gods.txt

# Goals for the prose section: pitch the god to a player/potential worshipper.
# Why should they worship this god? What are the advantages & limitations?
# What's 'cool' about this god?
%%%%
Ashenzari

While it seems inconceivable that the divine could be shackled, Ashenzari is
just that: bound to the sky for eternity, the unbudging god is all-knowing,
all-seeing. Devoted worshippers are allowed to grasp shreds of this knowledge
and foresight, but be warned: to Ashenzari, power and blessing and curse are
all the same thing.
%%%%
Beogh

Beogh is an evil deity, worshipped by the cave orcs native to the dungeon. Only
orcs may devote their service to Beogh, and they must prove their devotion with
bloodshed. Especially fervent devotees of Beogh will find orcish followers
flocking to their banner: it is an age of signs and portents, and the orcs have
become increasingly certain that the coming of their Messiah is nigh.
%%%%
Cheibriados

Cheibriados is a god of deliberation. Those following Cheibriados travel more
slowly the further they progress in their faith, and are forbidden from using
any means to hasten themselves. In the process of so imitating their god, they
attain perfection of mind and body, and the mysteries of time unfold before
them. Especially devout followers may even momentarily abandon the flow of
time and its needless disturbances.
%%%%
Dithmenos

Dithmenos the Shadowed desires all to be darkness. Followers of Dithmenos gain
a strange and otherwordly affinity to the shadows of their environment. This
god despises fire, which long ago freed mortals from the tyranny of shadow; its
use is forbidden by worshippers. Dithmenos favours those who would instead
destroy sources of fire.
%%%%
Elyvilon

Elyvilon the Healer welcomes all kind souls prepared to help others. Those
individuals can expect to gain powerful healing abilities, by which they can
avoid bloodshed. Elyvilon appreciates exploration of the dungeon. Elyvilon's
followers can convert to the Shining One or Zin while keeping some piety.
%%%%
Fedhas

The god of plant and fungal life, Fedhas Madash demands that followers
encourage the decomposition of corpses. Fedhas also forbids followers from
harming any species under Fedhas' protection, and from using any necromantic
effects that interfere with corpses. In return Fedhas grants a number of
abilities that promote the growth of plants and fungi. These abilities may
incidentally prove useful to adventurers.
%%%%
Gozag

Gozag Ym Sagoz the Greedy teaches that the world belongs to the rich. Those
accepting this principle may exchange their gold for divine assistance.
Followers of Gozag do not earn piety; the only way to impress this god is by
amassing a fortune, and worshippers may request as much assistance as they can
afford. Fortunately, Gozag's worshippers are said to have the touch of gold.
%%%%
Jiyva

Jiyva is the ancient deity of the slimes. Followers are expected to
support the spread and satiation of their fellow slimes by allowing them to
consume items, and are forbidden from harming any slimes. Jiyva will even
occasionally consume items left elsewhere in the dungeon by followers.
Especially favoured followers will become as shapeless as their god, as their
attributes and mutations shift around under Jiyva's influence.
%%%%
Kikubaaqudgha

Kikubaaqudgha is a terrible Demon-God, served by those who wish to indulge in
the powers of death. An evil god, Kikubaaqudgha requires the deaths of living
creatures and demons as often as possible. In exchange, Kikubaaqudgha offers
great assistance to the aspiring necromancer: spellbooks filled with dark
magic, protection against necromantic backlash, and an endless supply of bodies
taken from Kikubaaqudgha's vast mausoleum.
%%%%
Lugonu

Banished to the chaotic realm of the Abyss, Lugonu the Unformed seeks followers
to spread bloodshed and corruption in the overworld. Those who gain Lugonu's
favour will be granted some of the power of the Abyss itself, allowing them to
call forth eldritch horrors, and even to travel between the overworld and the
Abyss at will.
%%%%
Makhleb

Makhleb the Destroyer is a fearsome deity of bloodshed and mortification of the
flesh. Followers are expected to cleanse others by inflicting suffering and
death on them in Makhleb's name, particularly if they kill natural creatures
which require blood to survive. Dedicated followers may also access the raw
energies and hell-spawned servants of chaos, so that they may better break the
impure world and its false laws for their evil god's glory.
%%%%
Nemelex Xobeh

Nemelex is a strange and unpredictable trickster god, whose powers are invoked
through magical packs of cards painted in the ichor of demons. Followers are
expected to explore the world, and will receive decks of cards in return.
Followers are encouraged to trust in the cards and use them as much as
possible. However, the Trickster can ensure that fortune favours the bold.
%%%%
Okawaru

Okawaru is a dangerous and powerful god of battle. Followers can gain a number
of powers useful in combat as well as various rewards, but must constantly
prove themselves by defeating other creatures. Okawaru prefers heroic feats
against much stronger enemies, and pays little heed to easier victories.
Furthermore, while fair fights are not required, harming one's allies will
incur Okawaru's wrath.
%%%%
Qazlal

Qazlal Stormbringer is a violent god of tempests, who delights in unleashing
the forces of nature against the unsuspecting. Those who invite Qazlal's gaze
will find themselves the eye in a storm of elemental destruction, from which
only their God can protect them. Pious worshippers of Qazlal will gain the
ability to direct and control the destructive might of the storm.
%%%%
Ru

Of all the gods, only Ru opposed creation. Not as folly, but as distraction.
Initiates of Ru can open channels to the powers underlying the visible world by
renouncing the fetters that bind them here. These sacrifices are not made to
Ru, but rather given up freely and permanently. Having made such sacrifices,
initiates will become able to draw upon this immense power to aid themselves,
eventually gaining the ability to unleash its destructive might against their
foes.
%%%%
Sif Muna

Sif Muna the Loreminder is a contemplative but powerful deity, served by those
who seek magical knowledge. The Loreminder appreciates the training of
spellcasting skills, and will reward faithful followers with a supply of
spellbooks taken directly from Sif Muna's legendary library.
%%%%
the Shining One

Followers of the Shining One are bound to the code of the honourable warrior,
soldiers in their god's eternal crusade against evil. For forsaking dark magic
and underhanded tactics, the Shining One rewards them and their allies with the
power they need to slay demons and the undead. Especially devout warriors can
even call upon angels in times of need. The Shining One's followers can convert
to Elyvilon or Zin while keeping some piety.
%%%%
Trog

Trog is an ancient god of anger and violence. Followers are expected to kill in
Trog's name and burn books containing spells. Trog hates all wizards, and loves
to see their spellbooks burn. In return, worshippers of Trog gain the ability
to go berserk at will in combat, and will be granted gifts of powerful weapons.
Followers are absolutely forbidden the use of spell magic.
%%%%
Vehumet

Vehumet is a god of the destructive powers of magic. Followers gain various
useful powers to enhance their command of the hermetic arts, and the most
favoured stand to gain access to some of the fearsome spells in Vehumet's
library. One's devotion to Vehumet can be proven by the causing of as much
carnage and destruction as possible.
%%%%
Xom

Xom is a wild and unpredictable god of chaos, who seeks not worshippers but
playthings with which to toy. Many choose to follow Xom in the hope of
receiving fabulous rewards and mighty powers, but Xom is nothing if not
capricious. There is nothing a follower can do to influence Xom's mood.
%%%%
Yredelemnul

Yredelemnul the Dark is a god worshipped by those who seek powers over death
and the undead. Followers, who must oppose all things holy, can raise legions
of servile undead, and gain a number of other useful (if unpleasant) powers.
Yredelemnul appreciates killing living and holy creatures. Destroying
artificial beings is also appreciated, as they are neither truly alive nor
subject to death or undeath.
%%%%
Zin

Zin is a god of discipline. Followers must remain pure of body and soul,
refraining from dark magic and chaotic acts, and never consuming the flesh of
intelligent beings. They must also tithe a fraction of all gold gained,
preferably followed by donations of more. In exchange, worshippers may invoke
Zin's wrath upon sinners, and eventually gain various divine protections. Zin's
followers can convert to Elyvilon or the Shining One while keeping some piety.
%%%%
Ashenzari powers

Ashenzari exhorts followers to garb themselves with curses, and provides
rewards for time spent using cursed armour, jewellery or weapons. Followers
will soon be granted the ability to scry through walls. Ashenzari will
passively grant followers increased skills depending on how cursed they are
by equipment associated with those skills, and will reveal the invisible and
grant clarity of mind. The truly devout will gain the ability to transfer a
portion of their knowledge from one skill to another.
%%%%
Beogh powers

Followers of Beogh can smite their foes, and will even gain orcish followers of
their own, who may be blessed by Beogh in battle and can be recalled as needed.
Eventually, followers will gain the power to walk on water. Beogh will
sometimes directly intervene to save a follower's life.
%%%%
Cheibriados powers

Followers of Cheibriados move more slowly as they gain favour, and are rewarded
for killing creatures who are faster than they are. Moving too quickly or using
magically hastened weapons is frowned upon. As they move slower, worshippers of
Cheibriados are granted increased attributes. Cheibriados rewards the faithful
with a slowed metabolism, the power to slow other creatures, the power to
distort the flow of time, the power to harm those who move more quickly than
they do, and finally the ability to step out of the flow of time entirely.
%%%%
Dithmenos powers

Followers of Dithmenos are constantly surrounded in an aura of shadow, the
extent of which is reflective of their level of devotion. Dithmenos grants
followers the ability to instantly step into the shadow of nearby creatures,
provided the shadow is still enough to do so. Dithmenos protects followers by
occasionally shrouding those struck by attacks in dark smoke. Sufficiently
pious followers of Dithmenos will find their own shadow will begin to attack on
its own, and eventually gain the ability to assume the form of a shadow
themself.
%%%%
Elyvilon powers

The Healer offers followers means to heal themselves from damage and other ill
effects. Elyvilon also allows healing of hostile monsters, trying to turn them
neutral. Elyvilon may directly intervene to save a follower's life, especially
when called upon; highly pious followers can be sure of such aid.
%%%%
Fedhas powers

Plants and fungi will not attack Fedhas' worshippers without provocation.
Fedhas' worshippers may walk through plants or fungi, and even fire missiles or
spells through them without causing harm. Fedhas grants the ability to promote
plants and fungi into stronger species. Followers can eventually grow a wall of
plants and create explosive spores from corpses. They are also granted some
control over the weather, being able to call sunlight and eventually
rainstorms.
%%%%
Gozag powers

For Gozag, both flesh and food are inferior to wealth, and therefore all
monsters are turned to gold upon death. Other monsters may then be briefly
distracted by imaginings of great wealth. Stalwarts can order immediate help
in the form of potions, with prices being dictated by the Greedy. Particularly
well-off adherents may attract shopkeepers into the dungeon, and even bribe
entire branches.
%%%%
Jiyva powers

Jiyva's followers can request jellies, turn monsters to slime, and eventually
remove their harmful mutations. Followers of Jiyva may also pray alongside
visible slimes, preventing items from being eaten for a while. As their piety
grows, Jiyva will, with increasing frequency, drop jellies into the dungeon;
rearrange followers' attributes based on their skills and armour; and grant
mutation gifts. Slimes will never harm a follower of Jiyva, and Jiyva demands
the same conduct in return.
%%%%
Kikubaaqudgha powers

Kikubaaqudgha will send corpses to followers, and enhance servants' necromantic
prowess with gifts of spellbooks. Kikubaaqudgha will protect followers from the
effects of necromantic miscasts, and may even shield them from unholy torment.
Especially fervent followers may invoke torment themselves by sacrificing a
cadaver, and Kikubaaqudgha will eventually allow followers to either receive
the Necronomicon, or to have their weapon imbued with pain.
%%%%
Lugonu powers

Followers of Lugonu gain powers to depart the Abyss at will, to bend space
around themselves, and to banish monsters to the Abyss. Later they will be able
to corrupt the ordered world, opening a gate for creatures of the Abyss to pass
through, and to gate themselves directly into this realm of chaos. Lugonu will
eventually offer to corrupt a follower's weapon, imbuing it with the distorting
energies of the Abyss, and will protect the follower from the normally harmful
effects of unwielding such a weapon. Lugonu expects followers to spread
unceasing chaos in the overworld, and as such does not grant piety to
worshippers while they remain in the Abyss itself.
%%%%
Makhleb powers

Makhleb offers followers means to inflict immense damage through chaotic,
destructive attacks. Followers will also be able to call in help from powerful
demons. Makhleb's powers come with a price in blood. However, Makhleb will
grant followers renewed health in return for killing beings of all kinds.
%%%%
Nemelex Xobeh powers

The Trickster's followers gain various ways to influence fate when playing
cards. They will quickly find that the effects of cards will be more powerful
for them, increasingly so with higher piety. Later, followers will gain
powerful abilities to manipulate the cards, allowing them to choose one of
three drawn cards, to gain the effects of multiple cards at once, and finally
to stack decks and re-order their contents.
%%%%
Okawaru powers

Followers of Okawaru will gain the ability to temporarily increase their skills
in combat, and, much later, to deal much faster blows. Okawaru will eventually
gift followers with weapons and armour.
%%%%
Qazlal powers

Followers of Qazlal are protected from the clouds they create. As a follower of
Qazlal gains divine favour, they are slowly surrounded by a loud storm, causing
elemental clouds to appear near them, blocking attacks, and (for the
particularly devout) deflecting incoming projectiles. Qazlal allows followers
to incite nature against their foes, causing a localised natural disturbance
or, for particularly devout followers, a more widespread disaster.
Followers of Qazlal can give life to elemental clouds, turning them into
elementals whose loyalty depends on the origin of the cloud. Followers can
gain temporary resistances against the elements on taking damage from that
element.
%%%%
Ru powers

Ru leads you to gain immense power which initially will cause foes to
falter and become stricken with maladies if they harm you. As you make further
sacrifices, you will be able to draw on this power to restore your health and
magic and make a lightning-fast explosive leap. Exceptional sacrificiants can
unleash their power in a massive strike against all their foes.

Once you begin worship, Ru will monitor your progress as you explore the
dungeon and defeat its inhabitants. Ru will, on judging you ready, offer you
three sacrifices which you can make in order to achieve greater power.
%%%%
Sif Muna powers

Followers of Sif Muna can channel magical energy when they need it the most,
and they gain a power to forget any spell at will, so as to learn new ones. Sif
Muna protects spellcasters against the negative effects of miscasting a spell.
Over time, followers will receive spellbooks containing a vast range of spells.
%%%%
the Shining One powers

Followers of the Shining One are surrounded by a halo that reveals their
enemies to them. Followers will gain power by killing evil beings, and with
growing piety their life force will be protected. The Shining One will keep
summoned and charmed allies on their side longer, should the allies prove
worthy of the crusade. Followers will gain use of a divine shield to protect
them in battle. Later, they can channel blasts of cleansing flame that are
particularly damaging to unholy beings, and can call upon powerful divine
beings as temporary allies. Highly pious followers may request the Shining
One's blessing upon a weapon. The Shining One may occasionally directly
intervene to save a follower's life.
%%%%
Trog powers

Trog offers various powers to help followers in battle. Followers will gain the
ability to go berserk at will, and to rapidly heal their wounds while
increasing resistance to hostile enchantments. Later, followers may call in
powerful raging allies. Eventually, Trog will gift followers with weapons
focused on damage.
%%%%
Vehumet powers

Worshippers of Vehumet will quickly be able to recover their magical energy
upon killing beings. As they gain favour, they will also gain enhancements to
their destructive spells — first assistance in casting such spells and then
increased range for conjurations. Vehumet will offer followers the knowledge of
increasingly powerful destructive spells as they gain piety.
%%%%
Xom powers

To worship Xom is to live riskily. In a good mood Xom may shower you with
gifts, while at other times this capricious god could decide to “spice things
up a little” and send you to your doom. If you prove yourself the stronger, so
much the better; if not, well, there'll be other playthings...
%%%%
Yredelemnul powers

Yredelemnul gives followers the power to raise skeletons and corpses, to recall
undead followers to their vicinity, and to heal by draining the life force of
living creatures. With sufficient piety, Yredelemnul can be called upon to
mirror a follower's injuries onto attackers. Eventually, followers will gain
the power to bind a monster's soul, and make it fight for them instead.
Yredelemnul will sporadically gift followers increasingly powerful undead
servants.
%%%%
Zin powers

Zin grants followers the ability to preach to the unenlightened masses, and
powers to vitalise their bodies, protecting them from various afflictions.
Later, followers gain the ability to imprison their foes temporarily. Followers
can eventually find temporary safety in a divine refuge. As piety grows,
followers will be protected from mutation, and Zin may even occasionally
directly intervene to save a follower's life.
%%%%
Ashenzari wrath

Ashenzari's wrath is not like other gods'; it is constant and unrelenting for
its duration. Victims find their skills impaired, and their enemies divinely
guided - never losing track of them, never ending the hunt.
%%%%
Beogh wrath

Blasphemers against the word of Beogh find themselves confronted with direct
and physical opposition. Those who still worship Beogh find their followers
regularly deserting them; they, and others, are further assaulted by waves of
orcish warriors. When working through intermediaries fails, Beogh hurls
dancing electric weapons at offenders, or simply smites them - and when smiting
true sinners, Beogh has a heavy hand indeed!
%%%%
Cheibriados wrath

Offenders against Cheibriados will find their movements remain slow while
the attention of Cheibriados remains upon them. They may also find themselves
slowed and exhausted, forced to step from time at unexpected moments, or even
put to sleep. In very dangerous situations, Cheibriados may unleash wild and
unpredictable magical effects from the depths of time.
%%%%
Dithmenos wrath

When angered, Dithmenos turns the shadows against victims. Monsters emerge
from the darkness, both illusions woven from shadow and the very shadows
themselves turning against sinners. Novices are swarmed by flitting shadows and
illusionary trolls; experts by shadow fiends and illusionary dragons.
Dithmenos's subtle punishments are, if anything, more dangerous: victims find
the shadows ripped away from them, hunted with nowhere to hide; or find
themselves smothered in shadow and sleeping, perhaps forever.
%%%%
Elyvilon wrath

Elyvilon is not a god known for wrath. Still, those earning Elyvilon's ire will
find themselves irritated in various ways; their weapons will be blunted, their
blows blocked, their thoughts confused, and, occasionally, they'll be lightly
poisoned, to cap it all off.
%%%%
Fedhas wrath

It is Fedhas's considered opinion that offenders against the natural order
(Fedhas) simply need more exposure to nature to realize the error of their
ways. Accordingly, Fedhas provides said exposure, in the form of pure elemental
destruction, waves of giant spores rising from nearby corpses, and, for the
truly incorrigible, surrounding rings of animate mushrooms and acid-spitting
oklobs.
%%%%
Gozag wrath

The first of Gozag's punishments is commercial: all shops opened through
Gozag's intervention shut their doors forever. The disloyal are advised to
finish their shopping before they launch their betrayal. For as long as Gozag
remains angered, potions will have a chance to fail when quaffed, and any
foes that are encountered may be granted potions of their own to assist them
against the ex-worshipper.
%%%%
Jiyva wrath

Jiyva's vengeance is swift and gurgling. All slimes turn against those who
offend Jiyva, and Jiyva ensures a plentiful supply of slimes, both by calling
jellies to ooze from the cracks in the walls and floor, and turning other
nearby enemies into dangerous slimes. Victims, too, will find their own bodies
becoming unstable; regularly transmuting into strange forms and acquiring
debilitating mutations.
%%%%
Kikubaaqudgha wrath

Kikubaaqudgha's wrath brings forth all the dread powers of necromancy. Victims
are wracked with torment, assailed by the undead, smothered in miasma, and
afflicted with a host of other necromantic ailments. Further, Kikubaaqudgha's
gifts become tainted; those that attempt to use necromantic magic to fend off
wrath will find it backfiring on them when least expected.
%%%%
Lugonu wrath

Lugonu's ire renders the barrier between reality and the Abyss weak and
permeable. Space warps, hurling victims across the dungeon, or even directly
into the Abyss; and when that's not enough, Lugonu reaches out and sends
minions out from the Abyss to assault the offender directly. Inexperienced
adventurers face small abominations and thrashing horrors; veterans fight
tentacled starspawn and starcursed masses. Lugonu does not forgive easily, and
will not allow ex-worshippers to rejoin the fold while Lugonu's wrath still
lasts.
%%%%
Makhleb wrath

Those who invite the fury of Makhleb are buried in demons and destruction.
The greatest punishments are reserved for the strongest sinners; crystal spears
and Executioners are hurled with abandon only at those Makhleb finds truly
deserving!
%%%%
Nemelex Xobeh wrath

Nemelex Xobeh forces sinners to rely on the luck of the draw. Stacked decks are
immediately shuffled, and offenders are regularly forced to draw from the Deck
of Punishment, inflicting almost every unpleasant effect imaginable. Further,
attempting to draw from other decks may instead lead to drawing from the Deck
of Punishment.
%%%%
Okawaru wrath

Okawaru's most vicious warriors are sent against rebellious servants. Novices
find themselves swarmed by packs of ogres and gnolls, while champions are
surrounded by titans and elvish blademasters.
%%%%
Qazlal wrath

Qazlal's wrath is swift and unmistakable. Sinners are stripped of their
resistances and assaulted by furious elementals, and Qazlal will create mighty
thunderclaps to alert their foes.
%%%%
Ru wrath

Ru does not punish followers who leave Ru's service; however, their piety will
be lost even upon rejoining, and their sacrifices remain forever.
%%%%
Sif Muna wrath

Those in Sif Muna's ill graces find the very forces of magic rebelling against
them. They are confused and stupefied, their magical reserves drained, their
enchantments unravelled. Casting spells, too, becomes unreliable - and even
dangerous.
%%%%
the Shining One wrath

The Shining One's wrath is straightforward and unmistakable. Its victims find
themselves smote with holy fire, beset with holy warriors, and alternately
shouted at and silenced.
%%%%
Trog wrath

Trog's wrath at betrayers is incandescent. Offenders find themselves swarmed
by berserkers - from packs of bears to, for the most powerful, mobs of giants
and trolls. Their bodies decay, slow, and collapse - and sometimes, they're
just blasted by Trog's fiery rage directly.
%%%%
Vehumet wrath

Those that anger Vehumet find destruction amply heaped upon them. Novices are
struck by flame and frost; archmages by firestorms and hellfire. Their own
conjurations, too, are wont to misfire at the worst possible moments.
%%%%
Xom wrath

Unfaithful ex-followers will find themselves suffering through Xom's bad moods
for so long as Xom can be bothered to remember about them. Still, Xom's caprice
remains; the unfaithful are rewarded just as the faithful are punished.
%%%%
Yredelemnul wrath

Those who anger Yredelemnul find themselves beset by legions of the dead.
Novice adventurers will be assaulted by wights and zombified trolls; veterans
by profane servitors and skeletal dragons. The victims' own undead servants
desert them and crumble into dust. A variety of necromantic maladies also
afflict those stricken by Yredremnul's wrath.
%%%%
Zin wrath

Those under Zin's wrath will find their beneficial mutations stripped away,
their bellies empty, their enemies alerted, and their senses confounded by the
axioms of Law; confusion, fainting and complete paralysis will be their lot.
%%%%