The Avatar of Slaughter Comes to Conquer

There are some forces in Humanoid civilisations that are universal, or universal enough that it brings people together. The power of abstract concepts like revenge and learning, violence and communication. These things are far younger than gods, and hold a different level of power.

With the dragon series I've brought with love and care done for the moment, I wanted to look into another ongoing series of things to bring about. Giants are easy, but largely done. Stories by another writer about living embodiments of concepts was where my love of writing truly started. These are my take on endless living concepts. I call them Keepers.

In Keeping With Keepers

As this is the first what will be a new series of articles about The Keepers, it's good to get some of their wider lore and history out there before talking about the one in question.

The Keepers were created spontaneously, out of the collective unconscious of all Humanoids. They aren't omniscient like gods of knowledge, but they have a general awareness of anything that they're a part of. The later mentioned Avatar of Slaughter knows where violence that would slake its desires is being done, but would need to get physically closer to find out the particulars.

Keepers only truly die if their ideal dies with them. The Vessel of Conversation is weakened when in a room where people are silent, but would only truly die if all people everywhere truly stopped talking.

Avatar of Slaughter by Jason A. Engle

Avatar of Slaughter

Death is its own entity, but this keeper oversees and delights in violent, unnecessary death. The Avatar of Slaughter is present in the hearts of any living thing that sows pain or brings death for its own sake. Cults to this entity offer painful tributes and the presence of this Keeper inspired ritual and blood sacrifice into the world's oldest faiths.

This Keeper is among one of the oldest. Like the rest, they appeared spontaneously at the formation of the world, when one person was immensely, needlessly cruel to another. The drive to bring violence stems from this being. As the gods of war began to spread across the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons, it was the warfare committed by the Humanoids in their name that fed the Keeper. Every act of wanton aggression, though it may have fuelled a cause or brought about change, has only ever added more aggression to the world.

The Avatar of Slaughter is largely uninterested in the affairs that created it. It's far more interested in the new and destructive ways humanoids feed it. As it oversees the carnage, its will inspires the victor and the loser. The aggression it radiates is inspiring and intoxicating.

It's said that the Avatar of Slaughter is armed with a legendary sword, called Worldslayer. It's believed, that this was the first sword ever forged in history, and has since grown with power for as long as it's been at the Avatar's side.

Avatar of Slaughter Stats - generated on Homebrewery

Eternal Embodiments

The Keepers are here forever. If you ever decide to use them in your games, consider how a relatively indestructible entity could function. The Avatar of Slaughter would be a great antagonist, but maybe it as an unlikely ally to drive back an invading force or a warrior to beseech tactical advice from may be interesting.

Now we want to hear from you? How would you use an entity like this in your game? Would it be an ally or enemy? What other broad concept could you think of manifesting as a Keeper. Let us know in the comments below or on our Discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.