Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
I’m really enjoying these deity videos.
It’s been fun to explore some lesser known
deities, well lesser known to me at least.
This video will cover the mad god Cyric and
Deneir the god of scribes and cartography.
Cyric is a very self-centered and petty deity
who holds himself above all others.
Power hungry mortals tend to worship Cyric.
Known as the Lord of the Three Crowns, the
Mad God, and the Prince of Lies Cyric enjoys
misleading individuals so that they will perform
acts that ruin their lives, or allow them
to make fatal mistakes.
Cyric is a chaotic evil deity, and despite
being a popular deity his church is widely
hated across all of Faerun.
It’s members perform wicked acts in the
name of Cyric.
The followers of other evil-aligned deities
view Cyric’s church as mad with power, and
a threat to their own influence.
There is little love for Cyric and his followers
but if you're on a quest for power his path
might be for you.
Cyric also has no friends in the Faerun Pantheon
but plenty of enemies.
His Church was pledged to spread strife and
work murder everywhere.
People are to worship Cyric out of fear.
His church was often beset by internal feuds
and backstabbing.
Most of his followers are trained as rogues
or assassins.
Cyric’s church works openly in Amn with
a philosophy of ambition, self-reliance, and
“buyer beware.”
those that take Cyric as their patron tend
to be con artists or power-mad connivers.
Most pray to Cyric when they want to do wrong
but don’t want to be found out about it.
Cyric was once mortal and was elevated to
divine status by Ao himself at the conclusion
to the Time of Troubles in 1358 DR.
Bane Myrkul and Bhaal had all died during
the Time of Troubles and Cyric was appointed
their divine portfolios.
If you play through the adventures with the
Time of Troubles, or read the novels (which
I haven’t done, don’t hate me) Cyric is
a major character.
He ended up killing Bhaal using the sword
Godsbane which was the deity Mask in disguise.
Kelemvor was an adventurer and companion of
Cyric and Midnight (who later ascended to
become Mystra).
It was 10 years after the Time of Troubles
Cyric hated Mystra (aka Midnight) and wanted
to gain advantage over her.
He did this by trying to capture Kelemvor’s
soul because Kelemvor and Midnight were lovers.
He couldn’t find it though because the soul
was hidden in the sword Godsbane by Mask.
It was absorbed by Cyric’s own sword the
moment Kelemvor was killed on top of Blackstaff
Tower.
Cyric was in control of the city of Death,
where spirits of the dead roamed about.
Cyric had a dream, a nightmare really that
Kelemvor had returned to life and was seeking
revenge against him.
At that moment Cyric crushed his sword in
his insanity which free Kelemvor making his
nightmare come true.
The two fought, Kelemvor the dead soul and
Cyric the mad god and amazingly Kelemvor won
and became the new ruler in the City of Death.
Kelemvor gained the portfolio of death and
became the new God of Death.
Cyric created a book, or influenced a book’s
creation known as the Cryinishad.
After the Time of Troubles a gods power was
directly linked to the size and devotion of
their worshipers.
This book would turn anyone reading it into
a devote follower of Cyric.
It was a powerful magical object and once
you started reading it you couldn’t stop.
The book was made of raven-black leather and
embossed with a pattern of grinning skulls.
A skull the size of a child’s fist dominates
the front cover.
Cyric ended up reading his own book which
backfired the magic and drove him insane (even
more than he already was apparently).
It was the Year of Blue Fire, 1385 DR that
Mystra was assassinated at the hands of Cyric,
which caused the Spellplague.
This was not hidden and he would found guilty
by a conclave of other Faerun Deities for
her murder.
He was sentenced to imprisonment in the Supreme
Throne, which was the realm Cyric held dominion
over I assume since losing the City of Dead.
He's currently trapped there for 1,000 years.
And the current Forgotten Realms timeline is 1490s so he's got a ways to go.
Deneir is up next.
The Lord of all Glyphs and Images, the First
Scribe, and also known as the Scribe of Oghma.
Deneir is the god of literature and the patron
of artists and scribes.
It is common for someone who writes a letter
or records information to say a prayer to
Deneir in hopes to avoid making mistakes.
Artists acknowledge Deneir before starting
and completing a piece of artwork.
Followers of Deneir hope to save and record
information, to preserve history and enlightenment.
Thus records are very important and kept safe.
His followers are mainly monks who work to
preserve the written word.
Transcribing all information that comes into
and out of the Church.
His blessings of divine magic are most often
bestowed on those who lose themselves in written
works.
Worshipers of Deneir remain in close contact
with those of Oghma as he was Deneir’s brother
god.
Deneir’s churches maintain libraries, always
collecting maps, literature, and art.
It was during the spellplague that Deneir
attempted to reestablish stability of the
weave by the writing of the Metatext.
The metatex was a single work that when read
could unlock the secrets of the multiverse
catapulting its reader to godhood.
Deneir was said to be a follower of Oghma
and achieved godhood by glimpsing the smallest
portion of the Metatext.
When the weave collapsed Deneir used the metatex
to write himself into the Weave to protect
it.
He disappeared from the world and became part
of the Weave granting his chosen arcane abilities
instead of divine ones.
It’s unclear to me if Deneir is back in
5th edition.
He’s part of the 5th edition pantheon but
everything I read said he disappeared during
the spellplague attempting to write himself
into the Weave.
If that’s the case when did Deneir come
back?
Or is it one of those DnD mysteries and perhaps
Deneir never really left us because his worshipers
never really stopped worshiping.
I guess we’ll never know until Wizards of
the Coast graces us with further information.
Or if you know that I missed something let
me know in the comments below.
Thanks for watching everyone, please hit that
like button and subscribe if you enjoyed this
video!
I make new lore videos every Wednesday.
If you really want to help out the channel
consider joining our patreon!
With that I’m out but I’ll see you again
in the next video!
