Maelstrom Campaign - The True Faiths: The Huntress

The Huntress is the goddess of justice and vengeance; She sends aid to all those who have been truly wronged so that they can seek justice. Followers of the Huntress will support the judicial systems of their homeland, but the devout will not allow themselves to be constrained by laws if they can no longer deliver justice. The priests of the Huntress teach that when the final injustice has been avenged, She will descend from heaven to the world and injustice will been banished forever.

The followers of the Huntress usually fall into three categories. The first wander the land seeking those who have been wronged, teaching them Her tenets and trying to help them find the strength of purpose to claim justice. Others might settle where corruption and injustice has established itself, hoping to build a following amongst the populace that is strong enough to overthrow the tyranny. On rare occasions, some priests of the Huntress accept a position as part of the established order, providing leadership or acting as judges in disputes and conflicts.

Worship of the Huntress is strongest amongst the Tritoni, who refer to Her as Bubastis, and Her Church is based there. Lira Kayan is the Orkhon of Bubastis amongst the Tritoni and accepted as high priestess of the Huntress by most devotees in other lands. Her Church is one of the less organised; belief in the Huntress tends to be a very personal thing. Personal it may be, but it is always passionate, and more zealous than many. The Church of the Huntress may not have the standing armies or great wealth of other faiths but only a few have ever dared to refuse the Orkhon passage to pursue quarry in their lands.

The Commandments of the Huntress

All living beings have the right to justice.
The desire for vengeance is the heart of a just society.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.
Take neither one hair more nor one hair less than is your just entitlement.
Mercy is neither kind nor just. A sin that goes unpunished is an injustice that can never be set right.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.