games. Ordinary folk pray to him to avert his eyes from
their valuables, but the cautious sometimes employ
"Mask's purse," a small, cheap cloth pouch worn in plain
sight (thus easily cut or lifted) containing a small offer-
ing of coin. By convention, a pickpocket pilfers Mask's
purse when encountering another person wearing one,
and considers the gain a gift from the god, while the one
who lost the purse is grateful to the Lord of Shadows for
accepting a respectful sacrifice of a small portion of his
goods. Of course, nothing prevents another pickpocket
from targeting someone who has lost Mask's purse, but
anyone with the ill luck to attract multiple pickpockets in
a single outing has probably earned Mask's ire anyway.
Priests of Mask are usually thieves by profession, and
often serve as higher-ups in the local underworld or
criminal syndicate. They go by the title of demarche or
demarchess, and wear veil-masks when acting in their
priestly capacity.
MIELIKKI
Our Lady of the Forest, the Forest Queen
People rarely speak of Mielikki except in quiet forest
spaces. Woodlands that evoke wonder are where she
reigns supreme, but she is said to keep watch over good
folk in any forest, not matter how dark or cruel. When
children are lost in the woods, people beseech Mielikki
to protect them until they are found.
Mielikki is the goddess of the forest and the creatures
that live within it. She is seen as a remote and spiritual
deity-less human-like than many other gods. She's
not unmindful of people, but her attention and favor
are difficult to attract. She is the patron of rangers in
the same way that Milil is the patron of bards, but even
rangers rarely pray to her directly. They instead pray to
Gwaeron Windstrom, who they believe will carry their
words to the goddess by tracking her to whichever forest
she hides in.
Mielikki's symbol is a unicorn, which prompts some to
think of her as such and conflate her with Lurue, Queen
of the Unicorns and the actual goddess of their kind. But
most tales depict Mielikki as a beautiful woman whom
Lurue allows upon her back as a rider, and the two are
thought to be boon companions. Mielikki's relationships
with other deities of the natural world are more com-
plex. Silvanus is sometimes thought of as her father and
Eldath is considered her sister, but Mielikki walks her
own path through the wilds.
SYMBOL OF MASKCHAPTER l I WELCOME TO THE REALMS
She has many shrines, particularly in the Savage
Frontier. Most consist of a dead tree trunk into which
has been carved a likeness of her holy symbol, a uni-
corn's head. Alternatively, the likeness might be carved
on a separate piece of wood and tacked to a living
tree. These shrines typically mark the point in a forest
beyond which locals know not to cut timber or hunt.
Often these tributes are created by loggers at the end
of a logging excursion as a mark of thanks to the god-
dess for providing the wood and for keeping the timber
cutters safe during the work.MI LIL
The Lord of Song, the One True Hand of All-Wise
Oghma
Milil is the god of poetry, eloquence, and song. He is
a god of creativity and inspiration, of the entire song
more than just the lyrics or the music. He represents
the finished thought, the result of the process that takes
an idea from conception to realization. Milil is most
venerated by bards, troubadours, and other entertain-
ers, but anyone preparing to entertain or speak before
a crowd might offer Milil a brief prayer for a successful
performance. Those who seek inspiration in a creative
endeavor also pray to Milil.
His icons depict him as a handsome male, sometimes
a human, sometimes an elf, and even a half-elf in places
(such as Aglarond) that have a large half-elf population.
He is variously depicted as young or old, but his identity
is always apparent because of his five-stringed harp
made of silvery leaves, which he carries constantly. He
is the ideal to which all performers aspire: poised and
confident, winningly charismatic, and a source of in-
spiration for those who listen to him. He is said to have
total recall of anything he hears or that is spoken while
music plays, as well as utmost skill at improvisation.
Holy sites dedicated to Milil are often found in per-
formance venues and schools of music. Whether the
site is a vast concert hall or a small choral chamber, it
must have excellent acoustic qualities. Milil's priests
are patrons of the arts in addition to being performers
themselves, and they frequently act as tutors in the arts
of performance at his shrines and temples.
Like Deneir, Milil is sometimes thought of as being
in service to Oghma. In these portrayals of the deity,
Milil is the god's left hand, also referred to as the One
True Hand. This expression isn't meant to denigrate
the right hand (Deneir); rather, it stems from the factSYMBOL OF MIELIKKI