Clergy, Temples and Worshippers

Nyx's penchant for secrecy greatly benefits her clergy, as her cult remains shrouded in mystery to most denizens of the world. Perceived as a dark and vindictive deity, individuals often turn to her followers in times of sorrow or loss, believing that her clergy offers aid to the downtrodden and aggrieved. However, instead of providing solace, Nyx's clerics exacerbate feelings of resentment and desire for retribution, steering supplicants toward bitterness and vengeance. Although cautioned by benevolent clerics, such as Sehanine, Helios, and notably Lune, against seeking solace in Nyx's teachings, desperation often overrides sound judgment, leading to a steady increase in her clergy's ranks over time.   Nyx's doctrine of vengeful nihilism finds resonance among those who have endured significant trauma or betrayal. Embracing darkness and night, Nyx finds favor among the blind, particularly those who have lost their sight due to the actions of others, as well as nocturnal or subterranean creatures and individuals who shun the light. Additionally, those who operate under the cover of darkness, including criminals and thieves, seek her favor, as do individuals with disturbed worldviews, often perceived as insane. The deranged are naturally drawn to Nyx's teachings, prompting clerics of Lune to intervene, seeking to rehabilitate or confine them.  

Temples

The church operates through independent cells led by authoritarian figures, with secrecy shrouding members' identities and leadership. In regions where Nyx's influence is strong, conflicts with devotees of Lune and Sehanine are frequent, resulting in casualties on both sides. Temples of Nyx serve dual purposes, often doubling as residences or businesses, featuring rooms dedicated to dark rituals and ceremonies.   Nyx's clergy thrive on secrecy, establishing exclusive clubs and false cults to undermine societal norms. They engage in subversive activities, aiming to overthrow governments, seek vengeance, and sow discord through manipulation and sedition. Believing in personal freedom above all else, they view all societal constructs and establishments of authority as suppressive forces to be dismantled.  

Devotees

Despite the decentralized nature of Nyx's church, a loose hierarchy of her followers does exist; the most commonly accepted titles are shown below, grouped together by their general favorableness with the Primordial Darkness and their sway over other church members. The groupings are in descending order, and the titles themselves are without particular order:

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Sha'aris are the preachers, the cult masters, the missionaries, and the worst kinds of destructive nihilists. A sha'ari is any follower of Nyx who intentionally and consistently either causes a meaningful increase in Nyx's following, actively maintains a discernable portion of Nyx's following, or significantly increases the breadth and depth of her knowledge among the denizens of Theras.

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The meaning of the words kre'en, beh, sha'ari, vo'ol, and vo'il is unknown.  

Rituals

Clerics of Nyx pray for their spells at night. As most of her followers keep their devotion a secret, only one sanctified holiday exists. During Nihility, starting on the last night of the year and ending with the first night of the next year, sha'aris outline the dark plots of the coming year over the quivering body of a live sacrifice. If plans should change, the ritual may take place during The Respite. Once a tenday, followers must engage in an act of wickedness, either before or after a nocturnal dancing and feasting ritual.

Primal Tenets

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Mortal Tenets

These tenets were given to the followers of Nyx and are more specific in scope, though are less clear in meaning. Regardless, they are most often perceived as commandments or edicts that the faithful must abide by.

Obey the clergy. Hopes are to remain in light. Secrets are to remain in darkness. Do not stall in the dark. The dark is time to act. The existence of the faithful supercedes all mandates. Good faithfuls are anathema.

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Both the mortal tenets and the primal tenets are generally summarized as such:

• Reveal secrets only to fellow members of the faithful.
• Never follow hope or turn to promises of success.
• Quench the light of the moon (agents and items of Lune and Sehanine) whenever you find it, and hide from it when you cannot prevail.
• The dark is a time to act, not wait. It is forbidden to strive to better your lot in life or to plan ahead except when directly overseen by the faithful of the Dark Deity.
• Consorting with the faithful of good deities is a sin except in business dealings or to corrupt them from their beliefs.
• Obey ranking clergy unless it would result in your own death.

Myths and Legends

Nyx was the most powerful being in the world of Theras, however, she had choosen not to engage the Draconic Pantheon and Giant Pantheon for she feared the mighty power of the pantheons and hoped they would destroy themselves. However, history turned to be a cruel joke to Nyx. As the ages passed, Menas, another primordial betrayed her with the Lune and Sehanine Moonbow, which created the Moons of Theras.   Then later, the day was created, when her own spawn, Baisha, had colluded with Ixtaar and Fortuna and created the sun, forever diminishing her powers. However, her power is not to be trifled with, as she is a Greater Power, with the night, the darkness and loss being her domains.

The very existence of Nyx is paradoxical; the Nightbringer is brought into existence by the creation, but is the living embodiment of the void, the perfect nothing that exists before she was born. The emptiness that she originally reflected had itself been erased at the start of time, and she longs to return to the ancient calm of nonexistence. By her very nature, Nyx is defined by loss, the foolishness of hope, and the basic principle that life is a joke.   The depths of Nyx's evil are too extreme to be described by words. She is deeply twisted and perverse, a being of ceaseless, petty hate and envy. She plots from the shadows to undermine all creation, reveling in the hidden and never to be revealed. Though she is not chaotic herself, Nyx nonetheless seeks to destroy all order. Even her own devoted worshipers are simply pawns in her overarching scheme against everything there ever is and ever would be.   Although Nyx purported to be a healer, soothing the grief-stricken by letting them forget their woes, she is in truth a sadist, and enjoys inflicting the pain of loss on her worshipers. Her alleged help is not release from that pain, but numbness to it, the acceptance of it as normal and the removal of any expectation otherwise. The Lady of Loss does not truly believe in healing grief, not even her own, but in harnessing it, in nurturing spite, nursing indignity, and reinforcing regret until minor slights, at least in her mind, become transgressions worthy of bitter vengeance.

Nyx’s ceaseless battles against her bright sisters have caused the creation and destruction of several deities throughout history. Though Lune strikes openly and forcefully against her at every opportunity, Nyx prefers subversion, using her mortal worshipers to attack Lune’s clergy and those things Lune holds dear, rather than at the deity herself. Still, she occasionally moves directly against minor enemies. Nyx’s love of dark spaces bring her into frequent conflict with deities of light and fire, and her desire to dominate. Her only frequent ally is Ella'li and Nomog-Geaya