Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
I’m really enjoying these deity videos.
It’s been fun to explore some lesser known deities, well lesser known to me at least.
This video will cover the mad god Cyric and Deneir the god of scribes and cartography.
Cyric is a very self-centered and petty deity who holds himself above all others.
Power hungry mortals tend to worship Cyric.
Known as the Lord of the Three Crowns, the Mad God, and the Prince of Lies Cyric enjoys
misleading individuals so that they will perform acts that ruin their lives, or allow them
to make fatal mistakes.
Cyric is a chaotic evil deity, and despite being a popular deity his church is widely
hated across all of Faerun.
It’s members perform wicked acts in the name of Cyric.
The followers of other evil-aligned deities view Cyric’s church as mad with power, and
a threat to their own influence.
There is little love for Cyric and his followers but if you're on a quest for power his path
might be for you.
Cyric also has no friends in the Faerun Pantheon but plenty of enemies.
His Church was pledged to spread strife and work murder everywhere.
People are to worship Cyric out of fear.
His church was often beset by internal feuds and backstabbing.
Most of his followers are trained as rogues or assassins.
Cyric’s church works openly in Amn with a philosophy of ambition, self-reliance, and
“buyer beware.”
those that take Cyric as their patron tend to be con artists or power-mad connivers.
Most pray to Cyric when they want to do wrong but don’t want to be found out about it.
Cyric was once mortal and was elevated to divine status by Ao himself at the conclusion
to the Time of Troubles in 1358 DR.
Bane Myrkul and Bhaal had all died during the Time of Troubles and Cyric was appointed
their divine portfolios.
If you play through the adventures with the Time of Troubles, or read the novels (which
I haven’t done, don’t hate me) Cyric is a major character.
He ended up killing Bhaal using the sword Godsbane which was the deity Mask in disguise.
Kelemvor was an adventurer and companion of Cyric and Midnight (who later ascended to
become Mystra).
It was 10 years after the Time of Troubles Cyric hated Mystra (aka Midnight) and wanted
to gain advantage over her.
He did this by trying to capture Kelemvor’s soul because Kelemvor and Midnight were lovers.
He couldn’t find it though because the soul was hidden in the sword Godsbane by Mask.
It was absorbed by Cyric’s own sword the moment Kelemvor was killed on top of Blackstaff
Tower.
Cyric was in control of the city of Death, where spirits of the dead roamed about.
Cyric had a dream, a nightmare really that Kelemvor had returned to life and was seeking
revenge against him.
At that moment Cyric crushed his sword in his insanity which free Kelemvor making his
nightmare come true.
The two fought, Kelemvor the dead soul and Cyric the mad god and amazingly Kelemvor won
and became the new ruler in the City of Death.
Kelemvor gained the portfolio of death and became the new God of Death.
Cyric created a book, or influenced a book’s creation known as the Cryinishad.
After the Time of Troubles a gods power was directly linked to the size and devotion of
their worshipers.
This book would turn anyone reading it into a devote follower of Cyric.
It was a powerful magical object and once you started reading it you couldn’t stop.
The book was made of raven-black leather and embossed with a pattern of grinning skulls.
A skull the size of a child’s fist dominates the front cover.
Cyric ended up reading his own book which backfired the magic and drove him insane (even
more than he already was apparently).
It was the Year of Blue Fire, 1385 DR that Mystra was assassinated at the hands of Cyric,
which caused the Spellplague.
This was not hidden and he would found guilty by a conclave of other Faerun Deities for
her murder.
He was sentenced to imprisonment in the Supreme Throne, which was the realm Cyric held dominion
over I assume since losing the City of Dead.
He's currently trapped there for 1,000 years.
And the current Forgotten Realms timeline is 1490s so he's got a ways to go.
Deneir is up next.
The Lord of all Glyphs and Images, the First Scribe, and also known as the Scribe of Oghma.
Deneir is the god of literature and the patron of artists and scribes.
It is common for someone who writes a letter or records information to say a prayer to
Deneir in hopes to avoid making mistakes.
Artists acknowledge Deneir before starting and completing a piece of artwork.
Followers of Deneir hope to save and record information, to preserve history and enlightenment.
Thus records are very important and kept safe.
His followers are mainly monks who work to preserve the written word.
Transcribing all information that comes into and out of the Church.
His blessings of divine magic are most often bestowed on those who lose themselves in written
works.
Worshipers of Deneir remain in close contact with those of Oghma as he was Deneir’s brother
god.
Deneir’s churches maintain libraries, always collecting maps, literature, and art.
It was during the spellplague that Deneir attempted to reestablish stability of the
weave by the writing of the Metatext.
The metatex was a single work that when read could unlock the secrets of the multiverse
catapulting its reader to godhood.
Deneir was said to be a follower of Oghma and achieved godhood by glimpsing the smallest
portion of the Metatext.
When the weave collapsed Deneir used the metatex to write himself into the Weave to protect
it.
He disappeared from the world and became part of the Weave granting his chosen arcane abilities
instead of divine ones.
It’s unclear to me if Deneir is back in 5th edition.
He’s part of the 5th edition pantheon but everything I read said he disappeared during
the spellplague attempting to write himself into the Weave.
If that’s the case when did Deneir come back?
Or is it one of those DnD mysteries and perhaps Deneir never really left us because his worshipers
never really stopped worshiping.
I guess we’ll never know until Wizards of the Coast graces us with further information.
Or if you know that I missed something let me know in the comments below.
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video!
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With that I’m out but I’ll see you again in the next video!