The mountains are home to many things, including the worship of dark gods. Though rare, it cannot be denied that the shadow of dark worship lies in pockets throughout the Red Veins. A lot is discrete, set apart from the towns and villages, secluded in caves and on crags between Giant camps, but not all. Within village lodges and town smithies, elements of the darkness can be found and even the best of intentions can be perverted to dark matters.
Hunters - Giants as the ultimate prize
The first case is the Vigilant Hunters Lodge, operating out of Ruda Gorod though they have small lodges and safe houses throughout the mountains. A hunters camp founded by Sven Lars Son, the Vigilants are dedicated to hunting the most dangerous prey in the mountains, from Giants to Cave Shadows and Sabre Cats. Unbeknownst to the people around them the Lodge is divided into two ranks. The lower ranks are simple hunters, trained in bow, spear and the other tricks of the hunt. The higher echelons of the group are rather different however. To enter their ranks is to take on a different calling, and embrace the Hunter. Only very specific members of the lower ranks are invited to apply for the higher tier; Sven is wary and with good reason. He was driven out by his family when his own inclination to dark worship was discovered and he is determined that nobody should know what the true purpose of the Vigilants is.
When a likely candidate presents themselves they are tested, often harshly. A ritual hunt is undertaken and the heart blood of the slain creature drunk by the initiate to test if they are the right material and to find their 'soul animal', usually a predator, something that Sven has made up as a way to ease the path into the Hunter's service for the unwary. They are tutored intensely and brought in on more and more dangerous hunts, where they are given important roles and praised for their assistance. Often the 'soul animal' is invoked as a reason for hunting, and at first there is a sense of nature to the proceedings. A wolf spirited person will be called on to hunt deer and so on. As time goes on this slips, a death is a death after all and the letting of blood and taking of life is the important part of the Hunter's worship.
The most sacred part of the Vigilant's activities are their Full Moon Hunts, which take place at night and involve either hunting humans or giants. Only the most trusted members of the Lodge are invited to partake and spend the night tracking and slaying for the sheer enjoyment of killing. To make things worse, the slain beings are ritually consumed by the hunters, to funnel their power into the hunter or into the Hunter.
At present nobody suspects the Lodge's participation in these practices; after all their public face is kind, caring and thoughtful. They act as guides for travellers and as defenders when trouble comes. This public face is part of Sven's strategy for ensuring the Lodge's survival, knowing that if the truth comes out most of the locals will turn against them. This is also informs the part of his strategy, to recruit as many locals as he can.
The Dark Makers by contrast keep themselves apart, dwelling in caves under the mountains to work their arts. Smiths and miners, they create weapons and armour, trying to make the most effective offense and defence for the wielder. The only difference is that they do so in a fashion that funnels dark power, using gifts that Baluz and Maradan, the shadow of Korvin, have taught them. This makes weapons more effective at killing, often without regard to the life of the wielder, and makes armour that is tough but demands a price. It is not uncommon for it to be 'consecrated' and bound to the wearer, making the two one. Sometimes this link grows over time, making the suit literally part of the wearer, though this is mercifully rare. They use the mountains as a place to make these twisted weapons because of the Giants. Their blood carries the magic of the pacts that made them, which the Makers unleash through their dark magics, making their creations tougher and more durable. The Makers pay handsomely for blood to quench their wares in.
The Makers have little organisation, they are largely formed of mavericks and crackpots, all seeking answers in a way that had them driven from society and their crafts and to the mountains in desperation. It is not publicly known that the Makers exist but most smiths and artisans know of someone, who knew someone whose master or apprentice's friend's cousin fled to join them. The idea of the dark forge is enshrined in the lore surrounding the working of steel, usually under the command; ''don't do this'. Their 'leader' is a woman, Elena Black Hand, whose name comes from the black gauntlet she has grafted onto her left hand. A testimony to her work, the gauntlet allows her to grip near molten metal without feeling pain.
Lastly the Cloud Shadow tribe of Giants are significant because of their own heretical ways. Dwelling in the lair of a dead dragon, the Cloud Shadow they take their name from, the tribe is ruled by their Queen and her lover, a shaman. Together they have guided the tribe in a new direction, one spurred by the discovery of a small statue at the back of the caves they call home. The image is crude but is also undeniably that of Baluz, the dark God of war and sadism. Something about it spurred them to worship it and at the Queen's command the tribe has converted to the faith. Driven on by the dreams she receives from the tribe's new patron, the Queen has started to direct a campaign against those that would harm the tribe, including the Vigilant Hunting Lodge. They have launched attacks against the neighbouring tribes, demanded martial contests from anyone who crosses their land and taken more prisoners in the past few months than in the entire decade before hand. They have even headed east to battle the Witch Tribes and out onto the frozen plain north of the mountains seeking out enemies.
Their prisoners meet a grizzly death, used as a novel way to mark borders and on the altar in front of the statue. The idea that the humans be made to fight each other is one that is slowly forming in the Queen's head, as is the idea of having her daughter battle the humans as a sign that she is as devoted as her mother. The ulterior motive, getting rid of her daughter and drinking her life essence to preserve her own is something that only rarely rises in the Queen's mind, but she and her lover are slowly preparing for the eventuality. There is nothing very novel about the way the worship of Baluz has been carried out, he is a conservative god and despite everything, rather unimaginative.
The human towns and villages have been slow to react to the Cloud Shadow's rampage, mostly because whilst they are used to Giant attacks, they have seldom been so fierce or coordinated. Used to Giants using captives as food the casual brutality the tribe exudes has also shocked them. The fact that the attacks came in winter has not helped, and whilst they scramble to mount fresh defences and build up their stocks the Cloud Shadows take full advantage. Their only advantage is that the Giant offence is not truly focused, they are fighting both humans and other Giants.
Next time: North of the Mountains
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