The Church of Jergal was a collection of clerics, monks, and specialty priests called doomscribes devoted to Jergal, the Forgotten One.[1][2]
Organization[]
The church of Jergal was small and secretive, a rigidly organized, almost monastic order of scribes known as the Scriveners of Doom.[2]
When compared to other churches, Jergal only had a small handful of living followers. Upon their death, Jergal would sometimes transform one of his priests into a mummy to carry on working for him in undeath. These mummified priests worked isolated in secluded crypts and were sometimes served by mindless undead such as zombies or skeletons.[1]
Jergal's clergy were referred to as the Scriveners of Doom. The high priest within each temple was called the First Scrivener of Doom. Jergal's followers were evenly split between clerics, monks, and doomscribes.[1]
All of Jergal's clergy shaved their heads and wore gray robes.[1]
Activities[]
Based largely in lifeless stone mausoleums and dry, dusty crypts, its members spent their days maintaining and extending vast archives of scrolls listing how sentients under their purview passed away and their destination in the afterlife. Only in Thay, where death was a daily fact of life, had Jergal's church undergone a small renaissance. A handful of Jergal's followers still followed the old ways of the Companions of the Pallid Mask, an order whose members specialized in combating or commanding the undead whose existence was not sanctioned by the church or who had proven to be troublesome.[2]
Jergal's faithful held roles as morticians, scribes, and funerary workers. They kept meticulous records of births, deaths, and taxes for those whom they served.[1]
Rituals[]
The two main events for Jergal's clergy were the Sealing, performed upon each new death recorded, and the Night of Another Year, where the scriveners read aloud the names of every death recorded during the previous year.[1]
Clerics of Jergal prayed for their spells at dusk, a time of day representative of the end of life. On the last night of the year, Jergal's clergy ceased their endless toil for a full night. On this holy night, known as the Night of Another Year, the clerics read the names of every person whose death they had recorded from the scrolls they'd carefully inscribed over the past year. With a cry of "One Year Closer!", all the scrolls were then filed, and work began again the next day. The only ritual Jergal's clerics were required to perform was called the Sealing. After recording each and every creature's demise, form of death, and destination in the afterlife, Scriveners of Doom were required to sprinkle a light dusting of ash and powdered bone over their inscribed words to blot the ink and mark another small step toward the world's end. Some sought church-sponsored undeath to allow them to continue their archiving careers. Some clerics doubled as monks or necromancers.[2]
Base of Operations[]
Undead entombed cultists of Jergal.
Temples dedicated to Jergal were usually stone mausoleums or dry crypts. Sentient creatures who worked within these temples aged quickly and grew weak, but never died before their naturally appointed time.[1]
The Crypt of Imminent Death in Bezantur, Thay was one of the larger temples dedicated to Jergal.[1]
A ruined temple of Jergal was located near the bank of the River Chionthar, a bit west of Elturgard.[3]
Orders[]
Two orders served the Forgotten One–the Companions of the Pallid Mask and the Hand of Jergal. The latter was extinct as of the mid–14th century DR.[1]
Appendix[]
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Appearances[]
- Video Games
- Referenced only
- Baldur's Gate III
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 32–33. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Edited by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 98–99. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
- ↑ Larian Studios (October 2020). Designed by Swen Vincke, et al. Baldur's Gate III. Larian Studios.
Connections[]
Azuth • Bane • Bhaal • Chauntea • Cyric • Gond • Helm • Ilmater • Kelemvor • Kossuth • Lathander • Loviatar • Mask • Mielikki • Myrkul • Mystra • Oghma • Selûne • Shar • Shaundakul • Silvanus • Sune • Talos • Tempus • Torm • Tymora • Tyr • Umberlee • Waukeen
Other Members
Akadi • Auril • Beshaba • Deneir • Eldath • Finder Wyvernspur • Garagos • Gargauth • Grumbar • Gwaeron Windstrom • Hoar • Ibrandul • Istishia • Iyachtu Xvim • Jergal • Leira • Lliira • Lurue • Malar • Milil • Nobanion • The Red Knight • Savras • Sharess • Shiallia • Siamorphe • Talona • Tiamat • Ubtao • Ulutiu • Valkur • Velsharoon