Keeper of the Sacred Trust, the Enigmatic One, the Divine
Scholar, Keeper of Secrets Greater Deity Symbol: The Penrose Triangle Home Plane: The Tesseract Alignment: Neutral Portfolio: Mysteries, Secrets, Knowledge, Enigmas, Conundrums Worshipers: Sages, scholars, arcane spell casters Cleric Alignments: Any Domains: Knowledge, Magic, Mind, Trickery Favored Weapon: "The Point" (dagger)
Zard is the patron deity of sages, scholars and other seekers of
knowledge. His libraries are said to contain the answers to all of the most profound mysteries of both mortals and immortals. Only Zard has unlimited access to these libraries and their locations are known only to Zard. Although Zard is regarded as being male, the truth is his true form is unknown to even his most devoted followers. He has, at times, spoken to his worshipers as a disembodied voice. History/Relationships: Zard is on good terms with deities like Azuth, Gond and other deities dealing with knowledge and magic. Certain evil deities like Bane and Cyric, covet the information contained in Zard's libraries and have spend considerable time and resources trying to locate them. Worshipers of certain dead deities would like access to Zard's libraries in order to find a way to resurrect their deity. Dogma: Knowledge is the key to unlocking the secrets of the multiverse. But knowledge misused can lead to oppression, death and injustice. Knowledge must be kept out of the hands of those that would misuse it. Keep forever secret any knowledge too dangerous to use. Clergy and Temples: Zard's clerics are known collectively as the Unknown Ones because they willingly give up their identities upon joining Zard's church. This takes place during the Rite of Anonymity. During the Rite, the cleric to be briefly recounts his life on a piece of parchment. This parchment is then burned in the sacred flame. When the Rite is completed, the former identity of the new Zardian priest is erased. Those that knew him in his past life will no longer recognize him. Only Zard and the new priest retain the knowledge of his past. No priest of Zard can be forced to divulge this knowledge by torture, magic or psionic means. The only way to learn about the former identity of a Zardian priest is if the priest voluntarily divulges it. This is the foundation of the Sacred Trust. The Sacred Trust is formed during the Rite of Anonymity. The soon to be Zardian priest vows to never voluntarily reveal his former identity and Zard vows to guard that knowledge against those that would try to steal it or take it by force. Those that break the Sacred Trust are stripped of their clerical powers and may never rejoin the Zardian church. Clerics of Zard refer to themselves as either Brother or Sister and are issued identical clothing and weapons initially. While they are free to acquire other items as necessity demands, they may not, under any circumstances, adopt any form of personal identification. Clerical vestments consist of dark gray robes tied at the waist with a similarly colored sash. Another dark gray sash is used as a head wrap. All clerics of Zard are assigned a 3 letter code name for purposes of recording performance.