Alignment: TN (uncaring)Portfolios: death, scavengers, survival, navigation, direction Races: human, ogran, tomanth Animal Totem: serpent Physical Description: Be it passages or paintings, Curiss is always depicted as a hooded and cloaked figure, with hints of something not of Gaeleth beneath the gloves and mask that are seen. Short and thin, the exact race of Curiss is lost to the dark folds of his cloak, and there are even some that question whether Curiss is, indeed, a he and not a she. History: During the Age of Survival, Curiss arose like a dark spectre from deep within the bowels of the world. His first Chosen was kobold of considerable intelligence and wisdom, and Curiss led his Chosen to find weapons, armor, food, and clothing that would make the kobold tribes safe from the ravages of nature. Other races heard the call of Curiss, and Disciples converged upon the kobolds -- wiping them out in the process, thinking them beneath the favor of a god. Curiss' wrath was great for the death of his Chosen at the hands of his Disciples, and he permanently blinded those that survived the battle. Other, more tolerant Disciples learned of the God of Survival, and sought him out, hoping to learn from him. The spectral god slowly began to wind his tendrils of worship throughout the lands, with his priests aiding those on the brink, and helping them to survive the tortuous times. The Shaping Wars destroyed many of Curiss' temples, as the demons of Argunas and the minions of The One sought to remove the threat posed by the Church of Curiss. During the Age of Peace, Curiss continued to grow, though more slowly. Few considered themselves devout worshippers, though many added Curiss to their personal pantheons. Always remaining in the background, Curiss and his followers were content to carry on -- until the Storm Wars. As the magical storms ravaged the lands, and Nathel's forces destroyed everything in his path, the God of the Dead was driven near to insanity. Bequething his portfolio of Death upon Curiss, and escaping into the deserts, The God of Survival paradoxically became the God of Death. Scavenging amongst the ruins of various cities, his priests took over the old temples of Galanus, the former God of the Dead, and slowly took account of their new calling. As the Inquisition grew in the aftermath of the Storm Wars, few other churches credited the Church of Curiss with its instrumental deflections of the undead, or its shrewd tactics in the face of certain destruction. The Inquisition left Curiss' minions alone, fearing the church it did not understand, with its alien philosophies and basal theories. Relic: Within the belly of some monster high in the Heavensbanes lies the Relic of Curiss. The monster uses the Relic in its gizzard, helping it to digest dragons and white puddings -- and it has survived for millennia thus. No one can say what the monster might be, and some speculate that it is even an avatar of Curiss himself. Church: Curiss' priests have evolved in the last five centuries to support his role as the God of the Lost, even though they still maintain their ties to survival and scavenging. Taking over Galanus' older temples, the church's headquarters reside in the ruins of the Temple of Death in Karmen. Never restored after an acid bath during the Storm Wars, the dark and sinister-looking temple keeps the curious and the faint of heart well away. The Chosen of Curiss maintains contact with his far-flung Disciples via prayers and communions, as each member of the church seeks to aid the dying -- either on their way to death, or back to the living. The priests of the church are the final arbitrators on whether a man is truly dead or alive, even though his body might not be found. Lesser followers plead to Curiss to aid them merely in surviving long enough accept death, and others follow Curiss in anticipation of death. Confusion greets many priests of Curiss, and his followers, for few outside the church can reconcile its purpose, though all agree that the church performs a valuable (if distasteful) service. Upon the death of a mortal, his soul goes to the lands of Curiss; it is there that Curiss and his archons herd each soul into the appropriate afterlife. Only the most devoted of souls follow Curiss, for they will work even in death, aiding the god to aid the souls of the lost. For those souls that cannot make it to the lands of Curiss, there are the priests to aid them in their journey -- whether they like it or not. Clerics: The most common members of the priesthood are its devoted clerics, who wander the lands and the cities in search of those who need them. Called by battle and death, they tend to the dying, easing their way into the next worlds. Sometimes working hand in hand with the clerics of Whalin, the clerics of Curiss aid all the other churches in these regards. It is not unusual for a cleric of Curiss to show up on the doorstep to a foreign temple, with a long-dead body in their arms -- ready to inter the body so that the lost soul may rest. Lesser undead bother the clerics not at all, but they consider the sentient undead an abomination that lies half-way between death and survival. Specialty priests: The Stantions are clerics that have gained enough enlightenment to become specialized priests that deal exclusively with Curiss' mandates as the second God of the Dead. They must have Constitutions, Intelligences, and Wisdom scores of at least 13 to take on the tasks of Stantions. In return for their service, Curiss grants them major access to the spheres of All, Divination, Healing, and Necromantic. They have only minor access to the spheres of Charm, Combat, Creation, Guardian, Protection, and Summoning because of their narrow needs. To accomplish their specialized missions, the Stantions are given the following abilities by Curiss: 1) they can see negative planar energy at 6", through illusions, walls, and even ethereally, 2) the priest gains the spell soul suck, and 3) the Stantion gains a +1 bonus against Death Magic for every odd-numbered level, to a maximum of +7 at 13th-level. Negative planar energy is the energy that gives animation to the undead, and is the opposite of everything in the Prime, sustaining souls away from their bodies, and enveloping hearts it its twisted evil. Monks: They study the old ways of Galanus, and the new mandates of Curiss. The monks spend their entire lifetimes in cloisters and monastaries, afraid to venture out into the rest of the world, for fear of being lost. Though a few brave the vagaries of Gaeleth, most are content to survive their pasts, and navigate the unending parchments that are the heart of their studies -- in return for their lives. Some say that the monks have been dead for eons, and someone forgot to tell them, but such are the rumors of the unknowing.
Sphere: Necromantic Range: 10yds/level Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous Casting Time: 1 Area of Effect: 1 undead Saving Throw: Neg. The living dead -- those whose souls still reside within their bodies, even though their bodies are dead -- are the antithesis of all that Curiss stands for. A Stantion of Curiss can thus cast soul suck in order to sever the living dead's contacts with the realm of mortals, and take that negative planar power into themselves, converting it into their own life's energy. Thereafter, the soul remains within the body of the Stantion, giving him strength and a sense of purpose. Upon his death, the souls within the Stantion, including his own, travel to their separate afterlives, herded there by Curiss and his archons. For every level of the caster, the priest can affect one hit-die of undead. Thus, a 1st-level Stantion can soul suck a sentient, 1HD skeleton, and an 8th-level Stantion can soul suck a death knight. The Stantion invokes a prayer to Curiss, and at the limit of his faith's range, he can take the unliving soul into himself (provided it fails a save vs death magic). The soul remains his prisoner until his death, and can never harm him or others outside of its living prison. The Stantion can, of course, release the soul at will, though this is usually done within the confines of a church or temple that can deal with banishing the soul into the afterlife. The destructive capacity of this spell against the undead makes the Stantion -- and all priests of Curiss -- primary targets by the sentient undead. Liches and dread knights have been known to turn and flee from these priests because of their power to soul suck. Next God from Gaeleth's Gods |