Pyremius

The Blazing Killer, Demon of Venom, Hideous Assassin

Fire, Poison, Murder

Lesser God of the Gray Waste, Neutral Evil

Aliases: None
Domain Name: Niflheim/The Black Volcano
Origin: Suloise
Superior: None
Allies: Syrul, Mydianchlarus (the oinodaemon)
Enemies: Xan Yae, Bralm
Symbol: Fiendish head with winglike ears
Worshipper's Alignment: Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil

Pyremius is the Suel power of fire, poison and murder. Images of this god show him as a grotesque-looking man whose head resembles that of a jermlaine; he wears great brass bracers and carries a sword, called The Red Light of Hades, and whip, called The Viper of Hades. Originally a demigod of poison and murder, he poisoned Ranet, the previous Suel goddess of fire, during the height of the Suel empire. With Ranet weakened, Pyremius was able to steal fire from her and corrupt it from a life-giving power into a destructive element.
Pyremius is worshipped by arsonists, pyromaniacs, assassins and some intelligent monsters such as firenewts, jermlaine and grimlocks. His worship embodies the destructive nature of fire and not its benefits: Pyremius is never supplicated as a benign hearth deity. He and Syrul strongly support the Scarlet Brotherhood, and temples to the fiery god are prominent in every Brotherhood city.
He is distrustful of the other Suel gods and the powers of the other Oerthly pantheons; he remembers all too well how he came to power and doesn't wish to have the same thing happen to him. His only ally is Syrul, whom he understands to an extent and therefore feels he can trust more than any other god.

Manifestations

Pyremius speaks through open flames, occasionally causing them to assume his visage. He also has caused flaming runes to appear on swords, walls or doors; these runes drip black fluid, and witnesses of these events fast enough to collect it find that the substance is an extremely dangerous poison (save at -4 or die). Note that these flaming runes can ignite other materials and often set afire the very object upon which they are placed. Those who displease him are often found dead in the morning with a warning message seared onto their backs.

The Church

Clergy: Clerics, specialty priests, assassins
Clergy's Alignment: Neutral Evil
Turn Undead: No
Command Undead: No

Pyremius' clergy gain fire-building as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
Spellcasting clergy are never granted spells that use cold. While assassins are welcome as members of the clergy, they usually don't make it into the higher levels of the church hierarchy because of their lack of fire-magic.
The Hideous Assassin's temples are always built of mortared stone, preferably volcanic, with red and orange shapes enameled onto the walls and covered in glaze to reflect the light. Fires burn in the center of every public room at all times. There are many alcoves and blind corners, giving visitors who spend any time here a strong feeling of paranoia.
Priests of Pyremius are known as "deathseekers." Those of 5th level and above are called "vipers" and 9th level or higher priests are "firelords." Many priests elect not to use the titles, knowing that advertising their higher rank might draw unwanted attention from inferiors.
50% of Pyremius' worshippers are human, 20% are humanoids such as orcs, half-orcs, and goblins, with the remainder evenly divided among firenewts, jermlaine, and grimlocks. Of his human devotees, 40% are Suel, 35% are Oeridian, and 25% Flan. Females are as common as males in his temples, although among nonhumans the number of females is much lower. 30% of his clergy are assassins, 60% are clerics and 10% are specialty priests.

Dogma

The world shall perish in fire. Burn that which threatens you and kill those who would keep you from this. Even the greatest enemy must sleep; their backs can always be found and their meals flavored. Those who fall to such tactics are unworthy and deserve their fate.

Day-to-day Activities

Pyremius' priests practice stealth, observe other people, and expose themselves to great heat. They are the dark side of the person-watching coin. While a bard studies someone to guess his nature and his story, a deathseeker studies a person to find his weaknesses. They survey hot, dangerous locales, such as hot springs, volcanoes, burning buildings, and so forth, and build excellent forges. They explore familiar and new plants to create new poisons.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies

Hot, dry days that cause fires are holy times for these obsessive people; they meet at the site of such fires and offer prayers to their fickle god. Sacrifices of prisoners and slaves are conducted at the beginning of winter, spring and low summer; these victims are poisoned with corrosive substances, stabbed in the back and burned alive on great pyres.

Major Centers of Worship

Hesuel Ilshar

Affiliated Orders

The Redblades are a strong assassin faction; they endorse the use of poisons for assassination, whether upon weapons or administered internally. Members of this group are knowledgeable in more poisons than most assassins and are familiar with poisons that can be cobbled together from common plants or substances.

Priestly Vestments

Priests of Pyremius wear orange silk trousers and jerkins, with another layer of red silk over that, slitted to reveal the inner layer, one wearing such a costume appears to ripple with flame. Heavy bracers made of brass adorn the wrists, and males and females shave their heads. Ceremonial tools are a small sword made of brass and a fine leather whip braided with red gold.

Adventuring Garb

Alternating colors of red and orange are the norm for adventuring followers of the Blazing Killer. This is normally accomplished with patches of one color sewn onto clothes of the other, strips of both colors tied in elaborate knots or vivid body paints.

Specialty Priests (Firedraught)

Requirements: Constitution 13, Wisdom 9
Prime Requisites: Wisdom
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Weapons: Any
Armor: Any up to leather
Major Spheres: All, combat, creation, elemental (fire), guardian, summoning
Minor Spheres: Divination, Healing. Necromantic, Plant, Protection
Magical items: As clerics and thieves
Required Proficiencies: Herbalism
Bonus Proficiencies: Cooking, Stonemasonry (forges, fireplaces, etc.), Fire-Building

• Firedraughts are never granted spells that use cold.
• At 1st level, a Firedraught is +1 on all saves vs. fire attacks and -1 on all saves vs. cold attacks.
• A 3rd-level Firedraught can detect poison by taste: they may also cast poison (reverse of Neutralize Poison) once per week.
• At 5th level, a Firedraught's save bonus vs. fire attacks increases to +2, and her save penalty vs. cold attacks increases to -2. She may backstab as a thief for X 2 damage.
• At 7th level, Yugoloths will react favorably to a Firedraught, shifting one reactions category toward "friendly" due to Pyremius' alliance with these creatures. Saving throws vs. a Firedraught's poison attack are at -1.
• At 9th level, a Firedraught can cast Pyrotechnics once per day. His backstabbing ability increases to X3 damage.
• 11th-level Firedraughts gain an additional -1 penalty on saves vs. cold attacks (-3 total if hit by a cold attack, they take an extra point of damage per die, up to the normal maximum for the attack. The priest can also use a fire shield (warm flames version) once per day.
• Firedraughts of 16th level and higher are a total of-4 on saves vs. cold attacks, and one hit point lost per cold attack they suffer is permanent until regained by a Restoration or Wish spell. They may cast a Fireball once per day.

[Adapted from The Scarlet Brotherhood by Sean Reynolds]