Serkar

Serkar
Basic Information
Title	The Bearer of the Frigid Nightmare
Symbol	A crescent moon and a moth covered in shrouds
Level	Lesser
Alignment	Neutral Evil
Allowed Alignments	N, LE, NE, CE
Primary Portfolio	Fear, Foreboding, Nightmares
Secondary Portfolio	Night, Sleep, Torture, Ugliness
Favored Weapon	Scimitar

Serkar, The Bearer of the Frigid Nightmare

In the shadowy realms of the multiverse, Serkar, the deity of fear and nightmares, reigns with a chilling and sadistic delight. Unlike the brutal deities of war or destruction who revel in physical carnage, Serkar's domain is the vast, vulnerable expanse of the subconscious. He is a master at weaving the dark tapestry of anxiety and fear, prying into the primal terrors that lurk within the minds of mortals and gods alike. His approach is not one of overt violence but rather a more insidious manipulation of the psyche, where he savors the gradual unraveling of sanity in his victims.

Serkar's methods are meticulously crafted, as he believes in the power of thorough knowledge about his targets. To him, understanding someone's deepest fears and insecurities is an art form, a crucial tool that allows him to exploit weaknesses most effectively. This knowledge is not gathered hastily. With a patient and calculating demeanor, he delves deep into the lives and minds of those he chooses to torment, crafting his nightmarish schemes with precision.

While his capacity for invoking sheer terror is unmatched, Serkar prefers the subtler shades of horror. There is a refined cruelty in manipulating the familiar, in twisting the mundane into sources of dread. This slow-burn terror is his signature, for the fear of the known, the everyday turned grotesque, is a potent conduit for controlling his victims. The dread of something once safe now corrupted is a powerful lever in Serkar's cruel hands.

At his core, Serkar is driven by a profound egocentrism. Each act of torment, each carefully curated nightmare is ultimately for his own dark satisfaction. Though his manipulations might occasionally serve broader schemes or the plots of fellow deities, make no mistake: Serkar acts first and foremost for his own amusement. His pleasure is derived from the slow dance of escalating dread that culminates in the complete breakdown of his victims—a spectacle he watches with the detached amusement of a connoisseur.

In the chilling silence of nightmares, where fear whispers with a voice as old as time, Serkar's presence looms large, a reminder that not all monsters come with snarling maws and claws, but some, far more terrifying, come cloaked in the guise of what we once trusted.

In the swirling mists of an ethereal realm, Serkar, the deity of Fear and Nightmares, manifests as an ominous and spectral figure. Shrouded in a tattered cloak that seems woven from the very shadows of the night, he looms with a presence that chills the soul. The hood of his cloak hangs heavy, casting his face into darkness except for two luminous, piercing eyes that glow with an eerie, ghostly light. These eyes, stark against the void of his obscured visage, serve as the only hint of his otherworldly countenance, suggesting a gaze that penetrates beyond the material and into the deepest recesses of one’s fears. His entire being is engulfed in a turbulent dance of ghostly flames and smoky tendrils, which billow around him like the breath of the underworld. This chilling aura is not merely an atmospheric effect but a visual representation of the haunting power he wields—each wave and ripple a testament to his dominion over fear and despair.

Serkar takes the form of a colossal moth, its body cloaked in thick, dark fur that seems to drink in the light. Monstrous and otherworldly, his wings span wide and are tattered at the edges, resembling burnt parchment marked with eerie, vein-like patterns. His eyes, large and luminescent, glow with a ghostly light, casting an unsettling gaze that pierces through the darkest night.

Symbol

Serkar's symbol is a masterful intertwining of darkness and dread, centered around a meticulously detailed, fiendish moth that lies at the heart of a dark crescent, both encircled by menacing, jagged shrouds. The moth, with its expansive, sinister wings and hauntingly intricate details, serves as a chilling emblem of the nightmares that Serkar weaves into the minds of the fearful. The surrounding crescent, sharp and foreboding, symbolizes the ever-present nature of fear that looms in the shadows of the mind, while the outer ring of twisted, thorn-like tendrils represents the inescapable grip of Serkar’s influence, ensnaring all who dwell too long in the terror of their own thoughts.

Relations With Other Deities

In the celestial hierarchies where deities wield their power and influence, Serkar, the deity of fear and nightmares, casts a long and menacing shadow. Renowned for his sadistic nature, Serkar is viewed as a dark menace by the gods of the celestial pantheon. Among these divine beings, Andrastia stands as his most formidable adversary. She rules the realm of dreams—a domain where Serkar’s grasp is tenuous yet covetously desired. His ambition to dominate this realm is driven by a sinister intent: to subjugate every living creature to his relentless terrors, transforming their dreams into landscapes of fear.

However, Serkar’s enmities are not confined to the forces of good alone. He lurks comfortably in the darkness, aligning himself with Nessus, whose strategies and ambitions resonate with his own dark proclivities. This alliance places him in direct opposition to Tiamat, another powerful deity with aspirations to manipulate the subconscious depths of mortals. Tiamat covets Serkar’s unique dominion over fear and would seize it for herself if not for the risk of incurring Nessus's wrath. The complex web of alliances and antagonisms defines Serkar’s position within the divine spectrum, marking him as a figure of both fear and pivotal intrigue in the eternal games of the deities.

Dogma

Serkar, in moth form

Serkar's dogma is expressed in these five tenets:

• Become One with Terror: Embrace and embody the essence of fear Let terror be not just a tool, but an extension of oneself, used to control and dominate all aspects of life.

• Spread the Nightmares: Actively sow the seeds of nightmares among the masses. Utilize these visions of dread to manipulate, destabilize, and control, ensuring that fear permeates the very core of existence.

• Be an Agent of Foreboding: Cultivate an atmosphere of constant unease and anticipation. Let your presence foretell the onset of despair, leaving those around you anxious and fearful of what horrors the future may hold.

• Be Subtle but Effective: Employ subtlety in your methods; the deepest fears are those that creep unnoticed until they are deeply rooted. Your influence should be silent but formidable, leaving a lasting impact with minimal visibility.

• Oppose the Light: Stand firmly against the deities of good and light, who seek to offer solace and refuge from the darkness. Challenge their ideals and encroach upon their territories, aiming to dim the light that seeks to dispel the sacred shadows.

Clergy and Temples

A cleric of Serkar

The clergy of Serkar, though small in number, is a formidable force structured through a simple yet robust hierarchy. This mysterious organization is primarily composed of arcane spellcasters who have dedicated themselves to the dark arts, weaving fear and nightmares into the very fabric of their existence. Cloaked in dark, hooded robes, these clerics are a spectral sight; their garments are not merely for show but are imbued with powerful magical protections, subtly integrated to guard against both physical and mystical threats.

Removed from the bustling activity of society, the followers of Serkar often operate as loners or within tightly-knit cells, hidden from the prying eyes of the world. Despite their isolation, they remain intricately connected through magical means, allowing seamless communication and coordination across great distances. Their primary focus is on the arcane study of dreams and nightmares, delving into the deepest recesses of magical knowledge to manipulate the subconscious. The most adept among them possess the chilling ability to enter and dominate the dreams of others.

The strategy employed by Serkar's clergy involves selecting individuals or communities as targets, often those holding positions of power or influence. These targets are subjected to a relentless campaign of psychological torment, where subtle nightmares are meticulously crafted to erode their will, manipulate their actions, or drive them to the brink of madness and exhaustion. Such campaigns can span years, a testament to the clergy's patience and the depth of their malevolence.

Despite the power struggles that swirl through the realms, the clergy of Serkar remains aloof, uninterested in worldly dominion. Their actions are not motivated by greed or a desire for political power but are driven solely by the sadistic will of their deity. On the rare occasions they do engage with outsiders, it is only when such interactions align seamlessly with their own dark objectives, ensuring that every move they make serves the inscrutable and terrifying ends of Serkar.

For the rest of the world, however, Serkar's clergy are nothing short of an abomination. Their nefarious activities have made them targets for destruction, compelling them to operate with utmost subtlety. The occurrence of notorious recurring nightmares within a person or community is often a telltale sign of their influence, usually triggering a determined and often ruthless hunt for the clerics responsible. This perpetual threat of discovery and retaliation shapes their secretive, shadow-like existence, forever lurking on the fringes of the societies they seek to unsettle.

Serkar's temples, enigmatic and shrouded in darkness, are strategically removed from settlements to provide an undisturbed setting for the deity’s foreboding activities. These sacred grounds are cleverly concealed in nature’s most remote and inaccessible areas—nestled among rugged mountains, shrouded within the depths of dark, whispering forests, or hidden away in the echoing silence of deep caves. Each location is chosen for its natural ability to instill a sense of isolation and unease, aligning perfectly with Serkar’s dominion over fear and nightmares.

The architecture of these temples is as mysterious as their locations. Designed to blend seamlessly with their surroundings, they are labyrinthine complexes filled with numerous chambers. These chambers serve multiple sinister purposes, primarily as venues for the dark magical rituals that are central to Serkar's worship. The ambiance within is perpetually dim, lit only by the faint glow of candles or magical luminescence, casting long shadows that dance upon the ancient stone walls, themselves etched with esoteric symbols and eerie depictions of nightmarish visions.

Beyond their ritualistic use, these temples also function as vaults for dark artifacts and repositories of forbidden knowledge. Here, relics imbued with malevolent energies and ancient tomes containing lost spells and dark rites are kept under the vigilant guard of the clergy, ensuring that such power remains within the reach of those devoted to Serkar, yet far from the eyes of the uninitiated or the unworthy.

Furthermore, these sanctuaries offer refuge to the clergy of Serkar, especially those who find themselves pursued or endangered due to their malevolent deeds. In times of need, these temples become safe havens, providing shelter and protection through their hidden locations and the powerful wards cast around them. This dual purpose as both a bastion of dark practices and a sanctuary makes Serkar’s temples critical to the survival and efficacy of his followers, ensuring they can continue to spread terror and despair without interruption.

Initiation

The path to becoming a follower of Serkar is not for the faint of heart; it is a grueling journey shrouded in terror and darkness. The initiation process begins when potential candidates—often drawn from regions haunted by Serkar’s clerics—are contacted. This contact can manifest in the real world or infiltrate the murky realms of their dreams. Whichever form it takes, the encounter is chillingly direct, providing the candidate with enigmatic directions to locate the hidden temple where their preparation will commence, typically a year before they reach the age of maturity.

The initial phase of training is deceptively simple, easing the initiate into the fundamental concepts of fear and nightmares. However, this is merely the calm before the storm. As the training progresses, the true horror unfolds. The latter half of the preparation plunges the initiate into a relentless cycle of induced sleep during which they are subjected to meticulously crafted nightmares, each more horrifying than the last. This intense period of targeted nightmare torture only ceases for a few precious hours each day, allowing the initiate a brief respite to meditate and reflect.

Daily meditation becomes a crucial practice for the initiate, providing a moment to process the day’s terrors and contemplate how these experiences intertwine with Serkar’s dogma. As the year progresses, the strain of this brutal regimen becomes unbearable for some, driving them to madness—a fate that sees them abandoned, left to wrestle with their fractured psyches alone. For those who endure, the final test awaits: a day of complete isolation on the last day of the year, meant for deep reflection and an attempt to commune with the sinister deity they wish to serve.

Surviving initiates emerge to face the dawn of their final day of trial in grim anticipation. At the stroke of midnight, they present themselves before the cleric who guided their torment. There, in the shadowed sanctum of the temple, they offer themselves in servitude to Serkar. The ceremony culminates with the cleric casting an initiation spell, binding the initiate to Serkar, marking their transformation into a full-fledged follower of the deity of fear and nightmares. This dark rite seals their fate, intertwining their destiny irrevocably with the malevolent will of Serkar.