; they must cover their faces and wear their black tunic only when hunting (which is most of the time, but anyway). Even when posing as normal men they still are cold and quiet, never opening up to anyone.

Alignment: Any Neutral. The Neutral good priests actively seek wrongs to avenge, perfectly measuring the crime to the punishment, but they are NOT merciful in any sense. The true neutral branch are excessively single minded and determined, even for priests of Kindramar; they are nearly emotionless and see taking revenge as a duty, nothing more. Neutral Evil executioners actually derive pleasure (the only pleasure they have) from torturing and killing the criminals they hunt.

Minimum Requirements: Wisdom 9, Strenght 12

Holy symbol: A small representation of the scales of justice. All executioners keep a dried and specially treated (so that it doesn't rot) body part of their first victim (usually a finger), which they may also use as a holy symbol.

Required proficiencies: Tracking

Weapons and Armor allowed: Battle axe (a executioner's axe, required), scythe, sickle, any sword, dagger, lance, lasso.

Mayor access: All, Divination, Necromantic, Combat

Minor access: Guardian, Protection

Granted Powers: Detect lie two times a day, Speak with Dead once a day (only when seeking to avenge their death or to find their victim). At level 3: Inspire fear twice a day.

 

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