Hecate

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Law, Evil, Magic, Knowledge
Title: Goddess of the locked tome, One who knows of that which was not to be known.
Symbol: A half-silvered disk representing the waning moon.
Holy Creature: What art there is of Hecate, it sometimes depicts her with a pyrohydra; these creatures are sacred to her.
Priestly Garb: Fashionable togas of the most expensive cut and material, generally in black. Common decorations include astrological symbols or runes.
Favored Weapons: None, and Hecate does not grant the spell spiritual weapon and does not accept paladins
Form of Worship: Priests and Wizards who venerate Hecate do so beneath the full moon with sacrifices of blood and magical items as the moon sets.
Typical Worshippers: Wizards, women, lawful-evil humanoids such as hags and crones. Her high priests are almost exclusively multiclassed cleric/wizards.
Appearance: A beautiful women dressed in black, flanked by her servants and two pyrohydras.
History: Very little is known. Hecate is certainly a very old god, and has been worshipped in the Stoneheart Valley for some time. Once she was worshipped openly, but those days have long gone. Her decline is attributable to Orcus and Tsathogga, as those gods began to grow in strength, the forces of good retaliated. Hecate, a much less martial goddess suffered all the more for it (although Tsathogga may have suffered a similar fate).
There are many stories of Hecate being a patron god for adventurers, those who push the boundaries through exploration and learning; knowledge for one’s own sake pleases Hecate, even if the knowledge is not put to an evil use.Hecate also favors female worshippers (and only accepts female clerics). Whether this is to do with Nethys or for her own reasons is unknown.
Relationships: Very few. She hates Orcus for the damage he did to her following, as well as Nethys (a mad-god of magic). Her dislike of Nethys may be related to his favoring of male spellcasters, his shattered mind or his followers love of making scrolls and wands. Whether she dislikes him because of how he conflicts with her church, or whether her church is set up in direct conflict because she dislikes him is unknown. She is not on good terms with most of the chaotic gods.
Emissaries, Favored and Chosen: Hecate rarely sends emissaries or directly answers prayers. When she needs her will done directly she may send or lure a pyrohydra into an area to cleanse it. She is fickle in granting power to her favoured, but is also generous to those who have earned it, although she is also quick to take her gifts away if she feels slighted.
Her last chosen was wizard of deific power named Akbeth, but her fate is unknown.
The Church of Hecate: There is very little formal worship to Hecate left, in spite of her generosity in rewarding her followers. With the fall of Tsar, nearly all the worship to evil gods was stamped out, and Hecate’s less aggressive following suffered badly.
Still, a cult ot church of hecate will be lead by a virgin woman, although in recent times they will often have a bodyguard. The church itself focuses on praising the intellect of Hecate, and will spend it’s time in self improvement and learning. Translating an old, encrypted tome is considered a noble cause as uncovering old secrets is of immense value. Worshippers also spend time learning life skills, and self-betterment through training and education is expected.Hecate, and by extension the church dislikes unintelligent animals (and as such, they are used for sacrifices). Hecate also detests the use of scrolls and wands, as she considers them something that grants magical power to those who have no earned it. Destroying these objects while praising Hecate is quite common.
Burial Rights: A fallen follower must be preserved where possible, and at the very least should be placed in an airtight stone casket. Even worshippers who’ve been disgraced or otherwise upset the church are granted full funeral rights. A follower may be buried with any or all of their possessions, often in a fancy tomb or mausoleum. While the outside of the coffin, tomb or headstone is often written on with fancy code, verse or riddle, the inside of the tomb should contain no writing at all.
Holy relics: There are very few relics of Hecate’s. The Locked Tomb is said to be her personal notebook, which was gifted to a raksaha many eons ago. Copies of her spellbooks are rumored to exist, but these rumors seem highly unlikely, considering Hecate’s dislike of easy knowledge.