Veltin Crimsea - Demigoddess of the Red moon

Veltin Crimsea is one of the three daughters of the Goddess of Magic, Magenta.  As things are in the world of the Valley of the Old Ones, Veltin Crimsea is also one of the three moons of the world, the Red Moon.

She is referred to by many as simply the Red Lady, or the Demigoddess of the Red Moon.  She has a distinct position of being the only member of the pantheon of the Church of the Three Goddesses to have evil worshipers and also evil clergy (neutral evil).

Veltin Crimsea represents the wilder, more sadistic, aspect of magic.  She is the aspect of the night, and of necromancy, and of seeing the value in having evil to balance the good.  Needless to say, the more prosaic of the clergy of the order of Veltin Crimsea have some problems with other members of the overall church, because of this position.  Her worshippers are sometimes open adherents of this order, and sometimes they are members of other branches of the church, drawn to the worship of Veltin Crimsea, as if it were forbidden fruit.

The more urbane parts of the order view their position as a relationship to the other two daughters of magic... The Demigoddess of the White Moon represents militant good, and the Demigoddess of the Golden Moon represents the alluring benefits of "light" magic.  Against these, Veltin Crimsea balances the White Moon with evil, and strong evil worshippers (although, they are balanced, neither favoring law nor chaos); she balances the Golden Moon with darkness and the magic of the night.

The more wilder, some would say "purer" parts of the order view their position as this - the strongest daughter of Magenta - the one that is due to take over as the next Goddess of Magic - is Veltin Crimsea.  She should therefor be above her two sisters, and in dark places it is even whispered that she should be above Magenta herself.

Organized clergy of this order of the church do not have their own Cathedral, and barely have their own bureaucracy.  They often exist in places where general clergy of the church exist, such as at Narn, and in some others of the larger Baronial cities.  When they must be, they are funded by the Magenta branch of the church.

In secret, however, there is a wide variety of Red Lady cultists.  Often, remote gatherings, called Clutches, are ruled by a trio - two women (one old, one young) and a male who has become a sort of werebat.  The famous poem, by Uin Dagavart, called "The Red Moon" has the opening stanza,

All of them bound up tight in the clutch;
Ruled by the crone, the maid and the bat.
Evil has wrought, tho' welcome by such;
Those who hate this, and this who hates that.

 The followers are typically drawn to the wilder aspect of Veltin Crimsea, and they are often organized into bands of thugs, intent on thwarting those who work great works in the name of good.  The Paladins of the White Lady are a particular foe.

Rites are typically performed under the red moon, but are to be shunned when the white or gold are ascendent.  Talk of witches' cauldrons, and drinking the blood of innocents, is MOSTLY the rambling of peasants, and stories intended to scare children.

If there is a single place of power for the followers of the Red Moon, it would have to be the valley along the Two-Moon River.  However, strongholds of thugs and clutches can be found in many remote locations - bogs and fens, dark gnarled forests, and the solitary wind-ripped rocky peaks of mountains.