Church of Luthic

The church of Luthic was the primary religious organization dedicated to the worship and service of the orc goddess Luthic, The Cave Mother. They were commonly called Luthicans.

"An orc life is a god-ridden life. Luthic's at birth, Luthic's at death, and striving to prove themselves to Gruumsh in between."

- Elminster's notes in Volo's Guide to Monsters.

Dogma
Integral to the Cave Mother's teachings was of the importance of earth, with which she had a strong affinity. Life sprang forth from the ground and the caverns sheltered that life, for caves were the bastion of orc strength and a source of their valor, ensuring the race would survive as long as they stayed close to the earth (and Luthic with it). Being the orc goddess of fertility, (moreso for females, with Gruumsh being prayed to for male virility) Luthic also demanded that orcs mated often and indiscriminately to ensure the race's hordes would swell each generation.

Perhaps most crucially, the followers of the Blood Moon Witch were to honor her wisdom, for Luthic's strength was at the core of an orc horde and an orc's bravery. Enduring the hardships of life, understanding one's position in the tribe, and doing one's part to strengthen and guarantee the tribe's survival against the predations of its rivals was paramount.

Activities
Many aspects of orc life fell under Luthic's purview, and as such the duties of her priestesses and priests were varied. Luthicans helped to restore and maintain the morale of the tribe, and as Luthic was a god of servitude (particularly female servitude) performed several "household" tasks. They were the crafters, builders, and engineers responsible for manufacturing the crude weapons, armor, and other few items needed by orcs on a daily basis, as well as fortifying and maintaining their strongholds and watching over the food supply.

Luthic's followers were given raid captives and used them as slave labor to dig more space, as well as perform other menial tasks. Even so, Luthic's followers emulated her by personally digging deep into the caverns of their dens to create more living space for the desired, ever-expanding population while the rest of the tribe raided. Luthic's clergy formed the stable base of many tribes, ensuring a steady, healthy crop of future warriors were born each year. Orc tribes fully devoted to Luthic, known as Vile Rune tribes, stayed underground most of the time and conducted fewer raids, but acted with greater ferocity when their homes were threatened.

As followers of a god of healing and primitive medicine, most Luthicans were skilled in such ways, and as well as teaching simple herbalism to others, attended to the wounded, the young, and those about to give birth. The latter females were relieved of their other duties and taken to the lair's whelping pens, where Luthic's faithful acted as midwives. The Cave Mother's symbol and favored beast was the cave bear, and her followers honored this aspect by raising such creatures alongside orc whelps, using their pets to guard the squabbling spawn as well as resting slaves.

Membership
Few orcs directly prayed to Luthic, but she was among the most accepting of the orc gods and her clergy was prominent in most tribes, if only because she claimed the majority of female adherents. Males could also join despite her representation of the opposite sex, though they had be lawful evil as opposed to females who could be any evil, while nearly every other orc god permitted only male clerics. Males typically worshiped Luthic for her healing abilities and personal ferocity, and she was generally worshiped by orcs and half-orcs alike who desired safety, but her following was outwardly weak compared to most and subservient to that of Gruumsh.

Orcs believed that orogs, orcs with exceptional strength and intellect, had been blessed by Luthic, and were a gift to the tribe. Some orc chiefs feared them, and felt tempted to kill the young ones to preserve their positions even though doing so would likely anger Luthic, so they were raised out of sight. However, what most chiefs didn't understand was that orogs served more as a balancing force, for they were indoctrinated by Luthic's priestesses to protect other Luthicans and non-raiders in a tribe and prevent the tribe from splintering when the old chief died and/or many warriors were killed. Orcs guarding Luthican clerics fought with feral madness that made them dangerous, but also more vulnerable to attack. Still, orogs typically worshiped Gruumsh and Luthic foremost because of their might, and a rogue olog might seek to create a religious schism in the tribe.

Aside from orcs, Luthic was also worshiped by some earth genasi, whether or not they were devoted enough to be actual clerics.

Classes


Luthic's particularly devoted grew out and lacquered their nails in imitation of their goddess, which the Blood Moon Witch sometimes rewarded by making their claws as tough as iron, talons that they would learn to use as weapons just as Luthic did. The most powerful of the Cave Mother's disciples were the Claws of Luthic, who tended to the orc brood, raising them to be as strong and cruel as their parents, from deep within the caves. Given magic to heal, protect, and curse, Luthic's claws would keep the tribe together by any means necessary, whether by tradition and superstition, omen and ceremony, or fear and force. To be beaten and bloodied would only make them fight all the harder.

Many orc tribes forbade females from touching weapons, though if allowed to carry arms, Luthican worshipers used edged weapons aside from arrows. To defend themselves against the raiders of other tribes, Luthicans learned unarmed combat, utilizing the martial prowess of a monk to defeat their foes. A few of them became runecasters, using magic learnt from the giants that sometimes lived alongside orc tribes. Some combined clerical magic, runic power, and monastic study to become the rumored runeclaws. Sometimes these were female orcs too old for childbirth, especially the older wives of orc chiefs, that wanted to prove they were still useful.

Rituals
The clerics and adepts of Luthic prayed for their spells nightly, when the moon was highest in the sky. The holy days of Luthic were tied to the moon, particularly the new moon, which was symbolic of orc fertility. Luthican priests celebrated the Feast of the Moon as the Coming of the Winter Cave, since most tribes would have to retreat to Cave Mother's earthy embrace during the winter months, and during this festival much mating was performed and many children were conceived, adding to the ranks of future warriors. Sacrifices of various treasures were also offered to the Great Mother on Midwinter.

Speaking of The Blood Moon Witch was normally taboo for most, given her penchant for spreading sickness when her name was used inappropriately, but the savage priests of Gruumsh came out of their caves under blood moons to commit vile atrocities in Luthic's name.

Luthican orcs rubbed dirt on themselves in the hopes of having many children, and even if not actually required, her clerics used earth when casting curative spells as a symbolic gesture.

Shrines & Temples
Luthican clerics conducted her services underground, with cave halls serving as their places of worship. Most had their quarters in a cavern near the tribe's war hearth, sequestered away where they could supervise their charges. Along with the food stores and whelping pens, where young orcs would reside until they came of age, was a shrine of Luthic, where she was represented with a crude stone statue smeared with red ochre except for the claws, which were coated in charcoal.

Dress
Followers of Luthic wore brown and black leather armor and fur caps.

Magic
Clerics of Luthic could a limited version of lay on hands like paladins, although only after a battle. They could cast a darkness spell that lasted twice as long as the regular version, and a slowregenerate that only worked underground.

Relationships
Luthic was greatly feared by the followers of Gruumsh, for his worshipers believed her to be his servant because she embodied his desire to create confusion and mayhem. At the same time, the short-sighted followers of the One-Eyed God looked down on the female deity, yet Luthic was actually incredibly vital and proved herself to be much more useful than most males could conceive. It was Luthic's binding influence that preventing the violent savagery and ambitious warring of the orcs from destroying them, the Cave Mother acting as the glue that held orc culture together.

It was Luthic's worshipers that raised young orcs to be warriors, and while Ilneval was the orc god of strategy, she was known to inspire orcs in their dreams with a red moon, awakening the taste of blood in their mouths and granting them strategies greater than direct attacks. Her auspices communed with the feared followers of Yurtrus, and her priestesses brought orcs nearing their end to both him and Shargaas to be carried into death and the great unknown.