th at l eft-ha ndedness is more ofte n associate d with great
a rtis ti c ability and the belie f tha t the gre atest a rt comes
from th e ~cceptance of truth.
MYRKUL
The L ord of B ones, Old L ord Skull, th e Reaper
Myrkul is an a ncient god, one of three former mortals
who were ra ised to deityhood whenJerga l grew weary of
his divine duties and di stributed his influence between
them. Myrkul became the god of death a nd the dead,
and ruled over th e City of the Dead for centuries until
he, in tu rn, was s la in. In time Myrkul returned, for can
death itself truly ever die? Myrkul's faithful see him as
the Reaper, who lays cla im to s ouls and brings them to
Kelemvor t o be judged.
Myrkul is a deity of death, decay, old age, exhaustion,
dusk, a nd autumn. He's the god of the ending of things
a nd hopelessness, as much as Latha nder i s the god of
beginnings a nd hope. Folk don't pray to Myrkul s o much
as dread him a nd bl a me him for aching bones a nd fading
vision. Myrkul is thought to be passionless and uncaring
even of his most devout wor shipers. Those who take
Myrkul as a patron tend to be morose, taciturn, a nd ob-
sessed with the dead a nd the undead. Like m a ny follow-
er s ofKelemvor andJergal, priests ofMyrkul serve a s un-
dertakers and typically keep their patron's ide ntity secret.
Shrines to Myrkul or e ngravings of his holy symbol
appear in m a ny places whe re huma ns bury their de ad,
but full-fledged te mples a re rare. The few that exis t are
hallowed places where the dead from hundreds of miles
around a re brought for internment, e ven if they we re not
of Myrkul's faith. There is little space set as id e for the
living in s uch a location, us ually a sin gle modest shrine,
but its catacombs and ossua ries are vast. In the deepest
cha mber of each temple rests a throne , a nd upon that
throne sits the doomwa rden- the preserve d corpse
of the most r ever ed saint in the his tory of the temple
(often its founder). Initiates to the fait h a re brought to
k neel before a temple's doomwarde n, where they mus t
s pend a ni ght and a day fasting and meditating in com-
plete da rkness.
MYSTRA
The Lady of Mysteries, Our Lady of Spells, th e Moth er
of A ll Magic
Mystra is th e goddess of magic, and with that the god-
dess of possibilities. She is venerated by m ages and bythose who use m agic or ma gical objects in the ir daily
lives. She a lso receives the prayers of those w ho find
magic wondrous or encounte r magic they fear. Mystra is
the goddess of the essentia l force that ma kes all s pell-
casting possible. She provides a nd tends the Weave , the
conduit through which mortal s pellcaste rs and m agical
crafter s can safely access the raw force of m agi c.
The faith of Mystra is per vas ive in FaerOn, which is to
be expecte d for a land a s touched by magic as it is. Her
worshiper s include those who use m agic or work closely
with it , s uch as a lche mis ts and s ages. The blue- clad
priests of Mystran temples count w izards and sorcerer s
among the ir numbers , as well as the occasiona l ba rd.
The goal of Mystra's faithful is simple: th at magic be
pres e rve d a nd promulgated throughout the Realms.
It is n't unusual for her follower s to keep a n eye out for
those who demonstrate hi gh potentia l for us ing m agic
a nd help arrange for s uch pers ons to find tute lage with a
s uitable m entor.OGHMA
The Binder, th e Lord of Knowledge
Oghma is the god of ins piration , invention , a nd knowl-
e dge. Above all e lse, Oghma r epresents knowledge
in its mos t s upreme, raw form- the idea. An aphorism
cite d by his faithful about this concept ser ves th em as
a prayer when it is repeated a loud: "An idea has no heft
but it can move mountains. An ide a has no authority
but it can dominate people. An id ea has no strength but
it can pus h aside empires. Knowledge is the gre atest
tool of the mortal mind, outweighing anything made by
mortal ha nds. Be fore anything else can exis t, the idea
must exist."
Oghma's faithful spread knowle dge and lite r acy as
widely as pos sible , believing that minds ought never t o
be shackle d by ignorance and thus not be able to be-
queath the be nefit they might othe rwise provide their
fellows. Not surprisingly, those who follow Oghma op-
pose those who fos ter deceit , tricke ry, and ignorance.
Folk of many professions favor the Binder : wizards ,
cartographe rs, artists, bards , clerks, inventors , s a ges,
scribe s , and all manner of others who uncover, pre-
s erve, and cre ate knowledge and learning. The wor ship
of Oghma was, at one point, one of the few organized
faiths in FaerOn that had an establis hed orthodoxy a nd
a comple te network of te mples that adhe red to that or-
thodoxy. S chisms during the Time of Troubles shattered
that network, and now the structures that house th eSvMBOL
O F 0GHMllSvMB O L OF MvsTRll
CHAPTER l I WELCOME TO THE REALMS