Pharaz

Titles

The Black Sun

Lord of the Itzaal

Bringer of Revelation

The Hidden Traveler

Adjective Pharazmian

Home Idor

Alignment Lawful Evil

Portfolio Knowledge, Memories, Relics, Planar Travel, Libraries

Worshipers Librarians, ex-Pharasma worshippers, ill-fated people

Cleric Alignments LN, LE, NE

Domains Knowledge, Darkness, Sun, Travel, Ruins

Subdomains Memory, Loss, Revelation, Portal, Night

Favored Weapon Warhammer

Symbol Black Sun

Sacred Animal Black furred Fox

Sacred Colors Purple, Black

“Black Flames start to rise, the fury shall burn as the walls of the grey lady shall fall until she tells us, the forgotten sons, the truth.”- Visions of Dark Flames.

It is told that the Black Sun, Lord of the Itzaal and the Hidden traveller was a servant of Pharasma in the past. Pharaz sorted and defended as the memories which the lady of the graves wanted to have stored as Viduus, but his curiosity drove him to take a glance at memories, judgements and fates which he was not allowed to do as Viduus, because they contain the knowledge of all lost souls.The followers of him claim that he took a glimpse at something so gruesome, horrible and cruel that he left the lady of the graves behind. He then proceeded to go into hiding, where he used those memories to create servants of his own and create a plane which floats between Abaddon and the Axis plane. Pharaz is patient, curious, tolerant and close to omniscience, but he is also cruel, destructive, cold-hearted and pessimistic. His goals are mysterious and a secret but it is told that he wants to reveal the truth about everybody's fate and show humanity their foolish ways with an eternal rest.

Understanding Pharaz

Unlike Nethys, Pharaz claims that you cannot know everything and that the destructive side of Nethys is better at gaining knowledge

He appreciates his worshippers but does not grant them much time to speak with him as Pharaz is busy travelling and controlling the Itzaal. He wants his worshippers to record everything carefully and organize as well as study as many relics as possible.Also, Pharaz hopes that they will find their enlightenment through the things they learn and protect the advancement even if they’ve to do so through bloodshed and carnage.

He often appears in the form of a skeleton, wearing a white mask and has purple flames burning out of his whole body. It is said, that he takes endless star flights and endless planar travels to gain knowledge and uses all tools to his disposal to gain them. He never shows real emotions but sometimes he tries to emulate them to show at least a little bit empathy but it often becomes clear that he does not really feel them because the purple flames grow weaker while he is pretending to have emotions.

The Church

He is worshipped by warpriests and inquisitors, rarely by pure clerics. Furthermore, wizards, arcanists and psychic casters especially occultists find often interest in his teachings. Not only the amount of difference the worshipper have but also the places he is worshipped are different. There is not a special location of worship for the church of the black sun but it is preferred to pray to him in the early hours while it is still dark.

Most of his worshippers have professions which help them gather information and experience as much of the world as possible, but they often turn their faith into his teachings after they were disappointed by other deities and found themselves with ill fate although their devotion. Also, some ex-Pharasmins find their way to the Black Sun, because his teachings offer similarities to Pharasmas, while Pharaz does not curse the creation of undead and is tolerant also to those who are unhappy with their fate.

Pharaz’s Antipaladin Code

A followers alignment must be within one step of her deity’s, along either the law/chaos axis or the good/evil axis to take this code.

• I will seek the light of enlightenment. I will keep organized records of knowledge, which I will seek even if it is forbidden, and I will store them where they are safe.

• Popularity is a hinderance. I will build only reputation for gathering the words and thoughts of my surroundings.

• Knowledge is power but oblivion is the end of humanity. I will protect records and punish those who try to destroy them.

• Everybody will turn into dust at some day. I will not make a difference between man, woman, child and my own family; everybody will be killed if they oppose me.

• Lies and Concealment of knowledge is the forlorn try to change memory and history. I will punish those who spread lies and I will make those speak who hide important information.

• Results matter. The ways do not. I will use everything which my mind and body are capable of doing to gain results in my enlightenment.

• Every mind experiences things differently. I will be tolerant towards those around me as they can grant me another point of view which brings me closer to truth.

Temples and Shrines

Pharaz’s temples are rather unique as they exist for the purpose of gathering and storing information so that it is accessible to all who follow the deity. They usually hold in their walls carvings and are made with a lot of knowledge storing art. The reasoning for this is that most worshippers of Pharaz have a general interest in arts and often practice them. Also, small shrines are common to find in dense woods or darker corners of libraries as those are good places to study.

Adventurers

Pharazians are often adventurers as they try to travel the world to gain as much knowledge as possible. They often take the role of the more intellectual person in the party and often delve into the depths without fear, because they know that great knowledge and important experience could await them in the depths but they are not fools and usually try to find out what they face before they act foolishly.

Usually, they are tolerant to all allies they can gather as long as they do not oppose their goals. Also, they are fine with almost all ways to get results as long as they are not suicidal, foolish or lead to the destruction of knowledge.

Clothing

Pharazians usually wear silken robes in the sacred colours purple and black, often with the holy symbol on the chest, but they often depict them slightly deformed so that there is not immediate evidence of the worshiping. It is also common to have slots for a favoured pen and a journal.

Holy Text

Although almost all books are holy to Pharaz and his followers. They have the few holy books.

Visions of Dark Flames:

This is a book bound in black leather by the first follower of the black sun and speaks about the teachings of the black sun and is written in a dialogue between the Pharaz as a teacher and the herald as a disciple. Common topics in those conversations are the stance towards death, oblivion, knowledge itself and the actual sense of life which remains unanswered.

Stepping into the circle:

This book is filled with methods to record information properly and how to start following the actual ways of the black sunshine.

Holidays

Pharazmians usually do not particularly care about holidays and festivals but participate often in holidays of other deities to understand the thoughts of those and maybe gather information. Some Pharazmians celebrate the first Pharast as the day of revelation as this was the day Pharaz left the grey lady side.

Aphorisms

The biggest Catastrophe is oblivion: This is a common phrase when a Pharazmian forgets about an information which he was certain to know about. It reminds the Pharazmian about the importance to keep good record of those informations and a promise to do better.

Shall you find his lights in the dark: It is a blessing towards a Pharazmian who goes on an adventure and a wish that he will find useful knowledge to record and that he maybe finds enlightenment. This can be also an exclamation towards clerics who are intolerant towards the creation of undead.

Realm

Pharaz created his own plane within thirteen days between the axis and Abaddon and a large part of the Styx flows through the middle of it. The land on the plane with the name Idor is mostly rotten ground but has also forest as the inhabitants of this plane are mainly Itzaal. Through the whole plane it is possible to find ruins of the material plane which were teleported onto the plane to store them. The light in this plane shines purple and provides no light to make it possible to see without darkvision. Most creatures who live on the plane have because of this darksense and are because of this not bothered by the unusual light.

Pharaz himself does not have a palace in Idor but he often returns to a church on the plane which is prohibited to be accessed by any Itzaal with the exception of his herald. Even the six Erreges, barons, who are similar to the nine who follow Asmodeus and are not allowed to enter the church.

Relationship with other Religions

Pharaz is a deity of many relations while the one with the grey Lady, Pharasma, is the most obvious. He has a personal hatred towards her for the coldness in her heart. He also gives her the fault for his cold-hearted behaviour. He despises her hatred for undeads. This hate is not returned by Pharasma but she is aware that he broke the rules and read forbidden books and needs to be punished for it.

Zyphus has as a self-declared rival a small truce with Pharaz just to bring downfall to Pharasma. It is also said that Pharaz spoke with Groetus before he left and promised him a large reward for a certain duty. Some Groetus follower because of this see the Itzaal as their allies.

Nethys admires his efforts to find out about the whole world and does not care about Pharaz criticizing him as Nethys destructive side agrees with him partially but he denies to help Pharaz gathering information and does not grant him any power.

Pharaz has also contact to the boatman Charon who lives on the Styx which also runs through Idor. It is unclear if this relationship is positive or negative but some say that he promised Charon a unique soul from Pharasma for his aid although this unconfirmed and only those two know what happened. Yamasoth and Irez are persons of interest to Pharaz who both deny to see him. While Yamasoth heared him but did not want to hear him, Irez as an empyreal lord flat out denied to see Pharaz as an deity of Evil. There are rumours that he has also allies under the race of the dark tapestry and met up with outer gods but there are also rumours that he has the lost prince from the first world as his ally or at least a particular interest in the memories of him. Most Major deities as Asmodeus and Iomedae do not find much interest in the minor deity although they have slight concerns over the things he must know to have created his own outsider race. They both fear that if the secret of Pharaz is spread that those, who know about the ways to create outsiders, will destroy order, justice and law.

Pharazians usually do not attack any religion directly and tolerate every kind of religion they even are okay with Pharasma's priesthood as they cannot know better in the opinion of them.

Planar Allies

The Itzaal are his loyal servants with alignments spreading from NE to LN and all follow his presence. They also often help worshippers of the black sun,but are often protected against spells to summon them.

The Erreges:

The barons of Idor are six humanoid extraplanar beings. The first baron is called Liburu, the master of the faceless, he’s neutral evil,has reign over the faceless library, which is most likely one of the largest libraries in existence, and Tharm’s tower. Tharm, the twisted Lord, his alignment is lawful neutral and he reigned over a large tower but it was taken away by Liburu, which is why he reigns only over a small camp. Medius, the shroud of darklight is lawful evil but he shows himself rarely and reigns over the shadow mountains in Idor. Hilda is the only baronet and reigns with small dragons over the only bridge which gets across the Styx. Ikus, the unseen mask is lawful evil and reigns over the invisible city and his servants are known to wear golden masks and act like assassins to gain knowledge. The last Baron is Amorphis; the baron of ruin is known to look like a grim reaper and right a horse out of purple glowing flames and he reigns over the ruins of avoidance which is one of the largest gatherings of ruins known to existence because they were gathered from a lot of different places on all kind of planes.

Zuhait, herald of the black sun:

This huge treant is surrounded by total darkness, with only a single blue light being able to penetrate what lies beyond the darkness. He's the one who wrote the Visions of Dark Flames and has been Pharaz's first follower. He's wise and patient treant which follows the teachings of Pharaz closely and just like his master he too is lawful evil. His duty is to protect the church on Idor.

Obedience

Collect small bones and create out of them a sun in a dark place then reflects happenings of the past and analyze them for two hour. In the end chant the hymn of the black sun while looking towards the sun or the moon. Gain a +2 profane bonus to knowledge history and planes.

EVANGELIST BOONS

1: Dark sunshine(Sp) Vanish 3/day,Dust of Twilight 2/day, or Nondetection 1/day

2: Strike of shattering light (Su) Because the dark lights of the black sun are powerful, they shroud you in darkness Once per day, you can rip apart a piece of holy text. You can declare one attack to be a faith-stealing strike. The target must attempt a will saving throw (DC+1/2 your Hit Dice your charisma modifier). If it fails, the target is unable to connect to his deity to cast divine magic for one round.

3: Distracting Enlightenment (Su) Once per day as a move action, you can declare an enemy within 30 feet. The target must attempt a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier). If it fails, the target is driven mad by black sunlight, history and memories far beyond what the brain can handle, as if the workings of Thassilonian magic were revealed to a common ant; it is fascinated for 1d4 turns. In addition to the normal ways to remove this spell, this ability's maddening history can be removed using modify memory. A successful Knowledge (history) check (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier) reveals this additional way to negate the effect.

EXALTED BOONS

1: Judgement Gazer (Sp)Embrace Destiny 3/day,Clairaudience/Clairvoyance 1/day, or Seek Thoughts 1/day

2: Protected from fate (Su)Twice per day, you can protect yourself from Pharasma's judgement or Zyphus's chance. You may as an immediate action reroll a saving throw or force the enemy to reroll his attack roll.

3: A glance into the book (Sp): Once per day if you hit 0 or fewer hit points you will get a glance into the book about your fate and your hit points are set at 1d8 hit points, but the overwhelming view leaves you with the stunned condition for a round.This effect can't be ignored, suppressed or removed by anything short of Pharaz's direct intervention.

SENTINEL BOONS

1: Guardian of the memory(Sp): True Strike 3/day, Visualization of the Body 2/day, or Magic Weapon, Greater 1/day

2: Stop the Curiosity(Su): Once per day as an immediate action or swift action you can gain +2 profane bonus to AC, saving throws, attack or damage as you are infused with the wish to protect the revelations of the black sun.

3: History grants Dominance(Su): Once per day, you can take a look into the dark history of a creature as a swift action you gain an extraordinary skill exposing the weakness of a declared enemy. You roll a knowledge history check against DC 15+HD of the targeted enemy. If you succeed on the skillcheck you gain a +4 to attack and +4 to damage against that creature for one round.