Shalappa Chadwelm was born in Dara Happa only a handful of years after the Rebel Gods had been called to answer for their actions in Hell. He was a worshipper of Antirius, and was a noble, and a fighter who had fought alongside his farmers in battles against creatures from the Fifth Hell. His land lay near a place that attracted such spawn, and battles were long and fierce against the beasts. During his time fighting them he learnt the Four Secret Blows that could chop a Hellspawn in four, and once called upon Antirius to shine the light of the heavens down on them, leaving them blind both physically and spiritually.
Shalappa got on well with the nearby barbarians. They had fought against demons of the Fifth Hell as well, and in this time of friendship and alliances, Shalappa learnt many of their secrets and much of their knowledge. He found out that they called the demons "krjalki" and claimed them to be sons of the Devil and creatures summoned by the Unholy Trio.
Eventually even Shalappa couldn't keep the demons back, and one day they caught him off guard, swarming across his land and killing his people. Shalappa chose to leave, and took arms with the hill barbarians who worshipped strange foriegn gods, to chase chaos across the land. They called themselves the Hell Haters. He and his companions were said to die in the Flaming Pits in Snake Pipe Hollow, and his soul was liberated by angels of Yelm to serve at his side.
His cult was quite minor, but with the rise of Nysalor his cult quickly lost following. They detested krjalki too much, far too much, to fit in nicely with the permissive atmosphere of the Empire. The teachings concerning Illumination riled the cult leaders. They lost political standing, and were only sent on one small foray against Arkat. After the fall of the Empire they never really recovered any popularity and have remained a small cult ever since.
All who die in the cult are wrapped in tattered rags covered in the blood of the deceased. They are then lowered into a pit of flame and cremated, and their soul will follow the path of Shalappa to serve behind him as part of the Hell Haters who live next to Yelm himself, following his entourage across the Sky.
Shalappa has the runes of Sky and Law.
Shalappa's cult continues in a small and limited manner. Whilst Yelm fights Jokbazi and other Sky gods have other chaotic enemies, Shalappa is the only dedicated chaos fighter, with specific magics for that purpose. Whilst Shalappa's cult would like to serve as a dedicated chaos fighter, that role is often served by other deities. Shalappa is usually worshipped in addition or subsidary to other gods.
The cult hates all chaos, and has emnity against darkness deities (including Zorak Zoran who they doubtless would have difficulty recognising as a chaos fighter). The cult has associations mainly with the cult of Yelm, and Shargash, but is also friendly with foreign deities of Orlanth Adventurous, Humakt and Urox who they are taught are friends in the cause against chaos as they were with Shalappa in the First Age. This makes worshippers in this cult very friendly to Orlanthi barbarians, although this is generally not reciprocated (most barbarians wouldn't recognise the name of Shalappa and would treat their worshippers much the same as other Dara Happans).
The cult shares it's holy days with Yelm, although unlike Yelm it's High Holy Day is on Clayday of Movement Week in Sea Season, the day of Shalappa's death and subsequent ascension.Because most Dara Happans have only a limited understanding of the difference between chaos and other demons and enemies, other people have difficulty understanding the role of the cult. Indeed, this has led to it's continual lack of expansion - why worship Shalappa when you can worship Shargash or Hastatus, famous warrior gods to chase your enemies away? This has led to the cult being small, fragmented and obscure. Generally when an area if plagued by chaos if a Shalappa worshipper appears they will have the people in the area worship Shalappa and offer sacrifice until the enemy is defeated, at which point most people then leave the cult.
This means there are few mobile temples. There are shrines in most major cities located either in or near the temples to Yelm. There is a minor temple in Bilini lands, where they they have for many years had varying relations with the Kings there in relation to forays into Dorastor. A single permanent major temple exists in Darjin near Haranshold, where the holy artefacts of the cult are stored. All rune lords must be ordained here.
With the coming of the Lunar Empire it has been difficult for the cult to adjust. The Empire openly accepts chaos, and have not been kind to Shalappa's cult. Whilst they have not been persecuted, what little role they had is slowly being enroached upon by Lunarised war cults. The Empire generally likes to keep their cult on the edges of the Empire, primarily around Tarsh, Pent and Carmania. Certain people within the Empire have tried to keep the cult out of Dorastor, perhaps to aid diplomatic relations with the Unicorn Emperor. The cult has known links to the White Moonies.
Shrines teach Burn Chaos.
To join the cult of Shalappa one must either have had a direct relative killed by chaos within the last week, or pass the standard requirements with the skills of Spear Attack, Shield Parry, Chaos Lore, Scan. Either way the candidate must sacrifice 1 POW.
Initiates must devote 50% of their time and income to the cult, unless they are members of the Dara Happan military, in which case only 5% is required. They must wear a red band on their right arm to represent the fire Shalappa, and replace it with a black one in Sea Season to remember his death. All initiates must own and maintain a set of weapons, and never fail to report any chaotic activity to their rune lord. An initiate must personally slay one chaos beast a year in the name of the Hero, or their membership in the cult will lapse.
Spirit Magic: Bladesharp, Coordination, Detect Enemies, Disuption, Endurance, Protection.
Passions: Love Family 2, Hate Chaos 5, Loyalty Followers 4.
Runes: Fire 3, Law 2.
Hell Sealers are the Rune Lords of the cult. Their roles include maintaining temples, leading congregations, travelling to chaos infested environments and training initiates in their arts. To become a Hell Sealer there must be a vacancy, which are few and far between, although during certain incurions of chaos qualifying initiates will be inducted as Rune Lords until the incursion is over (as many Hell Sealers perish during such incursions, vacancies often open up afterwards). They must also have 90% in spear attack and two of the following skills - Shield Parry, any other weapon attack, Chaos Lore, Scan, Ride, Ceremony/Dara Happan. They must then pass the normal test of holiness.
Hell Sealers receive a horse, and iron arms and armour if they are available to the cult, but are given an enchanted gold helmet to wear instead of a normal iron helm. These helmets are always made by worshippers of Yelm and given to the Hell Sealer during their induction as a rune lord, as a representation of the nobility that Shalappa had. They must continue to wear their ribbons and must ensure that one chaos beast a year is personally slain at their hands. They are responsible for any initiates under their command, and ensuring that they meet their ritual obligations. A Hell Sealer must devote 90% of their time and income to the cult.
No Hell Sealer may flee a battle with chaos once it has begun, nor show fear in the face of chaos, nor let the deaths of innocents go unavenged if a being of the Fifth Hell was involved. They may never join any cult that has chaotic connections, such as the Seven Mothers or the Red Goddess. Since the coming of the Lunar Empire additional strictures have come about, and no Hell Sealer may fight in an army that has chaos on it's side, such as the Crimson Bat.
Common Rune Magic: Armouring Enchantment, Divination, Excommunication, Extension, Initiation, Mindlink, Sanctify, Spellteaching, Spirit Block, Strengthening Enchantment, Worship Shalappa Chadelm.
Special Rune Magic: Burn Chaos, Enchant Iron, Immolate Chaos Tain.
Allied Spirit: Helmet, Spear.
Burn Chaos
1 point
ranged, instant, stackable, reusable
This spell calls forth the fires of Antirius onto a chaotic creature. Once cast the target's magic points must be overcome. For every point stacked the creature takes 1d6 points of damage to general hit points as fire wraps around them. This damage cannot be regenerated, but can be healed with magical spells. Beings immune to fire take half damage. This spell is ineffective unless the target is chaotic.
Immolate Chaos Taint
3 points
ritual ceremony, nonstackable, one-use
This ritual allows the caster to literally burn out the chaos taint in a particular target. The ritual takes on hour to cast overall, and unwilling victims must be rendered immobile for the ritual to be effective. Those who are unwilling must have their magic points overcome by the caster. Those who are inherently chaotic, such as broo, gorp or vampires, will never survive the ritual, and those whose souls are tainted by chaos (say by being a member of a chaos cult) will not survive as the tainted portions of their soul are destroyed in spiritual fire. Even then, there is a chance that a target will die in the ordeal, they must roll under their combined base (CON+POW)x2 on 1d100 or perish in the course of the rite. Any chaos taint the target has will cease to be, taken away by the fires of Shalappa where he stores the tainted fire in a large gold chamber, any chaotic features the target may have wither away (but vestiges remain, so if the target had a tentacle they are left with a small blackened, withered tentacle).
Spirit of Reprisal
Any cult member who deals with chaos, or any Hell Sealer who fails in his duties, will be attacked by one of the original Hell Haters. They have INT 3d6 POW 3d6+6 and will engage the apostate in spirit combat. Every successful spiritual attack inflicts 1d3 points of fire damage to the targets head as the Hell Hater literally burns into their skull. Initiates are attacked for 1d6 rounds, rune lords who fail in their duties are attacked for 1d10, and the spirit never departs willingly from a Hell Sealer who deals knowingly with chaos.
Hastatus
Grants Truespear.
Shargash
Grants Truemaul to Hell Sealers.
Yelm
Grants Shield to Hell Sealers.