Kruphix is the enigmatic god of mysteries, horizons, and the passage of time. Their followers claim that Kruphix knows not only everything that is known at present, but everything that has ever been known by anyone.
Quiet surrounds Kruphix like a shroud. Standing apart from the other gods, they speak rarely, even to their most favored followers. When they do communicate, it is often as a barely audible whisper. Kruphix can speak with a booming voice directly into the minds of all the other gods simultaneously, though, doing so when something threatens the cosmic order.
Kruphix’s true form is more abstract than that of any of the other gods. They appear only in star-filled silhouette, usually as a hooded, four-armed figure of indeterminate species and gender. Two of the stars in their “body” often shine brightly, suggesting eyes. Kruphix’s starry silhouette sometimes takes the form of a bird or a whale.
Kruphix’s Influence
Kruphix holds dominion over everything unseen or unknown. They are associated with the horizon—the brink of the unknown—and with navigation. Their followers include scholars, sages, and a handful of sailors who have an inclination toward the mystical.
Perfect understanding is like the horizon: easy to move toward, but impossible to reach. Kruphix knows everything that has ever been known on the Mortal Realm, so they and only them decide which secrets should be loosed upon the world, and which must be kept forever hidden.
Kruphix is the only being who has the ability to seal the borders between the mortal realm and Nyx. They use this power to safeguard the mortal world from reckless divine meddling and enforce the balance of power among the gods and their faithful.
Because of their lack of followers, many mortals consider Kruphix a minor god, even obscure. To the other gods, however, they are a force within the pantheon, worthy of both respect and wariness.
Kruphix’s Goals
More than any other god, Kruphix simply is. They seek nothing but to oversee the acquisition of knowledge, maintain the cycles of time, and uphold the divine order. They view their fellow gods as petty and vengeful, and oppose anyone who tries to obtain power that would upset the delicate balance of the pantheon.
Kruphix is supposedly the eldest of the gods and sees it as their responsibility to rein in the excesses of their children. Unlike
Heliod, Kruphix knows that they are not powerful enough to impose their will unilaterally. Instead, they play the other gods against one another and serve as a mediator in their endless disputes. They take care to ensure that the other gods view them as impartial, which they consider essential to maintaining their authority.
Divine Relationships
Kruphix strives to hold themselves above the disputes of the gods, but like any other god, they have both rivals and allies. Chief among the former is the sun god
Heliod, whom Kruphix sees as an arrogant, dangerous threat to the balance of power among the gods. They seldom act against
Heliod openly, preferring to warn others about the sun god’s efforts to seize power at their expense.
Since every mortal soul must eventually pass beyond the horizon and into death, Kruphix respects both
Erebos and
Athreos. They see
Erebos as a necessary check on
Heliod’s power, and they even allowed
Athreos to continue their vital work on the fringes of the mortal world when they bound all the other gods within the fabric of Nyx.
Erebos and Kruphix blame one another for
Klothys’s recent emergence from the Underworld, a situation neither seems able to control.
Purphoros loathes Kruphix for temporarily hobbling his mind following an attack against
Heliod, but Kruphix holds no grudge against
Purphoros. That particular punishment upset the balance too far in the other direction, and Kruphix is more likely to side with
Purphoros than
Heliod in the future.
Of all the gods, only
Klothys truly concerns Kruphix. They hoped that she would remain secret and secluded in the Underworld, and they don’t know what her emergence portends. She is the only other god whose existence predates mortal belief, and though they are unlikely to draw her ire by manipulating destiny, they don't know how her return will affect the pantheon.
Worshiping Kruphix
Many pray to Kruphix when they need to find something lost, but few dedicate themselves to their worship. Cults devoted to Kruphix fiercely guard their secrets, and their initiates refrain from drawing attention to themselves. Some followers and champions of Kruphix travel the world in secret, searching for hidden truths. Many use secret signals to enable them to find safe lodging with other worshipers nearly anywhere.
Rituals honoring Kruphix are usually performed at boundaries, both temporal and spatial: shorelines, riverbanks, equinoxes, and sunsets. One of the god’s greatest festivals is the Agrypnion Festival, (“the Watching”), which marks the end of winter and the close of the year.
Kruphix’s Champions
- Alignment: Usually neutral.
- Suggested Classes: Bard, cleric, druid, monk, ranger, wizard.
- Suggested Cleric Domains: Knowledge, Trickery.
- Suggested Backgrounds: Hermit, outlander, sage, sailor.
Most champions of Kruphix seek to learn the secrets of the universe and maintain the balance of the world. They largely view the other gods as petty and seek to separate themselves from divine squabbles.
Kruphix’s Favour
Kruphix’s champions are less their agents than their charges, and they are loath to release them. Even those who leave their service often find themselves unwittingly aiding their agenda for years to come.
How did you initially attract the god’s attention? The Kruphix’s Favour table offers a few suggestions.
Kruphix’s Favor
| Circumstance (d6) |
| 1- Followers of Kruphix claim you were born under a bizarre omen, but will not explain what it means. |
| 2- You were secretly instructed in the worship of Kruphix by a parent or a mentor. |
| 3- You uncovered a dangerous secret during your studies, and followers of Kruphix sought you out and recruited you to keep the knowledge within their ranks. |
| 4- Beset by strange dreams, you consulted an oracle of Kruphix. Since then, they’ve only gotten stranger. |
| 5- You wanted to learn truths that only Kruphix knows. Now you’re starting to wonder if you know too much. |
| 6- You have no idea why Kruphix showed interest in you, and you might sometimes wish they hadn’t. |
Devotion to Kruphix
Kruphix doesn’t demand adherence to any philosophy, and the reasons to follow them are as numberless as the stars.
As a follower of Kruphix, consider the options on the Kruphix’s Ideals table as alternatives to those suggested for your background.
Kruphix’s Ideals
| Ideal (d6) |
| 1- Devotion. My devotion to my god is more important to me than what they stand for. (Any) |
| 2- Balance. Too much power in any one place is a threat to us all. (Lawful) |
| 3- Selflessness. I accept the burden of knowledge so that others don’t have to. (Good) |
| 4- Knowledge. I seek out dangerous secrets so that I can know the nature of reality. (Neutral) |
| 5- Power. The best thing about knowing a secret is getting to use it against everyone else. (Evil) |
| 6- Mystery. The cosmos is more beautiful if its greatest truths remain unknown. (Any) |
Kruphix doesn’t care about the righteousness of a cause, only about upholding impartiality in both appearance and action. This sometimes means that his followers stay out of situations that seem morally straightforward, such as refusing to help a squad of hoplites finish off a band of vicious raiders.
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