Mask

Mask is the intermediate god of shadows, thievery, and formerly intrigue in the Astoran pantheon; a loner god most often associated with those of ill-repute. The Lord of Shadows is a chaotic neutral or neutral evil deity symbolized with a velvet black mask tainted with red.

Description

Avatars of Mask within his temples usually appeared as slightly built human males wearing soft gray leather armor, a black cloak, and a black mask tinged with red (believed by scholars to be his true or chosen form). He might also manifest as a soft-spoken human female with pale, glowing skin, dark, floor-length hair, and starry white lights for eyes. This form always walked barefoot and was constantly shrouded in a shadow-like gloom. In public however, Mask's form was entirely inconsistent, appearing as members of all races, genders, ages, builds, and capabilities. No matter his form however, his movements made no sound and left no trail. Manifestations

One of Mask's abilities was taking on a shape of any humanoids or any mask. Some of the masks he shapeshifted into were patches of gauze cut in rectangle shape and lacking eye-holes. In this form of a piece of harmless-looking cloth, Mask could move about without detection.

The Shadowlord wielded a pair of magical, twin longswords known as Stealthwhisper and Shadowblade.

Personality

Known for his constant scheming, cool head, and oft-reserved biting comment, Mask loses a significant portion of his power, the intrigue portfolio, to Cyric. This, of course, leads to two things: an enduring hatred of Cyric, and the Lord of Shadows leading himself to be more direct than he is in his prior, elaborate plots.[citation needed]

He is a manipulator and values subtle schemes, so artful and light that no one notices the god's touch. Mask enjoys eavesdropping, and he can whisper in perfect imitation of a voice he has recently heard. He uses this mimicry to purr falsehoods into mortals' ears or talk with voices of recently dead to create an illusion of them still being in the land of the living.

Divine Realm

Mask keeps a divine realm called Shadow Keep on Niflheim, the second layer of Hades in the Great Wheel cosmology and the Plane of Shadow in the World Tree cosmology. Visitors might glimpse the Keep, but very few ever reach it, as it is constantly shrouded in a heavy fog that leads them astray.

Worshippers

The church of Mask stated that wealth rightfully belonged to those who could acquire it. Honesty was for fools but apparent honesty was a very valuable thing, and subtlety was everything.

The Clergy of Mask were called Maskarrans, with elite specialty priests referred to as demarchesses (pronounced: /dɛmɑːrˈkɛsɛs/ deh-mar-KESS-es) if female, and demarchs (pronounced: /dɛˈmɑːrks/ deh-MARKS) if male. Maskarrans addressed each other as "Brother/Sister Shadow", no matter their rank. Clergy that completed an especially dangerous heist or complex act of manipulation were often admitted to the Circle of the Gray Ribbon.

It was rumored that the Cult of Mask maintained a large network of informants throughout the cities of the realm. It was also rumored that this network provided employment for all sorts of thieves, beggars and thugs.[citation needed]

Shrines of gods radiated that part of their philosophical orientation they shared the most. For example, a shrine of a chaotic evil deity, who was more chaotic than evil, radiated chaos. Mask's shrines during the 14th century DR radiated chaos, despite him being a neutral evil deity during that time.

Dogma

Mask's faithful were led to believe that the god saw everything that happens in the dark and to trust it, as one would be made an easy target by walking into plain light. The abilities to deceive, as truth was a foolish virtue and manipulation was better than brute force, and to be dextrous were also appreciated. Whilst the faith advocated for accumulating riches, it also said to only steal what was necessary. They also believed that owning something simply required being in possession of it.

Relationships

Simply put, Mask was a loner and unlike other deities he enjoyed his own company greatly. However, before this, he had frequent alliances with Bane. If nothing else, their sizable hatred of Cyric gave them common ground in addition to their history of working together. Mask was also at direct odds with Waukeen, the goddess of merchants and honest trade. All guardians of light, knowledge, and duty were opposed to him. This included Selûne, whose light tended to reveal his own faithful whilst they worked.[citation needed]

He was allied with the drow god of thievery Vhaeraun. The relationship itself was businesslike. However, Mask planned to compensate what he lost to Cyric with Vhaeraun's divinity, while Vhaeraun used the similarity between their symbols to recruit half-elves and humans into his church. The two were often confused with one another among non-drow on the surface. They also shared one very similar title, Mask's "Lord of Shadows" and Vhaeraun's "Lord of Shadow".

History

Godsbane

During the Time of Troubles of 1358 DR, Mask took the shape of a powerful blade called Godsbane. He eventually came to be wielded by the then-mortal Cyric; he acquired the sword by murdering a halfling named Sneakabout, who in turn killed the former wielder of the sword.[citation needed]

In the years following the Time of Troubles, Mask released the powerful hound Kezef to try and kill Cyric, but the hound turned instead on the Lord of Shadows, not stopping the chase until it had bitten off one of the god's limbs. Mask, seemingly too weak to heal, acquired the powerful weapon Houndsbane to defend himself; the weapon was a gift from the deity of magic, Mystra.[citation needed]

Death

In 1374 DR, Mask relinquished his divinity and his life over to Shar to repay a millennia-old debt to the goddess, who was revealed to be his "mother" as well as the person he served as a herald. Just before his death, Shar revealed Mask's true name as Lessinor, though its origin (either as a mortal name or a birth name) was not explained. A portion of Mask's divinity—the portion stolen by Kesson Rel—was absorbed in equal portions by Erevis Cale, Drasek Riven, and Prince Rivalen of the Shade enclave. Erevis then sacrificed himself to Mephistopheles, the archdevil Lord of Cania, in payment for releasing the half of the soul of Magadon that he ate; Mephistopheles in turn absorbed the portion of Mask's divinity held by Cale.[citation needed] Rebirth

There were several hints that Mask could return, either in person or via a successor who took his place in the pantheon, namely:[speculation]

When Mask surrendered to Shar, his last thoughts were about the secret he kept from her. Mask apparently arranged that Cale's son would be born in safety after the Spellplague of 1385 DR. Drasek Riven, himself ascended to a demigod of shadows, prophesied to Magadon of the return of Mask.

This was proven to be true when the Shadowlord's plans to thwart the Cycle of Night perpetuated by Shar on countless worlds resulted in Mask's divinity (both the Shar-consumed and Kesson Rel portions) being gathered back into a single being—Drasek Riven, Mask's former Second of Five—resulting in the aforementioned cycle being thwarted, along with the stripping of divinities from both Mephistophales and Rivalen Tanthul.

Mask

Lesser deity

Basic Information

Titles

Lord of Shadows
Master of All Thieves
The Shadowlord
God of Thieves
Blackheart
Shadowflea (derogatory)
Shadowcrab

Adjectives

Maskarran

Pantheons

Astoran

Attributes

Alignment

Neutral Evil

Symbol

Black velvet mask tinged with red

Realm

Gray Waste of Hades/Niflheim/Shadow Keep

Portfolio

Shadows, Thievery, Thieves

Favored Weapon

Longsword

Following

Worshippers

Assassins
Beggars
Criminals
Rogues
Shades
Shadowdancers

Alignments

LE, NE, CE

Domains

Darkness (Night)
Evil (-)
Trickery (Deception, Espionage, Innuendo)