Hello Everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
Today we’re talking about two deities of death.
Jergal and Kelemvor.
Jergal being the original god of death, strife, and murder; and Kelemvor taking over for him
becoming the new god of death later on in Forgotten Realms History.
Jergal, also known as the Final Scribe, the Pitiless One, and the Bleak Seneschal.
Jergal was an extremely powerful deity back in the day.
He was actively worshiped during the reign of the Netheril.
Because all things must die, even gods, he knew his power over the world was absolute.
This also bored him.
For much of his godly reign he sat upon his throne staring out at the never changing landscape
of the dead.
I suppose new dead always arrived but death itself is a stagnant river.
Never moving never changing.
Jergal was looking for change and it fortunately came walking to his front door.
The dead three, known as Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal were three powerful mortals.
Bane was a Tyrant, Myrkul was a necromancer, and Bhaal was an assassin.
The three made a pact with each other to gain as much power as possible eventually to become
a god, or die trying.
The three eventually found themselves in the Gray Wastes seeking Jergal to take his divine
power by force.
They fought through armies of skeletons, legions of zombies, hordes of wraiths, and a gauntlet
of liches.
But they were successful through it all, eventually reaching the Bone Throne and demanding Jergal
hand over his divine essence.
Jergal, like I mentioned, bored with his existence said he would willingly hand over his portfolios
but to which one of them?
The three began fighting about who would be allowed to ascend to godhood.
It was Jergal again that said they should split up his divine portfolios into strife,
death, and murder and have a contest to see who gets what.
He took the bones from his fingers and the three were instructed to play a game of knucklebones.
Bane won first place and took the portfolio of strife.
Myrkul was second and took the portfolio of the dead, and Bhaal who was third took the
portfolio of murder.
Jergal at this point became a sub servant of Myrkul and his church all but vanished.
There are still small pockets of people who worship Jergal, but his power has been greatly
diminished since giving away his divine portfolios.
You can find older temples and shrines to Jergal from the Netheril time period but nothing
new is being built, and these older temples are found empty.
He became known as the Seneschal of Bone Castle assisting Myrkul in the execution of his duties.
After the time of troubles he then aided Cyric until eventually Kelemvor became the new god
of death.
Which Jergal found working with Kelemvor much more to his personal satisfaction.
Priests or clerics of Jergal are very lawful and serve as scribes, funerary workers, and
morticians.
His followers keep very careful records of births, deaths, and taxes for the kings and
rulers they serve.
What temples still exist are lifeless mausoleums, or dry dusty crypts.
His dogma is simple, each being has an eternal resting place that is chosen for him or her
at the moment of creation.
Life is a process of seeking that place and eternal rest.
Existence is but a brief aberration in an eternity of death.
Life should be prolonged only when it serves the greater cause of the death of the world.
Jergal priests detest undeath, and attempt to snuff it out whenever possible.
Next is the new god of death Kelemvor.
Kelemvor is known as the Lord of the Dead, or the Judge of the Damned.
He is a just, fair, and comforting god of death.
Which is in contrast to Cyric, Myrkul and even Jergal.
Because death comes for all Kelemvor is seen as a patient friend waiting to help you into
the next world.
Kelemvor had a bad history to combat, the portfolio of the dead has a bad reputation.
Under Jergal it was seen as a mysterious and scary, with Myrkul there wasn’t any protection
from being turned into an undead creature.
The lines between dead and undead became heavily blurred.
Things got worse with Cyric in control.
But Kelemvor assuming this mantle took a different approach.
Seeking to teach Faerun that death is a natural part of life, and there is nothing to fear
in the transition.
His priests help the dying put their affairs in order.
They also offer funeral rites and ceremonies for the dead.
But they don’t seek death.
Their dogma is different from Jergal’s.
Kelemvor’s faithful seek to preserve life, no one should die in an “untimely” end.
So groups of his faithful spend time stopping disease, or will attempt to prevent murder.
They do agree on undeath though and attempt to stop the undead at every turn.
To the point where priests of Kelemvor will destroy scrolls or books that have information
on the creation or control of the undead.
This puts him at odds with necromancers and priests of Myrkul.
His clerics pray for spells at sundown.
Most of their holy ceremonies involve blessing a soul for it’s journey into the afterlife.
Kelemvor was a mortal man known as Kelemvor Lyonsbane.
He had a curse that forced him to assume the form of a violent magical panther.
He adventured with Midnight (who became Mystra), and Cyric (who gained all those portfolios
of death).
Cyric hated Kelemvor and wanted his soul destroyed but could not find him.
Turns out through their adventures that his soul was imprisoned in Cyrics sword “godsbane”
when he was murdered on top of Blackstaff Tower.
Many years later and fearing Kelemvor was out to get him Cyric crushed the sword in
a rage and freed Kelemvor.
The two fought and Kelemvor won becoming the new god of the dead.
It is said that Cyric fell due to his madness, because this was a fight between a dead soul
and the god of the dead.
Kelemvor went on to rule the City of the Dead with Jergal aiding as needed.
He reshaped the Bone Castle in the Gray Wastes into a transparent Crystal Spire.
Saying Death should not be a frightening mystery.
Many of Kelemvor’s temples used to be temples of Myrkul, but have been altered to be a more
inviting and safe place for people seeking help.
And that’s it.
I really like Jergal, and I’m happy he’s still in the Faerun pantheon.
He could have disappeared completely but they decided to keep him in for 5th edition.
Kelemvor is interesting and if you want to read his whole story it is in the novels about
the Time of Troubles, the Avatar Trilogy.
Thanks for watching everybody I really enjoy all the comments you guys leave.
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New Lore videos every Wednesday.
Until then I’ll see you all in the next video.