Malphagor was a Tanar'ri Prince and an upstart deity of the undead worshiped in the Underdark region underneath the Vast,[1][4] who sought to usurp undead the portfolio from Orcus[5] and the necromancy portfolio from Velsharoon.[3]
Description[]
Followers of the deity believed that raising the undead was giving them the "Blessing of Malphagor" and the dead individual souls were gifts to the god who, in exchange, gives them eternal unlife. The center of Malphagorian worship was located on the far side of the Sea of Endless Darkness in relation to Ravens Bluff, about a month's time travel.[3]
History[]
Malphagor's cult became a common knowledge after the expedition from Ravens Bluff descended into the Underdark and established the Ravens Deep settlement in the Year of the Tankard, 1370 DR.[6] Expedition members ran into several powerful cultists of Malphagor near the Watch Post Cavern, led by Filas, a ranking human lich priest of the upstart deity. The war band under Filas's, leadership consisted of Angor, a dwarven death knight and its eight dwarven skeleton warriors, Dannon, a dwarf vampire, and two of his thralls. The group set out to fight and kill a best of beholders and raise them as more of the undead followers of Malphagor. Despite their undead existence, the Malphagorians sought no trouble with the living Ravenaar and only wanted a passage to their secret mark. Only if the living were to promise their "destiny" to Malphagor would Filas reveal the group's true goals.[2][7]
By the late 14th century DR, relatively recently before 1370 DR, the island town of Tradesport in the Sea of Endless Darkness faced an undead incursion. Several of the city's Trading Houses used undead workers, who rebelled when an ancient hidden crypt, part of the ancient temple of Set, opened, unleashing its shambling guardians. The unquiet dead began slaughtering everyone in their way, and only with the arrival of Malphagor's priests the undead were pacified and forced under the priests' control. The clergy of Malphagor demanded a section of the city to be given to them as payment. Since then, Malphagor's followers had been an integral part of the city's commerce, trading in the undead servants created from the slaves exported out of Thay. Inhabitants of Tradesport showed no love for the deity's clergy nor for the god's undead servants.[4] The Wail of the Banshee, a necromancer's ship made of bone, operated out of Tradesport with its master, a drow necromancer named Mezzalcat serving Malphagor.[8]
Circa 1370 DR, the Cult of the Dragon, namely Shalimarra Daradusk of Ravens Bluff, allied with the clergy of Malphagor in the Vast, using the god's priest to help them raise white dragons as undead.[9] During the same period of time, powerful priests of Malphagor visited the site of a great battle between drow and duergar in the Lower Sarbreen to collect bodies of the dead to be risen as servants of their deity. The human lich priest, Velcrest, showed no desire to fight adventurers from Ravens Bluff who came across the grim scavenging and, if left unprovoked, was happy to share information about his patron deity.[1]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lee McClurkin (August 1998). A Shot in the Dark, Part I. Living City (RPGA), p. 3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rick Brill, Weston Peterson (July 1999). On Guard. Living City (RPGA), pp. 9–10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lee McClurkin (August 1998). A Shot in the Dark, Part I. Living City (RPGA), p. 11.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dave Sreniawski (August 1999). Isle of the End. Living City (RPGA), pp. 9–10.
- ↑ Lee McClurkin (August 1998). A Shot in the Dark, Part I. Living City (RPGA), p. 10.
- ↑ Heather Van Buren (January 2000). “Underdark Campaign Journal: Gateway to Ravens Deep”. In Erik Mona ed. Polyhedron #140 (TSR, Inc.), p. 22.
- ↑ Rick Brill, Weston Peterson (July 1999). On Guard. Living City (RPGA), p. 3.
- ↑ Dave Sreniawski (August 1999). Isle of the End. Living City (RPGA), pp. 14–16.
- ↑ Template:Cite organized play/LC/Rage