Kyuss Kyuss , also known as the Worm that Walks , was an Elder evil prophesied to usher in the " Age of Worms " , a time when the undead will rise and destroy the world . Description . The Worm that Walks was a 30 feet ( 9 meters ) tall giant composed of a shifting mass of maggots and worms filled with the psychic imprint of a former demigod named Kyuss . History . The true story of the being known as the Worm that Walks was a mystery to scholars . The only known fact all agreed on was that the Worm that Walks was originally a demigod called Kyuss , who had lived in the ancient past as a mortal necromancer and created many aberrant undead creatures , such as the Spawn of Kyuss that plagued the Underdark . Eventually , Kyuss wickedness made his contemporaries to exile him to the fringes of society . Rather than languishing as an outcast , he became the prophet of a wicked cult who believed in the dreaded Age of Worms . During this time Kyuss discovered the ruins of a dead civilization in an island near Maztica , known as the Wormcrawl Island by the elves of Evermeet , and claimed the site as its own , where he ruled as a god - king . In the ruins , his followers discovered ancient metal plates , which held terrible secrets but also confirmed every prophesy he had spoken . Through these inscriptions , Kyuss discovered how to transcend mortality at a terrible price — the lives of his congregation . On one bloody night he instructed his priests to slaughter them all , and after that Kyuss murdered the priests as well . When he was finished , he fused his essence with the foul ruins , gaining and losing his divinity in one moment . He was neither mortal nor god , and he was bound forever to the ruins . However , he was transformed into something far worse . Some scholars believed Kyuss was related to the Far Realm - infested star Nihal . Either Kyuss was its brother or both were the same being observed from two different points in time . After the Time of Troubles , a coalition of banites , bhaalites and myrkulites uncovered ancient scrolls regarding to Kyuss , and tried to find Wormcrawl Island in hopes Kyuss would resurrect their respective gods . Appendix . The " Age of Worms adventure path " describes a possible backstory for Kyuss on the Realms . However , the campaign that it was written for is noted as being non - canonical in the Realms . Non - Canonical Background . According to legend Kyuss was an extremely powerful tabaxi and a charismatic prophet in Mezro who led his cult out of that city in - 653 DR after persecution from the mainstream followers of Ubtao . He wanted to become an obscure deity of the Chultan Peninsula . Kyuss and his followers founded the religious city of Kuluth - Mar in the Chultengar . His cultists discovered ancient metal plates that foretold the future and confirmed every prophecy that Kyuss had ever made . Kyuss was personally visited by his god , Jergal , who gave him a gift of a single green worm and tutored the man in the ways of necromancy He began experimenting on the undead , creating such horrors as the Kyuss worm , the spawn of Kyuss and the avolakia . At this time , he gained the services of the red dragon , Dragotha , who he transformed into a dracolich to serve as his general of his undead host . He created a cult around the dogma of life being only temporary , the afterlife a lie and undeath being the one true path to immortality . While his cultists grew ever more devoted by the apparent truth of his visions , Kyuss tried to fulfill the greatest of his prophecies . He sacrificed powerful magic items and built a massive citadel , the Spire of Long Shadows . At the top of the Spire , he created a monolith through which he channeled the terror , adulation and souls of his entire cult and achieved apotheosis . However , an alliance of couatl s , eladrin wild dwarves and druids trapped him in the monolith , which prevented him from ascending to true godhood and relegated him to a historical footnote . Two millennia later , a coalition of banites , Bhaalites and Myrkulites known as the Ebon Triad who sought to resurrect their dead gods , initiated a plan to free Kyuss and use his divine spark to achieve their objectives . . In reality , the Triad was created by Kyuss ' s high priest , the silver dragon vampire Lashonna , who is utterly devoted to him to the point of love , and an avolakia who in its disguised form serves as the Triad ' s leader .