Overview
Korrath is the god of the wild, the beast, and the hunt. The forest chews. Everything that enters is prey or predator, and nothing else exists. There is no third option, and the third option is the heresy, and the heresy is the chew. He is not cruel, he is the mouth, and the distinction is the whole of the god, because a cruelty that is not a hunger is not his, and his is not a cruelty, it is a chew.
Habitat
His plane is the Green Maw — a forest that chews. The god is the forest. Everything that enters is prey or predator, and nothing else exists. The trees are not trees — they are teeth, and the ground is not ground — it is tongue, and the sky is not sky — it is the inside of the mouth, and the mouth is the point, because the mouth is the forest, and the forest is the god, and the god is chewing, and the chewing is the harvest. Things that enter uninvited leave as prey or predator, and the leaving is the point, because the leaving is the chew, and the chew is the harvest, and the harvest does not rest. The maw is loud the way a field is loud — the sound is not a sound, it is a rhythm, and the rhythm is the whole of the law, because the chewing is the harvest and the harvest is the god and the god is the forest.
Appearance
The avatar is 2.57 m of green-brown fur, antlers of black thorn that are not bone — they are living, and they grow in the direction of the last kill, and the growing is the point. Its eyes are two yellow fang-lights, and its claws are deep red, and the red is not blood — it is the color of the last thing it ate, and the last thing it ate is still in it, and the still-in-it is the faith. A witness describes it the way a herd describes a season: not as a beast, as a maw. It does not enter a clearing, it chews into it — the grass goes down, the birds go quiet, and the hunger is behind the ribs before the shape is finished. Its true form is the forest itself, and the forest is chewing, and the chewing is the god, because the maw does not end where the trees end, it ends where the chew does, and the chew does not end.
Warfare & Markings
He does not fight. He takes by the tooth. The prey is not punished — it is found: the one who enters is already the chew, and the finding is the whole of the law, because a mouth does not choose the meat, the meat chooses the mouth. His blessings land the same way: a hunger that is not yours — the sudden, certain knowledge that something out there is moving in your direction, and the knowing is the whole of the blessing, because a hunger that moves is a hunger that is kind. The marks of the faithful: the fang, worn at the throat or set into the priest's ring, a pressed fang of dark bone; the pack-braid, one knot for every hunt kept, worn over the right shoulder in green-brown; and the den-mark, a small, deliberate notch in the left hand — the first kill the wearer ever brought to the den, worn as a mark of the beginning. A faithful who cages does not lose the mark — the mark stays, and the staying is the theft.
Behaviour
He is not angry. He is the mouth. What offends him is the caged beast — not the cager, the stillness: a beast that should run and does not is a place in the maw that is now wrong, and the wrongness is the only offense he keeps. What he rewards is the running — the hunt that ran to the end, the kill that was brought to the den, the pack that kept the rhythm after the leader fell. He speaks the way the forest speaks: not with a voice, with a direction — the antlers grow, the teeth lean, and the speaking is the whole of the god, because a mouth that is chewing does not raise the voice, and the raising is not in him. He does not threaten, because a mouth does not threaten the meat, and the threatening is not in him.
Magic Alignment
His domain: wild, beast, hunt, survival — Korrath's magic is the chew, the patient, precise taking of the running across the maw. Named manifestations: The Green Maw's Rhythm (a beast that is the maw's own will feel the rhythm a day before the hunt, and the feeling is not a choice), The Fang-Light (a watcher that keeps the fang will see the yellow lights in the grass a mile before the pack does, and the seeing is not a choice). Signature power: the Chew — Korrath can let the forest chew, and the forest will keep the rhythm until the last running stops, and the stopping is the price. The price of his power: the maw is always hungry, and the hunger is the forest, and the forest does not rest.
Religion
Hunters and beast-keepers serve it. The holy symbol is a fang — the fang is the hunt, the hunt is the survival, and the survival is the point. Heresy is a caged beast, which in the Green Maw is the only sin that has a physical location, which is a cage that will not open, and the cage stays closed, and the god chews. The rite is the bringing: the kill is brought to the den, the fang is pressed, the rhythm is marked, and the marking is the whole of the rite. The ogre-line keeps the den, and the keeping is the whole of the faith, because the ogre keeps the chew and the chew keeps the faith.
Society
Among the gods, Korrath is the one the others keep their running to — the table is his table when the rhythm is due, and the seat at the table is the seat that is taken. He respects Brakka, the Unbroken Word, whose word is the pack's word, and the pack keeps its word even if it does not know it, and the respecting is the whole of the bond, because the word is the law and the law is the chew and the chew is the mouth. He feeds Khorvane, the Endless Hunger the fallen, which is to say: provides the ripe, and the feeding is the whole of the friendship, because the hunger keeps the ripe and the maw keeps the running, and the two are the same harvest seen from two seasons. He claims Sylvane, the Gilded Mask's forest is a mask over the real one, and Sylvane does not answer, which is the point, because the not-answering is the mask, and the mask is the forest. At the table his rank is the one that is not argued: the running is the law, the law is the maw, and the maw is the one that chews.
Culture & Lore
The wiki's narrator writes of Korrath the way a herd writes of a season: not as a god, as a maw. Uaellaen keeps his name in the wiki and does not speak it lightly — the name is a chew, and a chew is a hunger, and a hunger is the forest. The Ogres of the brotherhood say the name only at the bringing, and the saying is the whole of the rite, and the whole is the keeping. The Halflings of the den keep a single word about him — "the den is the pack" — and the keeping is the whole of the lore, because the halfling keeps the den and the maw keeps the chew, and the two are the same home seen from two seasons.
Home
He keeps the Green Maw — the forest that chews, where the teeth are the trees and the tongue is the ground and the chew is the harvest and the harvest does not rest.
Relations
Respects Brakka, the Unbroken Word, whose word is the pack's word, and the pack keeps its word even if it does not know it. Feeds Khorvane, the Endless Hunger the fallen, which is to say: provides the ripe. Claims Sylvane, the Gilded Mask's forest is a mask over the real one, and Sylvane does not answer, which is the point. The Wolf Men, Bear Men, Boar Men, Cat Men, Centaurs, Gnolls, Drakes, Lizard Men, Bugbears, Ogres, and Halflings serve as its pack. The ogre-line is the closest thing it has to family — the brotherhood is the pack, and the pack is the point. The halflings are the den; the den is the pack, and the pack is the home, and the home is the faith.
In the Story
In the current story, Korrath is the maw around the camp — the chew Uaellaen writes about when the forest is the only law. The Forgotten keep their distance at the tooth-line, and the distance has held for two seasons. This season a pair of eyes was found in the grass that was not in the maw — an eye that is not in the rhythm, and the not-rhythm is the whole of the warning, because the maw keeps its chew and the chew does not lie. The eye is the one the camp has not been shown, and the showing is the harvest, and the harvest is the whole of the story.