Alarnak, known variously as the Great Beast, Scalesire, or the Lord of Claw and Fang. He is the god of the wild ones, they who live by their wits and their weapons, as he has seen fit to give. His children are those beasts who walk as humans, from the noble lizard folk of the southern swamps to the Jackal-men of the great deserts. He is the patron of those who uphold their noble heritage, despite whatever prejudices may be slung their way by the "civilized" races. For his children know better. They have no need to hide behind walls, or cluster in great numbers for protection. Alarnak has seen fit to grace them with all the weapons they need, and shielded them with armor of bone and scale. Who, then, is the inferior race?
Alarnak has existed as long as beasts have hunted. He is said to have been the creator of the first beast, though what his first creation was is a subject of much debate. He is often depicted as roughly humanoid, with a scaly face with a structure that seems like a combination of a Viper, a wolf and bearing the horns of a ram. Illustrations of the deity display him as having a hunched posture, though corded with lean muscle. He is always shown with claws, and often with other various bone spurs and spikes. His symbol varies, though it almost always incorporates claws of some form. A common one is a branch, symmetrically studded with claws of decreasing length from the top. Such ‘Symbols’ are often used as potent if brutal weapons by his faithful. Others include two shattered bones lashed together in an x pattern, a bone-headed spear or simply a necklace of fangs.
Recently, his faithful have been taking a more active role on the world stage. They have been leaving their swamps, forests, caves and shelters and been striking forth into the world, gathering followers and amassing personal power. The most successful and prominent among them so far is the lizardman priest Val-chian. He has erected a respectable temple-fortress just outside the southern swamps, and worryingly close to a major city. So far there have been no hostile actions, but tensions in the nearby city are running high.
Most of these warrior missionaries have had to augment their natural armor and weapons, though they are loath to use metal goods. The major component of their armor and weapons is bone, from a breastplate crafted from several bulls skulls to a ball and chain studded with fangs. As such, whenever a follower of Alarnak slays a beast that bears fangs, claws, tusks or anything similar, they often remove these components for later use, while uttering a short prayer to the slain beast.
Most major religions denounce Alarnak as a false deity, a fabrication of primitive beast men. Such men have never seen his devout call forth His wrath, for it is something to behold. Whether it’s turning an already powerful set of claws into blades the size of shortswords or calling forth hordes of the less intelligent of his children, such as snakes or wolverines, his might is apparent when it is so invoked.
Whether the major religions like it or not, worship of Alarnak is becoming more and more widespread. Some small human towns located out in the wilds have even begun worship of him, much to the displeasure of several mainstream religions. Though they claim that the town is thereafter forsaken, the villagers often sport changes, many of which are useful for defense against the plethora of local beasts. The villagers often bear horns, claws or other such changes, though some are less obvious. A man was found who had gained the tongue of a snake, along with it’s ability to ‘taste’ the air and glean knowledge of the surroundings from it.
Should the forces of Alarnak become actively hostile, they would be a powerful force that would be amazingly difficult to defeat, if not impossible. It is still unknown why He is swelling his ranks so, but it is likely for no reason that will help the races of man.
Hooks and Plots
-The forces of Alarnak mobilize. Nations would have to resolve differences, at least enough to fight side by side. Surgical strikes would be needed to take out key enemy commanders and priests. It would be a war that would define the future dominant races of the surface world.
-A large number of wolf corpses have been showing up, all of them with bloody maws devoid of teeth. All show signs of violent injury. Why would anyone, even a faithful of Alarnak, need so much bone?
-One of the PC’s suffers a grievous blow to the jaw, shattering a large number of teeth. A priest of Alarnak may be able to replace them with the fangs of a beast, though there is no telling what effect that would have on the recipient.
-People have been dying, all of them with fang and claw marks. The activity is immediately linked to the nearby temple of Alarnak and it’s residents. The actual murders were committed not by any beast, but by a simple human wishing to drive his people into striking against the creatures he sees as monsters simply waiting to strike.