Erythnul
Encyclopedia
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon of deities for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons
fantasy
role-playing game
, Erythnul is the Oeridian god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter. He is known as the Many, and is worshipped by many gnoll
, troll
, ogre
, and bugbear
tribes, in addition to humans. His symbol is a red blood drop, or a bestial mask representing Erythnul's changing visage.
in Dragon
#71 (1983). Erythnul was subsequently detailed in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
(1983).
His role in the cosmology of the Planescape
campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).
(2000).
Erythnul is also detailed in Deities and Demigods (2002).
(2004).
Erythnul is called the Many, because in battle his features continually shift from human to bugbear to troll to ogre to gnoll and back to human again. His spilled blood transforms into similar creatures. Erythnul delights in panic and slaughter. He can spread fear through his eyes.
, due to the latter stealing Erythnul's portfolio of War. He sponsored Roykyn's ascension to the status of hero-power. He is allied with Kurell
. Erythnul is often worshipped in association with Karaan
, though the latter deity is far more obscure.
Erythnul is credited with creating the windblades and garngraths, races of fiends
native to Pandemonium
.
Previously, he had a realm called the Fields of Malice in Cocytus
.
Many of Erythnul's worshippers believe that blood spilled in battle feeds their god, increasing his madness and bloodlust. Chaotic neutral worshippers believe that non-combatants and weak opponents are meaningless, and that killing them does nothing to satiate their god or prove their ability; killing those unworthy of a warrior's death even angers Erythnul, they believe. Chaotic evil worshippers, who are far more common, disagree, believing that all slaughter is a sacrament, and that the dying screams of innocents are music to Erythnul's ears, hymns in the church of the battlefield.
s, bugbears
, ogres
, and troll
s commonly worship him.
Many factions of Erythnul's cult exist, fighting one another as often as they fight nonbelievers. In cities, they tend to be less overt, forming a nebulous organization known as the Temple of Carnage. Most of Erythnul's faithful are chaotic evil, though a few are chaotic neutral.
Erythnul is the official god of Stonehold
in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting
.
Clerics of Erythnul get most of their training in large wilderness temple-fortresses. Senior clerics try to frighten would-be initiates into quitting; those who avoid flinching after many tests are accepted into the priesthood.
The ranks of Erythnul's priesthood are, from lowest to highest, Raider, Marauder, Reaver, and Incarnate.
Erythnul's profane altars are built on platforms reachable by steep flights of stairs.
Prayers to Erythnul are customarily rhyming chants with gory subject matter.
The Morningstar of the Many is said to have been dipped in the blood of creatures from every plane. It resembles a mace carved with laughing mouths that takes on different characteristics every round.
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, Erythnul is the Oeridian god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter. He is known as the Many, and is worshipped by many gnoll
Gnoll
A gnoll or gnole is a fictional humanoid creature - a cross between a gnome and a troll. They first appeared in Lord Dunsany's story in The Book of Wonder: How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art upon the Gnoles and subsequently reappeared in Margaret St. Clair's, The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles...
, troll
Troll (Dungeons & Dragons)
Trolls are fictional monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Dungeon Masters can use them as enemies or allies of the player characters.-Publication history:...
, ogre
Ogre (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, ogres are a lesser race of giants, rather being simply large brutes with clubs. An aquatic subrace of ogres is known as "merrow." D&D ogres are also closely related to the race of ogre magi, a smarter race with blue skin and great magical abilities...
, and bugbear
Bugbear (Dungeons & Dragons)
The bugbear is a type of fictional monster for player characters to encounter in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.A bugbear is depicted as a massive humanoid distantly related to goblins and hobgoblins...
tribes, in addition to humans. His symbol is a red blood drop, or a bestial mask representing Erythnul's changing visage.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)
Erythnul was first detailed for the Dungeons & Dragons game in "The Deities and Demigods of the World of Greyhawk" by Gary GygaxGary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#71 (1983). Erythnul was subsequently detailed in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting and the World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting are two closely related publications from TSR, Inc. that detail the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
(1983).
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)
Erythnul was one of the deities described in the From the Ashes set (1992), for the Greyhawk campaign, and appeared again in Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (1998).His role in the cosmology of the Planescape
Planescape
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).
Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)
Erythnul appears as one of the deities described in the Players Handbook for this edition (2000). Erythnul's role in the 3rd edition Greyhawk setting was defined in the Living Greyhawk GazetteerLiving Greyhawk Gazetteer
The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is a sourcebook for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Despite the title, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer is not exclusive to the Living Greyhawk Campaign...
(2000).
Erythnul is also detailed in Deities and Demigods (2002).
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)
Erythnul appears in the revised Players Handbook for this edition (2003). His priesthood is detailed for this edition in Complete DivineComplete Divine
Complete Divine is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game published by Wizards of the Coast...
(2004).
Description
Erythnul resembles a 7 feet (2.1 m), brutal-looking man. He is rubicund of complexion, hirsute, and muscular, with knotted muscles and a blocky frame. His dull-green eyes are filled with the madness of war. He typically wears red fur and red-dyed leather, and carries a stone-headed mace. A hole in the head of the mace creates a whistling noise as Erythnul swings it; the keening howl of the mace has been known to send those who hear it fleeing until they collapse from exhaustion.Erythnul is called the Many, because in battle his features continually shift from human to bugbear to troll to ogre to gnoll and back to human again. His spilled blood transforms into similar creatures. Erythnul delights in panic and slaughter. He can spread fear through his eyes.
Relationships
Erythnul has a long-standing rivalry with HextorHextor
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon of deities for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Hextor is the Oeridian god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny....
, due to the latter stealing Erythnul's portfolio of War. He sponsored Roykyn's ascension to the status of hero-power. He is allied with Kurell
Kurell
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Kurell is the Oeridian god of Jealousy, Revenge, and Thievery...
. Erythnul is often worshipped in association with Karaan
Karaan
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Karaan is a vile god of savage lust and wanton destruction, representing the dark side of nature...
, though the latter deity is far more obscure.
Erythnul is credited with creating the windblades and garngraths, races of fiends
Fiend (Dungeons & Dragons)
Fiends is a term used in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game to refer to any malicious otherworldly creatures within the Dungeons & Dragons universe. These include various races of demons and devils that are of an evil alignment and hail from the Lower Planes...
native to Pandemonium
Pandemonium (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the standard cosmology of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Pandemonium is the Outer plane where Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Neutral petitioners are sent after death. Pandemonium is a large, complex cavern that never ends. Compounding this problem, howling winds drive most of its...
.
Realm
Erythnul's realm, the Citadel of Slaughter, is in the third layer of Pandemonium, Phlegethon. There, his domain appears to be the ruins of a great stone citadel. In the chill winds can be heard the sounds of a terrible battle. The maddened souls of Erythnul's faithful kill each other eternally. Erythnul himself joins in the melee, slaughtering an endless stream of his own worshippers. A giant sacrificial altar is said to exist at the center of it all.Previously, he had a realm called the Fields of Malice in Cocytus
Pandemonium (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the standard cosmology of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Pandemonium is the Outer plane where Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Neutral petitioners are sent after death. Pandemonium is a large, complex cavern that never ends. Compounding this problem, howling winds drive most of its...
.
Dogma
The chaos of battle is the sacred charge of the worshippers of Erythnul. In all the myriad forms of terror and suffering that war creates, there is a strange kind of unity. This is part of the reason that Erythnul is called the Many. Battle is a test of merit and strength, and living and dying by the sword is the definition of the good life.Many of Erythnul's worshippers believe that blood spilled in battle feeds their god, increasing his madness and bloodlust. Chaotic neutral worshippers believe that non-combatants and weak opponents are meaningless, and that killing them does nothing to satiate their god or prove their ability; killing those unworthy of a warrior's death even angers Erythnul, they believe. Chaotic evil worshippers, who are far more common, disagree, believing that all slaughter is a sacrament, and that the dying screams of innocents are music to Erythnul's ears, hymns in the church of the battlefield.
Worshippers
In civilized lands, Erythnul's followers (including evil fighters, barbarians and rogues) form small, criminal cults. In savage lands, evil barbarians, gnollGnoll
A gnoll or gnole is a fictional humanoid creature - a cross between a gnome and a troll. They first appeared in Lord Dunsany's story in The Book of Wonder: How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art upon the Gnoles and subsequently reappeared in Margaret St. Clair's, The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles...
s, bugbears
Bugbear (Dungeons & Dragons)
The bugbear is a type of fictional monster for player characters to encounter in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.A bugbear is depicted as a massive humanoid distantly related to goblins and hobgoblins...
, ogres
Ogre (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, ogres are a lesser race of giants, rather being simply large brutes with clubs. An aquatic subrace of ogres is known as "merrow." D&D ogres are also closely related to the race of ogre magi, a smarter race with blue skin and great magical abilities...
, and troll
Troll (Dungeons & Dragons)
Trolls are fictional monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Dungeon Masters can use them as enemies or allies of the player characters.-Publication history:...
s commonly worship him.
Many factions of Erythnul's cult exist, fighting one another as often as they fight nonbelievers. In cities, they tend to be less overt, forming a nebulous organization known as the Temple of Carnage. Most of Erythnul's faithful are chaotic evil, though a few are chaotic neutral.
Erythnul is the official god of Stonehold
Stonehold
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Stonehold is a political state of the Flanaess. The nation was formerly known as the Hold of Stonefist.-Geography:...
in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
.
Clergy
Erythnul's clerics wear rust-colored garments. On ceremonial occasions they wear white robes, the better to display the bloodstains on them. They wear stylized masks symbolizing Erythnul's many aspects. In civilized areas they may foment rebellion and unrest, while in the wild they may lead groups of bandits.Clerics of Erythnul get most of their training in large wilderness temple-fortresses. Senior clerics try to frighten would-be initiates into quitting; those who avoid flinching after many tests are accepted into the priesthood.
The ranks of Erythnul's priesthood are, from lowest to highest, Raider, Marauder, Reaver, and Incarnate.
Temples
Erythnul's temples tend to be hidden. Most towns and cities have small, secret cults dedicated to the Many within the thieves' quarter. In the wilderness, his worshippers build squat, ugly fortresses where sacrifice after sacrifice takes place. Any place where carnage and slaughter have occurred is considered holy.Erythnul's profane altars are built on platforms reachable by steep flights of stairs.
Rituals
In the least violent services to Erythnul, shrill reed instruments are played discordantly while gongs clash and drums pound. During major rites, a fire is built and victims are sacrificed. One famous rite is the "Bloody Howl," when soldiers captured from the previous battle are killed in order to bring Erythnul's favor just before the next one.Prayers to Erythnul are customarily rhyming chants with gory subject matter.
Artifacts and relics
The Executioner's Hood is one of three such items originally worn by one Xeric IV, who killed every member of his extended family two centuries ago.The Morningstar of the Many is said to have been dipped in the blood of creatures from every plane. It resembles a mace carved with laughing mouths that takes on different characteristics every round.
Additional reading
- Brown, Anne. Player's Guide to Greyhawk (TSR, 1998).
- Conforti, Steven, ed. Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005. Available online:http://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LG_Deities.zip
- Gygax, GaryGary GygaxErnest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
, and Frank MentzerFrank MentzerJacob Franklin "Frank" Mentzer III , is an American fantasy author and game designer best known for his work on early materials for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. He was a performing folk musician from 1968 to 1975, and played one concert at the White House during the...
. The Temple of Elemental Evil (TSRTSR, Inc.Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
, 1985). - Haley, Jason H. "The Allure of Evil." DragonDragon (magazine)Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#361. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007. Available online: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20071112 - Kestral, Gwendolyn. Monster Manual IV. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.
- Monster Manual V. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007.
- Reynolds, Sean K. "Core Beliefs: HextorHextorIn the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon of deities for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Hextor is the Oeridian god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny....
." DragonDragon (magazine)Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#356. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007. - Living Greyhawk Journal no. 3 - "Gods of Oerth"