The Cinder King

King in Amber, Melted King, The Candlewax King, The Terminal Flame

Taking many shapes and forms, this being has been mentioned throughout history. It is always described as something vaguely humanoid in shape with loose robes and a crown fixed upon its head. Beyond that however, The Cinder King's description can vary wildly. From being as pristine as an unlit candle to states of burnt decay to its entire image being nothing more than a humanoid scorch mark, all of its devote believers say they have seen it in one form or another.

Divine Domains

Light, Darkness,

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Perhaps why the Cinder King has persisted so long in history is the "accidental" creation of its sigil. Whenever a flame dies out, whether its as small as a candle or as large as a bon fire, there is a chance that the sign of the King will be present. The symbol itself looks like three curved lines radiating from a single point with dot at the center. Whether or not a true sign has been produced from a flame is hard to tell, as such patterns form naturally when fires are extinguished. Cultists will often bicker among themselves on whether a sign has been produced, only adding to their paranoia.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

The elder beings motivations are unclear. Cultists and worshipers are not always granted divine gifts, and at times who does and does not receive the King's blessing appears to be random.

The First Story of the Cinder King

The story considered to be the first appearance of the Cinder King is not a pleasant one. In the time before deities graced the plane, the world was ruthless and almost void of arcana. Without the gods’ blessings, the surface of the plane was too unforgiving and the Underdark was the only place creatures could survive, and even then it was still rife with dangers. Still though, primitive dwarves, kua-toa, and gnomes scraped by and formed tribes and small kingdoms. A group of foraging gnomes from such a kingdom were returning from an extended trip when their misfortunes began. From the darkness above an aberration fell from the ceiling in an ambush along the cavern trail. It looked vaguely humanoid with a bulbous head with tendrils, a pair of long arms that scraped across the floor as it walked and two legs that bifurcated into a pair of tentacles. The lead of the troop was lucky enough to leap forward, but the gnome behind him was shredded and consumed by the creature. While the lead gnome sprinted to get help, the other five of the group fled backwards and unfortunately got themselves pinned at a dead end.
With the horror approaching, the gnomes knew of its hatred of light and quickly sparked a fire to form a barrier between them and certain death. This prevented the aberration from advancing, but this creature was more intelligent than it looked. It knew that it just needed to wait out the gnomes’ fire and then it would have its sustenance.
For four days, the gnomes burned whatever supplies they had on them to keep the horror at bay. By this point, they had set ablaze all food rations, clothes, and camping gear but the horror waited patiently. In desperation, they decided that to save the others, one person would need to be killed and used to fuel the fire. The gnome who was chosen…did not go willingly, but ultimately he was sacrificed, and prepared for the fire.
Piece by piece he was thrown onto the fire, and each time, the fire was given new life and the mindflayer recoiled at the brightening light. After two days, the last piece they threw onto the flame was the gnome’s head. However, when the head was added to the fire, the flame immediately extinguished, and in the darkness the aberration struck with hunger in its eyes.
When help finally did arrive, they came onto a grizzly scene. The campfire that had held the aberration back was nothing more than an ashen circle on the floor. The four remaining gnomes had been disemboweled by the mindflayer presumably. The aberration itself had been melted like tar and smeared against the back wall of the dead end. Lastly there was a lone survivor, the gnome who was sacrificed, physically whole but not mentally.
When asked what happened, he was able to recount everything up until being sacrificed and then just kept repeating that he was saved by a king in the fire. He returned to the village but his spouting of a true king drew the ire of the leader of the village and was eventually executed for his spreading the word about this “Fire King”. Ironically, the story has lived on and the name of the Cinder King has lived on far longer than the gnome king whose name has long been forgotten.

Divine Classification

Elder Being