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112: Talos: Why is He Like That?
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This week, Taylor tells us more about the Gods of Fury with the lore on Talos the Destroyer. He delights in all manner of destruction, including any potential relationships. Maybe he is more like us than we thought...
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SPEAKER_02Shit's about to get nerdy in here, everyone, and welcome to Dungeon Pedia, an exploration into the lore of Dungeons and Dragons. We're your host Lou and Markel. Taylor Peasley. And I'm Travis Peasley.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god, you guys.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04It was nice. I didn't have to do any research this week because I already did it.
SPEAKER_02You just had to organize.
SPEAKER_04Okay, I actually did. I did have to organize a little bit, and uh, I did remember that I needed to go back and actually get a book from the digital library because I couldn't find the PDF. Uh, but I did. Was able to find it.
SPEAKER_02Very nice. So you're you're telling P you didn't you didn't just like pivot and go to a completely different topic.
SPEAKER_04I did not. Um because uh well I my particular brand of obsession requires that I conclude every research topic I ever do.
SPEAKER_01What's that like?
SPEAKER_04I don't know. It's my it's my default. I had sort of a good little like way of introing today, and then I was like, oh yeah, that's so smart, and then I fell asleep, and now it's gone.
SPEAKER_01It's just gone.
SPEAKER_04I didn't write it down. I usually write everything down that I think of when I'm in bed because of the fact that I know that this happens. I didn't do that this time.
SPEAKER_02I yeah, I really hate that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but there's really not much to like talk about before we start introing and getting into everything because you guys already know what we're talking about. I'm gonna continue on through my analysis on the gods of fury because they're all very interesting, but they didn't do that much.
SPEAKER_02But I mean, I don't know, just a just a cursory glance at these notes, which I didn't mean to spoil myself, but I accidentally did scroll to the bottom and then had to scroll back up. It seems like they did some things. I mean there's some there's some i places being mentioned. Places where lots of things happened.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Um admittedly, this is more uh like so this is gonna be a deep dive into like tell us his history, relationships, things like that. Not a lot on actions that he has done, but what I will say is that there's a lot of discussion on what his worshippers have done.
SPEAKER_02You know, I was about to make the connection between maybe certain um certain celebrity celebrities and like celebrity families, perhaps, that like are famous and people talk about, but you're like, okay, but like what do they do? What did they do? And then you said worshippers, and I was like, okay, so now it's an even more apt. Oh gosh. Now it's an even more apt comparison. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Everyone knows a stand or two, a celebrity with stands that uh the stands are basically a person uninto themselves.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it's like it's yeah. Um it's not healthy.
SPEAKER_04It's yeah, it's not, it's not good. Stop it, get some help. Um also what I would love to say to various talos worshippers. We will get there. And maybe talos himself. He seems like um we will also be discussing why is he like that?
SPEAKER_02Why is he like this?
SPEAKER_04Literally, the top one of my subheadings is why is he like this? No question marks. Not three, but two. Just a little quick summary of uh what we discussed last time, approximately three weeks ago. Talos, also known as Talos the Destroyer, the Raging One, the Stormstar, the Stormlord. Very fucking cool names.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Or a god that doesn't do much, I guess.
SPEAKER_04He is the chaotic evil god of essentially natural disasters and destruction. He has portfolios in storm, destruction, rebellion, conflagrations, which I directly copied from one of the source books. The word conflagrations just felt interesting to me. Earthshakings and vortices.
SPEAKER_03Earthshakings.
SPEAKER_04So natural disaster, rebellion.
SPEAKER_02Like earth shaking sounds cooler than the colour.
SPEAKER_04Earthshaking does sound cooler. Um as a fifth edition, he only has domains in Tempest, but throughout various editions, there have been a lot of domains. You don't need to worry about it. You kind of get the gist from the portfolio. As a reminder of his aliases, because we will be going into that. Uh, he was originally known as Koza in Netherill, and then that name sort of passed down to uh a tribe that like descended from Netherese refugees. He is known as Belrose or Belros in Kalamshan and Malik in the Underdark. We will be talking a little bit about that because there are there is an asterisk next to Malik, and we'll we'll be discussing why the Malik alias is a little different.
SPEAKER_02Those I you know, I feel like every time there's an asterisk in someone's notes, like you know it's gonna be something good. Like, you know that asterisk is doing some heavy lifting. Like you can you you could just see yourself being like, eh, eh, we're gonna come back to it later. Don't don't don't you worry.
SPEAKER_04Oh, and then lastly, his symbol is three bolts lightning bolts radiating from a point. He is sort of this you know what? I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning. At the beginning of literally everything, Lord Ao created the universe.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04We've done an episode.
SPEAKER_02We we've we're going with we're going back to like if you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must recreate the universe. We're going all the way back.
SPEAKER_04All the way back. The universe was filled with this primordial essence, raw existence. It was neither light nor dark, good nor evil, but a chaotic, timeless nothingness. In time, twin goddesses Saluna and Shar formed from this primordial soup.
SPEAKER_02Which we've also covered.
SPEAKER_04Which we have also covered. Primordial soup. The identical but opposite sisters brought order out of the chaos. As a quick aside, this is why I think both Saluna and Shar should be lawful instead of chaotic good and neutral evil, respectively. But that's sort of beside the point. That's just more into like, I think I I think a lot about like the cosmology and how it should sort of work. Anyway, together they created a beer twirl and all the heavenly bodies. And if yeah, if you've listened to our previous Saluna episode, you already know how the rest of this goes. But eventually their creation of a beer twirl formed the goddess Chantea. Chantea desired to create life in their shared universe, which required heat, which neither Saluna nor Shar could provide.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, given the yeah, uh all the darkness and the night stuff.
SPEAKER_04And like Saluna being like a beautiful light, but it's just a reflection.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Admittedly, I don't know, like, cosmologically speaking, where the light comes from without the sun at this point.
SPEAKER_02Don't worry about it. It's magic, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_04Okay, I mean I can take it. It's magic, that's fine. It's just magic. Okay. So Saluna agreed. Life would be cool. And uh, you know, went into the plane of fire and brought the the flame that would become the sun uh for Shantea, and then Saluna and Shar began their fight that would resist for the rest of all time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and at one point someone was getting their liver eaten by an eagle over and over again for bringing fire to the no.
SPEAKER_04Nope, that's a different no wrong, wrong mythology. Wrong mythology. Wrong mythology. So Shar gravely weakened Saluna, blah blah blah. Saluna tore a piece of her divine essence to throw it, Shar, Astral Chonkla, blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_02We've been over this. This is like this is like a 201, you know. We've been over this in the 101, the 101 class. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04This, as you'll recall, created Mistral, the first goddess of magic, the goddess that would eventually become Mistra.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Right.
SPEAKER_04The lesser known part of this whole battle is that the less Ashley parts of the f fighting created other gods too.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_04Various sources mention the gods of war, disease, murder, death, and others, but I should note that Jurgle, the original god of death, embodied at least a few of those portfolios at the time. Right. So it just created Jurgle and then like three other people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I mean, that's not actually what it says, but that is how I interpret that because of the fact what everything that Jurgle embodied for so long.
SPEAKER_02That is effectively what it was.
SPEAKER_04Literally, one of the only actually mentioned gods that were created from this this fighting other than Mishra and Jurgle. Actually, no, it didn't mention Jurgle. I just assumed that because of the fact that Jurgle was the first god of death. But the only one that I can find that is explicitly mentioned other than Mistra as having come from this fighting is Talos. Okay.
SPEAKER_02From the original Clash of the Sisters. So I know we're not in this section yet, but I feel like this is a first bullet point, at least for me mentally, on the like, why is he like that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. So I mean you can go ahead and keep a running tally of why is he like that.
SPEAKER_02Why this sort of um this sort of origin story kind of explains why someone might be um very angry and destructive.
SPEAKER_04Because he was literally born from his sister mom's fighting. Very um, I I I guess if you want to think of it less like that, because that's uncomfortable. Um you could think of all of the original gods like from the very beginning as like siblings born of Ao.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. And then I mean that is definitely less comfortable. Or more comfortable. It's very uh it is very, which this is a this this comparison wouldn't make it more comfortable, but it is very Greek. Yes. Like about how like sometimes someone just is like, you know, they just find him out in the dirt. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_04I pulled this god out of the ground, use my.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, even though the only one I can the only one I can think of that specifically has that origin is not a very uh not a very nice story, but you know, so they're just they're just finding them, you know. Like, oh hey, this one I I found this one in the in the sea foam, you know? Like they're just out there. So put it back.
SPEAKER_04Um born of that clash, Talos is the personification of the dark and destructive parts of nature. He is a god of storms, forest fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and just all natural disaster. Like it in destruction. Like the the various source materials, like we'll try like in enumerate every like natural disaster that he is like but like you can just say natural disasters, natural destruction.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Acts of this literal god. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04He is angry and rage-filled, acting completely on his impulses, which are often petty and vengeful. Uh several early sources hilariously made frequent mention that he might be acting out of a desire to not seem weak.
SPEAKER_03Oh boy.
SPEAKER_04But I actually prefer a later explanation for why Talos and all gods are kind of the way that they are. Just a little teaser for that is his only purpose in life is to prove that he can tear down whatever someone else built. Yeah, I mean, I mean, okay. So he delights in this destruction, relishing and seeing what he and his followers can break, burn, flood, and just utterly destroy. He has been described as a malicious and twisted child granted a boundless wrath and power, raining havoc and ruin down, knowing full well that none in his path can oppose him.
SPEAKER_02So he's a baby with a blowtorch.
SPEAKER_04Quite literally.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god.
SPEAKER_04Uh I get the image of the aggressive little child burning ants with a magnifying glass. Except the child is also Zeus and Odin somehow.
SPEAKER_02And the ants are like whole like civilizations. Civilizations, you know. Which I guess to a god are just ants. Yeah. And the the the magnifying glass is like, you know, a fire uh is like a fire sharknado. Fire sharknado.
SPEAKER_04No, uh that does verge into Umberly's territory.
SPEAKER_02No, he and he and Umberly can collab and make Sharknado.
SPEAKER_04Okay, that's fine. If it's a collab, that's fine. Talos apparently hates deities that promote building, learning, and nature, and hates those that would dare to alter the weather.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_04He is roused to devastating anger by the faintest slight and has carried grudges for literal centuries. He's very possessive and just gives off angry middle schooler vibes here. Don't make a political joke. Don't make a political joke. Like, what the hell, man? He makes his home on the plane of pandemonium in a place called the Towers of Ruin, which we sort of mentioned last time. Um this is the one that I really like. They're also called the Stream the Screaming Towers and the Towers at the heart of the winds, because of the winds that curl eternally around the helix-shaped tower.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, that's fun.
SPEAKER_04The winds howl along the large craggy twin towers, buffeting away those who disturb Talos in his home. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, that's that's cool. I like it. Cool house for a for a for a really lame sounding dude.
SPEAKER_04I would not want to hang out with Talos, but I would not. I would like to follow his Instagram.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he probably, yeah, where he posts pictures of he just posts like aesthetic pictures of like his house and like volcanoes and shit. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that would be cool. And then really messy posts about his friends and enemies.
SPEAKER_02And just getting into arguments with commenters. Yeah. No, it's not good.
SPEAKER_04Because Talos is bad at relationships.
SPEAKER_03What? Very bad. Yeah. Someone like this? Come on.
SPEAKER_04Malar's a little shit, but he also knows like how to form an alliance pretty well. Uh he knows like Malar sort of delights in making people uncomfortable and hate him, but he also knows how to sort of establish a pseudo-friendship, I guess. Umberly likes being alone, but she also likes, you know, like having people at her beck and call. Right. Um, Oral is the best at talking with anyone.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she's like the only one that, you know, as we discussed prior, seems to be able to um hold a conversation more like to be able to regularly act like a normal person.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Even if she is evil, you know. Yeah. Talos gives off the vibe that he would like to be good at talking to people. He would like to be good at establishing alliances and friends, but he is you just can't not good at it.
SPEAKER_02He he gives to me the vibe of like that one guy who like thinks he's like the main guy in the friend group. Yes. But then like the second he is out of his element, even a little bit, it just doesn't it dissolves. It completely dissolves.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So Talos has a number of very interesting relationships with other deities, most prominently the gods of fury, but he keeps them under a pretty tight reign. So early on, his relationship with Oral is described as close and cordial, but he has no qualms about usurping her portfolio if the opportunity arises.
SPEAKER_02Dude, that's not how you keep friends. This is a trend of Talos.
SPEAKER_04Okay, add this to another check mark on the why is he like this. Also a question on why is he like this? Um seriously, he even tries to usurp Bane's portfolio during the Time of Troubles, which I realize that everyone was kind of trying to usurp each other's portfolio during the Time of Troubles, but like no one was trying to usurp like Talos. Literally no one.
SPEAKER_02No one was talking about him.
SPEAKER_04I imagine in the current day, Oral and Talos are not so close and cordial with the rhyme of the Frostmaiden events where he uh kicked her out. Uh but I digress. I do think that they need to patch things up, and they probably will. His relationship with Anberly is described as apparently quite flirtatious rivalry.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Okay. Little um little toxic, um little toxic situation ship, maybe.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Telos would apparently try to encroach on her portfolio, and she would in turn use this to distract uh use like sex and romance to distract him from doing so. As an aside, I I think of all the gods of fury, Umberly has the best chance in a one-on-one one-on-one against Talos. Okay. Just due to sheer number of worshipers, sheer power, and sheer audacity.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Shh, I mean Umberly does have the audacity. Yeah. They're like uh enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies to just in. They're enemies and lovers sometimes. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04So Talos and Malar basically only work together because it makes sense.
SPEAKER_02He fucking hates that guy. I also fucking hate that guy.
SPEAKER_04Malar would, quote, quite happily kill Talos if he was able. And of course we know that Talos would absorb Malar the second an opportunity arose. Uh speaking of which, his relationships with the other deities. I mentioned Malik earlier and that we would come back to him. Yeah, he is the Underdark god of wild magic and an aspect of Talos. That used to not be the case. Oh. Malik was originally a very powerful and old Drow Lich. During the time of Troubles when Mistra died before her recruit birth, uh, Malik found this reservoir of wild magic from which he stole some of Mistra's divine essence and ascended to Dimmi Godhood. He began to draw away Drow mages and those interested in the dark wild magic he represented. Unfortunately, he was destroyed by Tempest during the aforementioned troubled times because everyone wanted a piece of Mistra while she was MIA.
SPEAKER_02Of course, yeah. They were like, hey, Mistra's gone. Let's go get it. Everyone do everyone do be wanting a piece of Mistra.
SPEAKER_03Hold on, buddy. I got your. Hey, everyone, Riot!
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Except it's hey, everyone sees a part of Mistra. And so Tempest did in fact kill Malik to uh to take that part of Mistra for himself. What a bitch. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Bitch move Tempest.
SPEAKER_04Talos, ever the Optimist, uh, decided, you know what, I didn't get the part of Mistra, but uh I'm gonna take some of that power that he had accumulated and uh that potential for himself, and he absorbed Malik as an aspect. Talos, do eat that.
SPEAKER_02Come on.
SPEAKER_04Tallow. Dark Mage asbeg. Talos had his Stroud followers work to destabilize Lolth, worshipping settlements in the Underdark. Uh he actually really seemed to be making some headway. But then Mistra came back and Talos got bold and tried to expand his dominion over wild and destructive magic through Malik, and Mistra smacked him away. Denied him and his followers access to the weave for a period of time.
SPEAKER_02Grounded them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So he moved on and is no longer attempting to get murdered by the Mistress of Magic, which is, I think, a wise decision.
SPEAKER_02It is very good for, you know, surviving.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Now it's unclear if the real Malik was brought back by Ao when he brought back a lot of other gods, or if it's still just Talon. But regardless, uh Malik doesn't have much sway anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Kind of funny because like if you consider like the cosmology, like Mistra is kind of like his big sister, kind of, which is funny. Like, and I know, like, I I I feel like I know we're kind of at least. In my head, I feel like I'm kind of characterizing him as like a little bit of a chump.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02Like, you know, obviously he is like very powerful or whatever, but it is like funny to just imagine him like as like, you know, coming in like he's such hot shit, and then his city just gets like smacked around by his big sister.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Would I, Taylor, want to take on Talos the Destroyer? No, absolutely not. Would I, as an adventurer in DD, want to take on Talos the Destroyer? Absolutely not. However, if I'm watching Talos fighting up against any of the other gods, I'm like, they're gonna beat the shit out of Talos. Yeah, it's probably, yeah, unless it's like Unless it's one of his underlings.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like, yeah, or one of his underlings, or like, you know, uh like Malar or something. Yeah, that's probably not too good for the other person.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So Talos, uh, on the subject of Malik and ascending and then getting everything.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_04Uh Talos had a bit of an affinity for raising mortals up to godhood. Oh. Um, whether that be because he wants more underlings that he sees potential in, or he sees easily groomable ponds that he can absorb is unclear. Uh maybe a combination of the two, honestly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Velsharoon is one such god, and he seems to be a favorite of Hallos' for all that he's accomplished. We did mention a little bit of Velsharoon at the end of the last episode. Velsharoon was a renegade red wizard of Fae, an Archmage of Necromancy.
SPEAKER_03Right, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_04The Red Wizards and Fae themselves itself are a whole episode and a half, but to put it bluntly, they're basically a cult, but also the Majocratic rulers of Fae. They are not great people. We will probably cover them at some point. Yes, almost certainly.
SPEAKER_02They are bad people. Yeah. All the necromancy and the such.
SPEAKER_04He is over the study and practice of necromancy and evil liches in general. During the time of Troubles, when Merkel was stuck as his avatar and then later briefly dead, Vilsharun made some strides toward adding undeath.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_04As a mortal, Velsharoon was rivals with Zastam, who, if you have seen the DD movie, will, you know, or played Baldur's Gate 3, you'll at least catch the reference of Zastam. But honestly, another future episode. And basically, Velsharoon was driven from Fae in exile. In the exile, he stumbled upon an old rune where a ritual was laid out by Talos to ascend as a demigod. Demigod. He completed the ritual, which turned him into a Lich, and then Talos sponsored him to Godhood. There's a whole back and forth and an interesting story here, but I'll have to save it for another time because it's more like Red Wizard and Velsharoon focused than it is Talos focused. Uh perhaps.
SPEAKER_02I just I love the uh phrase sponsored him to godhood. Like it's some like esports.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_04Perhaps watching his godly father Talos play the other gods of fury off each other inspired him because Velsharoon was very good at this. That's the summary. Yeah, that's yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's Velsharoon episode one day.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. His other allies were variable depending on the whims of himself and the gods in question. He and Shar were known to team up against Helm from time to time. Talos had a cordial relationship with Besheba, the goddess of fortune, and attempted to woo her. Or sorry, the goddess of misfortune, not fortune. Fortuna is the goddess of fortune. Although I think that turns into Tai Taichi, uh Taiki, and then I cannot remember who it is as a fifth edition.
SPEAKER_02Side tangent.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, sorry.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So he had a cordial relationship with Besheba, the goddess of misfortune, and he attempted to woo her, feeling that her portfolios would go fantastic with his, but if they were his instead, she was not interested.
SPEAKER_03Like shocker.
SPEAKER_04In addition to this, despite a lot of overlap in their faithful, Leviatar, the maiden of Pain, was an occasional enemy of his.
SPEAKER_02I mean, who does he not make enemies of at this point? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, but he also um made allies of every at least everyone once, except for one particular god. On at least one occasion. He teamed up with Mistra and basically everyone else to fight against Cyrus, though he was kind of a pain about it.
SPEAKER_02Jesus. It's yeah. He was still like complaining about it regardless.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So as you guys have uh alluded to, Talos has an extensive and ever-expanding list of enemies. Notable enemies include Chantea, Lithander, Mistra sometimes, Helm, Sylvanas, depending on the addition. And interestingly, Gond considers Talos to be his one true foe.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04But it doesn't appear that Talos considers Gond to be anything but annoying. That's very insulting.
SPEAKER_02I love one-sided beef.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, same.
SPEAKER_02Like he's like, uh it's like the bit from like, oh, I don't I don't actually, I don't think the specific line was on the Incredibles, but it's like where he's like, Who are you again?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. As I mentioned earlier, why is Talos like this?
SPEAKER_02Why is Talos like this?
SPEAKER_04Uh well, the novel Prince of Lies, written by James Louder in 1993, Mishra herself tackles this subject. Oh. Okay. Prince of Lies is set during the end stages of the era of upheaval. We've done the episode. Uh I think that that's Midnight or Kalimbor or something. Uh I s no, I think I think Midnight and Kalumvor are Oh, the Era of Upheaval is the beginning of the Oh yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So that's Era of Upheaval encompasses a like the time of troubles, the the Avatar crisis, all of that.
SPEAKER_02They should have they should give that a different name. Because Era of Upheaval is just a synonym for time of trouble. You're not strong. They should have thought about that. But yeah, that is Midnight and Calivore and all them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But the background is that Cyric is claiming uh Cyrus is tricking worshippers of other gods and claiming their souls and has a lot of plans to basically become more powerful. It's not important. And also we're already like Midnight has already ascended to Mistra. That is important, but not like the most important part to keep in mind.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but it it is the it is the was recently was recently mortal woman. Is now Mistra. Is now Mistra, has not gone on to do things to piss me off before the events of Baldur's Gate 3, Mistra, when I fucking catch you.
SPEAKER_04Um I actually do recommend reading this uh series of books if you are just in the mood. Like they're not they're definitely young adult, like they're written like at a young adult level, but it it the plot is interesting, the characterization is interesting, just very interesting. It's the Avatars series of books, which like load it you're gonna have to put in a lot of search terms nowadays to get to the correct, but you'll you you can get there.
SPEAKER_03You'll get there eventually.
SPEAKER_04Early on in the book, Mistra mentions that in neutral meeting zones between the gods, they all tend to view the area through their own biases, preferences, and portfolios. The pavilion of Sinishure, which is basically just a meeting place for the gods, is seen differently by each and every one of them.
SPEAKER_02It's a hollow deck.
SPEAKER_04Kinda, yeah. Except just in their own brain.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_04Tempest sees a battle planning room. Chantea pictures an endless wheat field. The gods even see each other through their portfolios. Lithander views them as either shafts of light or dark clouds. Talos himself sees islands of annoying calms uh uh or sorry, islands of annoying calm in the roiling thunderheads before him.
SPEAKER_02Okay, Talos.
SPEAKER_04Mistra herself apparently sees apprentice mages wandering around a wizard's tower.
SPEAKER_02Hmm.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Mistra when I'm Mr. When I catch you.
SPEAKER_04Okay, this is before all that. I need you to I need you to go back to your Mistra Stan days for this, because Mistra is actually a very sympathetic character in these books to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is before the before the Gale grooming. Before the before that whole situation.
SPEAKER_04I think this might might have taken place before Gail was ever born. So probably.
SPEAKER_02I'm sure. But you know. So it's so interesting though, about them like seeing each other differently.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So Mishra later sheds light on how this perception goes while discussing with Agma Lithander and Talos' eternal feud, while Talos hilariously carves his name into the table right in front of him.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04So they're just talking about Talos and Lithander, while Talos is just like feet away from them, carving his name, and Lithander is presumably just staring at him like he's the worst thing he's ever seen.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god. Lithander's over here, like, is he really doing this right now? And Talos has just got his stupid dinky little pocket knife out, just like eh.
SPEAKER_04And Agma and Mistra are like, why is well Agma's like, why is this happening?
SPEAKER_02And Mistra's like, let me tell you why this is happening. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Mistra responds with, it's simply a function of their offices. Renewal and destruction are not particularly complimentary pursuits. It's nothing more than that. Pretty straightforward.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's still like, okay, why can't they sort of put aside everything to get along for a few minutes, right? Especially on something important.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_04I mean, just because you your your jobs oppose each other doesn't necessarily mean you can't come together on something.
SPEAKER_03Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Well, Mistra expands on this much later when trying to explain why God won't do that and to band together and stop Cyric to Adon, who is her first priest as Midnight Mistra. Like when Midnight ascends, like he is literally the first, he's there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Like, I can't remember if we talked about Adon very much in the sub the episodes about Midnight and Kellenbor, but he was like there the whole time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he was like one of their Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And so as soon as Midnight ascends, he is the first person to commit himself to her new new church.
SPEAKER_02The first the first stan.
SPEAKER_04The first stan.
SPEAKER_02The first stan. He's been here since she had one subscriber.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04The gods see the world as if it were merely a field to be won or lost, but each is playing a different game. Tallos seeks to destroy everything while Leathander plots and schemes to bring about rebirth. They only notice the others in the Pantheon when they get in the way. When he doesn't get it, she teleports them to Waterdeep inside of the magical asylum. Yeah, it's not just because of like, alright, well, you're not fucking getting it, so we're going to Waterdeep. He she has a plan.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04The patients of the asylum are all victims of miscast or magic on awry.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_04So she has a particular, like, soft spot in her heart for all of the, you know, patients in this asylum. Their minds are warped from these accidents and have some rather unique presentations of madness that Mistray uses for her analogy. Come here, Adon. I want you to meet Talos. Now, Adon has a history with the gods. Won't get into it. But he's immediately pissed. He's like, have you lost your humanity to make light of all of this? And she's like, No, look again. I know you're she she's pissed at him at this point. And she's like, look again, Addon, I know you're bright enough to understand this. So literally like, bitch, you ain't stupid look.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. The madman was naked, his hair long and unkempt. With blue eyes narrowed in suspicion, he watched the patriarch closely. All the while he plucked the beard from his chin one whisker at a time. He dropped the hair onto the floor around him, which was already crowded with unraveled threads of his blanket and cloth shreds that had once been his clothes. Go ahead, Adon, Mistress said softly, try to stop him. The patriarch reached out and stilled the man's hand. I will have to read this verbatim so uncomfortable terminology for me. The lunatic trembled, watching Adon with watery eyes. After a moment, when he thought the inmate had calmed, Adon released him, and the bony fingers flew to the offending beard and tore at it again, neither faster nor more slower than before. Mistra laid a gentle hand on Adon's shoulder. What does he see when he looks at you? Someone's stopping him from plucking his beard out. Maybe not even a person. Maybe I'm just some huge paralyzing shadow or a set of chains. So now you've met Talos, Mistra said flatly. Or someone very much like him. This poor man destroys whatever clothes or bedding they give him. No one can figure out why. His mind is set on it, and if they keep him chained too long, he stops eating, stops sleeping. They let him out like this now and then to tear something up. And like the gods, he's only aware of anyone around him in so much as they help or hinder his mad view of the world. She shows she shows I know, it's very interesting. She shows a version of Ilmator, a man sobbing violently, and Gond, who is obsessively building towers from anything he might come across, as well as Sune. A man so obsessed with preserving the bits of his perceived beauty that he neglects the rest of himself. And you, Adon asks bluntly, what is the face of your madness? Ao allowed me to keep something of my humanity, but that means I can see all the others are mad, Mistress said. Talos has no idea how others perceive the world. I, on the other hand, can share in his and every other god's twisted vision. In the end, that could make me the maddest. But all that to say, Talos is like this simply because he is the embodiment of destruction. Which it at least in this book, the the way it sort of is explained. Explained and like the way it presents the gods is sort of when they become the embodiment of something, that sort of just it it becomes very literal. They only perceive things within their portfolio. There's a later part where Mistra, who, as Midnight, was lovers with Kellenvoor, is scared to ask what he sees when he looks at her now.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, that's spicy.
SPEAKER_04Because he is the god of head. Yeah. And uh Kellenbour, when she does ask, Kellenvor refuses to give her a solid answer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's spicy.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so she has she has trouble. No, I'm not, I'm not gonna start the Mr. Hate train again. I'm putting I'm putting it back in the station.
SPEAKER_04Back in the station for now because Back in the station for now. Trust me, like different writers. The writers for this didn't realize that Mr. Was from a group. Sorry. Um, also, I just want to mention this real quick. Uh there's a in within the book is a really funny section where the gods are trying to re-imprison Kazeth the Hound. Bye writes, we cannot imprison the hound until he has struck against one of the gods faithful. Even when that has happened, don't count on a treaty too quickly, Ogma warned. When we last hunted Kazef, it took us nearly a year of mortal time to hammer out the pact. Kalos is always the problem. He gets fixated on blowing up the moon, and well, he've been to enough councils to know how he gets.
SPEAKER_02Why does Kalos want to blow up the moon? We are going to destroy the moon. She says, I hate the moon specifically.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Destroy it. It doesn't mention that he has a particular issue with Saluna other than the fact that, you know, she's, you know, good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. But but to blow up the moon for some reason.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Hey, you know, there's not a lot of natural disasters happening on the moon, so maybe he's not a big fan of that. He's like, we need to we need to get some of that. We need to fix this. We need to fix this. We need tornadoes on the moon.
SPEAKER_04Tornadoes on the moon.
SPEAKER_02So no dogs, though.
SPEAKER_04When Talos appears very nice reference. Thank you. Um Wyn Talos appears in the flesh. He is a broad-shouldered, bearded young man, which I never pictured a young man, but okay. Um I didn't either.
SPEAKER_02I think he seems he seems so like Zeus, he seems too Zeus and Odin-ish to me to seem like a young man.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think that that's my problem as well. Bearded young man with a single good eye. The other is an empty socket, covered by a dark patch. The empty eye socket is filled with whirling stars.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's so cool. That's so bitchy. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_04He is said to carry a bundle of three staffs across his back, made from the first tree cut down in the world, the first silver melted, and the first iron forged. Ooh, I knew that that would get y'all.
SPEAKER_02It's like the three lightning bolts.
SPEAKER_04Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh my god. With these staves, he raises the winds, cleaves the earth, runs the sea, and wreaks his havoc. The three lightning bolts of his holy symbol represent these staffs, and when he vents his wrath on the world, he is thought to hurl them down from the sky as lightning strikes.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, you guys, I have basic patterned recognition.
SPEAKER_04What?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's very Zeus.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, very Zeus. But it does have like it I like this because it does sort of hearken back to like being a nature deity, which we haven't gotten a ton of. And I I don't know. I think I just think it's cool. I like the flavor. It's good flavor.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So he appeared very similar in his netheries depictions as Kosa, with the added mention that his good eye was the blazing yellow of crackling lightning. Think of lightning as being yellow, but I guess you know. His gaze was said to be able to send forth raging currents of lightning to smite his foes at his whim. When he appeared as Belrose in Calum Shin, he appeared as a turbaned genie with dusky skin rising out of the sandstorm, everything else being very similar, though.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's cool. Like a um yeah. Dusky skin. Yeah, sort of like a um I'm I'm picturing like I know this is this is you know the most the most like basic, but I am picturing like the swirling effect on like the bottom halves of like the genies and Aladdin, whatever they're like marvelance, you know. Except it's just like just a sandstorm, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Dusky skin just is sort of like a poetic way of saying of saying like darker skin. Okay. Yeah. Um other man manifestations when he wasn't interested in being physically present include a Titanic bellowing laughter in the heart of a gale. See, that's that's cute.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I say cute, you know. That's cute. Hey, compared to everything else about him.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, I feel like that's the cutest description I've heard already.
SPEAKER_04Sometimes the laughter is accompanied by two giant blazing holes of eyes.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I don't like it anymore. I don't like it anymore.
SPEAKER_04Not as cute. Now I'm a little spiritual. We're surrounded by swirling maelstroms of air. Okay, not cute. Um, at sea, this manifestation always means the loss of at least one ship.
SPEAKER_03Oh Jesus.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks, Talos.
SPEAKER_04In urban areas, talos more often manifests as two fist-sized swirling storm clouds. There's a clap of thunder and lightning arcs between the clouds. He will also manifest his actions through Vargills. I I was gonna look up how to pronounce that, but I forgot. Yet hounds, quasites, wind walkers, and the elemental spirits known as tempests.
SPEAKER_03Okay. A clap of thunder, lightning arcs.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if I don't know if quasits are all like that. Um but I I hope they are.
SPEAKER_04Hopefully. I mean, they are sort of imp-like, so I would imagine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know if they're all foul mouth little little creatures, but I hope they are.
SPEAKER_04Um so his color associations are black, gold, and silver.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_04Clean. Yeah. He's also associated with uh red lightning, just throwing that out there. Um I I think we could just put it at lightning, but it does want to make mention of specifically red lightning. Oh, specifically red lightning. Yeah. So uh we are going to discuss how Kalos is worshipped and what his worshippers have done, sort of get into the netherell of it all.
SPEAKER_02Oh, then into the netherill. The netherill regions.
SPEAKER_04Yes. God damn it. But uh we're gonna take our quick ad break.
SPEAKER_03Alright, well, we'll be back then. Uh hey everybody, welcome to the ad break.
SPEAKER_04I have a couple quick things I want to get out of the way before we do our regular portion. So, first thing is on BuzzSprout, we actually recently got access to ads. So we did run our first ads on our podcasting platform recently. And if you have any feedback on how that went, if you happen to get one of the ads, because I know not everyone did, let me know because I want to make sure that we're doing it right. Like we right now, every like every single cent of what we earn goes into trying to make the podcast better. And so I want I do want us to generate money for that. Because if you've been listening since, you know, Arch Lich and Outdated Memes or You will know that I am obsessed with trying to improve our sound quality, uh, despite how it sounds, because at various points it has tried to kill me.
SPEAKER_02For some for no identifiable reason.
SPEAKER_04Yes. But we're getting there. I'm actually pretty happy with how last week's episode turned out. Sound wise, I'm pretty happy with like my abilities as a sound artist at this point. I need to go back and I actually have sort of gone back and adjusted some previous episodes, so that's beside the point. Please let me know how uh ads are on BuzzSprout, like on the podcasting platforms, and just let g give feedback. I don't mind. Um, I actually greatly appreciate it. With that being said, thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate that. We do still have our affiliate partnership with Fanroll Dice. You can use your code DungeonPedia for 10% off of your entire order at fanalddice.com. We do also have our Patreon if you'd like to support us more directly. We have my first mini soda, which is free, and then Travis's mini sode, and then I am actually, so that Loon can get a little bit more research done on their mini suit, I'm actually going to cut pop in with another mini sote this month, and that should be going up in the next week.
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SPEAKER_02Which will be often. All the time. Just all the time. Your phone will be getting spammed. Remember to rate us and leave a review on any platforms that allow it. Also spread the word to your friends. We greatly appreciate it. Yeah. Your friends, your enemies, your fellows. Your friendemies, your friends, your enemies.
SPEAKER_04Your situationship where you guys are really more enemies, but you do still enjoy the act of flirtation as long as it is tinged with violence.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Also, your your enemies who you mutually enjoy Alexander Nakarada, who made a song Blacksmith. How was that transition? That was beautiful. That was one of my favorites. Thanks. I'll be here all week. And with that, uh, let's go ahead and get back to the podcast. Alright, let's hear more about all the talos worshippers that probably are apparently doing more things than Talos, because he apparently doesn't do much.
SPEAKER_04I mean, at least that's like I think that really what it is is that he just does constant destruction. So there's nothing to really like be like, oh, and this is a really big destruction that Talos did.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he doesn't have like the, you know, the the the battle of the whatever or the you know uh such and such disaster, because it's kind of just all talos all the time. Yeah, talos all the time. So you mean well actually now I'm disappointed because this means that there's probably not a um instance that we're gonna come to later where he like actually destroyed the moon that we have to we have to go over.
SPEAKER_04No, unfortunately, talos isn't well unfortunately and fortunately, talos has never destroyed the moon.
SPEAKER_02Talos has not destroyed the moon yet. Yes. He is apparently attempted.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02He really wants to.
SPEAKER_04Worshippers of Talos are often called Storm Heralds, Stormbringers, or Devastators, but all call themselves Tempests. Tempests is sort of the overarching terminology for the worshippers of Talos. The clergy of Talos are all called Stormlords.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_04It's a very um lowercase S, obviously. Right, yeah. Yes, because very uh you can't do that for Talos. Uh Talos. Yeah. Although Talos is a popular deity, his name is invoked more often out of fear than out of preference, much like Umberly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the the like pray to leave a offering, whatever. Yeah. So that way he doesn't destroy your town. He's like, you know, the the throw of virgin in a volcano every summer or whatever.
SPEAKER_04So his priests are often doomsayers, like I mentioned last time, traveling like a wayward storm warning of said wayward storm. They wear ragged robes and cloaks shot through with jagged lines of gold and silver, and many wear an eye patch in deference to Talos.
SPEAKER_02Man, eye patches are so cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Um, an alternate sort of description of their robes describes them as blue-white streaked with crimson that seems to crackle with lightning due to a minor illusory glamour, and all but clarity dress in ro robes and cloaks of black with teardrops and jagged lines of gold or silver. I like that better.
SPEAKER_02I also like that better. That is that is like that's very fan. That's so fancy.
SPEAKER_04The little hoods are apparently like pointed, which has earned them the unflattering name of Doom Crows.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Doom Crows. Okay, yeah, that's not not the best.
SPEAKER_04But I like it. I think it's funny. It is funny. It it is. I'll grant that. Yeah. The small and disorganized Church of Talos works to sow chaos to challenge or weaken a respect for authority.
SPEAKER_02Which is like Which is like generally, you know, generally, I think a noble endeavor. But this like I'm I'm generally one for, you know, like uh, you know, disrespecting authority. I love that. But you know, this guy is like such a like unfortunately I have I have characterized this guy as like such a such a chud that I'm like it's not like questioning authority just to question authority, just yeah, instead of like yeah, yeah. Instead of like the authority is actively necessarily doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're kind of just like, you know.
SPEAKER_04Kind of reminds me of like the group.
SPEAKER_02Teenagers.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. It's sort of teenagery, sort of like, uh, fuck it. I'll get a little political. The people who are like, don't trust doctors. Right, yeah. Like, or some doctors individually, not to be trusted, absolutely, but like science, broadly speaking, yeah, is important.
SPEAKER_02When when someone is like, hey, you should take medicine if you're sick, and then this other person is like, that's just what they want you to think. Yes. Yeah. Well, they're like, you know, uh frothing at the mouth, you know? Yeah. Like all snotty. They sound like shit. They're like, that's just what they want you to think. That's just what they want you to think.
SPEAKER_04Talos always has too few worshippers for his liking in part because worship of the stormlord is outlawed in many countries.
SPEAKER_03Hmm. Okay. I wonder why.
SPEAKER_04So his clergy are sent into the world to spread word of his might and to try and recruit others to his worship either out of fear or because such people enjoy wielding raw power. So, yes, your view on exactly who these uh people are is accurate. Uh the fatalistic clerics of Talos tend to indulge in acts of random or spiteful destruction as they travel to make examples of all folk who stand up to them. And as far as their predictions of natural disaster go, they almost always come true because of either because they've been warned about it or because either they or Talos ensure that they come true.
SPEAKER_02They're like, guys, I think this volcano, I think this volcano's gonna explode.
SPEAKER_04So sometimes the sources vary whether or not clerics first demand loot or strange threats or said loot. The Storm Lord allows this clergy to reap material rewards such as plundered wine or coin and purchase of luxuries and indulgences to take some time off between actively destroying things. Oh, well, that's that's nice. Yeah. He's real he is actually really big on like enjoying yourself in between your acts of um reverence to God.
SPEAKER_02It's like it's like how like it's like the opposite of like, you know, the image of someone who is very pious, like occasionally wanting to like let loose and like not be a very nice person, except this is like the opposite. It's like you get to take a break from being like rampantly violent. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_04Many tempests live in idle luxury. They fled to or wherever they fled to after their latest sacred deed of destruction.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um they uh await the top chance to do more destruction, such as burning down a temple or a town hall before moving on again. Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_02I was literally about to make a joke of of the them being like, This is this is this is my like sacred worship, and it's just them fucking throwing a Molotov cocktail at a random building.
SPEAKER_04Quite literally, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it literally is.
SPEAKER_04They tend to live undetected as they wait and plan, which does kind of ruin my image of the just the guy that you know the guy is just walking down the street and you're like and he's wearing that outfit. And you're like, yeah, that guy is going to be arrested for throwing a Molotop cocktail at something.
SPEAKER_02Very soon. It's gonna happen. Very soon. Maybe today. I better I better cross the street, you know.
SPEAKER_04I grew up, well, I didn't grow up in a small town. I live in a small town. I I I know the type.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they're walking out of the they're walking out of the from the from the laboratory down the street.
SPEAKER_04The laboratory.
SPEAKER_02The laboratory. I like it. I don't know if I could say the first word.
SPEAKER_04Probably not. You I probably shouldn't. We don't have any monetization, but you will permanently take away monetization.
SPEAKER_02If you know, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. If you know, you know. If you've lived in rural America, you you know. But anyway, um, the best incidents of holy destruction are those perpetuated by a tempest who can then seize the wealth and move on without being pursued by an infuriated witness or the victims of their destruction.
SPEAKER_02That's very convenient. That is very difficult. Like it's very convenient that they let you keep the uh it's very convenient that they let you keep the material benefits of it. Talos doesn't know how to appeal to people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Talos worshippers see visions of widespread destruction precipitating big natural disasters, as well as notably the ten black days of Elaine in Tether. That we discussed previously, and now Talos Worship is banned in Tether.
SPEAKER_02Of course it is. Yeah, okay. Okay, no. That tracks.
SPEAKER_03Like, nope, not allowed anymore.
SPEAKER_02Not since the incident.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. On to Netherell and Kalamshan.
SPEAKER_02Famously um, places where things happen.
SPEAKER_04Yes. This part is written as sort of a guide to Kalumshan. Talos called Belrose and Kalumshan. Kalshites claim the existence of Talos is merely the northern barbarian's ignorant misrepresentation of Belrose. Long-standing Kalshite myths suggest that Belrose may have once existed as a separate power of destruction, and the fact that a number of Belros's shrines and temples in Kalumshan predate Talos' worship under the name Talos, anywhere else in the realms, weakly supports this. Separate god Belros, if he ever existed at all, was subsumed into Talos and Talos' faith within the last two millennia, and Kalumshan's worship of Talos now only differs from the other places by his name. I will mention this does seem to forget that Talos used to be named Koza, and Koza is ancient, so I'm pretty sure that Belrose has always been Talos, and it's just that in Kalumshan he went by Belrose.
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, and and you know, like different everyone knows, especially in D D, like different areas uh or like groups that worship the same god often love to argue about the specifics and claim that they're the only they're the people who have it right. Yeah. Yeah, and these other people are fucking idiots.
SPEAKER_04The only difference here is that Talos actually loves that in fighting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, of course he does. It's like this is awesome.
SPEAKER_04Because of the fact that they would fight, like quite literally, physically over this. Uh he was like, oh yes, more destruction. And then after a little bit of time, he was like, Okay, look, come together.
SPEAKER_02Agree to disagree and focus the destruction in a y'all gotta stop killing each other so you you you can all band together to throw Molotov cocktails at buildings in different places. Exactly, yeah. Yeah. Other places of worship, you know. Also, I know that it makes sense given like how words work, but calashite is such a such a such a such a good such a word. Kalashite.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Um, so I just wanted to read the sentence because it I really liked it. Um that's it. Uh when strife eclipses the sun, only Belrose lights the consciousness of men. Ooh. I I don't know exactly what that means, but I will say that Belrose is seen more like neutral by the function. But like that that's end of sentence.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's yeah, maybe maybe more like a um like a somewhat somewhat neutral force of nature as opposed to a little bit more kind of evil evil guy that definitely delights in destruction. Yeah. Like maybe still some of that, but maybe a little bit less Yeah. You know, a little bit more force of nature versus a guy who is also like that.
SPEAKER_04His iteration of Koza is definitely also more neutral. Talos himself is very much like that, but Koza is a bit more neutral. Like Yeah. You'll maybe my own perceptions are coloring this though, because the most favorable reception his priest received was that was with oppressed netheres. The oppressed netheres loved Koza slash talos, whom were often encouraged to riot and rebellion in the words of Koza's priests. Now you can see a little bit why I might. And what I will say is that it is far more neutral, he is perceived far more neutral among the Bedin, more of the Zeus type that you don't want to piss off, but like But is it like ontologically, yeah. But in Netheril, as Koza, it might just be my own bias. We'll see. As you might imagine, though, Talos had a very interesting time in Netherill, you know, the land of um inequity, if you will.
SPEAKER_03Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So the largest temple at the time could be found in the fundamentalist city of Monacar.
SPEAKER_02That's a word.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, I heard the F word and I was like, um I got scared.
SPEAKER_04The citizens embraced the belief of Kosa, hoping that God would bring the destruction of magic, the fall of decadent netheral, and a return to a more pastoral and traditional feudal lifestyle. Now, I don't know why we wanted to go from uh major majocracy to feudalism. I feel like there are some areas in between that is quite jump.
SPEAKER_02No, those are the those are the two genders. Umarchy and pastoral feudalism. Those are the two genders.
SPEAKER_04There's definitely something that we could go with in between there that is not feudalism. But you know what? I mean, obviously, when the ashes fell, the talos clergy wanted to be in charge of something. So I guess that's why they specifically chose feudalism. Uh that's constructed to resemble a whirlwind. Oh, that's true. Which is fun. Uh huh. Yeah. That's sorry, hold on, let me just read this whole thing because it's actually really cool. Uh the outside walls stood about nine stories tall, and the hallway spiraled toward the center and down, creating a dark under chamber that was used for purposes known only to the priesthood.
SPEAKER_02That tracks. Yeah. Secret, secret cult basement. Yeah. Yeah, that's yeah, tracks a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_04It was said that a continual dark cloud hung over the building, ricocheting lightning and turbulent rains across its wooden structure and metallic supports, but no real damage was ever inflicted upon the structure.
SPEAKER_02It's kind of like the milder version of like Talos' home with like the big towers and like the whipping winds and stuff. This is like the slightly milder version, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. The Under Under Chamber was used exclusively to train inductees in combat and priestly casting. That's pretty much it. It definitely seems more nefarious than it actually was used for, but you know. That's kind of because Netherell allowed a lot of shit to happen.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it was like, Yeah. You know, if you wanted to do something really fucked up, like you probably didn't even need a secret cult basement to do it. Exactly. So, you know, they were like, this is just a really nice space for um spell casting and sword training.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, why not? So when Nether El fell, the city of Monacar welcomed refugees with open arms. And then brutally killed them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was like, no, it didn't, no, it didn't, no, it didn't. There's the two, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Thousands of refugees died at the hands of the city before it was sacked, destroying the temple and burning the city to the ground. I do still have a soft spot for the beginning because of the oppressed, but that's pretty rough, y'all.
SPEAKER_02The ending is not great. I mean, I could I could definitely see this story as being like the sort of lens where like you have a group of people who like obviously have a lot of very valid grievances with things. Um, and then you have sort of like a charismatic figure to kind of come in and be like, oh yeah, here's what we're gonna do. Here's how we're gonna iron out these grievances you have, and then kind of takes advantage of the situation, and then suddenly the city, then suddenly it's like, Patrick, we saved the city, and it's like on fire. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04You know, it's saved. Um, other than that, uh, as Kosa, he had a powerful and cruel uh an order, sorry, of powerful and cruel, hateful mages who called themselves Doomsayers.
SPEAKER_02No, no. All the names. Stormlords, doomsayers, tempests. Yes.
SPEAKER_04My god, guys. Um dramatic. So they delighted in casting the most destructive spells in the middle of cities whenever possible for no apparent reason other than personal merriment.
SPEAKER_02They're literally just running down the street, just like chain lightning. Yep.
SPEAKER_04Fireball and membership in this order tended to be short-lived, however, as its members were relentlessly hunted down.
SPEAKER_02If they didn't accidentally kill themselves from like a misfire.
SPEAKER_04Right. And this is why the magical asylum exists. Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So Dumbasses.
SPEAKER_04The most important center of worship to Talos in Feyrun, which was also important during his time as Koza, is the Gulf of Storms in Eastern Aum. It is a deep, narrow, cleft valley between mountains, which can be found in the northeast. The peculiar iron outcrop, iron ore outcrops high in the walls of the valley, combined with the valley's shape and the presence of specific rocks here, whose crystals would attract electrical charges, make the valley prone to filling with spectacular deadly arrays of crisscrossing, leaping bolts of lightning. That's really cool. It's very cool. That's so cool. Whenever and like any lightning would set it off, either natural or a magical bolt of lightning, sure. One of the walls, it would just jump and just create this display.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I would just be casting lightning all the time.
SPEAKER_04Well, um, you might consider uh becoming a Talisman clergy because it is actually a pilgrimage to go to Gul Gulf of Storms and just cast a bunch of lightning into this.
SPEAKER_02I mean, hell yeah. I'm very sorry, but I wonder if someone looked at this and decided that they were like, yeah, it's gonna be a deep, narrow, cleft valley next to a mountain called Asar's Peak.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it is called Asar's Peak. It's actually pronounced Asar's Peak, but yeah. Yeah, but it is spelled Asar.
SPEAKER_02Like a butt.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Like a butt.
SPEAKER_02Deep narrow cleft valley next to butt mound. I'm sorry. I'm 12 years old. I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_04Sometimes sometimes uh these electrical discharges seem to attract storms. Clouds that race down the valley valley and then lash across Om and Tether. Devout Talosons call such storms the tongues of Talos and view them as a sign that the god is pleased with the doings of his faithful. Since I have intrigued you into potentially joining the Order of Talos, let's discuss the dogma. Life is a combination of random effects and chaos, so grab what you can when you can, because Talos may take you to the afterlife at any moment.
SPEAKER_02So basically YOLO. YOLO.
SPEAKER_04Uh preach the might of Talos and warn others of the forces only he can command, the fury of all Pherune. Walk unafraid in storms, forests, fires, earthquakes, and other disasters, for the power of Talos protects you. I don't think so. Do so publicly whenever possible, so that people can see that only Talos can protect them. Make others fear Talos by showing the destruction that he and his servants can cause. Hurl such forces at one's foes if Talos deems a place or a person worth defending. One cannot afford to ignore Talos, but one must bow down and worship him. Proclaim this message to all and show everyone the destruction even the slightest observance of Talos can cause.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so we have kind of I I didn't want to mention it this whole episode, but here we are. We have kind of circled around to like the street preacher in Skyrim who's screaming about Talos. We have come around to that.
SPEAKER_04We have come back around to that, yes. Yeah. Talos, the an air. Hold on. Because now we're in his creed. Oh, we're the creed of Talos the Destroyer.
SPEAKER_02And now we've got a creed.
SPEAKER_04Obey every bidding or sign of Talos. His voice speaks in the howling winds. His face and hands appear in the storm clouds and your dreams. And his lightning bolts point the way. Destroy order. Destroy crops and the mountain monuments of other gods, preferably with destructive elements. I don't know why there's a preferably in there. It really took me out of it. It really took me out of it.
SPEAKER_02Just imagine that being read as like a and the monuments of other gods. Preferably with destructive elements. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Use your magic to use your magic to aid forest fires and hard freezes. Breach walls and split roofs of storm blah blah blah blah blah. Hold on, let me take that one again. Breach walls and split roofs as storms approach, so that natural fury can enter and sunder these no longer secure structures. So fear of Tallos as you sow destruction, destroy something every day. Okay. Yeah, so that's the creed of Talos.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I have a few suggestions for changes, but I will wait until I'm a bit higher up to preferably. You can't come in as a you can't come in as a newbie, like, hey, I don't think we need this level of specificity. Also, we should make the creed a little bit shorter and then someone just fucking kills you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Probably yeah.
SPEAKER_02Just on the spot.
SPEAKER_04So uh a frequent a frequent ri blah blah blah blah blah. I can't talk. Hold on. This is a problem.
SPEAKER_02That's okay. I think I I don't think it's a problem because these people don't seem like they're much for like talking. Like I think you can kind of just kind of yell whatever while you're you know Talos doesn't really have any notable holidays.
SPEAKER_04Um we will be talking about notable holidays with the others, but not so much with Talos. But he does have a lot of like specific rituals, and one frequently seen ritual is the Fury, which is simply a berserk attack on all encountered while howling the name of Talos repeatedly. Oh I cannot make this up. It begins and ends with a prayer if the priest who incites it survives. And usually involves the hurling of spells and of lit, carried torches in an effort to visit considerable destruction on any given place within a short period of time. It is considered most holy when performed by a lone talison priest.
SPEAKER_02And just shooting fire. Just destroying things. Okay. Yeah, that's not a ritual. That's just like arson.
SPEAKER_04Are you telling me that Talos does not give off the vibe that he finds arson to be quite holy? No, he he does. I'm just I'm just saying. So Talosons do celebrate annual festivals, they just don't have their own like specific one.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. So you can you can worship Talos, but like still celebrate Christmas with your family. That's nice.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, so they mark all of them with uh rituals that call down lightning or call up storms. So you you're not off the clock. You it will have to storm on Christmas. So you will have to parcelitize to your family during dinner. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Good, good, good.
SPEAKER_04Calling down the thunder is the most sacred of these rituals and involves the slaying of an intelligent being by lightning in return for the stormlord granting a special boon.
SPEAKER_02I like the capital C, capital D, capital T, and calling down the thunder.
SPEAKER_04It's the proper name. Calling down the thunder.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah. Uh the special boon, it really doesn't matter. Like it mentioned like spells and stuff like that. So Or he just like gives you a little pat on the head, you know, like all would-be priests of the Storm Lord are confirmed to his service through the manifestation of Talos as two small storm clouds, the previously mentioned fist size. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, those weren't very those aren't very big, but well, okay, I think it's like air fist.
SPEAKER_04Maybe fist-shaped.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. There were some weird errors early on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it it just feels very it just it just feels like a weirdly specific measurement. Like it isn't just like small, it's like fist size.
SPEAKER_04That like specifically the idea is that these are Talos' fists.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And you gotta catch them.
SPEAKER_04Well, no, actually, the cloud strike the supplicant with a red lightning strike.
SPEAKER_02So you you do catch these hands.
SPEAKER_04You do in fact catch these hands. Um lightning. It does him or if it does him or her no harm, it is revealed to the supplicant's mind that uh he or she. Let's just use they. I yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if you're if you're if you're non-binary, you can't be a talus of three.
SPEAKER_04It's just one of those things where the use of he or she just gets so tiresome. And yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because it's like you can use less letters even.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Anyways. That does them no harm, and it is revealed to the supplicant's mind that they are chosen to serve the stormlord. This is referred to as being touched by tallows. I think I would not like to be. Capital T. Capital T. Capital T.
SPEAKER_02So if you die, you're not, but if you survive, you're fine. Yeah. Yeah, it's very um, it's very like if she sinks, she's if she's innocent, but if she floats, she's a witch. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Like, also, like, I mean, if it were me, I feel like if if I were part of this, this like uh this like confirmation or whatever, like I would be kind of unimpressed if the lightning didn't hurt me. Like I would be like, I'm supposed to worship this guy and he this doesn't even hurt. Like, what are we doing here? And then they would kill me. Yeah. And then they would kill me for having a bad attitude. How dare you.
SPEAKER_04If you want to stay, go join the cult of Leviatar.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So other notable worshippers include brigand bands, reavers, and raiders who pay tribute to Talos in his priesthood, but not organized enough to really be called an affiliated order.
SPEAKER_02Uh, also definitely people who just bandwagon on like rampant destruction. Yes. You know?
SPEAKER_04Um, a mysterious group of wizards who specialize in exotic combinations, verbatim quote, of elemental magic known as the Lords of the Tempest, that specifically owe allegiance to Talos.
SPEAKER_02Exotic combinations of exotic combinations.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04Uh a cabal of crazed sages and mystic spellcasters of assorted disciplines, both religious and secular, intent on bringing about the end of the world known only as the circle of rust and worm and the worm, who have sought and obtained the destroyer as a patron.
SPEAKER_02The circle of rust and the worm. I mean, you could have just stopped with the circle of rust, honestly. Hmm.
SPEAKER_04Well who's the worm? I don't know. It's also W-O-R-M.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it's yeah, it's Earthworm. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Orm. Or maybe it's a purple worm.
SPEAKER_02Or an Alaskan bull worm. They're they're just big fans of Rust Monsters and Purple Worms.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that is exactly where my brain went.
SPEAKER_02Unrelated, unrelated to Talos, like they just like them.
SPEAKER_04On that note, we have discussed, like, in the past a lot about the Cult of the Dragon.
SPEAKER_02I feel like mostly mostly tangentially, because it's kind of like it does feel like cover the cult of the dragon. Yeah, but you know.
SPEAKER_04Which is kind of bizarre, but Well, that's because sometimes DD doesn't know what the cult of the dragon is. Sometimes Forgotten Realms doesn't know what the cult of the dragon is. There's a lot of variations of Cults of the Dragon, I will say that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, yeah, good point. And it it it does feel very like, despite that, it does also feel like one of those things where it's just like, yeah, y'all know what the cult of the dragon is. A little bit. Tiamat's Tiamat's involved, probably. They're not nice people.
SPEAKER_04Not necessarily this time. Oh. I mean, Tiamat's involved, but not as much as she should be, or like in later editions.
SPEAKER_02Let them off doing their thing. No.
SPEAKER_04Oh. Like the the premise has nothing to do with Tiamat. This is actually one of the first, I believe, cult of the dragons. Ignore what you know about the Cult of the Dragon. This is sort of the first one, and it's different, and it's weird. Um it's a secret society dedicated to bringing about the inevitable rule of Feyrune by undead dragons. Just totally normal things, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's completely normal. Okay, so this is okay. Alright.
SPEAKER_04Founded by the mad archmage, later turned Lich, some master, the cult's information gathering, illegal acts, magical research, and alliances with evil dragons all help it acquire power and wealth. Using these tools, the cult fortifies its holdings and proceeds towards its goal, converting dragons to the most terrible form of undeath, the Draco Lich.
SPEAKER_02Yay. Wait, that's bad. It is bad. Wait, that's bad. That is bad. What the hell, man? Unexpected, yeah, unexpected connection to the last episode, also. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03What the hell?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Draco glitchy? He was he was partially involved in that, though it was it was it basically it was some people within the Cult of the Dragon were essentially kind of claiming that this plan was on behalf of Null. But it specifically says in there that like no one's actually sure if Null actually gave a shit about that or not, or if people were just saying that.
SPEAKER_04I imagine at least half of Null wouldn't be too pleased.
SPEAKER_02But the other half of Null would be like, yes, more religious. Yes. Um so like who knows?
SPEAKER_04Who knows? Talos followers serve within the cult of the dragon, alongside clerics of Bane, Shar, Telona, Vilchirun, and a few of Cyrik, Gargoth, Malar, and Tiamat.
SPEAKER_02Just all the evil gods.
SPEAKER_04Yes. I mean, this is like probably my least favorite incarnation of the cult of the dragon. Um, especially because okay, so do you know I don't know that this is the vibe that it's intending to give off. But do you know about Rococo's basilisk?
SPEAKER_02You mean Roko's basilisk?
SPEAKER_04I just invented a new basilisk, but it's Roko.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay, that that fucks. Uh yes, I do know about Roko's basilisk. Um, but I don't know about it. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Should we explain a is it unethical if we explain a is it ethical if we explain Roko's basilisk?
SPEAKER_02Uh okay, uh uh cognitohazard. Um just general cognitohazard. Um Roko's basilisk is basically a concept, uh, I guess you could say, of of like a future where there's like a like a sort of like machine god type entity that essentially has knowledge of like, you know, everything that's ever happened, like any person that's ever existed, and will essentially seek out violent revenge on any person who did not contribute to making it exist once they have been made aware of the fact that eventually Rokos Basilisk will exist.
SPEAKER_04It is sort of a thought experiment. Yeah. Some weirdo tech giants sort of got a hold of and made it their whole personality. And like think of it as being like, oh, this is actually a real thing that's going to happen, and now my life is ruined because I was told about it. Whereas it's it's kind of it's just it's just a thought experiment. No, very few people actually think it's a real thing. It did not start as something where it would actually be a real thing.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, like it's it wasn't, you know, but at the at the same time, it's sort of given given the context, it it might be like, well, now I've now that I've made you aware of it, you know, it kind of is but the the um tech giant weirdos who did make it their whole personality and are like, oh, this is definitely a real thing that I actually have to worry about now.
SPEAKER_04That is the vibe I get from this original Yeah, I think I can see it. Because they're like the inevitable rule of they ruined by undead dragons. Why is it inevitable?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like why? Why is it inevitable? I don't know. Anyways because Null said so. Um, citation needed on that one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Also of note, the Doom Guard from our sigil episode. They are actually frequently worshippers of Taliffs. Oh. So, as ancients of entropy, members of the Doom Guard find a natural affinity for powers who bring destruction to the multiverse, whether on a grand or local scale. Thus, they count Talus the Destroyer as one of their patrons.
SPEAKER_02I like the That's pretty cool. The word local scale.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Local scale. Grassroots. This is good old grassroots. Destruction, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, I don't have time to get into all of this, and I honestly would want to do more research if I did have time. But um Complete Psionics, uh, which was Psionics. Psionics. Okay. Which was a supplement released in the 90s, I believe. I didn't write down in here where it was. Um, has a very intriguing series of classes, like psionic monk classes that one could take that all have like a pretty talos-leaning like potential, including the anarchic initiate, the storm disciple, uh, okay, yeah, actually just those two. Uh the anarchic initiate and the storm disciple. Uh which the storm disciple is basically made for Talos. The Anarchic Initiate can other paths, but yeah. Anyway, one other quick thing that I want to do, uh, if you are on the visual, I want to show you what I had to deal with in terms of uh pictures. There are not very many pictures of Talos or many of the gods of fury, but I can't remember which supplement, but what oh uh Adventures in Feirune had uh pictures of clerics in their typical dress. And let me just they're not good.
SPEAKER_02They're not good. Like, what the fuck is that? I mean, some of them, I feel like some of them are good. Some of them are alright. Some of them are alright. I do like the beholder. And like the but a lot of them to me is why does Sune have a cobra hood? A lot of these to me are like you're not wearing this like all the time. Like some of them look pretty normal. Like the the cleric of Shantea, the guy on the right, and the with the with the holding the staff. Like that's something like that just that guy just looks like a like a like a Gregorian monk. Yeah. You know, like that, that's a normal person. Or like the the the denier or whatever, like that looks like an outfit you could just put on. Yeah. But like you're not getting up every day and putting on the full cobra hood or like the peacock robe with the headpiece and uh specifically a lot of talos, though.
SPEAKER_04Talos. That is um hold on. And then next to him is Leviatar.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Which actually I do see Leviatars uh followers doing that every single day. Uh for non-visual listeners, uh, she is wearing almost nothing. And lobsters wear chains and metal, yeah. Metal bikini. She just looks like Shadow Heart. Mask looks like like a jester with a mask on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Malar's it's very Malar and very doable.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you just gotta go skin a wolf and just Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Hold on. Um we got two more before Oh, let me fix that. We got two more before I'm done. Uh I don't know how much of this is going to make it into the final cut of the episode, but I did. I just if I had to see it, everyone had to see it.
SPEAKER_02Everyone else does too.
SPEAKER_04Um, so this one actually doesn't look bad. There wasn't actually an earlier one where Mistros looks terrible.
SPEAKER_02Like in this one, it looks pretty normal. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Thought I went back and grabbed everything, but I guess I didn't. This is the beholder cult leader. He has a like a little beholder headdress.
SPEAKER_02I love it. I yeah, I really like that. I like how he's looking. In fact, actually, all of the all of the clerics in this one look like they're kind of like looking at each other, like they're so pissed off. Yeah. They're around all these other people. Like the main cleric is like folding his arms disapprovingly. Yeah. Um, and the beholder cult leader is like on the edge, like, can't believe I'm here with all these freaks.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Why am I here?
SPEAKER_04And then um in third edition, they did another one, which actually looks pretty sick. And like, oh yeah, no, this looks like this looks like ceremonial armor for Sareth.
SPEAKER_02I like I do like this one a lot because it's got like it's got that like, you know, yellowy and like purple-y, like kind of um lightning-ish color palette, but then you get some of the like frostiness on like yes, Talos looks really sick.
SPEAKER_04Like he does give off a vibe of all of like the natural sort of domains that him and the gods of fury embody. So Talos specifically looks very cool. They all look very cool, but Talos specifically, well, the Talos and Cleric. But yeah, shh, the cleric tallows. Yeah. That is all I have for this week's episode. I could talk about all of this forever, but I really can't. And at some point I do need to wrap this whole arc up. But we do have three more gods to discuss.
SPEAKER_02True.
SPEAKER_04So, I mean after each of those episodes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Three more episodes. Thank you everyone so much for listening. Uh, don't forget to follow us on our various social media platforms, spread the word to your friends. We do really appreciate it. And if you have anything you would like to suggest as a topic for us to cover, uh, feel free to email us at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_04And with that, thank you all once again for listening, and we will catch you next week here on Dungeonpedia. Okay, well, this is the first time that you guys haven't just opened scary.
SPEAKER_02Just kind of just gonna sit here with it. I might go burn down a building. Just make sure these green tells us name.