Hagithan, the Puppetmaster

"He plays the most ancient and twisted of games."

## Summary

Hagithan, the Puppetmaster cares about little else but the accumulation of power. He is a master of manipulation and trickery, constantly working in the background to guide the history of mortals towards his secret endgame. His pride and his inability to value others as peers make him vulnerable and a little paranoid at times. Hagithan regrets only that he has not achieved ultimate control of all things by now. A loner by nature, Hagithan has no real friends amongst the other gods and is viewed with at best, careful suspicion by them. Followers of Hagithan seek dark, hidden knowledge of the arcane to grow their own power and fulfill their selfish goals. To others, he is a character of fairy tales and folklore, "The Puppetmaster had a hand in this, surely."

## Description

He takes the form of an old lycanthrope, with long white fur, sharp teeth and a ceremonial helm of some sort, hanging low, covering his eyes.

## History

In the first moments of the Blood God's creative spark, some of the Chaotic energy inside of him split off and formed itself into a being of great power, no child of the Blood God, but a second, and lesser child of the same energy that formed him. Hagithan, as he called himself, and "half-brother", as the Blood God named him, tried to wrestle with the first God from his moment of coalescence. In this, he was laid low time and time again until at last, he relented, though never admitted defeat. Fleeing the Blood God, he sought to make his place in the void, opening himself to the darkness and letting it flow into him, filling him with power and radiating out of him as ever increasing entropy.

## Tenants

Followers of Hagithan vary between the religious and the arcane, with some a mixture of both. Those who follow him seek his hidden knowledge and covet his power. He promises great influence to those who do his dark bidding, and he is even known to keep such bargains, from time to time. The common ground between most followers of Hagithan lies in that all are self-seeking and willing to sacrifice anyone in their way to get what they want. Ruthlessness disguised with great cunning runs deep in the heart of his worshippers.

## Folklore

There is a dark god or devil some say, folk call him the Puppetmaster. He pulls the strings behind the scenes in both the material plane and in the affairs others. If your love leaves you for someone else, if your daughter runs off with some rascal, if your king is murdered, if there is the talk of scandal, you might hear some folk say the puppetmaster had his hand in it.

## Skill Check DCs

   **History DC10:** There is an old folk tale of a being called the puppetmaster. He is a sort of boogie man.

**History DC15:** There is more to the old folk tale than some or even most might think. The story has some weight of truth to it, but the histories have either not recorded much about it or have long forgotten.

**Arcana/Religion DC20:** There is a dark god, known as the puppetmaster. Little is known of him but there are records of foul deeds where some interviewed whispered of this nameless god's influence. Not a demon or devil.

**Arcana/Religion DC25:** This puppetmaster god is named Hagithan, and he is the wellspring of much of the chaos in the creations of the blood god. Both god and man he manipulates, pulling the strings behind the scenes towards whatever fell ends he envisions.

**Arcana/Religion DC30:** He is the half-brother of the Blood God and is trying to quietly drown all his brother's creations in chaos. He believes that to finally overthrow his brother he will need to manipulate all those who follow him to fall into ruin and folly.