God for a Witch-Hunter

[casiel]

Can you recommend a suitable Golarion god for a Witch-Hunter Inquisitor?

One of my players is playing a witch. In his character's background, a group of religious zealots burned his family's village to the ground because of the large concentration of witches that lived there. He wants to have an enemy NPC responsible for the burnings. And so, I need a god whose followers could be so cruel as to resort to genocide in their narrow-mindedness.

I'm thinking the god would be Lawful Neutral and primarily worshiped by humans.

Thank you for your support!

[proftobe]

The problem is that only 2 of Golarion's "big" gods are LN one's abadar the god of civilization and the other is Iori monkish god. No one really its what you're looking for in that alignment range. If you want to go LE there are a number of gods you could use, but witches are usually pretty accepted by most faiths in Golarion, especially the LN ones.
I'd suggest either asmodeus or zon-kothon Le deities that can have LN followers.

[Azten]

The thing is, the deity doesn't matter as much as the zealots. At least, not to me.

Take Nethys, the god of magic, for example. Here's how one person in his clergy might think.

"Those damn witches are ruining magic and must be exterminated at all costs!"

[Poncho-Ninja]

You could go more unknown with someone like Geryon, an Arch-devil that specialises in forbidden lore. You could say that the witches are getting access to lore that they don't deserve (at least not in Geryon's eyes) because a witch's magic comes from a patron and through a familiar rather than from a text like Geryon might prefer.

I found him in the Inner Sea World Guide.

[MC Templar]

Any deity with Celestial as a domain might have followers who interpret the 'patron's of the Witch class to be evil abominations who have corrupted the world with their taint.

Remember, a Good alignment on a Deity isn't a guarantee that small minded people will not be led to commit evil acts in their name. Paladins make fantastic enemies for any party that operates on the fringes of society. (Lawful always appears tyrannical to the powerless)

The fact that they are certain of the righteousness of their cause, makes them all the more frustrating as an antagonist.

[casiel]

Thanks for your input!

I decided on Iomedae as the witch-hunters' matron goddess and made the bulk of the group Lawful Neutral (with evil tendencies towards their bigotry against witches). I created 5 NPCs to mirror the 5 PCs. The anti-hero group has roots out of the town of Mendev and has had experience with evil witches near the World Wound, which established their hatred against the class as a whole.

The group consists of an Inquisitor (Witch Hunter archetype, LN alignment) with the Spellkiller domain, a Fighter/Low Templar, a Ranger with Human as one of his favored enemies, a Cleric (Crusader archetype) of Iomedae (LN alignment), and a Fire Elemental bloodline Sorceress (NE alignment) who is part pyromaniac. The Sorceress is responsible for setting the village ablaze. With the exception of the Inquisitor and the Cleric, the rest of the group are mercenaries who profit from the bounties placed on witches.