Thread by @TheEdVerse

1)
This one got lost in all of the prep for my surgery. Sorry!
Here we go…
BHAALISTS tend to operate “undercover,” having a daytime identity (often a shopkeeper or delivery carter in a large city), with a private cellar (or…
#Realmslore

https://twitter.com/clackclickbang/status/1179134475386703873

2)
…sometimes attic or city catacombs) shrine where they pray to the god before and after a murder expedition. (So, no public temples! A few remote monasteries, yes, but temples, no.)
Few neighbours or city authorities will know…
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3)
…a priest of the Lord of Murder is a cleric of Bhaal. The Bhaalist/Bhaalyn observes unfolding life in the city and picks targets to be murdered, often troublemakers, individuals rising in power or wealth, or even clergy of…
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4)
…rival deities.
Then, in the darkest dead of night, at least once a tenday, properly clad as a Bhaalist, they murder their target, and “take home” some token or trophy (from a finger or heart of their victim, to personal…
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5)
…jewelry), plus wealth from the victim if available. The token or trophy is offered to Bhaal on a simple altar anointed with the Bhaalist’s own blood, with prayers, and the wealth used by the Bhaalist to fund their ongoing…
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6)
…life and continue their holy work.
MYRKULYTES keep to themselves, speaking to few (remember the silent Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come/Ghost of Christmas Future in A CHRISTMAS CAROL?) but appearing hooded and cowled in public, …
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7)
…to spread fear of the Lord of Bones. Most folk of Faerûn believe that touching a priest of the Lord of Bones will bring death, and Myrkulytes hunt down and slay anyone who throws stones or casts other missiles at them, to…
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8)
…enhance their personal protection; as a result, they’re silently shunned in most places, and can walk untouched, not even spoken to (people melt away from their path, turn their backs, and so on). They dwell in small, …
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9)
…fortified stone (with tile roofs; the idea is to make the structures difficult to burn by a mob or someone hurling the equivalent of Molotov cocktails) temples known as mausoleums. Myrkulytes grow their own food, including…
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10)
…mushrooms in cellars, and are supplied with food, tools and other goods, consecrated ‘black wine,’ and information by traveling Myrkulytes who constantly travel from mausoleum to mausoleum (from remote valley, ravine, or…
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11)
…cavern bases).
CYRICISTS are hated across the Realms, because they foment strife and do many murders to spread fear of Cyric. They also work against friendships, love matches, and familial ties, and spread chaos, making them…
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12)
…detested by most. Who would rise up and slay them if they dared.
Most urban Cyricist temples are former Myrkulyte mausoleums, and so hard-to-burn stone fortresses, from which Cyricists usually emerge by night, with spells at…
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13)
…the ready to defeat and chase away mobs. They then go about murdering, spreading (often false) gossip that will set folk against each other, and bribing or even sponsoring (the church seizes as much as it can from its…
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14)
…murder victims, and so is never short of funds) dissatisfied individuals to increase active intrigue (often emboldening opponents of local rulers, rebellious nobles, and strife within royalty, nobility, or wealthy families).
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15)
… Cyricists don’t want to start wars (and so benefit Tempus), they want to sew seething mistrust. They are dangerous to any local society because their behaviour is often boldly mad or erratic, in reverence to the madness…
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16)
…of the Dark Sun himself. Part of their intrigue is to build very good (well paid) intelligence networks, so they often knew when a king or local ruler was fed up and intending to exterminate them—and they’d simply flee…
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17)
…their temples and go elsewhere for some months, only to sidle back into a community during local festivities or crises, to murder and intrigue anew.
Hope these contrasted descriptions are of help!
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