Heretic Warband Patrons

It is a rare warband indeed that can operate long in the constant bloodshed of No Man’s Land without the backing of a powerful Patron. To survive, you need supplies, reinforcements and weaponry, and thus most warbands are sworn to a powerful leader of one kind or another: Whatever this is the Duke of New Antioch Constantine XI, the Supreme Pontiff, a powerful pasha or emir, or a warrior saint or even the Archangel Michael himself, a warband leader can rely on support from the organization of their Patron.

For Heretic leaders, the choice of a Patron is literally a matter of life and death. Each member of demon nobility vies for talented followers to carry out their will and enhance their prestige within the Infernal hierarchy.

An ambitious Heretic Priest planning an expedition must weigh carefully which Patron to throw their lot in, and select a master from a bewildering cavalcade of earls, marquises, dukes, princes and barons of Hell. Each offers unique powers and gifts to their followers in return for unquestioning loyalty and obedience in all things, no matter how foul the deed is that the Patron demands.

Depicted here is Succoth-benoth, Childe of Baphomet, one of countless offspring of the fecund Lord Baphomet, who, bearing both seed and womb, gives birth to their own children. A popular Patron of Heretic Priests, Succoth-benoth makes their devotees eloquent and twisted in wisdom, allowing them to dominate mortals against their will. They teach magic to warp body and mind, leaving grotesque heaps in their wake. They set cities, castles and great places on fire, and demand the intestines and eyes of captured enemies and animals be sacrificed on altars so they can add them into the foulness of their body.

Those especially favoured by this wicked demon may be bestowed with a flaming lance in the image of their fell lord. Wounds wrought by such weapons never cease burning, with flickering flames tormenting the flesh of their victims both in this life and the next.