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BhaalBhaal, Lord of Murder, is a fictional deity of the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, created by Ed Greenwood. The name Bhaal is almost certainly derivative of Baal. One of the Dead Three, Bhaal was originally a mortal, who along with Bane and Myrkul took the portfolios of the ancient deity Jergal. Bhaal was god of death, especially violent or ritual death. Patron of Assassins, Bhaal was feared throughout Faern - especiallly in the island realm of the Moonshaes. A wholly evil, debased and sadistic god, Bhaal was served by the goddesses Talona and Loviatar and in turn served Bane (Myrkul, to a lesser extent, was also his master). He was a Lawful Evil Intermediate Power, and his symbol was a skull encircled by a counterclockwise orbit of drops of blood. His divine Realm was the Throne of Blood (in Third Edition D&D, part of the Barrens of Doom and Despair). Dragon issue #322 gives his Third Edition D&D domains as Death, Destruction, Evil, Hatred, and Law. Despite his power, during the Time of Troubles, when the gods were forced to walk Faern, Bhaal was slain by the upstart mortal Cyric, who then stole Bhaal's divinity and portfolio elements. However, much like Myrkul - who invested his divine essence in the artifact known as the Crown of Horns - Bhaal was not utterly removed from Faern. Part of his divinity remains in the Winding Water, around Boarskyr Bridge where he was slain, his blood having flowed into the river. More importantly, Bhaal foresaw his death and impregnated many mortal women - creating his heirs, the Bhaalspawn. The Bhaalspawn were involved in a series of conflicts along the Sword Coast, with one standing above the others. The tale of the Bhaalspawn is recounted in the Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II computer games; in the novelizations of these games, the protagonist is named as Abdel Adrian. Of all the dead deities of Abeir-Toril, Bhaal most likely has the most scattered cultists, the worst known as deathstalkers, attempting to bring him back to 'life'. Bhaal features prominently in the following Forgotten Realms novels: Darkwalker on Moonshae, Black Wizards and Darkwell, by Dounglas Niles; Shadowdale, Tantras and Waterdeep, by Scott Ciencin and Troy Denning; and the novelizations of the computer role-playing games Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and , by Philip Athans.
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