Hemotis, Hellspawn King

[Sexless, Lawful Evil]

Hemotis has many names: Xanatos, Mephistopheles, Malfuras, and Beelzabar to name but a few. The Hellspawn King claims supreme dominion over all hellspawn, be they demon or devil. He is the creator of such creatures and brings them into existence so that the world may be filled with darkness and evil. Hemotis is of hell in its purest form and represents the ever-hungering desire of all hellspawn to create havoc and suffering in the mortal realm. To mortal worshippers he bestows treacherous gifts granting heinous demonic powers while those same powers corrupt the mind and body. Hemotis suffers from a dual nature, cunning and premeditated yet inevitably doomed to outbreaks of irrational rage and madness. His body is Gargantuan in size, bloated with blood red skin stretched over slabs of knotted muscle. His head resembles that of a handsome, sexless human face placed upon the head of a goat. Atop this head is a twisted, burnt crown of false gold set upon a lion’s mane of long black hair so course it can cut through flesh. His eyes are pitch black, but glow with a bright red, hateful energy when he becomes angry. Hemotis wears no clothing but a black iron codpiece ridged with threatening spikes. The powerful legs of the Hellspawn King similarly resemble that of a goats, covered in thick black hair and ending in coal black hooves that spark with a sulfurous odor when he walks. Hemotis is rarely seen without his favored weapon, an impossibly large, black balled mace with a dark iron shaft. The spikes on the head of the mace are long and jagged, resembling the fangs of a great serpent. Hemotis’ goals involve the release of the lower planes upon the mortal realm to quench a relentless desire for his kind to take their rightful place as rulers of all things. Unlike most gods, Hemotis does not view hellspawn as worshippers, but unwanted children created to serve him, and to in turn use all other creatures as cattle. His rigid beliefs on the fate of all hellspawn to claim the world as their own personal playground serves him well, but are constantly interrupted by the furious rage that controls his subconscious. It is perhaps for this reason that Hemotis has not been able to solidify his claim on the mortal plane for any great length of time in all of history.

Portfolio: Hellspawn King

Spheres: Blood, Darkness, Evil, and War

The Cult of Hemotis operates in secret and any mortal wishing to give themselves over to the church of the Hellspawn King must often seek them out. Such an action usually provokes ostracization from the individual’s community, which is convenient, because the cult demands that a prospective cleric give up all ties to the world they knew before coming to serve the king of the lower planes. When they manage to locate and submit themselves to the cult, they undergo a series of ritual scarrings, psychological torture, and violent hazing for one month to determine their ability to endure. Should they survive, they are granted access to the deeper layers of the Cult of Hemotis. If they try to escape, they are put to death so the truth of their order is not revealed. Clerics are tutored heavily on the nature of demonkind, and undergo several blood rituals to strengthen their connection to the hells. As they begin to channel the darker divine energies of the Hellspawn King, their bodies are also tested and strengthened through savage beatings and semi-permanent mutilations from unholy implements that resemble demonic appendages. This marks them as slaves to his whim, and soon after they are inducted as Anti-Priests of Hemotis to spread the Infernal Gospel.

There are very few official temples to Hemotis that exist within Nexxen, as among most mortals their presence represents the desired ruin of the humanoid races. It takes very little time after such a place has been constructed to arouse the fear and ire of other local inhabitants. Before long, armies or adventurers are hired out to come dismantle these unholy places of worship and eliminate all traces of the ones who built them. Other temples to Hemotis tend to be hidden and scattered in a similar fashion, but due to the nature of other races to discriminate against such outposts of evil, they most often take the form of small chapels within a personal dwelling, or a shrine tucked away in some backwater land.

Rites: The rites of the cult of Hemotis almost always feature humanoid blood as an offering to draw forth the interest of the Hellspawn King. The richer and purer the blood, the more energy can be drawn forth. Utilizing the symbology of Hemotis also aids the effect, specifically in the form of runic imagery of his favored weapons encircled by infernal lettering. These designs and components form the basis for nearly all Hellspawn related rituals, whether the caster knows they are drawing from Hemotis or not.

The magical incantations available to worshippers of this dark god involve mastery over the summoning of Hellspawn, the manipulation of mortal blood and spirit. Specifically, the power to compel mortals to violence, making them more susceptible to Hemotis’ call.

Rites can be performed by anyone who possesses the skill, if not the desire. As demons and devils most often recruit with the seduction of power or depravity in various forms, they have spent centuries constructing basic rituals that are very simple to understand. In the hands of an Anti-Priest of Hemotis, these same magics can be fueled with incredible amounts of dark energy capable of summoning a demonic host, corrupting a village of innocents, or even blotting out the sun.

Burial Rites: The bodies of cult members are drained of their blood, which is bottled to be used in future rituals. If the souls of the cultists can be harvested either through an Anti-Priest or a summoned hellspawn, their spirit is taken to the lower planes to serve as a resource. If the deceased had made a bargain or contract with a demon or devil, depending on the details, their soul may become the exclusive property of that hellspawn. Any valuables belonging to the dead are donated to the cult’s coffers, and the body is either buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave or fed to infernal allies in a macabre celebration. The cultists of Hemotis do not mourn their dead, no matter the relationship they shared. Death and enslavement or consumption by demon or devilkind is the inevitable result of partnering with darker powers, and all within the order know this.

Tithe: Initiates to the cult of Hemotis are expected to give up all of their possessions to the ranking priest of the sect they have joined. Refusal to do this often ends in dismemberment or worse. Subsequent tithes are not determined by rank or wealth, but sex.

Males are required to pay in 5 Gold Pieces monthly or a drain of essence weekly to feed any Hellspawn associated with the cult. Alternatively, they may choose to become enslaved to a female Demon or Devil for life and never have to tithe for their mortal existence.

Females are expected to pay in 50 Silvers monthly or suffer the carnal lusts of a male Hellspawn associated with the cult. They also have the option of becoming enslaved to a female Demon or Devil similar to a male cultist, but this option is not chosen as often.

Benefits: The Anti-Priests of Hemotis gain the knowledge of how to best manipulate their environment to make it more suitable to Hellspawn. They learn how to control evil beings and detect the presence of goodly creatures. As they grow in power, the evil within their soul becomes overwhelming, and they can overwhelm goodly mortal magic with ease. Mortal blood becomes a tool to be used for the personal benefit of the caster or to the detriment of their enemies. Demons and devils despise light for its ability to aid mortals in combat, and so worshippers learn to eliminate light and walk within darkness.

As long as a follower of Hemotis does as instructed by his presiding Anti-Priest, or a darker power outranking mortal leadership, they are allowed to continue to serve and inflict pain upon their own kind. This “benefit” of associating with Hellspawn is the primary draw to humanoids with great internal conflict or trauma, and very little incentive is needed to push them further into their depravity. Cultists of this order do, however, believe in dominance over lesser mortals and band together to assure the success of their schemes. They also gain the services of demons or devils to aid in their designs, albeit for a price.

Other than this, there are very few benefits to becoming subservient to infernal forces.

Hemotis has no allies to speak of. As the Hellspawn King, his only “allies” are the monsters he spawns and the mortals foolish enough to submit to him. The pockets of cult activity located throughout the world speak to subservience and slavery, not allegiance. Since an allegiance typically requires some measure of mutual respect to prosper, even the Hellspawn Hemotis allows to serve in the causes of other dark forces or bought and paid for with sacrifice. All who deal with him inevitably lose something, if not everything they value.

Relationships with other Gods: The other gods have a great disdain for Hemotis as he is not technically a true god, but rather the origin of all Hellspawn and equivalent in power to most other gods. Furthermore, he has no investment in the continuation of mortals as a species, other than as a resource. This often puts him at odds with other deities, even darker gods who mostly prefer mortals exist to worship them. Since Hemotis relies only on his own spawn to survive, he would not suffer as much as other gods would from the eradication of the humanoid races. A few evil gods do still work with Hemotis on occasion, when their interests align, utilizing his children as weapons in their war. Sythe and Cydeth have both been known to benefit from using his Demons and Devils in their own personal vendettas, but the tole Hemotis has extracted from them for his services is unknown to all but the three of them. Most of the other gods stand as an enemy to Hemotis, but chief among them is Dio, Lord of Angels. He has opposed Hemotis since the beginning of time, and constantly seeks to eradicate all demonic taint from every plane of existence. Other deities look at them as two sides of the same coin in some respects, one pure good, the other pure evil, both creating aspects of their will to forever slaughter each other. From that perspective, most gods find it hard to differentiate between them until they witness the impact of their actions upon mortal life.

Hemotis’ cult exists in a great number of factions, as they do not have one centralized location for worship or their heinous practices. Depending on the region, a group of worshippers could be represented by a family or a sprawling community. Still, there are some particularly unusual members of the order that largely practice in secret. Children of Malfuras are a guild of misguided nobility and retired adventurers that live and meet within the city of Systra. Bored from living in the lap of luxury, the wealthy gather weekly within the tower of their leader, Bastracus (self-named), a wizard of some skill, to worship a dark god known as Malfuras. They are unaware that this is simply one of Hemotis’ other identities, and they in fact serve the Hellspawn King. If they were aware, many of the membership might flee the cult, mostly having joined the group for a giddy thrill and sense of adventure, after all. Still, the few who would not flee possess a substantial amount of power among them, and have already been made to use it for nefarious purposes. They have not fully succumbed to Hemotis’ call, but the king of demons and devils is patient and awaits the day they slip into his grasp for good so that he may bring Systra fully under his control.