Corruption | Creation | Justice | Knowledge | Murder | Protection | Thievery | Trade
(You need to abide by these as clergy, not as a worshiper)
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Level 1 Spell: Sanctuary
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Oh? Maaaaaaaybe noooooooot!
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Level 3 Spell: Resurrection
- HAH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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Level 5 Spell: Revelation
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Clarity?! Maybe? Yes... no. Definitely no.
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Level 9 Spell: Repair
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No.
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Prince of Lies, Prince of Madness, the Dark Sun, the Black Sun, the Mad God, Lord of Three Crowns
Bring death to those who oppose the rightful church of Cyric and those who seek to make or keep peace, order, and laws. All rightful authority comes from Cyric, and all other authority must be subverted.
Break not into open rebellion, for when hosts march, all faiths and gods awaken. It is better by far to fell one foe at a time and keep all folk afraid, uneasy, in constant strife—and under the spreading tyranny of Cyric.
(You need to abide by these as clergy, not as a worshiper)
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Barbarian, Cleric, Commoner, Fighter, Shaman, Thief, WITCH!
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Any Race, yes. Any will do.
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Non-Cleric Initiation: You must m u r d e r someone... in a fit of madness or rage!!!
Holy Symbol: A white skull (sans jawbone) on a dark purple or black sunburst
(If you wish to become clergy of this god, take three of these as your vows—if you violate them you lose any moves, spells, and any other benefits granted by this god until you atone.)
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REDRUM (Forbidden: Accepting the council of anyone else; they're all out to get you)
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REDRUM (Forbidden: Allowing anyone to gain an advantage over you; they'll just use it to kill you)
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REDRUM (Forbidden: Suffering anyone you hate to live; or they'll kill you first)
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REDRUM (Forbidden: Disobeying Cyric; whenever an insane, depraved, extreme idea enters your mind, you must do it)
Cyric (SEER-ick) is a god born of the fall of Aer Arnad. He gained the followers and portfolios of many old evil gods, and fights to retain them. His power base is immense, and he is one of the three greater powers of evil in Orben.
Cyric is petty, megalomaniacal, and totally self-centered. He enjoys tricking and misleading both well-meaning and corrupt individuals and then revealing his deceit when they have made some fatal mistake in judgement or taken a personally devastating course of action that will ruin their lives. His favorite libation is the tears of disillusioned dreamers and broken-hearted lovers, which he drinks from a silver chalice encrusted with tiny rubies in the shape of sundered hearts.
Home Plane/Realm
The Supreme Throne/Shattered Castle
Portfolio
Murder, illusion, intrigue, deception
Favored Weapon
"Razor's Edge" (longsword)
Myths
Cyric's Rise and Fall
Before the fall of Aer Arnad, Cyric was an Elven thief hailing from the streets of modern Banelli. He attempted to steal the Ring of Winter from a powerful tribe of frost giants in the Thradhel, but was unsuccessful and became trapped in their cave. The opportunity to flee only came when a band of adventurers, including the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane, attacked the frost giants' lair while also trying to find the Ring of Winter. Kelemvor's entire party, save himself, was slain and only he and Cyric managed to escape.
While wandering in the frozen wastes of the Thradhel, Kelemvor and Cyric discovered the Tablets of Fate, stone slabs on which the official portfolios of every one of the deities of Orben were written. Coveting their power, Bane and Myrkul had stolen them from the overgod Ao and hidden away in the middle of the Shelf of Ice, where they thought no one might find them. Cyric—secretly a worshiper of Myrkul—had heard rumors of the theft, and suspected that the tablets would grant him special powers. However, they were too heavy for him to carry, and too large to disguise, so he convinced Kelemvor Lyonsbane that they were an important magical artifact, and to carry them back, planning to kill him once they were close to civilization and the mercenary was weary from the weight of it. However, when Kelemvor went to pick up the first stone, Cyric worried that he might claim its power first, and so rushed to touch it. Both of them touched it along the same line, that detailing the portfolio of Death for the god Myrkul. In that moment both gained the capacity to wield that portfolio as his own, though neither knew it. In the next instant Bane descended to Orben, huge and fearesome, and grabbed the tablets before disappearing. Soon he had betrayed Myrkul, giving him up to Ao, who destroyed the God of the Dead in revenge.
Cyric and Kelemvor were both called to assume Myrkul's portfolio and ascend to godhood. Kelemvor did not wish for the power granted, but Cyric accepted it eagerly, and for a time became the God of Death.
Myrkul had been cruel, but Cyric was crueler still. He killed two other gods, Bhaal, the God of Murder, and Leira, the God of Deception, inheriting their portfolios. He also unleashed death cults upon Orben and wanton slaughter the likes of which Orben has never seen since. This manifested in the mass death that occurred in the heart of Aer Arnad, claiming the lives of Emperor Aedar Arnad and all of his highest officers and closest allies, resulting in the empire's fall.
Ao began to feel that Cyric was overstepping his bounds and revoked the portfolio of Death, barring him from ever attaining it again. Kelemvor still bore the mark of touching the Tablets of Fate upon Death's portfolio, and as it became available he was called again. This time he accepted, having witnessed the death and slaughter at Cyric's behest, and feared that another of even worse bearing might inherit his power. When Kelemvor ascended, Cyric blamed him for his own loss and retreated for a time, plotting his revenge.
In one of many covert attempts to restore his lost power, Cyric designed to claim yet another god's portfolio and created the Cyrinishad, a book that is enchanted to bind the reader slavishly to believing that Cyric is the most important being in the universe, exceeding all others. Cyric made the serious error of reading his own book and is now mad, believing that he himself is the center of the universe and everything that occurs is by his direct intervention.
Cyric's Madness
Madness has claimed Cyric in a number of forms, including visions and a continual chorus of voices that burble and moan in the back of his mind. These voices may be parts of Cyric's own shattered consciousness or they may be the remains of the gods that Cyric slew or usurped the portfolios of.
History
The church of Cyric benefited from a brief surge of growth and consolidation before the events that drove its god mad. The church absorbed a great many worshippers of Bhaal, Myrkul, and even the (still-hushed) revelation of the demise of Leira swelled it's ranks. Cyric even for a time granted spells to a few of the priests of the gods he supplanted in an attempt to maintain these priests' powers long enough to convert them. This strategy worked well for the Bhaalist and Mykulyte clergy, though less well for those of Leira.
This tactic was being initiated all over Orben when Kelemvor was catapulted to prominence and granted divine status by Ao. At that point, Cyric lost most ex-Myrkulyte priests to Kelemvor, and his clergy suffered an even more massive blow when Cyric went mad.
Feuds and internal strife are rampant among the priests of Cyric (those who entered the church after Cyric's ascension), as the ambitious, ruthless clergy members all seek to win ever-higher ranks within the still-unsettled priesthood. To these people, personal power—and its use upon others—is everything. Trust is not in great supply among adherents of the Dark Sun.
Cyric, though now a few monks shy of a monastery, remains closely involved with the upper ranks of his clergy. His high priests are expected to carry out his orders, regardless of how dangerous or odd they may seem. Some priests carry out their tasks as enthusiastically as they had before. Others seek to obey the letter of any directives while changing the spirit of them.
Relationship with other gods and churches
Cyric hates all of the other gods, most especially Kelemvor, but believes the God of the Dead is his puppet, easily fooled and defeated, existing only on his whim.
Associated Lesser Deities
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Cyric's faith attracts power, and it remains strong in any area where evil is planned and beings seek to impress their will on others. Cyric's most devoted followers are young evil men and women seeking to make thier way in an uncertain world and gathering as much power as possible for themselves. He also attracts the worship of almost all who pursue assassination for a living, provided that they are not Drow.
The priesthood is still very much in flux. Its members employ a wide variety of titles and disput each other's rank often. Members of the clergy are always aware of the possibility that a superior may stumble, allowing them to advance. Priests are often encouraged by inner voices that may or may not be the voice of their deity.
Hierarchy
Cyrics priests regularly demonstrate their authority by murdering their political opponents rather than by attaining rank through more "traditional" channels. Popular priestly titles seem to include Dark Master, Hand of Cyric, Watchful Skull, and Dread Death.
Vestments
Priests of Cyric dress in black or dark purple robes, with or without hoods, trimmed with silver. Silver bracers or bracelets (usually adorned with the stamped skull-and-starburst symbol of Cyric) are worn on the wrists to symbolize the priesthood's enslavement to Cyric (in a symbolic reprise of Cyric's one-time captivity by frost giants), and some priests paint the symbol of their deity on their cheeks or foreheads on high holy days.
Priests of Cyric are fond of going about in disguise and love using illusions that alter their appearance when they can obtain them. They dress either to be inconspicuous or to impress, awe, and terrify, depending on what they are assigned to do. Whenever they are in disguise or trying to look inconspicuous, they still attempt to wear as much protective armor or magic as possible wihout it giving them away. When dressing to terrify, they love black armor with ornamentation that looks menacing, such as spiked shoulder and elbow pieces and helms in the shape of snarling monsters.
Rites and Duties
Blood sacrifices are deemed necessary for Cyric to hear any prayers of entreaty. Local priests usually declare an impromptu Day of the Dark Sun (a high holy day) whenever they acquire something (or someone) deemed important enough to sacrifice to Cyric.
Priests of the Dark Sun are pledged to spread strife and work murder everywhere in order to make folk fear and believe in Cyric. They support rulers with a taste for cruelty and empire-building, but indulge in intrigue in every land so as to spread strife everywhere without plunging realms into widespread war and thus giving worship only to Tempus the war god.
At least, this is what Cyricists pay lip service to doing. In truth. Cyricists spend most of their time scheming against each other in an endless struggle of cabal against cabal, with each priest striving to strengthen his or her own personal power. In addition, Cyric in his madness speaks often to his faithful clergy, but no longer with one voice. They all fear him and must believe what he tells them each is the One True Way, but what he says often sets different churches at cross-purposes and different Cyricist priests at each other's throats as much as it promotes the defeat of other religions.
Affiliated Orders
The church of Cyric does not sponsor any knightly orders. Cyric has ordered the establishment of a fighting order, the Company of the Ebon Spur, but the order has found no leader yet. The two priests in charge of establishing admission standards into the order (two high-ranking priests in two of the emerging Amnian temples) cannot agree on what those standards should be and are engaged in intricate plots to kill each other off, since each is convinced he is right. Since Cyric appeared to each of them in a vision and gave them precise and contradictory instructions as to the establishment of the order, he is evidently pleased with their efforts. When the order finally does get off the ground, Cyricist crusaders will lead fighters against rival churches for the glory of Cyric.
Cyric's temples are festering sores of evil that vary widely in appearance, reflecting the deity's chaotic nature. Many are hidden within caves or existing structures, including abandoned buildings, crumbling sewers, and forgotten dungeons, from which terrifying screams echo at irregular intervals. Many such complexes once served as temples of Bhaal or Myrkul, and thus resemble the grim, hidden guildhalls of the Lord of Murder or the tomb-like vaults of the Lord of Bones. All have in common a bloody sacrificial altar and a great hall where the local high cleric can rant to the assembled worshipers at irregular intervals.
For Cleric/Wizards
When you gain a level from 2–5, you may choose a single Domain. A full list of domain spells and moves is under Choosing a God in Advanced Play Guides.
When you gain a level from 6–10, you may choose a second Domain.
If you choose the primary domain for your god, you also get the Primary Domain Move of that domain and take +1 to cast spells from the domain.
Clerics/Wizards
If you are a Cleric or Wizard (and your god permits your class), choose from the following domains. You add all spells of the chosen domain to your spell list, up to level 7 (once you meet the mana requirements) or up to level 9 (if it's the primary domain and once you meet the mana requirements).
Primary Domain
REDRUM :) (Gain this domain's level 1-7 spells, this Primary Domain Move, and this level 9 spell)
Primary Domain Move
Murderous
You gain +1 to damage for spells cast from the Murder Domain.
Level 9 Spell
Unmade Sanctuary | Level 9
You dismiss Sanctuary and any other spells which allow protection to an area, or which forbid enemies or require a Saving Throw to enter it. No saving throw. No resistance. GONE!
Secondary Domains
Corruption (Gain this domain's level 1-7 spells)
Predation (Gain this domain's level 1-7 spells)
Undeath (Gain this domain's level 1-7 spells)
Unluck (Gain this domain's level 1-7 spells)
For Non-Cleric/Wizards
When you gain a level from 2–5, you may choose a single Domain. A full list of domain spells and moves is under Choosing a God in Advanced Play Guides.
When you gain a level from 6–10, you may choose a second Domain.
If you choose the primary domain for your god, you also get the Primary Domain Move of that domain and take +1 to cast spells from the domain.
Non-Cleric/Wizards
If you are not a Cleric or Wizard, you gain access to all spells of your chosen domain up to level 3 and can cast them using the Cast a Spell Cleric move (you do not however gain any spells from the Cleric spell list). You can also gain a secondary domain move from that domain, in addition to the domain spells.
Primary Domain
Murder (Gain this domain's level 1 and 3 spells, this Primary Domain Move, and a Secondary Domain Move)
Primary Domain Move
Murderous
You gain +1 to damage for spells cast from the Murder Domain.
Secondary Domain Moves (choose 1):
Did that Hurt? How about NOW?!
When you use Inflict Wounds, do +1 damage.
CSI: Evasion
When using Defy Danger to escape from the scene of a crime (or hide evidence) take +1.
Secondary Domains
Corruption (Gain this domain's level 1 and 3 spells and this Secondary Domain Move)
Secondary Domain Move:
I Plead the Fifth
If someone would normally be able to compel you to tell the truth (by a spell or other effect), you can say nothing instead.
Predation (Gain this domain's level 1 and 3 spells and this Secondary Domain Move)
Secondary Domain Move:
So Juicy Sweet
Standard
When you eat something (or someone) you’ve just personally killed, heal 1d8 HP.
Undeath (Gain this domain's level 1 and 3 spells and this Secondary Domain Move)
Secondary Domain Move:
Happy?!
Your Inflict Wounds spells heal an additional +1 on the undead.
Unluck (Gain this domain's level 1 and 3 spells and this Secondary Domain Move)
Secondary Domain Move:
I’m Bad Luck
Take -1 ongoing. Whoever enters your presence, looks at you, or interacts with you takes -1 ongoing as well until they cease to have anything to do with you.
