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Publication history
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

Cyric's story as a mortal is described in the Avatar Trilogy, in the novels Shadowdale,[10] Tantras,[11] and Waterdeep.[12] Cyric first appeared in a Dungeons & Dragons game supplement in 1989's Hall of Heroes.[13] By the end of the original Avatar Trilogy, Cyric had risen to godhood.

Cyric was described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990),[14] the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet,[15] and Faiths & Avatars (1996).[16]

Cyric's story as a deity is continued in the novels Prince of Lies (1993),[17] and Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad (1998).[18]

His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).[19]

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)

Cyric appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001),[20] and is further detailed in Faiths and Pantheons (2002).[21]
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

Cyric returns as a major deity in the 4th edition, as a Greater God of strife and lies. Due to his murder of Mystra, he was imprisoned in his realm by Tyr, Lathander, and Sune. His "rantings" are recorded in The Cyrinishad, a book of ever-changing text that drives those who read it mad.[citation needed]
References Edit

The Avatar series:

James Lowder (August 1993). Prince of Lies. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 1-56076-626-3.
Troy Denning (February 1998). Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-0724-X.

Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 20–22. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
Reynolds, Sean K. Sneak Peek: Cyric. Realmswatch. Retrieved on 2009-05-04.

Notes
Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 235. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
See FRCS Errata page 3; Bane does not have Strife, Cyric does. Please see also the discussion before hastily changing it back.
Logan Bonner (August, 2009). “Domains in Eberron and the Forgotten Realms”. In Chris Youngs ed. Dragon #378 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 32.
4.0 4.1 4.2 Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 240. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
Troy Denning (July 1991). The Parched Sea. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 310. ISBN 1-56076-067-2.
Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 282. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood (September, 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 159. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
Scott Ciencin (May 2003). Shadowdale. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-3105-1.
Scott Ciencin (June 2003). Tantras. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-3108-6.
Troy Denning (July 2003). Waterdeep. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-3111-6.
Ed Greenwood, et al (1989). Hall of Heroes. (TSR, Inc). ISBN 0-88038-711-4.
Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood (1990). Forgotten Realms Adventures. (TSR, Inc). ISBN 0-8803-8828-5.
Jeff Grubb, Ed Greenwood and Julia Martin (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition. (TSR, Inc).
Julia Martin, Eric L. Boyd (March 1996). Faiths & Avatars. (TSR, Inc). ISBN 978-0786903849.
James Lowder (August 1993). Prince of Lies. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 1-56076-626-3.
Troy Denning (February 1998). Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-0724-X.
McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996)
Ed Greenwood et al. (2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. (Wizard of the Coast).
Boyd, Eric L, and Erik Mona. Faiths and Pantheons (Wizards of the Coast, 2002)

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The Complete Book of Necromancers, page 63

When Our Lady of Pain discovered her sister had left the
Land of the Living and taken refuge in the World of the
Dead, her wrath and fury were boundless. She descended to
the Land of No Return, through the caverns and lower
regions known only to the spirits, until she reached the city
of Erkalla itself, ruled by Cyric, the King of the Dead. And
Loviatar approached the gate of the city, known as Ganzir,
and pounded her Flail of Tears on the door, demanding to be
let in, but her command was unanswered, and her screams
resounded thlough the streets of Erkalla:
"Gatekeeper, I am here at Ganzir before the Walls of
Erkalla. Open these gates for me! I am Loviatar, Maiden of
Pain, Mistress of Sorrow, and I shall smash down this
door if you do not open it! I shall crack open the bolts with
my Flail of Tears and sunder the iron with my Scourge of
Despair. I shall release all the dead from city of Erkalla,
and they shall climb up the stairs of the earth. I shall raise
up the dead, and they shall eat the living: the dead shall
outnumber the living!"
And the Gatekeeper appeared, and he opened the door,
but he would not let Our Lady pass:
"Mighty Loviatar, Maiden of Pain, you cannot enter
Erkalla with your symbols of Power. Leave them with me,
and then you may visit the King."
Our Lady of Pain saw the truth in his words, and at the
gate ofthe city, she stripped ofher talismans. She gave up the
Flail of Tears, surrendered the Scourge of Despair. She
unwrapped her Robe of Severed Hands, and coiled up her
Whip of Countless Aflictions. She unwrapped the spiked
wirefrom her hair and plucked out the needlesfrom her nails.
And at last Loviatar was finished, and the Gatekeeper
escorted her into Cyric's dismal palace. And the King of
the Dead saw Our Lady humbled, and in his throne room
of glory, he heard her complaint. Cyric made his voice
heard like a gavel of thunder, and he spoke loudly his judgment,
with thefollowing words:
"I am Cyric, Lord of Erkalla, and I welcome you to my
pale domain. You have no power here in my most ancient
city: over the dead only I am King. I have heard your
request and will honor it. When you leave, your sister
shall accompany you. But each winter she will come back
and visit me, and I shall return her to your side in the
summer."
Our Lady of Pain heard his pronouncement, and she
left gladly with her sister beside her. Thus Loviatar
ascendedfrom the netherworld, resuming her just punishment
of Man.

-"Loviatar's Descent into the Netherworld,"
recounted in the Nycoptic Manuscripts

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