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An older elven power, but one who has lost much of his status, Mythrien Sarath is the power who oversees mythal magic, abjurations, and protection. With his lone avatar trapped on the Prime Material Plane after a botched ritual to restore his loss of standing, he now broods in his castle in Arvandor.

Mythrien Sarath (PDF Version)
(The Protector, Watcher over Mythals)
Demipower (formerly Lesser) of Arborea, CG

Portfolio:                 Protection, abjurative magic, mythals
Aliases:                     None
Domain Name:           Olympus/Arvandor (Mythralan)
Superior:                   Sehanine Moonbow
Allies:                       Azuth, Mystra, the Seldarine
Foes:                           Malar, Mask, Moander (dead), the Queen of Air and Darkness, Talos, the drow pantheon (except Eilistraee), the orc and goblinkin pantheons
Symbol:                     Three rings, the middle ring of blue and the other two of gold
Wor. Align.:             Any

The morose Mythrien Sarath (MITH-ree-en sah-ROTH) is the fading power of abjuration magic and a weaver of great mythals in the ancient days of the elven peoples. Where he once strove to protect elven lives with great works of magic, he now broods over his past mistakes and loss of power.

While of the generation of elven powers that includes Rillifane Rallathil and Erevan Ilesere, Mythrien’s power has waned significantly since the elder days of elven civilization. Few elves call upon him for succor with the lack of new mythals being created, and other deities are often seen as more relevant for those who desire defense or protection. Some few are still drawn to his service however, and he is often called upon by those elven wizards who focus on abjurative magics.

In times past, the Watcher Over Mythals was an eager, active god, dispatching avatars to assist in the creation of the greatest and most important mythals in elven civilizations throughout the spheres. Whether there is a direct connection between knowledge of Mythrien and the creation of mythals on a world is suspected, but unknown due to the secretive nature of the elven lands. It is known, however, that Mythrien need not personally participate in their creation; the creation of the mythal over famed Myth Drannor on Toril was done without his aid or assistance from any significant members of his priesthood. This was not due to any disagreement over the creation of this mythal, however; instead, his priesthood holds the laying of this mythal took place shortly after the Forging and the Loss, an event of significant import to the clergy.

With each mythal that Mythrien assisted in creating, he poured a portion of his divine essence. After many mythals and millennia of work, this left Mythrien barely a demipower. Seeking to restore his lost status, he designed a powerful artifact that would do just that. He dispatched his lone avatar to the world of Toril, where magic and mythals were especially strong. Mythrien hid himself away in a secret glade in the Glimmerwood, home of the elven nation Askavar, whose capital housed his largest priestly contingent in the land. In order to not repeat his past mistakes of profligate magic use, the process he had designed was extremely delicate so as not to harm the magical balance in Faerûn. Just as the Watcher Over Mythals was about to complete the creation of his artifact, a plain silver ring, the Beastlord Malar attacked, having been able to penetrate the great wards Mythrien had used to protect his glade simply by tracking the elven power’s scent. Interrupted at this critical juncture in the enchantment process, the magic went awry; the ring was created but the magical backlash imprisoned Mythrien’s avatar beneath the glade and Malar made off with the powerful artifact. This great loss has left Mythrien in a state of brooding, morose depression, while his dwindling church has dedicated itself nearly entirely to hunting down the artifact, and slaying Malarites at every opportunity. His church further holds that the magic released at this occurrence, known to the clergy as the Forging and the Loss, is what slowly changed the Glimmerwood into the dangerous Wood of Sharp Teeth, as it is known today.

Once active in the creation of the great mythals of ancient elven civilization, Mythrien now keeps to himself in his palace of Mythralan in Arborea. No deities save Corellon and Sehanine know how to bypass the swirling mass of invisible mythal fields and wards that surround and levitate this wondrous palace without his permission. While he has lost the gaiety typical among the Seldarine, he has not given up on regaining his lost status. He constantly monitors the actions of Malar, as well as Mask and Talos, whom he believes aided the Beastlord in his attack, and he watches for any sign of his ring or the location of his avatar, both of which are shielded from any sort of divination.

With his lone avatar imprisoned, Mythrien is no longer able to appear on the Prime Material Plane. Many sages speculate this may be partially responsible for the relative lack of new mythals and the number of failing or corrupt mythals found in ancient elven cities and ruins, although whether this is true or not is unknown. Further, with his avatar imprisoned, Mythrien’s whereabouts during the Time of Troubles on Faerûn is a matter of some debate. It is possible he was forced to appear in the form of his imprisoned avatar, but there are those who speculate he was able to roam free, either searching for his lost ring or visiting mythals and shoring them up where he could. A handful of sages even speculate that the good condition of Myth Nantar’s mythal was due to a visit by the Watcher Over Mythals before the barrier was removed. Whatever the case, it is believed that should he regain his status through the freeing of his avatar or the return of his ring, he will likely become much more active, and this could see a resurgence of mythal-encloaked elven communities.

Mythrien’s Avatar (Abjurer 25, Cleric 18, Fighter 10)
Mythrien appears as a wise elder elf wearing blue robes trimmed with black and gold. He can appear as any elven subrace, but always has steel-grey hair and silver eyes. He draws his spells from all spells and schools, but never uses harmful necromantic magic. He has access to all elven high magic spells as well.

AC −3; MV 12; HP 147; THAC0 10; #AT 2
Dmg 1d8+5 (long sword +2, +1 Str, +2 spec. bonus in long sword)
MR 40%; SZ M (5 feet tall)
Str 17, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 22, Wis 19, Cha 17
Spells P: 11/10/10/9/6/4/2, W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6/5*
Saves PPDM 4; RSW 3; PP 5; BW 7; Sp 4
* Numbers assume one extra abjuration spell per spell level.

Special Att/Def: Mythrien wields Spellcleaver, a long sword +2 that has all the powers of a spellblade (see the Ruins of Myth Drannor or the Encyclopedia Magica Vol. IV for full details). At the start of every round, Mythrien can choose a specific spell; should that spell or one very similar (a choice of fireball would affect a delayed blast fireball as well but not meteor swarm or flame strike, lightning bolt would affect chain lightning and call lightning but not shocking grasp, etc.) be cast upon him in that round, he can choose to nullify it or reflect it back on the caster.

At will, the Protector can stabilize any unstable or corrupted mythals he is in contact with for up to an hour with no concentration. If he desires, he can stabilize such mythals for any specific individuals he wishes for up to one turn instead, allowing the full effects of unstable mythals be visited upon those not protected. Mythrien can protect himself as if by any protection scroll for up to one turn each; each individual protection ability is usable once per day. Three times per day he can cast abjure, anti-magic shell, and globe of invulnerability. Once per day he can cast Moryggan’s mythaleash with whatever duration he desires, and if a mythal already has three such connections already, one of the existing three is randomly negated with no harmful effects as his mythaleash takes precedence.

The Protector is immune to nonmagical weapons and mind-affecting spells and psionics, and he is unaffected by abjuration magics that would negate or reduce the effectiveness of his attacks, nor can his avatar be sent back to his home plane through such spells. He ignores all negative or restrictive features of normal mythals and is always allowed a saving throw (with a +6 bonus if a save is normally allowed) to avoid negative effects of corrupted or unstable mythals.

Other Manifestations
Only rarely does the Watcher Over Mythals manifest his power. Typically, his manifestations revolve around protecting a follower from a foe using a mythal against them. This protection manifests as three shimmering rings on one hand, two appearing as gold and the middle one of blue. While these phantasmal rings remain on a follower’s hand, they are immune from all harmful magic caused by another creature’s interactions with a mythal, whether they ate intentional or not. The follower is still affected by prohibitions and penalties from a mythal caused by their own actions, however. In the past, Mythrien was also known to protect followers with globes of invulnerability and anti-magic shells, but such manifestations are rare these days. Finally, he has also been known to grant a follower the ability to cast an abjure spell with a single word (casting time 1) if they face a powerful planar foe that threatens a mythal or elven settlement.

The Seldarine call on agathinons, asuras, and ancient treants as their preferred servants, but Mythrien also calls upon aasimar, aasimon, baelnorn, eladrins, electrum dragons, golems of all varieties, guardian nagas, and spectators. He displays his favor through the discovery of agni mani, azurite, blue euclase, bluestone, gold sheen, goldline, jet, lapis lazuli, obsidian, pyrite, ravenar, sapphire, and turquoise. He indicates his displeasure through a crackling, electric feeling and the sensation of pure magical energies that cause goosebumps on a creature’s skin.

The Church
Clergy:                      Specialty priests, crusaders, wizards
Clergy’s Align.:      CG, CN
Turn Undead:           SP: Yes, Cru: No, W: No
Cmnd. Undead:         SP: No, Cru: No, W: No

All specialty priests and crusaders of Mythrien receive religion (elf) and reading/writing (elvish) as bonus nonweapon proficiencies.

The priesthood of Mythrien is mostly overlooked these days, except in large elven communities or those with mythals. They are regarded more as relics of the past or as just another minor deity of magic, although elven communities that live within or near unstable and corrupted mythals hold them in considerable regard. However, the obsessive hatred many members of the clergy hold towards followers of Malar, Mask, and Talos is seen as very un-elf-like behavior, causing many elves who have contact with the priesthood to worry about their long-term stability. This same tendency is what keeps Mythrien’s church alive, as those who have suffered a loss by followers of one of these three powers make up a much larger proportion of new initiates than elves interested in abjuration magic or mythals.

Temples sanctified to the Watcher Over Mythals were once places of magic and wonder, as they were often enchanted with visually spectacular defensive spells and when located within mythals, substantial added effects from the mythal field. They were constructed as places of learning and magical research, although they did not function as colleges of magic. Instead, they were dedicated to the furtherance of powerful abjuration magic and elven High Magic related to mythals. Many elven wizards would visit these temples for extended research trips, and several great collaborative efforts were sponsored by the church in centuries past. However, very few temples have been constructed since the loss of Mythrien’s Ring; those that have been built serve as fortress bases for the clergy.

Novices in the service of Mythrien are known as the Unraised. Full priests of the Protector are known as Magic Raisers. In ascending order of rank, the titles used by the priesthood are the First Circle, the Second Circle, the Third Circle, and the Fourth Circle. No higher ranks are used by the clergy, although individual priests may still be put in positions of authority over those of the same rank. Specialty priests are called seekers. In times past, the clergy consisted mostly of clerics, but the composition has shifted to the point that today specialty priests dominate the clergy (65%), followed by crusaders (30%) and wizards (5%). Elves and half-elves of nearly every extraction are drawn to Mythrien’s service, although grey elves (43%) and high elves (37%) dominate the ranks, with half-elves (13%), sylvan elves (4%), aquatic elves (2%), and other elven subraces (1%) filling out the remainder. The clergy is quite egalitarian, with nearly equal numbers of male (53%) and female (47%) members.

Dogma: Work to protect elven lands and peoples from malign forces. Magic is an inherent part of elven life and offers the best method to create protections great and small. Create and reinforce the greatest of elven magical creations, the mythals, as these are the most potent magical protections that can be created. Search out the ancient and corrupted mythals that have been lost and document them and one day restore their splendor.

Day-to-Day Activities: Most members of the Protector’s faithful spend their time creating various protections for use by elves and their communities. These may be mundane or magical, depending on the skills of the individual priest. Further, they offer their abilities to protect individuals or small objects as well as large areas and buildings, taking payment to fund the church’s activities; protections deemed beneficial to an entire elven community are always created out of a sense of duty, however. Some members of the clergy serve within elven armed forces as auxiliaries, using their magic to protect troops, fortifications, and encampments.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Twice each month, Mythrien’s church observe minor holy days where the members of the priesthood renew their vows to protect the elven peoples and their lands from outside threats. Many members of the clergy spend the day working magic to enhance their community’s defenses, while those who live within the borders of a mythal work to maintain the integrity of the magic or add new powers to the great protective magic. These holy days are simply known as the Days of Protection among the clergy.

On the world of Toril, the Forging and the Loss is held on Ches 12. The church holds that this is the day that Mythrien attempted to create his ring, and the day it was lost. It is a remorseful day of remembrance of what once was, with many members of the clergy discussing now-lost elven lands and cities, particularly those that held mythals. It is also the day that some members work themselves into a fervor over the wrongs committed against their god by Malar and his allies Mask and Talos, and such priests often set out hunt down members of those clergies. Many Mythrienar priests who set out on these quests never return. A minor and less organized version of this holy day is found on some other worlds where the Protector is worshiped, but it is often wrapped up into the nearest Day of Protection.

Major Centers of Worship: The Arms of the Protector is the only significant temple built in honor of Mythrien in many centuries. Hidden well within the north-eastern edge of the Wood of Sharp Teeth on Toril, this temple is dedicated to the search for both Mythrien’s lost ring and his imprisoned avatar. The temple itself is well fortified against attack from the monstrous inhabitants of the Wood and protected by powerful wards and defensive magic. Headquarters of the Seekers of the Ring, the temple has become more and more militarized over the centuries, and more than once have the priests left in great numbers to hunt their hated foes among the followers of Malar, Mask, and Talos.

Affiliated Orders: The Seekers of the Ring is a martial order composed primarily of crusaders with a small number of specialty priests and wizards as support. While based in the Arms of the Protector, small branches and individual priests can be found throughout Faerûn and beyond. Officially tasked with recovering Mythrien’s Ring and locating the imprisoned avatar of the Protector, the order has become more and more militant in its desire to persecute a holy war against the churches of Malar, Mask, and Talos. Nominally this is due to the wide-held belief within the church that a member of one of these faiths either possesses the ring or knows its whereabouts, but it is in fact mostly due to a deep desire for vengeance against the faithful of deities who are seen as having deeply wronged Mythrien. More sensible higher-ranked members of this order usually keep these urges in check, but occasionally passionate and charismatic leaders come to power who unleash the lower ranks upon these enemy faiths, commonly with disastrous results.

Priestly Vestments: Members of the Protector’s clergy wear blue robes with yellow trim, keeping their head bare at all times. Ranks are designated by a single ring in gold for each rank the priest has obtained; as they ascend the ranks these rings interlock on the chest to form a golden chain. Members of the Seekers of the Ring use a modified form of these vestments, with the robes being black with blue trim. The rings displayed on the robes by this order are colored blue. The holy symbol used by the priesthood is a disc inset with three interlocking rings, one blue and the other two gold.

Adventuring Garb: Those members of Mythrien’s clergy who eschew cloistered study favor strong armor that also allows decent maneuverability, such as scale, ring, or mail armors. Maces, staves, bows, and swords are the preferred weapons of these priests, depending on class. They always wear the colors of their order somewhere as well, typically in a way that few would notice the significance, however.

Specialty Priests (Seekers)
Requirements:          Wisdom 13
Prime Req.:                Wisdom
Alignment:                CG
Weapons:                   Bow, club, dagger, mace, staff, sword
Armor:                       Any up to ring mail, no shield
Major Spheres:         All, astral, charm, creation, guardian, healing, protection, time, wards
Minor Spheres:         Chaos, divination, thought
Magical Items:         Same as clerics
Req. Profs:                Spellcraft
Bonus Profs:             Any one allowed weapon

• Seekers must be elves or half-elves. While most seekers are high elves or grey elves, elves and half-elves of every subrace are called to be specialty priests of Mythrien’s clergy.
• Seekers are not allowed to multiclass.
• Seekers gain a +1 bonus to their attacks against any known priest of Malar, Mask, or Talos, as well a +1 bonus to their saving throws against spells or special attacks used by such priests. Consequently, they suffer a −2 penalty to encounter reactions with known or suspected followers of any of these powers.
• Seekers may cast spells wizard spells from the school of abjuration as defined in the Limited Wizard Spellcasting section of “Appendix 1: Demihuman Priests” of Demihuman Deities.
• Once per day, for one turn, a seeker can lower his armor class by 2 for every five experience levels. This bonus is in addition to armor or magical protection of other sorts currently in use. Such protection appears as a nearly unnoticeable shimmer of magic when detected by a spell such as detect magic. It does not function in dead magic zones.
• A seeker can sense the presence of mythals within 20 feet but cannot determine any details other than its border if it falls within that range.
• At 3rd level, seekers can cast sanctuary (as the 1st-level priest spell) or ethereal barrier (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 5th level, seekers can cast identify mythal (as the 3rd-level priest spell) once per week. When using this power, they identify properties with perfect accuracy and never need to worry about misidentifying properties either. This only applies to the use of this power rather a memorized spell.
• At 7th level, seekers can turn aside one attack as if they were wearing a cloak of displacement once per day. This protection lasts for one turn, or until the attack is turned aside. This is a magical protection and does not function in dead magic zones, nor does it offer any other protections of a cloak of displacement.
• At 10th level, seekers can cast weave mythal (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day. This rises to twice per day at 14th level.
• At 12th level, seekers are immune to the harmful effects of corrupted mythals.
• At 12th level, seekers can cast anti-magic shell or globe of invulnerability (as the 6th-level wizard spells) once per day.
• At 20th level, seekers can cast Moryggan’s mythaleash (as the 9th-level wizard spell detailed in The Fall of Myth Drannor adventure) once per month. No member of the priesthood in any sphere has achieved this level in over 1000 years, however, and it is widely believed that Mythrien cannot grant this power since the Forging and the Loss. A handful of wizards in the service of the Watcher Over Mythals have recorded this spell over the millennia, but the last known copy was lost during the First Unhuman War.

Mythrienar Spells
3rd Level
Cloak of Warding (Pr 3; Abjuration)
Sphere:                    Protection
Range:                     0
Components:           V, S
Duration:                 Special
Casting Time:          6
Area of Effect:         The caster
Saving Throw:        None

The cloak of warding creates an invisible energy shield to absorb damage from all attacks against the caster. The cloak absorbs 3d4 points of damage plus 1 point per level of the caster. It can deflect damage from a single attack or from a number of successive attacks. The spell has a maximum duration of l round per level of the caster.

The cloak dissipates when its duration lapses or when it has absorbed all the damage it can.

Identify Mythal (Pr 3; Divination)
Sphere:                    Divination
Range:                     0
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 1 rd./level
Casting Time:          6
Area of Effect:         1 mythal
Saving Throw:        None

By means of this spell, the caster is able to identify random properties of a mythal. One property can be identified per level the caster has achieved, and a caster may utilize multiple castings of this spell to fully identify the properties of a mythal. Ordinarily, the caster need not roll to determine whether they properly identify a property, but those that are hidden or obscured have only a 5% per caster level to be properly identified, to a maximum of 90%. On a roll of 96–100, the caster misidentifies such a hidden property. Corrupted and damaged properties can be identified as well, but these are treated as hidden properties. Casting this spell does not immunize the priest from the effects of a corrupted mythal, but any saving throws against such effects are made with a +2 bonus.

The caster must be in contact with a mythal in order to cast the identify mythal spell. One property may be identified each round that the caster concentrates on the mythal (doing nothing but slowly walking while in contact with the mythal), to a maximum of one round per caster level.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

4th Level
Weave Mythal (Pr 4; Alteration)
Sphere:                    Charm
Range:                     60 yds.
Components:           V, S
Duration:                 1 turn
Casting Time:          7
Area of Effect:         30-ft.-radius sphere or special
Saving Throw:        None

This spell renders magic wielded by the caster, or another chosen being (wherever the magic takes effect, and regardless of the movements of the caster or chosen being), or all magic cast in a specific 30-foot-radius sphere to be free of mythal influence for the spell duration. In other words, the magic is free of mythal prohibitions, wild magic, power fluctuations, and augmentations.

If a dispel magic is cast on the caster or affected being, or cast in the area in which the weaving has taken effect (even if the dispel is not specifically directed at this spell), the weave mythal effects immediately end, and a random wild magic effect occurs, even if no magic is currently operating or being cast.

Mythrien’s Ring

This unadorned silver ring was forged by the god Mythrien, and not much has been heard of its existence since it was lost. Some 400 years ago, the priests of Mythrien went on a killing spree of Malarites in the Western Heartlands after rumors of a high huntmaster of Malar possessing the ring first surfaced, but it was never found, so speculation continues.

Powers
It is clear from legends that Mythrien’s Ring holds the power of a god within, but it’s unclear what powers can be accessed and used by mortals who possess it. At the very least it gives the wearer the following powers:

• Abjuration/Protective spells cast are of double normal duration.
• All the special powers of a specialty priest of Mythrien as listed above.
• Gain 20 bonus hp when wearing ring; hit points lost for whatever reason are deducted from these bonus points before depleting the wearer’s true hit points. The 20 hp regenerate once each day so long as the wearer takes the time to rest normally.
• May cast one additional spell of each level from the Abjuraton wizard school or the Wards clerical sphere, once each day.
• Wearer is immune to the effects of mythals and can create/destroy a mythal once a year.

Side Effects
Mythrien’s Ring has no side-effects except for priests of Malar who try to use its powers. Each time a power is used, the priest must roll a saving throw or suffer 1d6 hp damage. If the priest attempts to destroy a mythal by using the ring’s power, he must roll two saving throws. If the first one fails, then he is disintegrated and unrecoverable even by a wish spell. If he makes the first save but fails the second, then the priest turns CG and is geased to search for the nearest priest(s) of Mythrien and offer the ring back to them.

Possible means of destruction:

• Being trampled under the feet of the Elf-Eater (an Elder Evil supported by Talos).
• Being given back to the last avatar of Mythrien, rumored to lie imprisoned somewhere in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. The ring will not be destroyed, merely becoming part of him and elevating the god to lesser power status (as opposed to just a demipower).

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