Kossuth

Kossuth (pronounced koh-SOOTH), or the Lord of Flames is the primordial of elemental fire. Kossuth is symbolized by the holy symbol of a twining red flame and his portfolio covers elemental fire and purification through fire. He is, however, not a true god but actually an elemental primordial, a being whose power rivals that of a true deity.

Worshipers
The church of Kossuth is rather hierarchical and mostly impersonal. The Church's aims tend to revolve around the acquisition of land, power and wealth. The followers and clerics are often of the lawful neutral alignment. Compared to the many other gods of Faerun, Kossuth and the three other Elemental Primordials are well known for their relative silence when it comes to communication with their worshipers. However, of the four, Kossuth is the most active and vocal.

Many Red wizards of Thay worship Kossuth and the Flaming Brazier of Eltabbar is supposedly the largest temple of Kossuth in all the realms.

After death, bodies of worshipers are cremated.

Clerical Orders within the Church of Kossuth in Thay

 * Burning Braziers
 * Black Flame Zealots
 * Brothers and Sisters of the Pure Flame
 * Order of the Salamander

Worship in Zakhara
On the continent of Zakhara, Kossuth is called one of the cold gods of the elments. "Cold" because those are seen as uncaring for human affairs, they are considered opposed to the Land of Fate's pervasive culture of Enlightenment. Only a few Zakharans are willing to worship a cold god in order to gain power.

Relationships
The supremely powerful elemental being known as Kossuth has lorded over fire since the earliest moments of the multiverse, though whether or not the contemporary Kossuth is the same, primordial being or one in a long line of similarly named successors is a matter of much conjecture. The Lord of Flames rarely intervenes in affairs in the mortal world, spending most of his time embroiled in the intrigues of the Inner Planes.

Kossuth's doctrine of elemental supremacy virtually assures conflict with the other elemental lords. Kossuth is vehemently opposed to Istishia and his clergy. The Firelord interacts very little with the other deities of Faerun. Moradin and Flandal Steelskin honor him for the heat of the forge, but he barely responds. The Return of Bane pleases Kossuth, however; the two deities seem to agree on the importance of a strong religious heirarchy and have a common intolerance for the ephemeral and unpredictable nature of chaos.

History
Noted Historical Interventions-

-150 DR- Powerful Raumatharan wizards managed to summon Kossuth from his elemental home and instructed him to destroy a beseiging army of hated Narfell. This he did, but he soon turned against the wizards, incinerating their city for their arrogance. The resulting conflagration consumed much of the northern coast of the Alamber Sea, and the fires of Kossuth's anger burned strong for more than a decade after his withdrawl from Toril. Perceived Historical interventions-

1357 DR: The Salamander War- Kossuth is credited with limiting this disasterous event in Thay's history, by his faithful. Without his influence, they say, the War would have turned into an even greater debacle.

Time of Troubles: Kossuth is not one of the deities spotted on Faerun during their exile of the gods by Ao.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)
Ed Greenwood initially used Kakatal, one of Moorcock's Elemental gods as found in the original Deities & Demigods, as the elemental lord of fire for his home Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the Forgotten Realms. As Greenwood indicated in his article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981), Moorcock's elemental gods "may later be replaced in [his] universe by 'official' AD&D beings as these are published". Kossuth first appeared in the original Manual of the Planes (1987), and was featured as one of the elemental lords for the Forgotten Realms in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set's "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)
Kossuth was described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990), the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet, and Faiths & Avatars (1996).

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)
Kossuth appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001), and is further detailed in Faiths and Pantheons (2002).

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-Present)
Kossuth appears in the fourth edition as a primordial.