Vermilax

Greater Deity

Symbol: Beetle

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Portfolio: Vermin, decay, that feeling where you see a bug and then you think you feel a bug on your neck, but it's just your imagination

Worshipers: Secretive cults, scholars

Cleric Alignments: N, LE, NE, CE (Unlike most non-neutral deities, Vermilax accepts Neutral clerics. Gods whose primary constituency is inverterbrates can't split hairs.)

Domains: Darkness, Decay, Vermin

Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike

Description:

Vermilax, He Who Writhes Beneath the Rot, is one of the Eldest Gods, locked away deep underground and sleeping. He dates back to before creatures with spines were alive, and holds sway over the chitin-beasts of today. Worms, centipedes (His chosen ones), beetles, and termites are his domain of choice, but he also handles decay and, to a point, darkness. His temples are found underground most often, but work just as well in a place of rotting wood, such as a fallen forest, an unused dam, or an abandoned house with rotting timbers. He's not really sentient, but his 'children' are innately bothersome to the young races and the madness that he holds sway on is the deep, nauseating fear or primal thought. This, combined with his darkness and decay domains, pushes him to the realm of Neutral Evil, but only just.

Vermilax is scarcely worshipped these days, name forgotten to all but the most ardent of scholars. Most of his modern cults form around an ancient artifact (small 'a') or obscure idol, with the cult being made up whole cloth from there, using the wrong name and certainly the incorrect rituals. Others form near the remnants of some of his greater children, cults dedicated to sacrificing to appease a giant undercrawler so that it doesn't devour a town or the last grope of a madman in search of power.