According to legends and the Holy Scriptures, the Darkwood, like all of the cursed and wretched things of the world, had been spawned by the Dark Mother, goddess of the hells. While the Good Father wrought the world with light and flame, breathing life into the dust, She summoned Her evils from the shadows, birthing legions of beasts and demons, mangled creatures and crawling things that lurked in the festering half-world between the living and the dead.
Woman : goddess of hell, witch, darkness, evil, temptation, seduction, adulteress
Man : heroic, light, savior, creator, holy, apparently also Weak and easily manipulated by appealing to them sexually, head of the church
And in this story, the prophet takes multiple wives and physically mutilates them to brand them. The marriages have extremly unequal power structures - their marraige is holy and a duty to the church, an honor. But the prophet is also physically abusive and sex is dictated by his terms and appetite, not by consent.
