Kurtulmak

Greyhawk Deity

Kurtulmak
Kurtulmak, the Horned Sorcerer, as depicted in Deities and Demigods (2002).
Title:	The Horned Sorcerer, Steelscale, Stingtail, Watcher
Home plane:	Nine Hells of Baator
Power level:	Intermediate
Gender:	male
Class:	Fighter 16/Cleric 8/Rogue 8/Sorcerer 8
Alignment:	Lawful Evil
Portfolio:	Kobolds, trapmaking, mining, war
Domains:	Evil, Law, Luck, Trickery
Superior:	Io

Kurtulmak is the chief deity worshiped by the kobold race. His symbol is the skull of a gnome.

Description

Kurtulmak appears as a 5-foot tall kobold with steel scales. His tail has a poisoned stinger on its tip, and he also wields a spear. He exudes an aura of fear, causing foes to flee in panic.

Relationships

Kurtulmak is primarily the god of war and mining. The other main god worshiped by the kobolds is Gaknulak the god of protection, stealth, trickery, and traps. A lesser-known kobold demigod is Dakarnok. He has been allied with Gruumsh in the past, but dislikes Bahgtru. Kuraulyek, the patron of the urds, is said to be a servant of Kurtulmak who stole a pair of magical wings from his master and escaped to the Gray Waste. Kurtulmak hates Garl Glittergold above all other beings.

Kurtulmak is often linked to the draconic pantheon. Some myths hold that he is a son of Tiamat, queen of evil dragons, while others claim he was raised to divinity by Io, the draconic god of creation.

Realm

His realm in Avernus, Draukari, is a warren of caverns, its tunnels narrow and short-ceilinged. Warped, spectral forests grow on the surface. The twisting tunnels of Draukari are filled with blood and reek of death, and they twist so maddeningly that a body's sure to get lost in them. Anything larger than a halfling has to crawl through the mud, which is filled with traps and other nasty surprises.

Towns in Draukari include Frekstavik, Nibellin, and Snjarll.

While he is no great threat to the safety of the Hells, various baatezu archdukes curry his favor as one more ally in the continual power struggle between factions. Kurtulmak smiles graciously, takes any and all aid, and proceeds to rob the archdevils blind while maintaining his front as an ally against other powers.

The goblin god Bargrivyek often leads raids against Draukari.

Dogma

Kurtulmak tirelessly drives kobolds to make war upon gnomes in retaliation for a prank the gnomish deity Garl Glittergold pulled on him. Kurtulmak has neither a sense of compassion nor a sense of humor.

Kurtulmak teaches that notions of "fair play" are for fools. It is better, say the kobolds, to flee and live to fight again than to die for the sake of "bravery." No fight is over as long as one kobold lives who can plot revenge. Revenge is a dish that tastes as sweet cold as it does hot. Quick wit and clever traps are more effective than brute strength.

Worshippers

Clergy

Kurtulmak's priests wear orange scale mail and iron helms. His sacred animal is the rook.

Priests of Kurtulmak begin their careers as miners. Those who regularly sustain injuries in their work are trained under rigorous military discipline to become clerics or adepts of the faith.

Rituals

At births, kobolds celebrate the return of the souls of those kobolds who have fallen in the service of their tribe, which they believe return to their original lairs for reincarnation. Those who die as traitors are reincarnated as giant beetles, who are hunted by kobolds for armor.

The enemies of kobolds are sacrificed to Kurtulmak monthly (under the light of Luna's crescent) in a gory ceremony.

Prayers to Kurtulmak have a rhythmic quality to them that can easily be recited while swinging a pickaxe. Prayers can also take the form of battle cries and promises of revenge. "By the point of Kurtulmak's spear and the tip of his poisonous tail, I will see every member of your family perish."

Coming-of-age rituals involve finding and defeating traps.

Temples

Kurtulmak is worshiped at the crescent moon in cave temples. His temples are carved out of earth and used to house adepts, clerics, and the tribes's most valuable treasures. These temples are protected with small, twisting tunnels and a staggering array of deadly traps.

Holy Days

Kurtulmak's holiest times are the nights of the crescent moon.

Relics

• The Enveloping Pit is akin to a Portable Hole, but 50 feet deep. It is used as a convenient trap.
• Skewer-of-Gnomes is a semi-sentient spear sacred to the faith.

Myths and legends

The Violation of Tiamat's Lair

In one kobold creation myth, Kurtulmak owes his existence to an assault launched on Tiamat by an army of thieves shortly after she had laid a clutch of eggs. Badly injured and with her lair heavily damaged, she caused one of her eggs to hatch, thus creating Kurtulmak. The newly-hatched godling quickly began creating a defensive perimeter of traps and restoring the caverns. During the process, Kurtulmak found an egg of Tiamat's that had fallen away from the nest and, deeming it had been away for too long to ever hatch naturally, used his magic to cause it to hatch, thus producing miniature versions of himself: the first kobolds.

Caesinsjach

In a rival creation myth, kobolds were created not by Tiamat but by a green dragon called Caesinjach, who learned the secrets of creation from Io himself. Kurtulmak, the strongest and largest of his kin, became the leader of his people and the inventor of many clever and useful things. Kurtulmak is said to have created the first pickaxe and to have minted the first coin. Kurtulmak is even said to have invented sorcery in order to divine the location of precious metals. Eventually the kobolds earned their freedom from Caesinsjach, and she features no more in this tale.

The Abduction of Garl

There are many different versions of the story of the Collapse of Kurtulmak's Hall. In the first, described in Monster Mythology, Garl Glittergold is said to have willingly allowed himself to be captured by the scheming Kurtulmak in order to play a prank on him. Garl, bound and seemingly rendered harmless, suffered Kurtulmak's tedious bragging all the way down to his lair in Avernus before launching into a bizarre and humorous story about Bahgtru, the notoriously stupid son of the orcish god Gruumsh. Kurtulmak had recently had a disagreement with Bahgtru and, despite himself, began to laugh. While thus distracted, Garl slipped free of his bonds, retrieved his axe Arumdina from a portable hole, and sliced through the central pillar supporting the ceiling of Kurtulmak's lair. Kurtulmak, being a deity, was not seriously hurt, but had to expend a great deal of effort restoring his home to its former glory. Garl tweaked the kobold deity's nose and skipped merrily back to the Twin Paradises.

The Keystone

A second version of the preceding myth, as recounted Dragon #332, Kurtulmak decided to carve out a beautiful cavern and rig it to collapse, whereupon he would then play a great jest; he would invite all of the other deities to the cavern for a feast, and tell them the tale of "The Violation of Tiamat's Lair." At the tale's end, he would pull out an ornate stone trigger and bury the assembled deities alive. The subsequent turn of events differs on whether the myth's teller is a kobold or a gnome, but either way Garl Glittergold stumbled across Kurtulmak's cavern and pulled the trigger, burying the God of the Kobolds in his own trap. The kobold version insists that Garl Glittergold did so because he was jealous of Kurtulmak's creation, whilst the gnomish version claims that Garl admired Kurtulmak's work and pulled the keystone out simply to see if it worked, soon forgetting all about the event. He did continue to wear the keystone about his neck, however, as it resembled his holy symbol (the kobolds believe this was the origin of his holy symbol).

The Fall of Darastrixhurthi

A third version of this collapsing-cavern motif is found in the book Races of the Dragon. In this version of the tale, Kurtulmak wasn't born a god, but instead was a mortal created along with the rest of the kobold race by the green dragon Caesinsjach. The newly emancipated kobolds began the creation of a fabulous fortress-mine that they called Darastrixhurthi, created in emulation of the lairs of the great dragons. From the heavens the gnomish god Garl Glittergold looked down upon it, and his heart twisted with envy. Nothing the gnomes had made could equal the glory of Darastrixhurthi, for the gnomes could not hope to match the kobold work ethic. Garl grew so filled with rage that he abused his divine powers, collapsing Darastrixhurthi with a wave of his effete hand. The other deities demanded an explanation for this act of cruelty, but Garl ignored them. Eventually they forgot about the matter; only Io cared enough about the kobolds to aid them. He found Kurtulmak dying beneath a massive pile of stone, clinging to the life that was slowly being crushed out of him, and offered him a choice. Darastrixhurthi could be restored, or Kurtulmak could be transformed into an immortal champion to protect and avenge his wronged people. In this latter case, the loss of Darastrixhurthi would remain, but the memory of what happened would never be forgotten. Kurtulmak chose the latter, becoming the racial deity of his people.

Vengeance Thwarted

Obsessed with revenge against the gnomish pantheon, Kurtulmak dragged Gaknulak to a citadel of the gnomish deities, attempting to booby-trap it. Unfortunately for them, the gnomish deities detected him, captured him, tied his tail in a knot, sticking a red nose on his face, and fastening a glowing stuffed chicken to his waist before kicking him back to the Nine Hells.

Trivia

• "Kurtulmak" means "to survive/escape" in Turkish.

Bibliography

• Grubb, Jeff. Manual of the Planes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1987.
• Kestrel, Gwendolyn FM, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, and Kolja Raven Liquette. Races of the Dragon. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.
• Laws, Robin D. Robert J. Schwalb. Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.
• McComb, Colin, and Wolfgang Baur. Planes of Law. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995.
• Moore, Roger E. "The Humanoids." Dragon #63. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1982.
• Noonan, David. Complete Divine. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2004.
• Redman, Rich and James Wyatt. Defenders of the Faith (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
• Redman, Rich, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Deities and Demigods (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).
• Sargent, Carl. Monster Mythology. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.
• Smith, Mat. "The Ecology of the Kobold". Dragon #332. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
• Ward, James and Robert J. Kuntz. Deities and Demigods. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1980.

  Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Index is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, and his work as continued and updated by Eric Johnson, Richard DiIoia, Jason "PupickDad" Jacobson, a French fan group, and numerous other fans over the years. The wiki page for the EGI has a list of sources, full product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords	113
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	A4 In The Dungeons of the Slave Lords	7
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Deities & Demigods (1st & 2nd printing), AD&D 1e	110, 141
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Deities & Demigods (3rd+ printing), AD&D 1e	95, 125
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Deities & Demigods, D&D 3.0e	58, 79-81, 214, 215
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	DMGR4 - Monster Mythology	3, 19, 33, 44, 54
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Defenders of the Faith, D&D 3.0e	92, 93, 94
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Defenders of the Faith: Web Enhancement (3e)	2
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Dragon magazine #064	13
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Dragon magazine #075	17
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Enemies & Allies, D&D 3.0e	17
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	From the Ashes: Atlas of the Flanaess	96
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Legends & Lore, AD&D 1e	95, 125
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e	112
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	On Hallowed Ground	132, 176, 187, 192
Kurtulmak	Deity	Worshipped by: Kobold, Native of: Nine Hells,	Return to the Keep on the Borderland	35