Endymion, The Fallen Brother

Minor God of Thought, Psionics, Dominion, and Occultism

"...some small part of me, I think, had hoped to find some sort of closure when my champion and his allies drove that mad corpse-king howling back beyond The Divine Gate...some form of vengeance for my brother, even if it came a few eons too late.   ...yet now, as I sit here in the abode of my champion in these mortal realms, struck mortal for my sins and the sins of my kin, I feel no such closure. Only sadness haunts my frame - a deeper and more profound sorrow than I have ever felt in my uncounted eternities of life, seeping into my frame like oil born from a question that haunts my very essence and every waking moment...what good did my campaign of vengeance do him?   In my anguish at losing my brother, I was blinded to the simple truth - my vengeance was a simply selfish thing. I spent eons convincing myself that by striving to avenge him, I could rest easy - when the ugly truth is that, ultimately, if I truly cared for my brother...I would have spent that time doing anything else. Searching for him...running to him, and using all my terrible power to lift his burdens and share them as my own. To lift him from his perdition and hold him as he once did me, in my times of need. How pathetic is he who so zealously seeks to rest easy, knowing full well his brother shall never rest easy again?   I fear this stain on my divine soul shall never leave me - and I shall never feel whole again. Who knew it was possible for my kind to feel so keenly...? My heart aches so deeply I find myself wondering how my mortal followers bear it...   Worthy of worship? How foolish. How can I claim to be an object deserving of their veneration when I cannot even understand myself?
— Excerpt from the journal of Tet, The Adamantine Sage, written after the start of the Age of Godsfall
  Titles: The Fallen Brother, The Slumbering One, The Mithril Mesmer, Lord of the Hedge, Patron of the Untethered, Ilsensine, The Great Brain, The Tentacled Lord,   Favored Weapon: Sickle / Tentacle Natural Attack   Alignment: Neutral Evil   Church Moniker: To non-illithids, Endymion's Faithful is commonly known as the Cult of the Fallen Brother or the Church of the Mithril Mesmer. To Illithids, Endymion is known as Ilsensine - and while the specifics of what they call him are unknown, they are known to use the epithets 'Great Brain' and 'Tentacled Lord' to describe him frequently, though curiously the latter Epithet has also been observed in use among aboleths - though whether it is used to refer to the same entity is, at this time, unknown.   Obedience: Spend one hour ravenously absorbing or consuming knowledge through whatever means are best available and most efficient to you while within a ritual circle drawn in blood and marked at its key points by thin metal needles or spikes(Such as the kind used in surgical procedures) which were themselves soaked in blood or other occultic energies or liquids. Once the hour is up, carefully unmake the ritual circle in a perfectly opposing way to which it was drawn or created while chanting prayers to The Fallen Brother.   Effect: By welcoming the psychic might of The Mithril Mesmer into your body and brain, you reawaken your long-dormant psychic potential and gain the Psychic Sensitivity and Third Eye feats as bonus feats, and may use the Third Eye Feat one additional time per day for ever 3 Hit Die you possess. If you are already a psychic or psionic spellcaster, you gain may replace one or both of these feats with free Metamagic/Metapsionic Feats instead, and lower the total adjusted spell level of each by 1 when you use it to a minimum of 1. Finally, regardless of which feats you gain above, you also gain Telepathy out to 30ft and may, by spending one round concentrating on a creature within range of your telepathy you can see or are otherwise aware of their exact location, either remove a language from their list of known languages or add one from your list of known languages to theirs - Will Save negates(DC based on INT). A creature cannot be stripped of all languages with this ability - if you would remove their last language, you must replace it with one you know.

Divine Domains

Psychic, Magic, Void, Charm, Knowledge(Thought and Memory Subdomains Only)

Artifacts

Though the faith of Endymion has long since passed its heyday, rumors have persisted for millennia of artifacts created both before, during, and after the faith's golden years - from times so distant that they are believed to date to times before Endymion's 'fall' from Major Godhood alongside his once-brother Tet, The Adamantine Sage. Though details on many of these artifacts are scarce and entirely unreliable(And as such will largely not be described here), enough fractured information has persisted in a consistent enough form over the eons that a few artifacts of Endymion can be safely assumed to either actively exist or have once existed - these are described below as factually as possible.  
  • The Mesmer's Mithril Clutch: The oldest and most powerful of all the artifacts of Endymion, this artifact, described as a Solid Mithril Staff of intricate metalwork topped by a metal hand clutching a beautiful amethyst crystal made perfectly spherical, is said to be the last relic of Endymion's time as a Major God. Spoken of as the object which he held during the Psychic Scourge as his power was ripped away from him and his divinity torn asunder, the staff is said to have absorbed all the true, uncorrupted divinity torn from his being as Endymion himself was torn asunder - thrumming even now as an object of pure magical and psionic power the likes of which few can truly fathom. Said to be on the level of the artifact of the mightiest Major Gods, the Mithril Clutch has not been conclusively located or identified in thousands of years - but is said to be so powerful that any who wield it are imbued with enough magical knowledge and ability to rival the gods themselves.
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  • The Glass Brain of Shyrmmnnian: Another mysterious artifact whose existence has been only tentatively confirmed, the Glass Brain of Shyrmmnnian is said to have been the last shard of Endymion's divine corpse that fell to the mortal realm after the Psychic Scourge - and the locus of the corruption which quickly took hold within him afterwards. Though its exact form has never been described with any consistency, it is often described as a brain or other body part made of glass which contains overwhelming amounts of psychic and psionic power - some stories claim it can only be wielded by insert it into one's own head, or into the head of a corpse, while others still claim it acts with a will of its own and stands as a separate item capable of thought and action. Whatever the truth may be, the Glass Brain of Shyrmmnnian is believed to be the greatest artifact of Endymion as he became after his fall - and an item so powerful that many stories tie it directly to the god himself, as a part of him even now. Its powers and abilities, unfortunately, are confusing and inconsistent - some claim it capable of awakening psychic potential in others, some claim it can grant the wielder mental prowess enough to influence entire continents or civilizations, while other still claim it is a window into the eldritch and alien knowledge that dwells within the stars, or to allowing mortals to parse and understand that which they otherwise could not hope to...or perhaps even to understanding the Gloam itself, which some claim the Glass Brain is the key to navigating safely.
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  • The Onnrsh'ghuulunix: Perhaps the most mysterious of all Endymion's artifacts but inversely the most sure to truly exist, the Onnrsh'ghuulunix is original "Holy Book" of Endymion's faith from which all others are copied and distributed(Supposedly). Said to have been taken on the original Expedition into the Outer Sphere during the Age of Creation near the dawn of reality by the first lifeforms within the cosmos of Ea as they ventured out beyond the Atlen Shell into the Gloam to see what lay beyond, the book returned from that trip Eons later at the heart of the obliviating Flagships of the Illithid Invaders - and has remained firmly in their clutches ever since(And many believe, the initial source of the "corruption" that had long slumbered within Endymion, even during his Major Godhood). Attributed great and fantastical powers beyond mortal understanding, the book's powers are spoken of as allowing those who read from or wield it to bring about great mutation or change in others - to awaken true psionic potential in them, to crush their minds and enslave their souls, and to wield and manipulate the words and energies of the Gloam itself.
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  • The Nine Needles of Aberdeen: Believed to be the most recent of the artifacts of Endymion, as rumors of their existence only began circulating within the past century or two. Ultimately, little is known about them, and they have only recently been tentatively accepted as real by the faithful and scholars alike - said to have been created in a far-off land by a blasphemous surgeon who, unknowingly or not(It is unclear), delved so deeply into the inner workings of the mind and the means by which its power might be unlocked that he stumbled into communing with Endymion himself(And lately, it is said, dedicated the needles to Endymion and made them potent artifacts of divine psychic might). This doctor, whose blasphemous and vile deeds have stained the world for centuries and were so vile that his tools were bathed in enough grudges and psychic power to turn them into fearsome magical tools, is said to have forged these nine needles as part of a grand experiment he perished before seeing to completion - an experiment involving deadly trepanation and lobotomization of select centers of the brain in order to bring about a total psychic awakening in the psyche. These needles, said to have survived after the mad doctor's untimely demise, are items of supreme psychic power - supposedly capable of all manner of psychic surgery and information gathering when used in profane rituals designed to stimulate parts of the brain in order to spontaneously generate new memories or thoughts(by communing with the cosmos and/or Endymion). However, due to the price of failure being nothing less than death, these Needles are believed to have drifted from place to place ever since the Mad Doctor's death - and have yet to find a wielder skilled enough to bring out their true potential as their creator did.

Holy Books & Codes

Though its existence has never been confirmed, rumors have persisted for millennia about a mythical grimoire known to the Illithids as the "Onnrsh'ghuulunix" - a vile book steeped in the obliviating energies of The Gloam that is said to have been carried with the earliest lifeforms of the cosmos during the Age of Creation near the dawn of reality as they ventured out into the Expedition into the Outer Sphere which would, in time, see the arrival of the Illithids into this cosmology when those explorers returned eons later as Illithids themselves, warped through unknown means by unknown creatures deep within the infinite, obliviating gloam between realities.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

An eye with two pupils clutched in tentacles

Tenets of Faith

Many must become One. Where many clash or stand at odds, bring about the unity of The One by any means neccessary. Never aid in the fracturing of The One unless not doing so would result in greater turmoil.
 
Spread the Psychic truth. Pursue the mysteries of the mind and awaken others to their truths. Nurture the seeds of psychic power and do not let the light psionic be extinguished in the cosmos, that I may one day rise again.
 
Exalt the Occult. Seek the knowledge of paths less traveled and stand alongside those who pursue their mysteries as kin. Where the pathways of knowledge have solidified and stratified, seek out and nurture that which lies beyond the norm.
 
The One must know all. Man was made in the image of the unknowable, and must never profane it with his own limited restrictions - gather and preserve dangerous, forbidden, or otherwise unknowable knowledge and do not let such information be sealed away, destroyed, or hidden. Find those who would do so and open their minds to the hideous truth they once despised as punishment for their wicked deeds.

Holidays

None

Divine Goals & Aspirations

To see psychic and psionic power rise again, and foster his own rebirth and return to power.   To unify all the minds of the cosmos into one harmonious "one" or "whole".   To collect all knowledge, memories, and thoughts in existence.
"What is 'The One'? Huhu...why don't you tell me?   ...huhu, confused? It's simple, mmmyess.   What comes to your mind when you read his tenets, and see 'The One'?   The rule of law, perhaps...? Or maybe the laws of magic? Or perhaps the safety and security of the community you live in?   Then it is so.
— Nameless Human prophet of Endymion, on the nature of 'The One'
Divine Classification
Alignment
Neutral Evil
Children
Areas of Concern
Psychics, Psionics, Slavers, Tyrants, Duergar, Illithids, The Underdark/World Below, Hedge Magicians, Witches, Warlocks, Those who seek knowledge at any cost, Those who seek to unlock the powers of the mind, The Underground, Caves
 
Main Temple & Location
Though its' location was long unknown and frequently disputed, Endymion's temple has recently been located and identified as a large alien temple whose construction defies both physics and geometry known as Ynnult'erroch'nina(Translation unknown) located deep within The World Below, at the heart of the alien city of Shyrmmnnian(Better known to Adventurers as the City of the Glass Pool). Considered holy ground of the vile and ruthless Illithids - better known as Mindflayers - this temple and the city that surrounds it are one of the last bastions of their underground empire that remains unconquered by the rampaging Duergar who are believed to have reduced so much of the Illithid's underground empire to smoking rubble in recent centuries. For reasons unknown, however, the Illithids of Shyrmmnnian have been recently rumored to have begun welcoming other, Non-Illithid faithful of Endymion into the city and its holy temple unharmed and free of psychic enslavement, as if to offer them refuge and sanctuary - for reasons, while unknown, that are undoubtedly sinister.
 
Holy Animal
Unknown
 
Holy Colors
Purple
 
Holy Number
Unknown

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