The commonest depiction of the Lord of Endless Night is a huge figure in a black cloak with a scaled reptilian face, seated on a throne of jet and black metal. In his clawed hand he carries a black sword burning with a cold flame. He is also depicted as a vast dark cloud, covering the World and reaching up to swallow the Sun. His symbol is a black sword.

• Beliefs
• Areas of Influence
• Church and Worshippers
• Ceremonies
• Preist Progression
• Special Blessings
• Obligations

Beliefs

The Lord of Endless Night is said by the Shades to be the true Creator of the Universe. The universe was made cold and lightless, a World without Law where only the strongest and hardiest could survive. It was a place where the weak were killed without mercy or made slaves of the strong and where cruelty, terror and chaos were the will of the Dark. Eventually, the rigour of this Universe would have bred a race of perfect warrior beings, who would be fit servants for the Lord of Endless Night. Before this could happen, however, the other gods appeared and stole his creation, bringing forth Light and helping the weak to survive. It is the duty of the servants of the Endless Night to destroy the light and take the Universe back to it's primal condition.

After death, the souls of the followers of Endless Night are swallowed up by the Dark. Only the souls of the strongest, toughest and most powerful are allowed to survive. They join the ranks of the Dragons and evil elemental entities who serve the Endless Night. Priests of Endless Night maintain that the weak and sentimental deities of the other races are powerless to protect their followers after death. Their worshippers are consumed by the Endless Night and pass without trace. Therefor, they especially hate the Elves, who's belief in reincarnation contradicts this.

Areas of Influence

Church and Worshippers

Many humanoids give their allegiance to the Lord of Endless Night. His most loyal folowers are the Shades, creatures of darkness feared by other worshippers of the Dark. Some humans also follow him and they can be found anywhere in the world. In the Vale and the Empire, worship of the Dark is forbidden and worshippers are liable to a variety of penalties from imprisonment to death or exile.

Priests of the Dark usually wear black ceremonial robes and armour when amongst their worshippers. If 'under cover' however, they will wear whatever is appropriate. There are no formal ranks in the priesthood. A priest of Endless Night is judged by how much fear they command, not by titles. However, it is common for high-level priests to require others to address them by some honorific (such as Warrior-King, Great Master, Dread Lord, Dark One etc) and those who disobey can expect no mercy. The only exception to this rule is the high Priest, who is known as the Bringer of Endless Night. It is not uncommon for priests to be inhabited by Shades.

Ceremonies

Priest Progression

Preist Heirarchy

Level	Powers
Sense Dark	Allows the priest to locate sources of death and suffering nearby. The priest may also use a limited clairvoyance to detect creatures in areas of darkness nearby (range increases with power - at the lowest level, in the next room, at the highest, a small town) and gain some general impression of their mood. In the presence of someone inclining to the Dark, the priest can sense areas of weakness in that person's character.
Shape Death and Darkness	The priest may cause illness and injuy with a touch, the severity depending on his power. In addition, the priests can mould the form of recently dead creatures at will, useful when combined with Awaken Dead. The priest can also manipulate areas of shadow and darkness to create fear and conceal movement.
Talk to Death and Darkness	The priest can obtain information from dead creatures or plants and from the very night itself. The memories of the dead fade with time and to speak with a dead creature the priest must possess a part of it, or something dear to it. Calling the spirits of dead intelligent creatures requires a Good result, and Superb if they priest does not possess a part of the person. Spirits summoned in this way are not compelled to tell the truth, but the priest can use Shape Death and Darkness to cause them pain.
Awaken Death and Darkness	Used on an area which had remained dark for an entire day, the priest may create a lesser form of Shade. This creature will obey the priest and can slip through cracks, remain hidden in shadows and make intelligent report on what is sees. The shade is destroyed by light, or when the area it came from is illuminated. Used on fresh corpses, this power can create zombies. These mindless husks will obey the priests orders, although they continue to decay and collapse when the last shred of flesh is gone. By expending a permanent pool point, the priest can arrest the creature's decay and restore some of the intelligence the creature had when alive, although it is still fanatically loyal. Such creatures have effectively infinite would levels - they must be hacked to pieces or burned to 'kill' them.
Travel to Plane of Darkness	This allows travel to the plane of Death. Priests of darkness often travel there tho consult with Shades, or to question souls trapped there.

Special Blessings

Priests of the Endless night may gain the following abilites as they gain greater power. If using the FUDGE character advancement rules these Blessings count as Gifts or supernormal abilities, at the GM's option. Remember that they are sign of the priest's closeness to the Dark. It is unusual for priests to possess more than two or three of these powers, at the most:

1. Priests of Endless Night gain the ability to see in absolute darkness, up to fifty feet. In low light, such as starlight, the priest can see as well as in daylight.
2. The priest may has a reduced difficulty of one in all attempts to interact with the unnatural creatures of the Dark, including Shadows, evil Dragons and created monsters. Normally, such creatues are indiscriminate in their choice of prey, but the priest possesses qualities which cause these creatures to feel kinship. This powers is often possesed by priests who have many reptilian flaws (see below).
3. When in close darkness (ie. underground, windowless rooms, in the open at night with no moon or stars) the priest of Endless night has a reduced difficulty of one on all actions directly connected to their work as priests.
4. The priest may shapeshift, taking on the form of a Shade and by spending pool points may use the powers of a Shade. The priest may also assume the form of a corpse (from freshly dead to withered, but not a skeleton.) In this state he remains aware, but requires neither food nor air.
5. The priests has an especially strong connection to the forces of decay. By using Shape Death on a living creature, they can draw out it's own lifeforce to heal themselves. This costs one essence pool point per Wound healed. This healing may not be passed on to others.
6. The darkness of the Endless Night has utterly consumed the priest. It becomes difficult for people to maintain feelings of love or hope around them. Merely by being in a city, the prist will spread disease and despair. The priest himself finds it almost impossible to work against the wishes of the Endless night. Active followers of the other Dragons have an increase of one level to the difficulty of all actions when near such a priest and must make a willpower roll to actively harm him. For obvious reasons, this gift is most often possessed by older priests of great power and evil. However, it may also be possessed by young but very devout priests.

Obligations

Death should hold no terrors for a priest of Endless Night. As well as fighting with utmost bravery for his god, the priests is expected to shun the use of medicines and healing, except healing through draining the lifeforce of others. In return, priests of Endless night seem to have a remarkable ability ot walk in plague riddden areas and avoid it's touch. But their master is fickle and many priests of the Night eventually succumb to perculiarly unpleasent wasting illnesses.

Each time a priest of Endless Night gains a new level of closeness with his Lord, he must roll a Stamina check (Good diffculty, with a difficulty of Superb at the third level and higher). If he fails, he gains some outward sign of his evil and corruption. These are commonly such things as scaly skin, a tail, a forked tongue, fangs (possibly poisonous), a total intolerance of daylight, hideous BO etc. These stigma cannot be removed by even magical healing. Indeed, the priests must show no shame at these signs of the favour of the Endless Night and are expected to display them openly when possible. However, they make it very hard for high-level priests to pass as normal humans.