Havard's Jennites in 2300 BC? thread got me thinking about Yoosef, one of the Peshwah deities detailed in Zeitgeist Games' Blackmoor books. His background there—"It is said that Yoosef sprung from blood-soaked earth when a dozen prophets from the dozen horseclans fell to the poisoned blades of Calelrin’s cultists, who were attempting to purge magic from the Plains of Hak"—is so interesting that I couldn't resist elaborating on it to adapt it to Mystara. I wanted to tie him to an artifact, and I found one designed by Keith Baker in Necromancer Games' Tome of Artifacts that worked very well. So anyway, here's Yoosef in Codex Immortalis format.
Lost Immortals: Yoosef
by RipvanwormerEarth Brother, the Thinker
Level, Alignment and Sphere: 17th (Celestial), N, Matter
Symbol: A red owl perched on a yellow tome
Portfolio: Earth, enlightenment, tolerance, knowledge, magic, and protection
Worshipped in: Plains of Hak (Blackmoor era), Steppes of Jen (2300 BC era)
Appearance: Yoosef appears as a 7-foot-tall man wearing buckskin robes, or as a large brown owl or hsiao. In either form, his eyes are gray as stone.
History: In the millennia prior to the arrival of the Thonians to the Plains of Hak, strangers came to the plains to destroy the wild magic of the land. Some say these were Valoin humans driven north who became enthralled by the Egg of Coot. Others say they were cultists of Cretia, while still others claim they were oards, half-machine creatures from the future who hoped to smother the world's magic stillborn in its crib so that their own mundane epoch could be born in its place. Legends say twelve prophets from the twelve horseclans of the Peshwah stood before the invaders, holding them off long enough for the rest of their people to escape before the twelve died from poisoned blades.
In the spirit world, the souls of the twelve swore an oath to stay together and to never join their ancestors in the final rest until they had found a way to protect their people from their killers. They scoured the planes of existence for allies in their quest until arriving in the realm of Terra.
"Mother Earth!" they cried. "Our people are in danger! The magic of our land is being drained! Grant us the power to protect the life of the land!"
"We could grant you Immortality," whispered Terra, her voice coming from everywhere at once. "But the laws are clear: you would each need to be reborn three times, rising to the pinnicle of mortal achievment in each lifetime."
"We have no time!" protested the twelve. "And while individually we are not polymaths, together we have mastered every skill."
Terra ruminated on this. Suns and moons circled the sky while she consulted with the archivists and advocates of the laws of the Sphere of Matter. At last she responded to the twelve: "The law requires three lifetimes, each with four followers. There are twelve of you. If you truly became one soul, you would satisfy the law and we could grant you Immortality. But you would have to give up your individual identities."
"Very well," said the twelve.
"Then so be it," said Terra. "There is an artifact known as the Hungry Stone, an obelisk that elementals once used to meld themselves into composite champions to fight in a planar war. With the aid of this stone I myself achieved Immortality long ago without needing to walk the path of the Polymath. You can do the same, prophets of the Peshwah, if your spirits can survive the journey."
The twelve girded themselves and made their way to the Elemental Plane of Earth, battling horde creatures, gorgons, and worse, to the site of an ancient incursion from the Plane of Fire. The battlefield was still warped and melted, and the obelisk stood alone, its power drinking the life from all who ventured near. As they approached, the twelve became eleven, then ten, then nine, until only one prophet remained to touch the stone. As Yoosef placed his hands on the artifact, all the skills and wisdom of the twelve flooded his mind: he was a shaman, a wokan, a sorcerer, a wizard, a warrior, a paladin, a mystic, a ranger, a druid, a cleric, a scout; he was all of those things. He was enlightened, and at last he could defend his people.
Yoosef carved a monument, a hundred feet tall, from a cliff face to honor the prophets who had sacrificed themselves and warn those who would come after of the dangers of the stone. He returned to Terra and, true to her word, she granted him Immortality, and armed with that power he was able to drive off those who threatened the Plains of Hak.
Yoosef appointed himself as the protector of the Peshwah, but also of the Hungry Stone, for fear that its power would be abused. That fear would prove well founded when in 2500 BC an Oltec mage called Rathanos sought out the artifact. Using cunning and sorcery, Rathanos was able to reach the stone despite Yoosef, though Rathanos paid a terrible price for the power he found.
Personality: Yoosef is wise, thoughtful, and tolerant of most other beings, except for the most chaotic and destructive. He is an ally of most of the Peshwah pantheon, except for Cretia (Calelrin to the Peshwah), who he despises. He is also a rival of Rathanos, who in 2300 BC challenged his position as the Jennite patron of magic-users.
Patron: Terra
Allies: Terra, Ixion, Earth Elemaster, Air Elemaster, Raelralataen, Hadeen
Enemies: Cretia, Rathanos
Classic D&D Stats
Followers' Alignment: Any; clerics must be Neutral or Lawful
Favoured weapon: Arbir (sword-spear)
Clerics' skills and powers: Clerics can freely cast protection from evil once per day, +2 bonus to Alternate Magics skill (not free)
Paladins' skills and powers: -1 bonus to AC for each additional language their intelligence score provides (13-15=-1, 16-17=-2, 18=-3)
D&D 3E Stats
Domains: Earth, Knowledge, Protection
Favoured weapon: Arbir
Source: Yoosef: Dave Arneson's Blackmoor (Zeitgeist Games, 2005) p. 162. Hungry Stone: Tome of Artifacts (Necromancer Games, 2007) p. 153.