Jergal
JERGAL Lord of the End of Everything, Lord of Bones, Lord of the Dead, Protector of the Names of the Dead, Guardian of Tombs, Scribe of the Doomed, the Pitiless One, King of the Walking Dead, Nakasr
- Symbol:Skull, scroll, and quill
- Home Plane:Oinos/Bone Castle
- Alignment: Lawful Neutral
- Portfolio:Death, the dead, order in death, funerals and tombs, undeath, the undead, wasting, old age, exhaustion, tyranny, dusk
- Worshippers:Priests of Jergal served as scribes, funerary workers, and morticians. The church of Jergal was feared and respected, though not automatically hated by the average person, He was perceived as a compassionless steward of death who visited mortals at their appointed time and transported them to the appropriate realm in the afterlife.
- Favored Weapon:A white glove (scythe)
- Cleric Alignment:LE, LN, NE
- NWN Domain: Death, Fate, Law, Rune, Suffering
History/Relationships:Jergal (JER-gal), Lord of the End of Everything, was the power who presided over death, the dead, and undeath. He was responsible for keeping records on the final resting place of all the dead, and strove for order in death, anticipating the ever-encroaching termination of all things living. As the Judge of the Damned and the Grim Reaper, it was said that only Jergal knew the final disposition of every spirit and the day of every being’s final death, and he was never wrong. The ultimate tyrant, no one unintentionally escaped Jergal’s grasp once they fell under the aegis of his portfolio. He was very jealous of his position, and even those of other faiths who sought to resurrect companions had to placate him or risk his retribution. Jergal had a cordial relationship with Amaunator, valuing that ancient sun god’s adherence to law and order and his dominion over the more general field of rulership, and he worked grudgingly with Tyche, as fate sometimes had a hand in the time of a mortal’s death. He admired the ineffable evil and seductive Power, grace of Shar and had formally courted her on several occasions, though he was well aware of the many attempts she made to manipulate him.
The priesthood of Jergal was known as the Scriveners of Doom. Within their ranks, the high priest of each temple was known as First Scrivener of Doom, but otherwise, the faith eschewed titles or ranks. Monks of Jergal served in the temple to provide additional support for the priesthood’s recordkeeping tasks and as guards of important items, people, and areas.
Dogma:The church taught that people had an eternal resting place that was chosen for them at the moment of their creation. Life was a process of seeking that place and eternal rest. Existence was but a brief aberration in an eternity of death. Power, success, and joy were as transitory as weakness, failure, and misery. Only death was absolute, and then only at its appointed hour. Followers should seek to bring order to the chaos of life, for in death there was finality and fixedness of state. Be ready for death for it is at hand and uncompromising. Life should be prolonged only when it served the greater cause of the death of the world. Undeath was not an escape or a reward; it was simply a duty of a chosen few who served the Lord of the End of Everything.
Day-to-Day Activities: The Scriveners of Doom spent their days maintaining and extending vast archives of scrolls listing how sentients under their purview passed away and their destination in the afterlife. Despite their near hopeless task, they toiled on undaunted, knowing they had eons to complete their appointed task. They also took on such recordkeeping duties and burial tasks as the high priest of their temple agreed to perform for different groups or individuals. They kept tax rolls; recorded births, deaths, and the genealogy of noble lines; embalmed, mummified, cremated, and buried the dead; put down uncontrolled undead creatures or animated and controlled undead workforces to perform hired labor tasks to benefit the temple (strategically or financially). Many priests of Jergal were primarily morticians and prepared the dead for burial; those who did not provide financially for a proper burial with the church or their heirs were sometimes used as brute labor after their demise for a set period to repay the church for their funerals and the future care of their remains. (Those who offended the church were also said to turn up in zombie and skeleton work crews.) The Scriveners of Doom also accepted prearranged agreements, in certain cases performing a raise dead or resurrection on individuals who had prepaid and contracted for the service in the event of their death. The price of such a contract was set at the discretion of the high priest of a temple. They even traveled to distant places to recover the body if a revivification contract had been signed, though reimbursement for unusual expenses incurred was made in coin or temple service after a being was revived. Jergali priests didn’t raise those who had met their final end in Jergal’s judgment. They were informed by Jergal when such an event had happened, and if they had already taken a contract to raise such a being, they refunded the prepayment to the being’s heirs.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Jergal’s faithful had little patience or need for holy days or religious ceremonies other than the formal and proper funeral rites, viewing them as unnecessary distractions. The funeral rite they were required to perform was known as the Sealing. In it they placed the remains of the deceased (whether mummified, cremated, embalmed, or otherwise prepared) in their resting place and impressed a large wax seal with the sign of Jergal over the casket lid, stone block sealing the burial chamber, urn containing the ashes, etc. They sprinkled this seal with powdered ash and bone while it was warm and intoned a prayer to Jergal.
On the last night of the year, the 30th of Nightal, Jergal’s clergy ceased their endless toil for a full night. On this holy night known as the Night of Another Year, they passed in procession to a crypt, mausoleum, or graveyard carrying all the scrolls and books containing every name whose death they had recorded over the past year. At midnight each priest began reading aloud every name whose death they had recorded over the past year. When the last name was intoned, all the priests invoked Jergal, crying “One year ended; one-year closer,” three times, bowed their heads, and returned to their duties, taking the scrolls and books to be properly filed. Major Centers of Worship: The largest and oldest temple of Jergal was located in Seventon. It was a gray granite structure of exactingly geometric design consisting of a large mortuary, a temple, a huge necropolis, and several small attached communal-living buildings in which those people who made their livings as professional mourners dwelled. It was said to be guarded by undead of fearsome number and strength who only attacked at the bidding of a Scrivener of Doom. Its high priest was an ancient mummy of tremendous power whom no one saw except other Jergali priests. The temple, known as the Vaults of Doom, was said to guard the wealth of a hundred thousand noble burials.
Affiliated Orders: The Jergali church had two affiliated groups: the Companions of the Pallid Mask and the Hand of Jergal. The Companions of the Pallid Mask were a group of Jergali priests who specialized in combating or commanding the undead. They eliminated undead creatures whose existence was not sanctioned by the church or who had proven to be troublesome. They also were the supervisors of the skeleton and zombie work crews that the church sometimes ran to profit itself. The Hand of Jergal was an elite group of fanatic priests who led others under their command to avenge slights upon the church of Jergal at the direction of a high priest. They acted against those of other faiths who raised or resurrected someone without paying due tribute to Jergal or who violated or looted a tomb under the protection of the church.
Priestly Vestments: Jergal’s clergy shaved their heads smooth and garbed themselves in unadorned gray robes and long, white gloves. At important ceremonies or when they felt the need to impress, high-level priests favored masks with smooth, pale, faces and bulbous eyes that resembled those of a praying mantis. At all times they carried a satchel of scrolls, inks, and quills. Each priest carried a polished skull formed into a container. The skull held a simple mixture of ash and powdered bones for use during Sealing rituals. The skull or a depiction of it also served as the Jergali holy symbol.
Adventuring Garb: Jergal’s priests wore any armor that they wished to protect themselves. Such protection was irrelevant to the Lord of the End of Everything, since all beings died at their appointed time, regardless of what protections they took to the contrary. Jergali priests favored voluminous gray overclocks and white gloves or gauntlets and emblazoned the skull of Jergal on their shields or breastplates or embroidered it on their cloaks.
