The second of the major gods, and a controversial one.
The Divine Flesh
The Church of Consumption
Locked away in the secret Church of the Divine Flesh (or Church of Consumption), trapped and placed in a magical slumber, is a god whose name has been all but forgotten. Its clergy discovered that the flesh of the god allowed them the power of the divine, without any of the necessary worship and prayer that all other clerics require. By consuming a portion of the god’s flesh, these clerics are able to wield powers akin to any cleric. Furthermore, that chunk of raw flesh is impossible to digest and remains lodged in the stomach of the cleric, meaning that they can never be parted from this Holy Symbol.
The clerics of this order are gluttons, always on the search for new things to eat and drink, flesh to sample, and gold to build their churches and enhance their power. The Church’s ultimate goal is to raise an army to conquer the Heart of the Gods and make themselves into gods. That, and taste the flesh of the other deities to see if their flesh will grant them any power. They have also discovered that by consuming fresh meat, they can, for a limited time, take on the ‘power’ of their meal; be it animal or an intelligent creature.
Other churches see this religious order as dangerous and heretical, and seldom want anything to do with them.
Holy Symbol
The raw chunk of flesh carved from the body of their imprisoned and sleeping god is the clerics’ Holy Symbol. It abides in their stomach or intestines, requiring some cutting and probing to remove it from the cleric’s possession. Around their necks and on their religious vestments, they wear a more mundane symbol of an entwined fork and spoon, usually silver.
Bonus Proficiency
If this variant Cleric is chosen, the character gains the bonus proficiency of Divine Health, as the flesh absorbs all forms of disease, making the consumer immune to all diseases, mundane and magical.
Alternate Power (in exchange for Turn Undead)
By eating the flesh of a recent kill (or still living creature), the cleric can temporarily gain an associated power or skill: for animals, or other creatures with no souls, that have been killed without one hour per level of the Cleric, the power or skill is based on the animal and gained for a single turn. For example, eating the flesh of an eagle will allow flight or eagle-eyes, while eating a venomous snake grants the cleric a poisonous bite. The Judge has the final say on the power or skill attained.
However, if a cleric eats the flesh of a creature with a soul (requiring that they are alive when the flesh is carved, since the death of such a creature disassembles the body), they gain a power or class-feature for a number of hours equal to the Level or Hit Dice of the consumed creature. For example, eating the flesh of a 5th-level Fighter would give the Cleric the Damage Bonus feature for five hours; while eating a Troll could give regeneration for several hours (and trolls are therefore hunted by the church, as their regeneration makes an unending meal).
Manifesting as a giant eye atop the tower that is the main church of this faith, the god known as the All-Seeing Eye holds an eternal vigil against all that is corrupt and unholy, with its priesthood dedicated to hunting down and executing minions of Chaos. Many of the judges and lawyers of the old world were clergy from this church.
