Lore · Gods of the Pantheon
Bertoxxulous, the Plaguebringer
The Bloodsabers under Qeynos, the Plane of Disease and Grummus: all of it belongs to the god who thinks a fresh bruise is a work of art.
The beauty of rot
His followers believe the only truth is that everything dies, and they find the decay of flesh beautiful: the purple of a fresh bruise, the yellow-green of an infected sore. They are not suicidal. They want long, painful lives spent spreading their stain across Norrath, and many become necromancers.
In the RPG he appears as a hunchbacked human in tattered robes, a rotting body with a handsome face on a grotesque head, carrying a scythe and ruling from his Crypt of Decay. He has no allies among the gods.
Sources: Allakhazam: Bertoxxulous · Library of Erudin: Bertoxxulous
Raex and Vindor
A tale in his lore tells of two childhood friends in the kingdom of Skaxron who became the greatest knights of their generation. War swept their land, their good king was killed, and a dark emperor took over. Surviving as mercenaries, Raex and Vindor swore vengeance.
Bertoxxulous heard them and offered his help in exchange for their eternal servitude. They agreed at once. With a snap of his fingers he banished the dark emperor, who was his own servant. He had conquered their world only to recruit them.
The last sanatorium
Another of his tomes tells of a society of healers whose sanatoriums were famous across a kingdom, until a plague came that no one could cure, and one by one the houses of healing became tombs for the dead.
The Plane of Disease
In Planes of Power, two Bloodsaber brothers from Qeynos, Milyk and Adler Fuirstel, opened a portal to the Plane of Disease seeking Bertoxxulous’s wisdom. It spewed plague over them instead, and adventurers had to kill Grummus, the plane’s guardian, to win the ward that could save Milyk.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Planes of Power quest texts (Plane of Disease)
Who he is
The RPG Handbook calls Bertoxxulous, the Plaguebringer, the god of disease and death, discordant evil. He associates with oozes, undead and all manner of evil creatures and is revered by necromancers “and few others, but these worshipers are enough for him.” He rules from the Crypt of Decay on the Plane of Disease. He has no allies among the gods and many enemies: Tunare, Rodcet Nife, Karana, Mithaniel Marr and Rallos Zek. He usually appears as a hunchbacked human in tattered robes, a rotting corpse with a handsome face on an otherwise grotesque head. His favored weapon is the scythe.
Sources: Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook — Bertoxxulous (White Wolf, 2002)
Lxanvom and the Xulous
Official Planes of Power lore says the Crypt of Decay was first built on Antonica, long ago, to house the dead kings of an ancient race who called it Lxanvom, “Kings Rest.” The in-game Necropolis of Lxanvon Vol. II says the royal priests of the Xulous kingdoms traveled from their ivory cities to bring offerings to their dead kings, and that Bertoxxulous, wearing the decaying bodies of the dead Xulous nobles, appeared before them demanding obedience, reverence and sacrifices. The Library of Erudin lists the Xulous as a race he cursed.
The Bloodsabers of Qeynos
Every evil guild summons in Qeynos carries the same invitation: “Your fate lurks in disease and bile, the blood of Bertoxxulous. Beneath the Grounds of Fate Arena, the rotting bones of fallen warriors mark the entrance to the underworld,” where the Bloodsabers lurk. One in-game note, the Torn Parchment, is a new convert writing home to Merona: “I have foolishly given them my flesh. I was a weakling and cried while they stripped it from my bones.” EverQuest II’s A Martyr’s Tale is narrated by a Bloodsaber put to death by Qeynos at the end of the War of Plagues.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Bertoxxulous (QEYEvilWAR1 and guild summons; Torn Parchment; A Martyr’s Tale)
Plane of Disease and Time
Official lore describes the Plane of Disease as a surface of rotting flesh with rivers of pus forming a swamp of bile, and the Crypt of Decay as his dwelling within it. In the Plane of Time he greets raiders with “Imagine every debilitating disease in the world stripping away your body and mind. Now prepare to experience that feeling by a hundred fold!” His last words are “Defeat by mortals… impossible. The power of decay still beckons for you… someday…”
Sources: Library of Erudin: Bertoxxulous (Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 4; Bertoxxulous, Plane of Time)
Keep reading
Retold in our own words from the sources linked under each chapter; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.