Cult of the Fanged Lamb

[Tom Kalbfus]

Think of how people see the top of the corporate ladder.
That’s how lambs think of wolves.

We call it the food chain, but we don’t think of what the second word means to the animals at the bottom link. The food chain, to the Apex Predator, isn’t a chain. It’s a whip meant to keep their food in line.

Imagine what would happen if the social structure was inverted permanently. The pain the new predators would inflict on their new prey.

That’s what happened in Xaragotaz’ Jungle.

The squirrels devour the eagles, the woodpeckers tear the snakes into shreds, rebelling against the very laws of nature themselves. Hooves become claws, wool becomes leathery hide, and horns grow sharper. The only beasts immune to this phenomenon are humans and their thinking companions.

At the heart of the jungle, one monster and their elite warriors hunt for the last shreds of resistance from the old authority.

The Sheep hunt for wolves now.

Xaragotaz was once a god of bounty, often represented in the image of a lamb, representing the kinder side of nature. When the divine realms shattered, the beast quickly realized that the real world was harsh and cruel, and changed itself according.

As the cultists that worship Xaragotaz say, “A sheep in wolf’s clothing becomes the new wolf.”

Xaragotaz is now a monstrous beast that radiates an aura of predation. Beasts that were previously prey become monsters, able to rend their new food asunder.

The Church of Xaragotaz
Even though humanoids are immune to the mutations Xaragotaz’ aura inflicts, they are not unaffected. People who live within the jungle go mad with zeal for the new Xaragotaz’ beliefs.

They call themselves the Herd of the Fanged Lamb.

Nomadic barbarians, they are feared by all. They kidnap lone travelers at night. They agree to leave their victims alive if they can survive till dawn in the wilderness. Of course, the Herd tends to catch them right before dawn.

The Herd despises civilization, seeing it as a different extension of the food chain. They don’t build towns, they don’t even build shelters. They sleep under the stars, or under the branches of the trees, if they reside in their holy land.

Blood sacrifices are made to Xaragotaz, but they are not wrapped in ritual. Sacrifices are ripped limb from limb by the tribe, and the priests read their entrails.

It's more of a food pyramid, at the bottom are the plants, the next are the herbivores, and then come the carnivores. If you turn the food pyramid upside down the whole thing would collapse and you'd have only the plants left which have eaten everything else.