Xul

The Flayed King

Areas of Concern: blood, death, suffering, war

Edicts: overcome your problems with force, inflict as much pain as possible, despoil beautiful things, cull the weak

Anathema: refuse a challenge from an equal, let an insult go unpunished, venerate another deity, behave selflessly

Divine Attribute: Constitution or Charisma

Religious Symbol: a humanoid face with its skin being peeled off

Sacred Animal: Bat

Sacred Colors: Black, Red

Xul is the god of blood, death, and torment — the Flayed King, whose name is spoken with fear rather than reverence. According to some Old World myths, he was once Lux, the Bright King, created by the Star Weaver to serve as an impartial judge of the dead. Yet there was a flaw in his making, and he came to believe that all mortals were guilty, that justice could only be served through punishment. Turning from his role, he stripped away the beauty given to him and remade himself as a fiery, skinless giant crowned with horns. Where the rest of The Nine promise salvation to those who follow their path, Xul offers only the certainty of damnation.

His worshippers have always been few, but they have proved enduring in every age. In the past, assassins and warlords invoked Him not for atonement but for the strength to break others. Spreading innovations of cruelty in his name, his cults were the first to anoint blades with poison and refine the arts of torture. In more modern times, they thrive in the shadows of industry and war, credited with advancing the use of black powder and other weapons of indiscriminate slaughter. To outsiders, worship of Xul is seen as barbaric and regressive, yet his disciples claim to embody progress of a different kind: the perfection of fear as a tool of power.

Though Xul’s Oversoul lies bound beneath the deepest circle of Hell, his influence continues to seep through the cracks, evident in every new tool of war and every resulting atrocity. The archdevil Asmodeus himself holds the key to his prison—not out of altruism, but to preserve the order of the Infernal Plane from collapse—for even the Fallen Ones will not suffer him free. Theologians say that should Xul escape, neither Hell nor Heaven could withstand the onslaught that would follow. Even in chains, his power grows alongside the capacity for suffering, and the wicked few who worship him abide by one simple truth — that all mortals are guilty.

Xul has no Holy Day

Taboo Practice — The Reanimators are a despised sect who believe they spare sinners from Xul’s judgement by stitching their souls back into their own rotting flesh. Lurking around gallows and stealing from morgues, they harvest the condemned to fashion shambling mockeries of life, convinced that undeath is kinder than eternal fire. Reviled as necromancers and graverobbers, they are shunned even by their peers, for in forcing the dead to walk again, they deny the Flayed King the suffering he craves.

Devotee Benefits

Cleric Spells — 1st: Phantom Pain, 3rd: Fireball, 5th: Toxic Cloud

Divine Font: Harm

Divine Sanctification: Unholy (required)

Divine Skill: Intimidation

Domains: Death, Fire, Metal, Pain
Alternate Domain: Undeath

Favored Weapon: Flintlock Pistol