Talos

Talos personifies the destructive aspects of nature. He is best known as a god of storms, but he is also associated with forest fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, and general destruction. Raiders, looters, and brigands flock to his worship.

The Storm Lord's actions seem petty and vengeful, motivated by rage, anger, and the need to posture among other gods. Talos is an ancient god who sprang up from the wreckage of the first battle between Selûne and Shar. Religious art often depicts him as a broad-shouldered, bearded man with an eye patch, but the folk of Calimshan know him by the name Bhaelros and depict him with a genie-like appearance. Talos rules over the gods of fury—Auril, Malar, and Umberlee—though it's said Malar would kill him if he could. The Raging One manifests to mortals as bellowing laughter in the heart of strong winds or as red lightning strikes in a storm.

Day-to-day worship of the Storm Lord is outlawed in most of Faerûn, though folk make desperate offerings to save themselves from natural disasters. Talos's faithful love destruction, and they call storms on towns and cities in the name of their deity. Many become brigands, wandering from place to place demanding loot and threatening destruction. Sometimes Talos's faithful forgo any ultimatum, causing wanton destruction for destruction's sake. They are taught that life is chaos and that each person should seize what they can when they can—after all, who can say when Talos will strike and bring them to the afterlife?

Priests of Talos have few temples, instead traveling like a wayward storm.They wear ragged robes and cloaks shot through with jagged lines of gold and silver. Many wear an eye patch in deference to their god. Priests and other devout worshipers of Talos make pilgrimages to a canyon called the Gulf of Storms in eastern Amn. The peculiar iron ore in the canyon's walls attracts electrical charges, making the chasm prone to spectacular, deadly arrays of crisscrossing, leaping lightning bolts. This energy develops into storms that race down the valley to lash across Amn and Tethyr.

Talos's Chosen bring terror to Faerûn. They wield incredibly powerful destructive spells such as Storm Of Vengeance, Earthquake, and Meteor Swarm, unleashing annihilation on cities and villages that don't bend to the Storm Lord's will.