Bhaal

Bhaal, known as Niynjushigampo among his Gugari worshipers, was the widely feared, Faerûnian god of violence and ritualistic murder. "I choose death...I can destroy your kingdom, Bane, by murdering your subjects, and I can starve your kingdom, Myrkul, by staying my hand."

- Bhaal

Description
Bhaal had three avatar forms: the Slayer, the Ravager, and Kazgoroth. The Slayer resembled a male, humanoid corpse with a feral face and ivory skin inset with deep lacerations that flowed with black ichor; he preferred to assume it when in urban areas. The Ravager meanwhile was a monster with a twisted, grimacing face that featured a flowing beard and mane,  horns and eyes full of the flames of Gehenna; he assumed that form when visiting the rural regions of Toril. Kazgoroth form was simply a shape-shifting monstrosity.

In some extreme cases, Bhaal's mortal Bhaalspawn children could actually turn into creatures said to be one of the listed avatars after Bhaal himself died, but these incarnations were even more monstrous and inhuman in shape, acting as little more than powerful killing machines. While powerful, they were weaker than a true god's avatars.

Personality
Bhaal only lived to hunt and kill, the presence of the living instilling in him an overpowering desire for death and destruction. He was at all times a cruel, violent and hateful being, though his behavior could vary from cold and calculating ruthlessness to a savage thirst for blood.

Divine Realm
In the centuries before the Time of Troubles, Bhaal’s divine realm was the Throne of Blood on Khalas, the first layer of the outer plane of Gehenna.

Relationships
A wholly evil, debased and sadistic god, Bhaal was reviled by a majority of the pantheon; his divine foes included Chauntea, Helm, Ilmater, Lathander, Lliira and Tyr. Bhaal was served by the goddesses Talona and Loviatar, who in turn served Bane and to a lesser extent, Myrkul.

During his godhood he was served by the imp "butler" Cespenar.

Worshipers


The clergy of Bhaal in Faerûn were known as Bhaalists or Bhaalyn, the latter being used more commonly in the lands east of the Dragon Reach. Together they were a disorderly network of local hierarchies, with the urban and rural branches maintaining distant relations from one another. Collectively, they believed that murder was both a duty to their god and a game for their enjoyment. Each cleric of Bhaal was expected to perform at least one murder every tenday, in the darkest moment in the dead of night.

Despite most throughout the Realms being terrified of him, especially those of the Moonshae Isles, the exact nature of what the Lord of Murder had power over was contested among sages and scholars, In his most generous incarnation, he was viewed as a figure that might have taken strength in violently punishing murderers and warmongers. Challengers of this notion insisted that he judged whether a murder was righteous or not. Yet another ideal was propagated by the Bhaalspawn, his half-mortal children who had been spawned on Toril, who insisted that he simply wanted more murder.

During the time that he was dead, Bhaal had many scattered cultist groups, the most infamous being the Deathstalkers of Bhaal, who attempted to bring him back to life. For a while after the Bhaalspawn crisis, it was believed his essence had been locked away on the Upper Planes, preventing his resurrection permanently. However, this proved to be incorrect. Bhaal's essence had been preserved in his half-mortal children, the Bhaalspawn, and after the death of the last two Bhaalspawn, Bhaal was revived.
 * Deathstalkers

Resurgence

After his revival, the worship of Bhaal proved to be darkly popular in cities such as Baldur's Gate. There is an unspoken assumption that anyone who benefits from violent death has some respect for Bhaal. Some believe a temple to Bhaal exists near or under the city, possibly in an ancient chamber beneath the sewers or carved into Dusthawk Hill. Rumor holds that eleven red crystals on the wall of the temple grow brighter with every murder committed, gathering power for either Bhaal or one of his future chosen. Some claim that Bhaal himself regularly visits the temple, his presence contributing to the city's high murder rate. In 1492 DR, the city of Baldur's Gate saw a spate of murders by cultists of the Dead Three.

Mortal
Before his ascension to godhood, Bhaal was a power-hungry adventurer on Toril. Along with his companions Bane and Myrkul Bey al-Kursi, he sought to attain the portfolio of the God of the Dead Jergal. After defeating one of the Seven Lost Gods, the three were able to travel to Jergal's domain, the Castle of Bone in the Gray Waste. Upon their arrival, Jergal willingly offered his realm to the Dark Three, though they couldn't decide amongst themselves who would rule.

Upon Jergal's suggestion, the three divided his power, deciding how to divide it based on the outcome of a game. The three played a game of knucklebones, and Bane emerged as the victor. He claimed the domains of hatred, strife and tyranny as his own. Myrkul, coming second, chose rule over the dead, the ultimate fate for all of Bane's minions. Finally, Bhaal chose the divine province of death.

Godhood
Bhaal became a god of immense power, having garnered the servitude of both Loviatar and Talona. While Bhaal was originally the patron deity of assassins and their victims, it wasn't long before common murderers used a claim of his worship to justify their sadistic actions, warping the manner of his worship.

Bhaal's reign of terror in the Moonshae Isles in the, was a prime example of his cruelty and malice. Bhaal's shapeshifting avatar Kazgaroth, which emerged from a Darkwell, attempted to combine the firbolgs and Northmen into a conquering army set on destroying all the realms of the Ffolk. It even used its powers to corrupt some of the Northmen, turning them into blood warriors who were bloodthirsty and extremely loyal to Kazgaroth. After Kazgaroth was slain by Tristan Kendrick and his allies, Bhaal sought to personally ravage and corrupt the Moonshae Isles. Through his cleric Hobarth, he corrupted the Moonwell turning it into a Darkwell, formed an alliance with the Thayan wizard Cyndre in the court of High King Reginald Carrathal and raised an army of sahuagin and the undead through the sahuagin priestess Ysalla. The Darkwell turned into a cancerous wound on the earth that corrupted and killed anyone who came near it. Bhaal used the Darkwell to summon forth 'The Children of Bhaal,' which included Thorax the owlbear, a flock of perytons, and a displacer beast known as Shantu, which would lead them. All this was done to destroy the Earthmother and seize the Moonshae Isles as his personal domain. Bhaal's army of undead, sahuagin, firbolgs, ogre mercenaries, and the Children of Bhaal led by proxies such as Hobarth and Ysalla wreaked havoc across the isles by killing numerous people and razing settlements until they were defeated by the Ffolk united by the newly crowned King of the isles, Tristan Kendrick. Finally, the Darkwell was corrupted enough to open a portal to his own realm. Bhaal sent forth his avatar, the Ravager, fueled by much of his divine power, but it was slain by Tristan, High King of the Ffolk, using the Sword of Cymrych Hugh. Defeated and greatly weakened, Bhaal was banished from the Moonshae Isles and even temporarily exiled from Toril.

Time of Troubles
On Eleint 16, in the, having lost his powers and being forced to walk Faerûn like the rest of the gods, Bhaal was slain by the upstart mortal Cyric using the avatar of Mask, a sword named Godsbane. In doing this, Cyric stole Bhaal's divinity and portfolio elements. However, much like Myrkul—who invested his divine essence in the artifact known as the Crown of Horns—Bhaal was not utterly removed from Faerûn. Part of his divinity remained in the Winding Water, around Boareskyr Bridge where he was slain, his blood having flowed into the river. More importantly, Bhaal foresaw his death and impregnated many mortal women, creating his heirs, the Bhaalspawn. The Bhaalspawn were involved in a series of conflicts along the Sword Coast, with one standing above the others and ultimately foiling Bhaal's plan to return through his children.

After the death of the Lord of Murder, the city-dwelling Bhaalists quickly converted to the worship of Cyric, whom they referred to as Cyric-Bhaal. The rural priests maintained their faith for years to come, claiming they continued to receive their divine powers following their nightly prayers. The schism between Bhaal's remaining followers and the emerging Cyric-Bhaalists reached its apex in the, getting to the point where the factions would ambush and assault one another. Soon later, the remaining worshipers of Bhaal stopped receiving their divine powers and began gradually converting to Cyricism or Xvimism.

Reemergence
For a time, it was believed that any possibility for Bhaal's resurrection had been stopped. The last known Bhaalspawn, Abdel Adrian, resisted the murderous impulses caused by his lineage and became a famed and beloved figure in the city of Baldur's Gate. In the, near the beginning of the era known as the Second Sundering, Viekang, another Bhaalspawn who was thought to be dead, attacked Adrian as he spoke to a crowd in the portion of town known as The Wide. While the ultimate winner of the duel is unknown, the victor transformed into a massive, blood-soaked creature and began a rampage that was only stopped when a group of adventurers new to Baldur's Gate defeated and killed the monstrosity.

With all of his children dead, all of Bhaal's essence was freed, allowing for his resurrection. Bhaal was revived, and reclaimed the murder domain from Cyric. However, the Lord of Murder was no longer a true deity, and was instead a being of quasi-divine status. As with Bane and Myrkul, he was effectively a mortal.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Tantras • Waterdeep • Black Wizards • Darkwell
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear • Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
 * Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford
 * Board Games
 * Betrayal at Baldur's Gate
 * Card Games
 * Card Games

Connections
Bhaal