Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:54 am  
Derro gods and the Cult of Secrets

Diirinka and Diinkarazan were born as gods, children of the dwarven goddess Sharindlar and the Suel human god Fortubo. Disgusted with the Suloise treatment of their dwarven slaves, Fortubo abandoned humanity and married into the Morndinsamman.

Together, Fortubo and the Morndinsamman inspired many dwarves to break free of their chains and move into the Hellfurnace and Crystalmist mountains. All was well until some of Moradin's clan began listening to strange whispers coming from deep beneath the Mountain of the Gods, speaking of powerful magicks lost since the time before Creation itself.

The three youngest and most susceptible of the Morndinsamman were Fortubo's sons Diirinka and Diinkarazan and their uncle Abbathor, the youngest son of Moradin. The brothers thought of how proud their father would be if they found, beneath the mountain, new powers that could be used to aid the slaves. Abbathor, as usual, thought only of himself.

Eagerly, they began to descend below the roots of the Mountain where Ilsensine dwelled. But just before he left the Mountain’s protection, Abbathor looked down and saw a vein of purest mithril. So consumed was he by the find that he refused to go any further. Diinkarazan and Diirinka continued alone, further and further into the maddening dark.

When the two brothers saw Ilsensine in his full unholy glory, Diirinka became so terrified that he stabbed Diinkarazan in the back and fled, but not before stealing some petty secrets from the Mind-God. Diinkarazan was driven insane by Ilsensine and banished to the Abyss.

When Diirinka ran back to the roots of the Mountain, he found Gorm Gulthyn guarding the gate. Though he begged to be let back in, Gorm Gulthyn saw Diirinka’s corruption and would not allow it.

When word of this reached Laduguer the Grim Taskmaster, he advised Gorm Gulthyn to relent. “Diirinka is of our clan,” he said. “We are honor-bound to protect him, corrupt or no.” And so the dwarves let Diirinka back into the Mountain.

At first, Diirinka was well-behaved. He taught his brother Dugmaren many useful things. But Ilsensine’s whispers were ever in his mind, and terrors only he could see made him cry out in his sleep. With desperate cowardice he kidnapped his own mother, the goddess of fertility Sharindlar, and brought her to Ilsensine, who imprisoned her in another layer of the Abyss. In return, Ilsensine stopped plaguing Diirinka, but Diirinka dared not go back to the Mountain. Instead, he went to the Suloise slaves, chosing those who, like him, had both human and dwarven blood, and using the profane magicks he had learned to alter some of them. These many abominable experiments that left twisted aberrations on a hundred worlds - some say the meenlocks, chokers, and diisir came from this - while other experiments left nothing but sterile muls. At last Diirinka perfected the derro savants, and with their aid he led the half-dwarven slaves to freedom.

When the gods discovered that Sharindlar was gone, there was much anger and recrimination toward Laduguer. “The blame is not mine,” said Laduguer. “But Diirinka’s. If I had forsaken my duties as host and blood-kin, there would have been two crimes, not one.” But the other gods would not listen, and Laduguer sorrowfully left the Mountain with the most devoted of his followers.

Since the loss of Sharindlar, both Laduguer’s people - the duergar - and Moradin’s have dwindled. Only Diirinka’s people maintain their birthrate, and thus it is thought that he must know where Sharindlar is hidden.

Still the dwarves have endured, and they continue to keep the forces of Evil at bay.

There are still, shamefully, two cults among the dwarves that revere Ilsensine.

The first is the Cult of Secrets, which teaches that there is power in the Caverns of Ilsensine beneath the Mountain of the Gods. Although Diirinka found them dishonorably, it is possible to learn honorably instead - in fact, there are a number of paths.

- There is Abbathor's Path, which offers great rewards as long as the mind is centered on proper dwarven things rather than secrets dwarves were not meant to know.

- There is Dugmaren's Path, which the faithful of Dugmaren argue has nothing to do with Ilsensine at all. Those of the Cult of Secrets believe that capturing those who have learned from Ilsensine and learning from them rather than going to Ilsensine directly is the proper way. They seek out illithids and alienists and adapt their rites to the dwarven system.

- Finally, there is the path of Dumathoin, Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain. Myths say that after the exile of Diirinka and Laduguer, all dwarves were forbidden to travel deeper than Dumathoin's realm. Only Dumathoin, Keeper of Secrets, could be trusted with exposure to the Caverns of Ilsensine. The Cult of Secrets say that Dumathoin actually made a bargain with the illithid god that he never told the other Morndinsamman about, learning things no other god, even Diirinka, will ever know. Other bargains are possible as long as Dumathoin is invoked to keep their secret from reaching the prying ears of Moradin and Berronar.

- Yet another variant, more obscure, is the path of Parrafaire. A few theologians believe the naga god Parrafaire was hired by the gods to guard the path between Dumathoin's realm and Ilsensine's with mazes and riddles designed to thwart the unworthy. These cultists study mazes and puzzles in an attempt to find the secrets of Ilsensine hidden within. Some even succeed.

The second cult of Ilsensine-worshippers is the Cult of Madness, which sees Diinkarazan's path of insanity as the only true way. The Cultists of Madness revere madness itself and wait for the times when Diinkarazan's prison weakens and he can manifest in the world.