Ranivorus
by Marco Dalmonte(Yeenoghu)
Patron of Gnolls, Patron of Raiders, Lord of Madness
Level, Alignment, Sphere: 16 (Celestial), CE, Entropy
Symbol: a human head with five snakes coming out of the mouth
Portfolio: gnolls, madness, raiding, destruction, deceit
Worshipped in: Known World (Broken Lands, Ylaruam, Northern Reaches), Hule, Yazak Steppes, Hollow World (Nithia)
Appearance: a hirsute yellow furred 17' tall gnoll with powerful drooling jaws and spiked fangs wearing a black plate mail and with two footman's flails in both hands.
History: Ranivorus was one of the first gnolls bred by the Nithians around BC 1050. He soon proved to be a charismatic leader with chaotic and destructive tendencies and grouped under his shadow many other mischievous gnolls. In the end, he led the gnolls to rebel against their Nithian masters, and in the mass uprising that followed was able to flee from Nithia, guiding his gnoll followers to wreak havoc to the four corners of the Known World. His folly and sadism attracted Thanatos's attention, who put the bloody gnoll on the path towards immortality. After pushing his fellow gnolls to invade Traladara in BC 1000, Ranivorus was in fact one of the few who were able to survive their defeat, and moved westwards rampaging the countries he met, until tribe his stopped in Hule, and there he reached immortality in the sphere of Entropy at the end of the X century BC. From that day, Ranivorus's cult spread among the surviving gnolls with few rare exceptions (the Grugraakh of Graakhalia and some tribes of Hardanger gnolls). He cooperated with Thanatos to corrupt the Nithian society with promises of power to its leaders, and ultimately caused the downfall of his hated masters.
Personality: Ranivorus was a good pupil of Thanatos, and has become a hateful, chaotic and destructive deity. He loves to watch creatures harm one another, he revels in bringing madness and desperation in the mortals' souls, and enjoys corrupting the weaker spirits with evil deceits. He often uses his shamans to rally humanoids in warbands and spread violence and chaos on Mystara. Ranivorus hates Pflarr (patron of Nithians) and Halav (patron of Traldars) with fiery passion, and competes with Karaash to gain more followers among the humanoids. Garal is also viewed as an enemy, because he represents a part of his ancestry which he despises (since gnolls were created mixing gnomes and trolls).
Patron: Thanatos
Allies: sometimes teams up with Thanatos
Enemies: Halav, Pflarr, Karaash, Garal
Classic D&D Stats:
Followers' alignment: Neutral and Chaotic; clerics must be Chaotic
Favoured weapons: footman's flail (allowed all bludgeoning weapons)
Clerics' skills & powers: clerics can bring temporary madness upon a living being once a day if he fails his save vs Spells (it causes the victim to drool for 1d4 rounds doing nothing else); madness can influence only creatures up to 4HDs (total HD that can be influenced with a single use is equal to shaman's level); bonus Fighting frenzy general skill
Avengers' skills & powers: fear spell-like power twice a day
D&D 3E stats:
Domains: Entropy, Chaos, Evil, Destruction, Madness
Preferred weapon: footman's flail
Sources: GAZ10, HWR2, HW, WotI, GAZ2