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Join Team Myrkul! Everything you ever wanted to know....

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.

16 years. The website says we're in 1372, but that was put up 3 years ago. ;)

Ah, I did not know the server progressed at the same rate as real life.

16 years then! Still, a relativley short time ago.

You might also want to point out the fact the Myrkul generated no God isle, meaning he can be freely resurrected without any plane-jumping. (Although Ao gave kelemvor most of Myrkul's power, so you would probably have to kill or disable Kelemvor or find another, equal source of power, still easier then plane jumping.)

Also, he had a cool-as-hell order of monks that used solid bone gloves and kicked peoples asses without reason.

Myrkul is the FR's Vecna. Not in dogma, mind you, but in coolness factor he is second only to Gargauth.

Very nice little post, there.

It's true that Kelemvor is a pansy.

Hammerfist0 You might also want to point out the fact the Myrkul generated no God isle, meaning he can be freely resurrected without any plane-jumping. (Although Ao gave kelemvor most of Myrkul's power, so you would probably have to kill or disable Kelemvor or find another, equal source of power, still easier then plane jumping.)

Also, he had a cool-as-hell order of monks that used solid bone gloves and kicked peoples asses without reason.

Myrkul is the FR's Vecna. Not in dogma, mind you, but in coolness factor he is second only to Gargauth.

He is in a three way tie with Gargauth and Bhaal ;). The god-isle from mask of the betrayer is not cannon. Cannon wise, as far as I am aware, Myrkul is currently imprisoned in the crown of thorns, which is held by a nasty planar. Then again, there are many remnants of his divine power, throughout faerun and the planes. It is up to the DMs if the crown of thorns would be needed to ressurect him, when you talk about ressurecting gods, cannon does not matter, it is what the DMs pick, a big source of divine power would be needed.

BookofJob
Hammerfist0 You might also want to point out the fact the Myrkul generated no God isle, meaning he can be freely resurrected without any plane-jumping. (Although Ao gave kelemvor most of Myrkul's power, so you would probably have to kill or disable Kelemvor or find another, equal source of power, still easier then plane jumping.)

Also, he had a cool-as-hell order of monks that used solid bone gloves and kicked peoples asses without reason.

Myrkul is the FR's Vecna. Not in dogma, mind you, but in coolness factor he is second only to Gargauth.

He is in a three way tie with Gargauth and Bhaal ;). The god-isle from mask of the betrayer is not cannon. Cannon wise, as far as I am aware, Myrkul is currently imprisoned in the crown of thorns, which is held by a nasty planar. Then again, there are many remnants of his divine power, throughout faerun and the planes. It is up to the DMs if the crown of thorns would be needed to ressurect him, when you talk about ressurecting gods, cannon does not matter, it is what the DMs pick, a big source of divine power would be needed.

I said he *didnt* generate a god isle. :P

Anyway, I believe that the Crown of thorns only qualifies as an Avatar, as he was destroyed instantly and had no time to cast a soul jamming spell on the crown of thorns.

Usually these semi-dead gods are more like ghosts then anything else.

I'll post a full writeup of the crown of horns when I get back to my books :D As I understand it, the crown is no longer possesed by a planar and can teleport, freely.

Ive never played anything in the FR, so I'm not a master at it. I played greyhawk for a few years and now I'm playing eberron.

But I thought the Crown of thorns was the one that turned its wearer into a Lich?

The following is an excerpt from the entry for The Crown of Horns in the campaign guide (pp99-101) of the Waterdeep boxed set.

The Crown of Horns is a major artifact of the Realms ... created by Myrkul... With Myrkul's destruction outside Blackstaff Tower during the Time of Troubles ...Myrkul used his lingering power to send his mind toward the greatest remaining concentration of his power in the Realms. ... his essence forced its way into [Blackstaff Tower] where the Crown of Horns lay... Myrkul was not fully destroyed as his last vestiges of energy slowly restored his unholy artifact. After a decade of marshaling its strength, the Crown of Thorns is restored by the will of Myrkul into a new, powerful form that is not just an artifact but the vessel of a dead god's essence and power,wholly controlled by the mind of Myrkul.

There are two different artifacts. The crown of horns = myrkul.

The crown of thorns = something else.

I do not know which one slowly turns the wearer into an undead.

Just an FYI: But Mask of the Betrayer actually is canon.

All the Neverwinter Night games were approved as canon by Wizards of the Coast.

According to MOTB, Myrkuls consciousness in floating in the astral. According to references in a number of books, it is in the crown of horns. MOTB gave you 3 options with what to do with Myrkul including, doing nothing. Which ending was picked was never decided in any cannon timeline, the way WOTC picked which ending of BG2 was "official".

It is moot though, since MOTB happens a number of years after EFU, so the “ending” would not matter.

The only part of it which would seem to be relevant at all, if the DMs chose it to integrate it, would be that Myrkul’s consciousness is floating in the astral... if they chose to do that! :D

All the Neverwinter Night games were approved as canon by Wizards of the Coast.

Including Hordes of the Underdark?

I've never read anywhere that any of the NWN games are cannon... I'd prefer to take discussion of that to a new thread to not derail this one which is about one of Faerun’s coolest gods, Myrkul. If HOTU is cannon, it is odd there is no mention in the 4E timeline of how Mephistopheles rose to the surface and launched a bloody war on the sword coast.

Indeed, that is why I asked.

But yes, lettuce not derail a good thread.

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.

BookofJob I've never read anywhere that any of the NWN games are cannon... I'd prefer to take discussion of that to a new thread to not derail this one which is about one of Faerun’s coolest gods, Myrkul. If HOTU is cannon, it is odd there is no mention in the 4E timeline of how Mephistopheles rose to the surface and launched a bloody war on the sword coast.

No need for a discussion. All these games carry a WotC symbol. That means WotC approved of the storyline and events it contained as part of their canon story line. You can't "discuss" that, you just go with it. Its also mentioned by game developers occasionally in their blogs or online posts.

Oroborous, I don't want toderail this thread into a discussion if MOTB and HOTU is cannon, here we go:

https://efupw.com/efu1-forum/topic/36/36402/nwn-nwn2-and-hotu-canon/index.html#post-145681]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.

Jergal is another fantastic and utterly underated god. If you want to join Team Myrkul but don't want to make a Myrkultie, you can be a Jergalite.

Jergalites are the ultimate conservativse. Myrkul has been the god of death for millenia, since JERGAL made him the god of death-how do you think they feel to see the office of death passed around like the village bike, repetadly in less then two decades? Followers of Jergal may well prefer to believe that Myrkul is still the death god, especially if confronted by a cleric of Myrkul.... which has in fact happened IG!

This has some REAL potential. I mean, if Myrkul came back, we could have a cool Kelemvor VS Myrkul followers battle in Sanctuary (Maybe drag Mystra's followers and a few others into the fight just to spice it up). Honestly, Kelemvor won't just let Myrkul's cruelties resume. I just wish I detected an evil aura from your Myrkul character, I so was hoping for an excuse to start tearing posters down every time I saw one since Myrkul's servant is of evil alignment. That... or you know how to deal with a Paladin's detect evil. (Not gonna say how!)

Still, can't wait for it to gain a foot hold, we'd have some intresting scraps going on. I so want to find out more about Myrkul ICly so I can get the idea of what the heck's going on.

I can't wait till this faction grows... because it may actually distract some Greycloak plans.... plans that I got a feeling will go haywire and wreck the Greycloak order...

Four members strong and growing!

Am really into the concept, and am looking forward to our future plotting :wink:

I'll join if I can equip a scythe and PhK people with GSF: Illusion from the Death Domain out if Invisibility granted from the Trickery domain!

Permission hath been granted.

Team Myrkul continues to grow :).

Join Team Morbid, we have a great dental plan!

Thread move'd

Ninelives the evictor!