Gargul

Gargul's High Woldian Symbol.

Ethos	"Death is a part of the natural order. Embrace Death as the door to rebirth."
Domains	Darkness, Glory, Insight, Repose, Travel
Prestige Classes	Grim
Holy Days	Day of the Dead, Winter Solstice, Deliverance Day, Death of either moon, Execution Days, Mask Day
Sacrifices	Giving of an eye, fallen leaves, seeds, ashes of enemies, skulls, bone. keys, and life force
Favored Weapon	Quarterstaff: Eyes of Gargul often tell stories of their god in the form of a figure carrying a book and staff. Clerics of Gargul gain proficiency with the quarterstaff that they may follow Gargul’s example.

Gargul collects all the souls and spirits of the dead. He oversees souls so that they arrive at the place they belong within the Lands of Rest and do not roam the Wold at will. He also ensures that souls are born or reborn in the proper time and place. He strives against unnatural suffering and death in the Wold. He tracks down spirits that roam the Realms of Shadow as well as the Wold itself without proper reasons -- to the consternation of some of the Gods. Gargul is totally dedicated to the elimination of undead from the Wold.

The God of Death and Life

Godly Powers

Gargul can kill or grant life with a thought. Much of his power, however, usually resides within Gimp the Imp. He can control, banish, and destroy undead through his followers as well as anything he deems "unnatural." He has power over the lands of the dead and the living. He controls which lands are removed from the Wold into the Lands of Fey as well as the Valleys of Maab. He also controls which lands return to the Commonlands. No other God can control him or influence him against his will. He can banish any God from his presence except for Alemi.

Appearance

Mortal Form -- Gargul in natural form is a large muscled human with black hair. Some say he looks to be a "Civilized Barbarian of Noble Appearance." Others say he looks similar to Alemi, himself. He appears in dusty well-traveled black robes, with a strange smile that often is mistaken for a grimace. His bearing is once threatening and sad. He is always accompanied by the imp named Gimp.

Avatar Form -- In pictures, in ritual, or appearing before a group of believers, Gargul appears as a tall figure in a hooded black robe carrying a book and a crooked staff. The staff glows with a white pure light. Under the robe, one can sometimes make out a crooked smile on his face, or perhaps it's a grimace.

Divine Form -- In dreams and legend, when his hand forces change upon the Wold, Gargul seems to be a massive shadowy figure or grey, or a grey lidless eye, or a grey hand that emerges from shadow.

Worship

The worship of Gargul is somber and fatalistic. It involves chanting, meditation, and contemplative prayerful movements and motions. Many services are conducted in the dark and at midnight. Services are held in the shadows between day and night. Prayers for joining occur at the crack of dawn, and prayers for the deceased are given at twilight. Each temple has its own Chief Priest. All others are considered equal, but there is a pecking order according to power and reputation.

Holy Symbol

A Gray Lidless Eye, which is an almost exact replica of its High Woldian source.

Favored Weapon

Quarterstaff

Priests' Appearance

The priests of Gargul often seem cold to the touch. They may wear heavy perfume to mask a slight smell of blood that sometimes surrounds them. They wear grey cloaks, like Gargul, or some black or grey garment. When on missions of importance, a wispy fog may seem to creep from under their cloaks.

Clerics in Society

Known as Eyes of Gargul, these priests serve the mysterious purposes of their god in ways that common folk may not understand. They may command respect at funerals, where their tales of the afterlife comfort the grieving. They may be sought after by those hoping to conceive children, since the priests of Gargul are said to be able to bring a reincarnated soul to rest in a mother's womb (although after birth, new mothers tend to shun Eyes of Gargul like the plague!). These clerics view Death and Life as inherent and necessary parts of existence -- Death is not evil, nor Life good. This acceptance of death as part of the natural order frightens many. Clerics of Gargul often devote themselves to a philosophy of life and death balanced in a natural order. Therefore, they strive to preserve this balance by fighting unnatural forces that upset the balance. Natural forces move by happenstance, karma, the gods, or the mechanistic workings of the Wold itself. Unnatural forces are driven or imposed by a mortal will with deliberate intent. An earthquake is usually a natural force, however catastrophic -- unless released unnaturally by a mortal mage intent on his own desires. A nation may go years without plague striking, but a mortal mage that seeks to wipe a disease off the face of the Wold commits an unnatural offense. Scale and magnitude also play a part in this philosophy: the deaths of individuals are trivial. The lives and deaths of thousands resound across the Wold. When mortals upset the balance of life and death, Gargul, through his Eyes, intervenes. The priest must decide what is natural and what is not. Gargul believes in free will and therefore gives much choice over these matters to his faithful. However if the priest continually upsets the balance and ignores the ramifications of life and death, Gargul will get personally involved, and the Eye's soul may be forfeit." Gargul also uses his followers to correct gross individual offenses against the balance of life and death. There are three major categories of these unnatural phenomena, each with a Prestige Class devoted to it. The Undead Hunter destroys undead, who cling to unnatural unlife through evil will. The Grim finds and releases souls trapped after death, such as ghosts or spirits, freeing them to go on to the afterlife. The Soulseeker destroys soulless constructs and magical creatures without souls. They also shepherd lost souls into rebirth. Some clerics choose to remain pure Eyes, running temples and cemeteries, ministering to worshipers, striving to maintain balance, and serving Gargul in ways mundane and otherwise. Clerics of Gargul adventure to fight undead and constructs, which they hate; to search for lost or trapped souls; and to keep an eye on the Wold and report unusual spiritual activities to their brother and sister clerics.

History and Relationships

Gargul lived as a mortal in the First Age of the Wold. He lived an evil life as a Master Villain, opposing his arch nemesis Alemi time and time again. His masterwork was to create the Evil Colored Dragons of the Wold which nearly undid Alemi and the first adventurers that he and Domi trained at the Oshirr House. When with the blessing of the Jericho, Alemi overthrew the Gods of Yore, he was selected to become the Patriarch of the Gods of Wold. His first recruit, even ahead of his lifelong friend Domi and his lover Caeroldra, was Gargul. This was despite the fact that they were mortal enemies. He chose Gargul to take the position of God of The Dead. Gargul accepted out of hatred. If Alemi was to be a God he would be one too. Alemi challenged Gargul, to keep him focused, to become the bastion of evil as well as The God of The Dead. Gargul would do more than that!

With time, The Gods of Wold began to grow complacent and soft. And no one noticed, that Gargul was the one god that did not keep the company of the others. His responsibilities kept him on the Throne of the Dead. His role kept him apart as the assigned bastion of evil. Gargul had become a god out of hatred. It was the only way to remain equal in power to his enemy, Alemi the Godmaker! With time, though, his hatred lessened and Gargul matured as he judged the parade of the dead appearing before his throne. He saw the folly of being evil as well as the folly of trusting in good to triumph.

Gargul and Alemi grew to accept one another and even to become secret allies from time to time. Gargul began to mellow. With time, he left his evil ways and because neutral truly, embodying the role of being the Neutral Judge and Overseer of Life and Death. However, Gargul could never shake the Noble Races uninformed opinion that he was evil and death in the Wold was something to be feared. Gargul began to sour and then to despise his reputation.

And thus did he grow tired, chained to the role of personifying evil for The Noble Races to strive against. But it had become a false striving, because Gargul was no longer evil. He longed to escape this role, but it hung around his neck and would for all eternity. He yearned to -- to be at peace.

And thus did a strange theme appear in the life of a god: Not Life vs. Death or Good vs. Evil, but Evil vs. Life. Gargul went before Alemi with his dilemma. He explained to the Patriarch of The Gods of Wold that evil and death were not the same thing. That to combine such extremes was not good for the Noble Races. The Noble Races were believing in a lie because he was not evil, just the personification thereof! The complacency of the Gods of Wold was a symptom of this deception. Alemi dismissed him saying that Gargul should get out more and walk the Wold a bit ...

And Gargul's frustration grew as the two parts of himself, evil and death, polarized within him. The complacency of The Gods of Wold also grew as the challenges before them diminished.

So Gargul, realizing that he alone saw the truth of things, acted to free himself and the Wold from the lies that gripped him and them. He turned to the twin punishers: Marteaus and Kevintar. And he imbued them with power. The powers of each extreme within his own self. Marteaus was remade to be evil incarnate. Kevintar would have power over life and death. He poured his powers and responsibility into his two punishers, keeping only his personality and his power over the gates of life and death to himself. Then secretly he released the Twin Punishers upon the Wold, with the pretense of using them to carry out the God’s wishes.

In doing this he thought to give up most of his worshippers to Marteaus and the rest to Kevintar. However it did not succeed, because he could not give them the spark of divinity. Only Alemi could grant that. Thus he angered Marteaus and his followers continued to worship him with consequences.

A split was created between his followers. One group saw the truth of the change in their God and became known as the Dead Faction. The Other remained convinced that Death was Evil and so was Gargul. They named themselves the Evil Faction.

Fearing Marteaus's precipitous revenge, he secretly placed his power over the gates of life and death, the key to the Soul Forge, in an imp named Gimp, who had stayed by his side of late. Gargul admired the free spirit and raucous antics of the creature.

When the Independent Gods began their rise to power, Gargul became fed up with the Gods of Wold and their wait and see attitude. He also grew intensively defensive and even reactive to The Noble Races and their views towards death. Eventually he had had enough. Having taken care of his responsibilities by way of Gimp, he fashioned a cane from the limb of a dead Treant and disappeared.

He walked the planes seeking solace and escape. Few noticed his disappearance. Then what is now known as The Year of Ascension began. Gargul, having removed himself from the Woldian scene, was ignorant of the goings on there by choice and force of will. When he felt the Death of Domi, he mourned for a time, and then returned to The Throne of The Dead.

Gargul, carefully conducting events, brought the souls of an adventuring party to himself and commanded them to watch over Gimp for him during the trials to come. He geased them to reveal this to no one.

At the End of The Old Wold, Gargul was found preaching patience to Alemi. Alemi was disagreeing with him as normal saying that to do such a thing would be the same as giving up. In triumph Marteaus approached.

Gargul, however, raised a cautionary hand and calmly explained that Marteaus had made a critical error as Gargul had known that he would. He could not get to the Soul Forge without The Key. Gimp had the key. The Adventurers of the Wold had Gimp. Marteaus could not kill the adventurers because they were already dead and in the Lands of Rest.

Marteaus was defeated. When the Wold was restored by The Jericho, Gargul was granted his desire. The Noble Races would view death as a neutral and inevitable thing. He no longer would be viewed as the Bastion of All Evil.

Gargul was invited to join the Gods of Testing to the great consternation of Alemi. However, Gargul reassured his old adversary and friend by remaining a part of The Gods of Wold as well. Now that the Gods of Testing have gone their separate ways, he is solely a member of the Gods of Wold pantheon. Gargul is now the God of Life and Death. This is truly a noble concept, without any taint of evil, and so he is content.