40
The Legend ofTyche and He r Twin Daughte rs
Before the Dawn Cataclysm, there was but one goddess
of luck, Tyche. Ever flirting with fortune and disaster, Lady
Luck bestowed and withdrew her favor at a whim. When
her current paramour, Lathander, started a fight among the
gods, Tyche kissed the Morninglord with misfortune and
wandered off to explore the world.
During her travels, Lady Luck discovered a budding
rose of unequaled beauty. Delighted with this fortuitous
happenstance, Tyche reached to pluck this delightful
token, which she assumed was a peace overture from
Lathander, who sought to regain her good graces. Much to
her amazement, Lady Luck couldn't pluck the rose from its
bush no matter how hard she tried. Frustrated, she cursed
the rose with bad luck, and the flower's stem broke in her
hands. Tyche put the plucked rose behind her ear and
continued on her way. Unknown to Tyche, the rose was a
manifestation of Moander, god of corruption and decay.
The severed rose stem crept into Tyche's ear and subtly
began to rot her from the inside out.
When Tyche returned home, she came across her dear
friend, the goddess SelCme, waiting to speak with her.
Also waiting for her were Lathander, who wished to regain
her affections, and Azuth, who had come to mediate the
dispute between the two. Selune wept great tears as she
saw the corruption destroying her friend from within, and
before Tyche could discern her intent, Selune lashed out
with a bolt of purifying light. Tyche's rotted core split down
the middle and a smaller, brighter version of the goddess
of luck stepped out, allowing the goddess of the moon to
save that which was good and pure in her friend. How-
ever, following this first figure out of the rotten shell was
another form stunning to behold, but full of dark malice
and capricious ill will. As the two forms emerged, they
immediately fell upon each other in hate, struggling madly,
and were separated only by the combined efforts of all
three visitors.
It is said that Tymora, Tyche's Fair-Haired Daughter,
embodies all the grace and kindness of her mother, while
Beshaba, Tyche's Unpleasant Daughter, got only her looks.
Since their birth, the twin aspects ofTyche-Tymora, Lady
Luck, and Beshaba, Maid of Misfortune-have battled
each other, contesting matters as great as the fate of
nations and as small as the flip of a coin.TYR
Grimjaws, th e Maimed God, th e Evenhandedwound dealt to him by Ao when he questione d the jus-
tice of the Overgod's actions.
Tyr's followers devote themselves to the cause of
justice, to the righting of wrongs and th e deliverance of
vengeance. This devotion isn't necessarily concerned
with equality or fairness, but rather the discovery of
truth a nd the punishment of the guilty. Those who favor
Tyr tend to be stiff-necked about ma tter s of theology
and laws, seeing things in terms of black and white.
Tyr's credo of lawfulness and honesty is a demanding
one, and his priests r emind the faithful not to hold in
contempt others who can't live by it-it wouldn't be an
honorabl e calling if everyone could muster the strength
of will to follow it.
Many orders of knighthood are devoted to Tyr, includ-
ing the Knights of Holy Judgme nt and the Knights of the
Me rciful Sword. Such knights-as well as judges and
priests, clerics, and paladins who worship Tyr- some-
times wear thin strips of diapha nous cloth over the ir
eyes to re mind others of the blindness of justice.UMBERLEE
The Bitch Queen, th e Queen of the Depths, the
Wavemother
No community that lives by the sea can ignore th e influ-
ence of Umberlee, the furious goddess whose tempestu-
ous nature reflects and is reflected by the waters of the
deep. Any s uch community makes sure to host festiva ls
to propitiate the Wavemother and seek her favor. Al-
though mercurial in te mperament, she can be generous
to those who do he r honor, as is any great queen.
The Bitch Queen is worshiped out of fear instead of
adoration, a nd ship crews offer he r gem s, tossed over
the sid e, to calm s torm-tossed waters. As her mos t com-
mon moniker s uggests, s he is viewed as capricious and
cruel with no firm e thical outlook; the sea is a savage
place, a nd those who travel it had best be willing to pay
the price of challenging her domain.
There is little in the way of a n organized clergy of Um-
berlee. Her priests roam coasta l cities, warning of doom
a nd de ma nding free passage on s hips in return for e n-
suring the goddess's pleasure. Often they wear the col-
ors of waves and storms, and they decorate themselvesTyr Grimjaws, Tyr the Evenha nded, Wounde d Tyr, the
Maimed God, the Blind, Blind Tyr, the Lord ofJustice-
all of these names speak to the nature of the Faerunian
god of jus ti ce. Tyr appears as a noble warrior missing
hi s right hand, which he lost to Kezef the Chaos Hound
in an act of brave ry a nd sacrifice, and with his eyes
wrapped in cloth to signify his blindness, caused by a ,4/I SvMBOL OF TvR
CHAPTER 1 I WELCOME TO THE REALMS