Cyric (SEER-ick) is a god born of the events of the Time of Troubles. He gained the followers and portfolios of many old evil gods and fights to retain them. His power base is immense, and he is one of the three greater powers of evil in Faerun. The destruction of Zhentil Keep, along with many of the rest of the woes of Faerun, may be laid at his feet. In an attempt to further enhance his own power, Cyric created the Cyrinishad, a book that is enchanted to bind the reader slavishly to believing that Cyric is the most important being in the universe exceeding all others. Cyric made the serious mistake of reading his own book and is now mad, believing that he himself is the center of the universe and everything that occurs is by his direct intervention.
Cyric's madness has taken a number of forms, including visions and a continual chorus of voices that burble and moan in the back of his mind. These voices may be parts of Cyric's own shattered consciousness or they may be the remains of the gods that Cyric slew or usurped the portfolios of. Cyric is petty, megalomaniacal, and totally self-centered. He enoys tricking and misleading both well-meaning and corrupt individuals and then revealing his deceit when they have made some fatal mistake in judgement or taken a personally devastating action that will ruin their lives. His favourite libation is the tears of disillusioned dreamers and broken-hearted lovers, which he drinks from a silver chalice encrusted with tiny rubies in the shape of sundered hearts.
Cyric hates the other gods, especially Mystra and Kelemvor, but believes they are his puppets, easily fooled and defeated, existing only on his whim. Due to the consequences of his creation of the Cyrinishad, Cyric abandoned the portfolio of death and the dead to Kelemvor and lost the portfolio of tyranny to Iyachtu Xvim, the Godson of Bane.
Cyric uses his new, twisted, ever-changing home in Pandemonium, the Shattered Keep (Cyric refers to it as the "Castle of the Supreme Throne"), as a base for his future plans for the Realms. Such plans have thus far met with varying degrees of success, but Cyric believes that the results are as he himself has declared - since he is the most powerful being in the universe.