Vulkoor

Sovereign of Pain and Poison.

Victory is in dominance. The truest victory is not simply to slay one’s enemy, but to witness their agony and drink of their despair. Vulkoor teaches his followers to take the whole of a victory — a body broken, a mind shattered, and despair drunk to the dregs before the end. Those content merely to win do not seek his blessings.

His followers are poisoners, and do not grant a quick end. They may break a man’s heart and weaken his will before finally allowing him release.

His clergy can be found in Caernathi towns, where they worship openly, and in the shadows of the borderlands, where they do not. He is tolerated wherever there is need of a patient poisoner, or for one who can make an enemy spill his guts before his guts are spilled.

Traditions that teach him: the Archaist.

His worship day is Zol, market day, when the city is thick with strangers. He shares Zol with Kolkorn; where the merchant collects in coin, Vulkoor collects in pain.

Strictures

Archaist

• A follower of Vulkoor must bear a tattoo or scar upon her flesh that remains visible while in public.
• Each dusk, a follower of Vulkoor must spend one hour (6 turns) at prayer, dwelling on an enemy she means to break.
• A follower of Vulkoor must never be content to defeat an enemy she might instead break. Where a foe is beaten and in her power, she must take from him something he cannot win back — his nerve, his hope, his pride, or his name — before she is done.
• A follower of Vulkoor must never let an enemy see her suffer, nor beg, nor yield. Pain is a thing she can take as well as she gives.
• A follower of Vulkoor must show no mercy begged of her by an enemy, and must answer in kind any suffering done to her.

What is owed

The mark is worn openly. A follower of Vulkoor carries her tattoo or scar where it can be seen, proudly displaying her tolerance for pain.

A clean kill is no sin; a mercy chosen is. Dominance is the victory she must always reach for, not one she can always take. In the press of a fight she may kill as she must. What the code forbids is the pity she chooses when the enemy was hers and she could have had more — the mercy that lets a beaten foe walk away whole.