Xbeltz’aloc

• Demonym: Xbeltz’aloci
• Alignment: True Neutral
• Domains: Death, Grave, Nature
• Titles: The Three-Eyed; Nightcrawler; Nocture Parade.
• Holy Symbol: A war mask with three diamond-shaped eye sockets.

Hunters of the Yharnian tribes stalk the jungle for games, resources, and invaders during the day, but as night falls, all of them retreats into the shelters in their tribal settlements, cowering in fear of those that stalks the jungles in the night. Skittering noises, whispering voices, glowing eyes in the dark, all forming a pattern, a sigil, a name, a crawler in the night.

The name Xbeltz’aloc, passed down in ancient stories and murals, depicts the animalistic pack leader and ancestor of the skinwalkers and the jungle predators alike. He manifests in the jungles of Yharn at night, as a phenomenon known as ‘The Nocturne Parade’, where swarms of beasts sweep under the canopy, feasting on all caught in their path. The tribesmen fear the Three-Eyed silent watcher of the night, as to be under his mercy is to be under the mercy of the jungle, to be killed, torn to pieces, and fed to the inhabitants of this land.

Xbeltz’aloc are depicted as various different animals, but all wearing a war mask bearing his symbol, three diamond-shaped eye sockets, glowing from within. As the Yharnic patron god of skinwalkers, Xbeltz’aloc watches the primal jungles of Yharn, and enforces the natural orders, that the jungle shall be fed and those that came from the land shall return to the land. Up to different designations he is also worshipped across Terre as the god of animals. Majority of followers of Xbeltz’aloc are skinwalkers, and enacts his wills, that mortals shall return to the soil and rest peacefully so.

Necromancy and the Undead

Xbeltz’aloci belief dictates that what comes from the land shall return to the land, leaving nothing behind. Death is a normal part of the cycle of life, and to attempt to escape from death is a defilement to nature.

The practice of undeath and traditional necromancy is a shared enemy between most, if not all, deities of Terre. The state of undeath is when death does not properly remove will from life, imprisoning the soul and locking it away from returning to the leylines. Xbeltz’aloc is perhaps the most opposed to undeath among all of the deities, and will expand his influence and faith to remove any undeath and necromancy from Terre.

It is interesting, however, that the harsh, hostile, and unforgiving environment of the Yharnian jungles gives rise to the belief that nothing should be wasted and all resources should be properly expended. As a result, shamanic, ritualistic reanimation of corpses, in which the caster controls the bodies with a fraction of their own willpower, is not uncommon. Seeing that the soul has been properly returned to the leylines through burial rites and other rituals, Xbeltz’aloc allows such shamanic necromantic practices, but such approval is often not shared with other deities of Terre.

Relationship with Other Deities

Among the many deities of Terre, Xbeltz’aloc is one of the most mysterious ones, surrounded by mysticism, and a unique culture of those who worship him. He is vehemently opposed to traditional practices of necromancy, that of severing the soul from its normal cycle of life, and is thus in accord with druidic deities such as Furion and Faevan in theory. However, Xbeltz’aloci practices of reanimation and shamanic necromantic rituals are controversial among almost all other beliefs.