There are several Cacodemon Shrines known in Dorastor. These are
Dokat, Seven Hills, Plateau of Wrath and Nangtali's Plateau.
This is a Great Temple of Cacodemon, situated in the Ogre City of
Dokat. It supports 10 permanent Talons and several thousand initiates and
is guarded by 3 Fiends[1]. Many
more Talons are normally found at this Temple as they control their own
Ogre bands and come and go as they please, but the permanent Talons are
the ranking ones, in charge of the city of Dokat.
A Major Temple, this serves the Ogres who live in scattered villages
around and upon the Seven Hills. It contains 1 Guardian Fiend and supports
7 Talons, one for each of the Hills, and serves around a thousand Ogres.
Ogres from HellWood and FoulVale may also be found worshipping and training
here.
High upon the top of the Plateau is a statue of Cacodemon that overlooks
Dorastor, perched upon the eastern rim of the Plateau like a distorted
bat. Nobody knows the rock that this is made from, nor do they know who
made it. However, everyone knows that between its scaly feet are a pair
of Iron Doors that lead beneath the Plateau to a Major Temple of Cacodemon.
This Temple supports 5 Talons, has 1 Guardian Fiend and serves around a
thousand Ogres from the Plateau and surrounding areas. Ralzakark himself
controls this Temple directly and keeps it on a tight leash.
It is possible to summon Cacodemon himself here, with the sacrifice
of a hundred males and a hundred females and a hundred hermaphrodites,
the ritual taking a day to perform. When Cacodemon is present the Statue
will come alive and be animated by the God Itself. It is normally accompanied
by a number of Fiends and other monstrosities and is rarely in a good temper.
Cacodemon will remain until (a) it is slain; (b) it has performed the task
for which it was summoned; (c) it chooses to depart; (d) it is summoned
elsewhere. When Cacodemon leaves the Statue, it will remain motionless
in the position where Cacodemon left, but at the next sunrise it will be
found perched above its Temple.
The Cacodemon Temple here is found on the southern edge of the Plateau.
A pair of Iron Doors lead into the Temple beneath the Plateau. Either side
of the Doors can be found huge footprints as if a gigantic creature once
stood there. The Ogres of the Temple bemoan the fact that Arkat came and
wrestled with Cacodemon itself here and dashed him to a million pieces.
The Temple has a single Guardian Fiend and supports 3 Talons, serving only
five hundred Ogres, but because of its position, a Guardian Fiend is always
present.
Other shrines to Cacodemon are known to exist in HellWood, in the
RockWall Mountains and in the Ash Flat. There exact locations are known
to only a few Ogres but their presence is made apparent by the behaviour
of nearby Ogres. These Shrines do not support Talons or Fiends, but do
act as the focus of sporadic worship by the surrounding Ogres.
Dorastor is one of the few places in Glorantha where the Ogres can
worship Cacodemon openly and without fear of persecution. This means that
the structure of the Temples is a little different than elsewhere. Each
Temple has a number fo Talons who are associated with the Temple. The Permanent
Talons are part of the Temple hierarchy and keep there relative positions
through force of arms. The other Talons worship at the Temple but are not
part of the hierarchy as they are either too weak individually to challenge
the Permanent Talons or have too small a following. Each Talon commands
a War band of Ogres and brings this war band to worship with him. Usually,
each War band lives in a village or group of villages ruled by the Talon.
In this way, the Temple has dominion over the individual War bands of the
area through the Talons that serve the Temple. Talons and War bands often
fight and jostle with each other to change the rankings, this happens more
and more often as the War bands come closer to the Temples as their behaviour
reverts to type as they approach the Shrine.
In times of War the Talons are commanded to bind together and fight as one. They each bring their War band and this produces a fairly powerful army as the War bands are normally made of fairly tough, disciplined warriors. In times of crisis the Fiends from the Temples may fight and the Talons may attempt to summon more Fiends to strengthen their War bands. In fact some Talons already have Fiends sworn to their service that they can easily summon. One Talon, known as IronClaw, is said to have three Fiends bound to three rings that he wears on his left hand and can summon them to do his will.
Each Temple owes allegiance only to Cacodemon, in theory, however in
practice each Temple serves whoever is politically powerful. The Temple
at Dokat serves the Priesthood of Dokat, most of whom happen to also be
the Ranking Talons of the Temple. The Temple at Plateau Wrath serves Ralzakark.
The Seven Hills Temple is normally independent but swings between being
allied with HellWood, the Tower of Lead or Ralzakark. The Nangtali Temple
is said to serve the Telmori but this is rarely demonstrated. There are
often wars between the Temples and this is one of the reasons why the Ogres
are not more powerful in Dorastor, Ralzakark enjoys stirring up conflict
among his servants.
1. I play that the cult
of Cacodemon can summon Fiends to be permanently incarnated within their
temples as Guardians. As a rule, a Major Temple may support 1 Fiend and
a Great Temple will support 2 Fiends. Only very large Great Temples can
support 3 or more Fiends. If a Guardian Fiend is killed a new one must
be summoned at the next Cacodemon Holy Day. Only one Fiend may be summoned
per Holy Day, so it may take a while to recover from the loss of many Fiends.
The Summoning Ceremony is known only to a few Talons, so not all Temples
may Incarnate Fiends. It involves the sacrifice of a hundred males and
a hundred females, whose blood is poured over an image of Cacodemon, then
a male Ogre is stripped naked and placed in contact with the image whereupon
the image embraces him and draws him within itself, finally disgorging
a new Fiend in place of the Ogre. Many Temples with Incarnated Fiends provide
the Fiend with armour and magical items, thus making an already powerful
Guardian into a virtually unstoppable Guardian.
[End]