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Ghedet

Lesser Deity (Neutral Evil)
Portfolio: Life and death, nature
Domains: Animal, Death, Life, Plant
Favored Weapon: The Claw (spiked gauntlet)
Holy Symbol: A yellow snake in a circle, its mouth and tail joined; a single drop of blood drips into the center of the circle. The background color varies by sect (see below).

Ghedet rules over life and death and maintains the true order of nature — at least in the eyes of his followers. He despises things not born from nature, such as constructs and undead. His followers learn to destroy unnatural beings at whatever cost. They also learn that, when left alone, Nature performs perfectly. The strong and cunning survive, the weak and naïve are trampled.

Ghedet boasts many druids and rangers among his faithful. Those classes, among all the others, appreciate the true nature of the world, and seek to restore Ghedet’s version of balance. Clerics of Ghedet will often multiclass with druid or ranger, seeking to gain a deeper understanding of nature’s ways. In the northern reaches of the world, many barbarian tribes revere Ghedet, honoring their god each spring for their survival in the harsh environment during the winter season.

Ghedet’s Clerics and Turning Undead Ghedet is unique among the evil deities in that his clerics possess the power to turn undead, rather than command them. This is true even if the cleric’s alignment is evil. Clerics of Ghedet still channel negative energy, and exactly how that turns undead rather than commanding them remains a mystery. His clerics still spontaneously cast inflict spells rather than cure spells.

Beset By Sects

At least a dozen different sects fracture the unity of Ghedet’s followers, each with slightly different beliefs. This splintering of his faithful likely prevents Ghedet from gaining power and prominence. His four most common sects are detailed here.

THE HUNTERS

This sect believes strongly that undead are the world’s greatest abomination, for they cheated the natural cycle with their continued existence. The Hunters seek out undead and those who would create them. While determined, The Hunters are not reckless. They plan accordingly for each situation, researching their foe as best as possible to learn his strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. Many a vampire or lich has been laid low by The Hunters simply because of a conceit.

Hunters show no mercy when performing their task. Like all followers of Ghedet, they believe the strong will survive while the weak will be culled. Such is the way of Nature. This separates Ghedet’s undead hunters from those of other gods, such as the Sun God. Groups representing the two seemingly opposite deities have worked together in the past to bring down some truly powerful beings; but their diametrically opposed views on life make the unions short-lived.

A Hunter’s holy symbol of Ghedet features a black background.

THE NATURALS

This sect is composed of some of the most brutal followers of Ghedet. Thankfully for others, they have short life spans. Members of this sect believe all spells in the Conjuration (healing) subschool are blasphemous, and should never be cast. Wands and scrolls with such spells are destroyed, and a cleric or other caster who uses any such spells is beaten to death by his comrades. Nature devised poisons and diseases for a purpose, and it takes great hubris to go against that and cure the inflicted. Wounds are nature’s way of testing one’s strength and fortitude, and only the truly arrogant among us believe they should manipulate nature’s test.

Naturals use a brown background on their holy symbols.

ARCANA DEVOID

Arcane magic is not natural, or so the followers of this sect believe. Divine magic is the one true gift, and arcane casters bastardize that gift, subvert it, desecrate it. Even worse, arcane casters make unnatural creatures such as golems, Homunculi, and other constructs. Members of this sect believe constructs to be a far bigger affront to nature than undead. At least undead were, at one time, living creatures. Constructs, on the other hand, never existed within the natural cycle of life and death. Those who deign to create such things deserve to be hunted down and slaughtered. And that’s exactly what members of the Arcana Devoid do, with brutal efficiency. Members of this group learn to protect themselves from the profane tools of the arcane caster, knowing that the wicked will use whatever means necessary to attempt to continue their pitiful survival.

The Arcana Devoid sect makes use of a deep green background color on their holy symbols.

THE CIRCLE

This sect is the least violent of all those who follow Ghedet, and also the most common in the North. Many members of this group, druids in particular, lean towards a true neutral alignment. The Circle watches over the natural order, ensuring nothing upsets the delicate balance nature has created. Tribes are free to hunt and forage for their survival, but are encouraged to do so with care. Hunting is always or survival and never for sport; those who hunt for sport feel the full wrath of The Circle, for doing so upsets nature’s cycle.

Members of The Circle incorporate many of the beliefs of the other sects, but to less stringent extremes. They despise undead and constructs, and even seek to destroy them, but often without the sheer brutality of The Hunters or Arcana Devoid, for example.

Members of The Circle use a background of blue on Ghedet’s holy symbol.

This material originated in a 3PP Source