The Temple of Hashut

At the black heart of Chaos Dwarf society stands the Temple of Hashut, the priesthood that rules Zharr-Naggrund and every soul within it. There is no separating church from state among the dawi-zharr; the Sorcerer-Prophets who tend the Father of Darkness are also the lords, lawgivers, and generals of the empire, and their word carries the weight of a god's own decree.

To enter the priesthood is to strike the hardest bargain the dark gods offer. A Sorcerer-Prophet draws his power directly from Hashut's fire, and with it he can call down molten destruction, bind daemons into iron, and command the very furnaces to obey. But every spell hastens his doom. Slowly and inexorably the magic turns his flesh to stone, creeping up from the feet until at last he freezes forever, a living idol at the altar he served. The temples are galleries of these petrified masters, and the priests who still move among them do so knowing exactly how their own story ends.

They accept it gladly, for the Temple teaches that Hashut's favour is worth any price a body can pay. Its high priests scheme endlessly against one another for the ear of the god and the rule of the ziggurat, poisoning, blackmailing, and occasionally hurling rivals into the sacred forge-pits, for even among the servants of the Father of Darkness, ambition burns hottest of all.