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# Part of Simon Phipp's RuneQuest/Glorantha Site

Glorantha is Copyright Issaries Inc, RuneQuest is Copyright Hasbro Inc
Glorantha is a Fantasy world setting and RuneQuest is a Fantasy Game.
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Copyright © 2001 Simon E.Phipp
Created On 4 February 2001
Last Updated On 4 February 2001

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# Cacodemon Temples in Dorastor

There are several Cacodemon Shrines known in Dorastor. These are Dokat, Seven Hills, Plateau of Wrath and Nangtali's Plateau.

## Dokat

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.

## Seven Hills

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.

## Plateau Wrath

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.

## Nangtali's Plateau

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.

## Hidden Shrines

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.

## Temple Organisation

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.

## Notes

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]