God Write up: Chal, The Mistress of Ruin

Chal
The Crimson Reaper, The Mistress of Ruin, The Decaying Palm, The Lady of Anarchy
Intermediate Deity
Symbol: A rotting hand clutching a candle, A beautiful woman covered in a blood stained cloak with a scythe
Home Plane: Pandemonium
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Change, Decay, Destruction, Entropy, Revolution, Undead
Worshipers: Anarchists, Death Worshipers, Rebels, Reformers, Undead
Cleric Alignments: CG, CN, CE
Domains: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Repose
Favored Weapon: “Sky-Torn”, (scythe)

Chal serves as a bogeyman for much of Ortho's populous for she is not only the God of Death but also the goddess of the all endings. Given the Harmonium and its ideals are supposed to absolute and eternal, she is often viewed as the ultimate enemy of a world where certain things are meant to be inviolate.

Chal appears in avatar form as a tremendously beautiful but disturbing figure. All of her images are female and lovely but with some horrible quality that makes one want to shy away. These include a skeletal hand on an otherwise perfect body, a broken neck with a hangman's noose around a gorgeous dancer, or attire soaked in blood.

Chal's faithful on Ortho used to include those whom were interested in the changing of the seasons and the impermanence of life. Now, her worshipers are almost uniformly those interested in bringing about the destruction of the Harmonium and its organization.

The Mistress of Ruin's clergy is organized in the manner of a terrorist cell for the most part. Her church is underground and spends most of its time setting up resistance against the Harmonium wherever it can. Ironically, the mostly crushed forces on Ortho have since begun spreading the faith to the widespread discontent on the OCA's colonies. Chal is the most widely worshiped of the Lords of Chaos after Kabajij.

Her faithful do not make traditional offerings but instead perform arson, assassination, sabotage, and vandalism in her name. Chal's more benevolent faithful spend much of their time speaking of the better world that they will bring about with their deeds. Her more radical servants simply wish to destroy the Harmonium and don't care what comes after.

The Church of Chal is the source of many underground books, newspapers, and rallies that help provide alternative viewpoints to the Harmonium standard. While many of these Temples try to expose the truth of the Harmonium's cover-ups, just as many spread outrageous lies about the government's excesses. The Church is hardly united in its viewpoints with individual cells equally likely to promote contradictory viewpoints if they're united in loathing of the OCA.

Temples to Chal tend to be makeshift things with little more than an altar for blood sacrifice in an isolated place and walls that are decorated in graffiti extolling the virtues of revolution. Necromancers and undead tend to be more elaborate in their reverance but these places have a greater likelihood of being discovered. Some 'survivalist' communities also have temples dedicated to Chal.

The 'Broken Circle' of Chal that forms a rough 'C' on its side is a planetary recognized symbol for Anarchy on Ortho.

History and Relationships: Chal had a benevolent aspect as well as a destructive aspect. She was not only a taker of life but also a being that could give it. Chal was formerly the goddess of Nature, Seasons, Healing, and Fertility on Ortho. The goddess was widely revered on the world by nearly every community and only was second in power to Kabjij amongst the Lords of Chaos.

The destruction of the Elves and devastation of Thaera was accompanied by a universal ban being placed upon the reverence of Chal. The Harmonium didn't approve of the nature worship elements of Chal or its focus that truth was a mutable concept. Countless priestesses were burned as witches while the male clerics were forced to recant or be left to die in deep dungeons.

Chal was warped by the horror of the event and abandoned her benevolent aspects. Some suggest that this change was forced upon her by the stagnation that has come to Ortho and will not be broken until the old ways are repaired. Others believe that Chal's transformation is permanent and can never be undone thanks to the eradication of so many nature-loving peoples.

Chal has subsumed the mastery of Undeath on Ortho despite the fact that she was formerly the enemy of them all on the planet. This has only added to her growing arsenal of weaponry against the Harmonium. Nevertheless, despite the lengths she will go to destroy the OCA, she is not a total monster. Chal still encourages positive change, even if it is through violent methods.

Chal is allied with all of The Lords of Chaos despite her violent methods. They protect her against all enemies of her clergy. It is known that Chal is also befriended by Hel, Wee Jas, and many other female death death deities. They are pledged to aid her in most endeavors. She is the most actively hostile to The Lords of Order and has no intention of reconciling. Chal only believes the total destruction of the Harmonium's gods can restore peace to Ortho.

The Harmonium's Take

Chal is a vicious and reckless rabble-rouser. Her followers will often attempt to infiltrate many levels of society in an attempt to destroy civilization from within. She will stop at nothing in her attempts to bring down the Lords of Order, civilized society and the Harmonium itself. Her lies are often found surfacing in the Schools of Ethics, where they are shown for what they truly are. She glories in the destruction of those things that are symbols to Ortho and is responsible for the destruction of the second moon. The temple of Saeduenical will kill clerics of Chal on sight, their souls are long damned and irretrievable.

The Dark

Chal is the patron of free thought and not all of that thought is comfortable for the Harmonium to be exposed to. Questioning of authority is Chal's role, and she does actually glory in breaking down stagnant societies. Chal believes that a rebirth of society is good, refreshing to Ortho as a whole and necessary for continued
existence.

While her methods are violent, she believes the constant hypocrisy and absurd devotion to Order that the Harmonium practices is an evil greater than direct service to darkness could ever be. Chal would just be as happy seeing the Harmonium torn down to build something more tolerant as watching the ending of all civilization.

She will never forgive The Lords of Order for their inaction, however.

Dogma

Death and destruction come to us all, eventually. What is built up must come down eventually. Questioning authority is not the same thing as destroying authority - both have their place. Take what works, and discard what doesn't. When in the face of unflinching and ruthless authoritarianism, even with the best of intentions, one must use whatever means are necessary to bring about its ends. Nothing is more important than freedom and nothing lasts forever.