Apsu
The Sweet Waters. Consort of Tiamat,
Father of Creation and father of the gods.
A dead god, killed by Anu,who
built his home on Apsu's great dragon body. Apsu's story is told in the
Enuma
Elish.
Only one human cleric, lost in
a forest temple in the Sea
of Dust outside Nibeney, has
been known for millennia,
Purify water spells affects tripple the volume.
City:
None
God Granted Abilities
Domains:
Water, Transformation, Law, Nobility, Good,
Specialty Items and Rituals:
Holy Water.
History of the Church
Much of Dogma of the church of Apsu was introduced with the Shai
Prophecies (500 BTB) and the writtings (actually oral history) of Sym
(350 BTB). Much of the history of the original clergy was lost in the
First Sacking of the Temple. In 200 BTB a cleric was known to
create the "Dom Tritum" which was a device used in the creation of
sweet water which appeared on Oerth in CY 410. Only the last 50 years
of clergy are known. Most of these have been hermits and relatively
isolated. No written documents exist but a rich oral history has been
passed on from generation to generation of clergy. It was the clerics
sworn duty to find a successor to pass the knowledge on to before their
death until the Herald could be found.
In 4 ATB (after tovag baragu) when the Herald was proclaimed, Bahamut's
Agent Mandrake of Heaven imparted some knowledge concerning Bahamut.
Revealing that the true holy symbol of the god was a four winged
platinum colored dragon whos scales reflected the universe and whos
eyes could see all of creation. In his right hand he carried a
five dimensional pentagram and in his left a seven dimensional
pentagram - each symbolizing domains of understanding that transcend
mortal knowledge. He was also able to relate clearly what domains
would be accessible (Water, Transformation (but not creation or
procreation), Law, Good, Dragons, Nobility).
The Church
of Apsu
Dogma
Io (the dragon word for the creator) created Apsu and Tiamat. Apsu and
Tiamat together spawned all of creation and created this dimension with
its current dimensional laws. The two together, spawned the whole of
dragonkind as well as the nyrundian gods and a variety of other powers
and entities. Tiamat represents the chaotic power of creation and
procreation while Apsu is seen as transformative of these raw energies
into a structured universe. Apsu transformed these energies and gave
them laws, rules, and form. Apsu is considered the Primary Paravian and
it was his essence propagated that gave form to all of the other
paravians (among which are the metalic dragons) as well as the emergent
manifestation of earthpower. Apsu is considered the male half of the
true source while Tiamat is the female half. This is considered
separate from the believe that Tiamat is the spawn of all evil and Apsu
all good. (Good and evil alignments are believed to be emergent
properties of the universe by the dragons). Some direct lineageas are
known: Tiamat & Apsu gave birth to lahamu and lahamia and what are
known as first generation dragons. These dragons are not known to
inhabit the material planes. Second generation decendants include
Anshar and Kishar (the division between the outer planes and the
material planes) and second generation dragons which include Morgus.
Third generation includes Anu, Ea, and third generation dragons such as
Nibenay, Andropanese, Himanu, and other sea of dust dragons. Fourth
generation dragons include some of the most anceint dragons on the
prime material planes.
Apsu is the sweat water which is the water that is healthy, life
sustaining, refreshing, and transformative. Apsu is the most noble
creature in existence. Where Dragons have Ego, Apsu has endless courage
and endless compassion. Apsu seeks to protect and nurture all
under creation and thus despises the emergent property of evil and
seeks to destroy it when possible. Tiamat is seen as the mother hat
eats her young - violent and dangerous to creation. Apsu is present in
all places of the multiverse (the Patern) simultaneously as the
essence of Apsu is a part of all things. Thus the Pattern is, in
part, a manifestation of Apsu. Apsu's breath is white gold fire.
Doctrine
A first level compassion miracle that removes negative morale based
modifiers. The miracle "cures" 1d8 in negatives. For example, if a
creature was under the effects of two spells, one that adds -6 morale
bonus to saves or skill checks, casting this miracle and roling a 5
would remove nearky all the effects (-1).
A first level miracle that transforms any liquid or oil into pure
water.
cure dehydration
Clerics of Apsu may transform one type of energy to another once per
day. If used as a standard action, this power has a short range. This
power can also be used as an interupt but the range becomes zero and
the cleric can only effect an energy field that he/she is in contact
with. For example, if the cleric is caught in the area of effect of a
fireball, they could choose to turn the fireball into a balll of
freezing cold that does an equivalent amount of damage. The energy
types are any of those listed as standard energy types (fire, cold,
acid, electricity, positive energy, negative energy, etc). If used
against an elemental or a creature made of energy the creature gets a
fortitude save to resist the transformation.
Clerics of Apsu may transform one type of substance into another of
equivalent (or less) value. This gold can be turned into silver. A Wall
of Iron can be turned into a Wall of Stone or Air. The amount of
substance that can be turned is 1 cubic foot per level. This effects
only non magical substances.
Clerics of Apsu are good at creating holy water. Holy
Water created, called
"Sweatwater" does
double damage vs appropriate creatures. If drunk it will cure light
wounds,grant a new save vs any ongoing negative mind affecting
enchanments, neutralizes poison, and if the imbiber is goodly
aligned,
they will appear to shine light in a 10ft radius which can only be seen
by other good creatures. If poured into other water it acts as sweet
water (one vial of water can purify a small pond or whole stream, two
for a large pond, three for a small lake). It will transform salt water
into fresh water in a large area causing 2d6per round to salt water
creatures swimming in the water.
Consecrate Water - clerics of apsu gain access to a thrid level spell
that can transform a small body of water - stream, pond, or small lake
to Holy Water which does double damage to creatures affected by holy
water. This effect lasts in minutes.
Apsu
Church
Rules:
