Followers of the Foetid Maw
The Storm of Chaos proved especially destructive to the northern provinces, ravaging Middenland, Hochland, and Ostland. Inevitably, Archaon’ s forces drifted ever southward, and they razed every city they passed. As the Empire ineffectually deals with the staggering costs of rebuilding, the survivors despair, longing for their old lives and for a future.
Wolfenburg is just one example of a place terrorised by the Storm. Once a trade centre and beautiful city, it now lies in ruins, littered with almost 8,000 corpses, many of which still remain unburied. Of the scant thousand survivors, they look to silent Talabheim for answers and much needed assistance, but, as yet, nothing has arrived. Instead, a few strongwilled folk established themselves as leaders, but theirs is one of harsh justice and brutal enforcement of their new and often conflicting laws.
In this hostile ruin, the people have lost everything, including hope, and many feel abandoned by the Empire to say nothing of the Gods. As a result, many turn to new Gods and strange cults with stranger belief for answers and assistance. And truly, there are cults aplenty, each offering aid in the hopes of expanding their numbers and converts.
One such group is the Foetid Maw. A relative newcomer, the Foetid Maw formed at the start of the Storm of Chaos when a young woman named Reilla followed an army of mercenaries north to staunch the flood of Chaos Warriors and Daemons. A woman very experienced in the needs of a soldier, Reilla hoped to become rich from this jaunt. There, however, she found neither wealth nor marriage to a suitable veteran, but instead death, decay, and disease. Her unit broke and quit the field. She fell behind, and a Chaos Warrior of Nurgle captured her. For five days, this diseased villain tortured her and exposed her to horrors best left unsaid. At the end of this hell, the Warrior released her, commanding her to spread what she learned.
For the rest of the war, Reilla wandered dazed, and each week she discovered some new horror ravaging her system. She turned to Nurgle for comfort, and the Lord of Decay provided her with followers—men and women who were similarly afflicted. They saw Reilla as their saviour, a martyr, and to honour her, they gave her the title: The Foetid Maw. In time, she was too ill, too ravaged to walk, and far too hideous to behold, so her followers bore her in a closed palanquin, taking her from ruined village to ruined village, so she could share with the destitute what it was she learned from the Chaos Warrior.
Now, the Foetid Maw and her entourage have found a new home in Wolfenburg. At first, people were disgusted by these newcomers, but as the days rolled by, hunger ravaged their gullets, and new outbreaks of disease spread. Many have come to learn from the mysterious thing in the palanquin.
2019年11月04日 10点11分
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