This is an excerpt from a little introductory piece I wrote about a character I'm working on, a fallen God of War and Might presiding over a fascistic kingdom called the Dominion of Mere. Originally a mortal hero, he was twisted by the people who worshipped him into a violent and intemperate warmonger.
"Blood. Blood. Blood. Your pretensions to honor and glory became a thin façade, a human face stretched over the gaping razor-lined maw of a monster, slavering for another taste of its foes. Any avarice, any prejudice, any senseless hatred could be dressed up in your trappings and sold to the public as heroism, and they would accept it without question. Not because they were fools, nor because they truly judged your cause noble, but because their idea of what a hero was had changed. There was no more need for a gallant knight charging into battle astride a warhorse--what they wanted now was a torturer, an executioner. Victory was not enough; whoever dared to challenge the might of the Dominion needed to suffer. Through this, the Dominion found that this retribution, against foes that were no more than mere scarecrows, could fill the empty stomachs and souls of its weary people for a time."