The Keeper of Whispers

* Artwork
* Symbol

## Technical Information

### Symbol

An obsidian tower shaped like an upturned claw hand, set upon a huge crystalline iris

## Rules Information

### Domains

Arcana, Death, Grave, Knowledge

The Keeper of Whispers, sometimes also called the Keeper of Secrets and the Keeper of the Tome, but most frequently simply as the Keeper, is a deity in Ahlus of unknown allegiance.

## History

It is believed that the Keeper was not always a deity, thus explaining their exclusion from both the Principal Sixteen and the Malign, but rather a powerful mage that ascended to godhood through sheer will and actions. When they were eventually slain, their spirit endured and maintained enough power to garner worshippers and followers seeking to learn from the boundless knowledge it maintained. In time, the mortal, now known as the Keeper of Secrets achieved the status of divine.

It is known that at some point in Ahlusian history, worship of the Keeper of Whispers was outlawed by a declaration known as Yaldin's Edict.

## Enemies

Even long before his ascension, the Keeper sought power and dominion, hunting the secrets to achieve it vehemently. Now as a deity, this lust has only strengthened, and consumes his every action. All other deities are simply obstacles in the path, but it is the followers of Gaityas and Vyra that garner his ire most so, for both seek the knowledge he desires for himself, planning to share that he would hoard.

## Commandments

* Seek that which is unknown to you, drawing new knowledge at each available opportunity.
* Understanding and knowledge is the power by which new understanding and knowledge is attained. More powerful still is that of those unknown to others, for you can use it against them. Ensure they do not learn of that which gives you an advantage.
* Remain watchful for those that may for a time prove of value. Exploit them for all they can provide, then cast them aside if they can do so no longer.

## Description

When the Keeper of Whispers was encountered in 9WD, Onteer-Whiterose, the following description was provided.

*"Scattered throughout the chamber, wraith-like entities swarm over urns etched with eldritch runes, prying free cloudy-white shards packed tight within. Scrutiny and study commands deliberate effort by each of the figures, before each are marked with a rune abstract, distorted, twisted and clawed. Carried upon a whisper-laden mist, the soul slivers journey further onwards still, sorted into halls fathomless."*

*"Near imperceptibly shifting back and forth, a dozen wings effortlessly hold the onwatching humanoid form aloft some fifteen feet from a chamber floor littered with shard glowing as motes of crystalline light. Thrice paired arms simultaneously weave arcane glyphs, shuffle a pair of soul slivers towards ivory-white eyes incandescent beneath hood of velvet, and turn pages of a vast book spilled open before them. Deft fingers, withered and lithe dance across the parchment to draw it to a close - a tome brown-black, decorated in gold and bronze."*

## Research

### Completed by Asurak Crusher

*Owing to the attempts of the faithful of the Ahlusian Pantheon to surpress worship, reliance and otherwise communication with the Keeper of Whispers, information on the deity is fleeting and hard to acquire - an ironic and poetic mimicry of the divine being themselves, a great hoarder of knowledge accursed, restricted and otherwise unknown. In doing so, any that pry into the Keeper are like to stumble headfirst into his domain, catching his inquisitive gaze from across the planes of existence.*

*Worship of the Keeper of Whispers has been equally enigmatic over the years. During the sixteen years that made up Aita's Second Gift, most realms declared worship of the deity a punishable offense, as dictated within the Edict of Yaldin. Despite it, cults and sects have made resurgences in popularity owing to the transactional properties of fealty to a being in possession of knowledge unknown to most. For every organisation quelled, it is assumed by those responsible for countering such threats that others persist, comprised of scorned spellcasters or others on the fringe of magical society. Over the years, The Keeper has documented all that they have learned within a vast tome, comparable only to the Book of Exalted Deeds, the document created, held and continuously updated by Yaldin, the Holder of the Scales. It is said that copies of the Book of Vile Darkness are sometimes gifted to those that prove of use and value, although owing to the connotations associated with such a tome no documented mortal being has ever been confirmed to possess one.*

*It is suspected that this has occurred at least once however, given that as of recently the Keeper has started to maintain an Exarch of their own - a being known as the Locked Book. The Locked Book is said to emboidy all the fears and superstitions surrounding magic, furthering the interests of their master while they focus on their chronicling of the secrets of the multiverse from their domain hidden within the demiplanes of the Shadowfell. Like their master, the Locked Book is said to empower warlocks and whisper secrets into the thoughts of wizards and artificers, guiding their hand to help them master spells otherwise unattainable and create relics unimaginable by mundane minds. Supposedly, the Locked Book was one of these souls in the past, a powerful mage hunting after further enciphered knowledge.*

## Encounter in 9WD, Onteer-Whiterose

Seeking knowledge on how to defeat both the Weald Witch and the Foul Labyrinth, as well as intending to recover the Soul Slivers of Cassius and Heelmelk and the memories stolen from Tianyan, Fawn's Patron, an expedition party travelled to the Domain of Dolurrh in 9WD, Onteer-Whiterose. Guided to the Echoing Athenaeum by the recently restored and resurrected Ealwant Besculus, and through use of a set of Prayer Beads loaned to Zareyl by Ronan, the party was immediately assailed by a manifestation of their deeply rooted fears, leaving them psychologically shaken and greviously wounded from a harrying pulse of psychic damage.

Within the Athenaeum, the Keeper is able to channel vast quantities of arcane and divine power, casting and manipulating high level magic with a brazen ease, drain their opponents of their own spells, conjure spectral servants and shift the layout of their domain with but a thought. The Keeper was also able to wield Forgemaster's Pride with ease, using it to slay the Firbolg Cleric Ronan.