Groetus

For more information on all Lesser Idols, see: Lesser Idols

Overlooking all of Pharasma is another entity. This is Groetus, the Harbinger of the End Times, a sentient and cruel moonlet that looks down upon the Boneyard and waits for the last living soul to die. According to prophecy, when Illid judges the last soul after the last living body dies on the Material Plane, Groetus will descend to the Boneyard to meet with Illid on his crumbling throne before it moves on to the Material Plane to "clean up" and pack the dust away for another reality. Groetus will fade from existence once it has confirmed that nothing is left.

Tenets of Faith

• Preach of the upcoming end times.


• Destroy that which has outlived its usefulness.


• Put the suffering out of their misery.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

Silently watching, Groetus hangs in the form of a bloated moon above Pharasma in the Outer Sphere. This moon is simultaneously Groetus' physical form, its divine realm (where its servants and petitioners dwell), and a shell separating the Great Beyond from its end. Its size varies between viewers, from that of a thumbnail held at arm's length to 20 times that size. Adventurous folk who have braved the surface of this place are either never heard from again, or are discovered soon after as the newest of the being's insane faithful. It is unknown what role Groetus will play in the End Times.
It is a rare occurrence indeed for Groetus to manifest in humanoid form, but records describe it as a tall, slender man wearing a long gray robe that hangs heavily to the floor. His complexion is ashen, with hollow eyes and long, smooth hands. He has a slight bent at the neck (as though bearing some great weight) and his bare feet are black from soot and ash (as though he has been walking through an old fire). His voice is described as a whisper, like old paper, and he speaks with an archaic or foreign inflection.

Social

Reign

Groetus has no formal religion or church, with many of its faithful being made up of lone madmen prophesying the end of everything, or megalomaniacs bent on bringing about the end of creation to please their patron. Some believe that it may not even know or care that it has any followers, knowing that if its goals are achieved, they will be destroyed along with everything else. Cultists of Groetus have many theories about how their patron will manifest in the End Time and what its ultimate role will be. These theories or interpretations are known as dooms; and the proponents of each particular doom may be seen as members of a splinter cult of the faith.

Contacts & Relations

Groetus is rather isolated from other entities and they seldom make any effort to contact it. On those rare occasions, gods and goddesses proceed with extreme caution, knowing full well that their followers (whether mortal, undead or other) often fall to insanity should they scry or otherwise make contact with it.
Illid has slightly more interaction with Groetus, although such contact is done more to keep the ominous moon at a comfortable distance than friendly communication. He has been known to "feed" Groetus (in some unspecified manner) the souls of atheists, which are repellent to Groetus, to push the moon from the Boneyard. Even so, the moon lingers near, apparently attracted to the souls of faithful mortals.
Cults of Groetus often cooperate with cults of Urgathoa who share their hedonism, but the nihilistic Groetans scoff at an eternal existence as undead.

Divine Traits

General Information

Alternative Name(s)
Harbinger of the End Times
Harbinger of Last Days

Alignment
Chaotic Neutral

Pantheon
Lesser Idol

Areas of Concern
Empty Places, Oblivion, Ruins

Favored Weapon
Heavy Flail

Symbol
Skull-faced moon

Worshippers
Madmen

Plane
Pharasma

Pathfinder 1e

Domains
Chaos, Darkness, Destruction, Madness, Void

Subdomains
Catastrophe, Insanity, Loss, Night, Stars

Pathfinder 2e

Domains
Darkness, Destruction, Nightmares, Void

Alternate Domains
Decay

Divine Ability
Strength or Charisma

Divine Font
Harm

Divine Skill
Intimidation

Cleric Spells
1st: Phantom Pain
5th: Crushing Despair
9th: Disjunction

Divine Boons

• Minor Boon
  You wield power over disorder. Once, when you are confused, you act normally enough to control your own actions in combat without penalty for the duration, though you still babble incoherently and otherwise behave strangely.
• Moderate Boon
  Groetus grants you knowledge to further the end times. Each week, he sends you a cryptic, incoherent message about something important to the end times that will happen in the coming week.
• Major Boon
  Your touch unravels things that have survived past their appointed time, according to Groetus’ reckoning. Such a creature or object takes 10d6 negative damage each round you continue touching it; the damage ignores all Hardness and is capable of destroying nonliving objects, creatures immune to negative effects, and even undead or other creatures with negative healing. This boon might even be able to destroy some artifacts that have survived past their time.

Divine Curses

• Minor Curse
  Whenever you are illuminated by a light source other than natural sunlight, your head appears to be a bare skull. The DC for your recovery checks is 12 + your dying value, rather than 10 + your dying value, and you don’t benefit from effects that reduce the DC, such as from the Toughness feat.
• Moderate Curse
  The horrors at the end of reality become overwhelming and constantly race through your mind. You are permanently stupefied 2.
• Major Curse
  You bring about the end to everything around you. Every item you carry or wear gains the broken condition after 10 minutes of exposure to you, and is destroyed after a further hour. This effect can’t destroy artifacts or items of similar power.