Gadmere (gæd' mɪər)

Appearance: The avatar most commonly appears as a tall, dark-haired human with slightly pointed ears and an aquiline nose. When angered while wearing a black cloak, the eyes are normally a very deep brown to completely black. This is a dead giveaway of the mood of the avatar when it is seen. His hair is raven black, which seems to have a mind of its own as it has been seen to move even when there is no wind or breeze, is very quiet, and is rarely seen out during daylight hours. If he is seen during daylight hours, he appears as a stooped old man with a cane. His cane is actually a disguised long sword, black in color, with no reflection of any light that hits it, with strange deep-red writing along the blade that appears to glow with fire radiance when drawn and confronted in battle. The avatar is the physical manifestation of the deity itself; it can, at any time should Gadmere deem it necessary, be imbued with full power and full primal capability; or, if for some reason he feels it necessary to just have the avatar be a "lowly" physical being, then so be it   Personality: Gadmere has taken up the mantle of being the counterbalance to Karlatina; he is cold and calculating, and like Karlatina, he is immensely patient. It is not uncommon to make plans that take years, if not decades, or longer to come to fruition. When plans are put into motion, the only person who knows the entire plan is the strategist, so he makes it a point to keep all the players "in the dark" about the endgame result that he is trying to achieve. When he speaks, his voice rarely rises above the volume of speaking in a quiet room, even in battle. The message, however, is never lost, even with the quiet voice; it is heard with crystal clarity. If he is finally brought to anger, and woe is to the poor soul that does this, his voice never changes tone, but he speaks through his teeth. For the time being, he has openly formed an alliance with Cadoxin, and some suspect collusion with Lady Draceana Duchess of Winters Breath but none of this has been confirmed. He has not hidden the fact that he wants the position of Karlatina and maybe more, and will do what it takes to get it. But there have not been any obvious attempts; this, however, just reinforces the idea that something "is" in fact in motion. His preference is to meet in darkness or very low light in quiet corners, and he prefers to meet on his home plane. The real questions that remain are: does Karlatina know of his machinations, and will Aria allow this to take place? It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Aria knows exactly what Gadmere is doing and is just biding time to make a move.
    History: Hand-picked by Aria, and given a gem of perfect darkness that he has embedded permanently in his body. Gadmere’s history is shrouded in layer upon layer of mystery, rumor, and conjecture. The most prolific version of his ascension revolves around Aria knowing that without good, evil would have no purpose, and without evil, good would have no purpose. In Aria’s mind, the existence of one without the other would negate the existence of the other. During Aria's long and numerous journeys across Pandoria, zi observed a small boy in a small town who lived purely by wit, quickness of hand, and swiftness of foot, literally living from hand to mouth day after day. Nothing is known of his parents or if there were any siblings, but just that he lived on the streets. Aria watched him for months on end, just staying out of range but close enough to see how he seemed to be able to survive and sustain himself. After watching him for about 2 or 3 years, Aria presented ziself to him, not in the sense of a direct meeting but by making zirself an easy mark. Every day for about two weeks, Gadmere would ‘relieve’ Aria of either money or some shiny bauble, and every day for two weeks Aria would have it in a different location and Gadmere would find it. This skill did not go unnoticed. Aria decided to test him a little further; they made it a point to make sure that it was known that Aria had something of value in the inn they were staying at, changing rooms or completely changing inns. Gadmere was able to not only locate the room but also the item. What seemed to fuel his drive was that every time something was taken, by the time Gadmere returned to his hiding place, the item was no longer in his possession. This infuriated him, and after some time, it became something of an obsession. On one specific evening, legend has it that Aria laid in wait for Gadmere in zir room, hiding in the dark, and in the early hours of the morning, there was a slight scratching at the second-floor window. The window bar that locked it in place was removed after an upper pane had been carefully removed. He crept into the room quietly, but to Aria's surprise, a large black bird landed on the window pane; this bird was easily the size of a house cat. Once the conveniently visible gem had been found, Gadmere tied the gem to the bird's back, which had a small pouch tied to it. The bird then flew out of the window. Gadmere closed the window, put the bar back in its place, and then proceeded to walk out of the room. Just as he was reaching for the door, Aria made zirself visible. "Hello to you, young thief." Gadmere spun around like a freshly soaked cat and immediately threw something in Aria's eyes with perfect accuracy, obviously in the hopes of blinding them, and then turned around and ran out the door and down the hall, yelling that someone was attempting to break into a room. Resourceful, thought Aria, creative too. At which point Aria simply left the room without anyone noticing, and by the time the guards realized that it was Gadmere who had burgled the room, he had already left the inn and disappeared into the night. Aria followed the bird, and with the moonless sky, the bird was virtually invisible to anyone without knowing what to look for or having the ability to see in the darkness. The bird flew to a small clearing just outside of town. There, waiting with heavy breath, stood Gadmere, covered in a cloak of complete black. The bird came to land in front of him, and he quickly scanned the area and took the gem from the bird's pouch. Aria stepped out of the darkness to again confront the young thief; this time Gadmere stood his ground, and the bird flew away, but not very far, just to the edge of the clearing and into the tree line. "I’m guessing you want your jewel back?" Gadmere spoke, his voice just above a whisper. "It’s yours; I’ll let you keep this one," explained Aria.     Special Abilities & Notes: Can at will, in daylight make a 10’ radius around the avatar that is 25% darker than the rest of the area. In the full moonlight, his shadow is twice the normal size and is completely dark where nothing can be seen through it. In the new moon, there is a hole in the darkness where he stands.   Deity Abilities: These can either be performed by the deity/avatar at will or bestowed upon someone of their choosing

• Perfect Disguise: A disguise is perfect in every way including voice, gender, physical appearance, scars, markings, etc., which makes them a perfect duplicate of the subject by changing all physical attributes. They would however still need knowledge of the subject beyond that and any clothing or jewelry will have to be obtained through other means.
• Recognize Espionage: The individual is able to recognize any subterfuge that is being attempted, they may not know the ultimate reason for it but will immediately see the subterfuge for what it is, and they may know why it’s being performed on a particular subject.
• Perfect Silence: This creates a moving area of complete silence around the individual. No sound emanates from within the maximum 50’x50’ space. No sound, magical or otherwise can be made within the sphere. Sounds outside of the sphere can be heard clearly.
• Perfect Darkness: This creates a moving sphere of complete and utter darkness around the individual. No light emanates from within the sphere and no light magical or otherwise can penetrate. The sphere can range from just a few feet in diameter to the size of a city. Only those powerful enough to spend flux will be able to see while in it but not even primal will be able to see into it. No heat, ultravision, bioluminescence, infravision, or fire. The caster is the only one able to see clearly in this sphere.
• Cause Night: Capable of turning the brightest day into midnight, this power requires the individual to spend an entire day (this is not required for the avatar) preparing for this incredibly powerful ability. This requires fasting, meditation, and prayer, the individual must use this ability within 2 days of it being bestowed or it is lost. This ability once used lasts for a full day, basically, the daylight disappears and the sun doesn’t rise for a full day.

  Priests: It is not uncommon for the priest to be a ‘follower’ of another order, but actually be a devotee to Gadmere strictly to just gather information and may even sow some seeds of mistrust. These priests however do not travel much and are masters of local lore, gossip, rumor, and the occasional confession, or be present for the bearing of one's soul at the time of death   Omens:

• (B) Spill ink on a written work
• (B) Nightmare of one’s own death with no sign of blackbirds
• (B) Fireflies flying into one's house/room. This is not an omen if outdoors unless a blackbird/crow is seen eating one while it’s in flight
• (B) Seeing a falling star on a new moon (this is a dire omen)
• (G) Crow/Raven landing on oneself
• (G) Solar eclipse
• (G) Sailor gets squirted with octopus ink
• (G) Crow/Raven lands in camp during a new moon
• (G) Dreaming one's death but in the company of a murder of crows.

  Worshipers Alignment: Any   Symbols:

• Crow/Ravens on a balanced scale – this is the most common.
• Hand-holding on a scale
• A new moon embossed behind a balanced scale
• Unbalanced scale with a crow/raven on one side (rarely if ever actually seen, but referenced in old tomes)

  Duties of Priesthood:

• Reading Omens to the laypeople - this is mostly to the benefit of the priest
• Divination to Guild Masters
• Last Rites

  Requirements of Priesthood:

• Abilities: Minimum W/11 I/12
• Alignments: Any Evil or Chaotic
• Weapons allowed:
  • Dagger
  • Dirk
  • Staff – can only be the weapon used until level 5

• Armor restrictions: None
• Sphere
  • All
  • Necromantic

  • Sphere(s) (M=major / m = minor)  

All	m	Divination	M	Summoning
Animal		Elemental		Sun
Astral		Healing		Weather
Charm		Necromatic	M
Combat	m	Plant
Creation		Protection

    Turning: - See Notes  

Skeleton	D+2d4C	Ghast	D+2d4C	Ghost	A
Zombie	D+2d4C	Wraith	D+2d4C	Lich	4
Ghoul	D+2d4C	Mummy	D	Special	7
Shadow	D+2d4C	Specter	D
Wight	D+2d4C	Vampire	A

Notes: There are some places in the more remote reaches of Pandoria where Gadmere is revered as a protector against the evil that hides in the darkness.   Clerics and Paladins of Gadmere, do not turn or dispel undead but actually call the undead to their service.

• D=devoted – this means they will do their master’s bidding without question or hesitation
• C=controlled – this means that the undead will do as commanded but may be hesitant to their own demise
• A=acknowledged - this means the undead creature acknowledges the master’s calling but has the will enough to ignore it, but only at their own peril
• #=the number needed to put the undead under the master’s control