Ares

Ares (Intermediate Deity)

God of War

Symbol: Spear

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Portfolio: War, Killing

Domains: Destruction, Evil, Tyranny, War

Favored Weapon: Spear

Holy Days: Third day of the week, days of battle

Sacrifice: Oxen, Prisoners of War

Colors: Red

Ares is notorious for his thirst for blood, even for a war deity. He seeks to bring death and destruction wherever he goes for the sheer joy of killing. He is cruel, hot-tempered and unpredictable.

Dogma
Though Ares demands loyalty from his worshippers he does not expect it, as he himself is not straightforward with his parishioners. Those who seek to honor Ares do so by spreading violence and cruelty across the countryside. Random acts of bloodshed are preferable to the war god, but even calculated devastation finds his favor. His followers are expected to do whatever is necessary for their own personal gain and to commit acts that culminate in hostility.

Clergy
Clerics of Ares garb themselves in tunics of crimson, seeking opportunities to incite conflict wherever there is peace. Few churches are constructed in honor of Ares and those that are are solid, foreboding structures, spartan in décor with wrought-iron furnishings and crimson draperies. Clerics in service to Ares often serve a military leaders or at least as supervisors. They give assistance as well as advice to those who wish to bring destruction down on their enemies. Clerics of Ares are arch-foes of those clerics who serve Athena and the two sects are never at peace with one another unless called together in council by Zeus’s clergy. Even at those times, however, the respective clergy often exchange harsh words.