Ayrzul

Ayrzul

(Deity)

Titles

The Fossilized King

Realm

Blistering Labyrinth, Plane of Earth

Alignment

Neutral evil

Areas of Concern

Bone
Buried secrets
Earth
Metal
Radiation

Edicts

Use the strength of stone to protect yourself and your secrets, obscure your true motives, slowly poison others

Anathema

Remove the petrified condition, make a fire larger or hotter than necessary

Cleric Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Destruction, Earth, Evil, Strength

Subdomains (1E)

Caves, Fear, Ferocity, Metal

Cleric Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Destruction, Earth, Might, Secrecy
Alternative: cities, dust, metal, undeath

Favored Weapon

Morningstar

Symbol

Fossilized dinosaur tooth

Sacred Animal

Tyrannosaurus

Sacred Colors

Brown, gray

Images of Ayrzul

Source: Planes of Power, pg(s). 6 (1E)
Gods & Magic (Second Edition), pg(s). 80, 126f. (2E)

Ayrzul, the Fossilized King, is one of the powerful demigods collectively known as the elemental lords. His realm is the Blistering Labyrinth at the center of the Plane of Earth.

Personality

Ayrzul shows little interest in the politics of the Plane of Earth; he is seemingly content with maintaining the status quo. Instead, he concentrates his efforts against the Plane of Fire and his hated rival Ymeri, the Queen of the Inferno.

Ayrzul enjoys slowly poisoning others and deeply hides his intentions.

The cruel patience Ayrzul is known for comes from instilling his experiments, such as the gritblights, with his own passion for a rapid victory against his enemies, while this deep desire becomes his own hidden secret.

History

Ayrzul has existed since the earliest days of the Elemental Planes, said to have been created by forgotten gods from the elemental earth's raw potential as one of several caretakers, now known as elemental lords. During his early years, he shared control of the Plane of Earth with his twin counterbalance and rival, Sairazul, one of four good elemental lords. It was said that, over eons, mortals anthropomorphized and projected their morality onto the elements, dividing elemental aspects between good and evil. This division consequently shaped the elemental lords who conformed to this collective imagining. Initially, the good elemental lords had the upper hand, while their evil rivals were disorganized. However, as life evolved on the Universe and started using the elements for evil purposes, the situation reversed. While the good elemental lords started bickering with all the lords, Ayrzul and fellow evil elemental lords Ymeri and Hshurha were gathered under one conspiracy by Kelizandri, and together they defeated their good rivals one by one and sealed them away.

Shortly after he defeated Sairazul, Ayrzul encountered the xiomorns, who were originally created by his rival but had forgotten about her. He craved the mythic essence that Sairazul imbued into the xiomorns, and showed them a vision of their race going extinct during a mental invasion of the yithians. He then asked them to sacrifice a quarter of their number so he could have the power to teach the rest how to forestall their demise. The xiomorns, appalled by this suggestion, nonetheless believed Ayrzul and decided to sacrifice the mythic essence of half their number instead, granting Ayrzul the same influx of primordial power. In exchange for their essence, Ayrzul gave the xiomorns knowledge of the Vault Seeds. Xiomorns were Ayrzul's main worshipers, building underground vaults for him to hide secrets in, but this relationship has been in decline since they migrated to the Universe.

He had experimented on crystalline elementals who were allies or servants of Sairazul, creating the gritblight, which he commonly uses as shock troops.

Those knowledgable about the period of war between the elemental lords consider Ayrzul responsible for creating grikkitogs as an experimental weapon, but the Fossilized King underestimated them and his creations escaped containment when they became too hungry.

Because of Ayrzul's reclusive nature, he is sometimes mistakenly believed to be a powerful earth elemental, a jabali wizard, an undead crystal dragon, or even a fragment of the dead god Ydersius.

Home

Ayrzul rules the realm known as the Blistering Labyrinth on the Plane of Earth. For eons, he had never been seen outside his realm, giving rise to speculation that he was somehow bound to the region.

In truth, he patiently laid in wait to secretly scheme against his foes, many of which were imprisoned in his quest for total dominion over the elements. His victories included raiding the Plane of Metal for its powers over radioactive metals, and repelling an invasion by the elemental lord Verilorn, of the Plane of Wood, of the Blistering Labyrinth. The latter success also caused the retreating forces to return to their home plane with a radioactive plague, known as Ayrzul's Blight. Ayrzul followed up this retreat by the forces of Verilorn by embedding parts of his Blistering Labyrinth into the Plane of Wood, such as the Blighted Labyrinth, and thus further spread the blight across the plane. Eventually, the Plane of Wood, along with the Plane of Metal were seemingly lost. How the Plane of Wood was hidden is unknown, though some speculate one or both of the elemental lords of wood performed the act, or that the plane sealed itself off.

Cults

Ayrzul considers the xiomorns to be his favoured children, and they in turn see him as their patron, if not their god. Their veneration of him, however, has been in decline since their migration to the Universe.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.