Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

that left-handedness is more often associated with great
artistic ability and the belief that the greatest art comes
from the of truth.

MYRKUL

The Lord of Bones, Old Lord Skull, the Reaper

Myrkul is an ancient god, one of three former mortals
who were raised to deityhood whenJergal grew weary of
his divine duties and distributed his influence between
them. Myrkul became the god of death and the dead,
and ruled over the City of the Dead for centuries until
he, in turn, was slain. In time Myrkul returned, for can
death itself truly ever die? Myrkul's faithful see him as
the Reaper, who lays claim to souls and brings them to
Kelemvor to be judged.
Myrkul is a deity of death, decay, old age, exhaustion,
dusk, and autumn. He's the god of the ending of things
and hopelessness, as much as Lathander is the god of
beginnings and hope. Folk don't pray to Myrkul so much
as dread him and blame him for aching bones and fading
vision. Myrkul is thought to be passionless and uncaring
even of his most devout worshipers. Those who take
Myrkul as a patron tend to be morose, taciturn, and ob-
sessed with the dead and the undead. Like many follow-
ers ofKelemvor andJergal, priests ofMyrkul serve as un-
dertakers and typically keep their patron's identity secret.
Shrines to Myrkul or engravings of his holy symbol
appear in many places where humans bury their dead,
but full-fledged temples are rare. The few that exist are
hallowed places where the dead from hundreds of miles
around are brought for internment, even if they were not
of Myrkul's faith. There is little space set aside for the
living in such a location, usually a single modest shrine,
but its catacombs and ossuaries are vast. In the deepest
chamber of each temple rests a throne, and upon that
throne sits the doomwarden-the preserved corpse
of the most revered saint in the history of the temple
(often its founder). Initiates to the faith are brought to
kneel before a temple's doomwarden, where they must
spend a night and a day fasting and meditating in com-
plete darkness.

MYSTRA

The Lady of Mysteries, Our Lady of Spells, the Mother

of All Magic

Mystra is the goddess of magic, and with that the god-

dess of possibilities. She is venerated by mages and by

those who use magic or magical objects in their daily

lives. She also receives the prayers of those who find

magic wondrous or encounter magic they fear. Mystra is

the goddess of the essential force that makes all spell-

casting possible. She provides and tends the Weave, the

conduit through which mortal spellcasters and magical

crafters can safely access the raw force of magic.

The faith of Mystra is pervasive in FaerOn, which is to

be expected for a land as touched by magic as it is. Her

worshipers include those who use magic or work closely

with it, such as alchemists and sages. The blue-clad

priests of Mystran temples count wizards and sorcerers

among their numbers, as well as the occasional bard.

The goal of Mystra's faithful is simple: that magic be

preserved and promulgated throughout the Realms.

It isn't unusual for her followers to keep an eye out for

those who demonstrate high potential for using magic

and help arrange for such persons to find tutelage with a

suitable mentor.

OGHMA

The Binder, the Lord of Knowledge

Oghma is the god of inspiration, invention, and knowl-

edge. Above all else, Oghma represents knowledge

in its most supreme, raw form-the idea. An aphorism

cited by his faithful about this concept serves them as

a prayer when it is repeated aloud: "An idea has no heft

but it can move mountains. An idea has no authority

but it can dominate people. An idea has no strength but

it can push aside empires. Knowledge is the greatest

tool of the mortal mind, outweighing anything made by

mortal hands. Before anything else can exist, the idea

must exist."

Oghma's faithful spread knowledge and literacy as

widely as possible, believing that minds ought never to

be shackled by ignorance and thus not be able to be-

queath the benefit they might otherwise provide their

fellows. Not surprisingly, those who follow Oghma op-

pose those who foster deceit, trickery, and ignorance.

Folk of many professions favor the Binder: wizards,

cartographers, artists, bards, clerks, inventors, sages,

scribes, and all manner of others who uncover, pre-

serve, and create knowledge and learning. The worship

of Oghma was, at one point, one of the few organized

faiths in FaerOn that had an established orthodoxy and

a complete network of temples that adhered to that or-

thodoxy. Schisms during the Time of Troubles shattered

that network, and now the structures that house the

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CHAPTER l I WELCOME TO THE REALMS