Burtix

# The Goddess Burtix

 Areas of Concern:
 Domains
 Favored Weapon
 Holy Symbol
 Common Worshipers
 Sacred Animals
 Sacred Colors

## Overview/ Physical Description

The Lady of Blood, The Blood-Stained Queen, The Gore Maiden. None of these titles placed upon Burtix's shapely shoulders come close to describing the violent tendencies of she for whom murder is ecstasy. Burtix is the goddess of murder and slaughter. She is beyond beautiful but there is nothing lovely beneath her form. A firstborn goddess, Burtix emerged from the swirling primordial chaos already wet with blood and her weapon in hand. Her followers are savages, both man and beast, who share in Burtix's bloody love for killing and chasing the eternal high that is living in "the now."

Historically, Burtix was on the frontline of whatever conflict the gods needed, taking the opportunity to wet her falchion on anything she could. She slew aboleths and giants, spilling their blood across the vast oceans. When Tharizdun emerged from the vast Far Realm, she battled him alongside Dozna and Remus, holding The Chained God off until The Four Fathers formed The Oubliette within the Deep Ethereal and imprisoned him there. When Asmodeous gathered a great host of angels to his side in an attempt to overthrow Teteus, Burtix killed more than her fair share with an enthusiasm that disturbed many of the gods. She bristled under the Four Father's restrictions; she disliked the gods who looked down on her chasing the high that killing brought her, particularly Dozna. Dozna and Burtix had never liked one another. This was due to all manner of things, how they felt about violence, what the purpose of killing was, the importance of the self and the mere act of love, emotional or animal. Burtix enjoyed carnal pleasure, she reveled in her body but ultimately, nothing brought her the high of slaughter, the ultimate thrill of taking a life.

When Lolth approached her about the uprising against the goodly gods Burtix was all too happy to join in. All she needed was the promise of Dozna's head. In the confusion of the Gods' War, Burtix jumped Dozna from ambush, attempting to kill the Sword-Wife before she could react. Only the quick action of her brother Remus saved her from the ambush, leaving Dozna with a thin scar along the left-hand side of her face. Knowing she couldn't beat the twins when the fought together as one, Burtix retreated, slaying a few angels for her trouble.

After Lolth's defeat at the hands of Corellon, Burtix, along with the other evil gods, was cast out of the Upper Planes. Burtix ended up in the Abyss and carved out a nice kingdom for herself on the 19th Layer of the Abyss. She still holds The Killing Floor today, a twisted realm of gladiatorial arenas and slaughterhouses. (See Realm below.) Burtix spent much of her time building a following among savage humanoids and barbarians, something that proved easy in the following decades of chaos. She winnowed away followers from Vaprak, the demon god of trolls and ogres, gained the allegiance of numerous vampires and became the de facto goddess of every bandit clan that stalked across Apia. She'd always been influential but now her power grew in bounds. The cannibal reavers of southern Umgar grew deeply devoted to her, piling skulls and blood at the forbidden shrines they built in the mountains. Even many redcaps, those normally agnostic fey, become worshipers of Burtix, dipping their caps in her name.

Yet all of these small victories paled in comparison to her greatest triumph. It was before the time of Latrell when Burtix and Remus were battling each other on the Astral Plane. As their bloods crossed and battle raged, the god of just warfare grew enamored with the beautiful Burtix. She played into his attraction, feigning a desire to change and grow into something better. She really could love him, she said, she wanted to change. This was a ploy. One time after she lay with Remus, Burtix birthed a son from that affair who would become Khudall. When that deed was done, she sought to kill him and bath in the blood of her hated foe. Fortunately, Dozna never trusted Burtix's conversation and managed to save her brother from death, striking Burtix down in combat. While she didn't manage to kill him, The Gore Maiden still considers her seduction of Remus to be ultimately successful.

Burtix remains a goddess of bandits and reavers, of trolls, ogres and vampires. She's worshiped on the fringes, in lawless places where the good fear to tread. Some folk say on nights when the twin moons are bloody, or The Stranger is high in the sky, screams can be heard echoing from the mountains as Burtix's cultists offer up humanoid sacrifices to their bloody goddess. As long as those who kill for pleasure or cruelty exist, Burtix will be there, whispering in their ears and empowering their arms.

When appearing in the flesh or via an avatar, Burtix is always striking. She's tall, easily over six foot, and built with a dancer's graceful muscle, like that of an acrobat or strongwoman. Burtix's ice blue eyes burn with an insane fire that can't be quenched, no matter how much blood is shed. Her hair is red or brown and flows long and free. Her skin is covered in tribal tattoos and decorative scars though these can be difficult to see due to fresh blood that seems to cling to her body. She dresses in either revealing tribal armor of fur and leather or nothing at all save blood and tattoos. Her sword, a massive two-handed falchion she calls "Lover," is never far from her and, like her body, is always dripping blood.

The reasons for Burtix visits are never pleasant. She's either seeking prey, empowering a cult in her name or, rarely, copulating with a worthy mortal whom she usually kills afterwards. When an avatar of The Maiden of Blood walks with the Umgaran reavers, death always follows. While she doesn't hunt on the Material Plane often, her palace in the Abyss guarantees her demons to slaughter to her heart's content, which she usually does. Sometimes, a demon lord (particularly Graz'zt who is one of her regular lovers and the father of at least one of her children) can convince Burtix to take her violence to The Blood War and slay devils until she bores of it. The Divine Family looks the other way regarding her fiendish killings but respond quickly to her serial slayings on the Material Plane.

Burtix shows her favor by providing strength to her faithful, empowering their limbs and sharpening their blades. Their blood flows freely from their wounds yet never seems to weaken them. Some even claim Burtix grants them the ability to smell fear. She shows her disfavor by dulling or chipping blades, stealing the vitality from her faithful and clotting their blood.

## The Church

It's unknown how large the church of Burtix actually is. Considering that it's illegal to worship The Gore Maiden in almost every civilized land (though Delorgan allows the worship of her under a different aspect and Umgaran barbarians have always venerated her strength) and that her followers aren't exactly organized, getting exact numbers is impossible. Because of this, each church is an independent body that really only trusts its own, and often not even them. When these different bands meet they can, and often do, kill each other with fervor. Burtix encourages such behavior, as any murder empowers her. Occasionally a charismatic high priest or demon can gather several bands together, but those savage mobs have no real order. Leadership is held by strength and cunning and anyone who is capable of killing the current high priest and taking the title for his or herself can, claiming the title as their own. Semi-organized bands outside of Umgar or The Great Plains are rare but individual killers operating on their own, or in tiny cults bands, are extremely common.

    Unlike the good or neutral gods, Burtix's faithful offer no public services, and are a plague on those towns that cannot root out the cult. Burtix's priests and followers are usually barbarians or rogues, but fighters and clerics are among them. They are expected to kill a sentient being at least once every week, though more is better as higher body counts please her. Concepts such as worthiness or challenge mean nothing. As long as it was sentient and killed in her name, Burtix celebrates. At least once a month, her faithful must offer up a ritually sacrificed mortal, bound but alive, on a blood-stained altar beneath the darkness of the night. Aside from killing, Burtix asks very little. Her followers are free to loot and take whatever their hearts desire and enjoy whatever they want. They can spend their days chasing their own pleasures as long as they spill blood in her name. Burtix isn't a nihilist, quite the opposite. She calls herself the ultimate lover of life because nothing makes you feel more alive than killing. She wants the world to keep spinning and civilization to continue so its cattle can be hunted. Her followers are encouraged to have children, either raised as predators or prey. They're encouraged to leave survivors after their raids so that they can be rebuilt and then attacked again. Paradoxically, the faithful need the cities even though most live in the wilderness. A predator starves without prey.

Worship services dedicated to the goddess are rare, save the monthly ritual sacrifice. Members of the cult recite their latest kills, describing them in detail that the others may gain second-hand enjoyment from it. They offer up the humanoid sacrifice to Burtix, slay it, and share a goblet of its blood, which each cultist drinks while still warm. They don't have hymns and barely any scriptures. Individual killers are known to offer quick prayers to The Maiden of Blood both before, and after, their kill. That simple act is the most common form of worship aside from the sacred act of self-mutilation. The cultist scars the body with a simple tally for each person killed, a more important act than any prayer or offering; no worshiper of Burtix misses this key act. Trolls who worship Burtix will use a hot poker or acid-tipped dagger to ensure their regeneration doesn't heal the ritual scars. High priests and clerics can have hundreds if not thousands of these tally scars, a record of their killings recorded in flesh.

### Temples and Shrines

Temples to Burtix are almost non-existent. Even ignoring the illegality of her faith, those who do worship her are not the most creative or cooperative. Those temples that do exist, such as in southern Umgar or the wild, unclaimed spaces between nations, tend to be either in caves or ruins which are occupied rather than built. These spaces are decorated with the skulls of murder victims, vats of blood and dark red banners emblazoned with unholy symbols of Burtix. Whenever possible a stone alter will be raised to allow for the ritual sacrifices. Iron cages and iron maidens will be brought in so that future victims can be "kept fresh" for future slaughter. Due to the haphazard nature of these temples there's no unified appearance among them.

Shrines are extremely common as many of her followers worship either in secret or the wilderness. These grim altars are hidden away in closets with false backs, basements kept under lock and key, or stacked in wild, untamed spaces. Whether hidden within a city or on the outskirts, the general design is the same. A shrine is constructed from piles of rocks, haphazardly assembled. Fresh blood from slaughtered victims is poured over the rock to stain it. Skulls, still fresh with gore, are piled at the base or atop the stack. It's important for Burtix's faithful to replace the skulls or periodically pour fresh blood over the alter to keep it from becoming too "crusty" and most priests use the blood of their weekly victim for this task. While a particularly devoted cult will attempt to carve either Burtix's name or unholy symbol into the stone though this is hardly a requirement. It is the blood which hallows the ground, not any design.

### A Priest's Role

While many of Burtix's faithful are deranged cultists, lone killers and psychopaths, she does have groups of followers. Her priests are blights on the surrounding villages, leading bands of trolls, bandits or ogres on a rampage, encouraging their worst excesses and calling for more. They carve the tallies into both their flesh and those of their flock. They maim the survivors of their killing sprees so that fear of The Gore Maiden will spread. They recount dark deeds and darker tales intended to drive the faithful band into a killing frenzy. The priests also ensure sacrifices are properly conducted. The most senior priest slices the victim's throat during the monthly offering. They watch for signs of weakness among the faithful, striking down any who show mercy or compassion. They sanctify no rights and enforce no vows. They simply wave their jagged daggers and falchions, killing anyone they can.

Priests of Burtix who operate alone function much like any of her cultists. They kill in the goddess' name, usually in the dead of night, spreading terror throughout the city or village they occupy. They stain the back-alleys with blood before taking the skulls of those unfortunate enough to cross their paths. The only functional difference between a solo priest and cultists is years of experience. Those sheriffs and guards who recognize the signs of a priest of Burtix in a recent murder victim are quick to reach out to adventures to help contain the situation, before the priest can strike again.

### Holidays

As a selfless hedonist Burtix encourages her followers to revel in death and slaughter. They enjoy various festivals and holidays with their own "personal" bloody touches. The only holiday sacred to Burtix is Tallymarker.

**Tallymarker:** A sick parody of the Doznite holiday of Scorekeeping, Tallymarker is traditionally held on Grimnight at the end of Thuhaldirum though individual cults have been known to pick alternative dates. On Tallymarker the cults gather and recount, in ghastly detail, every kill they made and show the self-inflected (or priest inflected) wounds celebrating those killings. Traditionally, this is followed by a mass murder with a sacrifice to end the evening. A lone cultist honors Tallymarker by delivering their speech in private, hoping that Burtix will offer her favor. Some cultists only honor Tallymarker as individuals in hopes of drawing The Blood-Stained Queen's attention, which has been known to happen. The individual then goes out an commits a murder, beginning a new tally for the next year.

### Animals

Like all deities, Burtix holds certain animals sacred. The shrike also known as the "butcher bird", is one such animal. This is due to how it skewers its prey before killing them, causing fear and pain before death. All cultists should emulate that pattern, causing fear in their victim before finally twisting the knife. The leopard is another because it is a sleek, beautiful animal that moves with grace and power, killing far more animals than it could possibly eat. Like the leopard, Burtix's cultists are powerful killers that slaughter for the thrill and little else. Finally, Burtix takes particular delight in the praying mantis which, after mating, kills its mate, a practice the goddess finds delightful and sometimes emulates. Like the praying mantis, nothing is to stand in the way of the individual's pleasure.

### Adventurers

Burtix boasts a large number of adventurers among her followers. Evil barbarians make up a large percentage of the faithful, pillaging and killing wherever they go. Because her tenants simply require the slaughter of sentient beings some Burtix worshipers take up the adventuring lifestyle for easy access to victims. Sometimes they do this undercover, killing one or two people in a town before moving on, other times they take up with evil adventuring parties and openly dedicate their killing to The Lady of Blood. Burtix's domain does match the adventuring lifestyle fairly well.

### Clothing

Burtix herself cares little for clothing often appearing without any. However her followers lack her divine fortitude. Many don't wear any special clothing, instead dressing the way they normally would, save for unholy symbol emblazoned into the garments and sleeves cut open to reveal the ritual tally scars. Some choose to wear dark robes which completely obscure their identity, operating as faceless killers within the cities and countrysides. These dark hooded robes are the closest thing to a uniform among Burtix's faithful.

## Symbols

Burtix's unholy symbol is a goblet overflowing with blood held in a feminine hand. The faithful will try and emblazon this symbol on shields, armor, amulets, or even into tattoos. While not nearly as common, a bloody skull is another symbol used to represent Burtix and can find its way into their iconography as well. When referring to Burtix a thumb will be pulled across the throat to simulate slicing it, followed by flipping the hand palm up and miming holding a glass. This gesture is sometimes used by cultists meeting others for the first time to determine if they are also secret Burtix worshipers.

### Holy Text

Given that she's not much for writing, Burtix has only one sacred text and calling it a "book" is generous at best. *The Ultimate Thrill* is a loose collection of stories, poetry and reflections on taking life. Burtix herself wrote some sections of *The Ultimate Thrill* but it was mostly composed by various faithful over the long centuries. Theological discussion isn't particularly common among them, so commentaries and sermons inspired by the work are lacking.

### Sayings

*"Blood for the Lady! Skulls for her pile!"-*Screamed as a battle cry, uttered as a threat or given to the faithful as a rallying word, this common phrase reminds Burtix worshipers what they are about and strikes fear into her enemies.

*"Spill it often, spill it well."-* The closest thing to a greeting among Burtix faithful, this simple admonishment is sort of a "catch-all" for any situation. Where others may say, "bless you" the followers of Burtix use this instead.

## Relationships

Despite being a psychotic murderous goddess, Burtix has allies and even some positive relationships. When it comes to the good gods she counts them all as enemies. However Dozna is her main rival and she's vowed to take the goddess' head and mount it on her throne of skulls. Burtix's attitude towards Remus seems to fluctuate but, on most days, she wishes the same fate for him. Rila is another target of Burtix's scorn thanks to the goddess' legendary jealousy. She'd love to see Rila "humbled" and possibly slain, though devotes much more attention to the twins.

Among the neutral gods Burtix has been seen showing some favor to Emdera Ruggedfist (much to Dozna's frustration), though that hasn't stopped the two from clashing. She loathes the order of Machanacus and isn't fond of Khan, whom she sees as complicating killing, and her faithful clash with both churches. She finds Pan amusing and swears she'll keep him as a jester when she's finished slaughtering the rest of the Divine Family. She holds a strange reverence for Thuhaldir, perhaps seeing him as a true oracle, She is allied to Gelos, the evil aspect of the Laughing God but is opposed to the other two aspects, particularly Gauzom.

Among the forces of evil Burtix has some allies but many enemies. She opposes gods like Tharizdun or The Great Old Ones who seek the end of all things. She wants the great party of life to continue and slaughters any cultists of those gods she finds. Vaprak, the demon god of trolls and ogres has a love/hate relationship with Burtix as she steals many of his faithful, turning them to her service. The two battle and sabotage each other, but have also worked together. Rumors fly that they've even been lovers on multiple occasions. She finds her son Khudall's ideas of domination cute in a rebellious teenager sort of way and urges him to give up the foolish notions of tyrannical rule instead focusing on the simple act of killing. He finds her embarrassingly naive but doesn't trouble her directly. Gruumsh is a long-time ally and friend, as is the goddess Lolth, whom Burtix always seems willing to come to the aid of. Among the demon lords, she pays lip-service to Demogorgon but doesn't really value him in any real way. She hates Orcus for the same reason as Tharizdun, but is a long-time ally of Graz'zt. Aside from being a regular lover and father of several of her children, he's the most likely to respond to her calls for help, which is something she rarely does. Burtix prefers to fight alone.

## Realm

Burtix makes her home on the 19th Layer of the Abyss, called The Killing Floor. It is a realm of bloody sands, gladiatorial arenas and slaughterhouses. Every type of hunting ground is found on The Killing Floor from ice fields to steaming jungles. The air is always thick with the smell of blood and humid beyond reason, expect inside the massive pleasure palace located at the center of the Layer, where Burtix lounges in comfort. Demons, fiendish redcaps and giant fiendish praying mantis' roam freely, tearing asunder the souls of her mortal followers who long assumed they would be doing the hunting but instead serve as prey for Burtix's sadistic whims. They fight in gladiatorial rings for her amusement, being torn apart and reborn so they can die again. Burtix watches from atop her throne of skulls, often taking part in the killings herself.

## Planar Allies

While she is served by a specific herald and servitor, Burtix is also followed by many demons, notably succubi and incubi, babu and butchers. Below are her herald, servitor race and some specific planar allies.

**Gorr The Butcher:** Gorr is one of Burtix's children with Graz'zt, the first of the butcher demons and a minor god in his own right. The Lord of Disembowelment comes when his mother commands, carrying a message to the faithful or slaughtering all manner of her enemies. While Gorr grumbles about his service to his mother (his own realm is actually a sub-realm within The Killing Floor) he still does it, mostly because he benefits more from the relationship than otherwise. Burtix seems to love having Gorr around, encouraging him to greater acts of murder and depravity, sometimes sending him to slaughter a band of adventurers for no reason. Gorr speaks with his mother's voice and to look upon him is to look upon her.

**Spleen-Ripper:** A truly ancient redcap, gnarled beyond belief, Spleen-Ripper has been hunting fey and mortals for centuries, killing and dipping his hat in their blood. Each time he does so he offers up a pinch of the blood to Burtix. She treats the redcap as her favored minion within the Feywild and always directs him towards easy prey. She's quick offer strength to his arm whenever he needs it. Occasionally, Spleen-Ripper will be sent with a squad of madcaps to encourage a cult to action or attack a squad of Doznite paladins. Aside from his strength and killing prowess, Spleen-Ripper seems impossibly lucky, the sole survivor of many battles. Redcaps reproduce by budding and the numerous young redcaps budded from Spleen-Ripper have the fiendish template and are loyal to Burtix, forming their own little cults of extra-murderous redcaps.

**The Creeping Mother:** A massive, pale praying mantis, The Creeping Mother is a true killing machine. Sent by Burtix whenever she wants to encourage a cult to up its game, or to spread terror in the city, The Creeping Mother is a silent killer, a being that stalks through the forests and small frontier villages, reveling in the fear she causes. The Mother is, despite appearances, a sentient being and enjoys the misery and anguish of her prey. While The Mother can die, she has a series of mates back in the Abyss with young daughters aplenty. If the Mother is ever slain her essences and memories go into the eldest and she is reborn anew.

**Madcaps:** Burtix has been historically unlucky when it comes to finding a servitor race. She's been served by succubi, harpies and furies. However, all these were shared with other beings and lacked pure loyalty to The Gore Maiden. When Burtix brought a pack of redcaps with her during a battle against a demon warlord she noticed the effect dipping their caps in demonic blood had on the fey. They'd become madcaps, demonic redcaps that were somehow even more violent than before. The added insanity didn't bother her, she actually found it endearing. Burtix, delighted in the new creation, began mass producing madcaps, filling her realm with the murderous creatures. While madcaps are technically at Burtix's command, she often releases them into the Material Plane to cause chaos and slaughter as they choose. She maintains tentative control over them but it's more out of a sense of domination than real authority.

## Other Cultural Interpretations

**Delorgan:** The Delorgan Isles holds a different view of Burtix, one the mainline cult mocks but may have some validity. The Delorgan pantheon teaches that Dozna and Burtix are twin sisters, two sides of the same coin. Burtix is the Dark Valkyrie, she who grants the berserker rage that many Delorgan barbarians rely upon in the heart of battle. She is the Blood Queen, the Rage-Mother. Burtix is viewed their as a chaotic neutral goddess who grants the gift of the blood rage that Delorgan raiders enter in combat. While they cannot distinguish friend from foe within the frenzy, they battle with increased ferocity. The twins hold each other in contempt and a good Delorgan attempts to balance his responsibility to both, giving into rage in battle but attempting to live honorably enough for the valkyries will carry him to the Halls Beneath the Sea. Delorgans who worship Burtix tend to keep it quiet in other lands due to the confusion such an act causes. Burtix cultists are known to kill Delorgans just as regularly as other humans. While this view lacks credibility, the blood rage is very real and comes from somewhere; perhaps Burtix does answer the call. Additionally, the Delorgan version of Burtix has slowly gained traction among the barbarians of Umgar where she's already regularly worshiped. The Delorgan Burtix appears as a gaunt, pale woman with black raven's wings and dark purple hair.

**The Mistress of the Lash:** Some hold the belief that the goddess "The Mistress of the Lash" is, in fact, Burtix. This minor goddess of domination and pleasure is quite popular in civilized lands where her leather-bound clergy experiment with the definitions of pleasure and pain. While they don't often shed blood, they are known to cause pain that can be quite addicting to the faithful. Many paladins of Dozna or Remus insist that The Mistress is Burtix and that the church is a plant, an attempt to smuggle the worship of The Gore Maiden openly into cities. The brothels and clubs run by The Mistress deny this of course. Her faithful continue to spread the word, the true empowerment of submission or domination and the love of control. Cultists of Burtix are known to avoid harming clerics of The Mistress so perhaps there is something to the belief. Her favored weapon is the lash and she appears as a pale, dark haired worm in provocative leather. Those faithful who hold the view these two goddess as the same refer to the being as "Mistress Burtix."

**The Horned Mother:** Burtix and Vaprak have a complicated relationship, they share many worshipers and complimentary portfolios but both compete for the same fields. They've been allies, enemies and even, rumor suggests, lovers. This has led many ogres to view Burtix as the actual mother of their race and the divine wife of Vaprak, who they call The Horned Mother. The Horned Mother is a massive female ogre with a bloodstained club and solitary horn growing from her head. Beautiful in her bulk and ferocious in her wrath The Horned Mother encourages trolls and ogres to multiply while plundering the surrounding lands, killing the small folk who oppose them. While the mainline church of Vaprak calls the belief heresy, worshiping the pair as a divine couple has grown rapidly among mixed ogre and troll tribes.