Zal'Kazzir's Forbidden Lore
Zal'Kazzir can hear what he calls the "Songs of Life"; this is his interpretation of the 'Black Speak', the words of true and utter evil. His name may seem incongruous with the nature of the words, but he identifies them Aeryth empowering those who will defend her; even those who would use evil to fight evil. Aeryth represents life, and Izrador represents death.
The Black Speak
The Black Speak is the language of dark gods; the language of true evil. It is the root language from which the bastardized pidgin of the black tongue was derived, and a competent speaker can see many similarities.
For the uninitiated, uttering even a single word of the Black Speak is certain doom; and such words of dark power are heavily draining even to those capable and willing to speak them. No being can be tricked or fooled into speaking the Black Speak; one must willingly and desirously pronounce it's dread syllables, or they are simply gibberish.
Uses of the Black Speak
The Black Speak may be used in at least three major ways, and certainly countless other minor ways as well.
- Dread: The speaker may utter words of powererful dread, terrifying, demoralizing and disgusting good creatures, and cowing, charming and impressing evil ones. Speaking the words of Dread deals 1d4 points of charisma damage and causes 1d4 points of taint
- Power: The speaker may intone words of might and wrath, increasing the effective caster level of an Evil spell by one, or increasing the efficetive caster level of a magic item by one without raising it's cost in GP or EXP. Any items created thus are forever tainted with evil. Speaking the words of Power deals 1d4 points of charisma damage and causes 1d4 points of taint.
- Corruption: The speaker may whisper words of corruption and weakness, lowering the hardness of an object by half. An object may not be affected by this ability more than once.
