The Cult of the Crow

The Cult of the Crow is a strange congregation of societal outcasts who worship Kalatha, the old Vaelorian goddess of Death, Decay, and Corpses. Their history is one of persecution; as newer faiths eclipsed the old Vaelorian pantheon, the worship of a deity presiding over inevitable rot was quickly branded as heresy in the nascent Alderworth Kingdom. Her followers, often those who lived closest to death, were hunted, and as a result they often fled underground, seeking refuge in the deep, dark places of the world. Many found their sanctuary in Ker Nethalas, a realm that resonated with their goddess’ domains and offered a place to practice their foul rites far from the judgment of the surface world.

The cult’s practices are a literal embodiment of their foul deity, substituting peaceful prayer for active desecration and cruelty. They conduct rituals utilizing wicked, talon-shaped daggers for their sacrifices, and even their “mundane services” are held in chapels that reek of incense, piss, and bile, where religious items are discarded without care, as if reverence itself is antithetical to their belief in entropy. They commit untold dark acts, play sadistic games with captives, and dispose of their victims’ remains with little care, celebrating the entire cycle from death to rot.

Central to their faith is the perverse act of corrupting new life. The cultists seek out petrified Roc eggs and bring them to their temples, treating these symbols of dormant life as holy objects of worship. The cult’s leaders, such as the Saint of Crows, gather around these massive eggs and pour their dark magic into them. They do not seek to hatch the eggs, but to warp them, twisting the potential life within into a mockery and, through their rituals, cause strange, mutated carrion beasts to erupt from the shells, unleashing them to pillage both Ker Nethalas and the surface world as avatars of Kalatha’s will.

The cult is highly organized, with each cell divided between the magic-wielding Crow Cultists, the silent, heavily armored Corvine Knights who act as holy executioners, and the high priest, the Saint of Crows, with the lowly worshippers tending to everything else. They remain in the depths of Ker Nethalas with the hopes of building up their strength, so they can one day reclaim the surface, or at least, the right to exist there in peace. They use the necropolis as a stronghold from which to scavenge resources, keep prisoners, and, most importantly, incubate their carrion beasts. For the Cult of the Crow, Ker Nethalas is the perfect womb, allowing them to nurture their philosophy of decay and prepare their monstrous creations to one day cover the surface world in filth and death.