Bloodzerkers

## The Blood Berserkers of War and Conflict

Westward of the city-state of Babel, a warrior cult dedicated to an ancient god of war lingers in the shadow of the Merovingian Mountains. Known as the Blood Berserkers of War and Conflict, or Bloodzerkers, these titans of ferocity and fury give homage to warfare in its most primal and give credence to none but those who follow the way of abandon and slaughter.

While slaked in the blood of the slain and filled with the profane energy of their conqueror deity, the Bloodzerkers first and foremost concern is in the freedom that the midst of combat offers. Only when surrounded in the heat of battle, enveloped by naught but the enemies who wish you dead, is when the feral freedom of bloodlust is allowed to rise to the surface. It is this carnage-based understanding that forms the crux of their religion, their society, their very existence.

### Relations

#### The Former Rebels

During the Verk War, the Bloodzerkers represented an unstable but highly powerful ally to the Rebellion. More of a directed weapon than a group that genuinely believed in the cause of liberation, the tribals were allured by the challenge that the Verk Empire offered, and threw their number with reckless abandon into the furnace of war.

By the end of the Empire’s fall, the Bloodzerkers at last became a problem of the newly formed city-state of Babel, no longer able to slake the bloody thirst that the barbarians craved. Frustrated with the peace that now enveloped the realm, the slayers marched into the mountains, holding bloody arenas in dedication to Vinex the entirety of the way. Not only finding comfort amongst the chill that the Merovingian Mountains offered, the Bloodzerkers were able to find something far more precious to them. A new challenge.

#### Civilians and General Noncombatants.

The Bloodzerkers at all times seek a challenge. While they do not actively go out of their way to seek bloodshed from those that cannot defend themselves, in lack of a proper opponent, the barbarians will make due in the most violent ways possible. Seeking and hunting down civilians, the followers of Vinex relish the sight of desperation taking hold of their foes, and greatly enjoy the sensation of driving even the most non-violent to face them with fearful resolve.

### Culture

Dedicated to fighting and warfare above all others, there is great doubt among many that the Bloodzerkers have anything resembling what could be considered a 'culture.' Nevertheless, the various races that compose the Bloodzerkers have, over the years, created a strange and sometimes compelling aspect of living, with each individual contributing to what he or she finds most appealing about the act of war.

Thusly this has created a veritable 'melting pot' of various dynamics, interactions, and rituals, that much like their creators, compete ideologically (but mostly violently) for supremacy. As for the specifics of what this entails, sources are relatively unclear.

#### View of Undead

Undead in Bloodzerker society are seen in an..interesting light for what has often been proven to be a chaotic and cosmologically evil cult. For the dominant ideology of Chieftain Ul’thune Ghormorn, they are seen as the *Möguleikalaust*, or the ‘Potentialess.’ Those that have come and gone from this realm, and therefore are only there to deprive others of their potential while being unable to ever find their own.

Mindless undead seem to prove his point, lacking individuality and any drive upon the rather ironic interpretation of seeking nothing but to kill.

Intelligent undead have proven somewhat of a counterpoint to this view however, seemingly containing wills and dreams of their own that some have argued exemplify a determination and desperation to find potential of their own that should be honored, not shunned.

### Philosophy

#### **Dominant Ideology (*Tilgangurinn*, ‘The Purpose’)**

**"*Tilgangur í hinu tilgangslausa. Merking í tilgangsleysi þessa heims í kringum okkur*."**

**“'Our purpose in the purposeless. Meaning in the meaningless of this world around us.”**

The pervading philosophical belief of the Bloodzerkers, is one of nihilistic determination. In the belief that life and existence are inherently without meaning, and that therefore each man and woman must carve out a meaning as exciting and endearing to themselves as possible to fight back against the void.

The way they believe is the fastest and most effective route to this, is through combat and the embracing that desperation can bear extraordinary individuals who, while miserable in the moment, will find what truly motivates them. Or break under the strain.

While seemingly a society that thrives off of blood and carnage, there is an interesting dynamic that is placed upon the importance of the individual. No kill, no matter how small, is to be taken for granted. Enjoyment is to come along with this, but the taking of a life is something that is considered sacred in its own right. For to take a life is to deprive that individual of a potential perhaps yet untapped.

This belief often galvanizes veteran Bloodzerkers to seek greater and greater thrills as a way to ‘honor’ those they have slain along the way. For if those individuals can no longer find their potential, then said Bloodzerkers owe it to them to strive for their own and make it yet more glorious.

### The Taint

Beyond the veil of destructive behaviors and unquenchable apetites for combat, lies the Bloodzerkers most destructive quality. Not a weapon per say, but more the vein of an infliction, the nature of the barbarians is infectious to those ill-prepared. Anger and rage follow the path of the Bloodzerkers, as their deity is not only one of mutiliation and chaotic entanglement, but also of corruption.

This corruptive attitude, known simply as the 'Taint' can stalk the mind of those who find themselves with prolonged exposure to the combative nature of the Bloodzerkers. The more one engages them in combat, or is exposed to the furious calamity that lies at the hearts of the men and women who follow Vinex, steadily find their passions rising more easily to the surface. An ascetic monk, in the pursuit of self-enlightenment. The pious knight, driven by mercy and compassion. The self-righteous assassin. All of these and more can be faced with the same dilemma of the heart, compelled to violent rage and dissonance, finding their perceptions warped until all that is left is a blood-frenzied fiend like no other.

Difficulties like this can make the Bloodzerkers a fearsome foe to contend with, as armies find the morale and discipline of their men attacked on a near psychological level, and those that once faced them being compelled to the very way of wanton slaughter that they fought against to begin with. While sufficient willpower and soothing magicks can be utilized in the wake of such compulsions, it is ultimately only a matter of time before those afflicted begin to find the pressures intolerable.

#### Purposebringers

In the warrior cult of Vinex, seeking one’s purpose is paramount. Usually this is done by tempering oneself in the fires of conflict and slaking one’s thirst for destiny in the blood and death of one’s foes. While such zeal of worship through action might be regarded as extreme by those of a more civilized disposition, such fealty is considered mundane when placed next to the monstrosity that is a Purposebringer.

Sadism and faith intertwined, Purposebringers are what might be considered ‘missionaries’ of Vinex, though to refer to them as such is to grasp only the basics of what they are. They are inheritors of the Taint in its most grotesque form, allowing its overwhelming sensations of rage and savagery to fester within themselves and transform their bodies to better serve the ideal of spreading the infection as far and as wide as they can. How they come about such an ascendence is unknown, though each Purposebringer has usually undergone his manifestation only through the repetition of truly hateful and profane acts done in the name of the Woebound Warlord.

## Conflict with Fort Ragathiel

The Verk Empire had kept the interest of the Bloodzerkers for longer than most would have expected, but with the defeat of the Emperor and the routing of the army, the barbarians were soon found lacking for a proper challenge; and as warriors without conflict are prone to do, they turned to seeking one.

Shifting their attention westward towards Fair Maiden as a possible sacking point, horde of killers made bloody sport as they marched themselves through the territories, hosting arenas in honor of Vinex in the hopes of being presented with the glorious conflict that they eternally sought. Much to the surprise of those in congress, eternity lasted but a few weeks.

Scouts in the ranks reported a great fortress, manned with armor-clad knights and crimson cloaked holy warriors that had a discipline to match the Bloodzerkers’ own mind-rending fury. These reports once more awakened the driving frenzy of the horde, and immediate efforts were made to bring conflict to the Merovingian Mountains from which Fort Ragathiel had stood for many decades.

Engagements were made in full, with the fighting between the two groups escalating to a full blown war, the stones of the snowcapped mountains quickly being enriched with blood on both sides. While undoubtedly Ragathiel’s own held the better training and discipline, Vinex’s Bloodzerkers matched such with wild abandon, desperate fury and a larger population that was like an animalistic fervor.

Moreover, the Taint that the barbarians often brought with them into the heart of battle saw even veteran knights turning foul and breaking ranks, giving up the one advantage that they held. This would lead to the deaths of a number that Fort Ragathiel could scarcely afford to lose. Eventually this would lead to the forces redrawing back to the safety of the tri-blessed walls of the fortress itself for the siege that was to come.

It had taken the Verk Empire at the height of its power, a decade to crack the shell that was Fort Ragathiel. But that was many years ago. Years ago when the warrior cult of Ragathiel was filled with Dwarven blood and stood in lock step with Dun Holvar. Years ago when the Fort was more populated and the defenders were aplenty.

Now though, despite the fact that what stood were the survivors of Verk's persecutions, veteran warriors young and old, they were much fewer in number. The contest of wills and blood that followed was beyond brutal, miracles of sacred and profane made manifest upon the walls and beyond them.

A tide of driving fury had spilled through the onslaught of Bloodzerkers in the midst of the carnage, driving the mangled bodies of the barbarians far beyond the point when death should have claimed them. Equally so, the defenders’ ranks, bolstered with Crimson Templars, proved a fearsome match for the worst of the heathen scourge that poured forth like a swarm; undying determination was pitted against skillful and faith-emboldened defiance.

By the end, the casualties on both sides were great, but the Fort remained standing. Many proclaimed this as a victory for the General of Vengeance and his followers, a tale of a few that stood against the tide of many. However, others belief differently. It is said that unseen forces had compelled the retreat of the Bloodzerkers from the Fort’s defenders, driven on by the compulsion of a beast savoring quarry.

To crush the defenders now and slaughter all inside would be a waste. The barbarians had found the ultimate foe. Vinex had found an entertaining opponent.

And he intended to enjoy it for as long as he could.

## Notable Figures Amongst the Bloodzerkers

### **Ul’thune Ghormorn**

A titan in build if not in will, the chieftain of the Bloodzerkers strikes an intimidating figure amongst a people that are infamous for such an aspect and with good reason. Having led the current incarnation of Vinex’s cult for the better part of a decade, Ghormorn has maintained a seat of authority and power in an environment often regarded as a place where both authority and power go to die through his ironfisted strength.

This has been helped in part by the ever-consistent string of calamities that have driven desperate folk from across Etera to the Bloodzerker’s ranks, seeking some measure of safety in the ranks of the warrior cultists, as opposed to the tides of monsters and (most recently) daemons that plague the continent.

Beyond the strength of will and the desperation of others, the more observant would also note another quality that has perhaps driven the majority of the cultists to his ranks. His ability to disregard the call of his god.

While other religions might consider such notions heretical, in a society ever consumed with the desire to slay the deity they worship, such independent drive has been held up by many (but not all) as a sign that Ghormorn’s own ascension to the Bloodied Throne is an inevitability.

### The Oracle

Known by title rather than name, The Oracle of Vinex is a draconic entity that seeks not to hide this aspect of herself. With horns of what look like gnarled bone and a blindfold across her eyes, she commands a level of mysticism in the eyes of the warrior cultists that is only really challenged by Ul'thune's own grip.

This mysticism however does not extend to an entirely benevolent view, as many seek to avoid her whenever possible, for one so interconnected with their deity is one to be feared. More so by the fact that wherever she walks, the Taint follows more strongly than any other, bringing fury, bloodlust, and gore-filled immortality that she has utilized to a full potential only once: The Siege of Fort Ragathiel.

As such, she spends most of her days on the outskirts of the Bloodzerker’s enclosed settlement, nestled within her hut and waiting for the arrival of company she is always prepared to receive.

### Hal'cyon

One of Ul’thune’s trusted, the respective ‘leader’ of the centaurs in the Bloodzerkers is a fearsome combatant known for his ability to trample full-plate into broken metal, and who’s speed and momentum in battle allows his two greatswords to act like scythes for the less-legged.

Dedicated in heart and soul to the current chieftain, he seems to brook insults towards Ghormorn more harshly than Ghormorn himself. This has ultimately contributed to those seeking Ul’thune’s audience to tread carefully, lest they be treaded upon.

### Cul'thanlin

A Purposebringer of the Bloodzerkers, the creature known as Cul’thanlin has been so degraded by the Taint that his race is indiscernible, what he was before lost to the manifestation of rage that he has taken in so willingly. Despite this, Cul’thanlin is more than just cruelty and malice like many of his adherents are. Instead, his nightmarish appetite for violence belies a predatory cunning that has seen his influence spread far and wide along with the monstrous infection that he carries within his blood and soul.