Trench Crusade: Das Goldene Kalb

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++ GOLDEN CALF WAR ALTAR ++

– Art by Chander Lieve

To the uninitiated, the black arts of Goetic magic are a thing of mystery; of bargains, pleas, contracts and rituals where Heretic Priests, warlocks and thaumaturges appeal to their dark patrons to wield supernatural powers. Goetic spells can grant immense power to interfere with God’s Creation, an act of rebellion to match the divine powers on Earth.Chand

Some schools of thought say it is the acts of torture, sacrifice and torment which gives the magic its power, and certain demon philosophers of the Second Circle point to the Tyrant-God granting Satan permission to torment Job.

The more nihilistic and fatalist schools of thought say there is no rebellion, and believe they are simply following God’s plan laid out at the very beginning of Creation. They have no say in the matter: it is their nature to persecute humanity and to eventually topple YHWH as the world He created becomes ever more sullied and tainted.

In the strictest sense, Goetic Magic is not directly usable by mere mortals. While the Sorcerers and other fell creatures of the Court are capable of tapping directly into the swell of Goetic power thanks to their supernatural origins, human Heretics can only act as conduits of the power infernal. Instead, the Heretic Priests beseech their Patron demons for supernatural intervention. In return, the lords of Hell then demand their followers to kill for them, both on the battlefield and by dragging innocents to the desecrated altars erected in their name.

One of the most insidious gifts the demon lords bestow upon their dark ministry is unnaturally long life. It is the most fervent wish of most Heretic users of Goetic Magic to extend their lifespans, so they can enjoy the fruits of luxury for longer than any Faithful noble or rich merchant ever could. Addicted to the power and opulence of their status, they become ever more desperate to halt the march of time.

Such Heretic Priests find that the rejuvenation they are granted wanes faster after each new sacrifice, driving them to commit ever-worsening atrocities in their quest to postpone death. In return for these diminishing extensions of their life, their Patron will demand them to take greater risks to achieve their aims. The end is always the same: the devil will have his due and the souls of their servants go to their fiery doom, replaced by new, even more ambitious supplicants.

Thus many Heretic warbands travel with an altar dedicated to their fell Patrons. Of all the myriad obsidian tables, sacrificial stones, totems and graven images, it is the blasphemous idols of the Golden Calf that are the best known and most dreaded by the Faithful. During major invasions entire processions of war altars come forth with the Heretic armies. The largest ones are towering statues, their fires tended by scores of Heretic Priests wielding knives and staffs.

They are often mounted on tracked vehicles, standing on high daises so they can be brought to the front. There, the Heretic Priests can tap into the aura they emanate when victims are tossed into the fire within. These idols represent slaughter on an industrial scale, for many of the greatest of Heretic weapons require the reality-warping corruption of Goetic Magic to function. The dreaded Heretic artillery uses shells encased in Goetic runes which cause madness as well as physical destruction. Without the black touch of the winds of Goetic Magic, the sentient barbed wire would simply fall into an inanimate state.

Competition for the most extravagant and gaudy idols is fierce between their demon lords, and none more so than the rivalry between the Serpent Heads of the Court, reflecting the poisonous politicking of Hell itself. Many lordly demons use the altars of the Golden Calf as a conduit between themselves and their followers. Mammon claims them solely for himself as a symbol of his wealth and rapacity, but it is Moloch–the current Serpent Head of Envy–that is the most keen of all the Infernal Nobles in urging his followers to bring ever more victims to die in the fires built beneath the Golden Calf.

The roots of Moloch’s envy run deep into the time before time. As a lordly Seraphim he yearned to create followers of his own, but this was the one thing he could never have. And when he learned that even the lowliest of humans were given the Gift of Life and a promise of creation – a boon denied to Moloch despite his exalted status–his jealousy turned into envy that slowly consumed and corrupted him. Aeons have passed since the First Rebellion, yet nothing has changed. Despite his adoring throngs of worshippers, Moloch lacks the thing he craves the most: the power of creation.

Missing the true ability to create life, Moloch’s envy for Creation knows no bounds. In his bitterness he covets child sacrifices above all, as it denies these beloved fruits of Creation from the followers of his hated father. Heretics in Moloch’s service know that capturing entire families will reap them the greatest rewards when they bring the captives to the golden, belching smoke and radiating, withering heat. It is Moloch’s will that the parents see their offspring perish, their anguish being the only thing able to temporarily soothe the envy that gnaws at him day and night.

Thus, Moloch is known as the devil that bathes in the blood of children and the tears of their mothers, to quell the envy that gnaws at his very being in his palace in the Sixth Circle of Hell. He is lost in the labyrinth of his own jealousy and ego. To compensate, it is Moloch who creates the largest number of servants of the Court, Yoke Fiends and Sorcerers and Hell Knights using blackened shards of broken fallen angels to give them a semblance of life. But in his black heart he knows they are but counterfeits: creatures that can only multiply by diminishing themselves, the charred remains of their divine origin weakening with every new generation.

So Moloch’s envy burns ever brighter, matching the sacrificial fires on the altars of the Golden Calf.

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