Kyuss (Greyhawk)
Encyclopedia
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting
for the Dungeons & Dragons
fantasy
role-playing game
, Kyuss is a demigod concerned with the creation and mastery of the Undead
. Known as the Bonemaster, the Wormgod, and the Herald of the Age of Worms
, his symbol is a skull erupting with writhing green worms.
roleplaying game before the story of Kyuss was fleshed out. Kyuss was described as "an evil high priest who created the first of these creatures, via a special curse, under instruction from an evil deity" within their creature in the first edition Fiend Folio
(1981).
Hints at Kyuss's origins were added in the adventure Rary the Traitor
(1992), when sons of Kyuss were said to be contained in the Necropolis of Unaagh, a cursed city of Sulm inhabited by undead. This was made more conspicuous since any of the contained undead that "move or are carried even a few yards from its buildings collapse into inanimate heaps of bone." This is suggested in the work to be the possible consequence of an ancient curse. That makes the creator of the undead ancient as well, painting Kyuss as once having been a high priest in Sulm.
In the From the Ashes
boxed set (Atlas of the Flanaess, page 69), the entry for the Storm Lake of the Amedio mentioned that sons of Kyuss manifest in the vicinity after a phenomenon called the Storm of Unknowing.
Later, in Iuz the Evil
(1993) the home of the "infamous evil priest Kyuss" was claimed to have been the Wormcrawl Fissure, a "mile-long ravine away from the main body of the Rift Canyon."
Still later, in The Scarlet Brotherhood
by Sean K. Reynolds
, the entry for Matreyus Lake said, "undead such as sons of Kyuss walk the nearby jungle - the evil demigod is said to have spent time here."
as a mortal, his current relationship with the Reaper is unknown.
is a false cult created by worshippers of Kyuss.
According to the sidebar on Kyuss in Dragon #336's "Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss", the most important prayer to Kyuss offered by his cultists is a personal act performed once each month, in which they ingest living worms as a sign of their faith.
According to the sidebar on Kyuss in Dragon #336's "Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss", Kyuss's clerics are initiated in a deadly rite called "First Ingestion", in which they drink a Potion of Inflict Light Wounds containing a preserved Kyuss Worm.
in the Flan
kingdom of Sulm, Kyuss escaped that realm shortly before its destruction by fleeing to the Amedio Jungle, when he gained many followers. Kyuss later went to the Spire of Long Shadows, where he sacrificed all of his followers to achieve hero-deity
hood. Prior to this, he had sacrificed artifacts of great power, as well as living souls to Nerull in order to gain his favor. When he finally did ascend, there was a small problem with his transformation: he became trapped in the same obelisk with which he channeled his power. It is speculated that Nerull, not wanting to be challenged, even slightly, flawed the ritual somewhat, thus leading to Kyuss's imprisonment.
Even during his imprisonment, he gained following from some very powerful followers. Dragotha, a wyrm red dragon
, was allowed by Kyuss to attain the form of a dracolich
. Following this, Dragotha was bound to serve Kyuss, and in the process became his herald. Another draconic follower of Kyuss is Lashonna, a vampiric silver dragon.
Kyuss is responsible for the creation of the spawn of Kyuss, also known as sons of Kyuss, though these are said to be the least powerful of his creations. He is also believed to be responsible for the creation of the avolakia, eviscerator beetle, ulgurstasta, Kyuss knight, overworm, earthcancer centipede, hound of Kyuss, sword of Kyuss, wormcaller, worm naga, wormswarm, and the worm that walks. Collectively, his creations are known as wormspawn
.
Kyuss is the force behind the establishment of the Ebon Triad
, as revealed in the Age of Worms Adventure path.
band Kyuss
, originally named as Sons of Kyuss, took their name from the character.
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...
for the Dungeons & Dragons
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...
, Kyuss is a demigod concerned with the creation and mastery of the Undead
Undead (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, undead is a classification of monsters that can be encountered by player characters. Undead creatures are most often once-living creatures, which have been animated by spiritual or supernatural forces....
. Known as the Bonemaster, the Wormgod, and the Herald of the Age of Worms
Age of Worms
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Age of Worms is an age of darkness and despair heard of only in ancient prophecies...
, his symbol is a skull erupting with writhing green worms.
Publishing history
The sons of Kyuss, later referred to as spawn of Kyuss, were an iconic monster in the Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & 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...
roleplaying game before the story of Kyuss was fleshed out. Kyuss was described as "an evil high priest who created the first of these creatures, via a special curse, under instruction from an evil deity" within their creature in the first edition Fiend Folio
Fiend Folio
Fiend Folio is the title shared by three products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons...
(1981).
Hints at Kyuss's origins were added in the adventure Rary the Traitor
Rary the Traitor
Rary the Traitor is a Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook and module for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting.-Plot summary:The work details the empire of the renegade archmage Rary, known as the Empire of the Bright Lands. Historical background of the Bright Desert is also covered, and introduced the...
(1992), when sons of Kyuss were said to be contained in the Necropolis of Unaagh, a cursed city of Sulm inhabited by undead. This was made more conspicuous since any of the contained undead that "move or are carried even a few yards from its buildings collapse into inanimate heaps of bone." This is suggested in the work to be the possible consequence of an ancient curse. That makes the creator of the undead ancient as well, painting Kyuss as once having been a high priest in Sulm.
In the From the Ashes
From the Ashes
From the Ashes is the seventh studio album by the punk rock band Pennywise, released on September 9, 2003. Most copies include a DVD on the making of the album....
boxed set (Atlas of the Flanaess, page 69), the entry for the Storm Lake of the Amedio mentioned that sons of Kyuss manifest in the vicinity after a phenomenon called the Storm of Unknowing.
Later, in Iuz the Evil
Iuz the Evil
Iuz the Evil is a sourcebook for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game that describes the realms of the evil demi-god Iuz in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting...
(1993) the home of the "infamous evil priest Kyuss" was claimed to have been the Wormcrawl Fissure, a "mile-long ravine away from the main body of the Rift Canyon."
Still later, in The Scarlet Brotherhood
The Scarlet Brotherhood
The Scarlet Brotherhood is a regional sourcebook for the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The sourcebook was written by Sean K. Reynolds, and published by TSR in 1999 for 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons...
by Sean K. Reynolds
Sean K. Reynolds
Sean K Reynolds is a professional game designer who has worked on and co-written a number of D&D supplements for Wizards of the Coast, as well as material for other companies. He does not put a period after his middle initial.-Background:...
, the entry for Matreyus Lake said, "undead such as sons of Kyuss walk the nearby jungle - the evil demigod is said to have spent time here."
Description
In his divine form, Kyuss appears as a towering humanoid shaped entirely of green Kyuss worms, with two blazing eyes peering from beneath the hood of his ragged cloak. According to the Kyuss sidebar in Dragon #336's "Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss", his original divine form was a gaunt man with empty eyesockets filled with writhing worms and hands of bare bone, but he has evolved into his appearance of a gargantuan Worms That Walk as his cult grew stronger.Relationships
Though Kyuss revered NerullNerull
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, as well as in the game's default pantheon of deities, Nerull is the Flan god of death, darkness, murder, and the underworld. He is known as the Reaper, the Foe of All Good, the Hater of Life, and the Bringer of...
as a mortal, his current relationship with the Reaper is unknown.
Realm
For over 1,500 years, Kyuss has been imprisoned within an obelisk in the Wormcrawl Fissure, in a chamber known as the Writhing Sanctum. Very recently, this obelisk was moved to the city of Alhaster.Dogma
Kyuss's faithful believe that life is an obscenity, albeit a temporary one, and that Death offers only nothingness. Undeath, then, is the only worthwhile goal, and followers of Kyuss are encouraged to spread this gift as far as they can. They are permitted to control them if necessary, but encouraged to set them free to do as they will when their creators have no further use. Undead are sacred to Kyuss, and his followers are not permitted to destroy them except in self-defense.Scriptures
The holiest text of Kyuss's faith is a set of metal plates foretelling a coming Age of Worms, which Kyuss unearthed from spell weaver ruins in the Amedio Jungle.Worshippers
Kyuss is worshipped by humans, undead, avolakia, and ulgurstasta. The Ebon TriadEbon Triad
The Ebon Triad is a cult in the fictional world of Oerth in the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game...
is a false cult created by worshippers of Kyuss.
According to the sidebar on Kyuss in Dragon #336's "Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss", the most important prayer to Kyuss offered by his cultists is a personal act performed once each month, in which they ingest living worms as a sign of their faith.
Clergy
Clerics of Kyuss raid graveyards to create undead, selling their creations or letting them run wild. The more powerful ones seek to create new kinds of undead, and seek lichdom or some other form of undeath for themselves. They seek to free their master, and travel to various places holy to their faith such as the Wormcrawl Fissure, the Necropolis of Unaagh, or the ruins of Kuluth-Mar.According to the sidebar on Kyuss in Dragon #336's "Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss", Kyuss's clerics are initiated in a deadly rite called "First Ingestion", in which they drink a Potion of Inflict Light Wounds containing a preserved Kyuss Worm.
History
Once a human priest of NerullNerull
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, as well as in the game's default pantheon of deities, Nerull is the Flan god of death, darkness, murder, and the underworld. He is known as the Reaper, the Foe of All Good, the Hater of Life, and the Bringer of...
in the Flan
Flan (Greyhawk)
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, the Flan are a race of humans living in the Flanaess. The Flan peoples were the first humans known to have settled the eastern portion of the continent of Oerik, the Flanaess, which is named for them...
kingdom of Sulm, Kyuss escaped that realm shortly before its destruction by fleeing to the Amedio Jungle, when he gained many followers. Kyuss later went to the Spire of Long Shadows, where he sacrificed all of his followers to achieve hero-deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
hood. Prior to this, he had sacrificed artifacts of great power, as well as living souls to Nerull in order to gain his favor. When he finally did ascend, there was a small problem with his transformation: he became trapped in the same obelisk with which he channeled his power. It is speculated that Nerull, not wanting to be challenged, even slightly, flawed the ritual somewhat, thus leading to Kyuss's imprisonment.
Even during his imprisonment, he gained following from some very powerful followers. Dragotha, a wyrm red dragon
Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game , dragons are an iconic type of monstrous creature used as adversaries or, less commonly, allies of player characters...
, was allowed by Kyuss to attain the form of a dracolich
Dracolich
In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, a dracolich is an undead dragon that possesses certain abilities of a lich.-Publication history:The dracolich was introduced to the D&D game in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons...
. Following this, Dragotha was bound to serve Kyuss, and in the process became his herald. Another draconic follower of Kyuss is Lashonna, a vampiric silver dragon.
Kyuss is responsible for the creation of the spawn of Kyuss, also known as sons of Kyuss, though these are said to be the least powerful of his creations. He is also believed to be responsible for the creation of the avolakia, eviscerator beetle, ulgurstasta, Kyuss knight, overworm, earthcancer centipede, hound of Kyuss, sword of Kyuss, wormcaller, worm naga, wormswarm, and the worm that walks. Collectively, his creations are known as wormspawn
Wormspawn
In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, wormspawn are a broad category of monsters created by Kyuss.Wormspawn figured prominently in the Age of Worms adventure path in Dungeon magazine.-Types of Wormspawn:...
.
Kyuss is the force behind the establishment of the Ebon Triad
Ebon Triad
The Ebon Triad is a cult in the fictional world of Oerth in the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game...
, as revealed in the Age of Worms Adventure path.
Influence on popular culture
Stoner rockStoner rock
Stoner rock or stoner metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, combining elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock, traditional heavy metal and doom metal. Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and 'retro' production...
band Kyuss
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
, originally named as Sons of Kyuss, took their name from the character.
Additional reading
- Baur, WolfgangWolfgang BaurWolfgang Baur is an American game designer, best known for his work with Dragon magazine. He designs role-playing games and also is known for his work at Wizards of the Coast.-Biography:...
. "A Gathering of Winds." Dungeon #129 (Paizo Publishing, 2005). - Breault, Mike. Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Adventures Appendix (TSR, 1990).
- Bulmahn, JasonJason Bulmahn-Career:Jason Bulmahn became the managing editor of Dragon in 2004 and is now the lead designer of Paizo Publishing and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The Beta version of the Pathfinder RPG received the gold ENnie award for "best free product or web enhancement" in 2008...
. "The Hall of Harsh reflection." Dungeon #127 (Paizo Publishing, 2005). - Conforti, Steven, ed. Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0 (Wizards of the Coast, 2005). Available online: http://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LG_Deities.zip
- Cordell, Bruce, Eytan Bernstein, Brian James, Robin Laws, and John Snead. Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2009. excerpts
- Decker, Jesse. "The Spire of Long Shadows." Dungeon #130 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Decker, Jesse. "Worm Bound: The Secrets of Kyuss." Dragon #343 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Jacobs, James. "Into the Wormcrawl Fissure." Dungeon #134 (Pazio Publishing, 2006).
- Leati, Tito. "The Champion's Belt." Dungeon #128 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Leati, Tito. "Dawn of a New Age." Dungeon #135 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Logue, Nicholas. "The Library of Last resort." Dungeon #132 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Mearls, MikeMike MearlsMichael Mearls is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games and related fiction.He worked as a freelance writer and designer for various gaming publishers for several years before being hired in June 2005 as a designer by Wizards of the Coast. He was a Lead Developer for Dungeons &...
. "The Three Faces of Evil. Dungeon #125 (Paizo Publishing, 2005). - Mona, ErikErik Mona-Career:Erik Mona served as the editor-in-chief of Dragon magazine since 2004 and Dungeon magazine from 2004 to 2006; at the time, both magazines were published by Paizo Publishing, until the license through Wizards of the Coast expired in September 2007...
. Age of Worms Overload (Paizo Publishing, 2005). http://paizo.com/dungeon/news/v5748eaic9jzc- Mona, ErikErik Mona-Career:Erik Mona served as the editor-in-chief of Dragon magazine since 2004 and Dungeon magazine from 2004 to 2006; at the time, both magazines were published by Paizo Publishing, until the license through Wizards of the Coast expired in September 2007...
. "Backdrop: Diamond Lake." DungeonDungeon (magazine)Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
#124 (Paizo Publishing, 2005). - Mona, Erik. "The Whispering Cairn." Dungeon #124 (Paizo PublishingPaizo PublishingPaizo Publishing is an American publishing company in Redmond, Washington that specializes in game aids and adventures for "the world's oldest fantasy roleplaying game" and its flagship spin-off game and setting, Pathfinder...
, 2005).
- Mona, Erik
- Pett, Richard. "The Prince of Redhand." Dungeon #131 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
- Reynolds, Sean KSean K. ReynoldsSean K Reynolds is a professional game designer who has worked on and co-written a number of D&D supplements for Wizards of the Coast, as well as material for other companies. He does not put a period after his middle initial.-Background:...
. "Encounter at Blackwall Keep." Dungeon #126 (Paizo Publishing, 2005). - Reynolds, Sean K, Frederick WeiningFrederick WeiningFrederick Weining is among those credited for design of the Dungeons & Dragons Gazetteer and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, both published by Wizards of the Coast. He has also authored or co-authored a number of Greyhawk articles for the Living Greyhawk Journal, the Oerth Journal, and...
, and Erik Mona. "Blood of Heroes." Living Greyhawk JournalLiving Greyhawk JournalThe Living Greyhawk Journal was a periodical published by the Role-Playing Games Association as a stand-alone magazine from 2000 to 2004. The publication was intended to supplement the RPGA's Living Greyhawk campaign, though many consider the content within to be canon for the Greyhawk setting in...
#3 (Paizo Publishing, 2001). - Schwalb, Robert J.Robert J. Schwalb-Career:His works for Dungeons & Dragons include: Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells , Drow of the Underdark -Career:His works for Dungeons & Dragons include: Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (2006, with Robin Laws), Drow of the Underdark -Career:His works for Dungeons &...
Elder Evils. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007.