Ahn Azuth, the foremost of the disciples of Arcyne, and the other adherents that were raised to demigodhood at the close of the First Dragonform War.
"And why would I take theosophical advice from you, wizard? The only god you worship is dead!"
A common epithet for wizards, particularly among the clerical orders, is "worshipper of a dead god." It is an epithet based in truth - Arcyne, the Sapphire Dragon, the Dragonform God of magic, is no more, killed by the
Pale Dragon in the closing days of the First War of the Dragonform Gods.
This does not mean that no Gods of magic remain, however. Before His death Arcyne united many students of the magical arts in centres of knowledge such as ancient Feyr Tharlas in the fledgling Elven nation, the city of
Zesh, or the Axalon demiplane of the Nythrian Empire, accessible via the Duolith of Brindlegate within the Cerulean Fields of
Northern Terrenos. Indeed the magocracy of
Nythria venerated Arcyne as both a teacher and a God before His death, ultimately dooming themselves to die with Him
In the Age of Divinity, the borders between the Astral planes and the material were much thinner; the Gods walked in the materium and retained the power to raise others to their right hand. Thus it came to pass that a number of adherents of Arcyne were elevated to sainthood, becoming Demigods of myth and magic. Arcyne ultimately fell in battle with the Pale Dragon, who sought from him the ancient Profane Word that would allow the broken god to raise the countless dead of the battlefield into an army that could sweep across the world, in an act known in history as the
Transgression. In the aftermath of the fall of Arcyne, these demigods of magic retained their power, and today comprise of the Gods of Magic upon Dyrn. They are sometimes worshipped as separate entities but within the Tyrrethi Empire they comprise a united religion known as the Ninefold Faith, whose symbol is the Enneagram, or nine-pointed star.
Ahn Azuth Lord of Spells
Lord of Incantation
Holy Symbol: Left hand pointing upward surrounded by blue flames
Favoured Weapon: Staff
The most trusted and gifted of Arcyne's students was Azuth. An elven mage and an ambassador to the Nythrian Empire, Azuth was by Arcyne's side when he fell.
Azuth bears a long time grudge against Ahn Syllaverin. Following Arcyne's death, Azuth fought with Syllaverin, angry that the other had not predicted Arcyne's fall so that it might be averted. When the rest of the Adherents of Arcyne built their realms within
Dweomer, Azuth imprisoned Syllaverin at his tower within Buxenus, upon the plane of Arcadia.
Eventually the other Adherents, led by Oloneiros, united and attacked Azuth, forcing him to release Syllaverin, who returned to Dweomer at the side of his husband, Ahn Oloneiros, the Saint of the School of Enchantment.
Azuth's most common aspect is that of a tall, older, crotchety
Elf, carrying a staff shod in iron and topped by a large blue crystal.
The Cult of Azuthism is very strict and takes a very narrow interpretation of the little scripture left by Arcyne. Most followers of Azuthism are very conservative.
Baehn Gofrune Stonehanded
Saint of the School of Abjuration
Holy Symbol: A shield with an open scroll
Favoured Weapon: Spiked shield and hammer
Deep within the bones of the world, it is said, lie the secrets of creation. In the earliest of days, the delvers were granted these hidden places as their dominion, that they might unearth the secrets and treasures contained within. Scripture suggests that Gofrune of Hallowhold was among the first delvers formed from the substance of Dyrn. He became a powerful leader for his people, resisting the attacks of the Pallites and those who followed them. From below, Gofrune defended the first Safehold, Hallowhold, against illithid, duergar, and other aberrant creations. From above, Gofrune protected the Safehold against the marauding goblinkin tribes who swore fealty to the broken god as they threatened to overrun the mountains.
Finally the day came when the war threatened Hallowhold itself. A tide of goblinkin and kobolds arose from the depths of the underdark. Omrothur, the Howl in the Darkness, ancient black dragon and scourge of Hallowhold, had been slain, and her armies usurped by the corrupted one. Gofrune led his army into the darkness where they fought a battle that lasted a month. Finally, from the depths strode Yhrnex, a powerul archdaemon and general of the Pallite forces.
The Pallite forces, sensing what was to come, disengaged. In response, Gofrune ordered his own Delvers to retreat and establish a defensive line further towards the surface, should the battle turn in favour of Yhrnex.
Gofrune and Yhrnex met each other in single combat, in a battle which shook the mountain itself. Ultimately, Yhrnex was slain, and Gofrune emerged victorious, but forever altered. Gofrune had taken on the stone of the mountains, his skin rocky and grey, and in the battle had manifested the ability to alter and divert the flow of magic itself to defend himself and his people.
Gofrune took these new skills back to his people, using them first to defend Hallowhold, and later in defense of the allied armies as they faced the Pale Dragon within the Cerulean Fields.
At the close of battle, Gofrune found himself called by Moradin, and surrendered his position as Thane of Hallowhold, ascending to the heavens to become a demigod.
Gofrune's most common aspect is that of a powerfully built
Delver, armed with a hammer and a spiked shield. It is said that within his realm in Dweomer, only that magic which he grants his assent to can function.
Synt Hisi Manyformed
Saint of the School of Transmutation
Holy Symbol: Inverted triangle surrounded by runes
Favoured Weapon: Morningstar
Hisi Manyformed was a
Human Nythrian scholar and student of the school of Transmutation. Considered by many under her tutelage as a master of her craft, at her peak, before her apotheosis, it was said that Hisi was never seen in the same form twice. Instrumental in many Nythrian advances in the lead up to the First War, Hisi's mastery of the elements and the transformation of one substance to another was vital in the development of many Nythrian magitechnologies.
During Arcyne's fall, Hisi fought on the battlefield amidst the eldritch knights and warmages and warforged of the Nythrian contingent. When Arcyne was struck down, Hisi was close to His side and was struck down as well. Scripture says that instead of dying on the battlefield at that moment to be raised among the countless dead of the Transgression, Hisi underwent apotheosis, transcending her physical body and transmuting the world around her to create a new form that she might fight on.
Now Hisi lives within the Tower of Change within Dweomer. The stone and metal of the tower itself mold around her to provide her form. Where she treads, she leaves footprints of solid gold, and it is said that all who gaze upon her leave her presence irrevocably altered.
Ahn Syllaverin the Wayfinder
Saint of the School of Divination
Holy Symbol: An eye between three spheres
Favoured Weapon: Sickle
Syllaverin was a contemporary of both Azuth and Oloneiros of Feyr Tharlas. He relocated to Nythria early in his life, continuing his study of the arts of divination within the demiplane of Axalon. Blessed with future vision, Syllaverin was wracked with visions of a great holocaust culminating in the death of His god, Arcyne.
During the build-up to the war, Syllaverin went into seclusion, much to the consternation of Azuth, who sought his counsel regarding the growing Pallite threat. As the Nythrians joined the war proper, Syllaverin agreed to see only Oloneiros and Arcyne Himself, giving to each of them a prophecy.
When Arcyne fell, Syllaverin was thrust from his demiplane back to the material world. In the aftermath of the war Azuth found him, and took him prisoner, bringing the diviner with him to his realm on Buxenus.
Ultimately Syllaverin was freed by the other adherents, to return to Dweomer. A schism was driven between Azuth and the other adherents as a result of those events.
Now Syllaverin maintains the Tower of the Eye within Dweomer. His most common Aspect is that of a middle aged elf, deep blue robes adorned with eyes, and a glimmering blue eye in the middle of his forehead. Husband of Oloneiros, Syllaverin spends his days in solitude within the Tower, speaking only to Oloneiros, keeping the secrets of past, present and future.
Dyrl Selvug of the Threshold
Saint of the School of Conjuration
Holy Symbol: A partially opened portucullis
Favoured Weapon: Saber
Selvug grew up amid the gnomish slums around the Duolith of Brindlegate. Desperate for scraps of knowledge or wealth to fall from the pockets of those who passed through the Duolith, Selvug begged in the dirt paths around the Duolith like many other residents of the gateway shanty town. When begging failed to provide, he turned to petty crime.
Like many of his kind, Selvug was blessed with an aptitude for hedge magic. Unlike other gnomes, however, who had the ability to create small illusions and petty tricks, Selvug possessed a greater skill - the ability to call upon strange spirits and summon spectral assistance. In time this ability evolved and Selvug became a leader within the slums, using his powers to summon strange energies and create trinkets and treasures from nothing.
Ylmora, sister to Selvug, disappeared when he was young, and it was in his young adulthood that she returned from Axalon to seek him out. Initially suspicious of her advances, in time he came to accept that her intentions were good as he watched her minister to the poorest of the slums. He accepted her invitation to return with her to Axalon and be trained to harness his innate magical ability.
Within Axalon Selvug often struggled with authority but in time rose to become a master of conjuration. As war threatened, he joined with his sister to call for Nythrian intervention, eventually being barred from the council as a result of his strident outbursts. When war broke he served on the front lines with both his sister and Iqel the Evoker. Together they won many battles, as both Selvug's conjurations and his sisters illusions routed Pallite forces, and Iqel's powers razed those who remained on the field.
When Arcyne fell, Selvug was not at his sister's side. Separated by the tides of battle, Selvug came upon her after the Transgression, grievously wounded and cradled in the arms of a weeping Iqel. In fury, he conjured a powerful Archon to bear them both forth from the battlefield. In the aftermath of the war, both Selvug and his sister ascended.
Within Dweomer, Selvug maintains the tower known as Gatehall. Inside his demense, Selvug flits from portal to portal, summoning various fantastic creatures to tend to his needs. He shifts location from moment to moment, often mid sentence. His most common aspect is that of a spritely, mischevious young
Gnome, dressed in travelling clothes and a cloak, always accompanied by a wondrous animal of some kind, often a pseudodragon.
Helegh Zaathe the Spiritweaver
Saint of the School of Necromancy
Holy Symbol: A skull atop a mountain
Favoured Weapon: Spear
Zaathe of the Ivory Spires was a
Goliath sorcerer who rose to prominence during the First War as a powerful Spiritshaper who ministered to the wounded and the dying. As war gripped the world, it was said that Zaathe's skills at manipulating life force were so great that none within her tribe could die, instead having their spirits reshaped to live again. So significant was Zaathe's skill in the art that the people of Nythria sought her assistance with their own experiments with constructed life.
When war came to Zaathe's home, Zaathe moved within the ranks of her people, saving those who could be saved, and easing the passing of those who could not. She guided the spirits of many of the fallen to pass into the bones of the mountains, until the land itself shook with their anger and the trees and rocks of the Ivory Spires rose up to fight the Pallites.
When Arcyne fell, Zaathe, perhaps anticipating what the Pale Dragon planned to do with the new knowledge it had gleaned, left her people to join the fight against the Pallites within the Cerulean Fields. When the Transgression came to pass, Zaathe laid down her life to try and resist the raising of the countless dead. Although ultimately unable to prevail, when the final Dragonform Gods hatched and created the Celestial Scale, Zaathe found herself ascended to demigodhood in reward for her service.
Zaathe remains the Saint of Necromancy. Her most common aspect is that of a tall, powerfully built Goliath woman, her skin ivory white, streaked with ebony black markings, representing the duality of the necromantic arts. Bitterly opposed to Orcus after the events of the Transgression, Zaathe lives within the Tower of Bone within Dweomer, where she watches over those mages who would exercise the most dangerous of the necromantic arts, remaining neutral in alignment.
Ahn Oloneiros the Starstone Mask
Saint of the School of Enchantment
Holy Symbol: Opal Mask
Favoured Weapon: Whip
Oloneiros was a student of the arts of Enchantment within Feyr Tharlas, and a contemporary of both Azuth and Syllaverin. It is said that he was so beautiful that all who looked upon him were instantly charmed by his presence. During the First War, Oloneiros worked to undermine the Pallite Forces, honing his skills to turn agents of the Pale Dragon.
In the aftermath of the war Oloneiros was criticized by Azuth for not being present on the battlefield when Arcyne fell. So great was his grief that all around him were also stricken; it is said that his most gifted students, when he returned to them after the war, took their own lives when they looked upon his face and saw the depths of his despair. He took up the Starstone Mask after the war, vowing that none would again see his face that were not under his thrall.
Oloneiros' most common aspect is that of a tall make Elf, glimmering with a multicoloured aura, face hidden behind a mask of solid opal carved into a likeness of an Elven face twisted in anguish. He is the husband of Syllaverin.
Bassi Iqel, Binder of Land and Sky
Saint of the School of Evocation
Holy Symbol: A hand wreathed in flame
Favoured Weapon: Bone Dagger
Life in the frozen north was, and still is hard, and the goblinkin families and tribes who made these lands their home were a hardy people. While the luxury of magical studies was rare, certain individuals displayed a natural aptitude for the arts that could not be suppressed. In the frigid wastes, the ability to evoke arcane energies into life-giving flame or healing energy was greatly respected. Iqel was a goblin huskherd who rose to prominence within his tribe, eventually becoming chieftain and guide to his people.
When the Pale Dragon crested the Dyrnspines and began seeking out conscripts for it's army, Iqel was one of the most outspoken of the chieftains against the advances of the broken god. As the First War intensified, many goblinkin tribes joined the Pallite forces, turned by the dark words and promises of power made by the Pale Dragon.
In response, Iqel would ultimately lead a great host of goblinkin out of the mountains to join the battle
against the Pale Dragon. In the fight, Iqel summoned forth powerful energies, sweeping the battlefield with rays of searing light. Many thousands of Pallites died at his hands in the conflict, including many goblinkin. As the battle turned and Arcyne fell, out of desperation he called up greater and greater energies, threatening to tear open a new Primal Wellspring beneath the battleground. Ylmora, the gnomish illusionist and disciple of Arcyne, tried to temper his rage, but seized by the powerful energies, he lashed out at her as Arcyne fell, badly disfiguring her.
In the aftermath of the battle, Iqel was venerated by his people as a Bassi - a saint - and ascended to create for himself a tower of fire and ice within Dweomer. There remains a longstanding enmity between Iqel and the siblings Ylmora and Selvug. In his most common aspect, Bassi Iqel appears as a goblin draped in furs who rides on a fiery chariot, drawn by hounds made of embers, burning with divine flame.
Dyrl Ylmora of the Second World
Saint of the School of Illusion
Holy Symbol: Two eyes surrounded by a cloud
Favoured Weapon: Chakram
As a mortal, Ylmora grew up in the slums of Brindlegate on the outskirts of a Nythrian Duolith. Her natural aptitude for the art of illusion saw her rise above her station, in time noticed by the mages traveling to and from the Nythrian city, and she was taken within the walls of Axalon for tutelage. In time she rose to prominence as a mistress of illusion, bringing her brother into the plane, where he would also display a natural aptitude for conjuration. A playful competition was engendered in the days before the war between these two siblings, as each tried to outperform the other with their conjurations or illusions made real.
As the war intensified, Ylmora earned the gratitude of the gnomish people, often walking the slums around the Duolith and ministering to the gnomes who subsisted there. She was a strident voice upon the council calling for the Nythrians to intervene in a war that was leading the mortals of Dyrn to ruin.
During the fall of Nythria, Ylmora fought on the battlefield alongside her brother Selvug and the goblin evoker Iqel. Her illusions made real rampaged over the battlefield, routing entire companies of the Pale Dragon's forces. As the battle reached its zenith, Iqel began to lose control of his powers, and as Ylmora tried to temper his energies, she was grievously wounded.
In the aftermath of the battle, Ylmora, unable to heal her injuries, draped herself in illusory glamours. With many of the other disciples of Arcyne, she ascended from the battlefield, taken beyond the Scale to create for herself a realm within Dweomer known as the Cloudspire.
Ylmora's most common aspect is a strikingly beautiful gnomish woman, draped in gossamer robes. It is said that her exact appearance is different for all who gaze upon her, and all who see her see their ultimate ideal of beauty and grace.
