Slyduhl

The Great Chaos

Attracted by the fragments of Slyduhl littering the cosmos, Slyduhl came across the wounded shape of Cawelt, seeing an opportunity for some trickery Slyduhl convinced him to go into a slumber to heal his wounds. And as Cawelt did and his shape healed so did his fragmented exterior fuse together, rendering the massive titan unmovable, after noticing this the Cawelt became angry, and slyduhl laughed longer and harder than anyone would ever laugh, this did provoke Cawelt who let out a massive roar which contained so much anger and power that it shattered the shape of Slyduhl all over the cosmos. Slyduhl, reduced to a fragment of his previous self, reformed somewhat and although he wouldn't have the power of the other two prime gods, the fact that his essence was everywhere allowed Slyduhl to be everywhere at all times, something Slyduhl would grow to appreciate and almost allowed him to forgive Cawelt for this slight.
As eons passed and while Dariël and Cawelt created the world and it's inhabitants, Slyduhl shaped it. This resulted in the other prime-gods over time becoming more and more displeased with his presence, which Slyduhl managed to quell for a while by proving them with information and advice. But in the end, after Cawelt and Dariël had faded away, Slyduhl lacking the means to directly affect the world below now waits observes and bides his time.

The Ethos of Slyduhl

Far Removed from the squabbles of men and beast, Slyduhl observes all, always scheming, driven by an agenda incomprehensible, both by mortals and the other gods. In some aspects Slyduhl is the driving force behind all existence, ensuring things keep moving and this influence can be felt by all, as contrary to the other Gods, the ever-present Slyduhl will stoop down to the level of mortals, ensuring his great schemes keep moving. This special attention manifests itself in many forms but is generalized as "The touch of Slyduhl" when it directly affects a being, but the god's influence can also be felt in seemly random life-altering events, and strokes of bad luck. This results in people all over occasionally calling out his name when bad luck has befallen them, or weird things happen. No matter what is happening, there is always a change that Slyduhl had a hand in it, seeking to shape the world to their whims.

The touch of Slyduhl

Contrary to Cawelt and Dariël, Slyduhl doesn't have a large organization watching out for occasional signs which are devoted to some greater duty, but instead, the following of the Chaotic God manifests itself in a far more chaotic manner. This influence is called the touch of Slyduhl, which happens mostly out of nowhere and seemingly at random, resulting in people changing radically resulting in a personality far more akin to the chaotic nature of their patron, these touched become Slyduhl's representatives at the Bastions of existence, and serve as advisors or in rare occasion oracles, providing their alien perspectives to those in need, including the Chosen and Observers. Alternatively, these touched become lone wanders instilled with duty requiring them to embark on a journey, driven to complete a task seemingly completely random to all but the Chaotic God, but oftentimes vital in the unfolding schemes. These Touched always consider their journey to be their personal choice, and during this journey, they'll learn about the chaotic god and attracted by its ethos to adopt its faith as their own. These touched are, depending both on time and place, are treated wildly different, as many cultures have vastly different and ever-changing views on the chaotic god.

Those Touched by Slyduhl

Those touched by Slyduhl fall in one of three categories, these are Wanderers, Advisors, and Oracles:

• Wanderers: These are the people who wake up one day, pack up their belongings, and set out in a self-proclaimed quest of some-sort, these are the most common, as most touched start their devotion to Slyduhl this way. Following the conclusion of their quest, many choose to remain in the service of their new patron following either by setting out once more on a new quest or by becoming an advisor or on rare occasions, an Oracle.
• Advisors: Compared to the Oracles, advisors are relatively common, ensuring that almost all bastions of existence have at least one advisor present. And even though they're common, giving a general description would be hard, as these advisors come from all walks of life, but generally include more liberal thinking individuals, and many artists and philosophers make up their ranks. These men and women are granted an exceptional ability to assess situations and provide many different points of view or from a single very different point of view. They provide their services to whomever, but only if they decide to honor a request, seemingly at random.
• Oracles: Similar to Advisors, the oracle was touched by Slyduhl, but where Advisors merely glimpsed the universal truth, these Oracles stared deep into this vast abyss, and what they witnessed changed the very core of their being. These Oracles are often no longer completely of this world, and as such, they could be considered mad-men/women and were initially dismissed as such. However, when you manage to break through the haze of unclear double talk, much can be learned as these Oracles could answer any question posed to them, and some are even clairvoyant. The presence of these Oracles is oftentimes accompanied with greater respect and reference for Slyduhl, and on rare occasions a more structured religious organization arose, but nothing permanent had formed thus-far.

Aspects of the Religion:
Structure: Chaotic individuality
Activities: Provide advice and information, embarking on divine quests.
Religious Gesture: Make a grasping motion toward your forehead using your index finger, middle finger, and thumb, the make a flicking motion, while releasing the hold.
Mantra: Answers in Chaos, progress in Chaos, Chaos in Slyduhl.

Relations

The travels of the wanders always result in Slyduhl's plans proceeding, this is something both the Dariël's Observers, and the Chosen of Cawelt want to avoid at all costs. But for different reasons:

• The Chosen know that these schemes have the potential to put things in motion which shake the core of the world, and as maintainers of the world they seek to avoid this at all cost. Sending out their Chosen on heroic individual quests to bring these miscreants to justice.
• The Observers have experienced that the mere progress of these celestial schemes is often accompanied with weave disturbances, and as such keep, a close eye on these schemes unfolding, but as the repercussions hereof are hard to oversee the Observes ensure that these quests last as long as possible but never come to fruition.

To this end, any information about these wanders is always paid for handsomely, both by the chosen and the Observers. Obviously this is one of the few questions the oracles refuse to answer or know nothing about.
From the Elder gods, only Krisat has a gripe with the Touched, as Krisat is the goddess of secrets and answers, it often rubs her the wrong way that the Slyduhl's oracles possess a nigh unlimited store of information which is not used for a specific goal, and as such there have been attempts to either kidnap these oracles or kill them outright, but not before they can get as many secrets as possible. And although these attempts have been few and far between, the occurrence of Oracles are rare, and the memories of Touched long.

The ballad of Margreeth, the Wanderer:

As performed by Ninth Born, a bard who served as an Advisor to Syduhl at the Bastion of Existence at Vohenberg circa 650

A maiden just like many,
A loyal daughter, barely twenty.
Born of Noble Blood,
Money was all hers, like a flood

This tale tells of Margreeth
Who one day, a jump she made
Drawn by a bird so small she tripped and fell
Three stories down, so they tell

It was close but a recovery she made,
What remained was but a shade.
Of her wished, only one desire,
To travel long she did aspire.

To see the world she claimed,
Which would be a challenge, even for those not maimed.
But she endured and chased her goal
With time her ship was sailing, the magnificent shoal.

But driven with a personal quest,
This wanderlust was just a jest.
A mountain of fire she sought,
To achieve an act no-one would have thought.

She at long last arrived at the cliffs that beckoned her so,
And setting out, armed with just a bow,
she braved this uncharted land.
feet scorching on blistering grey sand.

Arriving at the fiery hearth,
She reached out for the gem of fire,
Finally having found the target of her desire.
A tremor shook the earth.

Exploding with titanic force,
Nothing survived this devastation,
But she had no remorse,
As she had assisted in creation.

Diplomacy Diagram not available

Answers in Chaos, progress in Chaos, Chaos in Slyduhl.

Always watching, Slyduhl observes all

When wise men see patterns in chaos, then Slyduhl has clouded their minds

Name: Slyduhl
Ally: None
Nemesia: Cawelt, Dariël and Krisat
Domains: Trickery, Arcane and Knowledge
Core Concept: Change, Truth and the great Scheme
Divine Symbol: Overlapping discs, representing the planes of existence 
Alignment: CE

Alternative Names

Those Touched by Slyduhl