Zard

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.