![[Jergal.png|500]] **Also Known as:** The Scribe of the Doomed, Lord of the End of Everything, The Bleak Seneschal **Alignment:** Lawful Neutral --- ### Overview Jergal is an ancient deity of death whose history predates the current order of the Faerûnian pantheon. Long before Kelemvor, Myrkul, Bhaal, or Bane held influence over death or tyranny, Jergal was **the** god of the dead. He presided over death, murder, strife, and the fate of mortal souls with absolute authority. Over time, Jergal grew weary and detached from his dominion. When the mortal beings who would become Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul confronted him and demanded his power, Jergal did not fight to keep it. Instead, in a moment that became legend, he allowed them to divide his portfolio by a game of chance in his Bone Castle. From that event, Bane took tyranny, Bhaal took murder, and Myrkul took the dead. Jergal willingly relinquished his power and stepped aside from rulership, choosing instead to become the recorder of what followed. --- ### Domain and Influence Jergal’s influence now lies in record-keeping, the accounting of the dead, and the orderly passage of souls. Though no longer the god who judges or rules death, he remains intimately connected to it as the being who **records every death** and maintains the rolls of the deceased. He serves as the seneschal and scribe to the current god of the dead, first Myrkul and later Kelemvor. In this role, Jergal ensures that the order of death is maintained without passion, preference, or interference. He does not rule death; he documents it with perfect precision. --- ### Symbols and Icons ![[Jergal_symbol.webp]] Jergal’s symbol is a skeletal hand/ or Skull gripping a quill over a scroll, representing his eternal task as the recorder of all mortal ends. --- ### Worship and Tributes Jergal has very few worshippers in the modern age. Those who honour him are typically scribes, morticians, gravekeepers, and scholars of funerary rites who respect the solemn order of death rather than seek power over it. Offerings to Jergal often take the form of written records, names of the deceased, and the careful maintenance of burial sites and death archives. --- ### Clergy and Cults Jergal’s clergy are quiet, disciplined, and methodical. They concern themselves with proper burial rites, preservation of names, and maintenance of records. They do not preach fear of death nor glorify it; they acknowledge it as inevitable and worthy of orderly respect. --- ### Powers and Abilities Jergal’s power lies in knowledge of death rather than dominion over it. He is aware of every mortal death and maintains the cosmic record of souls. Though he no longer commands the fate of the dead, his awareness and connection to mortality remain unmatched. --- ### Treatment of the Faithful Jergal offers no grand blessings. His faithful are granted clarity, discipline, and freedom from fear regarding mortality. They understand death as a matter of record and inevitability, not terror. --- ### Myths and Legends The most famous legend of Jergal is the **Bone Castle bargain**, where he surrendered his dominion to Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul through a game rather than a battle. This story is repeated across Faerûn as a reminder that even gods may tire of power. Another tale says that Jergal’s ledger contains the name of every creature that has ever died and that the scroll grows longer with each passing moment. --- ### Encounters with Jergal Encounters with Jergal are rare and solemn. He appears as a gaunt, skeletal figure with parchment skin and empty eyes, carrying a scroll and quill. He speaks little, and when he does, it is with dry detachment. Those who meet him feel no malice, no comfort—only the certainty that their end is already written. --- ### Conclusion Jergal is the former god of the dead who chose record over rulership. Now the eternal scribe and seneschal to the gods of death, he stands as the impartial witness to every mortal ending, ensuring that nothing is forgotten and that death proceeds in perfect order.