Yredelemnul

"Carry the black torch! Rouse the idle dead!"

Yredelemnul the Dark is the God of Death, and is worshiped by those who seek power over death and the undead without having to learn Necromancy. Followers must oppose all things holy, but can raise legions of servile undead and gain a number of other useful (if morbid) powers, should they prove worthy. Yredelemnul appreciates killing, especially of holy beings, but prefers corpses to be put to use rather than sacrificed.

Yredelemnul is considered an evil god.

Death Knights start with this religion.

Appreciates

Actions that increase your piety are:

• Killing a living creature: about 67% chance (more for creatures with lots of hit dice, less as your experience level increases) of +1 piety.
• Having an ally killing a living creature: about 40% chance (more for creatures with lots of hit dice, less as your experience level increases) of +1 piety. Yredelemnul does not seem to "accept" kills from a Demonspawn's demonic guardians.
• Killing a holy being: about 40% chance of +1 piety
• Having an ally kill a holy being: about 83% chance of +1 piety

Deprecates

• Forgetting him/her. (Piety decreases on average by 1 every 340 turns)
• Abandoning him/her. (Penance)
• Attacking with a weapon of holy wrath. (Penance)
• Voluntarily reading a scroll of holy word. (Penance)
• Casting Statue Form (Excommunication)

Given abilities

Piety level -: "Zealot"

• No abilities.

Piety level *: "Exhumer"

• Animate Remains: Creates a zombie slave from a corpse, or a small skeleton or large skeleton slave (depending on size) from a skeleton. (Costs 2 MP and 100-200 Food) Becomes Animate Dead at ***

Piety level **: "Fey [Species Name]"

• Pain Mirror: Any damage you suffer while this ability is active is mirrored upon your attacker. Note that the piety cost per reflected damage is quite high, so use this ability only when you absolutely need the boost. (Free to activate, but costs piety when it takes effect: the square root of the damage done in each hit)
• Recall Undead Slaves: Teleports your undead slaves close to your current location, similar to a Recall spell. (Costs 2 MP and 50-100 Food)

Piety level ***: "Soul Tainter"

• Animate Dead: Like Animate Remains, but affects all corpses in view. (Costs 2 MP, and 100-200 Food) Animate Remains becomes this.
• Gift: Undead servants: If you are eligible for a gift and your Piety is >= 75, there's a 25% chance to receive an undead servant from Yredelemnul, which stays with you until it is destroyed. The undead servant is selected among:

Roll	Yredelemnul Gifts
1	Mummy
2	Wight
3	Flying skull (2-5)
4	Wraith
5	Rotting hulk
6	Freezing wraith
7	Phantasmal warrior
8	Flaming corpse
9	Flayed ghost
10	Skeletal warrior
11	Death cob
12	Ghoul
13	Bone dragon
14	Profane servitor

A roll of 3+(previous gifts)/2 or 14, whichever is smaller, occurs each time you are to receive a minion. Higher roll corresponds to a minion further down the chart. This means that it is impossible to get a bone dragon gifted in the first 20 gifts. Before 0.10.0, the roll was based on piety. Since 0.6.0, Yredelemnul's random undead gifts follow you between levels, even if they're behind zombies.

Piety level ****: "Sculptor of Flesh"

• Drain Life: You can drain life from all living (non-demonic, undead, holy or life-protected) beings in sight. You drain 1 + 1d7 + 1d(Invocation) HP from each creature, and gain half of the total of what you drained, up to Invocation*2. (Costs 6 MP, 200-400 Food, and 2-3 Piety)

Piety level *****: "Harbinger of Death"

• Enslave Soul: The victim under this effect will become a permanent undead slave once you kill them. The victim must have more than 3/4 HP remaining when you use the ability, must be natural and capable of leaving a zombifiable corpse, and must be at least of human intelligence. Moreover, you must have unobstructed path to the victim when you are invoking this ability (in other words, no smite targeting). The effect lasts for (Invocations skill * 3/4 + 2) turns. The victim becomes a disembodied soul that retains the ability to equip items and cast spells. You can only have one enslaved soul at a time; previous victim is freed if you enslave a new one. (Costs 8 MP, 150-300 Food, and 4-6 Piety)

Piety level ******: "Grim Reaper"

• No new abilities.

Punishments

While under penance, Yredelemnul will sometimes punish you (about once every 2000 turns).

Possible punishments are:

• Random necromancy miscast (100% if your experience level is <= 4, less likely as your experience level increases)
• Cast (hostile) Animate Dead
• Some of your undead slaves leave you
• hostile undead(s) are summoned, adjacent to you: mummy, wight, flying skull, wraith, rotting hulk, freezing wraith, phantasmal warrior, flaming corpse, flayed ghost, skeletal warrior, ghoul, death cob, or bone dragon. If flying skulls are selected, 1d(experience level/5 + 1) are spawned; otherwise, its just one.

If you have left or been excommunicated from Yredelemnul, all of your slaves leave you and become hostile. On average, it will take 25 such punishments to burn through the 50 penance you have incurred.

Strategy

• Yredelemnul is the god of choice for melee characters who want backup, as well as powerful panic buttons in terms of draining life force and mirror damage prayers. Characters capable of casting Haste work well with this god, as powerful minions can become considerably deadlier with haste. Yredelemnul is also viable for "monstrous" species who might want access to undead slaves, but lack the magical aptitudes to learn Necromancy.

• Yredelemnul's ability to permanently Enslave Souls enables you to get a singular, decently powerful undead version of a single living humanoid. This requires a very high Invocations skill, but it can even enslave Tiamat! Also note that when used properly, the resulting spectral horror keeps its old gear on it.

• Consider leaving behind powerful uniques alive if your Enslave Soul isn't reliable yet for later enslavement. Good candidates include Tiamat, Wiglaf, Norris, Frederick, Margery, Saint Roka, Rupert, Aizul and other powerful uniques. Nikola can be a dangerous ally, though, due to his usage of Chain Lightning. Good generic monsters to enslave include titans, fire giants, frost giants, high level deep elves (demonologists, master archers, blademasters), and orc warlords.

• Yredelemnul is perhaps the worst god to worship while tackling the extended end game content such as the Hells, Pandemonium, and the Tomb. In those areas, even bone dragons are outmatched, there are no corpses to raise, and enemies are immune to Drain Life. Also, there is no way to gain piety as Yredelemnul does not award piety for demon and undead deaths while it constantly decays over time. In addition, Yredelemnul prohibits the usage of Holy Wrath weapons which are often the best type available for those areas. On the other hand, Yredelemnul's wrath is one of the easiest to deal with, so switching late game is an option.

• Since kills by your minions give only half experience, you may want to leave them behind in another part of the same level and tell them to wait there using the 't-w' command and recall them only when you need the extra help.

• You may wish to carry a powerful corpse down to the next floor to reanimate, so you are not completely without zombie minions on a new floor.