Bane

Ares Mars Bane, the Iron General, lord of swol war.

Bane
Upright black hand, thumb and fingers together
Aliases	The Black Lord, the Black Hand, the Dark One, Lord Bane, Lord of Darkness, Big Guy
Alignment	Lawful Evil
Divine Rank	Quasi-divine Entity
Pantheon	Dawn War, Faerûn
Portfolio	Fear, Hatred, Tyranny (occasionally Strife)
Domains	3E: Evil, Destruction, Hatred, Law, Tyranny 4E: Civilization, Tyranny, War 5E: Forge, Order, War
Home Plane	Great Wheel: Banehold (Acheron) World Axis: Chernoggar/Banehold
Worshippers	Conquerers, Fighters, Monks, Blackguards, Wizards
Favoured Weapon	The Black Hand of Bane (Gauntlet)

Bane (not to be confused with the Batman villain, which would be admirable, but mistaken although both are big guys (for you)) is the Evil D&D deity of conquest and war.

Always the most interesting of Faerun's evil gods, he was reworked as a core god in 4th edition's "default pantheon" for the Nentir Vale setting, given a very different backstory and nature.

Forgotten Realms

Bane is one of a band of three evil deities collectively nicknamed "The Dead Three", alongside his buddies Bhaal and Myrkul. They were originally epic-level evil adventurers who set out to claim the godhood of Jergal, Faerun's original god of Strife, Death and the Dead. They expected a conflict of epic proportions. Instead, the world-weary and jaded deity willingly abdicated; after a game of knucklebones, each took one third of Jergal's portfolio. Bane took Strife and turned it into the portfolio of War, Tyranny and Conquest.

He brought his friend Myrkul to help steal the Tablets of Fate from Ao because they thought it'd make them omnipotent. This attempt to grab his prize failed, and while they didn't get caught their master plan didn't account for Ao starting the Time of Troubles to force all the gods to learn some humanity. During this time Bane was forced to walk the prime material as his avatar, which was only big in comparison to humans. During this time he and his butt-buddies were killed, leading to them being nicknamed "The Dead Three" forevermore. Luckily for him (and showing he isn't completely stupid) he had a contingency in place in case it didn't work out, namely his son Iyachtu Xvim through which he reincarnated himself and wrestled his portfolio and powers back. Basically a more successful version of his old buddy Bhaal and his plan for his kids.

In Fifth Edition, he's locked in a cold war with Asmodeus, who doesn't really pay him much attention because he has bigger problems, like dealing with his treacherous Archdevil underlings and the Blood War. Despite being rightly named "The Tyrant God", he has a Black Monastery in Elturel, the City of Paladins, which is hilarious. He doesn't act up as much as he used to for story reasons, but /tg/ doesn't let that slow them down, no sir. Not at all.

However, the book Descent Into Avernus gives him a new status quo, that of a Quasi-divine Entity. He is explicitly not a true God any more, although he can still grant spells, and even has a physical body somewhere. Larian has confirmed him and the other Dead Three are behind part of the plot of Baldur's Gate III. If this is plans coming to fruition after his death or something by the (all now revived) trio remains to be seen.

In 4e

The god who would one day become the Iron General was once one of three brothers: Kord, Tuern and Achra, his original name. Three deities who reveled in combat, but for different reasons: Kord loved competition and proving himself, Tuern loved the pain he caused in his enemies, and Achra loved the domination victory gave him.

Initially, the Dawn War went bad for the gods: each would assemble his/her own armies and go to war with the massed Primordials. Initially Tuern and Achra fought together, but Achra believed that if they were to be victorious, all gods should work together. Rallying the few deities who wanted to fight at his side, he lead an army of united gods, angels and mortals against the forces of the Queen of Bronze, Tabrach-Ti. After a terrible fight, Achra stood victorious over the Queen's body; the first Primordial to fall. This had two effects: firstly, all of the gods now agreed that they needed to work on an united front if they wanted to prove victorious. Secondly, the forces of the Primordials gave a new name to the leader of their enemies, the moniker by which he came to be known even amongst mortals: Bane.

During his stint as the general of the forces of the gods, Bane befriended Asmodeus, in whom he saw a kindred spirit. Tuern, on the other hand, got jealous of his brother's position. Things went bad for the Iron General once the war was over; he'd expected to be named King of the Gods, and instead everyone just wanted to get on with their own things.

The hope of an ordered and structured world that he would lead was dashed, leaving Bane to plot for the day he would make the world like this. His first step was to both conquer a mighty fortress to use as his own, and to overthrow his rival and brother, Tuern. In a violent siege Bane killed his brother and took control of the fortress of Tuern-Chern. Now, the other gods were not amused, and amassed a massive army lead by Moradin and Erathis to stop the Iron General. When suddenly, Gruumsh came out of nowhere and bound his own realm of Nishrek to Bane's Chernoggar, putting Tuern-Chern under constant threat of the One-Eyed God.

In the modern day of the default setting, Bane is the Evil god of domination, conquest and war. He is unusual in the way that he is not only prayed to by evil people: even those fighting for good sometimes invoke the Iron General's name at the beginning of battle. Those who conquer in his name might not do so out of greed or glory, but to defend their people. Also, doing what needs to be done "for the greater good" falls under Bane's mantle, which is fitting, as he is the only Evil God who does what he does because he thinks the world would be better for it. And the scariest part is: He may be right.

Realm

Bane's domain is Chernoggar, a 300 mile plateau of ashen wastes adrift in the Astral Sea. He rules from the fortress-city of Tuer-Chern, a city constantly busy with the creation of the tools of war and the training of soldiers. Bane's throne room is a truly massive chamber, housing the Iron General's throne, a sight that drives lesser men mad with terror.

Servants

Few worship Bane as the only true god. He is often worshipped alongside other deities, and the faithful see him as a figure of protection, albeit a harsh one. Goblinoids, however, worship Bane as their true god, because he managed to best Maglubiyet, the previous god of all of goblin kind, and took him on as his Exarch. He has a fiefdom in Chernoggar, a goblin fortress-city called Clangor. Hobgoblins are the most devout of Bane's worshippers amongst the goblinoids.

Bane also was once served by the bladelings, and a minority of them still remain loyal to their old creator-master. Most of them, however, spat on his boots and hightailed it into the Astral Sea and Sigil due to feeling insulted and betrayed when he basically dumped them in favor of the goblinoids.

See Also

• Hextor - practically the same deity from "Core D&D" with nearly the same domains and divine realm, was supplanted by Bane due to the Forgotten Realms and Nentir Vale being taken up in favor of Greyhawk.
• The Lawgiver - how he's worshipped in areas of Ravenloft drawn from the Forgotten Realms.