The Followers Of Bhaal

Faction Name: The Followers of Bhaal Death Cult

Demonym: Death (\*Death Knight, Death Lord)

Faction Motto: “Death Is Only The Beginning”

Founder: Bhaal, Death Knight of the Sith

Faction Leadership roles: Bhaal Gatekeeper to the Underworld, current Cult Leader is Saravok.

Banner/Sigel: Black and Dark Green Banner, with the silver wolves head of Bhaal.

Description: Cult dedicated to serving the immortal Necromancer Bhaal.

Virtues: Unwavering dedication to the dark master.

Membership Preferences: none.

Species Preference: none.

Army Forces: legions of the undead.

Navy Forces: The Saving Grace Command Frigate.

Home Base: The Undead Keep, in the Catacombs of Demir & The Demerian Stronghold above ground.

Claimed Worlds: none

Colours: Black and Dark Green

Alliances: The Sith

Enemies: N/A

History: Not long after Ryder's knighthood Lady Maneas Nephthys intercepted a coded Jedi message from a Jedi exploration expedition and sent Ryder along with a small crew on a mission to investigate the coordinates of a newly located planet in the unknown regions. The planet that would be later known as Lehon and then as Rakata Prime.

The coded message said the world was a rich ancient source of technology and the dark side of the force was felt incredibly strong there. After 30 years of growing her influence and power, this unknown planet she now decided was to be Maneas next conquest.

Her plan, to make this new planet her staging post away from prying Sith eyes and using the found technology, her war champion Ryder leading her army of undead coupled with her superior Sith sorcery she would stage an all out assault on the Sith dominated planets of Zoist, Dromund Kaas and Korriban.. And then, to finally become the eternal God Empress of a new and undying Sith Empire.

Without question Ryder took a Marauder-class corvette known as “The Morningstar” with sixteen crewmen into the outer reaches of unknown space intent on finding this newly discovered planet for his former Master.

After several months' travel into the vast reaches of space The Morningstar corvette was stuck with a strange space illness that plagued the ship's crew, slowly… One by one the sixteen souls that ventured out with their commander Ryder started to become deathly ill. Several distress messages were sent from the Morningstar but none were replied to, whether they even made it to the Fortress of Lady Maneas Nephthys to this day remains unclear.

Lesions, madness, uncontrollably bleeding from the eyes, ears and all other Orpheus’s.. The victims were sent into wild and violent fits of uncontrollable rage, the sickness spared no one… Not even Ryder who one day woke up with a blood drenched pillow.. His eyes, nose and mouth were bleeding uncontrollably.... Well aware of the signs, the commander, who was one of only five left alive of the original sixteen crewmen, set the autopilot and locked himself in the ship's hold. There, over the coming days the Echani knight slipped into madness at the hands of space sickness and eventually, passed into death. Or so it seemed....

~~\*~~

\*Several weeks later, the body of Ryder comes into consciousness at the site of the crashed Morningstar ship, the starship's hold mechanical lock was broken in the crash and the door now dislodged. The starship, with all its sixteen crew perished from the mysterious space illness, had been knocked drastically off course and crash-landed on the unknown region's rocky planet of Demir.

Ryder, unsure how much time has passed and experiencing the terrible truth that he is no longer alive in the common sense of the word for the first time, drags his body from the wreck of the light cruiser and into the deep underground cavern system the ship had crashed down into.. Unable to explain it any other way Ryder deduced that the power of the amulet was the only thing keeping him among the world of the living.

Over the next eons the now undead Ryder lived in the Demir cavernous underground. Practicing his dark Necromantic arts and blood magic on many a wayward Demirian traveler who would come to explore the planet's iron rich cavern's. Creating an ever growing undead army that he used to carve himself a stone keep into the very bedrock of the planet next to an underwater lake.

Rumours eventually grew among the local populace of Demir of a darkness in the depths below.. That those brave few who could find the lake could follow it to the gates of the underworld itself guarded by the dead, and of a white haired gatekeeper with black eyes… A gatekeeper with the power to bring back those from the other side.. The locals fashioned a name for him.. They called him Bhaal the undead.

Ryder who now commonly known as Bhaal never outwardly sought to surface however, learning through Sith blood magic that the local populace were actually quite an uncivilised and unadvanced civilisation. A culture most disappointingly without hyper travel technology or the means to repair the severely damaged Morningstar in order for him to return to his long lost Dark Lady Maneas.

Rumours came and went as Bhaal survived in the dark depths and several Demirians actually followed the lake and approached Ryder, hailing him as a God of death and pledging themselves to his service and living in a part of the keep among the undead. Many more would join the group as the years progressed and the servants to the undead Ryder thus founded the followers of Bhaal cult. Sworn to protect the Echani and dedicating themselves to preserving his dark secrets.