Wonderbringer, the Lord of All Smiths, the Inspiration Divine, the Holy Maker of All Things

Intermediate Power of the Plane of Concordant Opposition, N
PORTFOLIO: Artifice, craft, construction, smithwork
ALIASES: Zionil (Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden)
DOMAIN NAME: Outlands/Wonderhome
SUPERIOR: Oghma
ALLIES: Lathander, Oghma, Waukeen (missing), Tempus
FOES: Talos
SYMBOL: A shining toothed wheel or cog with four spokes, in ivory, bone, or metal
Gond (GOHND) Wonderbringer is the god of blacksmiths, woodworkers, inventors, and engineers. In religious art, he is most often portrayed as a burly, red-hued smith, with a mighty hammer and a forge and anvil that allows him to craft the stuff that stars are made of.
Gond serves Oghma along with Deneir and Milil. He gives the ideas that Oghma holds in his portfolio concreate form and inspires others to make new things. He has grown very independent as his own power waxes, and his relationship to Oghma is already only dimly remembered at times by mortals. In Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden, Gond is worshiped as a part of the Adama, the Durparian concept of a world spirit that embraces and enfolds the divine essence that is part of all things. Here he is known as Zionil, patrion of inventors, craftfolk, and creators.
Gond is always making new things. He often presses Oghma for their release into the mortal world without thinking through completely the impact they will have. He is fascinated with making the theoretical real and either does not consider or often does not care about the implications for the use of his inventions and discoveries. He has a constant need for bizarre components as well as raw materials for his work, and so may overlook shady sponsors for specific jobs provided that they pay well in materials, knowledge he can use, or future favors. He can be distracted, businesslike, sarcastic, or patronizing as well as incredibly helpful and brilliant. He is dedicated to his faithful, and though he sometimes does not immediately respond to them because he is busy, he always ensures that their needs are met.
During the Time of Troubles, Gond, in the avatar of a gnome, washed ashore on Lantan. His true nature was quickly discovered, and the deity was revered and worshipped there until the crisis passed. As a result, Gond gave the secret of smoke powder to the Lantanna, and arquebuses, stamped on the butts of their stocks with the symbol of Gond, have been shipped at a steady trickle to western ports since 1358 DR.
Other Manifestations
Gond appears most often as a forge hammer wreathed in gray smoke. He has also manifested as a pair of black, piercing eyes in a gray cloud accompanied by the faint rining of distant forge hammers. Either manifestation can speak or cast spells, issuing spells forth as a bust of smoke that changes into the spell effect or touches the target of the spell to affect him or her. Most often he inspires ideas for new inventions or new applications for old inventions in his faithful. He laos gives out magical or normal items geared to aid worshipers in particularly sticky dilemmas, though he often does not explain why the item he gives someone is suitable. Frequently the items he give out evaporate in smoke after serving their purpose. Gond also sends baku, holy ones, einheriar (who were in mortal life inventors), golems, lightning mephits, maruts, pseudodragons, steel dragons, crystal dragons, and animated furniture or equipment to aid mortals or to show his favor or presence.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: Any
TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No
All clerics and specialty priests of Gond receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
Since the Time of Troubles, interest in and worship of Gond is on the rise, but this has brought increased attacks from both rival clergy and those who simply fear new inventions. Gondarism is the official state religion of the island nation of Lantan, which is also a hotbed of invention and new devices. Men tend to outnumber women in both Gondar clergy and laity, but there is no impediment to or prejudice against females rising in the ranks of the Gondar. Members of the Gondar faith are mainly human, but more and more gnomes are being accepted into the church, especially in the wake of the form that Gond's avatar took during the Gondswar.
In most of Faerûn, the proportion of clerics to Gondsmen (as his specialty priests are called) is 15:1. In Lantan, this proportion is neatly reversed, and there are about 20 Gondsmen for every Gondar cleric. Most specialty priests of the faith are Lantanna, and most Lantanna merchants encountered in the Realms outside Lantan are specialty priests of Gond.
Clerics of Gond are called Krii, a Lantanna term meaning disadvantaged. Despite the implied slur, many clerics hold senior positions within the state religion in Lantan. A cleric occupies the post of Most Holy Avenue for Spreading the Faith, which is (in title at least) the supreme authority for all worshipers of Gond in Lantan. There are a number of northern branches of the Gondar faith, including a budding temple complex in Tilverton.
Clergy refer to themselves as the Consecrated of Gond, and may speak of other Gondar priests as "fellow Consecrates," but their titles of rank are simple: Wonderer (novice), Seeker Postulant (priest in training), Seeker after Small Things (confirmed priest), Greater Seeker, Seeker of the Twelfth Order, Seeker of the Eleventh Order, and so on up to Seeker of the First Order, High Seeker (a title held by all senior clergy), Master (leader of a religious community or one who tends a holy site), Artificer (one who has been personally rewarded and named by Gond for special service), and High Artificer (the supreme priest of the faith). Though Gondar may act independently in their duty of encouraging inventions, their religious hierarchy is ordered and obedience to a superior is unquestioning.
Dogma: The beliefs of the Gondar can be summed up as "Actions count." Intentions and thought are one thing, but in the end it is the result—what remains after the sword is forged, the battle is fought—that is the most important. Talk is for others; those who truly serve Gond do.
All Gondar are to strive to make new things that work. All of Gond's clergy should become skilled at forging, casting, or tempering, and practice various means of joining and fastening until they are adept at making things to fit a space or situation with which they are confronted. To venerate Gond is to continually question and challenge the unknown with new devices and items. Elegance and usefulness are the two legs any new making should stand on.
Gondar must practice experimentation and innovation in the making of tools and implementation of processes and encourage these virtues in others through direct aid, sponsorship, and diplomatic support. They should strive to make farmers, hunters, and others think of new tools, improved ways of crafting and using their existing gear, and new ways of doing things.
The Concecrated must keep records of their strivings, ideas, and attempts, so that others can continue where they leave off when gathered at death to the Holy Maker of All Things. Gondar are instructed to observe, acquire, and store safely the makings of others, and show what they have learned to other Consecrated of Gond. They are to discuss ideas and spread them so that all may see the divine light that is Gond.
Day-to-Day Activities: Gondar keep the formulas for smoke powder and various sealants, cleansers, and lubricants secret. They sell small jars of all of these as they travel Faerûn, making a lot of money thereby as well as by selling buckles, small brass bells, mortars and pestles, and various monocles and lenses. The special glass jars they use to store smoke powder and other formulas were formerly made only in Lantan. They have proven so popular that rival makers have sprung up in Calimshan and the Tashalar. To protect church trade secrets, Gondar priests are charged to work against these rivals by sabotage, diplomacy, and financial influence, whenever they can covertly do so.
As they travel, Gondar clergy establish caches, investments, and alliances and grab samples of any new inventions they come across. It is their duty to assist inventors and innovators and to file regular reports to the nearest Master by means of messenger envoys of the faith as they travel.
Settling in one place is frowned upon unless a priest can show his or her superiors that their prospective home is a locale where much innovation occurs that bears need for constant watching such as Waterdeep, Athkatla, Suzail, or—formerly—Zhentil Keep. Making a handsome personal living while one serves Gond is encouraged, however, for who better walks upon Faerûn to demonstrate the rewards of following the Way of Gond!
Priests of Gond are much in demand as builders, especially of vaulted and buttressed temples dedicated to other gods. Because of these temple engineering and construction contracts, the faith of Gond is growing in wealth and influence, but also in foes. Who else would know the secret ways of a rival temple than the builder?
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Gondar have only one calendar-related festival: the Ippensheir. The Ippensheir is the name given to the 12 days immediately followering Greengrass. It is named for Ippen, the first great cleric of Gond, who sometimes appears to clergy in need these days as Gond's First Servant. During the Ippensheir, all clergy members of Gond's faith and his devout worshipers gather at a temple, abbey, or holy site of Gond to share innovations and show inventions and innovations they have made or witnessed with and to their fellow Gondar. (Many cavern networks and remote towers where capable inventors once dwelt are revered by Gondar as holy sites.) It is a time of feasting, drinking, and revelry, and some Gondar make much use of personal teleport magics and the network of gates maintained by the priesthood to link major defensible holy houses to visit as many gatherings of the faithful as they can during this time.
Daily rituals to Gond are simple: muttered prayers upon rising and retiring that are often scheduled as part of dressing or disrobing so that they are not forgotten, a longer prayer of thanks at the main meal of a priest's day, and a special prayer of thanks and dedication of their work before commencing any work of new making (as opposed to repair or maintenance).
If a new tool or machine is seen or made by any Gondar, that Gondar is charged to make two copies of it if possible. One is hidden away against the prying eyes of thieves or vandals for later display to fellow Gondar, and the other is smashed—or preferably, burned—while a prayer of offering to Gond, the Sacred Unmaking, is chanted. The ceremony reinforces Gond's dominion over both constructive and destructive engineering.
Major Centers of Worship: The heart of the Gondar faith is located at the High Holy Crafthouse of Inspiration in the city of Illul in Lantan. This large, walled monastery is run by Danactar the High Artificer, Most Holy Servant of Gond, the highest-ranking mortal priest of the Wonderbringer.
The House of the Wonderbringer in Tilverton, formerly known as Gharri's House, is the most prominent temple of Gond in the Heartlands. It is led by High Artificer Burlan Almaether, who directs over 40 priests in devising new inventions in Gond's name.
Affiliated Orders: The church of Gond has no affiliated knightly orders. It does have a great many honorary orders and societies within its ranks. These are usually founded to recognize the works of Gondar working in a particular specialty and to promote the easy exchange of ideas between those qualified in a field while preventing trade or church secrets from leaking out to competitors. Just a few of these societies include the Order of Puissant Stonemasons and Stonecarvers, the Holy Order of Most Skilled Architects and Bridgemakers, the Armorers of the Wonderbringer, the Most Arcane Order of Gearmakers, Clockmakers, and Automationists, the Society of Creative Castle Design and Construction, and the Industrious Brothers and Sisters of Carpentry, Cabinetry, Puppetry, and Toymaking.
Priestly Vestments: Gondar clergy members wear saffron ceremonial vestments with a crimson collar and stole. Over their right or left shoulder they wear a leather sash ending in a large pouch. The sash is dotted with small metal tools, gears, wire, cord, locks, hooks, hasps, buckles, and bits of steel, tin, and wood that might prove interesting or useful in a pinch (including, for Gondsmen, their lockpicks). Their vestments also include belts of large, linked metal medallions and enormous sun hats. They wear Gond's holy symbol as a pendant fashioned of bone, brass, bronze, or ivory.
Adventuring Garb: In dangerous situations, Gondar wear standard armor (along with their leather sash), but generally they prefer the protection of 10 or 12 big fighters. Most often they wear practical clothing hung about with baldrics and pouches crammed with useful supplies. Most priests of Gond wear bulky rings that function as knuckledusters (1d3 points of damage) and can also produce the equivalent of a cosh from their gear (1d4 points of damage) and three or four knives of various sorts. (Removable boot-heel knives are a great favorite among the Gondar.) Few Gondar priests would steal, but most have and can use files and bolt cutters, and Gondar are proficient with lockpicks. Increasingly, GOndar priests have also taken to carrying small metal flasks of smoke powder sealed against sparks and damp and appropriate wicks to use with them to make explosive missile weapons when trouble arises. (The average smoke powder grenade prepared by a Gondar priest has a range of 10/20/30 feet and does 2d4 points of explosive/fire damage within a 5-foot-radius of where it strikes. It takes one round to prepare and light the wick; the missile can be thrown the second round. Roll on the Scatter Diagram in the Grenade-Like Missiles subsection of the Missile Weapons section of the Combat chapter in the DMG for missiles that miss their target.)

The Reaver, Master of All Weapons, Lord of War

Demipower of Pandemonium, CN
PORTFOLIO: War, skill-at-arms, destruction, plunder
ALIASES: Targus
DOMAIN NAME: Cocytus/Battle Garde
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: None
FOES: Tempus, Red Knight
SYMBOL: A five-armed tentacus (a pinwheel of five black, snaky arms spinning counterclockwise, each arm ending in an identical sword)
WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE
Some legends claim Garagos (GAH-rah-gos) was the primary war god in western Faerûn until he was overthrown by the upstart Tempus. Certainly Garagos was worshiped in Westgate and the Vilhon Reach during the days of Myth Drannor, and his faith was strong long before that time—reportedly even in ancient Netheril. He was thought killed by Tempus, as he is recorded as slain, but either this means that he was destroyed as the primary war god of Faerûn, a position which Tempus took from him as the spoils of their one-on-one battle, or he was resurrected by some of his diehard cultists along the southern coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars, in the Vilhon Reach, or in the Border Kingdoms. He is most certainly not dead, but alive.
Garagos is associated with the rampaging destruction and plundering of war than tactics, strategies, or armies. The Reaver is linked with the mad bloodlust that overtakes some warriors, resulting in horrifying carnage. (Followers of Tempus claim their god destroyed Garagos by using the Reaver's berserking fury against him.) The scarlet cloak he is portrayed as wearing in religious art is one made of the blood of his foes, and in recent times he is often shown wading through a blood-red sea—again, the blood of his slain enemies.
In 1368 DR, Garagos reappeared to crush an impostor, the marilith Glackzana, a tanar'ri who had been attempting to start a cult in his name using her powers to present herself in a form like that of his avatar. He demolished the temple built to her at the ruined villager of Gosra, located in the Fields of Nun of central Chondath, and ordered it reconstructed in a more grand manner and rededicated to his worship.
Garagos himself scorns the use of armor (though he does not care if his priests wear it) and admires those who give in to battle-lust and merciless destruction in conflict, destroying all that lies in their path and taking no prisoners. He is blood-thirsty and single-minded. He angers quickly and cools down from an emotional boil very slowly. He is feared for the damage he can do and the uncontrolled nature of his fury.
Garagos was even more even-tempered and less prone to explode of old, but since his defeat by Tempus his fuse has gotten shorter, and he has lost all sense of mercy once he becomes caught up in a battle. With the change in his disposition, he no longer felt comfortable in his former abode in Limbo and moved to Pandemonium. Some say that he moved to his new abode when his heart grew hard upon finally giving up all hope for attaining his secret love. Others say this is so much poppycock, and speculate that Garagos is finally going over the edge to outright evil he has been teetering on for so long.
Other Manifestations
The most common manifestation of Garagos's manifestations is the Blood of the God, a fist-sized mist of glowing crimson droplets of blood (often collected reverently by worshipers) that is accompanied by a faint wailing and an intense feeling of danger. These droplets may poison enemies of the Garagathan faith or provide healing, protective magics, or a boost in morale and the removal of fear (similar to the effects of remove fear and the prayer spell) to Garagathans themselves.
Garagos also manifests as the clash of many furiously wielded weapons, and this manifestation may be accompanied by real strikes from unseen weapons upon creations threatening favored worshipers of Garagos or upon worshipers who have behaved against the tenets of the Garagathan faith. Garagos also works his will through berserkers, both alive and dead, and through inspiring a berserk frenzy in a being. Garagos also acts or shows his favor through the appearance or presence of wolverines, weasels, aurumvorae, worgs, dire wolves, and red-and-black hued gemstones.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, shamans
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: N, CN, NE, CE
TURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Cru: No, Sha: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, Cru: No, Sha: Yes
All clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and shamans of Garagos receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
Garagos attracts to his priesthood those with a cruel, destructive, reckless streak. Berserkers and sadists who eschew mercy and enjoy causing destruction and eradicating opposing forces often call on Garagos for extra aid even when they profess to worship another deity such as Tempus or Talos. The Reaver has also become something of a fashionable god among brigands, outcasts, and those who regularly raid other peoples or settlements for plunder.
The Garagathan faith is not really organized overall. It exists as a number of independent churches with individual hierarchies. Two rival churches fight each other for dominance in Amn and Tethyr. Another in the Sword Coast North is seeking to expand its sway over all the Sword Coast and the trade routes that connect to it, and ultimately into Cormyr.
The oldest church, in Westgate, has always been split into warring cults. The currently predominant clergy members in that church are based in Yondath, and two eastern organizations battle with them for control of this branch of the faith. One of these is located in the Great Dale and is seeking to expand into Damara and Thay; the other has established itself in Raurin and is spreading agents both south and west.
The the wake of the construction of Garagos's new temple at Gosra, the established independent churches of Garagos have all sent representatives to help from the hierarchy of the new temple. They are, of course, devoting quite a bit of their efforts to in-fighting in order to determine which church of Garagos the Gosran temple will ultimately belong to, but they have also been forced into rapid preparations for the defense of the new facility as the established churches of Tempus are rumored to be hiring a massive army of mercenaries to destroy the new temple.
Overall, the clergy of Garagos is composed of about 45% clerics, 40% specialty priests, 10% crusaders, and 5% shamans. The organized churches have no shamans in their ranks; the shamans are primarily found in more primitive cultures where berserk raiding is practiced. Garagos used to have many shamans, but his worship has waned in favor of that of Tempus, and their numbers are dwindling.
Garagathan clergy members address each other as "Bloodbrother" and "Bloodsister," adding "High" as a mark of respect if they are speaking to a priest of four or more levels greater than their own. They eschew formal titles beyond the rough rankings of Supplicant (novice), Priets/Priestess of the Blood (full priest), Reaver Lord/Lady (senior priests), and Favored (veteran senior clergy of ruling rank). This last title is added to whatever fanciful, self-styled rank the senior priest wishes to assume, such as Favored High Reaver Ounadar the Blood-Drenched or Favored Storm of Battles Arhaghon Master of Reavers. When attached to a military forces (a rare thing), priests may also hold a rank within that force.
Dogma: Garagathans believe that peace is for weak fools. War makes all who fight strong, and only in head-to-head conflict is honor satisfied. Only cowards avoid battle. Any who strike down a foe from ambush or from behind are to be scorned as the cowards they are. Retreat is never an option, even in the face of a greater foe, for if a warrior's heart is focused on Garagos, he will provide the strength to conquer any foe. Diplomatic solutions are for fools, the soft, and the dishonorable; the only true answer lies in battle. A warrior's word is his or her bond to a friend, and no one can be trusted more than shield companion, but warriors should not concern themselves with keeping a pledge to cowardly dogs or the enemy. Battlelust is a gift from Garagos; with it the faithful find the focus and the strength to defeat any enemy and refuge from the confusion and pain of the battlefield.
The charge given to novices in teh faith of Garagos is: "Bow down to me, and triumph in arms. Seek to awaken bloodlust and reaving everywhere, and take part in these sacred things whenever prudent or possible. Always go armed in readiness for shedding blood. Do battle at least once a tenday for the greater glory of Garagos and shed blood even if you cannot slay. Spread fear of Garagos, and the message of his power that guides and assists believers in every land you enter. At least once a year challenge and slay a greater foe than yourself for Garagos so that you test always the limits of your skill and press it to increase." This last is usually interpreted to mean killing a powerful monster or a priest of another diety of higher level than the Garagathan.
Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Garagos spend their days formenting strife wherever they go in Faerûn, seeking to cause battle so that bloodlust (the Sacred Goal) is born and wanton destruction begins. Some of them are sly manipulators who deal in intrigue, thievery, and subtle diplomacies to ensure their own enrichment and continued anonymity or at least lack of public connection between them and the troubles they instigate. Others are unsubtle, violent brigands who start tavern brawls and use very public marketplace assassinations and similar crude means to spread Holy Reaving throughout the lands.
Senior clergy of the Reaver are charged with renewing and expanding an ever-growing network of informers, agents, sympathizers, and faithful warriors—and of training and disciplining such folk. The performance of a priest's charges reflect on the priest, for good or for ill, so they often set spies upon their agents, and activate back-up teams to carry out a mission if the first team fails. At the highest levels, Garagathan priests spend their days in ruthless power plays against rival senior clergy members seeking to become head of one of the various independent churches of Garagos.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Garagos demands to be worshiped in two ways: A believer who slays any foe in battle can shout out the power's name over the body of his or her victim to dedicate the death to Garagos as an offering. The second way to worship him is at a stone Blood Altar in one of his shrines or temples. Prayer to Garagos at a Blood Altar must begin with drops of blood being spilled into troughs in the stone altar. Then the devout entreats the Reaver to heat, promises to perform some act of battle valor involving death and destruction, however small, and then calls on the Master of All Weapons for aid, strength, or guidance.
There are no calendar-related Garagathan religious rituals. Any gathering of seven or more priests may call a Blood Festival. A Blood Festival involves a feast wherein at least some of the food must be butchered at or next to the table and subsequently devoured while still bloody (that is, not fully cooked). Initiations of priests to the Full Blood, the ceremony by which novices are made into full priests, must take place at a Blood Festival. Initiation into the Full Blood involves dipping the supplicants' hands into fresh blood and then painting their cheeks with the symbol of Garagos with blood. The blood used must be that of one or more monsters (dangerous creatures) slain by the supplicants to be initiated and full priests of Garagos with no other assistance.
Major Centers of Worship: Garagos's greatest worship occurred in the area of what is now Westgate. The sewers and underground passages of that city are rife with his old altars and symbols. That Inner Sea city still boasts an important underground temple to Garagos, the House of Steel, where an ambitious priestess, Chaless the Cruel, leads a congregation of murderers, outlaws, and half-orc brutes. The House of Steel is defended against nonbelievers by many animated swords.
However, the House of Steel is not currently the largest or most prominent center of the Garagathan faith. That honor is held by the Vale of the Reaver in Yondath. The Vale of the Reaver is the valley below the headwaters of the Thornwash River, between the western Cloven Mountains and the Thornwood. It is located north of Saelmur and Ankhapur and south of the Deepwash. In this valley, Ounadar the Blood-Drenched has recently risen to power, gathering berserkers, criminals, and disaffected and violent folk of all sorts to follow the faith. He and his congregation have been practicing slaughter on the creatures spawned from several captive deepspawn in caves above the valley. Ounadar dreams of capturing and ruling the city of Westgate.
Another veneraged Garagathan site is Godswalk Keep in the Barony of Great Oak in the Border Kingdoms. It is said to have been a proud fortress-city in the days when Netheril was in proud ascendance. On certain nights, for unknown reasons, an avatar of Garagos walks in the ruins, slaying all creatures he finds. This event is called the Meeting of the Three, or the Howling (after the sound Garagos makes), because avatars of Jergal and of Sharess appear at the same time, and Garagos howls madly upon meeting them because he cannot slay them.
Affiliated Orders: The few crusaders of the Garagathan faith all belong to the Brothers of Blood, an order dedicated to crushing the foes of Garagos. Its members unfortunately tend to die young, however, as making constant attacks on the church of Tempus tends to make anyone's life short and bloody. The various independent churches of Garagos have ties to the Red Wizards, the Zhentarim, the Iron Throne, and the Shadow Thieves, though none of these connections are very strong. For unknown reasons, Garagos forbids acting against the church of Shar, though he also does not allow his churches to ally with hers.
Priestly Vestments: Priests of Garagos wear the best armor they can obtain, though it is usually extremely battle-worn. Many clergy members wear red boots and gloves. High priests usually wear scarlet or crimson overrobes or tabards. Specialty priests often have embroidery or ruby ornaments on their ceremonial robes in the shapes of teardrops of blood. Garagathan clergy members may have belt buckles or cloak pins fashioned in the shape of the tentacus of Garagos or even bear daggerlike belt weapons sporting a basket hilt in the shape of a whirlwind of five blades.
Most clergy of Garagos carry a tentacus as a symbol of their faith and are skilled in its use as a weapon. A tentacus does 1d4+2 points of slashing and piercing damage to small or man-sized creatures and 1d3 points of slashing and piercing damage to L-sized or larger beings when held or thrown. It has a speed factor of 3, is size S, and weights 1 lb. It has a range of 1/2/3.
Adventuring Garb: Priests of Garagos wear almost the same outfits in the fields as they do to ceremonial functions, sporting armor, red boots and gloves, crimson capes, and decorative ornamentation in the shape of the tentacus. They carry a tentacus as their holy symbol.

The Nameless Bard

Demipower CN
Portfolio: Cycles of life, transformation of art, saurials 
Superior: Tymora 
Homeplane: Fermata, which is situated on the plane of Arborea
Holy Symbol: A white harp on gray circle
Finder Wyvernspur (find-er wihv-urn-spur), the god of the cycle of life and the transformation of art, is chaotic neutral. He is also known as the Nameless Bard, a title he gained during a lengthy period of exile while he was mortal. He is a new deity, having achieved divinity only a few years ago. He teaches that in order to thrive, everything, especially art, much change and grow. Although his faithful are few in number at the moment small, he is worshiped by bards and artisans who wish to explore nontraditional methods of expression, as well as the saurials (civilized lizardfolk from another plane) of the Desertsmouth Mountains. The domains associated with him are Chaos, Charm, Renewal, and Scalykind, and his favored weapon is the bastard sword.
Worshipers
Finder's church is very small, consisting primarily of younger bards and musicians, and those who seek to change and diversify the arts. His faith is strong only amongst the saurials of the Lost Vale (in the Dalelands)—where his is a state religion along with Chauntea's—who owe him their freedom (see below). His speciality priests are called Finders.
History
A few centuries ago, Finder was a member of the Wyvernspur family, who are nobles in Cormyr, and a highly accomplished bard. Rising to prominence among the Harpers, he was quite successful in his youth. Finder's skills in music were such that his songs transcended mere music, inspiring others to great works, renewed vigor or deep despair.
Inevitably, Finder's works were copied by other performers, who added their own twists to his songs. It was inevitable that their performances would thus veer from the level of perfection that Finder strove for. In anger at the corruption of his works, Finder vowed to create a method by which his songs would be preserved in the ideal state; that is, the way he himself wanted.
Disregarding the advice of powerful mages who claimed it was too dangerous, Finder first modified an artifact, the Finder's Stone, to act as a recording and playback device for his music, spells, and journal. He accomplished this by inserting a sliver of para-elemental ice into the stone, cooling it while simultaneously expanding it's storage capacity. The Stone was a success, however Finder wasn't satisfied by the flat, unliving playback it delivered.
To make his music both "alive" and immortal, he then devised a magical clone of himself that he could fill with memories—including his music. This clone, Flattery Wyvernspur, was physically almost identical to Finder. However, the egotistical Finder was unsatisfied by the emotionally childlike and inexperienced clone's imperfect reproductions of Finder's music. After only a week of unsuccessful practice, Finder lashed out in frustration and struck the clone. He continued a cycle of abuse until finally, Flattery snapped and attempted to kill Finder with a ring of disintegration. One of Finder's apprentices died when he threw himself in front of the beam, while another was later driven to suicide by the now evil Flattery. This resulted in a severe backlash to Finder's reputation within the still fledgling Harper organization, despite Finder's attempts at a partial cover-up. He claimed his apprentices were injured in an explosion in which the clone was also killed. Flattery actually escaped, and cleaned out Finder's lab. Finder himself was brought to trial before the Harpers, including Elminster.
The verdict was harsh: many Harpers had watched Finder's obsession grow, and the fatal result of his attempts to preserve his music were viewed as a terrible crime. The Harpers condemned Finder to timeless existence in the Citadel of White Exile, located on the border between the Positive Energy Plane and the Plane of Gems. His songs and his name were wiped from the Realms. Only a few, such as Elminster and Morala of Milli, remembered them, in case they should emerge again.
Centuries later, the sorceress Cassana found details of Finder's experiments and tracked him down in the Citadel. She offered him a second chance, though her motives for doing so were dark. He accepted, and the result was the adventuress Alias, who he filled with false memories and all of his music. In her release from Cassana and the "Dark Masters," Alias met Finder, known as Nameless, and he discovered that she, too, had been adapting his music to enhance it. However, Finder found he could accept this fact. Within a year, Flattery reemerged and attempted to steal the Wyvern's Spur, an artifact and heirloom of the Wyvernspurs. He was killed when Giogi Wyvernspur used the Spur against him.
Now returned to the Realms, Finder was yet again put on trial. this time, to determine whether he could be reintroduced into the realms or returned to the white citadel. After a long and dangerous journey with his halfling friend, Olive Ruskettle, Finder found the love and courage within himself to sacrifice the finders stone and save the realms from the evil Moander. At that time, Moander had enslaved a number of the otherworldly reptilian humanoids known as Saurials, and captured the Turmish mage Akabar bel Akash in a plot to build a new body. By dismantling the stone and using the para-elemental ice at its core, Finder was able to slay Moander's real body in Tarterus, and claim its godly essence for his own. Moander's portfolio of rot and corruption, however, remained unclaimed by the bard.
In doing this, Finder freed the Saurials, one of whom—"Dragonbait"—was travelling with Alias at the time, who had been enslaved by Moander. Finder immediately gained the worship of this stranded race (excepting Dragonbait who followed Tyr), as their own deities remained on the world they left behind. He was also pardoned by the Harpers for his bravery, and his name and songs were restored to the Realms.
Still a fledgling power, Finder started to develop a base of worshippers at the urging of his first priestess, the Saurial Copperbloom. To do so, he manifested himself to a young bard named Joel, posing as the elderly priest Jedidiah, who espoused the wonders of Finder's vision. Joel later became close friends with Finder, as well as his first human cleric, from the time they spent together searching for an artifact, the Hand of Bane.

Relationships
Finder is tolerated by most of the good pantheon. His closest ally is Tymora, who sponsored his rise to godhood, and it is believed, as his old patron deity, helped him permanently slay Moander. He is jokingly referred to as the god of reckless fools, which Tymora may appreciate and which is somewhat apt, considering Finder's behavior. He has also been known to fraternize with greater powers who are allies of Tymora, although as a free spirit, Finder prefers to spend his time away from stronger deities. He has also forged a good relationship with the deity Selûne, whom he shares his home plane with.
Finder is too new a deity to have any implacable foes or long-term allies, but Milil, whilst feeling somewhat threatened by him, hopes to guide Finder to a more benign outlook. Oghma is also wary of Finder, but cultists of Moander, sponsored by Lolth, seek his destruction, and deities such as Tiamat, Set, and Sebek wish to gain his patronism of the saurials, whilst deities such as Talona, Gargauth, and Yurtrus seek to steal Moander's unclaimed but guarded portfolio for themselves.
Finder's closest relationship is the one he has with his priest, Joel the Rebel Bard. Despite being lost to the Wyvernspur family's lore, he continues to watch over the descendants of his brother.

Goddess of Singing Waters, the Quiet One, Mother Guardian of Groves, the Green Goddess, the Mother of the Waters

Lesser Power of Elysium
NG
PORTFOLIO: Quiet places, springs, pools, stillness, peace, waterfalls, druid groves
ALIASES: None
DOMAIN NAME: Eronia/The True Grove
SUPERIOR: Silvanus
ALLIES: Mielikki, Silvanus, Chauntea, Selune, Lathander
FOES: Malar, Loviatar, Bane (now dead), Amaunator (now dead), Talos, Moander (now dead)
SYMBOL: A waterfall plunging into a still pool without causing any disturbance of its waters, or a circular, sky-blue disk fringed with green ferns
WORSHIPPERS ALIGNMENT: Any
Eldath (EL-dath) is the guardian of druid groves, and her presence is felt every place where there is calm. Her druids and clergy often aid other druidic faiths in establishing a grove and sanctifying it. In religious art, Eldath is often depicted as a dark-haired woman dressed in shimmering green or as a dryad or wild elf with blue and green hair. Her singing is heard in every babbling brook and waterfall.
Eldath is a pacifist and usually takes no hostile actions even when threatened. This is one of the reasons that Eldath is almost a forgotten power; most Faerunians think of Mielikki, Silvanus, or Chauntea in relation to nature before they think of her. Eldath is enigmatic and speaks seldom. She seems shy, but possessed of unknown depths of character and an unexpressed resolve that cannot be broken. When challenged, she gives before challengers who only later discover that her apparent acceptance and retreat merely drew them out into an untenable position where they are surrounded, out of their element, and their reinforcements have been converted to her side.
Like Mielikki, Eldath serves Silvanus, Eldath sees him as a father figure, but often finds his robustness intimidating to her retiring nature. Mielikki and Eldath have a very close relationship. During the Time of Troubles Mielikki was heard to address her as "Datha," and the two goddesses embraced as sisters.
While Eldath opposes all that Tempus stands for, she does not consider him a personal foe. He in turn, is said to consider her naive, but to respect her convictions and generally ignore her.
Eldath made the Prime Material Plane her home until very recently, similar to Mielikki. In 1369 DR, the same year that Mielikki established an Outer Planes realm, Eldath also moved her home realm, the True Grove, to Elysium. Where she received the divine burst of power to make such a huge move is unknown; sages have considered Eldath's faith a shrinking one for centuries. However, these same scholars speculate that wherever she received the power from, it may be related to the official shift toward good that Eldath herself made apparent in picking Elysium as her home plane. (Among themselves, church scholars list Mielikki, Mystra, or Chauntea as likely candidates for help in the move.) The shift itself surprised no one, and Eldath still welcomes the same worshipers and clergy members within her told. Legend holds that Eldath's worshipers may still visit the True Grove even before their deaths through gates in places where it could formerly be reached: near the upper reaches of the Unicorn Run in the High Forest, in the Elven Court near Lake Somber or near Elventree, at Eldath's Water in the Misty Forest, in the depths of the Forest of Tethir, in the dense heart of the King's Forest in Cormyr, atop Oak Hill in the Border Forest north of the River Tesh, at various locales in Turmish, and in a dozen or more other wooded areas.
Other Manifestations
Eldath appears most frequently as a whispering wind that brings a message and revives plants that it touches to the blooming height of health or a green glowing aura that has all the healing powers of the goddess, can speak aloud and in the minds of those within 120 feet, and can telekinese nonliving items within its confines. Eldath also acts or shows her favor through the appearance or actions of bears, raccoons, brownies, dryads, sylphs, nereids, feystags, sprites, stags, talking owls, unicorns, and other woodland creatures, common meadow and woodland flowers such as daisies, water plants such as water lilies and lotuses, and aquamarines, clear quartz, blue topazes, sapphires, and other stones in watery hues.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, druids, specialty priests, monks, mystics
CLERGY'S ALIGNMENT: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN
TURN UNDEAD: Cleric: Yes, Druid: No, Specialty Priest: Yes, Monk: No, Mystic: No
COMMAND UNDEAD: Cleric: No, Druid: No, Specialty Priest: No, Monk: No, Mystic: No
All clerics, druids, specialty priests, monks, and mystics of Eldath receive religion (Faerunian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All of these priests of Eldath must take swimming as a nonweapon proficiency. The church of Eldath is small and dispersed, the majority of its most ardent priests traveling and preaching or settling by some quiet spot and teaching those who come seeking enlightenment. In a world brimming with evil deities and their servants, ores, goblins, warring nations, and other hostile forces, it is not surprising that Eldath's philosophy of peace and calm has failed to catch on. Still, it is viable and challenging, and legends speak of heroes, such as the elven war hero Telva, who embraced the cause of Eldath and abandoned warfare forever. One race of beings who travel against the tide of war with Eldath are the ondonti, a pacifistic orcish race (detailed in the Ruins of Zhentil Keep boxed set).
Given the limitations and goals of the specialty priests of Eldath, it should not be surprising that there are not very many of them. Only some 10% of the priests ot Eldath are specialty priests, called peacemen and peacewomen in the faith. The remainder of the followers are split between druids, clerics, a scant few mystics, and a relatively recently founded monastic order. Clerics, druids, mystics, and monks, while not as restricted as the specialty priests of Eldath, are encouraged to conduct themselves in a fitting fashion as put forth by their deity. It is a mark ot skill among Eldathyn (especially adventurer-priests, known as "Freewalkers") to defeat foes with defensive spells, making an enemy defeat himself through misdirection and manipulation. Most of the high-ranking members of the church's loose organization are peacemen and peacewomen, and the great druids and other senior clergy members of the faith defer to them in discussion. Relations between the five branches of the faith are excellent, and both of the more militant wings of the faith are very supportive and protective of the specialty priests, mystics, and monks, who are more retiring.
Pacifists and lovers-of-nature cleave to the Green Goddess. Many are vegetarians and herbalists who desire to take no life, but the ranks of the Eldathyn are studded with hardy adventurer-priests who serve as envoys to other faiths, act as go-betweens with urban worshipers (often guiding them to and from forest fastness temples), and carry items and messages from priest to priest within the faith. Although it is part of the making of a priest ot Eldath that an individual must travel Faerun widely enough to pray in at least nine sacred fastnesses (temple groves) dedicated to the goddess, most Eldathyn settle in one grove or one forest and live their lives thereabouts.
Eldathyn are organized in a simple hierarchy where a dozen or so priests, each of whom may have up to 14 underpriests dwelling with him or her, report to a senior priest who in turn reports to a grand priest responsible for a realm or larger region. Clergy of senior years, many accomplishments, or higher rank are styled "Exalted," and traveling Freewalkers rank between full priests and senior priests. From the ranks of the Exalted come the leaders of temples to Eldath, most of whom preside over forest communities with open-air sacred places of worship known as fastnesses. As the leader of a fastness, they are entitled use the title Keeper ot the Fastness.
Dogma: The philosophy of Eldath is highly advanced. It teaches that peace can only come from within and cannot he taught or imposed; it must he readied through thought and meditation. The faithful of Eldath should seek stillness and thereby find peace. They are to plant trees and green-leaved things and tend such things when they need it, wherever they may be.
Eldathyn are instructed to nurture and aid and not to restrict or punish. They may defend but not punish. Eldathyn may work violence only to defend, and they may slay no thing of the forest save to prevent it from slaying themselves or another under their protection.
All worshipers of Eldath are to aid fellow Eldathyn and clergy of Silvanus and Mielikki whenever possible and to give assistance, support, and shelter to displaced forest dwellers and to those who work to defend ponds, marshes, and streamside woods everywhere. They must swear to take no thinking life save in direst need and to share with all beings the beneficial things that grow in or come from running water that all may know ot and praise Eldath.
Day-to-Day Activities: Eldathyn usually spend their lives tending unspoiled places to ensure that they survive and even flourish in the face of human and other depredations. Priests of Eldath replant burned areas, purge areas of plant diseases, construct boulder firebreaks, irrigate wooded areas, and clear streambeds to make rivulets flow more swiftly or create dams to slow runoff and encourage the life created by small pools. They even make bargains with nearby foresters to cut only in certain areas and leave other woodlands alone.
Eldath has a hatred of indiscriminate and greedy woodcutters, those who use fire as a weapon, and avaricious millers and careless beings who foul rivers and other waters. Her clergy are pledged to work against such individuals by whatever means seem most prudent for long-term success. They rarely resort lo any sort of open confrontation for as long as possible as it tends to bring attacks down on the clergy - but hidden priests can work in opposition unhindered.
Eldathyn are also charged with observing and recording what sort of birds, beasts, and plants dwell in what places and the changes in the amounts and locations of such flora and fauna over the years. They are to report such things to their superiors on a regular basis so that the senior clergy members, working with those of Silvanus and Mielikki, can interpret long-term trends in regional ecologies.
To raise funds for personal and church support, priests of Eldath may act as water-dowsers by employing an infallible water divination spell known to the church, as herbalists, gardeners, or as potion-makers. Few Eldathyn live-in large settlements, but many dwelt in springside cottages-often with trained guard animals-within an easy ride of cities or large towns so as to be able to serve the local populace as sources of medicines and potions. Clergy of Eldath are all taught to swim, and often teach this skill to nonbelievers in return for small offerings to the church and the goddess of food and coins that the priests can use.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Eldath's clergy members pray on a personal and individual basis when bathing or floating in ponds or streams, when standing under waterfalls, and in small chambers, caves, or forest bowers given over to regular meditation. Many forest paths in woods dwelt in by Eldathyn cross streams by means of log bridges bearing tiny huts with holes or nap doors in their floors, permitting modest clergy to immerse themselves for prayer or bathing. These arc the most favored meditation spots for Eldathyn.
Prayers must he performed upon awakening, at sunset, and at least once during the dark hours, and may be performed at any other rime as personally desired. In woodlands and remote wilderness areas, worship ot the Green Goddess should be done unclad or as close to it as is possible in a given circumstance. Startled woodsmen tell of certain adventurer-priests standing in pools to pray with their weapons drifting in midair around them in slow, enspelled orbits so as to be ready at hand if danger came upon the scene.
The only calendar-related ritual of Eldath, the Greening (Greengrass) is also the only regular gathering and festival of the priesthood. It is preceded by Firstflow, a festival held at different times in different locales as the ice-breaks up and the waters begin to flow. The only other occasions upon which Eldathyn gather in large numbers are consecrations of new places as open-air temples or shrines of the goddess. At such consecrations, the assembled clergy perform the Chant of the Fastness. An avatar of Eldath always appears to bless her worshipers' efforts, though she may not always speak or work magic other than making any spring or water in her new sacred place into water of Eldath for a tenday thereafter and giving it the power to regenerate and heal all creatures immersed in it until the dawn following the day other appearance.
Major Centers of Worship: The most revered center of Eldathyn worship is Duskwood Dell in Amn, east of Eshpurta. There the waters of the River Rimril, a tributary of the Esmel River, plunge down the western cliffs of Eldath's Mount in the Troll Mountains via the Green Goddess Falls in a descent of over 400 feet and thence through a series of pools and lesser falls (called the Steps) out into Arundath, the Quiet Forest (known most commonly as the Snakewood for the serpentine denizens the Eldathyn use to scare away intruders). Here Most Exalted Fallskeeper Alatoasz Berendim presides over a tree city of Eldathyn who train underpriests in the service of the Green Goddess and send them out all over Faerun to find their personal place in Eldath's service.
Elah'zad, an ancient Eldathyn holy site in Anauroch, is also a place of great power. According to the Bedine, Elah'zad was the home of the moon goddess, Elah (Selune), but At'ar the sun goddess drove her away and made it a prison for Eldath, the Mother of the Waters, because she was jealous of Eldath's beauty. Here Eldath can choose to speak through the mouth of any woman who enters the House of the Moon, a nearly circular palatial temple formed of chalky, translucent desert rock in the midst of a lake set in a sacred grove surrounded by over a hundred small springs. (The woman falls asleep and the goddess directly and completely controls her body.) At the House of the Moon charged magical items of the Eldathyn faith can be recharged through prayer and ritual by the grace of Eldath.
Affiliated Orders: The Eldathyn church and the revitalized Mielikkian faith have grown extremely close recently. Eldathyn provide quiet sanctuary and supply to the Shadoweirs of the Mielikkian faith when they cannot receive support from those of their own religion. The Eldathyn faith also has close ties with Those Who Harp (the Harpers), an organization working throughout Faerun for good and against the rise ot great powers, which tend to endanger all natural life.
The church of Eldath has a circle of a few peacewomen and peacemen who have formed a group known as the Arbitrators of the Quiet One. They freely go to areas of conflict and attempt to serve as mediators in longstanding disagreements that have led lo violent acts. They listen to both sides and try to find a middle ground without polarizing the issues through overt statements of moral judgment. They prefer to find resolutions that get at the heart of a problem so that once dealt with it does not flare up again in months or years.
The monastic order of Eldath is the Disciples of the Yielding Way, sometimes known as the Brothers and Sisters of the Open Palm. These monks guard sacred sites where many peacemen and peacewomen dwell and travel the countryside gathering information for isolated groves and fastnesses. They do not ever seek to provoke violence, hut arc quite deceptively deadly when defending themselves, their charges, and their holy sites.
Priestly Vestments: Priests of Eldath dress simply in green and blue robes decorated with water-colored (blue, green, translucent, and opalescent) semiprecious gems and embroidery in water patterns. Specialty priests don a series of sheer robes, each in different shades of blue and green. The sleeves and hems of the garments are artfully cut to look ragged like tossing waves or water ripples. All clergy wear Eldath's symbol as a holy symbol; the sky-blue disk is fashioned of painted wood and fresh fern fronds are planted or affixed over the painted ones on the symbol whenever possible.
Adventuring Garb: Eldathyn priests dress practically in the field, though some like to accent their dress with blue and green and allow the sleeves and hems of their garments to become ragged to simulate frothing water. Most wear leaf-green robes with moss-green accents, gray sashes, and brown overcloaks. Peacemen and peacewomen wear no armor and sport garb similar to their ceremonial dress made up of multiple layers of semi-transparent robes and tabards over an opaque foundation robe or dress. Sightings of Eldathyn in the deep woods have given rise to many legends of wild folk of the woods.

Lord of Glyphs and Images


General Information: NG
Portfolio:Liturature, art
Realm: Major Spheres: All, Astral, Combat, Creation, Divination, Elemental,
Guardian, Healing, Protection, Summmoning
Minor Spheres: Animal, Plant, Sun, Weather
Worshipers:
Symbols: A single lit candle, often with an eye beneath.
Colors:
Holy Days:
Sacrifices:

Description: Old balding sage with flaming white beard
 
Deneir, the Lord of All Glyphs and Images, is the son of Oghma, and is the god of literature and literacy, the patron of the artist and the scribe. His is the power to render accurately and describe, to write and to read, and to pass on information. His homeplane is the Beastlands, where it is said he has a libaray containing all that is known and true. Deneir is in service to Oghma, and is also known as Oghma's scribe. His symbol is a single candle set above an eye.
Followers of Deneir believe that information that is not recorded and saved to be used later is information that is lost. Literacy is an important gift of the gods, and should be spread and taught. Followers of Deneir have taken an oath of charity as well, such that they cannoit turn down the request of another to write letters and transcribe information. Information that does not harm should be made free to all.
 

Clerical Information:
Clericy Name:
Main Temple Location:
Deneir, with Mystra, has influence on the mystereous group known as the Harpers, and one of his largest churches, The Inner Chamber, in Berdusk, is the front for an extensive Harper orginization known as Twilight Hall.
Clericy Description: The standard dress of priests of Deneir, both in normal daily use and for ceremony, is a tan-white tunic and matching trousers. The medium-length cloak is worn with the clothes as a badge of rank within the hierarchy. The lowest levels wear black and grays while the local High Scrivener has a white cloak. The tunic has a stiff, circular collar. Deneir's priests also wear a holy writing kit, a triangular leather belt pouch filled with parchment, ink, and quills. They can use only one handed bludgeoning weapons and can wear up to banded armor, but is not allowed to use a shield.
Adventuring priests of Deneir wear whatever is most suitable for their particular mission, but always have both the writing kit and a gold circlet on the forehead bearing the symbol of their god.
Denier priests have a special vow of charity, they will write letters and transcribe information upon request, usually at a modest price for the individual petitioning their help. Large projects must be negotiated, but in slow times, priests of Deneir can be found in the local commons and in bars, writing letters for those unable to do so, charging no more than a few coppers, or performing the service for free to the needy.
Also because of this vow, priests of Deneir often gain information that is otherwise sensitive, dangerouse, or potentially lucrative. While a sizable donation to the faith will help keep such matters secret for some time, priests of the faith may gain a quick understanding of the lay of local landscape from talking to their neighborhood parish priest. There is a saying, "Remember that the pens of Deneir also have ears."
The hierarchy of Deneir also provides scribes and will train nonbelievers of good and neutral alignments to read and write. While such scribes are very good, many rulers and mages have a feeling that the information they transcribe also finds its way to the church's secret libraries.
Most large communities and temples of Deneir have secret libraries which may contain anything from a few tomes in the High Scrivener's office to (reputed) extensive underground vaults filled with the wisdom of the ages. Supposedly only the highest levels of the priests have access to such huge vaults, which are, of course, protected by powerful magical guards and wards.

Prince of Lies, Prince of Madness, the Dark Sun, the Black Sun, the Mad God, Lord of Three Crowns

Greater Power of Pandemonium, CE
PORTFOLIO: Murder, strife, lies, intrigue, deception, illusion
ALIASES: Leira, N'asr (Anauroch, among the Bedine), Bane, Bhaal, Myrkul, Cyruk (among ex-Myrkulytes)
DOMAIN NAME: Cocytus/Shattered Castle
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: None
FOES: Mystra, Kelemvor, Oghma, Azuth, Mask, Tyr, Torm, Deneir, Leira, Iyachtu Xvim, and many others
SYMBOL: A white skull (sans jawbone) on a dark purple or black sunburst
WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, CE, NE
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 Faerûn. The destruction of Zhentil Keep, along with many of the rest of the woes of Faerûn, 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 error 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 enjoys 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 course of action that will ruin their lives. His favorite 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, most 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 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.
Other Manifestations
Cyric prefers to haunt the dreams of his worshippers as a bloody wraith or manifest as a cloud of poisonous smoke before his enemies rather than sending an avatar. He sometimes manifests as a sudden gloom containing the phantom images of whirling human skulls—and the dark, intent gaze of two black eyes. At other times he sends nightmares or various undead creatures to do his bidding or show his favor or displeasure. Cyric is not above masquerading as another deity to gain the worship of mortals and the power derived from that worship.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CE
TURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: Yes, Cru: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No
All clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Cyric recieve religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
Cyric's faith attracts power, and it remains strong in any area where evil is planned and beings seek to impress their will on others. Cyric's most devoted followers are young evil men and women seeking to make thier way in an uncertain world and gathering as much power as possible for themselves. He also attracts the worship of almost all who pursue assassination for a living, though most of them are new to that profession, considering the demise of all Faerûnian assassins during the Time of Troubles.
The church of Cyric benefited from a decade of growth and consolidation before the events that drove its god mad. The church absorbed a great many worshippers of Bane, Bhaal, Myrkul, and even the (still-hushed) revelation of the demise of Leira swelled it's ranks.
The true priests of the Dark Sun Cyric ("the Sworn," as they call themselves) are few in number, but growing. Cyric is also still granting spells to a few of the priests of the gods he supplanted after the Time of Troubles in an attempt to maintain these priests' powers long enough to convert them. This strategy worked well for the Bhaalist and Mykulyte clergy, who had almost all converted before the destruction of Zhentil Keep once more shook the Faerûnian pantheon. The Banite priests remained stubborn, and the Cyricist church finally solved the problem of Bane in Zhentil Keep with a purge, known as the Banedeath, that led to the death or forced conversion of all Banites in Zhentil Keep (driving any survivors underground).
This purge tactic was being initiated all over Faerûn when the Keep fell and Kelemvor and Iyachtu Xvim were catapulted to prominence in the Faerûnian pantheon. At this point, Cyric lost most ex-Myrkulyte priests to Kelemvor and almost all unconverted Banite priests to Xvim. Feuds and internal strife are rampant among the now-integrated Myrkulytes, Bhaalists, and Banites and the true priests of Cyric (those who entered the church after Cyric's ascension), as the ambitious, ruthless clergy members all seek to win ever-higher ranks within the still-unsettled priesthood. To these people, personal power—and its use upon others—is everything. Trust is not in great supply among adherents of the Dark Sun.
Cyric, though now a few monks shy of a monastery, remains closely involved with the upper ranks of his clergy. His high priests are expected to carry out his orders, regardless of how dangerous or odd they may seem. Some priests carry out their tasks as enthusiastically as they had before. Others seek to obey the letter of any directives while changing the spirit of them.
The priesthood is still very much in flux. Its members employ a wide variety of titles and disput each other's rank often. Members of the clergy are always aware of the possibility that a superior may stumble, allowing them to advance. Priests are often encouraged by inner voices that may or may not be the voice of their deity. Popular priestly titles seem to include Dark Master, Hand of Cyric, Watchful Skull, and Dread Death.
Dogma: Cyric's faith is one of control by any means necessary. Force and deception are used in equal measure to spread his word. He (or the masks he wears) is highly venerated by those of black hearts and evil deeds, from petty murderers to evil rulers of empires.
Cyricist priests are given the following charge: "Death to traitors. Death to all who oppose Cyric. Bow down before the supreme power of Cyric, and yield to him the blood of all who do not believe in his supreme power.
"Fear and obey those in authority—but if they are weak or given to pursuing airy goals of vague goodness, slay them in the name of the Dark Sun. Battle against all clergy of other faiths, for they are false prophets and forces who oppose the One True Way.
"Bring death to those who oppose the rightful church of Cyric and those who seek to make or keep peace, order, and laws. All rightful authority comes from Cyric, and all other authority must be subverted.
"Break not into open rebellion, for when hosts march, all faiths and gods awaken. It is better by far to fell one foe at a time and keep all folk afraid, uneasy, in constant strife—and under the spreading tyranny of Cyric."
Cyric's abandonment of the portfolio of death and the dead that he had following the Time of Troubles has freed him to embrace much of where his true heart lies—treachery, deception, and strife. Random violence is never as good as violence that serves some greater, more dangerous purpose. Plans and counterplans can twist and turn on themselves, such that a defeat in one area can bring overall victory for the Dark Sun. Any means, any method, any sacrifice or treachery is allowed if it brings about the desired end.
Day to Day Activities: Priests of the Dark Sun are pledged to spread strife and work murder everywhere in order to make folk fear and believe in Cyric. They support rulers with a taste for cruelty and empire-building, but indulge in intrigue in every land so as to spread strife everywhere without plunging realms into widespread war and thus giving worship only to Tempus the war god.
At least, this is what Cyricists pay lip service to doing. In truth. Cyricists spend most of their time scheming against each other in an endless struggle of cabal against cabal, with each priest striving to strengthen his or her own personal power. In addition, Cyric speaks often to his faithful clergy, but not with one voice. They all fear him and must believe what he tells them each is the One True Way, but what he says often sets different churches at cross-purposes and different Cyricist priests at each other's throats as much as it promotes the defeat of other religions.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Cyric as yet has established few holy days. Until the destruction of Zhentil Keep, the final day and night of Marpenoth was observed as a holy day in celebration of the Banedeath, the purge that ensured Cyric's total victory over the persistent worship of Bane within Zhentil Keep. After the Keep's destruction, that holy day suddenly ceased to be observed, and all mention of it has been wiped from official church records.
Cyric's church does not celebrate the anniversary of his ascension to divine status as this also marks the anniversary of Midnight's ascension (and Cyric hates her). In addition, church histories now note that Cyric has always been divine, and therefore his ascension would be illogical to celebrate, although the history of Cyric's noble efforts to regain the Tablets of Fate as a mortal are also a part of church canon. The obvious contradiction of speaking of Cyric's mortal life while maintaining his eternal divinity is not allowed to trouble the minds of Cyric's faithful.
Blood sacrifices are deemed necessary for Cyric to hear any prayers of entreaty. Local priests usually declare an impromptu Day of the Dark Sun (a high holy day) whenever they acquire something (or someone) deemed important enough to sacrifice to Cyric.
Major Centers of Worship: Zhentil Keep was the mightiest seat of Cyricism until its destruction at the end of 1368 DR. No new major centers for Cyricism have emerged since its destruction. Most observers expect one of the three new temples recently erected in Amn to become the mightiest seat of power among followers of the Mad God if they do not destroy each other in the rivalries inevitably to come.
Affiliated Orders: The church of Cyric does not sponsor any knightly orders. Cyric has ordered the establishment of a fighting order, the Company of the Ebon Spur, but the order has found no leader yet. The two priests in charge of establishing admission standards into the order (two high-ranking priests in two of the emerging Amnian temples) cannot agree on what those standards should be and are engaged in intricate plots to kill each other off, since each is convinced he is right. Since Cyric appeared to each of them in a vision and gave them precise and contradictory instructions as to the establishment of the order, he is evidently pleased with their efforts. When the order finally does get off the ground, Cyricist crusaders will lead fighters against rival churches for the glory of Cyric.
Priestly Vestments: Priests of Cyric dress in black or dark purple robes, with or without hoods, trimmed with silver. Silver bracers or bracelets (usually adorned with the stamped skull-and-starburst symbol of Cyric) are worn on the wrists to symbolize the priesthood's enslavement to Cyric (in a symbolic reprise of Cyric's one-time captivity), and some priests paint the symbol of their deity on thier cheeks or foreheads on high holy days.
Adventuring Garb: Priests of Cyric are fond of going about in disguise and love using illusions that alter their appearance when they can obtain them. They dress either to be inconspicuous or to impress, awe, and terrify, depending on what they are assigned to do. Whenever they are in disguise or trying to look inconspicuous, they still attempt to wear as much protective armor or magic as possible wihout it giving them away. When dressing to terrify, they love black armor with ornamentation that looks menacing, such as spiked shoulder and elbow pieces and helms in the shape of snarling monsters.

The Great Mother, the Grain Goddess, the Golden Goddess, She Who Shapes All

Greater Power of Elysium, NG
PORTFOLIO: Agriculture, plants cultivated by humans, farmers, gardeners, summer
ALIASES: Earthmother (Moonshae), Jannath, Pahluruk (among the peoples of the Great Glacier, Bhalla (Rashemen)
DOMAIN NAME: Eronia/Great Mother's Garden
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: Lathaner, Silvanus, Eldath, Mielikki, Shiallia, Selûne, Lurue the Unicorn
FOES: Talos and the gods of fury (Auril, Umberlee, and Malar), Talona, Moander (now dead), Bane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead), Myrkul (now dead)
SYMBOL: A budding flower encircled by a sunburst or (older) a sheaf of golden wheat on a green field
WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LG, NG, CG
Chauntea (Chawn-TEE-ah) rarely appears to mortals, although the most devout sometimes see her smiling face in their dreams. Her hand is on every place where humans seek to grow things. She is not a goddess given to spectacle or pageant, but rather calls her followers to small acts of devotion. She is immensely popular among gardeners, farmers, and common folk of many nations. Through her blessing, most of Faerûn is fruitful. She is wise and quiet, though not passive, and is not given to hasty action. Aside from the divine interactions mentioned above, she has a cordial ongoing contest with Tempus and a friendly rivalry with Gond. Lathander and Chauntea have had an off-again, on-again romance for centuries (currently on), but the relationship between them is always warm.
Chauntea has a special relationship with the people of the Moonshae Isles, a place which she has dedicated a portion of her being, known as Earthmother, to oversee specifically. Earthmother is a more primitive facet of Chauntea who is representative of the goddess's nature in eons past and is much more wild and neutral in her outlook. She often uses three agents in the Moonshaes, said to be her Children: Leviathan, a great whale who guards the waters of the Moonshaes; Kamerynn, a great male unicorn, the king of the wilderness; and the Pack, a gathering of dire wolves melded into a single, unstoppable horde in the service of the goddess. Absent from the Moonshaes for years, these children have been spotted individually of late in the wilds and the sea.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, druids, mystics, monks, shamans
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LG, NG, CG
TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, D: No, Mys: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if good
CMND. UNDEAD: C: No, D: No, Mys: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if neutral
All clerics, druids, mystics, monks, and shamans of Chauntea receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Clerics, mystics, and shamans of Chauntea are immune to the poisons found in plants and mushrooms. Clerics cannot draw spells from the elemental fire sphere, though they may access all other elemental spheres normally. Clerics and shamans are encouraged to take the herbalism nonweapon proficiency and receive the agriculture nonweapon proficiency as a bonus proficiency.
Chauntea's priests tend to be folk of all races who have a deep love for the land and an appreciation of natural ways and balances, seeing humans and other intelligent life as part of an ongoing series of cycles. They tend to be gardeners or farmers by trade and training and have an increasing appreciation for the beauty of plants that brings them at last to the veneration of She Who Shapes All.
Chauntea is spoken of as "Our Mother" or "the Mother of All" by her clergy. They know that she is very powerful in a quiet way—and like her, they tend to be quiet and patient in their ways. Many members of her clergy are female. In the communities in which they dwell, they are known for their wisdom and appreciated for their willingness to freely (without fee or obligation) tie up their skirts and pitch in when agricultural work must be done, especially where farmers are ill or injured.
Though Chauntea's faith has some large, impressive temples and shrines whose granaries ensure that food for all is abundant in their vicinities, the backbone of the Earthmother's faith is composed of small, local temples. Often these are seed-storage caverns near pure wells. Chauntean services are also held in open fields and druid groves.
Chauntea's church has two wings: standard clerics who minister to the faithful in towns, cities, and civilized areas, and druids who work in more outlying regions. With the success of the town priests, the druids have been moving farther and farther afield. The relationship between the druids, who call themselves "True Clerics of Chauntea," and the more civilized clerics is cordial, but at times strained. The druids have always venerated Chauntea, and consider the more recent city disciples to be upstarts. The more civilized priests, in turn, feel that the druids' day is done, and while druids are still useful in wild lands, the rising nations need and organized, professional faith controlled by a more reasonable and rational clergy. The percentage breakdown of clerics and druids in the clergy is about 40% clerics and 50% druids. Mystics and shamans, who work alone outside of either wing of the church and report only to She Who Shapes All herself, comprise only 5% of the priesthood together, and monks, who are always allied to a particular temple or druidic circle's leader, round out the remaining 5%.
Priests of Chauntea use such titles as (in ascending order of rank) Close One, Watchful Brother/Sister of the Earth, Trueseed, Harvestmaster/Harvestmistress, High Harvestmaster/Harvestmistress, and Onum.
The Unicorn Run
Bards and sages pass down the tale the headwaters of the Unicorn Run are, in truth, the Font of Life, and a cradle of fecundity. Each natural race is said to have emerged from the womb of Chauntea onto Toril at the river's source and then traveled down the Unicorn Run to the outside world. Some say a daughter of Chauntea resides at the river's srouce to usher the newborns into the world, while others claim that Shiallia midwifes the process.
Regardless of the truth, the lore of the elves, korreds, and halflings all agree that the Unicorn Run is sacred to life and a site of incredible purity. As a result, all three races have strong taboos about extended trips up the run, for if the river is ever fouled, then no new races will ever be born on Toril again.
Dogma: Chauntea's faith is one of nurture and growth. Agricultural sayings and farming parables dot her teachings. Growing and reaping, the eternal cycle, is a common thread in Chauntea's faith. Destruction for its own sake, or leveling without rebuilding, is anathema to the church. Chauntean priests are charged to nurture, tend, and plant whenever and wherever possible; protect trees and plants, and save their seeds to that what is destroyed can be replaced; see to the fertility of the earth, but let the human womb see to its own; and to eschew fire.
Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Chauntea are charged to learn—and pass on to others, both fellow clergy and laity—all they can of horticulture, herblore, plant types, and plant diseases, and to encourage all civilized folk to enrich the land by replanting, composting, and irrigation, not merely to graze or dig it bare for what it can yield and then pass on. They replant trees wherever they go, root out weeds that strangle and choke crop plants, and till plants back into the soil. They strive to let no day pass in which they have no helped a living thing to flourish.
Clergy of Chauntea are encouraged to work against plant disease wherever they go. They often hire nonbelievers to helf them burn diseased plants or the corpses of plague-ridden livestock to prevent the spread of sickness. They keep careful watch over such blazes. Chauntean clerics do not like handling fire but are not forbidden to use nonmagical fire.
Chauntea encourages her faithful to make offerings of food to strangers and those in need, freely sharing the bounty of the land. It is also said that money given to one of her temples returns to the giver tenfold. Worshipers should plant at least one seed or small plant-cutting a tenday, tend to it faithfully for as long as possible, and see that their own wastes are always tilled back into the soil to feed later life. Any extra seeds yielded by plantlings should be taken to a temple of the goddess for distribution to the less fortunate.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Every day should begin with whispered thanks to Chauntea for continued life and close with a prayer to the setting sun, from whence (Chaunteans believe) the Great Mother sends her power. Prayer to the Great Mother must be made whenever things are planed, but should otherwise occur when worshipers are moved to do so by the beauty of nature around them, which they are always encouraged to notice. Prayer to the Golden Goddess is best made on freshly tilled ground, farmland, or a garden, or failing that, at least at a well or a watering place. Chauntea listens best to those who enrich the ground, so before prayer many priests bury wastes, dispose of the litter of civilization, or plant seeds.
Few ceremonies of worship fall at set times. Passing one's wedding night in a freshly tilled field is held by Chaunteans to ensure fertility in marriage. Greengrass is a fertility festival, wherein uninhibited behavior and consumption of food and drink is encouraged. The much more solemn High Prayers of the Harvest celebrate the bounty Chauntea has given a community and are held at different times in each community to coincide with the actual harvest of crops, rather than precisely on Higharvestide.
Major Centers of Worship: Goldenfields, a vast, walled abbey and farm compound east and north of Waterdeep, is the current pride of Chauntea. The goddess is said to be delighted at the community of more than 5,000 worshipers who till over 20 square miles of contiguous land and outlying buildings on the banks of the Dessarin. The largest and most energetic project undertaken by the faithful of Chauntea, it has become the Granary of the North.
Goldenfields supplanted the older Harvest House in central Amn as the most important center of Chauntean worship, but the ornate formal gardens of the all-female Sisters of the House remain unmatched in the known Realms. However, this smaller temple of Chauntea is being challenged even for its second-place ranking by the smaller but almost perfectly appointed Abbey of the Golden Sheaf in Mistledale, which serves the dale around it with admirable skill and diligence.
Affiliated Orders: While by no means defenseless, the church of Chauntea has no affiliated military or knightly orders. Those who guard its temples and shrines are usually members of the clergy.
Priestly Vestments: Priests of high rank of all types in the service of Chauntea tend to favor white or sun-colored ceremonial robes trimmed in deep forest green and to use staves smoothed by much handling but otherwise natural in appearance. Some such staves are enchanted to purify or promote the growth of what they touch.
Adventuring Garb: Chauntea's clerics, monks, and shamans dress simply and without pretense most of the time. They favor earth tones of green and brown. The druids prefer simple brown robes with high rank denoted only by a belt laced with gold thread or some other similar, precious decoration. The citified clerics, on the other hand, wear and open-fronted brown cloak with more standard garments, like tunic and trousers, underneath. Mystics dress in everyday clothes or robes of more colorful garb in brighter green, yellow, rust, and brown earth tones.

The High One, Patron of Wizards, the Lord of Spells, the Hand of Sorcery, the Lord of Spellcraft

Lesser Power of Arcadia, LN
PORTFOLIO: Wizards, mages, spellcasters in general
ALIASES: None
DOMAIN NAME: Buxenus/Azuth
SUPERIOR: Mystra
ALLIES: Mystra, Savras the All-Seeing, Velsharoon the Vaunted, Oghma, Deneir, Leira (now dead)
FOES: Cyric
SYMBOL: A human left hand, pointed upward, outlined in a nimbus of blue fire
WOR. ALIGN.: Any
Azuth (Ah-ZOOTH) is the god of wizards and mages and to a much lesser degree, all spellcasters, as opposed to Mystra, who is the goddess of all magic. Azuth is Mystra's servant, friend, and advisor. This last role has become even more important in the years since the Time of Troubles. Before the Godswar, he and Mystra were much closer and very affectionate toward one another, but Azuth's relationship with Midnight/Mystra is much more professional. He regards the new Mystra as an inexperienced daughter facing a taxing and complex job whom he must coach to allow her to bset perform her duties. In religious art, Azuth is most often protrayed as a bearded old man unbent by age, wielding a stout, gem-topped staff.
Savras the All-Seeing, a rival god of mages whom Azuth defeated, was Azuth's foe for centuries. Savras now serves Azuth, albeit uneasily, as a demipower of diviners and truth-speakers. The two deities seem to cautiously be working toward friendship and a format division of duties, albeit with Savras continuing to serve Azuth. Azuth also works closely to guide the Magister, the mortal spellwielding champion of magic who serves Mystra. Likewise, Velsharoon, demipower of necromancy, must pay at least lip service to Azuth's commands.
Azuth is a sober sort of father-figure deity, but he is not humorless or mean-spirited. He has a rather dry, sardonic wit and appreciates plays on words and subtle humor. He has perfected a straight-faced delivery to such a degree that often those who hear him speak are left wondering whether some of his comments were said seriously or in jest. When he is in good humor, he likes to present those who have called on him with small gifts, such as flowers in unusual colors, magical fabric of elegant drape, or edible delicacies. When he is upset, his wrath is terrible to behold as the air crackles with magical energy around him that seems to flow both into and out of his eyes and the Old Staff, a divine artifact of ancient construction that he wields to devastating effect.
Other Manifestations
Azuth sometimes appears as a glowing, intangible floating mouth surrounded by mustache and beard and sometimes as a white, glowing, upright hand with its forefinger extended to a point that is outlined with a shimmering silver aura. Most often he appears as an electric blue radiance. Sometimes he manifests merely as an echoing, dry, male voice or such a voice accompanies another manifestation. In all manifestations, he has the power to unleash spells, identify from a distance without triggering the powers of an item or spell, and know the end result of any magic he sees being cast before it takes effect.
Azuth also acts or shows his favor through the appearance or presence of pure gray cats and dogs (which Azuthans consider lucky), gray owls, gray mice, golems, watchghosts, devas, and the Favored. The Favored are human archmages given a second life by Azuth to serve him with their spells and researches. They can fly and employ ESP at will, but are otherwise living mages in all respects.
The Church
CLERGY: Wizards, clerics, specialty priests, monks
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: LG, LN, N, CN, LE
TURN UNDEAD: W: No, C: Yes, SP: No, Mon: No
CMND. UNDEAD: W: No, C: No, SP: No, Mon: No
All clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Azuth receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Azuth can cast priest spells faster than other priests. Their casting time on all priest spells of one round or less is reduced by 3 (for example, a casting time of 7 would be reduced to 4). Those spells that take more than one round to cast still take them the usual amount of time. Priest spells cast by priests of Azuth always have a casting time of at least 1.
Azuthan clergy tend to be folk who love magic for its own sake. They do not exeult in power, for that is the tendency of those who enjoy what magic can allow them to do to others, but in in elegance, complexities of dweomer, and deft use of spells. Wizards, clerics, specialty priests, and monks serve in the clergy of Azuth. Within the church hierarchy, 45% of the titled clergy are wizards. Another 30% are clerics, who form the strong right arm of the faith, 20% are specialty priests, and 5% are monks. Relationships between the three groups are good, though there is some resentment against a current trend to promote specialty priests into positions of power. However, because of this trend, more novices of the Azuthan faith have chosen the path of a specialty priest than a cleric. Specialty priests of Azuth are known as magistrati.
In areas where Azuth has temples, shrines, and monastic communities, the ruling (not necessarily the most powerful) clergy member holds the title of "the First" and is addressed as "Revered One." Other clergy members in large clerical communities have expanded on this idea: The most powerful user of alteration magic is called First Transmuter, the leading specialist in divination magic is First Diviner, etc. The First may bestow or revoke such titles within his or her parish. Clergy members of high rank and long years in the church are granted the title of Master. Azuthan clergy eschew most further titles.
Dogma: Followers of Azuth feel that reason is the best way to approach magic, and that it may be examined and reduced to its component parts through study and meditation. Calm and caution are the watchwords of Azuthan clergy members as they strive to avoid mistakes that even magic cannot undo. They are taught to use Art (magic) wisely and to be always mindful of when it is best not to use magic.
Novices in the faith are charged to: "Teach the wielding of magic, and dispense scrolls, items, and spellbooks throughout Taerun that the use and knowledge of magic may spread. Encourage everyone to try their hand at wielding magic. Drive home the lesson that with magical power comes grave responsibility, and live that lesson yourself. Try to gain a copy of every new spell, spell variant, or magical idea you encounter without regard for its worth or importance—and make a copy of that copy for a temple library. Train others in what you know of magic, not hoarding your knowledge for yourself, and encourage creativity in magic in all ways and at all times.
Day-to-Day Activities: Azuthan clergy members very often serve as messengers between mages. They strive to remain above reproach and to be regarded as trusted neutral parties by all. They organize annual Mage Fairs, and at those Mage Fairs they try to settle feuds, curb overly destructive or deceitful magic, and sponsor spellweaving contests. They also give out scrolls of the winning spells from previous years and small, useful magical items as prizes in these contests.
Most wizards see the priesthood as helpful, but members of the church of Azuth may go to great lengths to serve a prime goal that many wizards do not find so pleasing: They try to ensure that no spell or magical item is unique to one mage in Faerûn so that the death of a single wizard does not take any spell or the knowledge of how to construct an item out of the world forever. Azuthan clergy members do this by magical spying (and even temporary thefts), by copying every wizardly writing they can find including command words and cryptic phrases (not just complete incantations), by encouraging the barter of spells, and by organizing tome drives in which wizards are paid handsomely to contribute a spell to the latest folio of the ongoing Azuthan spell syclopedia (a written collection of spells from various mages duplicated magically in bulk, bound, and distributed by the priesthood for a minor fee covering production costs).
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The church of Azuth holds a holy revel to mark the ascension of a new Magister and of any mage to the ranks of the Favored. Every twilight the faithful of Azuth pray silently to the High One for guidance in all their doings that day and the next. Azuthan priests otherwise avoid a lot of ceremony, but in temples and abbeys of the Lord of Spells, all three major meals of the day are accompanied by readings from the writings of great mages on the ethics of magic use, speculations as to what magic can be made to do in the future, and various philosophies of magic.
When a being is confirmed as a priest of Azuth, she or he must undergo the Transforming, a ritual in which the novice spends a tenday in thrall to an involuntary, ongoing shape change cast on him or her by a Master. In this ceremony, the novice must see life through the eyes of a bewildering variety of shapes forced upon him or her in succession by the magic. No shape the novice is placed in is unable to survive in the environment in which this ritual takes place, but the experience is typically humbling. The ritual is typically held in a walled, secluded temple garden that is temporarily off limits to all others, but which normally serves as a place for contemplation. The spell used in this ritual is a church secret, and it has been used by some Masters on foes in the defense of temples and abbeys under attack.
Azuthan clergy and laity alike also celebrate occasional Wild Nights, in which they dance in the midst of unleashed wild magic just to feel its power nad effects. (Other wizards and priests stand by to rescue anyone who runs into harm.)
Major Centers of Worship: The House of the High One in Saerloon is the most revered temple of the Azuthan faith. It is run jointly by six Masters (all human male priests or wizards of 18th or greater level): Helven, Lhun, Mirren, Ormil, Riilath, and Thelcaunt. Another very powerful temple of Azuth is the House of the High One Ascendant. It is located in the mountains near Lhair in western Halruaa. Here First Arleenaya Kithmaer runs a huge temple complex expanded out from natural caverns in the mountains and fronted by a grand formal stone archway and portico ornamented by the finest carvings stone shape and grand master sculptors can achieve.
Affiliated Orders: Azuth clergy members who have done great service in recovering magical knowledge thought lost are often voted into the Order of the Forgotten Page by the Firsts of the church and allowed to wear a special ilver trim on the collars of their ceremonial vestments. Members of the faith who have served the church in helping to eliminate a magical imbalance or monstrosity are granted the title "Shield of the High One," given a minor protected magical item, and told a secret phrase or word that allows them aid from any temple or shrine of Azuth in the form of healing, shelter, and small loans, when necessary.
Priestly Vestments: The vestments of the priesthood of Azuth are shimmering gray and usually made of silk, though these are layered with heavier and more sensible materials in the North. The symbol of Azuth is worn on the chest, and the color of the aura on the symbol denotes an individual's rank in the church. Most acolytes, monks, mage apprentices, and adventurers have a yellow aura surrounding the symbol of Azuth. Higher level adventurers and clergy members at large without official position wear symbols with a red aura. When not used to identify rank, the symbol of Azuth has a blue aura. In the North, usually only the forefinger of Azuth's symbol is shown ablaze. From Chessenta southward—notably in Halruaa—the entire hand is surrounded by flame.
Adventuring Garb: In the field, clergy of Azuth wear sensible clothing, predominantly in shades of gray. They wear the symbol of their faith over their hearts, either stitched onto a tunic or robes or inlaid in metal armor.

Frostmaiden, Icedawn, the Cold Goddess, Lady Frostkiss

Lesser Power of Pandemonium, NE
PORTFOLIO: Cold, winter
ALIASES: Saukuruk (among the peoples of the Great Glacier)
DOMAIN NAME: Pandesmos/Winter's Hall
SUPERIOR: Talos
ALLIES: Talos, Umberlee, Malar
FOES: At'ar (Amaunator-now dead), Moander (now dead), Sune, Chauntea, Shiallia, Uthgar
SYMBOL: A white snowflake on a gray diamond (a heraldic lozenge) with a white border
WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE
Auril (AWE-ril) is most powerful in those regions that are affected by deep winters or crouch at the edges of the Great Glacier. She is worshiped primarily out of fear. She serves Talos and is one of the Gods of Fury, and much of her ethos is similar to that of the god of nature's destruction. She has seen much of her personal power eroded by Talos, and as a result, the winters have grown colder in the past decade to remind the northerners who still controls the power of cold. While she can call on the other Gods of Fury for aid, she only does so with Umberlee with any confidence; Talos usually responds but them directs all the glory and worship to himself, and Malar despises her. The feeling is mutual.
When portrayed, Auril appears similar to her Frostmaiden avatar (see below). She is a fickle, vain, and evil creature whose cold divine heart remains untouched by any hint of true love, noble feeling, or honor. She often toys with those who offend her, trapping them in snow storms and then driving them insane by tantalizing them with visions of warmth and the comforts of home before she freezes them to death. Her eternal beauty is cold and deadly the flower of womanhood preserved forever in a slab of arctic ice-with sensibilities to match the ice.
Other Manifestations
Auril usually manifests as icy breath accompanied by a cold, ruthless chuckling and a blue-white radiance that leaves a thin line of frost to mark its passage. She also appears as a blank-eyed face of frost with long, wind-whipped white hair that radiates intense cold. Auril uses this latter manifestation if she wants to speak, slay, or confer items of power upon worshipers. She slays with her life-chilling kiss and confers boons by breathing them out of the face's mouth. Her victims must make a successful saving throw vs. death magic to survive the face's kiss.
Auril also indicates her favor or disfavor or sends aid through the presence or action of water elementals, ice para-elementals, undead, winter wolves, frost giants, and other arctic creatures.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, shamans
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CE
TURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Sha: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, Sha: Yes
All clerics, specialty priests, and shamans of Auril receive religion (Faerunian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Upon being Embraced by the goddess, clerics of Auril become immune to natural cold damage and the effects of exposure.
Auril is feared and worshiped in order to hold off the depredations of the harsh winters with which she threatens Faerun. Trappers, miners, and settlers in the North, some barbarians and inhabitants of the Great Glacier, and residents of the lands crouching at any glacier's edge revere her and honor her in attempts to placate her cold fury come winter time. In recent years, winters have been getting longer and colder, and more and more folk have been making the prayers to Auril that her clergy urge be done. A few clans of frost giants are led by shamans in her service.
Priestesses of Auril roam the lands of Faerun, especially in the North, though her clergy are now being seen more often in the Heartlands. Auril's church has a few males within its ranks, but most clergy of the Frostmaiden are female. Specialty priests of Auril, called icepriestesses and icepriests, make up one-third of Auril's priesthood. The relationship between the specialty priests and the clerics of Auril is very good. The entire church is very loosely and informally organized, and clergy members wander and are largely independent. Most priests of Auril use only the honorific "Hand of Auril" or "Icebreath," but at temples such as the House of Auril's Breath at Glister the clergy use formal titles. In ascending order, these are: Postulant, Votre, Icewind, Storm Sister/Storm Brother (a title given to the great bulk of priests between 3rd level and 8th), Frosttouch, Lady/Lord Cold, Lady/Lord Deep Winter, Lady/Lord Cold Circle, and High Hand of Ice.
Because of their immunity to natural cold, priestesses of Auril are often seen scampering lightly through the snows in summer-weight clothing or bathing in frigid river waters in the depths of winter to no apparent ill effect. They need much less food than other beings because of this ability, and often roam the northlands energetically when blizzards have forced other folk to hole up against the weather. Many priestesses of Auril make a handsome living delivering medicines, messages, and needed supplies throughout the northlands in winter.
Dogma: Auril charges her clergy to: "Cover all the lands with ice. Quench fire wherever it is found. Let in the winds and the cold; cut down windbreaks and chop holes in walls and roofs that my breath may come in. Work darknesses to hide the cursed sun so that the chill I bring may slay. Take the life of an arctic creature only in great need, but slay others at will. Make all Faerun fear me."
Auril's clergy are commanded to revere her and sing her praises into any chill breeze or winter wind. They are to make all creatures fear or worship her and to bring down her cold power against all so that all may know her and quake before her. They are not to raise their hands against any other priest of Auril.
Day-to-Day Activities: Clergy of Auril seek to make all folk fear their goddess and her clergy (to cut down on the attacks they face) through the fury of the winter weather. They also try to make themselves personally wealthy and influential by carrying out tasks that others cannot in the worst winter weather and by magically protecting those who pay or obey from the worst winter conditions. Clergy members make offerings to the goddess of some of the wealth they amass by scattering it in falling snow during a storm or throwing it through cracks in river ice or glacial crevasses during the winter.
In the cold months, Auril expects each of her priests to force or persuade someone to pray to her in the approved manner by beseeching Auril for mercy and praising her for the "cold cleansing" she brings. This prayer must last for the length of time it takes a piece of ice larger than the "supplicant's" hand to melt against his or her bared flesh. It must be done out of doors and preferably at night. During the winter, Aurilian clergy are also expected to slay at least one creature by cold. This is often done so as to provide worshipers or potential worshipers of the goddess with food or to slay a personal foe of the priestess or priest.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Midwinter Night is the most holy time of the year to clergy of Auril. It is a festival of ice-dancing that lasts the whole night through, during which the goddess desires her clergy both to enjoy themselves and to lure as many folk as possible into her service.
Postulants are instructed in the ways of the goddess, and must undergo the most sacred ritual of Auril to gain admittance into her clergy: the Embracing. This personal ritual may occur at any time of year, but if it is in summer, the postulant must journey to arctic or high mountain regions in order to find a blizzard. The Embracing consists of running through a blizzard all night long dressed in only boots (though they may be thigh-high), a thin shift, and body paint depicting symbols sacred to Auril. Celebrants either perish of exposure or are accepted by the goddess by being rescued from the pain and shivering by Her Embrace.
Thereafter, clergy members usually pray in private, by lying out in the snow all night long in prayer vigil. In summer, her clergy usually immerse themselves (except for their heads) in the coldest water they can find, typically by lying down in a fast-flowing stream. Auril answers their queries and gives them directions and missions through mind visions.
Two informal but enthusiastically celebrated rituals are the Coming Storm and the Last Storm-howling ice storms called up by clergy working en masse with all the cold magic they can muster. Together they bring fierce weather down upon a town or region to mark the onset of winter or its last gasp as spring begins.
Major Centers of Worship: The House of Auril's Breath in Glister, north of the Moonsea, is the largest and most influential temple to the cold goddess, boasting a congregation of over 1,600 gathering around the fires fore nightly Fire and Ice rituals (all of them miners and fur trappers too afraid not to venerate Auril). High Hand of Ice (high priest) Malakhar Rhenta leads the Storm Circle of 14 or so senior priestesses in running the temple and planning the weather maic they work. The House of Auril's breath is known more commonly to those not of the faith as "the Cold House" or, more bitterly, "Cold Comfort Towers."
Affiliated Orders: Auril's church has no affiliated military or knightly orders. She is just not of a mind to sponsor prolonged military actions; she would rather send a blizzard down on those who offend her than troops. An odd assortment of cults and fellowships have grown up around or become attached to her worship, though. These groups include the Cult of Frost, whose driving goal is the acquisition of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter; a group of wizards known as the Frost Witches, who have recorded at least one tome of frost and cold magic in Auril's name and are reputed to know the location of the Codicil of White, a priestly book describing Aurilian rituals and containing some wizard spells also; and the Sisters of Istishia, who worship Istishia as a herald of cold and servant of Auril. The Sisters of Istishia's worship seems to benefit Istishia, not Auril, as a few Aurilian priestesses have been given a divine mandate to seek out the Sisters and "correct" their theology.
Priestly Vestments: Priests of Auril wear ice-white ceremonial robes with blue piping. The robes are cinched at the waist by a very wide silver belt, which also hold the requisite ceremonial ice axe. The ice axe bears the snowflake-in-lozenge symbol of the faith. (The ice axe is treated as a hand axe for combat purposes.) A silver circlet on the head is the final touch.
Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, most priests of Auril wear at least the circlet, the belt, and the ice axe with their normal day-to-day clothes. Since they are immune to the effects of cold, they usually wear only what clothing they think enhances their appearance, not necessarily what others are wearing for the weather. They never encumber themselves with excessive clothing or large sleeping bundles, preferring to travel light for maximum mobility.

Queen of Air, the Lady of Air, Lady of the Winds, Queen of Air Elementals

Greater Power of the Elemental Plane of Air
N
PORTFOLIO: Elemental air, air elementalists, movement, speed, flying creatures
ALIASES: Teylas (Hordelands)
DOMAIN NAME: Elemental Plane of Air/The Great Funnel
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: Aerdrie Faenya, Quorlin, Remnis, Shaundakal, Stillsong, Stronmaus, Syanita
FOES: Grumbar
SYMBOL: A white cloud, often upon a blue background
WORSHIPPERS ALIGNMENT: Any
Akadi (Ah-KAH-dee) is the whispering wind and the blinding gale storm, her form changing from season to season. Her kiss might be moist and sweet or bitter and cold. Uncaring, she carries sounds and scents along on her journey, but she never pauses to impress upon a traveler the importance of her travels. In religious art she is often portrayed as a huge, translucent blue woman with gigantic feathery wings that trail away into clouds. Her wings are said to toss the winds about the surface of Faerun.
Like all the elemental lords, Akadi is relatively uncaring of her followers on Abeir-Toril. Her reactions are difficult to gauge, and she seems almost an alien being in her responses to most mortals not native to the Elemental Plane of Air. The relative inaction of Akadi and the other elemental Lords has led to their being viewed as only lesser powers in the Realms and their followers being classed as cultists. Akadi is known as Teylas in the Hordelands, a god of the Elemental Plane of Air. The distinction between a female and a male form of the Lady of the Winds makes no difference to the faith.
Akadi does seem to have some small affection for her followers, but most often displays that affection when they make large offerings to her by burning precious incenses that waft to her on the winds-so it could be argued that she only cares when she is bribed to do so. While appeals to Akadi to change or still the winds, provide good flying currents, or bring gentle rains meet with her approval, she grants no prayers to raise or quell harsh storms, as storms lie within the purview of Talos and Umberlee (though she occasionally manages a whirlwind of brief duration but stunning force). During the Time of Troubles, she was not spotted in the Realms.
Other Manifestations
Akadi has sent manifestations to the Realms more frequently than she has sent an avatar, but even these appearances are extremely rare compared to the frequency with which other powers manifest. The Lady of Air has appeared in the form of almost any normal flying creature, and her voice has been heard as a gentle whisper upon the breeze. She frequently sends an aerial servant to deliver private messages (or demands) to those she deems worthy or useful. A rising breeze or a change in the wind is usually seen as a sign of her favor.
The Church
CLERGY: Specialty Priests, Crusaders, Mystics, Shamans
CLERGY'S ALIGNMENT: NG, CG, N, CN, NE, CE
TURN UNDEAD: Specialty Priest: No, Crusader: No, Mystic: No, Shaman: Yes (if good)
COMMAND UNDEAD: Specialty Priest: No, Crusader: No, Mystic: No, Shaman: Yes (if neutral or evil)
All specialty priests, crusaders, mystics and shamans of Akadi receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Akadian priests are strongly encouraged to learn weather sense and to acquire skill in playing a musical instrument that involves blowing air through it to produce sound (such as woodwind instruments, brass instruments, organs, and bagpipes) in addition to their required proficiencies. All shamans of Akadi receive elemental air as one of their major spheres in addition to their normal spheres of magic.
Before the Time of Troubles, all of the elemental cults had clerics in their ranks, now, only specialty priests remain. Why Akadi decided to gradually convert her clerics to specialty priests in unknown. Since the Godswar, the Akadian church has added a small order of mystics and an order of crusaders to the church to round out the capabilities of the priesthood. In primitive or nomadic societies (such as those of the Tuigan), Akadi is served by shamans.
Few priests of Akadi ever settle down in one place, so few communities feel threatened or benefited by the appearance of an Akadi priest. Akadian priests blow into a town or village upon the morning breeze and are typically gone by the time the sun sets. A philosophy of incessant movement and wanderlust has ingrained itself into the church of Akadi, and few temples exist to the Lady of the Winds. Those that do are most often open air circles of wooden poles adorned with feathers and streamers that flutter in the slightest breeze. Priests of the faith travel across Faerun, spreading the word of Akadi at each opportunity. They often lecture on the joys that the freedom of Akadi brings, but seldom stop to argue semantics or principles with those who would appose them, choosing instead to sew the seeds of the Queen of Air and then continue along to "wherever the wind takes them." This tendency to sprout high-sounding verbiage has led to more than one Akadian priest being called a "windbag" in several senses of the word.
The priests of Akadi are divided up between the Whisper and the Roar. These are not rankings within the church or even a division between those clergy members with parish territories and those of an adventuring bent. Rather these are distinctions in philosophy of action. Those who follow the Whisper typically work behind the scenes, seldom showing themselves to be a member of the church of Akadi. Members of the Roar are much more direct about their involvement in the affairs of Faerun. The disparate and unfocused nature of the activities of the church of Akadi as a while has left few in Faerun viewing it as any sort of threat, although personally ambitious members of the church can sometimes wreak havoc in a particular region.
Akadi's priests are organized mostly into "churches" formed of small cliques who follow a particularly charismatic Akadian. These cliques shift and flow over time as the group politics lead to some members rising in status, others falling, and others leaving in disgust or empowered by the inspiring message of their leader to begin a new church in a far-off land. This sort of organization is very fluid and often very confusing to those outside the faith, as such folks are never sure who will be in charge in a tenday and therefore who to hold responsible for living up to agreements and contracts. Most Akadians have a reputation for being untrustworthy because of this very problem in their faiths organization. When time comes due for an Akadian to live up to a promise, frequently the answer received is: "I'm so sorry, that's not my job anymore." -if one can find the Akadian the deal was struck with in the first place!
Novice Akadians are referred to as fledglings. Upon undergoing a personally designed rite of empowerment supervised by at least two senior clergy (and usually involving flying), they become full priests. In ascending order of rank, the titles in general used by the priesthood are: Winged one (full priest), Air of the Goddess, Breeze of Light, Zephyr (senior priest), Mistral, Sirocco (leader of a large "church"), and Whirlwind (leader of a very large church or priest of great experience). A priest who has slain or soundly defeated an enemy of the church (usually a high ranking priest of Grumbar or an earth-based creature of power) may add the honorific "high" to the beginning of his or her title. Specialty priests of Akadi are known as Airwalkers.
Dogma: The teachings of the Akadian church amount to a doctrine of finding one's own enlightenment. The church feels that one can only find truth in what one is interested in and as soon as interest fails, all chance of finding spiritual growth has left an activity or place. Therefore, the faithful must move from activity to activity, from place to place, pursuing a personal dream or series of interests and growing through the changing experiences each new day brings. The church pays little attention to resistance to its doctrine; such obstacles will be worn down over time. Few maters are ever deemed so important that the church feels the need to commit itself to a particular cause. The only stance that the Akadian faith takes adamantly is that its members and its priests should not be fettered or imprisoned; such a condition rapidly leads to the onset of depression among the faithful and a languishing death.
Novices in the Akadian faith are charged as follows: "The eternal Akadi is change personified. Each new day reveals to us a new side of her. Strive to be as flexible as she is. Pursue everything that interests you in turn. Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible to achieve the most creative answer. View life as an art form to create anew around you each day to your benefit and that of Akadi. The freedom to move about and to soar on the breeze of life is one of the inherent rights of every living thing. Fly forth and spread the word of Akadi and show though your works the fresh new life she brings."
Day-to-Day Activities: Each day is an important day in the eyes of an Akadian. The faithful typically rise before the sun emerges to whisper their prayers on the morning breeze and stay up to watch the moon rise over Faerun or glide the dying thermals of the waning day and joyfully speak their evening prayers.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Each day is an important day in the eyes of an Akadian. The faithful typically rise before the sun emerges to whisper their prayers on the morning breeze and stay up to watch the moon rise over Faerun or glide the dying thermals of the waning day and joyfully speak their evening prayers.
Major Centers of Worship: Few permanent temples to Akadi have been erected. Many of her shrines are tended by a rotation cycle of priests as they travel the countryside, leaving the shrine when a replacement arrives. The holiest site of the Arcadian faith is the mound of the First Shrine of the Queen of Air in the ruins of Blaskaltar in the Shaar. The structure is long gone through ages of neglect; however, the faithful gather here yearly to remember the history of their church and it's great members so that they do not lose their past and thus become doomed to repeat it.
Affiliated Orders: The order of Akadian crusaders is known as the Knights of the Wind's Four Quarters. Its members tend to pursue personal quests and errands for church elders or carry out the ongoing vendetta against the church of Grumbar. Mystics of the faith being to the Companions of the Summer Wind, who tend to be good-aligned, the Disciples of Spring's Breeze, who are mainly Neutral, or the Alliance of Midwinter's Teeth, who are evil.
Priestly Vestments: Priests of Akadi dress for rituals in robes of White, light gray, and light blue, representing the many faces of their Goddess. Silk is a preferred material in vestments, as its flowing nature pleases the Goddess, and rare silks dyed in flowing or rippling patterns of blue or white are highly prized. Many priests wear jewelry of milky opal, crystal quartz, augelite, turquoise, beryllonite, blue spinel, or sapphire, and these are the stones from which Akadian holy symbols are constructed. Air elementals blow fine grit over these gemstones, thereby inscribing Akadi's symbol; the stone is set into a piece of jewelry, forming a holy symbol.
Adventuring Garb: Adventuring priests and Akadian clergy members on the road dress practically, though they favor clothes or accessories of white, light gray, and light blue. They recognize that traveling through the countryside on the enemy element of earth requires heavier clothing to shield oneself from that harsh element. They typically confine their use of silk to a scarf or decorative vest and pack their ceremonial vestments carefully to protect them.