Ilxendren

Ilxendren was the patron god of the ixzan, as well as some of their sea-dwelling relatives, the ixitxachitl. The Demonray was their creator, hence why the ixzan were known as "spawn of Ilxendren".

"With Ilxendren's help, your bites may cripple even a dragon."

- Yzil, priest of Ilxendren.

Description
Ilxendren appeared as a huge vampiric manta ray with a wingspan. The Demonray's eyes were bright red and its tail was long, blue-tipped and barbed.

Personality
Ilxendren was supremely arrogant and scornful god towards almost all species not his own, demanding its creations to terrorize all marine creatures nearby and actively encouraging them to display wanton cruelty, caprice, and arrogance themselves. The one exception to this rule was aboleth, which he both feared and admired. Though it might help its patron race, little stopped it from wreaking havoc on them purely for the fun of it.

Powers
Ilxendren's avatar was a capable combatant able to move swiftly underwater and maneuver (albeit slowly) on land. His bite irresistibly sapped the energy from his victims and the spines on his tail were deadly on their own even ignoring their poison. It was completely immune to non-magical weapons and resistant to magical but blunt weapons, as well as illusions and water or earth spells, though it was vulnerable to fire magic.

Ilxendren's avatar could cast all spells that its priests could, in addition to casting abjuration, transmutation, evocation, and necromancy spells as a wizard would. It possessed several spell-like abilities it could cast once per day each, with a minute needed in-between casts, and each as an incredibly powerful caster; cone of cold, ice storm, wall of ice, and enervation. Once per day he could summon a powerful water elemental to do his bidding for an hour.

Ilxendren had the ability, referred to as his "Greatest Blessing" by his followers, to transform its worshipers into greater vampires.

Divine Realm
Ilxendren dwelt in a vast, malodorous lake somewhere in the depths of the Abyss.

Activities
Ilxendren sometimes dispatched his avatar to assist a capable group of priests and vampiric or mutant followers against a new and sizable population of other races, and more rarely appeared and attacked his own communities, either as a punishment for lacking aggression or because such an act was capriciously cruel in and of itself.

Relationships
Despite despising most other species, Ilxendren was allied with a couple of other deities, such as Kiaransalee, drow goddess of revenge and undeath. He and Blibdoolpoolp, the kuo-toa goddess were on relatively good terms, enough so that their respective patron races often lived together.

Much more common were Ilxendren's enemies, including most of the Dark Seldarine, incluing Lolth, Selvetarm, Vhaeraun, Ghaunadaur and Eilistraee, the duergar gods Laduguer and Deep Duerra, and the elven god of revenge Shevarash.

Worshipers
The priests of Ilxendren were, as to be expected, bloodthirsty beings of deliberate fickleness and malice. This did not preclude honest devotion to Ilxendren, but they had moderate limits on their clerical abilities, received no special powers from their god, and could only turn undead at a much lower level of potency than their priestly status would suggest. There were no weapon restrictions, although usually they simply used their natural armaments, and the only requirement to join besides being one of their kind was at least sub-average wisdom.

Ilxendren worship was nearly universal among the ixzan, who revered Ilxendren as their creator, the only exceptions being isolated enclaves of other cults. The common ixzan were dominated by the priest class, with mutants and especially vampires being revered as his favored to the point where even the bullying priests feared and deferred to their undead kin. Most cities forbade mutants from entering the clergy however, with the notable exception of the Corralline City, Malydren. Despite their numbers and supposed religious unanimity, clerical ixzans had to balance the competing, barely veiled threats of demanding council members and the rampant factionalism within the clergy, and so did not dominate their governments.

The patron god of most ixitxachitl was Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons, but the ixitxachitl of the Inner Sea were an exception. The Xedran Reefs, also known as the Holy Reefs of the Vitinar, were a shallow-water theocracy whose ixitxachitl showed an all-consuming zeal for the Dark Ray, and where all life revolved around his worship. The upper echelons of their society were the Vitanarate, including the temple-ruling vitans, city-ruling devitans, and the vitanar (his holy guards just beneath him), his Holiness who ruled from the Holy City of Xedras. Vitanarate commands went unquestioned, for to fulfill their requests was to be a step closer to higher power and station, the vitans themselves hoping to be turned into vampires by the vitanar as the devitans and guards were.

Dogma
The oligarchic, ixzan theocracies were governed by the precepts of the Demon Ray, generally emphasizing the whimsical whim to hurt others.

Ixitxachitl values were similar, as could be seen in their treatment of their slaves, with a noted preference held towards the strong who preyed upon the weak. They experienced a marked change in behavior, since and continuing after the Twelfth Seros War, which they saw it as a Time of Tempering or Ilxendren's Tempering. Since that time, rather than performing rare raids, they continued throwing themselves into battle against incredibly low odds, believing the conflict to be a crucible with which strength and worthiness would be found, so any who left the reef either returned with spoils or not at all.

Rituals
Given their bloodlust, clerics of Ilxendren enjoyed sacrificing sentients to the Demon Ray.

History
Following the Great Flood, the Revelation of the Demonray occurred. This century-long religious war was between the ixzan themselves, and its purpose was deciding which power to venerate. Initially, ixzan worshiped powers such as Dagon, Panzuriel, and Demogorgon. However, after the wars, Ilxendren had firmly established its place as the patron deity of the ixzan.

In 602 DR, the ixzan, Phiaqiv the Lifeleech and Zekaqux Netherhaunt, were transformed into greater vampires by an avatar of Ilxendren.

Trivia
The Serôsian calender contained one month called Ilxenhunt or Ilxendren's March, the primary crusading month for the ixitxachitls as they raided some summer settlements and warmer waters while other races still lived there.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Queen of the Depths • The Sea Devil's Eye
 * Queen of the Depths • The Sea Devil's Eye