Wathaku
| Wathaku | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Aliases | The Silent | |
| Alignment | Neutral Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Demigod | |
| Pantheon | Illumian | |
| Portfolio | Entropy, Wrath, Endings | |
| Domains | Destruction, Evil, Strength | |
| Home Plane | Unknown | |
| Worshippers | Illumians, Lunatics, The Suicidal, Nihilists, The Self-Loathing | |
| Favoured Weapon | Morningstar | |
Wathaku is the youngest of the illumian gods in Dungeons & Dragons, and is determined that he will also be the last. Not just the last god to rise from the ranks of his people, but the last illumian to be left alive.
See, whilst Wathaku is not the only evil deity in his pantheon - Soorinek precedes him as the first - he is far more malevolent than his predecessor. Wathaku's sole driving desire is the complete and utter annihilation of the illumians: the death of every last mortal member of his former race, the unmaking of his fellow illumian gods, and even the destruction of the illumian language itself.
The motivation behind Wathaku’s desires is a mystery, because few sources document Wathaku’s life prior to becoming a deity. So far his church is little more than a secret cult, outlawed in almost every illumian cabal. Even so, a few madmen and the truly desperate find a reason to live by Wathaku’s nihilistic philosophy, so his religion has slowly grown over the years. Wathaku’s clerics—who typically pretend to worship another god, such as the superficially similar Soorinek, or no god in particular—try to steal the fragments of the Ritual of Words Made Flesh that each cabal guards. If Wathaku can gain possession of a complete copy of the ritual, perhaps he can reverse it and literally unspeak the Illumian language, destroying all illumians in the process.
When he deigns to appear to his followers, Wathaku appears as a burly illumian with blank skin where his mouth would be and a single silver line where his sigils would otherwise float. Wathaku has no known fortress or base, instead moving incognito from cabal to cabal by taking the form of mortal illumians.
Wathaku’s high priests never admit it until training is nearly complete, but all would-be clerics must pass a secret test, even after they’ve memorized the necessary prayers and scriptural passages. Each cleric must secretly kill an illumian and transcribe his or her final utterance, which is added to a secret trove of manuscripts kept by Wathaku’s church.
Wathaku exists to erase everything illumian. His agents work in secret to bring about the downfall of illumian cabals and the unraveling of illumian plots. Whatever the rest of the illumian gods plan, Wathaku’s followers seek to thwart. Whilst this may seem similar to the anarchistic teachings of Soorinek on the surface, Wathaku's followers are far more extreme, and far more unhinged, seeking utter annihilation for their race rather than the thwarting of the overly proud and powerful.
In keeping with his name, Wathaku has no spoken prayers. Instead, his worshipers meditate on a particular prayer, repeating it in their minds as they meditate. A slightly bowed head and briefl y closed eyelids are the only outward indication that a follower of Wathaku is praying.
Wathaku favors no formal shrines because his is a secret religion. When a group of worshipers gather, they place crude figurines on a shelf and perform their silent prayers, then disperse immediately.
Wathaku’s only rite is a rite of initiation, full of so many loathsome activities that afterward the present worshipers have all the blackmail material they’ll ever need to hold over the new initiate. This threat helps to ensure the continued loyalty—and silence—of every initiate, even if one’s faith later wavers.
Wathaku has no herald—he either ignores a situation or takes care of it himself. He responds to planar ally spells with certain breeds of demon - specifically, the succubus, the marilith, and the retriever.