APOTHEOSIS: Kaddim

KADDIM
god of knowledge, light, madness, reason, and trickery

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

      Kaddim's path to divinity was different from the rest, his soul lingered in the Dome of Interrogation too long as the wave of divine energy tore apart the Fane of the Heresiarch and elevated those within to godhood.  The whispers of the countless damned and depraved who had died within its corridors drew to him, a beacon of power and freedom they could not resist.  Most of these spirits were destroyed, but the more powerful souls merged with Kaddim, turning him mad and enlightening him all at once.  Once the gypsy wizard's soul finally broke free and ascended to the heavens, he immediately barred all being from his presence and has not been seen since, in mortal or divine form.  His messengers and servants await his call, yet are compelled to travel the planes in search of knowledge and tomes of untold power.
      His symbol is that of an five-fingered hand with the three middle fingers being cleaved off, to represent the sacrifices needed to gain true knowledge and the damage done to thine own self during fits of madness.


What is Sacred? What is Profane?

There are few profanities in the worship of Kaddim; the Gemini god of reason and tricks, knowledge and madness, and metaphorical light.  The sake of knowledge is his realm, and he commands all of his followers to pursue for no other reason than to obtain it to steed themselves against the horrors of the world.  He cares not how the knowledge is gained or how it is used.  Knowledge is a beautiful yet two-faced mistress; known to show mortals the light right before driving them mad.  Give them Reason, and allow them to trick each other for their own greedy purposes or build a civilization of law. 
Mage-priests of Kaddim are commanded to travel the worlds constantly and spend their lives recording massive texts collectively called the teză.  Each teză is sacred to each temple, but they are never shared with others outside the faith.  To give up on or relinquish a teză is considered heresy, unless the writer of said teză is deceased.  The unfinished teză is then cursed and sent out into the mortal realm to sow madness.  Kaddim has also forbade the general burning of books, as they are the vessels of his divine self. 


What weapons or implement is held in high regard?
Magical gems and staves are held in high regard.  The high mage-priest of Kaddim wields a staff made beholder eye stalks, topped with the ossified central eye of the first beholder-lich.  Mage-priests always don dual colored gem-eyepieces while praying to Kaddim and performing rites in his honor.

Who are your chosen people?

Kaddim favors scholars, vagabonds, vistani, and the crazed.  His tenets encourage them to seek each other out and share the findings within their teză once a year at a grand festival that is never held in the same locale.
   Kaddim has commanded the extermination of all Slaad species, though he has his divine texts do not mention any slights or betrayals by slaad-kind.


What number is a sacred number? 
    The number 3 is sacred to Kaddim, as it represents the two lobes of the brain. The brain is where all knowledge, madness, reason, and trickery take place.  The number three also bends as light does through a prism, which some scholars attest as the first spark of reason gifted to mortals.

What other forms, aside from humanoid, does your god take when descending upon mortals?

   As of yet, there are no confirmed reports of Kaddim descending to the mortal realm and appearing before mortals.  However, his scholars have been known to reach epiphanies while staring at a beam of sunlight, or lighting a litany of different colored candles while pondering the universe. 
   The gypsy folk speak in fear of a blue-tinted shadow, that beclouds individuals born of great destiny. It speaks to them and reveals the grand secrets of the universe, usually at the cost of their sanity.


What other names is your god known by?
The Gypsy Scholar.  Keeper of the Pandemonium Scrolls.  The Warped Mage.