The Red Handed

Intermediate Deity

Symbol: Red Hand

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Portfolio: War, Stoicism, Victory, Ruthlessness

Worshipers: Warriors, wartime leaders, the angry and desperate

Cleric Alignments: LN, LE, NE

Domains: Law, Protection, Strength, War

Favored Weapon: Longsword

Description:

It's difficult to argue with victory. This simple fact has made The Red-Handed, a strict, brutal and quite evil god, remarkable popular. The Red-Handed offers desperate peoples all the things that the pantheon's more wholesome gods will not; strictly enforced order, continuous conquest, and unstoppable military power. Some few cities have already turned to his worship and constructed the massive forge-temples that he favors; many others contain clerics who slowly convert their neighbors to worship of the Red-Handed.

The Red-Handed delivers on his promises of power and safety, but at a terrible cost. Those who worship him gain safety at the cost of all that makes life worth living (except for orc-killing, which actually picks up sharply for new converts). Nonetheless, he and his servants are to be feared, for their power is great. It is said that the Red-Handed suffered his only defeat by an enchanted longsword forged in one of his own temples. Legend states that the temple was closed and the sword destroyed, but because the Red-Handed fears he may one day need such a sword for himself, he has permitted neither the forge nor the weaponsmith responsible for the sword to perish.