Azuth

Azuth

Azuth (pronounced: /ɑːˈzuːθ/ ah-ZOOTH), also known as the Lord of Spells and the God of Wizards, was a lesser deity whose concerns include the perpetuation of the magical arts as a craft. He is worshiped by all manner of arcane spellcasters, though he is venerated by wizards in particular. The Lord of Spells often appears as an elderly man with a long, white beard garbed in antique clothes and wielding a gem-topped staff. He often comes across as crotchety and cantankerous - even to other gods - and is somewhat misunderstood. His dry wit and unending devotion to the pursuit of the arcane rubs others the wrong way. In life, and beyond, Azuth maintains a dynamic relationship with his divine superior Mystra; having served as her Chosen, her subordinate, and her lover.

Divine Realm

Azuth's divine realm, located on Buxenus, the second layer of Arcadia in the Great Wheel cosmology, was also called Azuth.

Relationships

Worshippers 

The clergy of Azuth are collectively known as the Magistrati and includes wizards, monks, and clerics within their ranks. They prefer to maintain their temples within large cities, align themselves with powerful magical guilds, and act as a sort of magical administration, to facilitate communication between spellcasters and enforce the Magebond.
Among the highest order of Azuth's followers are a group of arcane paragons known as the Favored. These heralds of magical development further the channeling of the Weave by formulating arcane processes, a process viewed as the apex of magical science among the faithful. The church of Azuth is widely viewed as archaic in their tradition, pedantic in their debates, and oblivious to the real-world problems within the Realms. They often possess a moral neutrality that garners an unfavorable opinion by the average layperson.

Orders

• Loomwarden: A stern sect of the church of Azuth that is distrusting of sorcerers and the more chaotic nature of Mystra's power. They are particularly influential in cities like Halarahh and Bezantur.
• Spellsavants: This tolerant order of mages urges for cooperation between all practitioners of the arcane and idealizes the cumulative efforts of humanity as a whole in order to push the boundaries of magical knowledge.

Deities

Azuth is served by the deities Velsharoon and Savras, the latter with which he maintains a complex relationship, having kept the Lord of Divination a prisoner for many years. He also calls Deneir, Oghma, and Leira his allies. He has a close relationship with Anastra Syluné Silverhand. Azuth is subservient to both Mystra and later Midnight, having sat as an adviser for and acted as a favored student of the goddess of magic. On one occasion, he was asked by the goddess to subtly manipulate the wizard Flamsterd. 
While his relationship with the first Mystra was one of deep mutual affection, he took a more paternal stance with her later incarnation - guiding her through a difficult time of acclimatization to her role. Although he was one of Mystra's lovers, he was in love with one of her Chosen, Alvaerele Tasundrym, having protected her from danger.

History

Records of Azuth's life as a mortal are virtually non-existent and Azuth himself does not deign to answer questions regarding the topic, therefore, most of what was known of Azuth's life was legend.
As a mortal man, Azuth was hungry for power, and in his search for it he studied several lost empires in the hope of finding forgotten magical secrets. Eventually, his dedication led to him being granted the title of Magister, the first of his kind, recognized by Mystra as her most promising mortal pupil. At some point, Azuth believed himself no longer worthy of being called Magister, and so Mystra turned him instead to one of her Chosen.

Ascension

During, or shortly after, the Dawn Cataclysm, in his bid for divinity, Azuth sought to steal a portion of the demigod Savras' power in a gambit that ultimately failed. This led to a protracted series of battles between Azuth and Savras, culminating in a duel that shattered a mountain and created a deep lake. Azuth was successful and managed to imprison the deity Savras within a staff he had created, the Scepter of Savras. And thus, with the help of Mystra - who had now become his lover - Azuth finally ascended to divine status.
Azuth lost the staff, but Syluné Silverhand found it and returned it to him, whereupon Azuth began to feel guilty for imprisoning Savras and, after the Time of Troubles, freed him from his imprisonment in exchange for a pledge of fealty.

Spellplague

The destruction of Dweomerheart sent the dying Azuth into Asmodeus' domain of Nessus. Although many people believed the archdevil killed Azuth and consumed his divine essence to attain godhood, in fact Asmodeus fused with Azuth, and both gods have coexisted since then in the same body. Most of the time, Asmodeus overpowers Azuth, using his divine powers while the God of Wizards is in a dormant state. On a rare few occasions, Azuth has been able to gain dominion of their shared body, and many denizens of the Nine Hells believed Asmodeus had become mad due to his strange behavior.

The Second Sundering

In 1486 DR, Azuth regained most of his strength and was able to choose Ilstan Nyaril as his Chosen. Asmodeus and Azuth began to struggle for dominion over their shared body and the hierarchy of the Nine Hells was jeopardized because of that. Ilstan and Farideh, one of the Chosen of Asmodeus, devised a plan to separate both gods and avoid a potential devil invasion to all the multiverse. They contacted the god Enlil through his Chosen, Kepeshkmolik Dumuzi, and Asmodeus agreed to release Azuth from his body and to resurrect the Untherite god Nanna-Sin as a non-god immortal. In exchange, Enlil allowed Asmodeus to consume Nanna-Sin's divine spark to become a god unto himself. In a ritual performed in Djerad Thymar amid the First Tymanther-Unther War, on Hammer 10 of 1487 DR, Ilstan sacrificed his life to allow Azuth become an individual god once more.
After the Second Sundering ended, Azuth returned to the Faerûnian pantheon.