Born of fire and son of Darkness, Ashatem is the most feared of all lesser deites. Driven by a insane need for flesh and blood, The Child of Darkness roams the forests throughout the Empire at night, hunting upon the occasional late traveller or the outskirts of of civilized areas.

His most common form is the shape of a strong black wolf with fiery eyes. He has also been known to socialize with mortals in the shape of a gaunt man dressed completely in black. Controlling his foul desires he then carefully picks out a victim whom he lures into the forest or a dark alley and feasts upon.

His name is told to scare children, whispered around campfires and used in dark rites. His followers are a secretive organization calling themselves 'The Pack'. They span the Empire, and are citizens who reveal their true nature at night. Then they meet and perform their insane rites, often smearing themselves in blood and hunting like wolves for flesh.

Worship of Ashatem is strictly forbidden, and the Empire executes swift judgement upon all those caught worshipping this deity. Ashatem rarely answer prayers, but does empower some of his most faithful servants. The cultists do not have any dress code and communicate only through a secret sign language. This way they can tell if a stranger is a true worshipper of Ashatem

Ashatem has sworn venegance upon the other dieties who once lured him into a trap where he was kept for centuries. With powerful magics they created a chain powerful enough to hold this beast. The chain was was fashioned out of six strange elements: the noise made by the footfall of a cat; the roots of a mountain; a woman's beard; the breath of fishes; the sinews of a bear; and a bird's spittle. With the smell of fresh pure blood they lured Ashatem deep underground and then chained him to a rock. Then they inserted a silver sword into his mouth to keep him from biting over the chain.

A magician named Rael managed to free The Child of Darkness in a unholy rite, and lost his soul in the process. Many a local claims to have seen Rael's haunting apparation hunting the woods at night, damned for eternity.