alternatehistory.com

Straddling the wide Kikadit River was a sprawling city, one that could rival even the best that Fjothrland and Europe had to offer. Five-hundred thousand souls, the largest settlement in Talbeah. These five-hundred thousand rubbed shoulders with one another in palatial open air markets. They made bets at many of the ball fields that dotted the city scape. And, most importantly, they prayed together in great throngs.

Today saw one such prayer. Crowds beneath the palisade separating the sacred central district of the city from the mundane remainder craned their necks to the mound above them. Atop the artificial hill, a dozen women in white skirts kneeled in front of a freshly dug trench. Their hair was perfumed, their garments spotless, their faces beautiful and their bearing noble.

Behind them, making his way down the line, was a priest, a sacred noose in his hands. One by one, he strangled the women. The others did not flinch, patiently awaiting their fate. When they succumbed, he released his rope’s grip and allowed them to fall into the trench. Each death caused the crowds below to shout prayers to the Great Panther, asking for his acceptance of their sacrifice.

Or so the Setralander records claim. Archaological digs in old K’omani have revealed large numbers of victims of human sacrifice, most killed by a broken neck, suggesting strangulation. Contemporary chroniclers claim that this was to give power and strength to the Great Panther, to allow him to fend off the Death-Christ, the demon figure that they believed the Europeans worshipped. Disputes still exist over the purpose of those sacrificed, but one telling fact remains-

None of their hands were bound.