Ahalt the Drinker

[satakuua]

I liked it they tried to do something outside the Big Four, but did it ever gain any traction, is there anything other than the entry in Sigmar’s Heirs?

[Sword of Solkan]

To my knowledge, no. Ahalt the Drinker is briefly mentioned in Tome of Salvation as well but it doesn't add any additional information.

I've never heard of anyone using him in a game, although he seems well suited to a Wicker Man style scenario.

[satakuua]

Gotcha. A shame, but I guess it is understandable.

[Angelman]

I'm entertaining the idea of building a kind of The Wicker Man type mini-campaign based on the Ahalt faith. I think it's quite an interesting and rich concept for a personal & local drama set in some rural backwater. Don't know yet if this is what I'll do for the next campaign I design, but I am quite intrigued by the whole thing

[satakuua]

I'm entertaining the idea of building a kind of The Wicker Man type mini-campaign based on the Ahalt faith. I think it's quite an interesting and rich concept for a personal & local drama set in some rural backwater. Don't know yet if this is what I'll do for the next campaign I design, but I am quite intrigued by the whole thing

If you do, let us know!

[Angelman]

If you do, let us know!

Sure!

I'm not certain I'll go with this yet, and I am entertaining other ideas (see the "Wanna help me design my next campaign" topic I just made), but the basic premise for the Ahalt-story is, thus far, this:
A Taal priest visiting one of the baron's villages is found murdered. The baron's son and heir, along with his cohort of friends (i.e. the adventuring party), are sent to find out what happened before official investigators arrive to turn the rural barony upside-down. Their initial goal will be to find the culprit and tie the entire sorry thing up into a pretty bow in anticipaiton of a magistrate from the city and/or Taal priest inquisitors comes, but of course things go downhill fast! The village are a secretive lot who keep old traditions and hold various cultural & economic trump cards over the baron (i.e. they are the most prosperous village in the barony with centuries old privileges and a large population that the baron cannot afford to alienate). Cooperation is hard to come by and the adventurers soon begins to suspect deep-rooted problems in the willfull village...

[Orin J.]

I liked it they tried to do something outside the Big Four, but did it ever gain any traction, is there anything other than the entry in Sigmar’s Heirs?

he (briefly) turns up in the 3rd edition tome of salvation if i remember- but i'd like to point out that he's not a chaos god and is just a part of the old world pantheon that got muscled out by taal. while probably not outright evil, the remaining cult is apparantly more driven by revenge than faith, honestly. that abut soms up all there is to know about him, i think.

which makes me wonder what the title "the drinker" was for before taal showed up. maybe he was about wines and relaxation and they got some of the proper oldworlder bloody-mindedness after they were nearly purged....

[Angelman]

which makes me wonder what the title "the drinker" was for before taal showed up. maybe he was about wines and relaxation and they got some of the proper oldworlder bloody-mindedness after they were nearly purged....

Ok, I totally didn’t see this myself but you have unveiled what Anhalt is about, Orin J. He is obviously Dionysus, the god of fertility, ritual madness, and wine (i.e. Bacchus to the Romans), and his cult are the Maenads the “raving ones” who roam the countryside tearing people and livestock apart in drunken ecstasy, feeding the dead with blood-offerings. Good catch!

[satakuua]

Oh yes, Dionysus sounds pretty spot on!

[Knight of the Lady]

Yeah, it does seem like Anhalt is a kind of older and more primal sort of Dionysos while the Affairich of Bretonnia probably is a version of the cult that managed to get into respected circles.

[Sword of Solkan]

To my knowledge, no. Ahalt the Drinker is briefly mentioned in Tome of Salvation as well but it doesn't add any additional information.

Turns out I was wrong. Ahalt’s also mentioned a few times in C.L. Werner’s novel The Black Plague, where one of his druids appears as a minor villain.

Ahalt’s described as a “bloodthirsty god
Of wild places”. His magic appears similar to that used by the cult in Apostle, and seems to be mainly fuelled by human blood.

[Jackdays]

Wissenland local Gods: Ahalt (Hunt, Fertility and Sacrifice)

Interesting is the Sacrifice part mentioned… Brutal, wild god. Violent hunts (no mercy), wild sex, and commands blood sacrifices. Even not Chaos-God, but maybe "evil" or so "neutral", that feels mercy is for the weak. Primitive instincts, hunting, blood-druids…

Other interesting possibilities outside Dark Gods could be the outlawed Gods:
- Khaine
- Solden
- Stromfels
- Vylmar