Zon-Kuthon

From StarfinderWiki
Zon-Kuthon
(formerly Dou-Bral)
Holy symbol of Zon-Kuthon
(Deity)

Titles
The Midnight Lord
Adjective
Kuthite
Home
Alignment
Portfolio
Darkness
Envy
Loss
Pain
Worshipers
Sadists, masochists, murders, torturers, slavers, Servants of Midnight, Joyful Things, Akiton, Apostae, the Diaspora, Eox, Verces
Symbol
Skull with spiked chains through its eye sockets
Source: Core Rulebook, pg(s). 492
PFW compass rose 150.png

This article might have further canon details available on PathfinderWiki.

Zon-Kuthon, also known as the Midnight Lord and once named Dou-Bral, is an evil deity of pain, suffering, and loss. His alien mind constantly seeks to degrade and destroy others, but his true goals are incomprehensible: he offers no great reward to his worshippers, and the message is that existence itself is pain.1 Nonetheless, it is through suffering and inflicting such pain that his followers find strength, pleasure and fearlessness.2

History

Dou-Bral was the half-brother of Shelyn, goddess of beauty and love. When Dou-Bral grew jealous of his sister's talents, he took a journey beyond the known Great Beyond. He returned to Golarion forever changed: Dou-Bral as he had been known was gone, replaced with the twisted, malevolent Zon-Kuthon.1 According to a myth in his church, when the previous incarnation of reality ended, Zon-Kuthon escaped beyond the multiverse to survive and infect the next existence. After the Drift Crash, this myth has grown popular due to the appearance of a black hole in the galactic periphery, which drains light and life from nearby star systems to fuel its growth, and which is considered by many Kuthites as the sacred chrysalis which Zon-Kuthon is building to flee the forthcoming apocalypse.3

Home

Zon-Kuthon makes his home in Xovaikain, a planet-sized fortress which occupies the same space that Golarion once did on the Material Plane.4

Cults

Zon-Kuthon is worshipped by masochists, sadists, murderers, torturers, slavers, quack doctors and those driven to madness by sorrow. His worshipers embody his cruelty, jealousy, and nihilism by constantly inflicting pain, whether to others or themselves. His temples are torture chambers, and his rites almost always involve pain and self-mutilation. While Zon-Kuthon and most of his followers are evil, they tend to keep their word and usually are not wanton killers.15

Some tell of thoes whose self-mutilation was great enough to earn Zon-Kuthon's attention and his blessing; others, known as the Servants of Midnight, seek to follow their patron's transformation by piercing the veil beyond the Great Beyond. Those who survive either feat are revered as paragons of the cult. Yet others, known as Joyful Things, voluntarily amputate their limbs and sensory organs, giving them time to develop various inventions, like the shadow engine, a propulsion engine that generates speed from pain and was popular before Drift travel.12

There is no centralised church of Zon-Kuthon. Each individual sect's influence rarely extends beyond their planet or system. Kuthites who seek their fellow devotees' assistance can usually do this through clandestine clinics that practise surgery or body modification. However, the faith is inherently selfish, and such aid usually must be repaid in a literal pound of flesh.2

Relations with other deities

Zon-Kuthon's sister Shelyn's whereabouts are unknown and her guidance to followers is inconsistent, leading some to speculate that she is journeying beyond the Great Beyond as well in search of a cure for her brother's condition.1

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Paizo Inc., et al. Core Rulebook, 492. Paizo Inc., 2017
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kate Baker, et al. “Chapter 4: Faiths” in Galactic Magic, 119. Paizo Inc., 2022
  3. Kate Baker, et al. “Chapter 2: Adventures” in Drift Crisis, 134. Paizo Inc., 2022
  4. Saif Ansari, et al. “The Shadow Plane” in Heart of Night, 50. Paizo Inc., 2019
  5. Saif Ansari, et al. “Heart of Night” in Heart of Night, 8. Paizo Inc., 2019