Lin
From Zok
Lin is son to Cernin and twin brother to Urgil, and he cannot be understood unless one understands his story. He and Urgil were very close, hunting all manner of their father's subjects together throughout the world and the lands of the gods. All the beasts of the land and fish of the sea and birds of the sky respected he and Urgil, and any of them would die gladly by Lin's spear, though not without a sporting fight, of course! Cernin, doting father that he was, gave his two favorite sons free rein to hunt with all his children, provided they did so honorably. There was no bear which could stand against Lin and Urgil, no whale which could outswim them, no eagle could outrun them. Lin began to grow bored, and questioned how honorable a contest against a weaker opponent could be. There was honor in defeat, surely, for to be slain by a god was no small feat for Urgil's prey or for Lin's. But Lin desired to test himself, not just his prey.
And so he began to hunt different game. He followed Hskthrita's spawn, his nephews, through the sea and did battle with them in the depths, he stalked Kiana's children through his nightmares. He hunted Tyani's fey through Pnugul and set snares for Monsos' dragons. The heads of every beast from the Nightmare to the Tarrasque was mounted on the wall of his lodge when he left for the Northlands of Asriphil to hunt a monster he had heard rumors of among the orc tribes, a creature of beauty cursed by Hirzek with a frenzied hunger for warmth and light but the knowledge that it would perish if ever it found them. It was his intent to give the creature some comfort as he destroyed it, that it might know it had the honor of being slain by a worthy soul. When he reached the wastes of the north, however, he didn't find the blood-drinking monstrosity he sought, the fanged horror he had expected to find in one of Hirzek's children. Instead he found simple, austere beauty and the point of love's harpoon. Lady Aan laughed at his advances as she drifted by like the snow.
Hirzek descended from the sky as his daughter faded into the distance, and warned Lin not to hunt her against her will. Lin told her father that he would hunt Aan until he was sure she willed it otherwise, pointing out that many a woman will flee a suitor's advances in order to test his sincerity and valor. Lin invited Hirzek to observe the manner in which Lin conducted this unfamiliar sort of hunt, and to judge whether it was carried out in an honorable fashion. Hirzek shook his head, and proclaimed Lin an unfit mate for Aan. Then he drew his Aspect upon him and cursed Lin for his presumption, dooming him to hunt forever for his own kind, and transforming him and his followers into horrid raving beasts. Cernin intervened on Lin's behalf, but could not convince Hirzek (who had lost several nightmarish children to Lin's depradations) to lift the curse entirely. Instead, he agreed Lin's punishment would be meted out only when Hirzek was away from the world, to serve in the Lord of Nightmare's stead. Cernin agreed, despite Lin's protests at serving Hirzek, and now Lin spends every full moon terrorizing the northlands on Hirzek's behalf. He strives to find as desolate and unpopulated an area as he can reach before the moon rises so as to have no one to hunt, and some claim to have seen him on the horizon, following some unknown scent away from civilization.
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Statistics
- Lesser Deity
- Symbol:
- Werelord: A black circle,
- Masked One: A white circle
- Home Plane: Plane, place
- Alignment: Chaotic Good/Chaotic Evil
- Portfolio:
- Werelord: Shapeshifters (Natural Form only), Rangers, Druids, Hunters, Good Lycanthropes
- Masked One: Lycanthropes, Shapeshifters, Assassins, Evil Rangers, Evil Druids
- Worshippers: Lycanthropes, Shapeshifters
- Cleric Alignments:
- Werelord: LG, NG, G, CN
- Masked One: NE, CE, LE, CN
- Domains: Liberation
- Werelord: Animal, Courage
- Masked One: Bestial, Moon
- Favored Weapon:
- Werelord: Longspear
- Masked One: Greatclub
