Jarrek, Lord of Bones, The Reaper

 

 

Symbol: Skull surrounded by a circle of bones

Home Plane: Abyss

Portfolios: Necromancy, The Undead

Worshippers: Necromancers, The Undead, Necrophiles, Any evil

Worshipper’s Alignment: Any evil

Clerics & paladins: NE, CE

Domains: Death, Evil, Undeath

Favored Weapon(s): Scythe

 

Description:

 

Jarrek is depicted as a robed, skeletal figure bearing a scythe. Some images depict him as standing amidst a pile of bones or in a cemetery.

 

History/Relationships:

 

Jarrek has few allies among the gods. He opposes Mylore and attempts to steal more of the death domain at every opportunity. He opposes Maugrim who creates his own drowned ones. However, Jarrek’s major hatred is reserved for Rhoden, for Jarrek would like nothing better than to see the sun extinguished. To this end, he maintains a casual alliance with Raistrick to promote the death of the hated sun.

 

Dogma:

 

Life is a tenuous thread, its only purpose to feed the afterlife. The living are food for the dead; the chosen ones will join the eternal. Treat the living as the chattel they are. Light has no place among the dead; the sun is anathama. Work always to destroy the hated sun which hinders half the day from being eternal night.

 

Clergy and Temples:

 

Public temples of Jarrek are unheard of; the only public temple of Jarrek known to currently exist is in Thryn. This is not to say to temples of Jarrek do not exist in "civilized" lands. Necropoli to the Bone Lord can be found hidden away in beneath cities, in cemeteries and mausoleums, and in the ruins of mouldering civilizations all over aldernon. The presence of the Bone Lord is well-known to all walks of life. Children are told ghost stories to scare them into behaving, and common folk from all lands fear the undead that may come in darkness. Even though most folk have never seen undead, if you ask the superstitious, every cemetery is crawling with ghouls and vampires. The Jarreki make good use of this reputation as a backdrop to extort and intimidate. The threat of being re-introduced to lost family members is a powerful motivator. Jarrek calls paladins into his service, both living and dead, the dreaded death knights among them. The Jarreki pray for their spells at midnight and praise the Bone Lord by extinguishing a light. Jarrek admits both male and female worshippers, and his worshippers are not limited to humans. Worship ceremonies involve the ritual raising of skeletons and zombies as well as the creation of more powerful undead. One frequently performed ceremony is called the Feeding involves the ritual sacrifice of the living to undead creatures, ending in the creation of more undead. The Jarreki have no restrictions on armor or shield but tend towards lighter armors made from magically strengthened bone.

 

Special Abilities:

 

Jarrek grants additional power to his favored priests. Jarreki rebuke undead as if they were 2 levels higher, and are protected as if surrounded by a sanctuary effect specific to undead (DC equal to 10 + caster level + WIS modifier). All Jarreki are granted the use of the scythe as an allowed weapon.

 

3rd level – The cleric may animate dead on one corpse per day up to medium size.

5th level – The cleric may cast energy scythe (1/day).

7th level – The cleric may inflict mummy rot by touch (1/day) for a number of rounds equal to his wisdom modifier.

9th level --- The cleric may cast enervation (1/day) as a bonus spell.

12th level – The cleric may inflict negative levels by touch just as a wight does for a number of rounds per day equal to his wisdom modifier.

 

Sacred Prayers of Jarrek:

 

Jarrek grants many undead sacred prayers to his clergy, many of which are already available as wizard and sorcerer spells.

 

Rituals:

 

The only ritual Jarrek regularly bestows to those willing to pay the price is the formulae for lichdom.