Return to HomePage, BatBlat, Crimson Bat.
The Crimson Bat & Servitors of the Bat
by Roderick Robertson
First published in Moon Rites and reproduced by kind permission of the author.
The Crimson Bat
The Crimson Bat is a horrendous demon that prowls the provinces and neighboring lands for food. It devours the body and the soul and leaves nothing behind. The Emperor has forbidden the bat from feeding within the Heartlands of the Empire but the citizens still fear it and dread its coming. Many battles have been won by the Bat’s appearance and just the rumor of its presence can create a panicked retreat.
Mythology of the Crimson Bat
(See also: Crimson Bat.)
The Crimson Bat was an avatar of the ancient Rinliddi Goddess of Death. Sedenya found the Bat during her quest to discover her Self. She taught the Bat its Self, whereupon it grew extra eyes to see its newfound inner knowledge and became the Goddess’ steed. The Bat first appeared in the Mortal World when the Red Goddess rode it back from the Otherside during the Battle of the Four Arrows of Light. . With the apotheosis of the Goddesss, the bat remained behind, acting as a terror weapon against the enemies of the Empire.
The bat emits a peculiar radiation which affects all lunar magicians as if the moon is continually Full. This effect, called the Glowspot, extends for a radius of 4-20 Km depending on the bat’s current level of satiety. The bat, itself, does not benefit from the Glowspot it creates.
Manifestations: The Bat.
Icons and Images: Bats, bats, bats. Guiding priests wear bat-winged cloaks. The Bat is its own battle-standard. Bat-Crimson is a particular shade of the color red that has only one source, the Blood Tears of the Bat. All cult members wear Bat-crimson and black clothing.
Otherworld Home and Life After Death: The Bat’s Pen is in the Howling Cliff overlooking the Occluded Sea on the Moon. Initiates of the Bat may exit onto the Moon’s surface or to Sedenya’s Throne from the Pen. After death, initiates serve the Bat in the Pen.
Worshippers: The Bat is worshiped only by its tenders, but it receives collateral and/or propitiary worship by the Empire. The entire cult roosts with the Bat. The Rinliddi and Lunar Crimson Bat cults officially respect the other’s perspective, but have little actual contact.
Other Connections: Symbol of Imperial power and authority and Rufelza’s chaos aspect. The Bat is a separate command in the Lunar Army, sent only by the Emperor himself. The High Priest of the Bat can take advice from the commander of the army, or even grant requests, but is not answerable to any general.
Disadvantages: Feared by the Imperial population, hated by all others and shunned by the more fashionable Lunars. Tainted by Chaos. Subject to the Lunar cycle except within the radius of the Glow Spot.
Membership Levels:
Initiate
Initiates are the lowest level of the cult hierarchy, and all aspire to become Guiding Priests. They do the menial work of guarding bat ‘food’, keeping the quarters of their assigned priest spotless, and generally act as a dogs-bodies.
Initiates are only fed to the bat when other sources of food are exhausted.
Initiates are expected to become Guiding Priests as part of their life with the cult. As initiates, they are trained in the abilities and magics of the Cult. Advanced initiates are allowed to attempt to control the bat only under the auspices of a full complement of Guiding priests, ready to take over control at an instant’s notice.
Requirements: A willingness to work for the cult
Abilities: Balance, Myths of the Bat, Resist Fear, Ride bat
Affinities:
Mastery of Bat
Otherworld
Benefits: Initiates are fed to the Bat only when no other fodder is available. Under normal circumstances Initiates are assigned as servants to the Priests. They eat and live well.
Guiding Priest
Guiding Priests are necessary for the safe utilization of the bat. The normal complement of priests in peacetime is five, but when the Bat goes to war two dozen priests supply a surplus of Command magics to keep the Bat controlled. Without the specialized control magics the Bat will revert to its wild state. It may run amok in the countryside, fly away from the battle in a straight line until it reaches the end of the earth, or fly straight home to the Moon. In any event it passes back to the God Plane after it’s run. The Priesthood must perform long and intricate rituals to regain control of the bat, requiring three to seven years to complete.
Requirements: Acceptance by the Bat. Generally this requires Ride Bat of 1w, Myths of the Bat 10w, and a certain ruthlessness.
Physical Abilities: Aerial navigation, Get Bat’s Attention, Pelorian Geography
Affinities:
Emulate Bat (Drain Energy, Chaos Shriek, Acid Breath Cloud, Flight of the Bat, Many Eyes)
Mastery of Bat (Direct Bat, Quiet Bat, Enrage Bat, Command Bat, Commune with Bat)
Otherworld (Defend Against Magic, Call Red Bat Ritual, Bind Spirit, Terrorize Daimon, Deconstruct Essence)
Benefits: Priests of the Bat are never sacrificed to the Bat. They have at least one Initiate as a servant.
Secret: Personal Glowspot. The Priest can act as a Glowspot, affecting himself and anyone he is touching. All Lunar magics act as if the Moon is full.
The Bat
The Crimson Bat is a supernatural entity alive in the Middle World. It receives direct worship from the Cult of the bat and collateral worship from the entire Empire, and is fed live sentient beings every week. As the bat feeds, it grows in power, as shown below.
Size
The bat is huge – at it’s smallest (as when it has just been brought back from the Gods World) it is 20 yards from head to tail, with a 90 yard wingspan. As the bat feeds, it grows in size. There is no theoretical maximum that the bat can attain, though it has never reached sizes beyond ½ mile from head to tail with a wingspan to match. At its smallest it can carry up to 100 men (though cramped). At its larger sizes, the bat can carry the entire membership of the cult and the Bat Guards heroband with no difficulty. The bat cannot be used as a troop carrier, as it will only permit its cult members, the Bat Guards, or direct descendants of the Red Goddess on its back. There is at least a –20 penalty to any attempt to control the bat when it is boarded by strangers. The bat will perform incredible aerobatics to dislodge the interlopers. Members of the Bat cult and Bat Guards may use their Ride Bat ability to stay on in these circumstances.
Attacks
The Bat has many attacks, all of which can be used at the same time. It does not suffer Multiple Target penalties when using any number of its attacks, though an individual attack mode might.
The Bat’s primary attack is its Chaos Scream, affecting everyone in a 1 mile radius (cult members and Bat Guards are immune). This power can affect Otherworld entities currently in the Middle world. Victims defeated by the Chaos Scream are driven mad. Each entity in the affected area is affected separately, and the Bat does not suffer Multiple Target modifiers.
The Bat can belch forth a cloud of Acid that affects everything in a 50 yard radius around the Bat (cult members on the back of the bat are unaffected). This acts as a separate opponent with a 4w Acid attack. It attacks on the Bat’s action until defeated separately. The Acid Cloud is normally used against ground targets prior to the Bat attacking them physically. The Bat it simply uses an Unrelated Action to belch forth the acid, no roll is needed.
The Bat can squeeze chaotic blood from it’s numerous eyes, coating the affected targets. This attack can only be made against targets to the front of the bat, within 80 yards. Each 7 AP lost by the target acts as a Wound against all magical abilities of the target (affinities, the chance of casting spells from a Grimoire, the powers of a fetish, etc). In addition, there is the possibility of gaining some sort of chaotic feature from this blood. At the end of the contest multiply the number of "wounds" by 5. This number is then used in an attack on the hero’s best magical ability (remember that it is reduced by the "wounds"). If the Blood scores a Major or Complete Success, the hero acquires a random Chaos feature.
Finally, the wind of the Bat’s wings will knock down people, trees and structures directly under the bat. Fliers beware!
The Bat rarely targets a human sized target unless it is actively feeding. A mere human is too small to worry about. The bat’s normal targets are entire military units or villages. The Bat can easily bite large targets (one of the Bat’s chaotic abilities allows it to bite and swallow things up to its own size, if it finds any…). Defeated targets are chomped in pieces, about half of which immediately fall into the Bat’s mouth, the rest of which are gathered up by the tentacles and delivered there the next round. The Bat has three tongues, one 100 yards long, one 200 yards long, and one 300 yards long. These are primarily used to scoop up food and bring it to the bat’s mouth. Each tongue has its own AP and attack ability. Targets defeated by the attack of the tongue are grabbed and brought to the bat’s moth. Those who simply lost AP were slapped aside by the tongue as it went past. The tongues suffer Multiple Target Penalties, and can be attacked separately from the bat.
The Bat’s mouth is surrounded by tentacles that help it gather food. Anyone within 10 yards of the bat’s mouth (5 yards when on the bat’s head and not a member of the cult) is attacked by tentacles. Defeated victims are brought into the bat’s mouth. The Bat swallows at the end of it’s action. Living creatures in the bat’s mouth are swallowed and are crushed by its crop, squeezed through its throat, and are finally dumped in its stomach, where powerful digestive juices strip the entity into its composite parts (soul, spirit, essence, meat), each of which is digested by the bat in a separate digestive action.
The Glowspot
The Bat emanates Lunar radiation, giving all Lunar magicians the benefit of the Full Moon if they are within 2 miles of the bat, no matter the current phase of the moon. The size of the Glowspot is constant, no matter the size of the Bat.
Magical Protection
The Bat absorbs magic cast at it or any of its followers who are on its back. This is an automatic Marginal Defeat to the person who cast the magic (ie, loss of any AP bid on the magical attack). This defense is only available to those followers in direct physical contact with the bat at the time of casting: a priest flying above the bat is not so protected. This only affects magic directly cast at the Bat or its followers (Cult member or Bat Guard); magic used to augment an attacker’s mundane ability is not so affected.
The Bat Stat
Significant Abilities: Large 5w5 – 15w7
Attacks:
Acid Cloud 4w, Chaos Scream 15w4, Chaotic Eye Spit 12w2, Tongues 10w2, Tentacles 5w, Bite 18w4, Stomach Acid 15w4, Wing Buffet 13w4, Absorb Magic 15w5
Ticks
The back of the Bat is crawling with giant ticks, each one six inches to a foot across. Anyone other than a Bat cultist who lands on the back is attacked in short order. Tick attacks are treated as Collective Ratings with each tick contributing 18 AP to the attack. Defeated opponents are drained of blood and killed unless rescued.
Tick Abilities: Bite 18
Servitors of the Bat
The Bat serves the Empire, we serve the Bat!
The Bat Guards are the guardians against physical or magical menaces that may threaten the guiding priests of the bat (the bat can usually take care of itself). Secondary duties include rounding up the bat fodder and guarding the Pen. When on 'Fodder Raids' the guards use cudgels, nets and non-lethal magic to subdue their prey without killing them. When acting as guards to the priests, the guards fight with cool competence to put down their opponent as quickly as possible (often throwing them off the side of the bat when it is in the air). Guards in good standing are never sacrificed to the bat, they gather those that will be sacrificed.
Common Names: Feeders, Bat Guards.
Form: Military guard unit.
Cultural Context: Guardians of the Priests of the Crimson Bat.
Ideology: Guard the Bat and its priests. Serve the Bat
Look and Feel: Members of the Bat Guards are accepted from all Lunar regiments, and occasionally from other Imperial regiments. They are veterans and volunteers, and are extremely competent at what they do. Berserking and other ‘wild’ behavior is not tolerated.
Purpose: To ensure that the Bat is always ready at the Emperor’s command. The Bat Guards ensure that the Bat is fed, provide physical and magical security for the priests, and act as guards against attacks by flying enemies.
Headquarters: : The Bat’s Pen on the Moon.
Reactions: Bat Guards are seen as heroes by a few, a necessary evil by most people in the Empire, and with fear and loathing in the Provinces or across the border.
Resources
Leader: Renalarvus El-Arish.
Renowned Members: Serendar Five-eyes, Fethu the Leaper.
Membership: The official muster of the band is 120 officers and men.
Other Contacts:
The Bat is an important weapon of war, and the Bat Guards are part of the Lunar war machine. It is also the personal steed of the Red Goddess and takes part in several important Lunar rituals.
Organization
Membership Keyword
Membership Requirements:
A sincere desire to serve the Bat. Typically, the Guards have their choice of candidates, and can choose the most skilled. Typical abilities of a candidate would be Close Combat and at least one Lunar Magical ability at 10w or better.
Abilities taught: Close Combat (Cudgel, Net, Spear and shield), Find hiding person, Guard prisoner coffle, Interrogation, Ride Bat.
Typical Personality Traits: Pragmatic, Callous.
Magic:
Emulate Bat (Drain Energy, Chaos Shriek, Acid Breath Cloud, Flight of the Bat, Many Eyes)
Guardian Being
Method: Manifest. The Bat itself is the Guardian Being of the band.
Form: The Crimson Bat
Membership Requirements: Follow the orders of the officer in command. Work for the good of the Empire by serving the Crimson Bat and its Priests.
Awareness Function: Many Eyes. The Bat can detect any type of entity: Physical, Spirit, Daemon, Essence or Chaotic.
Blessing Function: Guard from the Bat. Members of the Heroband are immune to many attacks of the bat, particularly its Chaos Scream, Acid Cloud, Eye Spit and Tentacles, and are not attacked by the Ticks which infest its back. Guards may be accidentally attacked by the tongues or tentacles if they are in a batch of targets being eaten.
Defense Function: Absorb Magic. Any magic cast at Heroband members on its back is absorbed by the bat.
Return to HomePage, BatBlat, Crimson Bat.