Umbral Gardners
The Deifilers, the Shadow Gardners, the Vultures
It turns out that particularly militant members of the Athar, accelerationist Sinkers and mysterious druids of the Circle of Shadows have found common ground the Gods’ Graveyard. The Umbral Gardners are a nascent sect, but they have been recruiting new members rapidly from both factions, especially as their members succumb to the Perishing effects of Nether.
Members of the sect have several ambitious plans, but they all ultimately centre around harvesting residual divinity from the cadavers of powers in the Graveyard.
Sect Headquarters: Nether / Gods’ Graveyard. The sect has established itself in a citadel which is built inside an enormous mouth that looks like it erupted from the ground. They found the citadel empty recently and set up inside it without worrying too hard about who built it originally—or who the giant mouth belonged to. Currently, from their base in the Godsmaw, as they’ve named it, the Deifilers are attempting to either expel the Athar from the Gods’ Graveyard, or to have them join their sect.
Sectol: A softly-spoken man with the horns and legs of a satyr, Katurix (planar half-fey-human druid of the Circle of Shadows [he/him] / Deifilers / CE, formerly CN) is a former proxy of the Gaulish power Cernunnos, the Lord of the Wild Hunt.
As for why he’s a former proxy? Well, the chant goes that Cernunnos wanted to test him. If Katurix succeeded, he’d be made into a lesser proxy. Now this test was in the form of a divine mission, and in order to accomplish this he was bestowed with the blessing of Cernunnos, which gave him a taste of the life of a true proxy. As Katurix was nearing completion of his mission‚ the cutter won’t reveal what it was, even to his closest allies—he began to think of the future, and all the incredible feats he’d be able to achieve in the name of Cernunnos.
Once he’d completed his mission, Cernunnos took away his blessing. This was a part of the test, but Katurix did not tumble to that dark. If he’d remained humble he would have succeeded the trial, but Katurix wasn’t any of that. He cried out in confusion and anger as to why his powers were taken from him, he begged and then demanded to have them returned. Cernunnos ignored his pleas, for this reaction meant Katurix has failed the test and wasn’t fit to be a proxy.
Something inside Katurix snapped, and he cursed Cernunnos. In his grief at what he saw as a betrayal, somehow he ended up in Nether. Perhaps that was fate, or perhaps something inside him knew that this was a good way to get back at his former power. For Cernunnos’ part, it’s clear his decision to cut this hot-headed worshipper loose was the right one, but Katurix didn’t see it like that. When he wandered into the Gods’ Graveyard and tumbled to the opportunity it presented, in a fit of pique, Katurix vowed to get his revenge. Now, to most bloods the idea of getting revenge on a power would be daunting to say the least, but Katurix is nothing is not ambitious. His barmy plan seems to revolve around finding a way to strip the divinity from the gods themselves. And to that end, the Deifilers sect is forming around him. This ambitious blood leads the sect’s efforts to find ways to extract divine energy from the remains they dig up from the Graveyard. They are attempting to find a substance which can weaken a power, grow shadow blossoms to use as apocalyptic seeds, and perfect a process to extract residual divinity directly from the corrupted soil.
Sect Rules: The Umbral Gardners do not yet have a defined hierarchy, beyond Katurix ruling the group like some kind of quiet tyrant. Titles have been proposed but only time will tell how the sect shapes up. The only restriction on membership is being religious—a cutter that prays to any kind of power is unfit to be a Deifiler.
Sect Goals: The Deifilers believe—or perhaps hope is a more accurate word at this point—that it’s possible to strip away the divinity from the self-proclaimed powers, thus making them equals of their “clueless followers”. There are several experiments currently being conducted by the Umbral Gardeners in and around the Gods’ Graveyard, the most successful of which is the Apotropaic Garden.
Source: SGreen, Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: The Deifilers are a homebrew sect. More information on the Planes of Cordance can be found here.
