Ugtargnt is one of the few demons worshipped openly in the major cities of the Wilderlands.
She makes no secret over her nature and is generally depicted as
a monstrous female demonbrood with
horns, seven eyes and torn bat wings. She appears wracked
in pain from a hideous wasting disease. Her body is covered
with hives and open sores.
She is tolerated because her priests teach that as a goddess of disease she has the
understanding necessary to cure all illness and disability.
In truth although her worshippers do receive occasional relief from their suffering
they tend to remain in long-term dependency upon the cult.
Healing is provided on the understanding that a program of increasingly difficult
tasks and religious devotions will be followed. At some point, aided by the weasely
interpretation of the priests, the worshiper will fail to achieve one of these goals and
this will be immediately followed by a relapse. Thus the number of worshippers
is maintained as are the coffers of the temple.
The symbol of the cult is
a gnarled staff before a dripping, diseased eye. Her worship extends throughout the
Wilderlands and is believed to also occur within the Demon Empires.
Her priests in
Viridistan
have a reputation for denouncing any who try to wean her worshippers away from their
dependency on her as Mycretians. The Mycretians
for their part teach that Ugtargnt is an agent of the Markrabs and there is
considerable emnity between the two religions. Most neutral scholars see her as a demonbrood
who has somehow ascended to divinity.