Cult of the Ashen End

The cult of the Ashen End are a small group of high-ranking ex-church leaders who broke off from the church long ago and now hold court deep within the earth. Secretly, they lead the Inquisition of the Elder Fire, unknown to all but the Inquisitor of the Sacred Flame.

They perform ritual sacrifice burnings, worship evil Gods of destruction, and perform gross mutilations as punishments and tortures to their members. Bankrolled by the inquisition's established church network, they are well-funded and direct the inquisition's forces invisibly through the Inquisitor.

History
When the Inquisition of the Elder Fire was founded, they searched for the cause of the The Sundering after strange visions and dreams began to manifest among the church leaders and members. After much searching in dangerous areas where the sundering had significantly changed the earth, the cause was reported to be found by scouts, but their reports were too fantastic to be believed, and they manifested signs of madness More expeditions were launched, but few ever returned, and each time survivors there were conflicting reports, some claimed to have found the source, but could not describe it intelligibly, and others claimed there was nothing there at all and that it was a waste of time and effort to return.

The Inquisitor knew that the Crag was dangerous and had already lost many men, and had no verifiable reports that sending any more troops was worth it. There were some in the church who thought these reports warranted further investigation, but the inquisitor turned them down. Secretly they planned to journey to the Crag and investigate these strange reports themselves.

The story goes that each of the three church leaders journeyed in secret, separately, to the Crag, and brought with them their personally chosen guard and expedition troops. None ever returned. It wasn't until the inquisitor journeyed there himself to verify the fate of the troops and the missing church leaders were their fates discovered. The inquisitor verified the death of every person who had disappeared, reporting that there were scores of hostile giants in the Crag and made expeditions there almost impossible, and that they had destroyed every expedition. This matched the reports of other survivors who recalled violent bands of giants in their ramblings about their journey.

The Truth
When the inquisitor journeyed to the Crag, he discovered that the church leaders were alive with only a few others. They imparted upon him a great secret - that The Sundering was just the beginning. An ancient evil with untold power had awoken, and its aim was to destroy the entire world in order to free itself from its prison deep within. The leaders reasoned with this being, and lost their minds in the process. Either they struck a deal to save the world, or they were indoctrinated and began sacrificing their followers to serve it's will, sating the evil power temporarily.

The inquisitor learned of this when he journeyed to the Crag, discovering a coven of Fire giants deep below the surface where the hill giants had proven to be a problem, but these fire giants weren't hostile to him, instead they ushered him directly to the altar where the church leaders stood. Somehow the inquisitor learned of the leader's new intent and escaped. When he returned he dismissed all claims that there is any cause for concern for unknown reasons, and continued to search for the cause of the sundering, turning attention to the budding sciences to explain the anomaly.

Structure
Most of the structure of the cult is made up of ex-inquisition members.

The leader of the cult is the Elder Evil. An unknown force or power that affects the minds and wills of all living beings it comes into contact with.

The three ex-church leaders make up the Ritual Masters of the cult, performing the sacrifices and all profane rituals that the elder one desires, each Ritual master commands several spies, but their duties are largely inconsequential ot the cult's objectives, coming into play only when the elder evil demands a specific sacrifice.

The very bottom are the fire giants, who were indoctrinated and subjugated to the whims of the elder evil, they protect the Ritual Masters and the Master, and retrieve the less intelligent hill giants for sacrifices.

Goals
To serve the will of the Elder Evil to prevent his destruction of the world to escape and wreak havoc on the plains.

Limits
There are no limits to what the cult will do to prevent the master's wrath.