Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: Knowledge, Law, Protection

This deity protects and hides the Duergar from much of the surface world. He believes in law above all, and the seclusion of his people. The matter of Law makes no difference, as long as it is upheld to the letter. The Duergar have become an ordered people, each group having their own role in the society, with few personal liberties for any individual. Those that leave to go adventuring are most often one of two kinds of individuals. A rare few seek to escape Duergar society, in search of less structure. The second group are those seeking to enforce the Law of their god, acting as judges and lawmen for any land they pass into. Of these, some are vigilantes who enforce their own code of law wherever they find it appropriate. Temples to this deity look and act like courthouses, where criminal punishment serves as a form of worship.
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Karronth is the arbiter of the gods. He is an uncaring, unattached god who found little reason to participate in the events on this continent. His attitude of ‘law above all’ forces him to try to manipulate the other gods to conform to his beliefs about their roles in the pantheon. Given the capriciousness of many of the other gods, Karronth has been thwarted again and again in his goal of creating his ideal pantheon. As a result, he withdraws deeply into the inner planes, practically detaching himself completely from the pantheon. He only comes forth when requested to arbitrate a dispute among the gods. Karronth has made several enemies among the pantheon through his judgments, particularly among those gods who he has ruled against. In particular the elemental god In’eth Xa hates Karronth for the judge god’s refusal to support him in a bid to take control of the elemental realms. In’eth Xa now attempts to undermine Karronth’s authority, though all efforts to corrupt or influence Karronth have failed.

The mortal realm attracted Karronth’s attention again during the fight with the Dracolich and Blackavar. The treachery of those that betrayed the allied armies disgusted him, though Duergar’s complete refusal to turn against those they vowed to fight alongside peaked his interest. When that race was displaced with the others escaping that battle, and abandoned by their own gods, he decided that this race could potentially serve his purposes very well. Their own dedication to law matched his, making them his best option to try and bring his order to the mortal realms. Karronth imposed the time limit for the other gods to contact their chosen, declaring that those races needed to prove themselves without the gods’ guidance before they had earned the pantheon’s presence and contact. When Karronth approached those who would become his prophets, he brought them his own set of laws to guide. Under his stircutres the Duergar lost their name, they were renamed the ‘Khazrund’. Compared to many of the other races, the Khazrund readily accepted the guidance of their new god, as the lack of divine laws and guidance had been greatly taxing on their racial preference to follow a well-structured society.

Karronth’s temples are extremely well ordered, and all are built to exacting specifications based on the population of the city that houses each temple, the importance of the temple and on how many priests are in residence. Most often these temples also function as the courthouse for whatever community or communities they service. Due to the completely incorruptible nature of his priests, Karronth’s temples may serve as the legal center for many communities. Prisoners are transported for miles and occasionally even days journey from the location of their crimes to be presented before Karronth’s judges. Of the three divisions of Karronth’s servants, two are publicly recognized, and one works without any official notice or support. The first and most common of Karronth’s servants are the Enforcers. These are younger priests and those without divine connections who act as a police force for the community to which they belong. They are often the only law enforcement in many areas that have no ability to hire their own police force. The second group serves as Judicators. These servants are drawn from higher ranks of the priesthood, becoming judges who preside over various cases depending on their own preferences and on the needs of the community. Because Karronth expects these two classes of servant to uphold the letter of the law for their communities he gifts them the ability to detect lies and to detect the alignment of whomever they have before them in trial.
Karronth’s third group has no name, and can enlist people of any race or class. This group is dedicated to the enforcement of Karronth’s law, and his law alone. They believe that it supercedes the laws of any of the mortal realm. Functioning in secret, this group metes out the punishments that are ascribed by Karronth’s laws, regardless of the laws that stand in whatever realm they are in. These vigilantes function knowing full well that if they are brought before the judges of their own god, they will find no sympathy, and will often suffer the maximum punishment allowed by the community they ‘betrayed’.

The Khazrand is the race that most easily worships this god because the Khazrand’s lawful tendencies match Karronth’s. Any lawful minded character can worship Karronth, though in the official temples any races other then Khazrand are generally restricted to the lowest ranks within the temples, reflecting Karronth’s support of the Duergar race. The alignment of the worshipper often determines their role in the temple. Lawfull Good characters serve as judges, Lawful Neutral as enforcers, and Lawful Evil as the unnamed enforcers of Karronth’s will.

© 2003, Geoffrey Quick, All rights reserved