The Far Realm is not some other plane to visit and explore. It is alive, aware, and possessed by an alarming appetite for worlds to consume. The Outside and its incomprehensible entities constantly test the boundaries of the cosmos, looking for a way in, projecting their minds into the world to twist, subvert, and control the creatures that would be their prey. Their insane cajoling takes the form of whispers, and those who hear and act according to these promptings are the Devout.
To the commoners, the Devout are heretics that act against the commandments of the Gods and the Ascended King; demon worshipers and diabolists, who seek to corrupt and destroy Havnor. The peasants cannot fathom the true extent of what the Far Realm is, and of those that can, few can keep a firm grasp on their sanity.
For the most part Devout in Havnor take the form of disparate cults, operating in secret within the very confines of society, perverting it from within. Some of them take up an even more militant approach, and raid, pillage, and destroy the countryside. In practice, the Devout seem to lack a centralized leadership, but in principle whatever dark force holds sway over Dusk seems to exert control—or the thing closest to it—to these cults and terrorist cells.
The Ascended King’s representatives make assurances that the Devout are outnumbered, little more than an aberrant cyst within society that will soon be eradicated. But the Repulsar Knights, the Firstborn Army, and every adventurer out there that’s worth his or her salt, understand that this is most certainly not the case.
The Ascended King knows that the Devout are a very real and very terrible threat; one that’s poised to consume not just Dawn, but all of Kjeldorn. He has dedicated his very existence to prepare humanity for the inevitable war against them, and the entity that is behind them: The Dark King.
The Devout believe that the Ascended King is a false ruler, a puppet of the gods whom they consider to be tyrants that have enslaved the entire multiverse to their whim. In their eyes, the Far Realm is the true face of how things should be, and the gods’ collective attempts to keep it out of the cosmos are an affront to the natural order of things. The Outside must be brought Inside, and then all will be as it should be.
The warped primordials—the Great Old Ones—were the first to witness and accept the true glory of the Far Realm. They are the True Gods, and the Devout are their worshipers—hence their name. Devout hold the Dark King as some sort of messianic entity. The One, True King who will restore the Old Ones, and usher forth a new age.
Because many Devout cults spontaneously form due to the whispers of the Far Realm it is apparent that actual recruiting is not necessary for the propagation of the cult. This makes it extremely difficult for the authorities to root out the heretics completely from the face of Dawn for when one cult is purged, another springs up seemingly out of nowhere to take its place, without any ties that might be utilized to trace them. The upside to this is that not all Devout cells take their orders from the Dark King which diminishes the coordination of the Devout as a whole.
Furthermore there have been occasional clashes between separate cells of Devout as each cult seeks to outperform their peers, and these at times can get violent. Despite that, all of them inadvertently serve the ultimate goals of the Dark King and hold him as their central religious figure, making them a threat to society all the same.
Devout Practices
Devout function in much the same way a fundamental-ist religious terrorist cell would, only a hundred times more evil. Devout cultists hear whispers that drive their actions (and have the Those That Hear monster theme from DMG2). Many have access to the Star Pact. They regularly employ arcane magic and constantly plot to defame the Ascended King, recruit and corrupt inno-cents, and kill the rest.
Devout practice suicide attacks by use of a unique Summoning Ritual that enables the caster to summon a raging demon from the Abyss by sacrificing his very soul. These demons immediately go into a rampage, killing many people before (and if) they are put down by the guards or the Repulsar Knights.
The Devout regularly kidnap people and sacrifice them in terrible rituals. Pretty much every action a Devout cult makes, is designed to cause the maximum amount of mayhem, fear, and paranoia to the minds of the free citi-zens of Havnor. Some people have been so distraught by what the Devout have done to their families, that they are driven to madness—and an alarming percentage of these madmen become Devout too eventually, not finding any other way to cope with the reality of their situation.
The Devout hold creatures of the aberrant origin as kindred and often count such creatures among their ranks or at least as allies. The vast majority of aberrant creatures are the result of the Warp’s effects on native life forms. Dusk is filled with such monstrosities and many of them serve—or are forced to serve—the Dark King and by extension the Devout.
Of special mention are the Foulspawn; being the descendants of warped Devout, almost all of them are fanatically loyal to the cause. In many ways, they are the backbone of the Dark King’s armies in Dusk.
Some aberrations however have actually emigrated from Outside and have taken permanent residence on the cosmos. Their relationship with the Devout is not as simple as one would think.
Mind Flayers as a whole are not on particularly good terms with the Devout. The Illithids wish to conquer the cosmos for themselves, and have no desire for the Far Realm to encroach on the multiverse. This technically makes them enemies of the Devout and the two factions occasionally clash, but individual mind flayers can be found in high ranking positions within the cult.
Beholders have no unity and consequently no common agenda as regards the Devout. They are just as likely to be their allies as well as their enemies. Likewise they don’t particularly care whether or not the Far Realm comes to dominate the cosmos. Because the Beholders are notoriously self-serving and arrogant, they generally do not accept anyone’s leadership other than their own. As a result, when a beholder colludes with Devout, it does so as an ally and not as a servant of the Dark King. For their part, the Devout respect the beholder’s power, but many of them have little tolerance for their, almost heretical, self-important rants.
Aboleths are believed to be the very first Far Realmian creatures to come to the multiverse, dating their sojourn here from when the Living Gate was first opened. Aboleths are extremely intelligent, and yet they neither have a sense of self nor a hive mind, and each of them can access the memories of all its ancestors. As a result the Aboleths have an extremely long and unique perspective on the history of the Multiverse and they’re bent towards one single goal: Bring the Far Realm to the cosmos. In other words they fully support the Devout in all their endeavors even though they do not count themselves as Devout per se.
Devout and Immortals
The Devout absolutely loath immortals with a fiery passion. Above all else they despise the gods, and constantly work to topple their works and break the hold they have over mortals. The only exception is the devils of Baator, and even there it’s only a matter of logistics rather than ethics. Devout hold no special appreciation for baatezu, but they routinely forge infernal pacts with them.
Devil legionnaires are not an uncommon sight in Devout warbands which is why some peasants believe the Devout are diabolists. Devils bring a military edge to the Devout that they often use to achieve tactical victories. Furthermore, the Devout use the devils are information brokers regarding the comings and goings of the Astral Sea. The Devout believe that they use the Immortals themselves as a weapon against the divine, and in time they are confident they will also have the capacity to strike down the baatezu as well—but for the time being, they need them.
The devils for their part are no doubt aware of the Devout’s true sentiments. Furthermore, they certainly do not wish for the Far Realm to wreak havoc over the multiverse. But there are specific gains to be had by their collaboration with the cultists and furthermore they wish to keep them under close watch, which is why they continue their assistance. In truth, there have been a few Devout master-plans that have been thwarted due to infernal sabotage. It is likely that the Dark King is aware of this treachery, but politics prevail and the pacts still hold. But a reckoning will come, in time.
Devout and Elementals
The Devout do not have the same all-consuming hatred for the denizens of the Elemental Chaos that they have for Immortals. That being said, they should not be considered to be on friendly terms with them either.
Efreet, titans, djinn, and other major elemental races consider the Far Realm a hostile invasion, and treat their servants as enemies. The Devout are therefore not to find any allies among them. They care not for the Primordials, except for the Great Old Ones (who used to be Primordials before they were Warped when the Living Gate was opened) whom the worship as gods. On rare occasions however, they might declare a temporary truce with elementals to fight their common enemy; the immortals and their divine masters.
The only elementals that have amicable relations with the Devout are the Demons of the Abyss. They do not exactly have a common agenda, but demons seem bent on destroying the multiverse (though some of them have brutal subjugation in mind) and this has a rapport with what the Devout are doing. As a result certain demon-princes cooperate with the cultists. The only thing that mars the demon-Devout relationship is the latter’s relatively peaceful relationship with the devils who are enemies of the demons.
An important note: Many demon princes used to be primordials themselves before being corrupted by the Shard of Evil that created the Abyss. One of them is Dagon who—prior to Tharizdun’s use of the Shard on the Elemental Chaos and its spawning of the Abyss—was a Warped Primordial; in other words a Great Old One. Demon-lore claims the demons simply “found” Dagon in the Abyss.
Today he is a mighty demon lord, and many know not of his connection to the Old Ones. Dagon is the closest ally of Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons (some say the power behind the throne), and it is unclear what his sentiments are regarding the Far Realm. It’s possible Dagon now only concerns himself with whatever concerns demonkind, but if he is still loyal to the Outer Gods of the Far Realm, then this explains why demons cooperate with the Devout.
The Order of Chronomancy has been trying to discover the source of the Demonic Summoning Ritual the Devout have been regularly using, but have been unsuccessful so far. They believe that Dagon created and gave that ritual to the Devout, but so far there have been no evidence to support that.
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