But if the voices your head
Say to sacrifice your kid
To satiate your loving God's
Fetish for dead baby blood
It's simple faith, the Book demands
So raise that knife up in your hand!
—Tim Minchin, The Good Book
Following the dispersion of those who had attempted the erection of the Tower of Babel, mankind once again populated the world, now forming different nations and peoples based on languages and lines of family descent.
It was in this setting that a man named Terah gathered his family (including his sons and grandsons) and left the southern Mesopotamian city of Ur for Haran, on one of the northern tributaries of the Euphrates River. When Terah eventually died, Yahweh told Terah’s son Abram that he would make him the patriarch of a great nation if Abram would abandon his relatives and his family’s holdings in Haran and go to Canaan. Abram, his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot left Haran, traveling south along the trade routes to Canaan. When they arrived, Abram built an altar to Yahweh on the hills of Bethel. But Canaan was experiencing a drought, so they continued on to Egypt, and became quite prosperous there, soon returning to Canaan as wealthy as minor kings. Lot settled down in the city of Sodom, while Abram
raised his flocks in the nearby valleys.
During that time, five minor Canaanite kings (the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar) were waging a war against four great kings of the east, (Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and the kings of Goiim (a tribe of foreigners of indiscriminate origin), Sumeria, and Assyria). The Elamites won the battle, Sodom and Gomorrah were sacked, and the Elamites took Lot and his family as spoils of war.
Abram led his own army against the four kings, routing their forces, recovering the plundered goods and freeing his relatives. But despite his successes, Abram had no children to pass his riches on to and his wife Sarai was too old to bear offspring. So Abram turned to Sarai’s servant, an Egyptian handmaiden named Hagar, and with her he had a son named Ishmael. Yahweh then offered a covenant to Abram: if Abram accepted the Lord as his only god, the Lord would make mighty nations of his descendants.
Without blinking, Abraham did exactly as Yahweh commanded. He had no doubt that his Lord could -- and would -- demand a child as a sacrifice. Children were property, like sheep and oxen. For some godly reason, the only way to appease the deity is by killing something you own, preferably spilling its blood and burning its flesh "as a pleasing odor to the Lord."
As a general sign of his acceptance of the covenant, Abram circumcised himself, Ishmael, and all his servants and agreed to do so throughout the generations. And the Lord changed the names of Abram (“Exalted father”) and Sarai (“My princess”) to Abraham (“Father of many nations”) and Sarah (“Princess”).
Abraham was considered a hero of his time for his attempted infanticide, and became a central figure in the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. His name became synonymous with religious faith as he heard God's arbitrary demand to kill his son and then went ahead and tried it.
Abram/Abraham
Human male Ari3/Lev8/Prf6: CR 16; Medium-size humanoid; HD 9d8+8d6+17; hp 88; Init +1; Speed 30 ft.; AC 16 (touch 16, flat-footed 15); Atk +13/+8/+3 melee (1d6+1, quarterstaff) or +13/+8/+3 ranged (1d4, sling); SA spells; SQ Arcane spell resistance (SR 13), consecrate ground, craft phylacteries of power, defensive vision (+ 5 AC), dispel possession, improved divination, improved dream, improved sanctuary, know sin level, protection from serpents (+2 AC vs. serpents, dragons, and half-dragons), speak with serpents, turn demon-possessed 7/day; AL LN; SV Fort +14, Ref +6, Will +20; Str 13, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 17, Wis 20, Cha 19
Skills and Feats: Appraise +9, Bluff +10, Concentration +10*, Craft (leatherworking) +13, Diplomacy +17, Heal +15, Hide +6, Gather Information + 9, Handle Animal +12*, Knowledge (dreams) +10 (+12 portents), Knowledge (history) +20, Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (military tactics) +9, Knowledge (religion) +19*, Listen +11, Move Silently +6, Profession (herdsman) +17*, Profession (scribe) +10, Sense
Motive +11, Spellcraft +9*, Spot +7, Wilderness Lore +14; Consecrated Spell, Divine Grace, Dreamer, Great Fortitude, Herdsman, Iron Will, Receive Blessings
* includes feat and phylactery of power bonuses
Flaw: Fanatic
Languages: Egyptian, Hebrew, Sumerian
Levite Spells: (9/7+1/5+1/5+1/4+1/3+1/1+1; saves are DC 16 +spell level).
Domains: Law (law spells cast at +1 caster level)
Possessions: phylactery of power, quarterstaff, sling