Cultist of Myrkul

Wicked Zealots of the Dead Three Treasure: Individual, Relics

The adventurers Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul seized divinity but were slain for their hubris. All three have been reborn and are now known as the Dead Three. Each of the Dead Three has inspired wicked cults that follow their paths of tyranny, murder, and necromancy. More than any other gods, the Dead Three directly influence Faerün-and particularly the city of Baldur's Gate —in malign ways. Cultists who receive orders from their patron god directly are often the most ambitious and most dangerous.

Cultist of Myrkul: Cultists of Myrkul dominate the dead, whether to raise Undead servants, terrorize the living, or extract secrets known only to the deceased. Most are more interested in amassing knowledge than power or wealth. Many cultists of Myrkul are sinister manipulators who hoard necromantic lore and gather in cults to share their gruesome secrets. Such secrets often require unsavory experimentation, which these heartless cultists relish.

Cultists of Myrkul worship the Lord of Bones, a god of death, decay, and the inevitable end of all things. Their core lore revolves around hoarding necromantic secrets, harvesting body parts for dark rituals, and manipulating the dead to terrify the living

Church of Myrkul: The church of Myrkul, also known as the Gray Ones, or (disparagingly) Fingerbones, is the predominant organization dedicated to the worship and veneration of the Lord of the Dead, Myrkul. It is not a popular faith in Faerûn, whose members are often looked upon as secretive, morbid loners, who are obsessed with death and enjoy seeing fear in others. While that might be the case in some instances, they are dedicated to the care of the dying and deceased. Myrkulytes view death with profound respect and take great care to help those who are dying feel as comfortable as possible, tending to their last wishes, presiding over funerals, and serving as undertakers and caretakers in cemeteries across the Realms.

Beliefs: They believe that death is an inevitability of life, an aspect that mortals should not attempt to flee. As such, they hold the influence of the dead in extremely high regard.

Attitudes: While many Faerûnians openly make offerings to Myrkul out of fear, such as during funeral services or when honoring their dead, his clergy are more secretive in their worship. As is the common perception, these faithful are a reclusive and macabre lot who remain stoic, almost aloof, to their surroundings. They often conceal their pre-church lives from their fellow clergy and membership within the church from those outside. Yet there are some followers of Myrkul that sincerely romanticize the concept of death and join due to their attraction to the teachings of Myrkul's high priests.

Activities: The Myrkulyte clergy are tasked with making the mortals of Faerûn fear and respect death, as well as the power of Myrkul. They are expected to propagate two seemingly conflicting beliefs about themselves. First, that their clergy possess absolute patience and trustworthiness, and second, that touching them would bring upon certain death. Their actions are meant to reflect these "truths". They share stories of the church's doombringers, champions of Myrkul who travel Faerûn avenging the deaths of those to whom they have sword oaths or slaying those who mock the Lord of Bones.

A cleric of Myrkul.: In service to others, Myrkulyte clerics travel the Realms offering burial and funeral services to the loved ones of the recently-deceased, for a fee. When called upon to assist the dying, they do all in their power to make them comfortable, offering their perspective that death is a inevitable transition from life. Whenever it is required they assist those who are dying with their remaining affairs, such as final decrees and last wills and testaments. In return for a "skull fee" a Myrkulyte priest acts as an agent for someone after their death, carrying out any final arrangements or deeds they could not complete in life.

Studies: Priests of Myrkul are experienced necrologists, in that they spend much of their time studying lore regarding the undead. They are well-versed in their identification abilities.

Organization: There are few clerics of Myrkul found in Faerûn, compared to other faiths. They refer to one another as "Death" or, for senior members, "Most Holy Death".

Titles: The titles within the church of Myrkul are tied to specific rituals and duties they perform upon ascension to that rank. In descending order they are:

• Elder Doom > Deathbringer > Withering Lord > Undead Master > Ritual Consecrator > Bone Dancer > Crypt Carver > Shroud Wearer > Bone Talker > Night Walker > Daring One

Orders:

• Knights of the Undying Dragon: This long-forgotten order of death knights have served as the champions of Myrkul for decades.

Rituals: Prayers to Myrkul are offered at dusk, while his faithful are expected to perform their personal worship during in the darkness of night. Myrkulyte priests are rarely allowed to raise the dead on their own accord. However they perform the rite for those of other faiths who bring a dead body to one of their temples.

• The dusking is a ritual performed as a reminder of the world's collective mortality, that death is waiting for every living being on Toril. The non-faithful are allowed to make offerings to appease the Lord of the Dead.
• The bone dance, lead by the faith's Bone Dancers, is performed to summon undead guardians to protect an item or location of significance to the church.

Holy Days: The church of Myrkul observes one day of remembrance that is linked to the calendar of Harptos. The Day the Dead are Most With Us, which lands between the months of Uktar and Nightal, is seen as the time of the year where the spirits of the dead rise from the Underworld and float unseen across Toril. It is believed they seek out their surviving loved ones and descendants, and leave silent messages to them throughout the day. Mykulytes celebrate the dead with chants and hymns, culminating in the Flagons of the Fallen ritual which is performed at midnight.

Bases: Temples of Myrkul are an uncommon sight in Faerûn, typically taking the form of a mausoleum built above sprawling, subterranean necropolis. Their exteriors are often adorned with gargoyles and shrouded by the smoke of their crematories. Within their underground halls are scores of stone statues of dead and decaying men, women and children. There are scores of undead roaming the chambers of these crypts, the most prominent of which are skeletal in nature.

Temples:

• Legacy of Deep Death: The only temple of Myrkul that was established after the Time of Troubles was established by three Myrkulyte liches on the sea bed under the Sea of Swords.
• Skullspire: This massive spire in Tulmon was the meeting place of the Conclave of Doom, serving as the training area for initiates and staging area for activities performed by the lesser clerics.
• Temple of Myrkul in Undermountain: The temple that held the holy artifact, the Black Wand of Myrkul. After Myrkul's death, the temple was mostly abandoned, with just a few loyal worshipers attending to the shrines inside. By 1370 DR, the temple was briefly torn between two factions trying to calm it. The followers of Kelemvor were trying to claim the temple as their deity inherited Myrkul's portfolio, and the Sardonyx Knights of Grumbar were attempting to convert it to their own religion.

Dress: Priests of Myrkul wear black, hooded robes, tied around the waist with a single white sash. While they always wear skull-shaped half-masks in public, they show their faces and walk barefoot when within their temples. Any exposed skin is concealed with ash. When venturing out in the Realms, they wear the finest armor underneath their hooded cloaks.

History: While Myrkul himself ascended to godhood from a mortal life eons ago, the divinity was first encountered by his future initiates when a speak with dead spell was cast upon the head priest of some ancient temple. The Lord of the Dead conveyed his dogma through the vessel of the body. After the death of Myrkul in the Time of Troubles, his divine domain was transferred by Ao to the newly-ascended Cyric, or "Cyruk" as he was known to Myrkulytes. The stoic and largely-emotionless priests were unfazed by this change, and they offered no organized resistance or any emotional reaction. A decade later when Cyric was defeated by Kelemvor in the City of Strife, the transition of worship from the Myrkulyte-Cyricists to the new god of the dead was just as smooth of a transition. While some remnant Myrkul's energy was transferred into the nearby artifact, the Crown of Horns, for all intents and purposes, the church of Myrkul was considered dead by the people of Faerûn. However, that which was dead could not truly die. After Myrkul's death, a temple in his name was constructed beneath the Sea of Swords, in the area where Midnight cast away the brown miasma that was released upon the destruction of the deity's avatar. After the Second Sundering Myrkul was restored as the Reaper, the god of death who brought the souls he had claimed to Kelemvor, the god of the dead. Kelemvor would then judge the fate of the souls. There were few actual temples of Myrkul in the late 15th century, but nearly every human cemetery or mausoleum was engraved with Myrkul's holy symbol.