Throght, Hellforger

Throght (pronounced THRAWT, rhymes with “fought”) is not a god, but an archdevil of incredible power, influence, and cruelty. A charismatic, ruthless, and ancient being, Throght has used his might and magic to forge countless weapons, armor, constructs, and siege engines to fuel the eternal wars across the Nine Hells, smelting armies and their implements from raw elements of the world. Stone, iron, and flame; all are tools in his arsenal.   His cruel and calculating nature are notorious on the Infernal Planes, but now, his hungry gaze has turned towards the world of men, ripe for the harvest for soldiers, servants, and those awaiting subjugation or slaughter. Voracious as he is, he finds some mortals to be useful and provides them a sliver of his power in exchange for their continued servitude. Both supplicants and the power-hungry seek him out to garner even a mote of his favor. Throght wishes to create a reality in which all life subject to him and the Circle of his followers, and he will not be stopped in his goal. With any luck, he’s already on his way.  

Beliefs

Throght’s followers, as a result more of Throght’s power than of any ecclesiastical directive, believe that Throght is the most powerful being in the multiverse and that, sooner or later, all planes will fall under his rule. Thanks to millennia of war, Throght knows better than any being how to lead the world, even if that world is in the image of Throght, not of the believer. His coming to the Material Plane would be a harbinger of global reckoning, and the trifling measures of mortals would be replaced with their true purpose: living in subjugation beneath the Hellforger himself.   Throght’s belief are mutually exclusive; one cannot at once hold the belief of Throght’s impending arrival as a reckoning of all mortals and that any other being is superior to him. This opposes all of the other adherents of any other faith that sees their patron as superior.  

Alignment

Throght’s power derives not just from his birth, but from his own agency. He was created by a devil himself, but he tempered his ambition through patience, scheming, and hard work. He distinguished himself amongst other devils, who had no choice but to cow to Throght. He slaughtered other beings in the service of his masters, but he was powerful enough to slay his masters should the opportunity arise. Devils rule themselves with a measure of order, and the best way to earn a promotion is to prove you can kill for it. Throght’s maintenance of order and hierarchy even in his dominance of the world has proven to be an incredible asset. He is careful, reserved, and clever. However, not once would he ever defer a benefit to another that he himself could take. His inborn malice and the execution of his single-minded ambition is undeniably evil.   Throght’s worldview, and those of his followers, is almost entirely incompatible with non-lawful, non-evil alignments, but some followers believe a more nuanced approach is necessary to achieve eventual dominance of the Hellforger.   Neutral evil adherents tend to believe that pain, suffering, and intimidation are powerful tools that many followers do not use sufficiently or effectively. Such a follower might use violence with less reticence to frighten those who would oppose Throght into inaction.   Lawful neutral adherents are even rarer still, but a lawful neutral member of the Circle could honestly support Throght through application of his principles of organization alone, thus relieving the burden of evil from the inseparable subjugation so central to Throght’s power manifested.  

Followers

Unlike some faiths or creeds, Throght’s Circle is composed of members who have been recruited under specific circumstances, mostly of low birth, but not of low quality; Throght has no use for the weak. For many, submission to Throght brings opportunities for personal purpose as well as a structure upon which one can display one’s talents for leadership, administration or, certainly, cruelty.   As Throght’s conscripts arise from humble beginnings, their professions are often humble, too: apprentices, grunts, thugs, laborers, servants, handlers, and clerks, as well as most any job immune to socioeconomic discrimination. These are the people that the eyes of the rich and privileged often look past, but do not miss the gaze of a savvy Circler, eager to find a hard worker restricted by social or economic position.  

Organization

The order of the Circle has not been “divinely” handed down but is in fact a historic paradigm initiated by Throght’s most loyal and skilled administrators. In the same way that Throght promises power and utility to the greatest of his followers, the strata of the Circle’s hierarchy come with certain derivative benefits and powers, usually dominion over others and the ability to draw on more of Throght’s immense, almost-divine magical ability.   More than some of the most powerful “good” religious organizations, the Circle of Throght’s hierarchy is rigorously maintained, by force if necessary. Ultimately, any power held by a mortal in the Circle derives from Throght, so any insubordinate action is deemed as against Throght himself and is punished both reliably and often creatively through novel means of torture, imprisonment, or isolation. Death, while not uncommon, is not the go-to sentence for a transgression against the Circle.   The chief mortal in the Circle is known upon selection and forever after as the Shilgorh, (SHEEL-gore), Infernal meaning “dark child.” Ceremoniously chosen by Throght himself, though more practically chosen via a series of lethal trials called the Shilgorhkha, the Shilgorh is the final word of Throght apart from Throght himself. The Shilgorh serves for life, which for some who’ve held the title is longer than others. In the Circle’s roughly nine hundred years of history, ninety-one Shilgorh have served for between sixty-eight years and two-and-a-half hours. Notably, only two females have held the title.   A dozen mortals comprise the Pact of the Shilgorh, a group of advisors, called Pactmortals, selected by each Shilgorh. These act by extension for the Shilgorh, and appoint fiendbishops and fiendpriests, the lower echelons of religious power.  

Religious Rites, Objects, and Texts

As Throght’s presence on the Material Plane is very rare (for now), rituals are not merely recitations, but invocations that allow brief channels to exist between the Infernal Planes and the Material. Like many devils, Throght’s currency is the power of the soul innate within all beings. Destroying or sacrificing even a morsel of that immaterial organ has the power to draw Throght to a ritual across the interplanar chasm. Rituals often involve sacrifice of sweat, flesh, blood, or spirit, but not always. Ceremonial rituals often do not, or they represent the sacrifice without suffering. Any fiendpriest of Throght worth his saltpeter will bear many scars as a frequent vessel, something they display proudly.   The divine focus of a Throght fiendpriest can take many forms, but often is made from the flesh or a faithful servant, not a slave, and adornment made from Throght’s forgers, such as metal ingots, hammerheads, glass beads, or iron spikes.   The symbol of Throght resembles a five-pointed star with its horizontals downturned to reflect a pair of horns. It can also be rendered with an inversed “T” in the Common alphabet, bisected with a “C” pointed downwards. At the top, an explicit hammerhead or implicit one, represented by a serif, is also added.   Throght’s “scripture” is shared orally and mostly consists of narratives of his exploits in the Infernal Wars told secondhand by lesser devils awed by his ability. Most of the wars in which he was involved are covered in a fifty-six volume secular encyclopedia called Guorra Magnusam Inferna, Celestial for “the great Infernal Wars,” mainly in volumes 43-55. His absence in the current, fifty-sixth volume is a point of soreness amongst the more bookish followers of Throght, as Throght is still an active archdevil in the endless wars of the Infernal Planes.   In addition to the oral tales of Throght’s ambition, the Shilgorh can pass a Shil, which is a directive provided via the Shilgorh to the Circle. These are ad hoc rules and either provided directly through infernal congress with Throght and the Shilgorh or through the Shilgorh’s good-faith interpretation of Throght’s ambitions.  

Diet, Hygiene, and Sexuality

Throght’s worshippers do not consume meat routinely, but only as part of ritual feasts. During these rituals, the only animals consumed are apex predators, as they have the power of predation that the Circle seeks. Most commonly and practically, the meat featured includes birds of prey, but occasionally and when available, this can includes sharks, cats like lions and panthers, bears, wolf, boar, or certain carnivorous reptiles. Prey foods, like small fish, ungulates, and other herbivores, are considered detrimental to health, as are the products of such animals, like eggs and milk. Followers of Throght are otherwise not expected to follow any specific diet or restriction.   The Circle has strict rules regarding hygiene, requiring regular bathing and cleansing rituals. These bathing rituals require an adherent to bathe once a week in moving water, such as a river, waterfall, or circulating bath. As the Infernal Plane is believed geospatially to be “below” the Material Plane, mud, sand, and soft rocks like pumice are routinely used. A clean worshipper of Throght smells of earth more than anything else.   Sexual relationships are essential, and productive heterosexual union within the Circle is required for all members within ten years of sexual maturity or ten years of joining the Circle. These unions they need not be monogamous. A worshipper who has not fathered or mothered children is a failure to the Circle unless they raise those of martyred followers. While the outside world may perceive the Circle with contempt at best or animosity at worst, the children of the Circle are plentiful and well-tended to, even if it is simply as a method to pass on the doctrine and promise of Throght’s return.  

Manifestation

According to oral tradition, Throght has appeared on the Material Plane three times, with his fourth and final return promising the final reckoning of the world. His first appearance occurred some three thousand years ago when he was called by an immature thaumaturgist. Throght, upon receiving the summons, killed the thaumaturgist and his teachers before returning to the Infernal Planes. His second appearance was more voluntary and mundane, occurring about a thousand years ago. After a brutal loss in combat, several thousand of his devil comrades were slain, leaving him without a workforce to extract materials to reforge weapons and armor for fresh recruits. A deep dwarven mine unearthed an infernal portal, a thin space between the fabric of the two planes. Throght exploited it and enslaved the miners, extracting material from the mines for years. The dwarves he enslaved were forever corrupted by their brush with the Infernal Planes. Thirdly, some nine centuries ago, he emerged from beneath the city of Stronn, but was suppressed by the Celestine Church. This was the beginning of the Circle of Throght, and his most recent full-flesh visit to the Material Plane.   Little is known or recorded about his first two appearances, and there is some debate as to whether the first two were Throght at all, but his third appearance is well-documented. While he, like many archdevils can disguise his appearance, his natural form was on full display as he emerged through the portal beneath Stronn: a fearsome devil five stories tall, his skin covered in smoke and black as soot. He had four arms, a grotesque face, and two prominent horns that jutted out from the sides of his mighty head. His nose was pierced with points of a hammer sticking out from either side, its handle dangling above his fearsome jaw. He wore no clothing except for a flaming belt, and his feet were cloven. Every muscle ripples unnaturally across his form, as fiery hot haze surrounds him, causing a pronounced heat shimmer. His voice is deafening and multi-tonal, as if several creatures are speaking the same words at the same time through his mouth.