Ga'al
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| Ethos | "There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; No wisdom but in submission to the gods." - Sophocles |
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| Domains | Community, Domination, Law, War |
| Prestige Classes | Inquisitor, Zealot |
| Holy Days | Last day of the month |
| Sacrifices | A lifetime of serving Ga'al and submitting to being heartseeded is all that is required |
| Favored Weapon | Trident: The god of domination and war draws strength from his followers - wherever they can be found. Clerics of Ga’al gain proficiency with the trident. |
Ga'al is the master of Domination. He believes that the Noble Races ultimately fail because they are imperfect. When created by The Jericho, they did not receive a strong enough character to be able to withstand the temptations of their own natures. This causes the Noble Races to live in a constant state of stress, worry, and fear. Thus, he offers to take all who will rely on him and install in them the strength of will that the Creator failed to give them. In return they will serve him totally, allowing him to dominate their lives and actions.
The Noble Races were not meant to stand upon their own two feet. This is why they constantly fail, bicker, fight, and die. The Noble Races need someone to dominate them and tell them how to live and what to do. Ga'al accomplishes this through magical plants called the heartseeds of Ga'al. Before the Year of Ascension, in the Empire of Aisildur, the religion of Ga'al was universal, so all children had heartseeds planted in their chests at age 12. Now that the Gods of Testing have ascended and Ga'al has joined that pantheon, the wards that protected Aisildur are gone, as are the magical protections put upon the Wall of Kaazul. Now Ga'al is sending out missionaries to recruit new followers from around the Wold. But now he is also charged by both the Gods of Testing as well as the Gods of Wold to plant heartseeds only in those who request it. However, the tradition continues without consent in Aisildur -- and occasionally in other places where his priests can get away with it.
Those who are heartseeded gain the morals and beliefs of Ga'al. Ga'al strives to get the Noble Races to realize that they have "failed" the test. The solution to this situation is to embrace Ga'al and have the morals and beliefs that are lacking supplied by him through his heartseeds.
Contents
The God of Domination
Godly Powers
Ga'al can directly control only those who are joined with him. He has the ability to maximize the potential of any heartseeded person. He can increase the aggressive nature of any person forcing them to let out their aggressions on anyone or anything. He can install any Skill, Feat, or Ability into a heartseed so that the recipient gains that ability for life. He can dominate any beings -- except for another god -- and force them to his bidding.
Appearance
Mortal Form -- No one has ever seen Ga'al's mortal form. Avatar Form -- In pictures, in ritual, and in stories, he is pictured as being a bronze skinned giant of perfect form and dimension. He has a mouth full of pointed teeth, sharper than any blade. Divine Form -- In dreams and legend, where he can dominate anyone, Ga'al appears as a humongous beating heart, with green heartseed vines growing on it as if it were soil.
Worship
The worship of Ga'al begins with a courtship between a Durian and the person he is teaching. These missionaries butter up the intended convert just as a lover woos his intended. There are no female clerics of Ga'al. The prospective follower is taught that the Noble Races cannot control themselves and were created with a deficit in morals and the ability to resist temptation. They are taught that joining with Ga'al is the solution to this problem as he will install with his heartseed the needed balance that the creator did not provide. If they have an illness, they are promised that the heartseed will cure it. If they have a deformity, they are promised that the heartseed can be instructed to repair it.
Once a follower decides to make Ga'al his patron and give himself to him, he is heartseeded. This procedure happens overnight, and usually heartseedings are done monthly so as to do groups of people together. This is thought by the Aisil to increase the faith through numbers and thus prevent more Vagrants from occurring.
Once heartseeded, the person belongs totally to Ga'al. Talents (bestowed by a Heartseed) are determined during the seedings and exploited afterwards as needed. Heartseeded attend worship once a week where magical elixirs, magical baths, and many magical types of incense renew the Heartseed weekly, building its strength and size. Worshippers never remember afterward exactly what happened in a service. No one has ever reported on this mystery. Services are held at noon of the last day of the month and last for two hours. Outsiders are not allowed.
Holy Symbol
A stylized leaf of the Heartseed plant.
Priests' Appearance
The clerics of Ga'al normally wear red robes with full hoods and a mask. Their chests are always laid bare to the world to show the healthiness of their heartseeds. Many add colorful scarves of varying colors, which are often magical in nature and are much feared. Many file their teeth into points and have a feral appearance about them. Some adorn their bare chests with piercings and chains.
Clerics in Society
They are two castes of Priests of Ga'al. The first is the Aisil. These priests are considered superior to the other caste, the Durians. The Aisil are totally absorbed with appeasing Ga'al, but they are also in charge of tending the growth of Heartseeds. They have the task of implanting the Heartseeds in those who would follow Ga'al.
The Durians are the teachers and preachers of the religion of Ga'al. They plan and execute services and work among the people. They also act as judges of the people and deal with those Jacks who wander the Wold half-insane because their heartseed does not function properly. They have authority from Ga'al to execute any followers of Ga'al who do not measure up to his standards. This is always due to a fault in the faith of the person when he was heartseeded. (OOC: Actually, there are often faults in the heartseeds themselves. About 1 in 10 heartseedings are defective in some manner.)
History and Relationships
Ga'al's origins are unknown. He first appeared on the scene in the days before the Third Cataclysm. The people of Isildur who had spurned the God of Wold and been spurned themselves, sent a mighty flotilla of ships south to invade the Peninsula of Elenna and thus escape the anger of the Gods and the Fourth Cataclysm. Arriving on the southwest coast of Elenna, they were at first very successful in driving back the unorganized Elennians. However, soon the Elennians began to strike back and the Isildurians were forced to retreat. Eventually it was obvious that soon they would be driven from the land to wander the seas in search of a home.
It was at this point that Ga'al offered salvation to the Isildurians if they would but submit to his authority and give themselves to him. Faced with the choices of extinction, roaming the seas hungry and thirsty, and serving Ga'al, they readily accepted him as their new god and master. He then gave them powers and magic and battle strategy, allowing them to carve an empire out of the southwest portion of the Elennian Peninsula.
All those of age were Heartseeded and thus lost their own wills, giving them to Ga'al. After a few attempts at expanding their territory, blocked by the followers of the Gods of Wold in the form of an alliance known as the Free Staters League, Ga'al closed the boundaries with magic and monsters and sequestered his people inside to worship and serve him.
Not much was heard of them for the next 400 years, until the Year of Ascension. As Marteaus gathered Cult Gods around him, Ga'al was given the choice to perish at the hands of this assemblage of gods or join with them. Thus he joined the Gods of Testing. He died in the Great God War of that year. He was recreated with the other Gods of Testing afterwards.
Now his borders are open and no attempts to recreate them afterwards have succeeded. He now has the goal of converting every person of the Noble Races to his will and to dominate them, becoming unopposable through the strength these worshippers give him.
