The Void Priest

The mob roared, a hundred mouths all giving rise to a single cry as they raised their torches high, marching upon the hill. There were no words to that roar, and no individual voices; they were all subsumed into the single, overwhelming whole. Men and women both had become part of one beast, and that beast surged forward in search of blood. When they crested the hilltop, they found the woman they sought standing in the center of the open field, her eyes closed, and her lips moving silently in the starlight.

"Witch!" roared Goodman Dannar, spittle flying from his lips and his eyes bulging from his head.

"Heretic!" shrieked Milicent Theron, her hair wild, and her eyes gleaming with the light from her blazing brand.

The crowd howled and bayed, but when the woman they surrounded opened her eyes, a hush fell over them. She looked at them with eyes that were empty of fear or anger, and absent any joy or relish. She looked at them as if they were no more a concern to her than trees swaying in the breeze, or rocks sitting near a stream. Those who met her gaze made warding gestures, and dropped their eyes, struck to their cores with a sense that they had glimpsed something beyond this world... something they were not meant to see.

"Have you come to embrace emptiness?" Gail Wormwood asked the assembled crowd.

"No!" Grayson Barker yelled. The force had gone out of his voice, though. It was as if he were shouting up from the bottom of a well. The woman nodded, more to herself than to those gathered.

"The universe is around us, and within us," Gail said, as if no one had spoken. She gestured at the night sky, and the thousands of stars that burned in the heavens. "We cannot hear it, because we refuse to be still. We cannot see it, because we cast our eyes outward, and downward. We seek to be truly small and unimportant, and we forget that we are a part of the great whole. We are a part of the great Dream that is the cosmos."

"Lies!" Shep Cannard tried to shout, but the word came out through a strangled throat. He clawed at his neck, his nostrils flaring, and his eyes bulging.

"You all seek comfort in stories made by your ancestors as they hunched round a fire, trying to soothe their fears," Gail continued, looking through and past those who had come to her. "But this blinds you to the truth of the universe. That there are forces beyond your ken, and whose minds you cannot hope to understand. And once you understand that your fear, your rage, and your need are hollow, you can expel them from yourself. You can become as the void, and when you reach that perfection, and you can move in-time with the universe in true comprehension, only then will you truly understand that which you now recoil from."

Silence reigned over the hilltop. Hundreds of clouded, confused, uncomprehending eyes stared at her. Many of the faces twisted in renewed anger, and several turned away to spit. A low rumble began to pass through them as the mob awoke once more. The woman called Wormwood didn't argue with them. Didn't implore or threaten them. Such things were beneath her. She had given them the truth, and they had tossed it in the dirt. The Priest of The Void, the Voice of The Emptiness Between Stars, and She Who Had Seen Beyond spoke only one more word. None knew what it meant, but they knew instinctively that it was a command. There was a beating of great wings, and a roar of something terrible and alien to the world they thought they knew.

Wormwood merely turned her gaze back to the heavens, ignoring the sounds of panic and fear all around her as the creature she called did its work. She opened her mind and her soul, and listened to the sound of piping, and the music of the spheres.

The voice would come from the blackness. It always did, and in that moment, it would fill her with purpose, and overflow all the parts of her she had emptied so she could hear it.

The Void Priest

The idea of the Void Priest is not a new one to those of us who enjoy dark fantasy and horror. From Thulsa Doom in Conan: the Barbarian, to the cult leaders in Call of Cthulhu, we've seen this archetype in a lot of our stories... however, they're usually the antagonist. After all, they have a philosophy that seems nihilistic at best, and existentially terrifying at worst. Who would dedicate themselves to emptying themselves of emotion, desire, goals, and dreams, and leave themselves hollow for the things that live beneath the stars to whisper into? Who would purposefully reach out to the alien, inhuman powers that reside in the corners of the universe, and dedicate themselves to a kind of dark apotheosis to become more than mortal in their servie?

That is the challenge of the Void Priest.

The question you face is how do you inhabit someone who wields the power of the Dark Tapesty, and who still remains a compelling, interesting character in their own right? Have they uncovered a deep truth in the universe that expanded their mind and allowed them to perceive and understand the alien gods who lurk beyond this world? Do they share blood, bond, or sacrifice with eldritch entities, allowing them to exist with a foot in the world of mortals, and the world of these outer beings? Are they a lone hermit who has found communion with the beings beyond this world, or are they an adherent of a cult whose methods, secrets, and rites they've learned and understood since they were a child? Whichever option you take, though, it's important to remember that this is a character that needs to operate as part of a party. Whether they're completely mad, or merely hearing voices from beyond the void, make sure they have the ability to actually function with the rest of the table if you want them to serve as an agent of their dark and inhuman gods.

There are dozens of different ways to play such a character, but the most common build for this one will be to use a cleric with the Void domain (and possibly with the Dark Tapestry subdomain). For those who want to mutate their character over the course of the game, they may also wish to use the Eldritch Heritage feat tree for the Aberrant bloodline, though that is optional.

Exploring The Prim, And The Void

For folks who are looking for a way to play out a Void Priest concept without getting caught up in the nonsense of alignment restrictions, consider checking out my own fantasy setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age for both Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition!

I touched on the topic of cults and faith a while back in the following video, Speaking of Sundara: Cults And The Challenges of Faith!

And for folks who are looking to check out some more stuff from this setting, consider grabbing:

- Gods of Sundara: A break down of the divide between the material realm and the Prim, and how the realm of the spirits and the gods functions. It also comes with 10 sample gods, should players and Game Masters wish! Pathfinder Edition and DND 5E version!

- Cults of Sundara: The sheer number of faiths, gods, and philosophies throughout Sundara has led to the formation of a rather large number of cults throughout the setting. For those who'd like to check them out themselves, get the Pathfinder Edition and the DND 5E version for yourself!

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That's all for this week's Unusual Character Concepts post!

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