The Cult of the Shattered Mountain is a heretical cult worshipping the Giant Goddess Othea. Though since her name had been struck from the history books, they worshipped her as The Shattered Mountain. The Cult believed that the Shattered Mountain was the true creator of the race of giants, and the rest of the giant pantheon are just posers. This belief has led worshipers of the Shattered Mountain to be persecuted in giant cultures and outlawed by many giant clans.
The cults symbol is a mountain with a crack down the center.
History[edit | edit source]
The Cult of the Shattered mountain have their roots in the original worshipers of Othea in Prehistory. Othea had many worshipers across the Material Plane and within her own divine realm, Thalmyr. They revered both the goddess and her celestial giant servants. But when the at the time Archangel, Asmodeus, invaded Thalmyr, he slew Othea and transformed Thalmyr into the Ten Hells. After removing Othea's heart, Asmodeus banished what remained of the goddess beneath the River Styx.
Asmodeus then began a crusade to erase the memory of Othea from the realm to hide the fact that the Creator Gods had authorized her murder. What Celestial Giants that had survived Asmodeus' invasion were forced to bend the knee to Asmodeus and were sworn to secrecy about Othea. Asmodeus then elevated these Celestial Giants to minor godhood, and established them as the new giant pantheon and as the "true" creators of giant kind. At Asmodeus' command, these new giant gods extinguished Othea's remaining worshipers and removed her name from the face of Quelmar.
But their attempt to eliminate the worship of Othea wasn't completely successful, as small pockets of her worshipers were able to go into hiding. But as time passed, even these fervent worshipers forgot the name of their goddess, now referring to her as "The Shattered Mountain."
For centuries onward, the worship of the Shattered Mountain would be considered heresy within Giant culture, with worship of the Shattered Mountain being punishable by exile or death or many cases. Sects of the cult could only exist in secrecy, and survived by drawing in new members who lived on the fringes of Giant society.
But the truth was that it wasn't the Shattered Mountain sending Thrya her visions. Instead it was the archdevil Mammon posing as the giant goddess with the aim of manipulating the cult for his own ends.
The Rise of the Ordained[edit | edit source]
Sometime around the late 600s PR, a Storm Giant member of the cult, Thrya Cloudbreaker, recieved a vision from the Shattered Mountain. This sent waves throughout the cult as it was the first time their goddess had ever reached out to one of her worshipers. In the vision Thrya was instructed to find other giants who could serve as the Shattered Mountain's champions and eventually revive the goddess.
After receiving this vision, Othea began to travel across the planes and found five other giants to serve as the Shattered Mountain's Champions. Together these giant champions would become known as the ordained, with Thrya as their leader. Thrya continued to receive visions from the Shattered Mountain, and with her goddess' guidance, Thrya showed each member of the Ordained how to draw power from the Shattered Mountain and create runes of great power.
Now imbued with their goddess' power, the Ordained began to travel the planes, reuniting the many sects of the cult under one banner. During this time they would also serve as mercenaries within the Elemental Planes in order to gather enough power, allies, and resources for their future operations.
The Infernal Insurrection[edit | edit source]
Guided by Thrya's visions, the Ordained executed a plan to free their goddess. First the Ordained made contact with the Demon Lord Ratatrosk and petitioned him for help in killing Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx, since demons were one of the few creatures able to kill Charon. With Ratatrosk's help the Ordained killed Charon before Ratatrosk then used Charon's oar to stop the flow of the River Styx, causing the River Styx to disappear. Then to prevent anyone from undoing what they had done, the Ordained used the magic of their runes to destroy Charon's oar. With the River Styx gone, the remains of their goddess were unbound and ejected into the Ethereal Plane. Lastly to cover up lose ends, the ordained attempted to kill Ratatrosk, but the Demon Lord managed to escape.
Worship[edit | edit source]
Since the worship of the Shattered Mountain is considered a dangerous heresy, all worship by members of the cult must be done in secret. Cult sects gather in secret meetings to discuss how to expand their ranks as well as to give praise to the goddess. While the Shattered mountain is unable to grant divine spells, many sects are led by priests known as Shattered Shepherds. New potential worshipers would be sought out from any giantkin who seemed dissatisfied with Giant culture and wanted to upset the balance of what is to a return of what was.
Since the cult has to exist in secrecy, communication between sects is far and few between, so many sects find their own ways of worshiping the Shattered Mountain. In some cases worship of the Shattered Mountain includes the ritual sacrifices of elementals, the creation of works of art, or sometimes just simple prayer. Some extreme sects even engage in attacks against other churches that worship the "false pantheon."
To become a Shattered Shepherd, an initiate would have to forsake their name, only then to be referred to as Brother, Sister, or Sibling Mountain.
Organization[edit | edit source]
The Cult of the Giant Mountain is primarily made up of Giantkin, including true Giants as well as lesser giants like Goliaths, Trolls, ogres, and Cyclops.
before the rise of the Ordained, cult sects were typically consisted of of between four to twenty members, and were led by at leas one or two Shattered Shepherds. There was little organization between sects though, as most avoided communication in fear they would get caught.
When the Ordained took over, the cult was united beneath them, with each member of the ordained taking command over certain sects, fostering their own cultists as they saw fit. During this time, the cult also became more militarized, with many cultists being giving training with weapons of elemental magic.
The Ordained[edit | edit source]
Gathered and led by Thrya Cloudbreaker, the ordained served as champions of the Shattered Mountain and the leaders of the cult. They were instrumental in leading to the events of the Infernal Insurrection.