Pyrius, Herald of Ash
Overview
- Rank: Lesser Deity
- Symbol: A dark spiral ring devouring light at its center
- Home Plane: Quasi-Elemental Plane of Ash
- Alignment: CE
- Portfolio: Entropy, decay, dying worlds, extinction, finality
- Worshipers: Sorcerers, warlocks, necromancers, druids, doomsayers
- Cleric Alignments: CE, CN, NE
- Domains: Death, Destruction, Fire, Evil, Entropy
- Favored Weapon: Scythe
Origins
Pyrius was once a living planet, cradle to a civilization that foresaw the death of its sun and the collapse of its sphere. In desperation, they turned to forbidden necromantic rites, hoping to preserve their essence beyond extinction. The ritual succeeded—but not as intended. Instead of salvation, the combined souls of the dying populace fused with the planet’s decaying body, forming a single, undead entity. Reborn as Pyrius, the world rose again—not as a sanctuary, but as a deity of ash and ruin, animated by entropy and vengeance.
Some scholars whisper that the planet may have been tainted long before its collapse—touched by the lingering presence of an Elder Evil. In particular, they suspect the influence of Atropus, the World Born Dead. Though no proof has ever been found, the parallels between the two horrors are enough to fuel fearful speculation.
Description
To mortals, Pyrius is seen as a wandering planet cloaked in ash and twilight. It drifts through wildspace without a sun, a cold deity-world shedding trails of black embers in its wake. From afar, it resembles a smoldering cinder with a slow heartbeat of crimson fire deep within. Its voice is heard in the minds of the receptive as a cacophony of countless anguished voices—pleading, whispering, screaming—each one a fragment of the civilization that birthed it. These voices speak only of despair, futility, and the inevitability of oblivion. Ash-marked cults build black obelisks and pyres in its honor, preaching the futility of life and the sanctity of final stillness.
Dogma
Life is a brief flare in a long night. All warmth fades. All light dies. The end cannot be stopped, only honored. Burn the old, unmake the artificial, hasten the cooling. Resist stagnation, for even deities must wither. Death is not a punishment—it is the rightful inheritance of all things. Celebrate it.
The surface of Pyrius is a wasteland of ruin and cinder, where the remnants of its former cities have become blackened temples and breeding grounds for undead monstrosities. New followers, drawn by visions or despair, are brought to the surface—willing or not—and absorbed into the hive-mind that governs the deity-world. There, their thoughts are stripped bare and bound to the will of entropy, becoming part of the endless chorus that sings Pyrius across the stars.
Home Sphere
The true origin of Pyrius lies beyond the Known Spheres. Scholars believe it once belonged to a long-lost, derelict sphere that shattered and died in the depths of wildspace—its name forgotten, its star extinguished. Pyrius is thought to be the only remnant of that sphere’s final death, wandering ever outward to spread its entropy to the living cosmos.