Marteaus

Marteaus's High Woldian Symbol.

Ethos	"He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper." - Edmund Burke
Domains	Death, Destruction, Disease, Evil, Magic
Prestige Classes	The Diseased, The Tempered, The Refined
Holy Days	Day of the Dead, Day of Darkness (celebrating the triumph of Marteaus over Domi), Summer and Winter Solstices
Sacrifices	Gold culled from the weak and sick, Time spent wandering the Wold spreading a disease
Favored Weapon	Scythe: Infect them all and watch the strong survive! Clerics of Marteus gain proficiency with the scythe that they may separate the wheat from the chaff.

[Marteaus is not available for PCs to worship]

Marteaus is an Independent God. He strives to bring suffering through disease upon the Noble Races of the Wold. It is only through true suffering that one discovers his true need and the way to fulfill that need. Disease breaks the strong and culls the weak so that the strong survives to rise up to accomplish their need. Those who have suffered are the only ones who are capable of truly ruling the races, being focused through the weakness of disease and want.

Marteaus’ “great need” is now an obsession. He is obsessed with the need to provide the Noble Races of the Wold with the much needed answer to the Gods of Wold and the weakness and indecision that they represent. He once said, “Only through testing can the Nobel Races be shown the true way to power and success within the Wold. I am the answer to the needs of the races of Wold.”

The God of Disease

Godly Powers

Marteaus can inflict both normal and magical diseases upon any creature. He never kills outright. Instead, he uses this ability to help the recipient find his Great Need. He will not heal a sick person, but may remove the source of the disease and thus allow the person the chance to slowly return to their normal health. When the Gods of Testing were created, The Jericho gave him the same ability that Alemi has: to grant Godhood to any that he feels are worthy of joining the Gods of Testing pantheon. Anyone he elevates to godhood must join the Gods of Testing. It is not known if he still retains this ability now that the Gods of Testing have disbanded. It is assumed by most that he could elevate others to begin a new pantheon.

Appearance

Mortal Form -- In his mortal form, Marteaus appears as an unusually healthy man, but with many scars. He has jet black hair with a trim moustache and short cropped beard. He is lean and of average height.

Avatar Form -- In pictures, in ritual, and in stories, he incorrectly is pictured by outsiders as leprous and full of sores. In his own temples, however, he appears as a nondescript humanoid figure with red glowing eyes as bright as beacons giving everything in sight a reddish hue. He has a feral grin with teeth filed into points.

Divine Form -- In dreams and legend, his Painful Clarity can drive and influence even other gods. He appears as a Demon Nightmare, fearful to behold, which brings the pain of truth to the Arrogant Races of Wold. Symbolically he appears as a searing hot poker, dripping white hot metal.

Worship

The worship services of Marteaus begin with violence and pain. Worshipers help each other focus on their Great Need by inflicting pain casting Cause Disease spells on one another. After a time, these afflictions are healed. The remainder of the service is filled with goal oriented speeches that are designed to spur the worshipers on to greater and greater achievements in life.

Services are held both in the coldness of midnight and the sickening heat of day. Prayers for guidance and continued understanding of their personal Great Need occur afterwards. All who suffer or have suffered in the past are welcome to partake of the service. Although participation is encouraged, worshipers may simply observe.

Holy Symbol

From the ancient High Woldian glyph symbolizing disease has emerged the modern version of Marteaus' Holy Symbol seen above.

Priests' Appearance

The clerics of Marteaus normally wear robes of gray with full hoods. Their hands are sometimes covered with scars. Many carry spoiled pieces of food to drop in wells and other sources of water. Some file their teeth into points and have a feral appearance about them. It is not uncommon for clerics of Marteaus to be followed by lepers seeking the truth found in pain.

Clerics in Society

Known as Carriers of Marteaus, these priests travel the Wold spreading disease and misery to help the Arrogant Races find their true need. They educate and demonstrate how pain and disease can bring clarity and let a being focus on their true reason for living through identifying their personal Great Need. They strive to show, by example, their superiority and mastery over pain and sickness. They war against the misguided need for health and fitness that the Shepherds of Alemi espouse. They look perfectly healthy, except when undergoing a personal trial, and even more so when they are the carrier of an especially deadly disease.

Carriers also strive to carry disease to the magical lands of the Wold. It is their intent to infect every plant and creature that they can to combat the unfortunate goodness of the Gods of Wold.

Carriers lead the battle of Marteaus’ followers to conquer the Wold for its own good. This is done so that the strong may flourish and strive for that that is determined to be their Great Need. They also inflict the Arrogant Races with sicknesses of the mind. Planting falsehoods and madness via magic and misinformation, they seek to cause the needed suffering of the Arrogant Races.

They believe that a sick mind is the first step to clarity. One must experience sickness of mind and fight one’s way back to sanity to achieve total clarity of purpose. Much can be overcome if the arrogant person learns clarity of thought that has been won through suffering. Some Carriers run sanitariums and hospitals under the guise of being Shepherds of Alemi. They use such tactics to bring about needed changes within their subjects which lead to Clarity and Singleness of Purpose.

Carriers believe that one must be an evil person by choice to be truly effective in reaching one's goals and needs. This is a hard state to achieve due to the ease and comfort of life that the Gods of Wold have provided for so long. So they teach and live by example, breaking down the spirit of the Noble Races through pain and disease in order to let them be more focused than could otherwise be possible. This focus enables and even forces the Noble Races to learn how to pursue their Great Need. Carriers believe in manipulation and good planning rather than brute force to further their great needs.

Most low-level carriers are still fine-tuning their own Great Need. Higher-level Carriers know their personal Great Need very fully allowing them to be very focused. They exude leadership and confidence. They have left the Huddled Masses behind and now ride their tightly focused Great Need to greater and greater success for the glory of Marteaus.

History and Relationships

Marteaus was created, along with his twin Kevintar, by Gargul’s divine essence. Both were created to be the Punishers of the Gods before the 2nd Cataclysm, which dealt with the Arrogance of The Noble Races. The Gods of Wold first unleashed them to unleash the 2nd Cataclysm to break the power and ascendancy of the Noble Races, which was perverting their nature. Both twins worked side by side at their task and the Gods of Wold were pleased.

However, by the time of the 3rd Cataclysm, when mages were ascending to near godlike levels of power, the Twin Punishers had each developed their own personalities and interests. Marteaus reveled in the act of punishment with the pain and anguish that followed. Soon, he was so cruel that the Gods of Wold were loathe to send him forth until the situation was dire indeed. Kevintar became interested in the judgment and how to provide a fair hearing for the accused.

So the Gods of Wold would send out Kevintar to warn the Noble Races again and again until they were certain there was not even a hint of repentance. Finally they unleashed the twins upon the Wold to cast down the great Kingdoms of Magic. The greatest of these was Fey Skiemir. Unable to stomach Marteaus' levels of extreme violence, Kevintar refused to participate. Instead he raced ahead of Marteaus to try and urge the Noble Races to repent before the Gods of Wold as their doom was at hand.

During the 3rd Age, Marteaus' became discontented with the limitations of being a punisher. He petitioned Alemi and then Gargul again and again to make him a God instead of just an immortal. Marteaus felt that The Gods of Wold needed balance. He was balance. The Noble Races needed something to fear so that they would not again need to be struck down by the Gods. This fear would prevent their self destruction. Refusing, the Gods of Wold decided to teach Marteaus a lesson. He was made into a mortal!

There he suffered! He wandered the lands preaching that life was long-suffering. One was born into the Wold through the pain of childbirth, lived to see one's body fail and fall apart, and then died painfully. Then after death, one faced the mental anguish of judgment--by the very gods who forced such suffering upon the races to begin with.

While upon the Wold, he lived in squalor. He grew to revel in his suffering. Hearing of an outbreak of a Magical Wasting Disease, he sought it out, hoping that by contracting the sickness his misery would end. However, the disease instead became a catharsis for him. He began to revel in it. It brought clarity of thought and renewed his drive and ambition. Before, he had thought that simple pain and suffering was the best punishment. Now he realized that they were essential for every person. Punishments were needed to properly mature the Arrogant Races, which is what he began to call the Noble Races. Suffering disciplined a person so that they would not destroy themselves through their foolish schemes.

Then, he experienced something that was even more effective. Sickness! Disease! It brought the high and mighty low and was even more effective than pain to teach the Noble Races of their personal Great Need. Those who survived were stronger. Disease also tended to cull the weak and focus the strong. Marteaus began to fight the disease. As he conquered the Magical Wasting Disease, he focused his ambition. This process renewed and confirmed his great need: the need to be a god.

Then he discovered the ultimate Great Need of those suffering around him. They needed him to be a god: a god that punished the Noble Races to purify them and save them from themselves. He now needed to show the Gods what he had discovered: that suffering through disease was the best way to keep the Races from self-destructing over and over. This goal would take time, scheming, bargaining, deception and ruthlessness.

When he could, he lent aid to various “Independent Gods,” making them a more potent force and thus causing them to be noticed quicker by both The Gods and the Noble Races. Heroes would cast down the temples and bring the evil priests to judgment. The Gods of Wold would quickly send Kevintar to warn them to repent, causing them to disappear for a time and go into hiding. But he taught them how to use suffering to strengthen their resolve and increase their power.

Eventually the Gods grew tired of this game and brought Marteaus before them once more. Marteaus told The Gods of Wold about his revelation. The Gods of Wold laughed at him. They mocked him. They returned him to the Gargul’s watchful judgment, who returned Marteaus to being a punisher.

Then Gargul began to change. He grew weary of the connection between evil and death. Death did not have to be evil. It was Marteaus' turn to scoff. Gargul needed to experience the clarity of suffering through disease. He told Gargul this. He said he'd prove it by uniting the "scum" of the earth with purpose. He'd unite Demikind: orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, etc. into a purposeful force. He'd make them as driven as the Noble Races, through disease and suffering.

So he went down to the land named Izen, which in the language of the dwarves meant refuse. There he built Bone Tower as a base of operations and a calling card for demikind. They flocked to him as they do to all leaders who promise conquest and plunder. He rewarded them with the Magical Wasting Sickness. His research into magical illnesses produced a strange effect, transforming each of the sick into a perverse imitation of an elf. This added to the confidence obtained by those who survived. It became a matter of course for each of his followers to undergo the sickness upon reaching adulthood. It became a rite of passage.

The result was that the demikind in Izen grew very determined, stuck with their goals and found their Great Need. They would serve him and conquer the Noble Races. In pursuit of this goal, orcs, and others of the demi-races learned the discipline to begin advancing in class levels for the first time in the history of their races. Marteaus was proving his point! His philosophy and revelation was working! He renamed Izen and called the area The Badlands.

Gargul regretted that he’d ever created Marteaus and Kevintar. He used his divine power to turn Bone Tower into a prison and placed Marteaus and Kevintar inside in separate prisons. The pain and anguish of Marteaus’ incarceration did reveal to him his great need: to become a God. He was surprised to find that the demikind of the area considered Bone Tower a holy place. The power of the tower would deliver their meager gifts to both punishers within.

Fortune smiled upon Marteaus when one gift turned out to be a magical ring of great power. He studied the ring and with time realized what it was. He’d heard of 4 rings worn by Domi during the God Wars that ended the First Age named the Rings of Ascension. Supposedly they existed on the battlefield where the mortals fought the Gods of Yore at the end of the First Cataclysm. One of these rings, the Ring of Earth, had been deposited at the foot of the Bone Tower. Where in the Wold had an orc come into possession of such a thing?!! Using the powers of the ring, he easily escaped Bone Tower due to its powerful abilities to create.

Now that he had his freedom, he determined to find the other three rings, the rings used by The Jericho to create the Wold. To his surprise, his research found that they had all been released upon the Wold, but that each was hidden in a different place. He searched. The Ring of Fire was obtained from Parnoth, the Green Dragon Ruler of the Emerald Kingdom. The Water Ring was obtained from some foolish adventurers in exchange for the lives of their village-folk. The Air Ring was not so easily obtained. In fact, it looked like it would forever remain beyond his grasp.

So he devised a different path to godhood. He began to make alliances with the various Independent Gods he had assisted during his mortality. As each Independent God joined his alliance, they offered him a piece of power for the power obtained from being a member of the group and from his 3 Rings of Ascension. Many were soon swearing loyalty to him and were put through his trial of disease to find their Great Need. One god did not join him: Ga’al. This god was more powerful than the rest of them added together. In fact he was more powerful than all but one of the Gods of Wold! The only god capable of defeating Ga’al was Domi, the God of Courage.

Marteaus knew what he had to do. He must by hook or crook defeat Domi and kill him for his power. He made his plans. He knew that Domi was the best of all the gods in battle. He would have to plan and manipulate his way to victory. Exploiting a recently recruited organization of mages known as the Sons of Dread, he created an artifact that drained life-force from the people around it. Using invitations with suggestion spells cast upon them, he filled the Arena of Plateau City with 50,000 Independent God worshippers. Controlling their behavior with the suggestion imbedded in the invitations, he began draining them of their life-force. He then began calling on Domi to come save them.

He came. Marteaus, then appealed to Domi's sense of fair-play and proposed to him that they fight on an equal footing, by Domi granting him half of his power for the combat. Surprisingly, Domi agreed. Marteaus and Domi then fought a great battle with Marteaus continually growing stronger as he drained the audience of their life force. Eventually Marteaus won and using the device, took Domi’s power for himself!

With the power of Domi within him, added to the life force of the people, his current levels of power obtained from the 3 Rings of Ascension and the Independent Gods who had joined him, he had enough power. He was a god.

The Independent Gods then petitioned Ga'al who quickly joined them to prevent them from becoming his enemies. The Independent Gods were complete. The mortal year that followed was called The Year of Ascension. During this year, he finally obtained the last ring, the Air Ring of Ascension from a master thief. The thief had stolen it from an adventuring group named The Storm Dragons, who in turn had taken it from the Drow.

During this year, godly combat continued between the Gods of Wold and The Independent Gods. Most fought and died. Eventually only Alemi, Gargul, and Marteaus were left. The three met at the Oshirr house, where The Jericho created the Wold. This was also where Alemi used to live before becoming a god during the first age. Alemi was easily and quickly dispatched. Marteaus turned to Gargul, the final god to finish his triumph. In the end, though, it was not a god that won, but the Noble Races. Adventuring groups and heroes came from every land, aware somehow of the location of the battle and prepared to hand out their own carnage.

Marteaus laughed at them, thinking it was foolish for them to get in the way of gods in battle. He struck at some of their leaders and discovered that he couldn't hurt them. They carried with them Gargul's power over life and death in the form of the Imp named Gimp. Not only that, but they had all also, by some means, voluntarily become undead or living dead as some say. This prevented Marteaus from harming them in any way. Unable to hurt Marteaus, either, they distracted Marteaus while the two gods battled. Eventually both gods fought to a standstill. Marteaus was unable to harm Gargul, because his Power of Life and Death had been given to Gimp. Gargul was also unable to defeat Marteaus due to his great power.

Gargul, in a moment of inspiration, tried one of the wrestling moves that Domi had taught him. He caught Marteaus in a hold from which he could not escape and struggled to keep it. This was when the Heroes of the Noble Races stepped forward, lifted both gargantuan forms and dropped over the edge of the Wold into oblivion. When The Jericho recreated the Wold, Marteaus was appointed to be the Supreme God of The Gods of Testing, the new pantheon of evil that would stand against the Gods of Wold and provide balance. Marteaus’ Great Need was filled.

This balance continued until once again a group of heroes entered the picture. Gargul had asked the Iron Dragons of Hook City to look into something that was interfering with the god’s ability to sense things beyond the Lands of Rest. Specifically he asked them to investigate a cult dedicated to Gargul’s old aspects of death and evil. They had gotten their hands on a powerful artifact that would prevent Gargul from figuring out who was behind it.

The Iron Dragons managed to destroy the artifact and Gargul was able to see that the party impersonating him was none other than Kevintar who was still trapped inside the Bone Tower. Gargul charged the Iron Dragons to go to the tower and perform a shocking thing. He wanted them to release Kevintar, so that the long anticipated but never realized showdown between Marteus and Kevintar could happen!

The Iron Dragons and even Gargul were very wary of Kevintar at first and their first plan was free Kevintar and serve him up to Marteus to be dealt with. However, after the Iron Dragons had dealt with the Death Cult that had flocked to Kevintar, those that remained said that Kevintar had actually changed and he wanted to become a force for self empowerment and redemption.

The Iron Dragons were still suspicious but they finally decided to give Kevintar the benefit of the doubt. So when the time came for Kevintar to be freed to do battle with Marteus, the Iron Dragons, just as Gargul had, did a surprising thing. They aided the Faithful of Kevintar in a ritual to give their patron enough of an edge to defeat his brother.

Marteus used all his guile, and ability to strike Kevintar down, but Kevintar bent like the willow and dodged or deflected all every blow. At just the right moment, Kevintar countered with a touch that paralyzed his brother and ended the combat. Kevintar claimed for himself the Water ring of Ascension and then went to address his followers and the Iron Dragons, convinced he would have time to “catch up” with his brother later.

However, all was not over. Jancassis appeared, stole the Fire Ring of Ascension for herself and struck Marteus with her divine form stinger. This further weakened him, but unfortunately freed him from the paralysis that Kevintar had inflicted upon him.

Shortly after that, while Marteaus was busy licking his wounds, Wardd, The God of Luck decided to test his and used his stealth and divine power to enter the tower. He avoided all of the guards and traps of the tower until he arrived at the chamber where Marteus slept. He entered undetected. Warrd had created a duplicate of the Air Ring of Ascension designed to dissolve into mist after one day. Warrd had completed the switch of the fake ring for the real ring when Marteus woke up thundering in his fury, thinking that he had just barely stopped the god from stealing one of his two remaining rings.

The next day when the duplicate ring dissolved, Marteus realized what Warrd had done. Warrd had succeeded, but also had gained a godly enemy in Marteus.. Shortly after, the Gods of Testing dissolved as Marteaus did not have the power to control them any longer. Marteaus is still one of the strongest Independent Gods; however, and remains as ambitious as ever to spread his Great Need to the Wold.