Zilchus

[GT]

OK; here's another question... I'm doing write-ups for all of the Greater Deities from the GH boxset that weren't detailed. Most are easy--Beory, Pelor, Procan, and Tharizdun, for example. Zilchus, however, is hard to get a grip on. I see him as a sturdy man wearing fine clothing and jeweled rings on his fingers.He represents Power, Prestige, Influence, Money and Business, and he is lawful neutral. He is apparently popular among merchants in Greyhawk. I gave him Cleric abilities (just standard), Illusionist (lower, but appearance is important to prestige and influence and certainly to business deals) and Thief abilities (not because he is a thief, so much as 'know your potential opponents' in business--Zilchus is lawful, so I suspect that he represents fair and honest trading!). I decided against Fighter, as I see his "power" derived from other sources than personal might of arms. Any ideas here? Special abilities? I made his symbol a clenched fist (power, prestige) with three gold coins (money, business) dropping below it.

[GT]

How about: He wields a +3 flail that forces transgressors who are struck by it to deal with absolute honesty for (x) amount of time?

[GT]

Anyone? Awwww... C'mon; I know someone has thought about this in the last 25 years! ^__^

[GRWelsh]

Sorry, GT... Zilchus just doesn't inspire me. Maybe it's because worldly wealth and the divine are so often disconnected in the Western religious tradition. Wealth, trade, taxes, interest... they just all seem so secular to me. Jesus threw the moneylenders out of the Temple. Dante put the usurers -- the high-interest money-lenders -- in Hell along with the misers and spendthrifts. And so on.

I keep thinking of a special ability that would mimic an effect in "Diablo" -- when you kill a monster, it disappears and coins rattle to the floor in its place.

Any idea I try to come up with seems like a joke or parody. The high priest of the Church of Zilchus, is, of course, the Holy Profit. Now see, that was just bad...

[GT]

WHAT?!? Divine and profit not connected? You forget the televangelists of the 80s and 90s then.... But, at any rate, that's not the connection I'm looking for. This is purely a deity of commerce as regards to Greyhawk--and we know that Greyhawk thrives on commerce! Maybe Zilchus was an expression of Gary's connection to Libertarian free trade?

[GT]

Remember--these are NOT Judaeo-Christian deities; they are based off of Greco-Roman/Norse/Middle Eastern archetypes! ^__^

[GRWelsh]

The best I can come up with is a Marco Polo or Sacred A-Viking kind of idea...

Priests of Zilchus believe those who cultivate the virtues of courage and exploration and far venturing gain the favor of the gods and almost always, worldly wealth as well.

The ancient Oeridians, following their greatest gods of sea and trade... began the Great Journey. They met many other peoples who had never travelled, and never learned much of the outside world and as a result never advanced in their knowledge and capabilities. The journeys of the Oeridians were often hard -- but also taught them much, and as the prophets of their gods told them they would, made them into the Great People. As a sea-faring and far-travelling people, the Oeridians came into the Flanaess strong and hardy and brave. They quickly explored and dominated the subcontinent, and in the east the strongest tribe among them, the Aerdy, established what has come to be known as the Great Kingdom.

Modern priests of Zilchus feel the Aerdy people have fallen away from their greatest gods, Procan and Zilchus, and this is why their fortunes have changed and they are now a people in decline. The Oeridian people in general stopped what made them holy and strong and wealthy -- i.e., the constant quest to explore and wander, rather than to take root and conquer.

Clerics of Zilchus gain a bonus spell of tongues once per day, beginning at 3rd level. They also get a +1 per level on saves versus fear and fear-type magics. At 10th level and above they can share this resistance to fear to all allies within a 10' radius. Clerics of Zilchus are good at seeing through effects that conceal or distort the true value of something, and get a +4 to save or 20% better chance to notice it, as the case may be (for example, against fool's gold spell, or an illusion of a chest filled with gold and silver, etc.). For these abilities they pay an extra 5% in XP advancement.

[GT]

Actually, I like the Marco Polo comparison! ^__^

[GRWelsh]

Yeah, they could have as their greatest saint, a Marco Polo kind of figure in ancient legends, who wandered far by ship and land and came back to tell the war-chiefs of tales and distant, strange lands: ancient Baklunish cities, Sufhang, Sa' han, Behor and Chomur, the lost mountain kingdom of Zufon, and the Grand Suel Imperium. This encouraged others to travel thusly, to trade, and fight as mercenaries, and bring back knowledge and wealth to the homeland... sort of the way the viking traders came down to the Black Sea, met with the Byzantines, and became the Varangian Guard of the Emperor.

I have to admit, I've always liked the idea of the Oeridians coming from 'Fireland' or some volcanic island in the distant northern seas above the continent of Oerik, and venturing out from their island to explore the great continent, become wealthy by pillaging, and later by trade, to be known as great and far-ranging sea peoples, long before they kept a calendar or learned how to write and keep history. Maybe, in their own oldest histories and legends, they attribue the greatness of their race to the guidance of their two greater gods, Procan and Zilchus.

Perhaps the ancient Oeridians were known as the greatest far-ranging explorers and warriors in the ancient world, and were also the first to realize Oerik was a continent, the first to sail the oceans, and in time the ones who gave Oerik and even Oerth its name...

From an etymological point of view, it all kind of works out.

[geneweigel]

Didn't we have this conversation already?



Seriously, I think Zilchus was brought up about two years ago...right?

[geneweigel]

Here's the link to what I posted, its more of a joke than anything:
doomsdaygames.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=generalgreyhawk&action=display&thread=685&page=2#4399

I could imagine the PHB statue being Zilchus as well. Demonic and all that...

[GT]

Yeah, it's like the Netherlords discussion--we get off on tangents and my question remains! HARRR!!!! ^__^

[Scott]

Like Acheron, Zilchus has never really come up in my campaign.
I don't really consider him one of two greater Oeridian gods, just one of the two who has stayed popular in the current era. I don't consider the listed gods as being the complete, pre-migration pantheons, just the ones still worshipped.

[ghul]

Zilchus is more of an NPC deity IMC.

[GT]

--SIGH!-- Where are the Capitalist DM's when I need 'em?