The Enemy

The Enemy is a primary diety of the Bastonian Pantheon, lord of Hell and believed to be the source of all evil things - therefore, he is also considered a primordial diety. The Bastonians hold that the true name of the Almighty is too profane to pronounce or record, and so refer to him by the cognomen alone. He is largely seen by the Bastonians as an ultimate force, survival of which is possible only with the Almighty's help. Like the Almighty, he has said to have corrupted a few Saints of his own, who are also members of the Pantehon. The Enemy is a Neutral Evil diety who grants access to the Darkness, Death, and Evil domains. His favoured weapon is the glaive, and his symbol is a spider's web. Spiders are considered sacred to him.

History

The Almighty's teachings do not go into her origin, the origin of Ahren, the Bastonian People, or any of the cosmological constants, including The Enemy. The teachings begin with an event called the Battle of the First Wall, wherein the Almighty personally lead a battle against The Enemy, who each pitted hosts of their own followers against each other. This is said to be foundational to the city of Whiterock, which was created after the destruction of The Enemy's forces, who swore revenge.

However, the teachings of The Enemy go further back, into the Long Age of Blackness, during which it is said he created mankind from the "man-beasts of forgotten Eastern isles".

It is unknown whether he has created saints of his own other than San Elijah, San Meteo and San Verus. All three are varying degrees of loyal to him, with Elijah having defected completely, Verus too mad to be trusted by anyone, and Meteo at least sharing Hell and willing to occasionally obey when properly motivated.

Relationships

It is unknown whether he has created saints of his own other than San Elijah, San Meteo and San Verus. All three are varying degrees of loyal to him, with Elijah having defected completely. At a state of perpetual war with The Almighty and Heaven, he can rarely leave Hell for fear of leaving it undefended.

Appearance

The Enemy has no fixed appearance, usually taking the form of a glowing, masculine, humanoid shape of fire and smoke, or a disembodied voice.

Realm

The Almighty's divine realm is The Highest Seat, a fortified city in Hell, and arguably all of that plane. It is said that from the eponymous throne of that realm, he can view all of creation.

Providence

The sudden outbreak of a famine, plague, natural disaster, or seige is sometimes seen as direct or indirect intervention by The Enemy, as is unseasonably harsh weather.

Servants

The Enemy commands the allegiance of both Demons and Devils in equal quantity, and the Demon Princes and Devil Lords both claim to have gotten their station from his direct assent to their rule and power.

Unique Servants

The Serpent

Known by the epithet alone, this colossal snake of human intelligence is the Enemy's herald. The Bastonians believe him to be the Harbinger of the end of times.

The Enemy's Church

While open worship of The Enemy is illegal in Bastonia (along with most gods, with the exception of the Almighty and the Great Saints, his followers are the most organized out of the followers of the Bastonian Pantheon's three forces for evil. They conduct their secret worship in plain sight, paying lip service to The Almighty but preaching perversions of the original teachings, and opening their places of worship to secret rituals in the dead of night to a trusted few.

Worshippers

A few Bastonians worship the Enemy, and some worship him formally. Rank within the clergy is highly structured and determined by status and promotion from above, up to and including the primate of the religion, the Antebishop of Whiterock, who is said to be chosen each generation by the Enemy himself. Where such worshippers are numerous, secret chapels in the crypts under churches to the Almighty or the homes of wealthy followers form a sort of hub for those who would follow the Great Deceiver.

By adherents, the teachings of the Enemy's church are viewed as the antedote to the binding poison of moral allegory that the Almighty uses to keep her people enslaved.

Clergy

Priests of the Enemy wear cassocks, robes, skullcaps, and mozzetta that help to denote their rank and the liturgical season of the time based on their colour and design, but only in close quartiers with trusted associates.

His clerics are similar to those of San Meteo in that they often have an agreed upon set of symbols, phrases, and gestures they can use to determine if another is a fellow believer without ever having to broach the subject openly.

Temples & Shrines

Temples and shrines established for the enemy are almost always below ground, both for security reasons and due to the conventional belief of Hell being the physical antepode to Heaven, which isn't entirely accurate. Such temples are often architecturally very similar (and even built directly below, in some cases) to those established for the worship of the Almighty, though they differ in that the never set out side space for worship of the Redemptive Saints in the way that the Almighty's temples do for the Great Saints.

Such temple complexes also have warrens of prisons of varying sophistication as a common feature - the enemy occasionally demands the sacrifice of mortals in exchange for his continued blessings or as a loyalty test for those who would claim to follow him.

Holy Texts

Dictated by the Enemy through his early church, The License is a collection of teachings laying out moral truisms through parable and historical allegory. The license, when recorded in Common, often comprise as many as half a dozen volumes, and are usually published alongside several more volumes of commentary, including profane commentaries on the Almighty's divine liturgy, the Rubrics. In such collections some emphasis is usually placed on perverting the message of the Rubrics and thereby converting followers of the Almighty secretly to the fold of the Enemy.

Other holy texts, specifically useful for the religious, include the Twilight Almanac and the Litany of Heaven, which set out the practical formulae of various rituals and observances. In particular, volumes of the Twilight Almanac are praised and considered useful even by indirect followers, such as wizards in the study of the practice of necromancy or divination.

Church History

As long as there has been a Bastonian Church, there has been its cousin and secret competitor, the Church of the Enemy. While having never yet fully corrupted the Bastonian Throne, the church commands a secret respect and silence among many of the nobility, promising the reward of their own ambitions so long as they continue to act in ways that further the Enemy's plan.

Tellingly, these plans usually come to naught, exposed by the machinations of rogue followers of San Meteo. From time to time important parts of the church hierarchy have been lost due to the intervention of various holy orders, especially those of San Lukas.

Holidays

The Enemy himself supplies two perversions of occasions to the Bastonian calendar, being the Feast of the Triumph on the first day of summer, and the Day of Expiation, observed around the time of the Festival of the Turning Wheel - an Atarlie marking of the New Year. The Feast of the Triumph is mirrored by an occasion known as the Nocturn of the Foresworn, were perverse and oftentimes violent observances are placed alongside ritual abasements in the day before or after the Feast of the triumph, including fresh vows to continue the cause and ultimately free humanity from the yoke of the Almighty. By contrast, they also mark the Day of Expiation as the Day of Exultance, feasting and celebrating in their own honour and the honour of he whom they serve.

Favoured Animals

Spiders, who feed without distinction and spin grand designs to facilitate their feeding, are sacred to the Enemy.