Cas

Info dump

Demigod (Neutral Evil)

Also known as the Lord of Spite, the Red Grudge, and He
Who Balances the Scales, Cas is the demigod of vengeance
and of spite without end. He is the moose-headed god who
nurses rage and fosters frustration. The scattered priesthood
of Cas maintains that beneath the veneer of civilized folk lies
the accumulated fi re of all the injustices he or she has ever
suffered, just waiting to be released; that all secretly worship
Cas, even if only in their deepest, truest subconscious.

Legend maintains that Cas was once a mortal man (a farmer,
if such tales are to be believed), and that he lived in quiet
peace with his friends and neighbors for many years. Then
some unfortunate happenstance caused a rift with his fellows
in the community—one that eventually claimed the lives of
Cas’s entire family. Due to social politics, the offenders were
never properly punished. In his rage, Cas appealed to the
higher power in whom he had always believed. But when that
higher power denied his appeal for justice, legend says that
the sheer power of Cas’s rage and will was enough for him
to exalt himself, by means of some cosmic force, to divine
godhood. After slaking his thirst for vengeance on the town
that wronged him, Cas transformed into the freakish deity
of spite he is today.

Portfolio: Spite, vengeance.

Symbol: A rack of blood-tipped antlers.

Domains: Destruction, Pain, Spite, Strength. The Pain

domain appears in Book of Vile Darkness; the Spite domain is
new and is detailed on page 126.

Cleric Training: The Lord of Spite is perhaps unique
in the way that he gathers his fl ock. Although many cults
devoted to his worship do exist, Cas prefers to come to those
who seem to call out to him with their private thoughts and
repressed urges. The soundless laments of those who seek
vengeance for wrongdoing are as clamorous gongs to the ears
of He Who Balances the Scales, and he is drawn to them even
more than he is to those who already revere him and revel in
his purpose.

Quests: Cas cares most for the repayment of dark debts.
He will go to great lengths to ensure that his followers do
their utmost to fulfi ll that end. When they do conjoin, his
followers form cabals devoted to a single, specifi c end. Once
that end is completed, they often disband until the next time
their hunger for revenge is aroused. The Lord of Spite expects
a would-be suppliant to complete a quest of her own before
being indoctrinated fully into his congregation. Such quests
always revolve around the subject pursuing some unfi nished
business for which she harbors great rage.
Prayers: Prayers to Cas are almost always spoken only after
the supplicant has worked herself into near-hysteria with the
pain and frustration of unrighted wrongs. It is understood
that the Lord of Spite wishes to hear the pain in a worshiper’s
voice: The greater the anguish, the more inclined he will be
to reward the prayer in some way.

Temples: Shrines to Cas are usually deeply personal affairs,
and many individual worshipers don’t maintain a specifi c
place in which to pray. As a deity of secrecy and hidden pain,
Cas actually prefers that most of his worshipers keep him
nowhere but bottled up inside their own souls, where he is
free to stoke the embers of their rage and discontent. When
an actual temple to Cas does get built, it is usually in a quiet,
unassuming location, far from the prying and judgmental
eyes of others. Cas’s temples tend to be small and secret places
of primal instinct and emotion, light on pomp or decoration
and heavy on the accumulated energy of men and women
with rage to spare.

Rites: The rites that Cas’s worshipers perform are not
somber or complex rituals. They are Bacchanalian affairs,
primal and pure—the congregants working one another
into a state of frenzy, screaming out orgiastic diatribes in
the demigod’s name. The idea behind the rites of Cas’s
congregation is not catharsis but preparation for upcoming
work to be done in the demigod’s name. The church
of Cas teaches that true catharsis comes only in righting
a festering wrong.

Herald and Allies: The herald of Cas is a Huge devourer
(Monster Manual, page 58) with 36 Hit Dice and a number of
special abilities befi tting its status. The foul thing makes off
with the trapped soul of whomever it was sent to destroy or
receive as an offering to Cas. If the devourer has a name, no
one has ever learned it. It is simply (and effectively) known
only as “the herald of Cas.”

Cas is known to prefer working directly with those who
revere him and seek his aid and strength. On rare occasions,
he also works with evil outsiders of all types.
Favored Weapon: Heavy mace.