The Jongura (god)

**Jongura** - *god of Orcs, Savagery and Bestial Monsters*

*Holy Symbol:* a pair of tusks

*Favored Weapon:* natural weapons of fist weapons

*Sacred Animal:* the Jongura

*Colors:* gray and white

*Common Worshippers:* cultists

*Enemies:* the weak

*Devotions:* victory in battle, ritualistic eating of meat, blood sacrifices

**Description**

The Jongura or "the Great Beast" has been dead since the early days of the Age of Myth. It is depicting by its followers in crude art and sculpture as having a body like a dragon, an eye-less crested head and sharp elephantine tusks, covered in a thick almost chitinous hide. It originally roamed the Void as a primordial monster before being hunted down by the Great Hunter. This hunt was long and bloody resulting in the creation of various stars across the Void before finding its way to Madrian. There, the Great Hunter finally slew the Beast and presented his trophy to the Goddess, Madrian. After the creation of humans and orcs the Great Hunter used the Beast's carcass to create a land for them. Using the Jongura's bones for the mountains and its hide for the earth and named the land after the Beast from which it was made. As a land, the Jongura became a place of plenty, but also of danger, with life wilder and larger than in other regions.

Numerous monsters also came from the viscera of the Beast's carcass. These monsters are collectively referred to as "Demons of the Jongura" and vary wildly but combine aspects of different beasts. They include such creatures as harpies, chimera, lamia, griffins and evil rakshasa. Most of these monsters are not inherently evil, though those intelligent enough follow an extreme version of the Beast's worship.

**Church**

Worship of the Jongura varies between groups of followers and region. Outside the region that shares the Beast's name, worship is generally restricted to small cults. However, orcs continued their worship as they spread out across the Continent. As such worship of the Beast is common among orcs and especially in Orcbreast.

In the Jongura region, worship among humans is generally about respectful offerings to appease the god. If a community finds itself plagued by a monsters or monsters, a spiritual leader will perform a ritual offering to the Beast. Jongurans also hold a yearly feast at the end of spring in reverence to the Beast, whose body became the land and their home. Occasionally Jongurans will make offerings to the Beast in anger, generally seeking the death of one or more individuals. This ritual almost always leads to madness and great bloodshed.

Orcs worship the Beast as a patron of their race. Humans often treat the creation of orcs as a symbol of laziness and corruption. Orcs themselves consider the Jongura's influence on their ancestors as a great gift. One that made them strong enough to survive and conquer. They see the Demons of the Jongura as challenges that exist to strengthen warriors and remove the weak. Orc shamans invoke the Beast at births, when a mate is claimed, after successful monster hunts and before battle. The Jongura is also invoked during ceremonies in which scars earned in conflict are recognized and gives importance to scars in orc culture.

Demons of the Jongura that worship the Beast see themselves as apostles spreading the word. As the Great Hunter is both the killer of the Jongura and creator of humans, they seek revenge on that god's children. Wherever they can, they murder, torment and corrupt human populations. How they go about doing this varies and depends on the intelligence and abilities of the creature in question. Some exist as territorial beasts, attacking an area's population until slain or driven away. Others act as bogeymen to a settlement, slowing drawing out the torment of the population. A few, especially among rakshasa and lamia, form cults among humans in an area. They promote ritual sacrifice and cannibalism, bloody orgies, the desecration of shrines/temples and other evils best not described. These "missionaries" are the most dangerous and can at times create cults that commit atrocities for generations.