Everything you ever wanted to know about Myrkul......
....but were too afraid to ask!
Note: All of this is from the source books, mostly faiths and avatars and my interpretation, people are free to disagree.
Who is Myrkul? “I will bind your soul for eternity!” -Myrkul, to the old god of death, Jergal
Myrkul was a necromancer so badass that he killed his way across the planes as an epic level mortal with Bane and Bhaal and planned to steal the throne of the old death god, Jergal. They killed their way through an army of undead on the fugue plane and then demanded Jergal step down, Jergal agreed and Myrkul became the god of the land of the dead, Bhaal got death itself, Bane got strife. Myrkull was the god of death for at least 2,000 years, probably MUCH longer It is a good story for the kids. 13 years ago EFU time, the time of troubles happened and sadly, our hero Myrkul was defeated. Cyric then became the god of death for a little under two years, till a mortal named Kelemvor stole the portfolio of death from Cyric. Friends, take heart! The key word was defeated, not, dead! Myrkul is very much alive, odd bits of his power live on in Faerun, the astral and the rest of the planes, Myrkul himself is very much alive within a powerful artifact known as the Crown of Horns that he can teleport at will. Most of Myrkul’s church calmly switched to Cyric when he became the death god, to quote one servant of Myrkul(From faiths and avatars) “It was merely an issue of changing the stationary and putting a purple sun around the skull on the temple door”. When Kelemvor became the death god, Myrkul’s clergy once again switched, en mass, to Kelemvor. Fun little known fact: The beginning of Kelemvors church largely consisted of Myrkul’s clerics, who were then told by Kelemvor to start destroying all the undead they had made for centuries! They did this and followed the other new orders mostly faithfully. Why Myrkul? 1.Kelemvor is a pansy. 2.Kelemvor is a pansy. 3.See above. 4.Seriously. Kelemvor is a pansy. 5.It is a chance to have serve one of the darkest and powerful gods in Faeruns history! 6.EVERYONE has a reason to give offerings and small prayers to the death god! 7.You get to claim to be a servant of the legitimate death god! Kelemvor is a new god, there are many plausible stories that can be told, especially in a place as isolated as sanctuary. Combine this with respectability and a useful public service. 8.You have a legitimate chance for your crazy cult to succeed! 9.Unlike most crazy cults, you can if you chose to be, be a bit overt and let society know who you are! 10.Your character has a clear and focused goal that you can work on every time you log in: Myrkul’s dogma(see below) 11.This is incidental and not a good reason to pick him. Myrkul has absolutely fantastic domains. Death and trickery!
But! But! I thought all the followers of Myrkul were scary creepy, insane necromancers?!? Why would I want to play one Ha ha ha! Wrong again little Bobby! Well yes, Myrkul has a fair number of necromancers in his rank and yes, his clergy have no moral qualms about making undead but this is NOT the emphasis of their work!
1. Make people respect and fear both death and Myrkul. Death is pretty damn scary, this is not particularly difficult, it is also, very fun. This is fairly easy, explain Myrkul as simply a part of the natural order, to be feared and respected but also, inevitable and not, evil, any more then a thunderstorm or an earthquake is evil. 2. To quote faiths and avatars “Convince the masses the priests of Myrkul are absolutely trustworthy then act accordingly”. Myrkul wants living worshipers, not, undead corpses. There is room in Myrkuls faith for the dread necromancer leading an army of undead but if this does not result in more worshipers, then they have probably done the wrong thing. 3. Accept offerings from dying men, to go seek out vengeance for them, similar to Hoar. 4. Take and keep wills. 5. Perform death ceremonies, funerals. 6. Tend to graveyards and mausoleums. 7. Assist with euthanasia, helping people who are dying painfully, die painlessly. 8. Eliminate troublesome undead. 9. Kill this one draco lich who pissed off Myrkull, for eternity(long story, not really relevant in EFU)
An excerpt(the full entries are much longer):
Dogma: The clergy of Myrkul were charged to make folk fear and respect death and the power of the almighty Myrkul so that no one stood against the church or tried to thwart its activities. Myrkul's priests were expected to spread the word that touching a priest of Myrkul brings death. They were expected to tell all folk that those in the service of Myrkul had perfect patience and could be trusted utterly - then conduct themselves accordingly. Myrkulyte clergy were to teach the stories of past and future "doombringers" - mortals who roamed the land avenging dead friends, masters, and blood kin to whom they had sworn oaths, and slaying those who scoffed or who held other gods supreme over the Lord of Bones. Initiates to the faith first heard the word of Myrkul through a speak with dead spell cast on a temple's most revered deceased former high priest. Such spells allowed all within hearing range to comprehend the corpse's words. Myrkul spoke through such vessels to say: "Know me and fear me. My embrace is for all and is patient but sure. The dead can always find you. My hand is everywhere - there is no door I cannot pass, nor guardian who can withstand me."
Day-to-Day Activities: Myrkulyte clergy members roamed the Realm burying the dead and conducting funerals for fees. Their resistance to diseases made them popular for the disposal of plauge victims and dealings with infected lycanthropes and the diseased. They would do all they could to make the dying comfortable, but viewed death as natural, inevitable, and not something to be run from. They placed great value on the influence dead folk could have (referring to it as "the sacred hand that reaches from the grave") and would assist dying folk to draft decrees, wills, and cryptic verses that would guide the living to search for their hidden treasure or otherwise dance to their bidding after they were dead. In return for a "skull fee", a priest of Myrkul would even agree to act as an agent or avenger for the dead, administering the wishes of the departed or carrying out tasks they were unable to complete before death. While Mykrul rarely allowed his clergy to ressurect the dead, bringing a person to the temple of another faith for attempted resurrection and paying for his undertaking with the money left by the dead was a procedure both commonplace and perfectly acceptable to Myrkulyte clergy members.
Myrkul is NOT Velsharoon, the god of necromancers, who most players are far more familiar with. Myrkul has an eternally calm attitude, except for brief moments of bemused, smug pleasure. Velsharoon tells his clergy to create masses of undead and sends them to wander. Myrkul is the god of the dead, not, the undead. This does not Myrkul and his clergy have problems with undead, they do not, but a majority of your average Myrkulites time is spent spreading fear of death and dealing with funerals, things of that sort, not sending undead abominations o’er the land.
Who can follow Myrkul? That is the good news! Anyone! If your PC is 23 or older, they CERTAINLY know of Myrkul! Myrkul has only been defeated for 13 years. This means for many many pcs, for the start of their life, or the majority of their life, Myrkul was the legitimate and well known death god! Anyone and everyone can have a reason to fear or pray to the death god. Not everyone fights battles(tempus), or farms the land(chauntea) or sails the ocean(umberlee/shaundukal) but EVERYONE dies, so everyone has a great reason to follow him, even a bit!
What are some examples of people who might want him to be their patron? 1. People trapped in the underdark for over 13 years who see death every day and don’t want to die! Anyone who is 23 years or older is certainly old enough to recall Myrkul as the god of death and likley, still be afraid of him-if someone told you the death god died, would you believe them? 2. Adventurers who frequently face death and who do not want to die for as long as possible. 3. Anyone else who does not want to die! 4. Bounty hunters 5. Anyone involved with the funeral business, from record keepers, to grave diggers, to grief councilors. 6. Seekers of immortality/godhood-Myrkul did it, you can hope to follow in his footsteps!
Any class works fine. Of course a cleric, is a cleric. Monks are also ideal, any adventurers who faced death, mages who are necromancers.
Myrkul’s cleric’s alignment Lawful evil, neutral evil, neutral. chaotic evil. Different PnP sources list his clerics differently and include LN and CN but this is the set EFU has chosen. If you did not read the other parts, yes, they get spells., their domains are death and trickery.
More information on Myrkul: http://davidcwood.com/adnd/campaign/evil/myrkul.php
If you need additional information feel free to PM me and I will make sure you get it.
If you need an in character hook to help find other Mykul followers: https://efupw.com/efu1-forum/topic/36/36359/to-all-followers-of-the-lord-of-the-dead/index.html
Who ELSE can join "Team Morbid"?
Thomas_Not_very_wise Let's not forget Myrkul's creepy Counter Part, Jergal!While this is after Myrkul, it is a close insight at how Jergalite clergy work on an everyday basis.
http://www.nj-pbem.com/data/Gods/humangods/Jergal.htm
I fully Support this group, ^.^. And I am already a part of it.
Followers of Jergal are very, very, very welcome in this group, we already have several in our ranks! Jergal followers can mesh in perfectly, Jergal's church is described as the ultimate conservatives, many of them may prefer Myrkul to Kelemvor and activley seek to help the followers of Myrkul.