Mordhail, the hidden coin

Name

Mordhail, the hidden coin

Domains

Madness, Bargains, Pacts, Pursuit of Personal Power

Alignment

Low

Story

Mordhail was always meant to be the god of exchange and bargaining. While a Low god, he still maintains a respectable presence in city-life, often being called to seal pacts and deals made by the mercantile. The story goes however, that Mordhail has become seduced by the emotional high of a well-placed bargain and has slowly over the centuries pushed the boundaries of what a god should offer his followers. The fall of Mordhail is demonstrated in a series of cautionary tales called The Descent, which was penned by an unknown writer almost a century ago. The tales have a series of overarching stories that tell of Mordhail starting as a well respected god focused on banking and fair bargains, but who gradually begins to deal in more and more dubious bargains and deeds. Interspaced in between these are additional stories of mortals making bargains with Mordhail, almost always in an attempt to cheat the god but to only be met with ruin as Mordhail gets the upper hand in the end. The lesson of these tales is clear, Mordhail will always respect the terms of a pact - but he will never hestiate to punish those who break them.

Another aspect of the tales is of Mordhail's descent into madness. Its said that keeping watch and sealing so many pacts has been too much for the god and while he can still be trusted in his role, in all other respects he has gone quite mad. Those who make bargains with Mordhail directly are said to take on some of this madness as a cost of the powers he happily bargains away.

Glyph

Mordhail's glyph is a spiral flanked by a two wide points made of two lines each. The points are said to represent those making a deal, represented by the spiral.

Apperance

Mordhail sometimes appears as disheveled man, but he appears more often as a Grimblekin with black skin and white bone horns. This has led to rumors that the Grimblekin may be the result of some pact broken with the god, but the priesthood has never confirmed such a theory. In all his guises, the one constant is the piercing and intense gaze of his eyes - always so focused as to leave no doubt about the madness within.

Theology

There are levels to the theology of Mordhail. At its most basic, the theology is more of a simple set of guidelines on how to invoke the god and how to deal with disputes in the execution of bargains made under his glyph. Many of his followers are simple merchants and even priests that never leave this particular tier of belief and could even be considered serving the ideals of the High gods.

Below that is the serious worship of the god, including his madness. Such followers and priests will follow darker rituals put forth in hidden texts about how to impress the god and sample the madness of his presence. These people don't easily benefit from the arrangement, but do claim to reach new heights of religious clarity by using drugs and spells normally forbidden to Iatrus citizens.

The true followers of Mordhail are beyond even that. At the line of no return sits the ultimate mark of Mordhail's patronage - the forging of a pact. Unlike most of the other gods, anyone can enter into a pact with Mordhail if they seek him out with the correct ritual. In this pact he or one of his dealmakers will appear and offer power in exchange for service. This can be a path to championship for those who might have otherwise been overlooked by the gods but comes with a hefty price. Use of the god's gifts weakens the mind and draws on the god's madness as well as his power. True followers of Mordhail fail to maintain their sanity all the time, having won a brief few years of glory in exchange for decades of drooling madness. Mordhail doesn't care if the receiver of his gifts can withstand them. He only cares about the deal.

Patronage

Patronage is obtained through a pact of service with the god. Mordhail does not turn anyone away provided they are not already claimed by another god, and welcomes all to his bargains. The first bargain is simple - a lifetime of service in exchange for the first bits of power. What isn't mentioned is that drawing on the god's gifts is mentally taxing and many would-be champions go completely insane with even this first taste of power. Those who dare however, and prove their worthiness are offered even greater and darker bargains. Mordhail offers spells, magic, and even changes to his champions, all in exchange for deeper bonds with the god.

Unlike champions in other services, those in a pact with Mordhail don't actively work towards his domains. A pact-sealed champion isn't expected to do their own bargaining or to oversee merchant-work. However, they do serve the god and he often sends his champions after those who have either broken a pact with him or have knowingly broken a pact made under his seal, the likelihood of which depends on the severity of the deal broken.

The main reason Mordhail doesn't focus his champions so much in service to anything than their own growth is because they serve his best purpose by being free. When the common people see a champion of Mordhail wielding thier power without the seeming control of a temple, they do may desire a deal with Mordhail. His road is the path of desperate clutching for power, and the less control he provides, the more seek his pact.

Retirement

No offical retirement of a Mordhail champion has really been recorded. Its not clear if retirement would even be accepted by the mad god who focuses his people on the quest for personal power. Its very possible that he would see retirement as an affront to the ideals of his domains. What usually occurs to a champion or priest of the Mordhail is that they do stark raving mad. One day, the use of the powers granted will push the an already-weakened and stressed mind too far, and the person's view of reality will completely break. Such individuals are often unable to decipher between the waking and dreaming world, and many are rendered catatonic by the awful truths and lies whispered in the depths of his madness.

Favors

The church of Mordhail doesn't deal with any type of token specific to the god. Instead they often deal in local coinage directly - offering cash for services rendered. Since not every town allows a temple to Mordhail, many are disguised as auction houses or pawn shops and can often physical goods as well as the money of the realm.

Mordhail himself can deal in coin, but prefers to offer power instead. He may tempt champions of other gods to sign a pact with him instead, breaking their patronage with their current god, but if refused will offer something more physical. People entering into agreements with Mordhail or his champions should be very careful about the terms of such agreements however, for both tend ot word such arrangements to their personal benefit.

Antithesis

Mordhail doesn't have an anti-thesis per se, but he does seem to have a natural conflict with the god of Healing. He has also been known to occasionally fued with Sancturary when the goddess hides those who have broken his pacts.