Lore · Gods of the Pantheon
The Tribunal
Shadowknights and warriors who prayed to the Tribunal were always a little unsettling. That is how the Tribunal likes it.
Justice above all
Followers of the Tribunal seek justice above everything. Some become guards or magistrates, but true believers recognize no court on Norrath and enforce the Tribunal’s ultimate justice themselves. Retribution and punishment are sacred duties. They must be methodical, patient and just, because they believe that if they punish an innocent, the Tribunal will judge them and doom them for eternity.
Sources: Allakhazam: The Tribunal · Library of Erudin: The Tribunal
Why a court is a god
Asked by players how a group that seemed like bailiffs could matter so much to the return of the gods, a developer answered that the Plane of Justice is one of the Inner Planes, and those planes have always been the primary forces influencing the mortal realms.
Sources: Library of Erudin: The Tribunal (developer answers)
Mavuin’s case
In Planes of Power, a prisoner named Mavuin asks adventurers to plead his case before the Tribunal. After you endure their trials, the Tribunal agrees to reconsider, and Mavuin passes on what he learned: Mithaniel Marr and Karana hold information you should seek. Zebuxoruk himself is said to have once escaped from the Plane of Justice or the Void.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Planes of Power quest texts (Plane of Justice) · EverQuest.com: The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 22
Who they are
The Tribunal is six beings, not one. The RPG Handbook rates them orderly neutral, also calls them the Council of Justice, and says they have no allies and no enemies. They wear heavy hooded cloaks, masks and plain black clothing and carry two-handed warhammers. Their worshippers are usually orderly and often good.
Sources: Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook — The Tribunal (White Wolf, 2002)
The Plane of Justice
Official Planes of Power lore describes the Plane of Justice as a somber, bleak realm that is mostly one great prison, holding beings of every race sent there for severe crimes against their society or the gods. The old deity description adds that its only other residents are golems the Tribunal built as guards. A developer also explained that a seventh figure, the Seventh Hammer, is the Tribunal’s bailiff, with no authority beyond what the Six Hammers give him.
Halas and the Shamans of Justice
The Tribunal’s heartland is Halas. An official city guide says nearly all barbarians worship them, though warriors may also honor Rallos Zek. In game, Margyn McCann, chief overseer of the Shamans of Justice, says none in Halas are “above the scales o’ justice” and sends young shamans after fugitives. Shamus Felligan calls his order “judge, jury and executioner fer all misled Northmen.” Waltor Felligan charges ten gold before he’ll bind your wounds: “The scales have been balanced and the Tribunal has spoken.” The RPG adds the Field Priests of the Tribunal, barbarian beastlords who hunt those hiding from justice in the wild.
Order and Discord
The Tribunal is also behind one of EverQuest’s server rules. The Priest of Discord in Grobb offers the Tome of Order and Discord, “penned by the seventh member of the Tribunal,” as the key to a life of Discord. Reading it turns on player-versus-player combat for that character. A Plane of Justice prisoner, Al`Corisalm, speaking Old Erudian, says that when the dust settled Erud himself turned him over to “the judges of the Low Men.”
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.