Hello people of the internet, Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
This has been long awaited video I feel.
I get loads of comments to do a video on Mask!
So enjoy.
Today we’re talking about Malar the evil god of the hunt, and Mask the god of thieves!
First Malar.
Malar is the deity of the hunt.
He is the darker side of nature, the bloody savage side.
Known as the Beastlord, Lord of Beasts, and the Ravaging Bear, Malar is not to be messed
with.
He is Chaotic Evil and his portfolio includes beasts and monsters, blood lust, and evil
lycanthropes, as well as hunters and stalking.
Along with Umberlee and Auril he is one of the Gods of Fury who serve Talos.
Lycanthropes who embrace their curse often worship Malar.
As well as fallen rangers or druids.
Creatures that hunt for the sake of sport rather than survival.
They relish in fear of a creature being hunted, and take joy in the kill.
Those fallen rangers and druids are the exception but Malar mostly detests regular druids.
As they try to bring balance to nature and harmony.
Malar seeks to overthrow this with his unbridled destruction.
Apart from savage druids and rangers, many barbarians take Malar as a patron because
of his ferocity and cruelty.
His faithful believe the hunt is the center point between life and death - the facing
off of hunter and prey, forcing the issue of who lives and dies.
In Malar’s world you are either the hunter or the hunted, and you can guess which side
his followers tend to be on.
However Malar himself has been the hunted, during the Time of Troubles he was successfully
tracked by Gwareon Windstrom.
Malar could not shake him despite every trick he possessed.
Malar did defeat some minor deities brought to Faerun from an ancient wave of immigrants,
but Gwaeron Windstrom was ever on his trail.
It was after the Time of Troubles that Malar was weakened, all the gods power was reflected
in their worshipers and Malar had few churches and followers.
As a result he was forced to seek new worshipers among the nonhuman tribes, and now numerous
humanoids follow the path of the Beastlord throughout Faerun.
Malar is not a popular god.
Such as deities like Umbrelee he is invoked usually to prevent his interference rather
than asking for it.
Temples of Malar are simple and found in the woods or forest glens.
They are inwardly curving small structures of stone arranged in a ring.
His church acts almost like a cult.
There is no central figure or authority, which makes it difficult to deal with.
When one such group is driven out, another seems to pop up elsewhere.
Making it difficult to stop deadly followers.
The whole church is built around the concept of the Hunt.
And the local independant cells of his church are known as Hunts.
Leaders of these cells are the most powerful, often warriors or shape changing predators
(such as a werewolf).
But sometimes it’s a powerful priest of Malar or even a wizard.
This place of leadership is won through combat, with another taking the position upon the
murder of the previous leader.
Known as Huntmasters the position is a sought after but a stressful one to maintain.
The dogma of Malar is survival of the fittest.
May you die an old man is an insult among his followers.
The hunt is the focus, and the point of life is the challenge between hunter and prey.
Malarites often go on long hunts and when they kill they taste the blood of their victim.
They kill closely, choosing to never slay from a distance.
Although it’s part of their dogma to kill druids whenever possible being an evil Druid
in a savage bloodthirsty world like Chult would be an interesting character to play.
Worshiping Malar, invoking his qualities everytime you change into beast form.
I dig it.
Next is Mask.
A fan favorite and much requested.
Master of all thieves, and Lord of Shadows Mask is the deity of intrigue along with being
the patron of thieves.
People pray to mask when in need of great stealth, and diplomats invoke his name for
smooth negotiations.
Most of Mask’s worshipers are thieves or spies.
Priests of Mask are usually thieves by profession.
Which sounds awesome to be a cleric thief, but I suppose you could be a priest of Mask
without actually being a cleric.
Mask himself is Neutral Evil, but his followers can be of any alignment.
They are at their core thieves, and he is the center of many thieve guilds.
If there is a temple to Mask it is usually separate from the thieves guild, but there
are connecting tunnels between the two.
Each priesthood of Mask is independent in each major city or region.
If you follow Mask you are known as a Maskarran.
All that occurs within shadow is in the purview of Mask.
In a Maskarran’s eyes ownership is nine-tenths of what is right, and if a person happens
to currently have something, it is his or hers.
Previous ownership does not count.
The day belongs to the quick, the smooth tongued, and the light fingered.
The dogma of the church is as follows: “Wealth rightfully belongs to those who can acquire
it.
Strive to end each day with more material wealth than you began it with.
Steal what is most vital and Honesty is for fools.”
Never force someone to do something when you can manipulate them into doing it, and making
them think the decision was entirely their own free will.
Maskarrans are perhaps the wealthiest clergy in the Realms, second only to Waukeen.
There are no calendar related holy days in the Church of Mask, but every temple of the
god has a ritual once a month.
Known as the Ritual of the Unseen Presence it is an acknowledgement in chanted verse,
and offerings of wealth to Mask.
The major center of worship is the House of the Master’s Shadow in Telflamm.
It is the largest temple to Mask in Faerun.
The clergy there are known as local shadows, and they identify important thieves and those
rebellious to authority and approach these folks to recruit them to the faith.
Priests of Mask are encouraged to hide their true nature and masquerade as other priests
or commoners.
Clerics of Mask pray at night, in darkness or shadows.
During the Time of Troubles Mask took the form of a sword named Godsbane.
Cyric wielded this sword and killed many with it.
Also Mask ended up reading the Cyrinishad, which was a Tome that converted people over to Cyric
when read.
This nearly destroyed Mask and cost him much of his divine power.
There’s some more info on Mask but it’s kind of tied to the books so I don’t want
to spoil too much.
And to be honest I haven’t read them so I’m sure if I did mention it I’d get it
wrong.
Thanks for watching everyone.
Remember to play that evil Malar Druid, and a cleric/rogue multiclass of Mask in your
next game.
Please hit like if you enjoyed this video, and subscribe for more content.
I’ll see you all in the next one!