What is your favorite evil cult?

[Particle_Man]

Someone's already mentioned his (its?) involvement in the RttToEE...and then there's this...
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That was what I had meant when I had "forgotten" about Tharizdun, but I guess it took awhile for someone to get the joke.

 

[Oryan77]

Someone's already mentioned his (its?) involvement in the RttToEE...and then there's this...

Oh that's right. I even have that Forgotten Temple book and looked at it early on when people mentioned it in this thread. I didn't read it, just skimmed it. I didn't realize he played a big part in RttToEE (or big influence). I thought it was just a passing mention within the plot. Now it makes more sense why people are fond of him.

So now, that card please. ;P

Crap. 2e Dark Sun was my introduction to D&D and was all I knew for several years. Then I picked up Planescape in an attempt to DM it and I was confused as all hell. It wasn't until 3e when I really started learning about all the material within the D&D worlds. Everything I know was learned on my own. I've never played with any other groups that ran D&D material that I could learn and be familiar with via gameplay.

But I know of Tharizdun now. Can I keep the card?

 

[Remus Lupin]

Wellllll, alright. But we expect you to do better on your next exam. Not just anyone can be a geek you know!

 

[Al'Kelhar]

Well, it's clear to me that Oryan77 is either a high priest of Vecna seeking to conceal his great trove of secret knowledge of He Who Must Not be Named, or a lowly cultist of the Elder Elemental Eye, who has no knowledge of the Chained God's greater design. Either way, removing his Geek Card is the least that should happen to him...

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Dungeoneer]

Tharizdun has seen a resurgence thanks to changes to the cosmology introduced in Fourth Edition D&D. Although he is not statted out, the third Monster Manual introduced several major players with ties to Tharizdun.

The Elder Elemental Eye is an artifice designed by Tharizdun to deceive primordials and mortals into offering power to him. Followers of the Elder Elemental Eye unwittingly aid in the effort to release the Chained God from his divine prison. A group of primordials including Imix and Ogremoch heed the orders of the Elder Elemental Eye, not realizing the dark entity they serve is in fact the Chained God.

During the Dawn War, the gods hunted down the primordials and destroyed them one by one. Few primordials were willing to work together against the gods. However, a small number of primordials, including Imix and Ogremoch, managed to briefly set aside their differences under the auspices of an entity called the Elder Elemental Eye. These primordials, which became known as the Elemental Princes, believed the Elder Elemental Eye was the first of the primordials.

...


From his prison, Tharizdun has little influence on the planes and must depend on his servants to carry out his schemes. Thus, it falls to the Elemental Princes to spread the dark god's influence and expand his power. The Elemental Princes still believe that the Elder Elemental Eye is an ancient primordial. They continue to try to free the entity, but their old rivalries and grudges prevent them from fully working together.

The Fourth Edition splat book 'Underdark' is really good (and largely crunch-free except for a handful of monsters, so it should work fine for PF/other editions) and has an excellent and flavorful write-up of the efforts of Tharizdun's followers to infiltrate the drow. Recommended reading.

Despite Lolth's attempts to protect her status as the sole god of the dark elves, a second evil deity has persistently managed to insinuate his faith into drow culture and society. Followers of the Cult of the Elder Elemental Eye fashion themselves as a resistance movement. The cult appeals to misfits, the aggrieved, and the mad. The priestesses of Lolth take a hard line in their efforts to suppress the Elemental Eye, but the cult uses moles among Lolth's faithful to warn its disciples of impending arrest.

...

Although they are dis-inclined to utter his name, the cultists bow down before Tharizdun, the Chained God. This deity created the Abyss and was rewarded with betrayal and imprisonment. His drow cultists believe that Lolth did the traitorous deed, and their iconography depicts the chains binding Tharizdun as webbing spun by the Spider Queen. Tharizdun's cultists pursue nothing less than the destruction of the universe. They believe that if their god had not been imprisoned, the Abyss would have continued to grow. By consuming all elemental matter, this eternal Abyss would have snuffed out the corruption of life as soon as it began.

For Vecna-philes, I also liked the write-up of the Incunabla, and their city of Glimmer hidden in the Shadowdark, the Underdark portion of the Shadowfell.