Deinyn Fembrys

"Knowledge lies between the stars."

- Starweaver Fembrys

Deinyn Fembrys was a male Chondathan human cleric of Shar. He was one of a group of Sharran clerics posing as clerics of Mystra at a false Temple of Mystra in Wheloon in Cormyr in 1374 DR.

History
Serving Lady of Mystery Naedaenya Arthas, Deinyn posed as "Starweaver" Fembrys at the false Temple of Mystra in the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR. His role was to take petitioners through the so-called "Mystra's Sacred Trust", a three-day-long rite designed to sap their willpower, before he exposed them to the dominating influence of the Starry Gnosis. Victims were abducted and sent to their counterparts in the Vast Swamp. Those who were unsuitable or resisted Fembrys tortured to death and mutilated; he murdered at least three people this way, including Amnic Basult, Duncan, and Kenniwick.

In early Eleint, Tunaster Dranik, a genuine cleric of Mystra, stopped by the temple, though the false priests gave him a frosty reception. In the end, Starweaver Fembrys met with him, but Dranik was so off-put by him that he turned and fled from the temple. Priests and guards gave chase but Tunaster escaped. The priests later played down the incident.

Fembrys was eventually defeated by some adventurers recruited by Dranik to investigate the strange behavior of the false Mystran clerics.

Activities
Fembrys' primary duty at the temple was to supervise and instruct the petitioners of the three-day-long Mystra's Sacred Trust rite within the middle temple. He conducted the nightly ceremonies, began the daily chants, and delivered the sermons—all solemn, interminable, and utterly incomprehensible. This was all a calculated effort to wear down the petitioners' mental defenses, to render them psychologically vulnerable to the final phase of the rite: being presented with the Starry Gnosis, which would mentally dominate them and make them obedient to the Sharrans' orders.

Although full of religious iconography and symbology and quite bewildering, the gist of Fembrys's claims was that, as shown on Mystra's holy symbol, magic was born between the stars, with the stars themselves being the known points or schools of magic, and that the space between contained far more secret magical knowledge that Mystra would only reveal to the most promising. Allegedly, the aim of the ritual was to gain her Sacred Trust and this secret knowledge, which would be granted by the Starry Gnosis. In his ceremonies, Fembrys employed various vessels and liturgical items, wore vestments and ceremonial attire, and read from his own book, Preparing for the Sacred Trust. The most common phrase of his daily chant was "Knowledge lies between the stars." — in truth, the command phrase of the Starry Gnosis. Behind closed doors, however, Fembrys railed against blasphemy of feigning to worship Mystra while the "true one", Shar, needs must remain hidden.

However, Fembrys's main focus was in fact his macabre "hobby", which Lady Arthas permitted him to pursue. First, he tortured to death those petitioners who lacked magical ability, threw off the dominating effects of the Starry Gnosis, or were otherwise deemed unsuitable. He tortured them for information, but mostly for sport. He stuffed and mounted their severed heads on the walls of his quarters, like trophies, complete with glass eyes.

Fembrys regularly drank potions of undetectable alignment brewed by his colleague Shan Thar, to conceal their evil hearts and maintain their cover.

Personality
Outwardly, Fembrys had a dour personality, though this mask would be dropped if provoked to fury. Behind it, he was insane and had some very sick interests.

He spoke very little, if he could help it, in order to avoid being caught out in a lie, except at the times he gave his lengthy sermons. When he did speak, he instructed, or tried to have killed those who questioned him.

Description
Fembrys had a wizened appearance and was often scowling.

Though when in battle he might wear full plate armor, he was often seen wearing ceremonial attire as part of his sermons.

Equipment
In battle, Fembrys wore full plate armor and wielded a heavy mace and a number of chakrams. He also had a cloak of resistance +1, a scroll of restoration.

He also possessed a disc of secrets. This false unholy symbol initially appeared to show the symbol of Mystra, then revealed the symbol of Shar after a command phrase.

For his twisted hobby, he had a torture chamber at the temple, equipped with a rack, iron maiden, and other devices of cruelty. He also owned a cabinet full of taxidermy tools and supplies.

Abilities
In addition to his skills and divine magic as a cleric, Fembrys had mastered the use of Shadow Weave magic.