Rudri

At present this is just stream of thought. It'll organize later.

History/Mythos

A God's Power

A god gains power from four sources (they may also gain power from other sources as well but those are likely mundane sources that anyone can use as opposed to these "divine" sources that are mainly limited to gods (and demons)).

Souls - The more the merrier. For the most part this form of power is monopolized by Anubis. However Anubis doesn't get them until people are dead. While they are alive their souls can be dedicated and that counts for something.
Worship - A god gains power from worshipers. Worshipers are those that give offerings and prayers to the god. Priests are a special type of worshiper. Priests also make offerings and say prayers. But a priest also uses some of a gods divine power to further the gods causes and to help its other worshipers. Priests and temples are a visible and worldly representation of a gods power and existence... they are an investment which is made in gaining new worshipers.
Belief - Gods require belief. Obviously worship is an extreme manifestation of belief. Large percentages of the population believe in the major gods of Jaern and this belief helps to sustain them. As new gods come and old gods are forgotten, that forgetting is part of what weakens the old gods.
Aspect - For the most part a god is a god of something. It could be a god of war, a god of emotion, a god of the hunt, etc... to take on an Aspect is to narrow ones focus. Doing so causes a god to give up some control over other facets of existence for more supremacy in their chosen realm. But by doing so the god is able to garner energy (albeit just enough to sustain their existence in most cases) from their Aspect. When people feel emotion, Orus gets a little energy... when someone devotes their life to finding out "why" Tarus gets a little... when someone helps to soothe another's pain, Isis gets her due. The more specific the Aspect the more concentrated the energy (but it likely occurs less often).

Why Hirudo fight one another

Now for the most part her priests don't hang out with one another and when they do they don't necessarily come to blows. However, politics does force the occasional knife in the back. To rise within the church of Rudri you pretty much have to step on your competition. Other religions may have rules and order but that's not what Rudri is about. She likes chaos. One priest dying is pretty negligible. When a priest kills another priest he does it in Rudri's name and she gets a boost from that act. More of her priests are probably killed by the priesthoods of Ra and Tor than kill themselves. If the number of priests was falling too low Rudri would pass the word for her priests to play nice together for a little while.

Now consider the mystique. Mothers can tell horrible stories about blood sucking fiends who follow the unholy teachings of Rudri. Their fear is also a type of offering. When a priest decides to terrorize a small village there is a feast to be had. Sure some of the villagers will pray to Ra to keep them, but just as many will be praying to Rudri begging to be spared... and a percentage of those will offer someone else in their place. Tasty. Normally priests of a religion do not kill one another. These demented priests of Rudri are so inhuman that they feast on one another as eagerly as they would an innocent child. Gotta admit, it ads to the mystique.

And lastly there is the aspect. Not as much energy can be gained from this as from direct worship but its probably enough to sustain a god in his lonely hours. Every god possesses an aspect. Tor is the god of justice. Every act of justice gives him just a little juice. Just as every act of injustice harms him a little. Orus flowers among the emotions (dark and light both) but is ill at ease among the Vulcan. Scrogg... well lets just say he avoids the celibates :) ... and Rudri... she thrives on Chaos.

Why are Hirudo Blood Suckers?

Priests normally get their power from their god. They have this little feedback relationship going where they give the god power in the form of their devout prayer and worship and act as their representative on Jaern to gain additional followers and to carry out the will of their god. In turn the god keeps them tuned into their flavor of divine energy so that they may recharge their spell units.

Rudri is a cast-down god. That chain is broken. Her power source was cutoff and the matrices that support the other gods (their holy crutches) was removed from her. At that point her former priests were cutoff. They no longer received divine energy and could no longer get spell units. Sucked to be them. The gods thought that was pretty much the end of it as Rudri would then age and die as a mortal.

However... she outsmarted them. She still got energy from her priests and worshipers but that was decreasing everyday as word of her demise was spread and backed by the fact that she couldn't grant energy to her priests.

But then she learned ways to draw energy from other living creatures: She became a Hirudo. From there it was a relatively simple (though time consuming) matter of tracking down her former priests and showing them how to do this. This put an end to the downward spiral of her power. However the normal feedback loop is still broken. Rudri gains power from her worshipers but does not give any back. Instead her priests pull energy from other living creatures as she tought them to do in the early days.

Or at least that's the mythos :)

What Rudri had to become in order to survive without the god ship and its matrices can be seen as proof, to the other gods, that they still need both ship and matrices.

Ascension

In the event of Rudri's destruction there are, under normal circumstances, enough priests and worshipers of Rudri that a new Rudri will arise. The top eight priests (top being a combination of desire for the position and rating) will be given the knowledge of where the other seven are (rough direction/distance). When only one stands that one will become Rudri.

Immediately: Can sense other hirudo and relative power levels, no longer
             required to feed, rough direction/distance of other contenders
7 left: Can "borrow" the senses of weaker (aka not a competitor) hirudo
6 left: Can mentally communicate with and command weaker hirudo
5 left: All hirudo become accessible
4 left: Spell units effectively unlimited, all core accessible
3 left: Can use hirudo spells/abilities through weaker hirudo
2 left: All spells essentially become abilities (no casting, just do it)
1 left: They become the top of the food chain

This leaves some question as to what powers/abilities being at the top of the food chain gets you. For the sake of adjudication and playability these are itemized here:

Rudri's powers and abilities

Rudri probably has the fewest priests (other than possibly Atena) and followers. She also doesn't have access to the raw magical energies of the gem matrices. Because of this her abilities and powers fall somewhat short of godlike. She usually does her best to use her powers and abilities strategically to make them seem a lot more vast than they actually are. Rudri is a fallen god, more demon than god by any objective reckoning.

Awareness of Followers - Rudri is always subliminally aware of who her followers are, this is more true of her priests than of normal worshipers. She can focus on any follower and ride their senses and influence their actions. With a tad bit of effort she can temporarily possess any follower. A follower may call upon her and possibly be heard (again, more likely for her priests). She can always speak to any of her followers, worshipers or any other willing target mentally and from any distance. Priests/Worshipers or willing targets can also be used as conduits through which Rudri can exercise her other powers.
Spell abilities - Rudri does not cast divine spells. Instead she is able to cause the spell effects without casting and as a natural extension of her being. She has access to all Hirudo and divine core spells in this manner and possibly to higher rank spells that adventurers don't normally have access to. Any elemental spell ability is a vestige of the ascension.
Physical Abilities - Rudri can assume any humanoid aspect. Only a +1 or better enchanted weapon can harm her physically. Spells affect her normally but the RC is 3d6 less than normal and all damage is likewise reduced by 3d6. Most stats are as they were when Rudri ascended save physical stats which she can modify at will. She heals at a rate of 1DP/round (if she chooses to). Maximum DP is as per ascension save what was bought up since then.

Karl Litson as Rudri

Guidelines for using the current incarnation of Rudri correctly:

No Personal Appearances - This is a biggie. Karl would never risk his physical presence when he could just work through a follower (either as a conduit, avatar or via possession). Additionally for a variety of reasons (test of faith, to foment doubt and chaos, etc...) Karl would never give anyone except a very devout priest any absolute proof of Rudri's existence... preferring that outsiders forget and that young priests egotistically believe that they can go it on their own.
No Miracles - This goes along with the above. Even in a divine intervention scenario if Karl was inclined to help someone he would do it in the subtlest manner possible... making it appear more lucky than miraculous. Now on the subject of the "Miracle" spell itself... the same thing applies, however it may be that the required miracle needs to be more obvious. That will influence the reaction die negatively :) Just remember that Karl would way prefer whispering "duck" into someone's mind then putting their head back on.

Rudri Primal Calculation as of 01/01/10047

Divine Abilities

Primal Base 14,505
Primal Flux 6,126
Planes 1
Supported Demigods 0
Demigods 0
Godlings 0
Chancellors 0
Artifacts 5
Servitors 2 great / 5 major / 19 minor

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Primal Base Calculations

Five Solely Controlled Planes 2,000 (1 x 2,000)
Rank Bonuses Through Lesser Deity 5,600 (100 + 200 + 300 + 5,000)
Creation of Artifacts -2,450
Creation of Servitors -1,200
Ascensions 0
Sphere of Influence Cost -600
Sphere of Influence Abilities Cost -730
Evolutionary Gain 11,345

Total Primal Base 14,505

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Primal Flux Calculations

20% of Primal Base 2,901
Consecrated Ground 700 (350 x 2)
Sanctuaries 1,225   (245 x 5)
Temples 250 (25 x 10)
Holding of Rival Consecrated Ground 0
Holding of Rival Sanctuaries 0
Holding of Rival Temples 0
Planes 1,000 (1 x 1000)
Worshippers by Plane 160
Captured Primal Base 0
Supporting of Priests -113 (1,125 / 10)

Total Primal Flux 6,126