Sarkhang - The Master of Unclean Spirits; The Arkhekarcirst

The patron of Black Sorcery; Mental Control and Domination; Karcists; The Binding of Demons and Unclean Spirits; and those that practice acts of inmaterial projection in the Abyssal Realms, Sarkhang is invariably depicted as man-like figure, robed and hooded in rich, dark fabrics, wearing a skull-like metal mask and with one arm bare aside for wrappings, all the way from the shoulder down to the tips of the fingers, of metal foil bandages and bearing a wavy, double-edged, slender long knife or short sword. Conflicting legends abound about The Master of Unclean Spirits; some speak of him as having originally been one of the Lords of Light in aeons long past who was corrupted by the Lords of Change and performed a foul betrayal; others claim that Sarkhang was born of the Abyss and infiltrated the Lords of Light disguised as a foreign savant-deity before performing misdeeds. In both varieties, Sarkhang is captured by the Lawful Deities he betrays, who "shattered" him before scattering his "pieces" across the physical layers of the universe. Some tales claim that Sarkhang was horribly disfigured as a punishment for his crimes against the Lords of Light and thereby wears his mask to conceal his mutilation; others claim that the mask is a means of occulting the mind-blasting horror of Sakhang's true visage.

Matuniat "The Shaggy Mountain," "The Impregnator of Mutations"

An ancient, especially inhuman member of the Lords of Change, the deity Matuniat is depicted as a towering conical thing, covered with a hanging, shaggy coat of tumorous growths, and anywhere from two to eight stumpy, trunk like leg-organs. Matuniat is said to be several miles tall, and in legends it is usually mistaken for a vegetation-covered mountain from a distance. Myths tell of Matuniat wandering the blasted and cursed regions of Algol, leaving a trail of his fecund semen. In these myths the sperm of Matuniat impregnate any fertile organisms they come in contact with, engendering mutated progeny.

"On the Cursed Nature of the Universe And Why We Must Destroy It"

by The Herald of Apocalypse, Supreme Prophet-Priest of The Lords of Change of the Archetemple of Chaos of Ozlaziatl in The Demon Wastes

"Those sniveling cowards who kowtow to the Lords of Light spout a veritable wind of drivel about "The Planes" or "The Scientific Nature of Reality." Know this...all that is beastshit and gaseous digestive excretions, lies and delusions vomited out of fear by those unwilling to remove the scales from their true eyes and perceive reality for what it truly is.

Yet again I reiterate the central mystery of our cult, the truth-legend that defines our entire way of life and existence.

A long time ago we were all made of cosmic fire, of azoth, of alkahest. We were titans, we were demons, we were dragons, we were gods, but all of that and infinitely more. We lived of pure existence of unshackled will and unbridled desire.

While were sported, wild and free, one of our brothers suggested a game. The we build a world as a toy and stage a game within it. We made up a universe and as we invented its contents the inventor would pretend to be what they created. Some of us pretended to be the stars and planets, some of us the beasts and people, some of us the gravity and winds.

But our brother who suggested this game was decietful and betrayed us, for as we invented the components of the universe and assumed their guises, he worked a curse into the play and we forgot our true nature and were glamoured into believed that we were what we portrayed. And our betraying-brother kept this false-universe and us who are imprisoned within it as a trophy to gloat over.

The curse of this false-universe has chained us to time, and has been ongoing for countless billions of years as we play out this shadow-existence. But some of us remember, and some of use can awaken to some small degree, and gain much puissance and enlightenment from this process.

And so we howl for our brethren who were not part of the curse-game and remain outside of this false-universe. And we work to defy our brother who imprisoned us and to break down the illusion-reality of this false-universe and bring it to an end, no matter what it requires, so that we will be free again."

The Disciples of Nothingness

Usually lumped in with the followers of the Lords of Change by those that sort and catalogue cults, The Disciples of Nothingness pay homage to Iajuxxa "The Great Unmaker - The Ever Sucking Maw" as the aperture of a feeding filament of an extradimensional entity of infinite hunger that they worship as the penultimate power of, and eventual devourer of, all universes, planes and dimensions; utterly consuming all reality(ies).

As part of their complicated theology, the Disciples of Nothingness also worship disintegration; death; suicide; extreme gravitation; and the absence of and/or negation all all light, with some especially devout cultists blinding themselves. They preach the worthlessness and futility of all existance; the inexorable nature of entropy and dissolution; and the eventual fate of all to be devoured by Iajuxxa. They pay heed to the Gluttonous Prophets, eyeless obese psychics who constantly gorge themselves to maintain an ecstasis in which their pineal gland receives emanations from Iajuxxa in it's distant orbit from the three suns.

Some sects have discovered Ancient disintegration facilities where they attempt to negate as much matter as possible, offering sentients as especial offerings to The Ever-Sucking Maw. Rumors whisper of Disciples of scientific bent who seek out ancient particle accelerators in order to create micro black holes with the aim of destroying the planet while creating another mouth for The Great Unmaker.
Some legends speak of Iajuxxa's Exarch upon Algol, Hunger "The Witch With Mouths For Eyes," and her warlock-sons Starvation and Gluttony.

Musing About Religion Without Clerics

In my Planet Algol campaign there are no clerics. There are Hierophants, Priests, High Priests, Priest-Kings, Shamans, and the like. But no "Divine" casters....I haven't been down with The Cleric archetype in Swords & Sorcery for a while (Too much of a Moses crossed with a medieval Templar thing going on). And having no "Divine" magic helps keeps the nature of Algol's universe and metaphysics mysterious, ambiguous, weird.

However, while thinking about the cults and religious organizations of The Lords of Light and The Lords of Change of Algol, I started musing about the advantages of belonging to such an organization.

And a solution struck me...oldschool (1st ed?) Runequest. Initiates, Lay Members, "Rune Priests," "Rune Lords," Cult Magic, POW (experience point?) sacrifices. (Coincidentally, for a while now I've been musing about how Runequest presents an opportunity for a plug-in skill system for OD&D...)

Hm, from what I've read of the Fomalhaut campaign reports, it's possible that Gabor Lux may have incorporated similar mechanics in his campaign? I'm certainly inspired by his “Wow, these guys are a bunch of assholes.'” approach to deities.

More on this later, I've got some Runequest to read and some cult write-ups to mash out.

Algolian Deities - Iashar and Vaikhal

IASHAR - The Haunter of Desolate Places and Piper of Madness
Depicted vaguely as a loathsome, elongated, malformed, mottled, capering figure with phosphorescent eyes , Iashar is said to haunt the wastes of Algol. Tales speak of a distant atonal, reedy, whistling piping heard at night in such regions. This piping is reputed to induce panic and eventual madness and is attributed to Iashar. The hopelessly mad wretches and reavers that wander the wastelands are said to be his followers.


VAIKHAL - The Inexorable Iron Wheel
Vaikhul is depicted as an unspeakably massive towering iron spiked wheel; the cruel blade-like spikes that stud it's tread are clotted with debris, mangled metal and clotted bodies and blood. Vaikhal embodies methodical, merciless slaughter and destruction and is the patron of those that exterminate hostile nonhumans and other threats to Lawful men and civilization.

Tothet and Zaixul

Tothet - Custodian of the Celestial Vault
Depicted as a column of silvery light with a single fiery eye; in Lawful theology Tothet is credited with casting the Great Old Ones out of the physical universe and into the Outer Dark at the dawn of time. Tothet embodies the rational universe; it's physical laws; and it's structural integrity and is the patron of astronomers and physicists. Tothet is symbolized by a blazing, burning sword.

Zaixul - Whisperer of Cunning, Treachery and Upheaval
The patron of plots and traitors, Zaixul works to destroy legitimate authority and civilization. Legends speak of it tearing down Lawful societies by inducing multiple complex, craven betrayals; eventually inducing violent, chaotic upheavals that devolve cultures into nihlistic, destructive mockeries of their former civilization. Zaixul is depicted as lurking in the shadows, a dusty, thin indistinct figure shrouded in gauzy grey tatters.

Gyugoolagutha the Slime Goddess

The mistress of slimes, oozes, molds, Gyugoolagutha is depicted as a towering slender nude Human female with two mold-encrusted crab-like pincers for hands and a heaped fungal mass of slime-emitting gilled organs for a head. She is worshiped by the Mulg who pay no heed to her human servitors.

Obviously a homage to a certain Gygaxian fish-man goddess...