Sword Coast Adventurer 's Guide

22

THE DWARVEN PANTHEON

Deity

Abbathor, gad of greed

Berronar Truesilver, goddess of hearth

and home

Clangeddin Silverbeard, god of war

Alignment

NE

LG

LG

Domains

Trickery

Life, Light

War

Symbol

j eweled dagger, point-down

Intertwined silver rings

D eep Duerra, duergar goddess of LE Arcana, War

Crossed silver battleaxes

M ind flayer skull

conquest and psionics

Dugmaren Bright mantle, god of discovery CG Knowledge Open book

Dumathoin, god of buried secrets N Death, Knowledge Mountain silhouette with a central gemstone

Gorm Gulthyn, god of vigilance LG War Bronze half-mask

H aela Brightaxe, goddess of war-luck CG War

Laduguer, duergar god of magic and LE Arcana, Death

Upright sword whose blade is spiraled in flame

Broken arrow

slavery

Mart hammor Duin, god of wanderers NG Nature, Trickery Upright mace in front of a tall boot

Moradin, god of creation LG Knowledge Hammer and anvil

Sharindlar, goddess of healing CG Life

Vergadain, god of luck and wealth N Trickery

Shrines tend to be unstaffed, kept up by the locals and

visitors who use the place for prayer. A shrine might be

as modest as a roadside well, where traveling merchants

can drop a coin to request good fortune from Waukeen,

or as grand as a statue of Amaunator surrounded by bra-

ziers in a pavilion in the middle of a village.

Traveling priests often seek out and visit these sites,

and they act as meeting places for the faithful. When

word gets around that a traveling priest of Elda th has

come into town, the faithful seek her out at the holy

spring dedicated to the goddess at the edge of town.

A family or business might maintain a shrine or a

chapel to its favored deity, perhaps a set of wind chimes

consecrated to Akadi hung from the high branches of

a tree in the garden, or a wooden symbol shaped like

the hand of Azuth in miniature displayed on a prom-

inent wall with a space nearby to burn a candle or

some incense.

COMMUNING WITH THE GODS

Though many tales are told of times past when the gods

appeared in physical form and walked the land, occa-

sions of that sort are few and far between. For the most

part, the gods communicate with their faithful through

signs and omens, appreciated by those able to interpret

them. Of course, some signs are more subtle-and thus

more open to interpretation-than others.

The most common kind of communion that worship-

ers and priests find with their deities is in prayer, song,

or meditation. S uch experiences are intensely personal,

and it is common wisdom to keep them that way. After

all, "advice" from one's god that appears during morning

prayer and gives one a good turn to the day is worth-

while only for oneself. Let each worshiper commune in

their own way, as the saying goes.

Divine magic also provides a means of communing

with the gods and can be used to call upon their guid-

ance. Divine pronouncements of this sort are often

personal in scope and brief, and those edicts that con-

cern broader matters tend to be open to interpretation

or debate.

CHAPTER 1 I WELCOME TO T H E REALMS

Burning needle

Gold coin with the face of a dwarf

PRIESTHOOD

Priesthood is a vocation like any other, with those who

undertake it often honing their abilities through a sys-

tem of apprenticeship. At a small temple, a novice or

an acolyte might study under the only priest available.

Larger temples can accommodate groups of acolytes,

each learning under the direction of one or more men-

tors responsible for training them in the duties and

skill s of the priesthood.

Once acolytes complete their education, they are often

ordained in a ritual in which a successful candidate is

invested with the responsibilities of the priesthood.

CONFLICTS AND PERSECUTION

The moral and ethical values of the deities in FaerO.n

run the gamut, representing all the outlooks that their

mortal followers demonstrate, from the principled

agents of good to the vicious proponents of evil. Most

cultures and societies aren't nearly as cosmopolitan as

the population of FaerO.n taken as a whole; as a result,

religious persecution (from the viewpoint of those who

garner the attention) is practiced in places where wor-

ship of certain deities is frowned on.

Most governments that engage in persecution limit

such restrictions to the establishment of formal temples,

priesthoods, and organized festivals. (On a practical

level, it 's impossible to prevent individuals from innoc-

uously or secretly worshiping whichever deities they

choose.) For instance, although worship of Talona-like

that of many evil gods- is forbidden in Waterdeep, this

prohibition extends only to the creation of a temple and

the presence of her priesthood within the city. Individual

citizens or families who revere Talona might be viewed

as misguided, but they aren't taken into custody or pun-

ished as long as they obey the laws of the city.

Some places take this form of persecution a step

further, for a variety of reasons. A tyrant might outlaw

worship of Torm, lest it inspire rebellion, and an other-

wise fair-minded mayor of a river-mill community might

demand that worshipers of Silvanus find elsewhere to

~----~------~----..-~--"'°!""'--~'