Devkuroski

Devkuroski

Magically influenced wolves attacking a horse

Runes  Hell    Water

Mythos & History

When Hurfor led the Ancestor Tribe out of the lands of the Aldryami and into Unstevos (Estvenor) they came into contact with another people, the Kalrius.  The Kalrius were storm-worshippers and ice-worshippers led by Darnlo the Red, and from the start they were enemies.  Darnlo was not a god, but the grandson of a god, and he could spit death at his enemies.  After an initial series of battles and contests, neither side had the mastery of the other, and so it was that Darnlo called upon his grandfather, the Kalrius god of the ice-storm, Devkuroski.  He sent a terrible blast from the north that coated all the land with ice, sufficiently so that the Kalrius gained a significant advantage. 

The unstable nature of the storm-worshippers was on the side of the children of Kargzant, and one clan, the Brighteyes, turned traitor.  They set fire to the Kalrius' camp, and the flames grew so hot that they melted the ice, which became the Lake of Death.

From within this Lake Devkuroski sent his powers against the people in the Darkness.  He sent slaving parties to capture the women, hunting parties to kill the food animals, and raiding parties to steal the horses.  He reduced the people to starvation and urged them to cannibalism.

Hestus, son of Hurfor, led the people in their resistance to Devkuroski, making pacts with the Dog Star and with the dogs.  Together they freed the reindeer from the Lake of Death, and hunted so that the people could have their fill.

Devkuroski had killed and eaten most of the horses in the world, and Hestus knew of his desire for horse flesh. He sacrificed his own mare to Devkuroski, but poisoned the meat with red pepper and dirt from Zurin, both too virtuous for this evil god to encompass.  His cauldron broke, his power wavered and Hestus struck.

Since then, Devkuroski has been little more than an evil memory, the Devourer beneath the waves, the Horse-Eater of Hell. He serves Kargzant, bonded to him in the same way that his cultists are bonded to their chieftains.

Nature of the Cult

Devkuroski is the Evil that dwells beneath the unclean waters of the Lake of Death, just as his evil dwells beneath the surface of many otherwise noble riders of Kargzant.  He is a god of slavery, degradation and trickery, and has little to recommend him to any save the most sociopathic. 

Depiction

A hulking presence beneath a wave, eyes and teeth apparent, but otherwise shrouded in water.

Rune Affinities

Water is an enemy of Fire, and Devkuroski wields it as an insult to Kargzant, and as a means to find diverse ways of thwarting his will.  In the Darkness his rune was Ice, but that was lost in the treason of the Brighteyes.  The waters mark the boundary of Hell, and Devkuroski can project those abysmal powers into the world using the Hell rune.

Water Rune Affinity

Initiates can make very broad use of this affinity, countering and distorting the holy magics of the children of Kargzant.  Uses to which the affinity have been put include concealing an object of person beneath a layer of water, raising fogs to confuse trackers and scouts, turning earth to mud and covering frozen earth with a thin sheet of ice.  It has been used to oppose every power of order known upon the steppe.

Hell Rune Affinity
Initiates generally use this affinity to summon and command demons and the unquiet dead.  It can be used to bless weapons with a hell-metal edge, and to give the initiate a hideous aspect.

Karasali drawing of Devkuroski

 Particular Likes and Dislikes

Devkuroski was incapable of making friends, and he remains so.  He hates Kargzant, not least because it is Kargzant who enables him to survive in the face of nearly universal hostility, but his especial loathing is reserved for Hestus cultists.

Cult Organisation

Devkuroski must be bonded to Kargzanti clan chieftains or tribal khans.  They serve that leader within the bounds of their bonding-agreement, and have no legal status without them.
There is no other organisation beyond the individual.

Priestesses

There are none as such, cult members being initiates of devotees dependent upon their powers and piety, active through direct contact with the Evil Below.

Holy Days and Sacrifices

None, beyond personal whim.

Devkuroski in hiding

Initiates
Those who feel the need to worship Devkuroski must have both of his runes.  They are expected to have the cult virtues of Cruel and Selfish.

Subcults

There are many subcults, and cultists may be members of as many as they wish, joining when they find a member who they can persuade to initiate them.  Each of these is associated with an ability.
A few of those known subcults are listed below:

DARNLO'S GRANDFATHER
The one who aids the enemies of the people, giving ill-counsel to their bonded lord.  The ability associated is Spit Death.

THE BLAST OF THE NORTH
The chill breath he once sent against the people, forceful and chill but lacking the true force of the lost power of the ice-storm,  The ability associated is Wind In Your Face

THE LAKE OF DEATH
Devkuroski was safely hidden beneath the surface of the Lake, striking out with impunity until betrayed by false worship.  The ability associated is Survive Without Breath

THE SLAVER
Devkuroski enabled his servants, even though they were on foot, to catch the women of the people as they rode, and to bear them back to the Lake.  The ability associated is Outrun Horse.

THE WASTEFUL HUNTER
Devkuroski deprived his enemies of their food beasts, making slaughter a parody of necessity.
The ability associated is Slay And Contaminate Kill With Its Own Waste

THE HORSE EATER
Devkuroski always had a taste for horse flesh, and still does.  Cultists are required to eat horse flesh at least once a day, but members of this subcult find their hunger for the flesh is never satisfied.
The ability associated is Steal A Horse's Strength By Eating Its Flesh

Devotees

An initiate with the required ratings may devote to one of the subcults to which they belong.  The ability associated with it can be used as a Feat.  Their lives, while still restricted by bonding, become an ongoing expression of the subcult.  Few devotees are able to tolerate their bonding for long, absconding into the wild as murderous outlaws.

Agents of Reprisal

There are none.