Achaékek
Achaekek, the Mantis God, exists to eradicate those who would usurp the gods’ divinity. The god of assassins is a deadly hunter who strikes his targets unerringly, regardless of their strength or status. Some of the gods disapprove of Achaekek’s amoral methods, but none have ever directly opposed the Mantis God.
It is said that Achaekek alone can meddle in mortal affairs—but that may simply be a horror story other religions spread to keep their own faithful in check. In truth, no one knows whether Achaekek personally acts against mortals. Few, however, dare to test the old tales’ veracity, for doing so might call down the Mantis God’s bloody wrath.[1]
HE WHO WALKS IN BLOOD
God of assassins, divine punishment, and the Red Mantis
Alignment LE
Domains Death, Evil, Law, Trickery, War
Subdomains Blood, Deception, Devil, Murder, Tactics, Thievery
Favored Weapon sawtooth sabre
Centers of Worship Ilizmagorti
Nationality monster
Obedience Meditate in a private place before a trophy or broken religious symbol taken from a target you have been contracted to kill. This trophy must be anointed with a single drop of your blood, drawn from your flesh by a sawtooth sabre, and the trophy must be destroyed at the end of your meditation. If you have yet to complete a contract, have no appropriate trophies at hand, or seek to serve the Mantis God in other ways than as the god’s assassin, you must instead offer your own vital fluid to He Who Walks in Blood by cutting yourself along the right arm with a sawtooth sabre.
Such self-mutilation deals 1d6 points of damage to you, which cannot be healed during the hour of meditation without disrupting the obedience; after the meditation ends, the wounds can be healed by any means available. You gain a +2 profane bonus to confirm critical hits while wielding a sawtooth sabre. As long as you have a sawtooth sabre in each hand, you can use those blades to complete the somatic component of any spell you cast, and you treat sawtooth sabres as your divine focus for the casting of divine spells.[1]
EVANGELIST BOONS
1: Blessing of the Mantis (Sp) disguise self 3/day, invisibility 2/day, or gaseous form 1/day
2: Walk Unseen (Su) He Who Walks in Blood cloaks your steps, ensuring that you can move clandestinely during your hunts. You are constantly under the effects of a pass without trace spell, unless you wish to be followed.
You also gain a +2 profane bonus on Stealth checks.
3: Second Face (Su) Your deadly equipment is sacred to you.
As long as you carry a mask of the mantis (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide 298) on your person (even if you do so by carrying it in an extradimensional space), you can instantly don it as a free action or as part of an attack of opportunity. While you wear a mask of the mantis, you can attempt to demoralize a creature within 30 feet using Intimidate as a swift action. You no longer need to expend charges from a mask of the mantis to gain the effect of deathwatch, although you must expend charges as normal to use the mask’s other effects.
EXALTED BOONS
1: Crimson Decree (Sp) doom 3/day, death knell 2/day, or blood biographyAPG 1/day
2: Blood Scent (Sp) To your heightened olfactory senses, the acrid scent of blood is as pleasing and distinctive as the sweetest perfume. Three times per day, you can cast blood scent (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 143) on yourself as a spell-like ability.
This ability does not grant the spell’s bonus on attack and damage rolls, even if you are an orc or have a rage ability.
3: Focused Assassin (Su) Your combat skills are just as deadly when you have an assassination target as when you don’t.
When you perform your obedience for the day, if you are not contracted to kill a target, you can name a single target. You need not know the exact name of your target, but you must know a suitably detailed and correct description, such as “the thieves’ guild’s second in command.” Against that target, you gain a +2 profane bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls, and you deal an additional 2d6 points of damage. The save DCs of any spells you cast on the target increase by 2. If you are contracted to kill a target, these bonuses apply against that target; if you are contracted to kill multiple targets, you must choose one target against whom these bonuses apply when you perform your obedience.
SENTINEL BOONS (ASSASSINS)
‘ 1: Blood Must Flow (Sp) lead bladesAPG 3/day, spiritual weapon 2/day, or keen edge 1/day
2: Bleeding Wounds (Ex) All wounds you inflict with a sawtooth sabre are bleeding wounds, and deal 1d4 points of bleed damage to the target. If you deal bleed damage via another source (such as the bleeding attack rogue talent or by using a wounding sawtooth sabre), this ability does not deal additional bleed damage. You can also use bleed as a quickened spell-like ability three times per day.
3: Mantis Style Mastery (Ex) You take no penalties on attack rolls from two-weapon fighting when wielding two sawtooth sabres simultaneously, and you gain a +2 profane bonus on all damage rolls with sawtooth sabres.
If you deal sneak attack damage with a sawtooth sabre, you deal 2 additional points of damage for each die rolled as part of your sneak attack damage. If you have levels in the Red Mantis assassin prestige class (The Inner Sea World Guide 282), the DC for the save against your prayer attack increases by 2.[1]
UNDERSTANDING ACHAEKEK
Many theologians, including those who worship the Mantis God, agree that another god, or perhaps a group of them, created Achaekek—yet who exactly is responsible for his genesis is unclear. Certainly, the churches of Asmodeus, Calistria, Lamashtu, Pharasma, Rovagug, and Zon-Kuthon have compelling arguments that point to their patrons as the source of the Mantis God. Even the faiths of Norgorber and Gorum have legends that He Who Walks in Blood was born of their deities, despite legends of Achaekek originating far before either of them came to be. The most cogent belief may well be the one that the church of Achaekek espouses: that the creator of their god is long dead, murdered by the Mantis God for daring to create something so monstrous as himself.
Although known to his worshipers as He Who Walks in Blood, and commonly attributed by the faithful to be a masculine entity, Achaekek exists beyond conceits of gender, race, or politics. This means his followers come from enormously diverse backgrounds—united only in their common exaltation of the act of murder.
In art, Achaekek is universally depicted as a towering crimson mantis with four killing arms and a savage spike at the end of his long, slender abdomen. His eyes are endless pools of night, and he leaves a trail of blood wherever he walks, said to be from those countless victims the god and his cult have slaughtered over the eons. Achaekek is said to possess the power to rend reality itself in order to instantly travel to any time or plane to carry out missions of murder.[1]
THE CHURCH
Achaekek does not actively seek worshipers, but as long as faith has existed, there have been those who see much to venerate and fear in the Mantis God’s actions.
His only actively organized church on Golarion serves a dual role: the Red Mantis assassins are as much his holy servants as they are the most-feared guild of assassins in the Inner Sea region. Just as Achaekek does not directly strike against the gods, so do the Red Mantis assassins avoid contracts on the leaders of the mortal realm, seeing rightfully appointed monarchs as divinely appointed. All others are fair game.
The church of Achaekek, and thus the Red Mantis assassins’ blades, are responsible for many famous slayings over the years. The deaths of those who aspired to divinity are perhaps the most well known, such as Arrogant Marsis, said to have been the most beautiful man in the world during the early years of the Age of Enthronement, or Yazanova, the murderous queen of the Tusk Mountains who sought to become the Goddess of the North. Yet the Red Mantis assassins were not always eager for such fame.
Achaekek’s cult worked in secret for centuries in their homeland of Rahadoum. But in 2559 ar, on the eve of when the Laws of Man were to be enacted, the priestess Ximena received a vision from Achaekek. She led the Red Mantis to flee the Rahadoumi religious persecution, though the cultists were forced to give up most of their wealth in the flight. From that point on, necessity forced the Red Mantis to operate more openly, for the funds to remain hidden no longer existed. After centuries of piracy, the Red Mantis built up enough wealth to construct a city on Mediogalti Island; however, they did not wholly return to their secret ways. Today, their assassinations may be plotted in the shadows, but the results are left for all to see and fear.
Being home to the Red Mantis, Mediogalti Island is the center of Achaekek’s organized worship. The cult is led by a group of deadly assassins known collectively as the Vernai, or “High Killers.” Traditionally, there are 13 Vernai, mostly women; there are no restrictions against men in positions of power, but it is exceptionally unusual for a man to achieve the rank of Vernai.
The Vernai oversee all Red Mantis operations, approving every contract and organizing reprisals against traitors as needed, while simultaneously ruling the city of Ilizmagorti and managing its affairs. The Vernai themselves are ruled by one woman, the Blood Mistress, who is considered the ultimate authority on Achaekek’s will. This role is for life, and has never been held by a man. The current leader is Blood Mistress Jakalyn, an ageless and passionate killer who supposedly has ruled the church and Mediogalti Island alike since the time of Aroden’s death.[1]
TEMPLES AND SHRINES
Most of Achaekek’s worshipers are content to pray at secret shrines or improvised altars; these are often little more than alcoves marked with the god’s symbol, or small structures housing trophies and broken emblems of faith taken from slain targets.
Not all of Achaekek’s places of worship are so fleeting.
In cruel societies, or nations where other lawful evil religions hold great power, smaller shrines exist openly, doubling as places the desperate or vengeful can go to contract assassinations. Achaekek’s faithful have arranged special permissions to operate in such a manner in Geb and Nidal. In other nations, such as Katapesh or the River Kingdoms, shrines to the god of assassins are usually hidden in plain sight under the cover of other operations, even where no strict law against the church’s operation exists. The cult is not well tolerated in Cheliax, for the Red Mantis’s support of piracy along the western coast of Garund has long vexed House Thrune, but the church nonetheless maintains numerous secret temples throughout Cheliax.
The church’s greatest temples are found on Mediogalti Island. In Ilizmagorti, the grand Pagoda of the Mantis stands proudly as one of the cult’s cornerstones of worship, but the infamous Crimson Citadel, located deep in the isle’s jungle interior, serves as the true house of power for the Red Mantis. The heart of the god’s faith and the home of the Vernai, the Crimson Citadel is rumored to contain a mortal paradise, a collection of all the weapons and traps humanity has ever devised, the largest library in the Inner Sea region, and the deepest dungeons human hands have ever carved.[1]
A PRIEST’S ROLE
While clerics of Achaekek certainly exist, many of the Mantis God’s priests are not divine spellcasters. In order to progress above the rank of acolyte in the church, a non-divine spellcaster must prove her devotion by taking at least 1 level in the Red Mantis assassin prestige class (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide 282).
A priest of Achaekek who lives on Mediogalti Island is expected to perform some sort of public duty to protect or enhance the city, be it as a city guard, an architect, an artist who devotes her talents to the beautification of public works, or otherwise.
All priests of Achaekek are expected to serve as assassins should they have the opportunity to do so, regardless of their actual skills. As a result, most priests of Achaekek take either levels in the Red Mantis assassin prestige class or levels in another class that provides proficiency in such murderous pursuits (such as ranger, rogue, slayer, or the sentinel prestige class from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods).
Strangely, those who worship the Mantis God rarely take levels in the standard assassin prestige class—the church doesn’t strictly forbid such a choice, but it is looked down upon by most worshipers and usually marks someone who came to worship Achaekek later in life. Worshipers of Achaekek never ask for coin to defend or avenge themselves or their allies, but they believe fervently that assassins who kill for reasons divorced from personal interest deserve compensation for their services in recognition of their skills, and consider it an insult to be asked or told to kill someone without proper recompense.
Clerics of Achaekek can prepare keen sensesAPG and negate aromaAPG as 1st-level spells and spider climb as a 2ndlevel spell. Druids can prepare murderous commandUM as a 1st-level spell.[1]
ADVENTURERS
While the sawtooth sabre is not an uncommon weapon among adventuring and mercenary companies, the participation of an actual worshiper of Achaekek in such a group is rare. Most of those who join such groups generally do so for personal reasons, and they tend to keep those reasons—and often their true faith—private. A worshiper of Achaekek, despite her adoration of murder and skill at killing, will never knowingly betray her adventuring companions. To do so is to invite the most terrible punishment in the afterlife, akin to that earned by slaying a rightful monarch.
Of special note are the rare heretics of Achaekek. These strange few worship Achaekek, but have openly disavowed the Red Mantis assassin guild, believing the assassins to have used the Mantis God to bolster their own mystique and reputation rather than advance the god’s interests.
The Vernai view these heretics as among the greatest of the church’s enemies; however, the fact that Achaekek still grants magic to these unorthodox clerics implies there may be a kernel of truth to their beliefs.
These believers lead quiet lives and abandon the classic dress of the cult, yet continue to train with sawtooth sabres as they work to kill those who they believe deserve death. The heretics rarely accept payment for their deeds, believing that their actions keep fate on its proper course. These beliefs are not so different from those who worship Norgorber as Father Skinsaw.
However, openly commenting on this similarity draws swift punishment from heretical Red Mantis worshipers and Skinsaw cultists alike. Neither group admits any connection between their faiths, and in cases where they encounter one another, death is sure to follow.[1]
CLOTHING
Achaekek’s Red Mantis assassins employ distinctive armor and weapons. While their striking black-andcrimson leather armor of choice, when matched with their fearsome mantis masks, makes them unmistakable, it is the cult’s signature weapon, the sawtooth sabre, that evokes the most fear. Even those who are unfamiliar with the ways of the Red Mantis find it difficult to mistake the curved, serrated blade of such a sabre for anything other than an instrument of swift death.
The assassins brutally hunt down any other than their own who wears the holy armor and mask of a Red Mantis assassin, but Achaekek’s worshipers place no such bounties on those who train and master the use of the sawtooth sabre. This is perhaps because the wider these blades spread and the more they are associated with pain and death, the more notorious they become.
Rules for sawtooth sabres and the mask of the mantis can be found on pages 291 and 298 of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide, respectively.[1]
HOLY TEXT
Few modern religious texts make much mention of Achaekek, almost as if today’s faiths have agreed to remain silent on the matter. Ancient texts, such as the mysterious Book of Maan and the Path of Ways, speak of Achaekek as a slayer of gods, yet the church currently holds that Achaekek slays no deities, and does not possess the ability to do so. Whether these ancient tomes speak of a time when the Mantis God may have served a different role is impossible to say, as no copies of them are known to have survived the intervening ages. If holy texts dedicated to Achaekek exist, they likely reside in the Crimson Citadel’s mysterious Sarzari Library, to which only the Red Mantis’s Blood Mistress has access. However, no copies of such books have ever been read outside of the cult, and the truth about their existence—and what secrets they contain—remain rumors to this day.[1]
HOLIDAYS
Curiously, Achaekek’s faithful hold no particular holidays or festivals as sacred. The induction of a new member into the Red Mantis is always a time for prayer, devotion, and revelry, and the successful completion of any contract is a time to give thanks to He Who Walks in Blood, but these events can take place anywhere at any time. Often, public holidays are selected as times to strike against those who have been marked for death, but this is done more for theatrics than because of any religious significance.[1]
APHORISMS
Achaekek’s first victim was His creator. For the gift of saving us from this evil, all who live owe their lives to Him, and in time, He will come to collect from us all.
—Anonymous [1]
Despite their focus on murder, Achaekek’s worshipers follow ideals that, ironically, many would hold to be honorable and just.
Do Not Discriminate Against the Living, For in Death We Are All Equal: None shall be turned away from the faith on the basis of their gender, race, or politics, nor shall vengeance be sought for the same reasons, for death will visit all mortals and be the final arbiter. This belief may well be the one tenet of the faith that has stayed the Red Mantis’s vengeful hands against Rahadoum, although the Red Mantis certainly do not ignore that land altogether.
Honor the Gods, For They Honored Us All with This World: The gods created this world, and they grant those who serve well in life boons in the Great Beyond. Speak not ill of the gods, and do not deny their power, for to do so is to mock and deny reality itself.
Let Death Be Final, For We Are Not the Keepers of Graves: One who dies should not be resurrected, particularly if her death occurs in the pursuit of the church’s beliefs or as the result of a contract on the deceased’s life. A worshiper of Achaekek rarely agrees to return to life if given the chance, and the god’s worshipers generally do not perform spells such as resurrection, save in cases where not doing so causes a greater inconvenience or peril to the faith.[1]
RELATIONS WITH OTHER RELIGIONS
Achaekek does not turn his claws against his divine sisters and brothers, and while many of the gods have engaged his assassination services, Achaekek keeps no relations with other deities. In Ilizmagorti, Besmara’s faith is allowed, but largely as a concession to the city’s dependency on piracy for support. Norgorber’s faith is also allowed in the city, so long as those who venerate him as Father Skinsaw do not set foot on the isle—Achaekek does not tolerate this sect of the King of Thieves. The church respects the followers of Mephistopheles for his power over contracts, the value of which all assassins understand. Achaekek’s faithful also respect Nocticula’s followers, as they are the only assassins whose techniques the Red Mantis believe might rival their own in effectiveness. The Red Mantis lament, however, that these assassins are more of a cabal of talented lone wolves than an organized group.
Worshipers of Achaekek have prospered by avoiding aggression toward other religions—except toward Father Skinsaw’s followers. While other good and lawful faiths might not approve of the methods the Red Mantis use, the church of Achaekek has always managed to remain less of a target of crusades than many other religions.
Cynics whisper that even the gods of law and good, at times, have need of a slayer to handle the jobs that their own codes and morals won’t allow, and that these deities instruct their churches to stay out of Red Mantis affairs on the off chance that the services of He Who Walks in Blood may be required in the future.
The only other significant relationship held by the cult of the Red Mantis is not with a religion, but with a philosophy. Achaekek’s faithful still resent the exiling of their church from Rahadoum by the rise of the Laws of Man, and view that nation with a slow-burning anger. They have neither forgotten nor forgiven the ancient wrongs Rahadoum perpetrated upon them, and continue to watch and wait from Mediogalti Island. For now, the assassins seem content to take only actions involving observation and subtle meddling in trade and sea travel, yet whispers grow among those who worship the Mantis God that a reckoning may yet descend upon the so-called “Kingdom of Man.” If these murmurs are to be believed, the entire nation of Rahadoum may one day be bathed in blood.[1]
REALM
Achaekek is said to spend much of his time slumbering in the Outer Rifts, bathed in the blood of heretics and worshipers alike. This region is known only as the Blood Vale, a cavern filled with a crimson jungle and interlaced with a network of bloody rivers and swamps. It is said that the River of Souls brushes near to the Blood Vale, which opens from the Great Beyond at the base of the spire that forms Pharasma’s Boneyard; from this vantage point, the Mantis God can watch as those slain in his name travel on to be judged. The Blood Vale is not part of Hell, Abaddon, or the Abyss, though rents in its razor-edged walls open into all three of these planes, providing shortcuts to those realms for those who visit the Vale. Achaekek also keeps dens on other planes, including in Hell’s Avernus, and cracks in these dens are believed to allow the god to travel freely between them.[1]
PLANAR ALLIES
As a deity granted special dispensation to work his will on the Material Plane, Achaekek does not keep many particular allies or favored minions, although his herald, Zyrruthys, is known to often speak for the god.
Zyrruthys (herald of Achaekek): Zyrruthys is a highly intelligent, enormous mantis, a crimson monstrosity often mistaken for Achaekek when he appears to wreak havoc on infidels. Zyrruthys particularly enjoys the destruction of villages or towns where large numbers of people have blasphemed or simply disrespected the Mantis God, and never asks for additional payment to perform such tasks, whether summoned by the faithful or dispatched by Achaekek.[1]