There is a Legacy version
here.
Ghlaunder (The Gossamer King)Source Divine Mysteries pg. 141Ghlaunder is the god of pestilence, infection, and insects. His form resembles that of a giant mosquito, warped and distended by the parasites he hosts. He leaves malaise in his wake, laying waste to everything he can. Ghlaunder revels in suffering, especially that caused by sickness: the last gasp of air into fluid-filled lungs, the terrorizing dreams that come only from the hottest of fevers. It is said that the Gossamer King was once swaddled in a cocoon, but was released by the curious Desna into the world with a cleave of her starknife. Since then, the goddess has pursued him in a macabre dance, hoping to kill him as they flit between planes.
Ghlaunder draws in those cast aside by their kin. His priests are survivors of virulent childhood illnesses that left them changed and embittered, or those who have suffered gruesome tortures or terrible torments at the hands of inexperienced healers and wish to subject others to the same. He attracts misanthropes who wish to spread sickness, drawing from ostracized lepers, those injured and infected in war, and those riddled with pox. Ghlaunder tasks his followers with spreading sickness wherever they go, whether via an illness that they carry themselves or a plague they introduce by other means. Those who speak of him with reverence do so in hushed tones, and their foes include the likes of doctors, midwives, and followers of the goddess
Desna.
The adoration of Ghlaunder’s acolytes is disturbing to witness. They gather together away from prying eyes and wail to their god, bringing him offerings of rancid meat and fetid bodies, then infesting themselves with leeches and parasites. Ghlaunder’s desires are clear: he wants nothing more than to hear cries of anguish in the night when he hovers in the sky, knowing those who suffer below him are rotting from the inside out.
Priests of Ghlaunder have shown an unusual interest in the Sarkoris Scar following the events of the Godsrain.
Gorum’s death, specifically, likely has little to do with this directly, but it is possible that a near re-opening of the Worldwound, avoided only by the death of the Sarkorian god
Sturovenen, caught Ghlaunder’s attention. In the same way that the demon lord Deskari’s purview over locusts allowed him to infiltrate Sarkorian society and religious practices, it may be that Ghlaunder sees a new opportunity to infect a people and region, spreading corruption as other immortal entities have done before him. The demon-ridden wastes around the former Worldwound present many opportunities for Ghlaunder’s acolytes to hide and gather power, and some of the most remote Sarkorian clans are still not aware of the change in that region’s circumstances. They have not gained the aversion to insectile gods and spirits that Sarkorians who suffered through the great diaspora of their people have developed.
Perhaps Ghlaunder merely sees an opportunity to spread the corruption that is his nature, or perhaps he has begun a more sinister plot to amass power and ascend to the ranks of more prominent deities. Ghlaunder is cunning and ancient, and potentially ready for a more active role in mortal affairs.
Category Other GodsEdicts corrupt pieces of land, water sources, and communities; infest the weak; spread and nurture disease
Anathema aid in ending a plague or infection, destroy something out of hand when you could have instead corrupted it or leeched off it first
Areas of Concern infection, insects, parasites, stagnation
Religious Symbol mosquito in profile
Sacred Animal mosquito
Sacred Color(s) light gray, red
Devotee Benefits
Divine Attribute Constitution or Wisdom
Divine Font harmDivine Sanctification must choose unholy
Divine Skill NatureFavored Weapon spearDomains air,
decay,
plague,
swarmAlternate Domains dust,
toilThe Gossamer King’s gifts seem bizarre and cruel to those outside of his following, but his faithful crave his gifts zealously and fear his punishments.
Source Gods & Magic - Web Supplement pg. 5Minor Boon: Your commitment to filth draws a small cloud of disease-laden insects. Once, you can summon a cloud of midges, mosquitos, and flies to surround you for 1 minute. Creatures adjacent to you at any point during that time become
drained 1,
sickened 1, and exposed to a blood-borne illness. Ghlaunder typically grants this boon when you can infect a significant number of creatures.
Moderate Boon: Ghlaunder teaches you to bide your time, corrupting and infecting until the time is right. When you expose a creature to a disease and it succeeds at its Fortitude save, it is still infected unless it critically succeeds. However, such a creature experiences no effects and the disease does not progress for the first 24 hours, even if the disease is normally fast-acting or someone uses another ability to progress the disease. It’s very difficult to detect the infection in the first day; the DC for
Medicine checks to do so is 5 higher.
Major Boon: Ghlaunder rewards his followers with the ability to safely spread illness—or on occasion, offers respite to desperate petitioners who please him. You do not take negative effects from any disease you are infected with unless or until Ghlaunder rescinds this benefit.
Minor Curse: Ghlaunder drains away your life force for himself. You become drained 1 and can’t reduce your drained condition below 1.
Moderate Curse: Ghlaunder leeches your energy from you as easily as blood. Any time you fail a Fortitude save, you become
fatigued in addition to all other effects.
Major Curse: You are struck with a contagious disease of the GM’s choice. You and anyone else you infect can’t be cured of the disease or improve its condition to an earlier stage in any way until you infect two other sapient beings with the disease.