Deity Preview: Bascaron

Bascaron has many names: the Bloody Moon, the Broken Moon, the Banshee moon. A shadowy presence from another plane, the whole of the world shudders when Bascaron moves in the sky. While the Storm is ultimately responsible for more deaths numerically, Bascaron's touch lingers longer, and scars the land even centuries after its passing. Unlike most other worshipped powers, Bascaron is not actually intelligent, nor does it inherently seek out followers. Instead, any creature that desires so openly may become a cultist of Bascaron, should their wants outstrip their discipline while Bascaron is near. Thus, while the Cult of Bascaron is not particularly large, it is a widespread, corruptive force. The Cult of Bascaron is arguably the most hated religion in the Accordlands, banned from Athanaes and universally hunted. Even the Elves consider Bascaron worship so heinous that it is one of their only capital offenses.

Outside of the rare Yscarite heretic, no good-aligned creature worships Bascaron, as the Broken Moon gives at the cost of others.

History

Though early civilizations recorded sightings of the Broken Moon in the sky (a bad omen, with many birth defects and great tragedies occurring soon after), its first major appearance on this plane was over the nation of Kabal. More recently, it decimated the city of Mourn and the surrounding leagues, now soured earth. Mourn remains the greatest of Bascaron's holy sites. The cult regards the whole of the Shattered Lands as their holy land, and has pledged to remake all the world in its image.

Dogma

For a religious group, the Bascarites are a remarkably varied lot, and hold few actual ideals. Above all else, they believe in seizing anything they desire. While often greedy, Bascarites place a little value on ownership, believing the most worthy people are those who can take and keep their objects of desire. Thieves are common among the cultists, and many are multiclassed cleric/rogues or rogue/wizards. While the cult does not go out of its way to harm others in their search for power, they have long since learned that the only certain ways to silence those who discover them is by murdering the intruders or by converting them.

Even loyalty is a scarce commodity among the Bascarites. With such a selfish and decentralized population, most of the Cult of Bascaron is a series of smaller, independent cults of personality. These cult leaders each have separate aims, and individual cells rarely last for longer than a few years before suffering exposure or fracture from within. A typical cult has anywhere from five to twenty-five followers under a single leader, though the Cult of Yscar and the Mourn cult are far larger. Strangely, these cult leaders may not even be clerics themselves, with wizards and rogues also common. Additionally, many individual Bascarites live and die without ever knowingly meeting another member of their nominal religion.

Only rarely do the cells of Bascarites ever join together out of a common sense of purpose. The most common reason is when a Bascarite discovers one of the Yscar clan, which leads to a general slaughter (either of the Yscarites, or the Bascaron cultists themselves). The Yscarites have hunted the other Bascaron cultists for centuries, and the two cults thoroughly believe in the complete eradication of their opponent. Many Bascaron cultists, particularly the cult leaders and survivors of dead cells, also engage in a pilgrimage to Mourn. Many cults offer sanctuary to such pilgrims, so long as there is no clear and present danger in doing so, and the pilgrim respects the wishes of his hosts. Finally, the greatest of the Bascarites, Angu Mournwater, may send out a call or dictate to the cults outside of Mourn, which others must heed or find Mourn (and possibly Bascaron itself) closed to them forever after. This is a singularly risky tactic, and neither Mournwater nor any of his predecessors has ever sent out such a call.

Sins & Repenting

The only sin in the Bascarite mindset is that of self-denial. Indulgence of every whim leads to a grand variety of experiences, and through this, a rounder, more complete understanding of the world. Any crime is forgivable if the Bascarite seeks self-gratification, though forgiveness is not freedom from punishment or retaliation, especially from wronged Bascarite brethren. Those who preach or openly practice self-denial are assumed to be Yscarites, and do not survive long enough to seek penitence.

The Afterlife

Bascarites are almost uniformly converts from other religions. Many outright refuse to believe in an afterlife, holding such trappings as the wishful thinking of deluded minds. The world of the Accord and its shadow-realm of Bascaron are the only land anyone ever knows, the Bascarites whisper, and the gods and priests are liars for teaching otherwise.