Ibrandul

Ibrandul was a chaotic neutral lesser deity of the Underdark, caverns, and dungeons. After the Time of Troubles, he was dead, his name and following having been usurped by Shar. In Calimshan he was also believed to have power over darkness and stealth. "Ibrandul guides you in the dark ways, drives away some dwellers in the darkness who would do you harm, and from time to time reveals great treasures to those who venture into the depths."

- A second-hand telling of a sermon from Thalandar, high priest of Ibrandul.

Description
Ibrandul radiated an aura of gloom, darkness, and ages long past, displaying intense emotion by flicking his tongue or blinking at an increased pace. He was most commonly portrayed (in Calimshan and the Sword Coast North at least) as a giant lizard of the depths, a monstrous ibrandlin up to in length. This form, known as the Stalker, was one of his two favored appearances (at least as played by Shar) the other being the Skulker.

The Skulker frequently shapechanged, but generally appeared as a tall humanoid made of black and gray stone, worn smooth as if it had been long exposed to howling, eroding winds. His only specific facial features in this state were eye patches that glowed like cool magma against pure darkness, and in this form he could be mistaken for a stone golem or earth elemental. Other Skulker forms were that of a massive, bare-chested human with chiseled features (as known to the natives of Calimshan) or a stony, roper-like creature (as known to the drow). Regardless, the Skulker preferred to appear lurking in pitch blackness, visible only by the light of his eyes, aiding or obstructing through voices in the dark.

Manifestations
Ibrandul's other manifestations usually took the form of sounds, such as footsteps around a bend, breathing (often mistaken for wind howling through the caves), dripping water (particularly in arid underground regions), cave-ins (from which comprehensible words and phrases could be made out in the rumbling), and interesting erosion patterns and rock formations. Many adventurers have been completely oblivious to the aid which he provided, having been guided to their destination, avoiding natural hazards, by following natural (if strange) signs, usually a trail of warm spots on tunnel walls, each briefly visible via infravision. Shar tended to use the same subtle signs Ibrandul did to forewarn high-ranking priests.

The Skulking god was also known to work through free-willed earth elementals, stone-eaters, lizards of all sizes including his own ibrandlin, skulks, gray and crystal oozes, and will o'deeps.

Personality
Ibrandul, though he demonstrated wit whether helping or hindering, was a taciturn and moody god, and was portrayed as such by Shar whenever his guise was in use. He was not an uncaring deity however and in fact was always restless, ever-seeking to stalk and explore the Underdark and hunt down those who would harm his followers. However, while Ibrandul would aid and guide those who served them when they were in need, he had a tendency to ignore them once they were relatively safe. It was thought that this inattentiveness resulted in diminished strength and thus played a part in his eventual death.

Powers
As the Stalker, Ibrandul could quickly strike out with using all his claws and fangs, whereas the Skulker bludgeoned his opponents with two powerful appendages (which could take the form of arms or more unusual limbs like tentacles). In either form he could cast spells from any school or sphere of magic, favoring those of elemental earth,travel, and darkness. He could only cast light-creating spells if their effects occurred instantaneously (such as a fireball as opposed to glitterdust).

Though able to see in perfect darkness as if it were broad daylight, a continual light spell was sufficient to blind Ibrandul, though he had several means of counteracting this. The simplest was to cast create darkness around himself (which he could do at will along with his usual attacks or spells). He could also sink directly into rock walls, moving, striking, and observing completely uninhibited regardless of the light beyond it.

Other stone-related powers of Ibrandul included his ability to become undetectable by non-magical means if he stood motionless against stone. As a creature of Pandemonium, Ibrandul had also learned to stone shape with his breath, expertly carving any kind of rock down to the most intricate feature. The process took a minute for every square foot, and could be used to create anything from stone darts, to natural altars, to navigable Underdark passages.

Possessions
Gifts of Ibrandul were healing potions that had the additional effect of turning the imbiber's skin scaly and gray, the condition lasting for a few days depending on the subject's fortitude.

Realm
Ibrandul's realm of Ibrandyllaran was located in Phlegethon, the 3 layer of Pandemonium, but could be found drifting in the Astral Plane after his death.

Activities
As the Stalker, Ibrandul was said to roam the caverns of Pandemonium hunting other predators there.

Relationships
In life, Ibrandul was allied with Mask and Ilmater. His enemies included Lathander, as their portfolios were directly opposed, Lolth, whose drow he was said to have thwarted in the origin story of his faith, and Shar, who killed and replaced him. The Nightsinger had always jealously defended her dominion over darkness, and so, in an act of pure opportunism, she slayed the Skulking God for daring to subvert her worship.

In Memnon, Ibrandul was worshiped as one of the "Four Protectors", the others being Selune, Valkur and Shaundakul, gods sworn to protect travelers using various modes of transportation.

Worshipers
Ibrandul had been one of the more notable, if not strongest, deities of Calimshan, and a diverse variety of his worshipers dwelt there. He was popular amongst adventurers, and also worshipped by the underworld-affiliated, escaped slaves, and shulks. He would watch over all his followers, protecting them from the dangers of dark places (particularly the Underdark) and was rumored to aid those venturing underground when they were in need.

Originally Ibrandul's worship was unheard of north of the River Chionthar, his influence limited to the countries of the Shining South, but it had spread since his death at the hands of Shar and her subsequent adoption of his persona. It had declined over the centuries among the humans but still practiced with fervor by the skulks, whose only interaction with the surface-goers was raiding, causing the Skulking God to be seen as an evil power in Calimshan more than anywhere else in the Realms. His faith was much more recent in the Sword Coast North and attracted worshipers of diverse alignments and races, his priests focusing on his aspect as a defender more than a lover of darkness (a focus Shar likely planned to shift).

Ibrandul's largest single group of followers were the skulks living in the ruins of Deep Shanatar beneath Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan. Drakkalor (former patron city of the dwarven god of greed, Abbathor) in particular was the site of a skulk nation whose tribal culture centered around their emancipation from the drow of Guallidurth by Ibrandul and the raiding of that city's traveling merchants. Some Underdark druids of various races, even drow, had Ibrandul as their patron but stopped receiving spells from him upon his death; some turned to dwarf, gnome, or other Underdark deities, while the drow possibly (and unknowingly) received their power from Lolth. The slave population in the beholder city of Zokir, after centuries of secret worship, were also allowed to worship Ibrandul by the ruling hive mothers.

Specialty priests of Ibrandul, known as Darkwalkers, were required to be chaotic neutral and reasonably healthy and wise. Such priests had various powers and training relating to nagivating the dark, creating darkness, and altering stone. Under Shar's influence, all new initiates into the faith were to become specialty priests, the remaining clerics being holdovers from before the Time of Troubles (Ibrandul himself never created specialty priests due to his relative neglectfulness).

Dogma
""There is perfect freedom in perfect darkness: independence, individuality, liberty from the judgment of others. Ibrandul protects you and guides you in the dark ways. He drives away those who would do his children harm and from time to time reveals great treasures to those who venture into the depths. Remain steadfast to him, and he will stand by you.""

- Dogma taught to the Initiates of Enveloping Darkeness

Ibrandul's dogma held that the Underdark was every bit as vital as the surface world, and that its darkness was its greatest redeeming quality, freeing intelligent beings from the inexorable monotony of a day and night cycle that would restrict their lives and providing an endless variety of shapes and textures to tactiley experience, sensations that would be lost on those who merely used their sight. There was nothing inherently evil, or for that matter good, about the dark, with such judgements considered both personal and frivolous.

Ibrandul's clergy was expected to proselytize to the poor of cities, as well as adventurers, with many members either wandering the Underdark as adventurers themselves or simply acting as aides for them. They had a tendency to celebrate the darkness by roaming the Underdark alone, resulting in a somewhat high mortality rate among lower-ranking priests, the smart followers remaining in groups until they developed the priestly powers and survival skills to explore alone. Their mission was to persuade those they met to acknowledge Ibrandul as their defender while they were underground and encourage them to stay there.

They were also expected to build underground temple fortresses to serve as sanctuaries for those venturing the depths and offered refuge in them to those who needed to hide beneath the earth (whether from a natural disaster like a storm or a plague or from enemy assailants like police or foreign invaders). This was in exchange for regular rental payments for the food and bedding as well as a niche in the temple and the favor of Ibrandul.

Rituals
There were very few holy days among the Ibrandulin. Each Midwinter's Eve they would perform a ceremony known as Deliverance Unto Darkness, typically involving the sacrifice of a creature intimately associated with Lolth or the drow, such as a monstrous spider, to celebrate their emancipation from the dark elves. The ceremony also usually had dark path spells cast in long chains, the faithful wandering the Underdark without light sources and trusting their god to lead them to safety. On the cloud-covered nights of a new moon, while the surface world was pitch black, the ceremony known as the Foreshadowing would begin where, beginning at midnight, they would celebrate Ibrandul's promise to eventually envelop the worlds above and below in darkness.

Long before his death, Ibrandul imparted secret transformation spells and breeding processes to his most devoted followers, who used the lore to develop the create ibrandlin spell by which the lukrers in darkness were created by magically altering fire lizard eggs. The Lurker in Darkness never provided enough divine power to turn ibrandlin into a self-propagating species, with their offspring merely being fire lizards, but with Shar's favor the creatures bred true, resulting in much excitement among the clergy and a steadily increasing number of the modified race. Given the expense of the spell's components, it would likely fall into disuse so long as the ibrandlin could breed on their own.

All senior priests of Ibrandul were required to undergo a secret ritual in a ceremony known as "Elah'ranak" (meaning "Protective Armor of Darkness" in Alzhedo). Performed by the temple leader, the magical rite saw the supplicant ingenst ibrandlin blood, after which overlapping patches of ibrandlin-like scales appeared on their wrists, forearms, chest, back, and legs, which granted them great natural armor, but reduced their natural charisma.

All followers were to throw a copper piece into any crossed pit as thanks for their safe traveling and in nearby holes or crevices if they believed they witnessed one of his signs, with priests having the additional expectation of irretrievably throwing a tenth of their wealth into a deep pit as a tithe when they reached a new level of power.

Temples
Ibrandul had several temples and shrines both known and hidden, though he could be worshiped anywhere in the Underdark or in the shadows. He had shaped many elaborate altars out of natural stone throughout many large Underdark caverns, each recognizable as at least across plateaus with steps making them accessible from all sides. They were worn glassy smooth across the top and had runes and glyphs of varying texture and shape in the center for followers to caress while kneeling and meditating. The Runemesa in Zokir was constructed similarly to these natural shrines by the city's beholders, albeit in such a way that they were difficult to reach without flight or spider climbing as both a cruel taunt and method of inducing loyalty.

Athkatla, the capital city of Amn, housed a few hidden cellar-shrines for the Skulking God. Memnon was the home of the Protector's House, a small but excellent two-story temple where Ibrandul was worshiped down in the lowest cellar, as well as represented with an ibrandlin on the last of the four outside coulumns. His largest and newest temple was the semi-secret Deep Temple of Dark Hope beneath the streets and sewers of Waterdeep. It was a stronghold for adventurers of the Undermountain and Underdark able to pay the steep fee, also reachable by a two-way gate from the Upper Temple (or Dark Gateway), which took the form of a secret shrine to Ibrandul in Waterdeep's Trades Ward.

Clothing
In general, Ibrandul's followers tended towards black and purple dress with silver ornamentation, dressing as if they wish to blend into the darkness, which often had them taken to be rogues whether or not that was actually true. When adventuring they wore reasonable armor allowing for both protection and swift movement through tunnels, always tinted or dyed flat black or deep purple so as not to reflect light and usually crafted from metal or Underdark lizard skins.

Priests wore ceremonial, dark purple robes belted with black sashes and covered with patterns of overlapping silver rings, the rings representing both the protective scales of Ibrandul and their interdependence with fellow followers. His holy symbol was usually carved into a semiprecious stone and carried on a thong or chain, or sometimes symbolized through a puzzle ring of four interlinked silver rings worn as one ring. Notably, they did not use their symbols when turning undead, instead grasping a handful of earth and letting it trickle through their fists as if to remind the undead of what was meant to happen to the deceased.

History
Worship of Ibrandul began in the prehistory of what would later be known as Calimshan, before even the founding of the Shoon Imperium, some time after the defeat of a nomadic human tribe known as the Djen. Abducted from the Calim Desert by drow raiders from Guallidurth, the humans were kept as slaves for centuries, too afraid of the surrounding darkness to flee. Until, that is, a monstrous lizard came out of the dark, drove off the drow, and led the humans into the wild tunnels. Some of the humans returned to the surface while other remained in the Underdark and evolved into the skulks, but both nonetheless carried with them the worship of the Lord of the Dark Depths, even if each developed slightly different beliefs and representations over time.

Over time, Ibrandul's faith on the surface of Calimshan declined and the raiding of the skulks worsened his image. In 808 DR, in an event known as the Zealot Fires, fervid priests of Lathander destroyed his temples in Calimport (along with those of Shar and Sharess) in an attempt to "give the gift of dawn to enlighten the befuddled faithful of the dark gods." However, the faith of the Skulking God had also quietly spread to many places connected to the Underdark, including the Undermountain beneath Waterdeep.

Death
During the Time of Troubles, Ibrandul was seen wandering in the Underdark below Undermountain; however, during that period of weakness he was, unknown to his followers, slain by Shar, who took his guise and deceived his followers. She found masquerading as him quite useful, for it allowed her to subvert the worship of Selûne without drawing attention to her own nightcloaks, particularly in Waterdeep. The petrified corpse of his avatar was believed to lie at the bottom of a vast chasm in some lost level of Undermountain.

Shar reveled in the deceit of the entire affair for a time, enjoying the delicious irony of secretly eroding her hated sister's worship in one of the seats of her power. She had been pleased with her new agents and influenced Thalander's attempts to establish Ibrnadul as a powerful and respected faith in the City of Splendors, appearing to the High Priest in dreams (the cult itself being neither evil nor disruptive despite its riches and secrecy). Eventually, however, the dark deed she had hidden through her masquerade was revealed as humans learned he had died during the Time of Troubles and that she had taken his guise.

Second Sundering
During the events of the Second Sundering in 1486 DR, a Chosen of Ibrandul appeared, in the shape of a female drow named Ashdra. She was captured by the Red Wizards of Thay and taken to their so-called Temple of Shadows.

Rumors and Legends
It was suspected that Ibrandul had some connection to Syrul, the Oerthan goddess of deceit worshiped by the skulks in Flanaess, although there was no evidence of any such link.

After his death became clear, several beholders claimed to have slain Ibrandul, killing a god being one of the objectives of Vellurith, though these claims were universally dismissed as none were made around the time of his actual death.