HOLTUS

(OF THE BLINDING LIGHT) 

Lesser god, LG(N) - Light, Resolution, Law, Order, Inflexibility, Sun, Moon 

It is said the regularity of sunrise and sunset, the cycles of the moon, are as fixed as the resolve of Pholtus to show all creatures the One True Way, a strict path which allows no deviation but gives absolute assurance of rightness. Some followers of the Blinding Light actually claim it is their deity, Pholtus, who ordered the rigid progression of the sun and moon and maintains them in his regimen. Such claims are not regarded as doctrine. Pholtus appears as a tall and slender man, pale of complexion, with flowing white hair and bright blue eyes from which the fire of devotion to the cause shines forth. He always wears a gown of white, silky material and a cassock trimmed with gold and silver embroidered suns and moons. In his hand is an ivory staff shod in silver and topped by a disc of electrum, the Silvery Sun.  

The Staff of the Silvery Sun can be used as a weapon, but its major powers are in its magic. The staff can shoot forth various forms of light as if it were a wand of illumination. The top can cause or cure blindness by touch, or shoot forth a pulsing flash of radiation, which plays from the infra-red, into the visible, and through the ultra-violet spectrums. Any creature struck by it becomes unable to look away from the Staff of the Silvery Sun and becomes subject to each and every command uttered by the holder of the device. It can also release a globe of great brilliance, an expanding sphere of light, which begins from the staff and spreads to a 40-yard diameter. All within the globe (except Pholtus himself) risk becoming permanently blind (cure possible only by means of the staff, a wish, or a deity able to cure blindness or fulfill a wish). 

Pholtus also has the following magical powers: 
- The power to dispel darkness, merely by touch. 
- The power to cause any nearby creature to glow brightly, merely by pointing toward the creature. 
- The power to reflect all forms of radiation, becoming mirror-bright. Gaze weapons are reflected back upon their users, heat has no effect upon him, and even creatures endowed with infra vision or ultravision can be struck sightless by looking upon Pholtus when he is thus reflecting.  

The Ethereal Plane, the Positive Material Plane, and the Prime Material Plane are open to Pholtus, although the deity typically remains on his own (Arcadia). He can summon monadic devas to his aid, through gates. 

Following the inflexible example of their deity, the clerics of Pholtus continually seek to reveal the light to unbelievers. They will brook no argument, of course, and resisters will be shown the way of the Blinding Light. There are three ranks of this priesthood: 

Rank Vestment Colors 
Glimmering White 
Gleam White and Silver 
Shining White and Gold 

The priesthood of Pholtus is most active in urban districts. Consecrated buildings are white. Services include many burning candles and long sermons. The anthem of the worshippers is "O Blinding Light."