Pyrtechon: Sects

As noted, most sects devoted to Pyrtechon exist as small cells, doing what damage they can and retreating, or as individuals worshipping secretly. A few groups make a bolder mark however.

The Daughters of Rage

The Daughters of Rage are a hushed secret around Corsain and the coast of Alindor. Striking at remote villages, they focus on destruction rather than death; the exception being men. While their activities would seem to be destined to attract law enforcement, the truth is much less black and white. Most of the members are woman--almost all of whom have suffered humiliation or emotional and physical abuse at the hands of family and society. The Daughters have slowly built under the leadership of Betsy Inglewood, and while there are a few men in the group, the predominant gender makeup coupled with a strong feeling of guilt in the communities seems to be preventing a full-scale extermination of this Pyrtechon sect, at least for now. Their numbers are unknown but estimated at about fifty.

Suffering's End

Born a merchant's son in 1393, Ager Yystern appeared to be a normal child. One deeply concerned with the well-being of those around him, but this was not a problem. He would take in strays, care for local children, put bugs outside rather than squash them; to all eyes he was a caring, loving soul. A few years into his teens, someone noticed how many of the strays he took in were later found dead. The year after this observation, a woman kicked from her home was found poisoned hours after he had offered her food. Although, the townsfolk of Blackwind refused to believe this kind boy could have been responsible. It was not until Ager was found next to the cooling body of his ill sister, holding a red jar of poison, that the horror of his actions became evident.

He fled his hometown, vowing at the top of his lungs that those who suffered would find peace at his hand. From that time until 1417, he disappeared into the wilds of Dregar. Some say he wandered, though his brown eyes, brown hair, average height, and average weight made picking him out in a crowd difficult. A trail of poisonings from Heather's Glade to Hurm suggest that he was not inactive however. Ager's reintroduction was spectacular if gruesome. He appeared at a leper colony in Liwich, resplendent in red leathers, and this time he brought friends. At the hands of over a dozen men, the lepers were force-fed poisoned wine. One was able to flee, getting as far as Redfern, and was able to tell the dwarves there what had happened. By the time help arrived, all that remained of the colony were flyblown corpses. Ager next appeared on a battlefield after a giant ambush on a small farming community. The wounded farmers, trying to regroup before the giants could return, saw the red-clad man approach with several handfuls of red-robed men and praised Prunilla for sending help. That is the story from the woman who was listening from where she had hid from the giants. She broke down into gibbering sobs after that, but the poisoned remains of her kin tell her story for her. Left etched into the chest of one very large, very dead farmer was the symbol of a flaming house. Since that attack, Ager has been difficult to find. Some think he's hiding in caves around Hurm, others think he lurks in the Sinister Forest. But his twisted mission to relieve all who suffer of their life in the name of Pyrtechon remains as strong as ever.

Vuurkerekk

Across Belinara, small, violent clans and individuals have been contacted by a half-giant named Mag'ruk. Charismatic for giant kin, Mag'ruk has built a rag-tag smattering of angry giants into a clan of respectable size, calling them Vuurkerekk in anticipation of Pyrtechon's plans for Layonara. The clan follows Mag'ruk fanatically as he has dangled in front of them visions of the world empty of other races except for giants, cleansed of the taint of elves, humans, dwarves, and the like. The clan has few rules: might is right, take what you will, and leave nothing behind that can be used to rebuild or re-grow. This includes bodies. Members of Vuurkerekk are cannibals.

What the clan does not know is that Mag'ruk takes his orders from another. On Mag'ruk's person at all times, is a flat, black stone roughly ten inches in diameter that allows him to communicate, whenever needed, with Son of Earth Ignist Caveborn of Rikart. Ignist is financing and leading the clan secretly from his position as Son of Earth in the Kerekk of Grannoch.

Mag'ruk is a half-giant of unknown origin. He was first spotted as a young adult, scavenging to survive. Rejected by human society for his horrible smell and frightening appearance. He turned to brute force against homesteads and small clans of any race around Belinara to get what he needed to survive. He became adept at unarmed fighting, using his unusual agility and speed to tip a fight in his favor. After a very long winter of near starvation, he found a clan of giants dead from a battle with a rival clan and tried cannibalism to fill his screamingly empty stomach. He liked the taste and is said to prefer young giant now to any other meat. How he came under Ignist's sway is again unknown; but with Ignist's council, Mag'ruk leads Vuurkerekk at this time. He is tall for a half-giant, over ten feet, but leanly built. He has a particular odor that has only gotten worse as he shifted his diet more and more to his own kind. He seems very intelligent for a half-giant and commands respect from his clan with his mastery of unarmed fighting and lightning-fast movements.

Ignist Caveborn presents himself as a warm and friendly follower of Grannoch. He tends to the sick and speaks endlessly of Grannoch's plans for her people. What is not known, except to a select few, is that Ignist actually worships Pyrtechon. He sends his orders through Mag'ruk and has been using Vuurkerekk to aid other governments in exchange for large sums of gold and other payment.

Miakosha Takashi

Recently around Mistone and coastal areas on Alindor, a new threat has appeared; a solitary threat, sidling into vulnerable villages and small towns and sneaking out again leaving only bloated, gray-green bodies behind. She seems to have rogue training or powerful illusionist training as she has been undetected and only recognized by one individual. Her agenda is yet unknown, but a good deal is known of this woman's past and why she is capable of the acts she commits.

Miakosha Takashi is from a peasant family on Corsain. Information gathered by the Church of Rofirein has this to say about her: Her father was a hard-working and basically decent man. Her mother was, by all accounts, a kind and loving woman. Miakosha had a younger sister as well. But her close family and tight-knit community in Taim could not overcome Miakosha's actions. As a baby, she bit her mother's nipple until it bled then laughed as she suckled it. As a toddler, she deliberately broke every rule without concern. She tortured animals as a girl, and by the time she was an adolescent, her parent's marriage had broken apart from the strain of caring for her and her sister running away. When three small children went missing in the village and she was the last person seen with them, she was driven from the island.

The years she spent away are unaccounted for; however, when she surfaced again, she was leaving a very visible trail of corpses and magic-burned land in her wake. She has considerable power as a spellcaster. Where or from whom she learned spellcasting is not known. Miakosha is petite, barely 5 feet tall, and slender. She has a reputation as being without even a hint of a soul. It is said that she sacrificed both her children to Pyrtechon directly from her womb to increase her spellcasting power and enjoys bathing in the blood of lovers when she is done with them.