Myrkul
The Prince of Undeath, Lord of Bones, The Reaper
Once gifted divine power by Jergal, Myrkul is an outlier in the pantheon, but still recognized by some as the "true" God of Death. The cold, calculating deity used his power to inspired fear and dread in mortals, taking care that all think of him often, and the inevitability of death, often.
Myrkul is even known to materialize beside open graves, scythe in hand, just to gaze around at gathering mourners for a few silent breaths before fading away, in order to remind everyone that he is waiting for them all. Unlike Kelemvor, he takes great pleasure in creating undead, sending these undead horrors to kill the living and to remind the survivors of his power.
However, after Kelemvor struck his name from Jergal's Book of the Dead, he overthrew Myrkul and took the title of the God of Death. Still, he is worshipped by those that would seek eternal life and the power to control death itself.
Divine Domains
Death (Undead)
Artifacts
The scythe which Myrkul wields as the Reaper may sometimes fall into the hands of mortals so that they may reap and sow souls with its power. Its death touch withers and decays whatever it touches.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
White human skull
Tenets of Faith
Make certain that all fear and respect the Lord of Bones. He who cannot be evaded, hidden from, or shut out. For the dead are his subjects and the slide into death his pleasure and his domain. Preform your duty as a Gray One, delivering souls to the one who shall have them all in the end. The mighty, the low-born, those cloaked in proud art and those barely able to speak. You fear nothing, for to harm you is to die.
Myrkul priests, known as Gray ones, tend to be morose, taciturn, and obsessed with the dead and the undead. Like many followers of Kelemvor and Jergal, priests of Myrkul serve as undertakers, but typically keep their patron's identity secret.
The clergy of Myrkul is charged with making folk fear and respect death and the power of the almighty Myrkul so that no one stands against the church or tries to thwart its activities. Gray ones are expected to spread the word that touching a priest of Myrkul brings death. More fervent worshippers will even raise the dead to cause havoc, only to then slay the undead scourge as a reminder of Myrkul's power.
Holidays
There is only one calendar-related ritual observed by the Church of Myrkul. The Feast of the Moon is known to the faithful of Myrkul as the Day the Dead are Most With Us. Myrkulytes believe that on that day the essences of all dead folk rise and drift as unseen ghosts across the world and seek their living descendants to deliver messages/warnings (by silently writing in dust, sand, or ashes, or by moving objects about, not by speech), or just to observe. To those who worship the Lord of Bones, this is a day to celebrate the dead in chant, prayer, and hymns, culminating in the midnight ritual of the Flagons of the Fallen, wherein glasses of wine are set alight by spells so the spirits who drink of them can be warmed for brief moments in their "eternal chill."
Social
Speech
"Know me and fear me. My embrace is for all and is patient but sure. The dead can always find you. My hand is everywhere - there is no door I cannot pass, nor guardian who can withstand me."
Divine Classification
Deity
Church/Cult
Children
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