This gathering had been highly rewarding, and Tyche had no qualms about contributing to the Anti-Erevan Alliance. The fragmented state of the laws, as gleaned from others, clearly indicated that Erevan had not yet fully grasped control of this world.
The fractured laws left Faerûn unable to aid Erevan in his complete ascension. Only a primordial deity, combined with a sufficiently powerful material world, could forge a true creator god.
Tyche estimated that Erevan was currently stronger than herself, but with her dominion over entropy, she was not without the power to fight; once she fully mastered entropy, she could even create a tangible material world on her own. However, this process would require immense effort and time—so long that even eternal deities would find it protracted.
After her successful deification, Tyche established her divine realm in accordance with the world's rules. Her true form resided within the divine realm, while only her avatars ventured out.
Due to her choice of absolute neutrality, her divine realm was inevitably drawn towards the Plane of Knowledge, where the gods of knowledge resided.
Four deities had their divine realms in the Plane of Knowledge. The Knowledge Pantheon, led by the powerful deity Boccob, who wielded the mantles of inspiration, creation, and knowledge, along with his two lesser deities, Deneir, the God of Literature, and Milil, the God of Song, formed the core of this pantheon. However, the only deity worthy of Tyche's attention was Boccob himself, who, like her, hailed from beyond the world.
Another divine realm belonged to Gond, the God of Craftsmanship and Forge, a moderate deity who presided over skills, crafts, architecture, and forging. Similar to Tyche, he resided here due to his absolute neutrality, not as a subordinate to Boccob.
Tyche had no intention of visiting these neighbors, even declining invitations from the gods of knowledge under the pretext of needing to perfect her divine realm.
The importance of a divine realm to a deity was self-evident. Take Gond as an example; a moderate deity within his divine realm could easily withstand attacks from powerful deities. To forcibly breach a moderate deity's realm would require at least one powerful deity of the same domain or with a counteracting effect, supported by several times the number of moderate deities, all attacking relentlessly.
After dismissing the envoys of the gods of knowledge, Tyche's divine realm welcomed the first souls of her followers; these supplicants continued to provide faith, which was used to construct and optimize the living conditions within the divine realm.
After settling the supplicants, Tyche turned her attention to dealing with the God of Thieves, Mask. Deities of absolute neutrality could have followers from both neutral good and neutral evil domains, which was the basis for her cooperation with the Thieves' Guild.
The Calamity of the Saints had ended, yet some deities remained unaccounted for, as if they had vanished.
Among them was the God of Thieves, Mask, who had certainly not perished; otherwise, his priests would have lost their divine spells.
As Tyche pondered how to locate the God of Thieves, four divine avatars descended to the outskirts of her divine realm.
They had come to her doorstep, so she could hardly refuse to greet them. Tyche dispatched an avatar to welcome the visitors.
"Welcome, esteemed deities, to my divine realm."
Tyche led the guests to the garden of the forecourt, a landscape modeled after the world of the Witch-Hunters, with windmills and breweries dotting the serene pastoral scenery.
The supplicants brought wine, then retreated to the vineyards to continue their work.
The items produced within the divine realm were genuine; celestial beings traded with the supplicants, and the wealth generated supported the church's charitable projects. Work within the divine realm was voluntary, with supplicants only needing to work short hours each day to reap ample rewards. The grapes in the divine realm matured at an astonishing rate, their plump fruits never falling, waiting patiently to be harvested.
The purpose of the gods' visit was to address the new Death God, Cyric's, refusal to allow the souls of the gods' followers to leave the Underdark. The newly ascended Cyric, drunk on power, brazenly declared himself the one true god, commanding humans not to worship any false gods.
Such threats were nothing more than a laughingstock to the gods, who paid no heed and merely watched Cyric's antics.
However, Cyric's subsequent actions began to worry the gods. As the intermediary for souls, the Underdark was a regular stop for messengers of the gods, who would take the souls of their followers back to their divine realms for eternal bliss.
Cyric refused to fulfill this duty, declaring that unless the gods submitted to him, he would not return these souls.
This caused an uproar among the gods, who unprecedentedly united against Cyric, even the evil deities joining in. The powerful deities issued an ultimatum: if Cyric persisted, only a war of the gods awaited him.
Tyche's number of followers was still limited, with only a few unexpected deaths bringing their souls to the Underdark, so she had yet to notice this development.
"The Pantheon is convening a meeting to discuss how to resolve Cyric's dereliction of duty."
Boccob's avatar appeared as an elder clad in ornate armor, his snowwood lyre occasionally emitting clear notes. The Namer of All Things, who had claimed dominion over knowledge while also dabbling in travel, luck, and trickery, rarely participated in conflicts, preferring to spend his time conversing with scholars and travelers.
Setting down his wine cup, Tyche immediately rose and accompanied the four deities to the Pantheon. As the sole powerful deity of absolute neutrality, Boccob had an obligation to support a new deity of his alignment, and since this was Tyche's first visit to the Pantheon, Boccob naturally took it upon himself to explain some taboos.
The gods of the Pantheon were seated according to their alignments, with those of the same faction grouped together. Tyche carefully observed the arriving deities; apart from the missing God of Thieves, Mask, the Goddess of Wealth, Waukeen, was also absent.
Before the Calamity of the Saints, Waukeen had entrusted her divine mantle to the Goddess of Joy, Lliira, while attempting to return to her divine realm through the Abyss. According to Milil, who had learned from Lliira, Waukeen had made a pact with one of the Dark Lords of the Abyss, Graz'zt, and had not been heard from since.
As Lliira's closest friend and a deity of absolute neutrality herself, Boccob took an interest in Waukeen's whereabouts.
Waukeen's divine realm was not located in the Plane of Knowledge but had been moved to the domain of Sune, the Goddess of Love, where she aligned herself with the gods of chaotic good. As a goddess of commerce and trade with significant influence, Waukeen maintained a certain independence, moving among the gods without enemies, except for the God of Thieves, whose mantle was entirely opposed to hers.
Boccob also noticed Waukeen's vacant seat but merely glanced at it before moving on; after all, Waukeen had moved her divine realm to the domain of Sune, and Boccob had no intention of offending the Goddess of Love over her. The gods' attention shifted to Cyric on the judgment seat.
It seemed that the mad Cyric had recovered from his frenzy; he no longer arrogantly demanded the same reverence as Erevan from the gods.
Those who disapproved of Cyric's meteoric rise seized upon his dereliction of duty, and the Pantheon erupted into uproar.
Tyche found little interest in this farce; pretending to listen intently to the gods' debates, she used the Pantheon's secret connection to the gods to locate the God of Thieves, Mask.
Fate revealed to Tyche a scene where a human thief, Cyric, plunged a black sword into the chest of Bhaal, the God of Murder, killing him!
Cyric seemed to sense Fate's gaze and immediately looked warily at Tymora, the Goddess of Luck, and Beshaba, the Goddess of Misfortune. However, his gaze soon fell upon Savras, the weak deity of prophecy, fate, and truth who stood behind Mystra; Savras had taken over Taeryssa's power after her death, which Tyche believed was one reason Taeryssa had not yet been reborn.
Now Tyche truly paid attention to Cyric's expression; the God of Thieves was somehow connected to Cyric, though it was unclear if the Sword of Murder, which had once been Mask's avatar, was still in Cyric's possession.
Regardless of how the gods despised Cyric, the power of a powerful deity ensured that his punishment was negligible unless three or more powerful deities launched a full-scale attack, which would be the only way Cyric could fall.
The meeting adjourned hastily, and Tyche learned the details from Gond.
Cyric, having obtained the mantle of lies, used this power to create an artifact—the "Cyric's Codex." This immensely powerful book claimed that he was the one true god and would make anyone who read it, even deities, believe its contents. However, Cyric foolishly read his own fabricated lies and descended into madness.
While Tyche was eagerly listening to the gossip, disturbances in the Underdark caught the gods' attention.
The ancient Death God, Kelemvor, had instigated a revolution in the Underdark, cleanly severing Cyric's divine mantle as the Death Recorder. The primordial force of death had always favored Kelemvor, and using Cyric's dereliction of duty as an excuse, Kelemvor reclaimed all aspects of the death mantle!
No matter how much Cyric raged, it was to no avail; the power of death abandoned him, and Kelemvor even left behind several of his avatars.
This outcome shocked the gods, but Kelemvor did not covet the death mantles he had discarded; instead, he selected new successors from among the souls of the dead.
The new Death God was Crenshinibon, the human warrior who had retrieved the Tablets of Fate alongside the female wizard Midnight and the thief Cyric. The importance of the death mantle was unquestionable; another lucky individual, like Cyric, had ascended to the level of a powerful deity in one step.
Meanwhile, Cyric encountered more trouble; his last two avatars were blocked by two dark goddesses. From the eyes of his avatars, Cyric saw an abyss of darkness, and the next moment, he felt his avatars being destroyed.
Tyche and Shar found the information they sought from Cyric's memories. Mask, with his avatars of the godfather, conspiracy, and shadow, had helped Cyric grow and lured him into killing Bhaal. However, Cyric had been granted the mantles of the Three Deaths by Erevan; after becoming a powerful deity, Cyric sealed Mask within the Sword of Murder, extracting his power to strengthen himself.
Mask, who wielded the mantle of conspiracy, was not one to be trifled with. The "Cyric's Codex" was completed with his help; to gain Cyric's trust, Mask also read the "Cyric's Codex" and descended into madness, while the confused Cyric carelessly bestowed the Sword of Murder upon a priest. Upon regaining his senses, Cyric faced the gods' questioning and had yet to retrieve the Sword of Murder.
Shar did not hesitate to reclaim the sealed Sword of Murder.
As for what Shar would do next, it was of no concern to Tyche. Mask's mantles of thief, conspiracy, and shadow were highly compatible with the Night Goddess; whether she sought faith in Mask's name or simply killed him, Tyche did not care.
"Lady Shar, my task is complete. When will I receive what I seek?"
The mantles of Loviatar and Talona were not of great interest to Tyche; her request was more of an excuse to deepen her alliance with Shar.
Shar's face beneath the mask was unreadable, but her tone was warmer than before, "I will do so promptly. Bhaal left many descendants before his death, which has altered the final fate of the Throne of Murder. Loviatar and Talona both desire the power of murder to ascend to moderate deities. I will guide them to set their sights on you; after all, your temple has the most children, and sheltering the Children of Murder would be natural."
Tyche nodded, her gaze returning to the Material Plane.
Thanks to the secret assistance of her allies, Tyche's influence had spread to Neverwinter and Baldur's Gate. Under the guise of protecting orphans and the weak, the forces of the good alignment were willing to accommodate Tyche's church, and even the dark forces showed a degree of respect for the priests of the Goddess of Mercy.
The orphans under Tyche's care had taken to the stage; some faded into obscurity as merchants and dockworkers, while others made a name for themselves. Tyche reached an agreement with the Assassin's Guild to train these children in various skills. The Assassin's Guild could replenish its ranks, and the children gained the means to protect themselves—a win-win situation.
Among the orphans with the potential for magic, Tyche provided basic magical education, and Mystra generously granted them access to the Weave, making it easier for them to connect with it.
As a deity of absolute neutrality, Tyche had no enemies; thus, she could navigate both the good and evil alignments, as no one wished to unnecessarily antagonize a deity.
From the perspectives of the gods and their followers, the Church of Mercy was undoubtedly harmless. Tyche's priests never instigated conflicts but were more diplomatic in their dealings than Ilmater's. Ilmater's faith was resisted by the nobility, while Tyche received their support.
Most mothers would offer their faith to the Goddess of Mercy, hanging Tyche's lily-emblazoned holy symbol in their living rooms, praying for their children's safety and growth.
Tyche even managed to split Helm's domain of protection, but the Anti-Erevan Alliance's allies readily promised to counter any potential hostility from Helm. After all, Helm was a loyal supporter of Erevan, and the alliance members had no qualms about stripping the God of Guardians of his protective domain and reducing him from a moderate deity to a lesser one.