Talos

Talos, known long ago as Kozah, was the Faerûnian greater deity of storms and destruction. The Storm Lord was the destructive force of nature and leader of the Gods of Fury whose self-serving dogma demanded utter obedience from his priests, instructing them to spread destruction where they might.

Among the Bedine of Anauroch, who descended from the citizens of Netheril, Talos was still known as Kozah by the 14 century DR. In Calimshan, he was worshiped as Bhaelros and in the Underdark, he had an aspect with a small following as Malyk, a god of wild magic. After the Spellplague, many came to believe that Talos was, in fact, an aspect of the orcish god Gruumsh, but after the Second Sundering the two deities seemed more distinct.

"Talos can see nothing but a world that must be destroyed."

- Mystra.

Description
Talos appeared as a broad-shouldered, bearded man with one good eye. He wore half-plate armor over black leather and black leather gloves. His empty eye socket was filled with whirling stars and covered with a dark eye patch. When he appeared in Calimshan, he often took the form of a dusky-skinned, turbaned genie rising out of a sandstorm.

Personality
Talos was violent, angry, short-tempered, impulsive, and frequently motivated by his fury. He could be roused to raging destruction by the smallest offences and hold onto a grudge for centuries after the slight. His actions often seemed petty and vengeful, and indeed they were. He reveled in chaos and exulted in unrestrained devastation, causing ruin for the pure joy of it.

Talos was in many ways a bully without boundaries, comparable to a malicious, spoiled child in his motivation. He was often driven to act out of the fear of looking weak or compromising to anyone, and reinforced his sense of self-worth time and time again by raining havoc and crushing beneath his might those too weak to stop him. He relished seeing what he or his followers could burn, flood, break, kill, or otherwise tear down. His entire reason for existing was to prove, to mortals, gods, and himself that there was nothing that could be built that he couldn't destroy.

Divine Realm
Talos' divine realm was named the Towers of Ruin, the Screaming Towers, or the Towers at the Heart of the Winds, as it was always surrounded by a mighty howling whirlwind. It was located in Pandesmos, the topmost layer of Pandemonium in the Great Wheel cosmology.

Allies
Talos was the leader of the Gods of Fury, a collection of deities including Auril, Umberlee, Malar, and himself, that he brought together through sheer force and which he kept together under his tight control.

Talos's relationship with Auril was allegedly close and cordial, as her ethos matched his, yet Talos had no compunction about attempting to erode her power and usurp her portfolio whenever possible. Given his success in this department, Auril had made winters colder to remind them who still controlled the power of the cold itself. She also usually only called Umberlee for help, since Talos, despite usually responding, would hog all the glory and worship afterwards.

Talos's relationship with Umberlee was simultaneously flirtatious and competitive. Like with Auril, he had been encroaching upon her portfolio, trying to pick up violent nature in all its forms as his own. Though she might flirt with him on occasion, Umberlee would gladly kill him and become the sole deity of destruction herself is she could. Given her inability to directly affect the land and relative weakness however, she simply bided her time trying to distract him with romantic intrigues and instructing her priests to kill those who would ascribe the storms of the sea and shore to him.

Of the Gods of Fury, Talos's worst relationship was with Malar. They cooperated only grudgingly and the Beastlord would happily kill him if he had the power to. Unfortunately for him, Talos's growing strength had left him weakened after the Time of Troubles.

Talos had recently attempted to court the affections of Beshaba, goddess of bad luck, perhaps with the goal of eventually controlling misfortune as well as destruction. Whether or not this was the goal, this was how Beshaba saw it, and as such she spurned his overtures.

Talos has a history of elevating powerful mortals to divinity and then forcing them to deplete themselves in his service. Such an example could be found in the necromancer god Velsharoon, although this led to him abandoning Talos in favor of Azuth. In reality however, Velsharoon was still working with Talos, simply trying to play the Archwizard and Storm Lord off of each other. As part of this secret alliance of convenience, Velsharoon encouraged his followers to unleash their horrific creations upon the world, though Talos just seemed to be biding his time until the Lich Lord got his comeuppance.

Enemies
Talos had no shortage of enemies; he hated deities that promoting learning, building, and nature, and had a particular hatred of anyone, mortal or divine, who would attempt to persistently or broadly change the weather.

Chauntea opposed deities of destruction and untimely death, especially Talos and his Gods of Fury, but even the more hard-hearted Silvanus also hated him. Though he recognized the role that natural disasters played in the Balance, Talos cared nothing for the natural order and was merely indulging his most destructive impulses, hence why his priests referred to Talos and similar deities as "the Unbalanced". Mielikki was also particularly opposed to him (as she was towards Malar and Talona), and Shiallia opposed him since he sought to destroy the woodlands she was sworn to protect. Eldath, the pacifistic Mother Guardian of Groves, was also among his enemies.

On the side of civilization, Oghma and Deneir opposed Talos for his destruction of knowledge, with Deneir in particular, him being the god of written information, filled with rage towards him and the Gods of Fury despite his usual calm. Talos was the only true foe of Gond, for he not only threatened to destroy his inventions, but also usurp his dominion over destructive devices. Tyr fiercely opposed deities of evil and lawlessness in general, but Talos was among those who has his particular enmity. Helm had to combat his destructive impulses at every turn, and Savras simply disliked his pointless death and destruction. The sworn enemy of all the Gods of Fury (particularly Umberlee but also Talos to a large extent) was Valkur, who embodied the brave captain who could sail through anything they could unleash and protected sailors from them.

Under the alias of Malyk, Talos once tried to fold destructive and wild magic into his portfolio, only to be openly challenged by Mystra and forced to abandon this goal when most wild magic zones were neutralized. By her nature it was hard for anyone to stay angry at her for long and so she had no true enemies, but Sune nonetheless disliked Talos for his destruction of beautiful things. The Morninglord Lathander somewhat naively blamed Talos and a few other evil gods for most of Toril's ills. All three (as well as Chauntea) worked to limit the effect of his rages.

Worshipers
The church of Talos was small by the standards of a greater deity, and his followers were fanatical in their love of destruction. The clergy had no formal hierarchy; obedience was enforced through might. Priests of Talos were fond of extorting sailors and farmers, threatening that Talos would bring destructive storms upon them if they did not placate the angry god. They were wont to pursue wealth and luxury with many indulging in acts of random or spiteful violence, pillage, and banditry. Talossan clerics were also committed evangelists who sought to gain converts through fear or the enticement of raw power.

Clerics of Talos wore black robes and cloaks shot through with teardrops and jagged lines of gold and silver while high clergy wore blue-white ceremonial robes streaked with crimson. All of them wore eye patches. His followers were known as Talassans. Talassan clerics generally cross-trained as barbarians, sorcerers, wizards, or as stormlords.

Worship of Talos was outlawed in many countries. Most Talossan holy sites were secret because of the church's reputation. Public churches often took the form of castles or fortified strongholds that lay on earthquake fault lines or in the path of storms or lava; Talos ensured they remain unscathed.

Rituals
Clerics of Talos celebrated Talossan festivals with ceremonies that summoned lightning and storms.
 * Calling Down the Thunder: This ritual involved the sacrifice of an intelligent being by lightning.
 * The Fury: In this ceremony, the cleric prayed, made berserk attacks to wreak as much destruction as possible in a small amount of time, then prayed again.

Orders
The existence of religious orders affiliated with Talos was shrouded in mystery and rumor. Two speculated groups were:
 * Lords of the Tempest: A group of wizards that specialized in combining elemental magic.
 * Circle of Rust and the Worm: A cabal of insane sages and mystics of various disciplines with the aim of destroying the world.

History
The Stormlord was formed from the first battle between Selûne and Shar, near the dawn of the world. The people of ancient Netheril worshiped him as Kozah, and called him The Destroyer and The Raging One, among other titles.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad
 * The Parched Sea • The Siege
 * The Parched Sea • The Siege

Connections
Talos