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== Appearance ==
The Maw Consuming has no earthly form, and has not gained one throughout it's dominion of the woods. If it ever did, it might be considered the first host the Maw claimed. The first mortal to enter the mansus even, for the pact was not yet made. However, who or what this mortal was is known only to the Maw Consuming, and it's lineage of claimants-turned-hosts.
== Principles ==
Blood and thunder! Hunter and Prey! Killer and Killed! The Maw Consuming embodies these, and demands the world takes heed.* It lives in the jungle, but its true home is in the heart of thieves, murderers, brigands. Every killer is welcome in the Maw's dominion, but only those truly dedicated Hunters will ever eat from the Maw's table. All else is waste or sloth, dulled blades of no use to anyone.
*(FnordNote: Alternative phrasing: takes note? remembers?)
== Worship ==
The battle-roars of the lion, the hungry howls of wolves! These and more are the only praise needed, gratitude offered in subconcious subconscious thanks to the great hunger! The Maw needs no "real" worshipers, no simpering sycophants begging for scraps. The Maw finds such beings distasteful at best, or committers of a most grave offense at worst. How could this not be so when the Maw's law is one followed by most every beast under the sun?In this the Maw Consuming's most dedicated followers might not even be religious at all, much less having heard of the Mansus. And to the Maw's "followers", it is a surprisingly lenient Hour. It never asks anything of it's followers, and it's follower never ask the Maw for anything. If one needs something from the other, they simply take it. If they can.
=== Cults ===
*The Fang-Gild Club.
=== Servants ===
'''Old Long-tooth'''
FNORD
'''The Bottlesmiths'''
FNORD
'''The First Host'''/'''The First Maw''' (Formerly)
"And lo, blessed be the name of the first herald, the first grindstone to sharpen our claws and force us to rise ever higher."
*The First Host is long since deceased, in the manner expected of all hosts of the Maw Consuming. As the Mawsoleum was yet to be established, it is believed all traces of the First Host were long since lost. Still, between the force binding an hour to a mortal, and that mortals legacy, there is a great deal of speculation and rumor as to their identity. Were they man or beast? Ape or bird or fish or fly? Each mortal portrays the first host as a hollow silhouette of their species, with a glimmering ball of light floating over their bloody stump of a neck. Even amongst those yet to be the Maw's children, there may be carvings scraped into wood or stone with hooves, talons or whatever they have to work with.
**As for the practical occultist applications, the memory of the maw's historical bond with the first host, the legacy of that host, and the numerous stories and general interest into their history has led to the existence of a peculiar gestalt of these things. It is not the true first host, though the Maw's children give it scraps from the table out of reverence. or pity. It's visage shifts constantly, flickering from moth to bird to worm to hound to whale, all in a matter of minutes. It is far more emaciated than the myths would portray, and it's head is a dim coal shakily floating over a scabbed stump. Gaunt and elongated, it's limbs twitch and jitter as it moves. It is a small mercy to the eyes that when summoned, it's species stays that of its summoner. It is not terribly helpful to summon in and of itself, (unless one wishes to have their entire larder picked clean in a matter of minutes,) but it is a reliable way to garner the attentions of the Maw's Children.
'''The Maw's Children'''/'''Wildlings'''
"...Twisted and bent of shape, the beasts walked as men, spoke as men, and tried to live like men. But they were not men, no matter how much fire they stole."
The Maw's Children are not descendants by blood, but by actions. Once ordinary beasts of the world, something burned in them for more, to strive towards a higher calling. To grow strong, and steal the fire Prometheus gave mankind, and once stole himself from the sun.
Their changes would only begin fully once they had fulfilled the Maw's Law, and killed something equal, something greater. And at that moment their gruesome transfiguration would begin; in all it's wretched glory. Bones snapping and shifting, organs rearranged, flesh burning as clay in a kiln. It would be agonizing, nevermind the fright of onlookers. But it would be swift, and soon the best crawling on four would stand tall on two.
Most of these wretched creatures would find their way to the forest proper, soon after. They would fight (and live) in the forest as any other murderer of the Maw, striving ever higher like one as well. The remainder ''couldn't'', or ''wouldn't'' handle the change, their minds stubbornly refusing to rise higher. Those would remain runts, living amongst their worldly homes. Think "Yeti" or your humanoid cryptid of choice.
== Locations ==
=== The Fansus ===
* [[The Mother Bear]]: Neutral, hesitant acquaintance. As part of the Maw Consuming's pact, the Maw ensures none of its murderers or other ruffians it brought to the forest enters the Mansus proper. As the Mother Bear guards the Mansus entrance proper, it was inevitable the two would meet. Has something of the Maw's Nature versus the Mother Bear's nurture going on.
* [[]]:
* [[The Maw Consuming]]: The Maw isn't one for much introspection. Still, the Maw has yet to wholly dismiss the lingering gnaw of ''why'' they seek to perpetuate the cycle of hunter and prey. Perhaps the answer might be just around the bend, another perpetuation of the cycle away... Mildly miffed about spending more time herding murderers than properly growing.
* [[The Succulent Glow]]:
* [[]]: