Chirch of the Blue Witch

Symbol: A Crescent Moon Home Plane: Material Plane   Alignment: NE   Clergy Alignments: Any Evil.   Domain: Magic, Travel, Evil, Nobility     Favored Weapon: Bardiche Poleaxe   Decription:   The Blue Witch, also known as the Maiden of Pain, the Baroness, the Queen in Iron, the Suffering Beauty, is the evil goddess of Torture, Domination, and Manipulation. The Blue Witch is a calculating and despotic goddess, valuing obedience and worship rather than ambition in her servants.; she is the master of inflicting physical and psychological suffering in all its forms. Her domain is a vast tower on an endless empty plain, proclaimed the Basilica of Torment. It is said an example of every suffering, known and unknown to the mortal realm is represented here. Her symbol is a Crescent Moon, forged from the scarred blade of her own poleaxe.     Appearance: The Blue Witch appears to her followers as a eight foot tall majestic, blue-skinned humanoid, with vampiric features. Her skin is perfectly smooth, with naught a single blemish upon her perfect form. She displays a pair of white, majestic wings, as a mockery of her assimiar heritage. Her weapon of office is the Glave of Beauty, a weapon said to turn even the ugliest commoner into a idol to be worshiped, or strip the charisma and respect from the most powerful king.     Dogma:   The world is filled with pain and torment, and the best that one can do is to suffer those blows that cannot be avoided and deal as much pain back to those who offend. Kindnesses are the best companions to hurts, and increase the intensity of suffering. Let mercy of sudden abstinence from causing pain and of providing unlooked-for healing come over you seldom, but at whim, so as to make folk hope and increase the Mystery of The Queen of Iron’s Mercy. Unswerving cruelty will turn all folk against you. Act alluring, and give pain and torment to those who enjoy it as well as to those who deserve it most or would be most hurt by it. The lash, fire, and cold are the three pains that never fail the devout. Spread The Queen’s teachings whenever punishment is meted out. Pain tests all, but gives strength of spirit and true pleasure to the hardy and the true. There is no true punishment if the punisher knows no discipline. Wherever a whip is, there is The Barroness. Fear her — and yet long for her   “Love is a weapon as any other. Kindness as acid to a will of iron. Let those farthest from your heart be closest to you, and through you, ruin” Clergy and Temples:   Bringing pain and suffering is the core tenet of worshipping The Blue Witch, either through direct torture or through more subtle methods. It is said a devout worshiper can gain the goddesses favor by devising a particularly “entertaining” or debased method. Vanity is almost a requirement for worship, as all followers know the power beauty can hold over someone.the ability to empathize with another person is invaluable to these priests, as understanding a person allows a strike a their very soul. It is not uncommon for infighting among the priests as well, members constantly looking to find a weak point with which to torment another.   Her worshipers often engaged in self-flagellation, often in the morning when praying for spells. They celebrate each season with the Rite of Pain and Purity, a ritual that involved followers dancing on glass, thorns or barbed-wire while being whipped by higher-level clerics . A smaller ritual occurring every twelve days involved followers passing their bodies through the flames of candles   During warfare, particularly desperate or enraged priests will even resort to sudden and violent acts of self harm. Limbs are crippled, eyes gouged out, all with the intent of beseeching their mistress to inflict greater pain upon their foes   No titles are given amongst the faithful, as The Blue Witch will have none compare with her stature. Rank is determined informally, by the influence wielded through manipulation and violence. Only orders from the goddess herself go unchallenged through her followers.