The current faith books in the server are copied from their relevant sections in faiths and pantheons. This is great information, but can be rather omniscient at times. I want to make drafts for new faith books that will be more grounded in what a realms author might be able to learn about the dieties. Depending on prominence, I plan to have up to 3 different types of book for any given god:
Faith, Candlekeep Studies - These academic journals will be the most comprehensive, essentially recording what can be found on a god as long as anything can be. They will be written by a sage in candlekeep based on research and will attempt to remain as neutral in tone and unopinionated as possible. These will likely be the closest to the current faith books.
What Dieties dont want you to know - These books are written by someone writing under a pseudonym who seems to have little more than the average knowledge of dieties. This lack of expertise however has not stopped them from publishing every secret, rumor, and harmful theory they can dig up on each god. Hopefully their identity remains hidden and the gods treat their obvious lies as something not worth dignifying with a responce, because these are going to make many clergy angry.
Propaganda - Books or chap books printed about a faith, by the faith, for reading by those outside of the faith.
I will reply to this post with drafts hopefully ready for admin review and edits. Each reply will be an additional potential book for consideration. Once enough are done, perhaps the old omniscient versions could be taken off the drops.
Abbathor, Candlekeep Studies
ABBATHOR
Great Master of Greed, Trove Lord, Wyrm of Averice, the Avaricious
Rank: Intermediate Dwarven Diety
Symbol: Jeweled Dagger
Home Plane: Dwarfehome
Alignment: Evil
Portfolio: Greed
Faithful: Dwarven- Misers, Rogues, and Shadow Dancers
Abbathor is the Dwarven god of greed. A dark horse amongst the dwarven pantheon, he represents not only avarice but a wily determination to protect what's important to you, no matter the cost. While any dwarf may offer a prayer the gods way if they feel themselves or their clan growing too apathetic, Abbathorans are usually the particularly ambitious of the group. They will sacrifice the blood of their enemies along with gems to their god annually, and in turn have their greed stoked. Abbathorans wish to gather everything they can and hold onto everything precious for as long as pheasible. This can make them cantancorous to work with, but the faith ultimately discourages infighting and growing in wealth by taking from each other. Most dwarves know the faiths evil tendencies, but most also trust the faith to steer such tendencies towards the clan's enemies and against barriers to their further prosperity.
Dogma: Toril's wealth was created for those dwarves crafty enough to capture it by any means necessary. Revel in the posession of all wealth that shines or sparkles, for its pleasing form was meant to bring you pleasure. Greed is good, as it motivates the posession and holding of all that is precious. Do not seize wealth from the children of the Morndinsamman, however, nor conspire against the favored of Abbathor, for strife in the name of avarice weakens the clan.
History: Based on small details in his origin legend, Abbathor was likely born between the time when dwarves first appeared in their current forms and when the dwarven overgod Moradin assigned the rest of the pantheon to their roles. Some claimed he used to have a different name though none knew what it was, while others insisted he had always been called Abbathor and simply used to have a different role. According to both Abbathor's priests and others following the Dwarven pantheon, the god used to be a diety concerned with the natural beauty of gems and metals. He had heavily covetted the position of patron god of gold dwarves, but trusted that simply doing his own job well enough would lead him to the role. However, when time finally came, Moradin named Dumathion as that position. Abbathor became spiteful, disdain between Dumathion and him continuing to this day. The god had decided that his only fault was simply not fighting for what he wanted directly and with enough passion. Abbathor vowed that day to never be in the same position again, where he is denied the thing he most wanted. Henceforth, if something appealed to Abbathor, he took it. He traded the tradition and honor of the dwarves for trickery and stealth. He began to preach the benefits of greed, a creed that quickly grew popular with an ambitious minority of Dwarven kind. Now, while Abbathor remains estranged, he is still fully a part of the Dwarven pantheon. Many priests of other Dwarven dieties consider Abbathor a distasteful, obsessed, and spiteful brother that nonetheless aids the pantheon in times of strife and who remains, at the end, a steadfast ally.
Clergy: Abbathor accepts prayers from and also has dedicated minority following from most Dwarven clans across faerun. No temples were seen during this research for they are nearly all secret, but according to clergy it is common for a large enough clan to have one active one at a time. The temples are reportedly extremely well decorated, usually painted in gold leaf and filled deep with precious stones and medals. There have been reported issues of the holy sites being mistaken for treasure chambers. They are tended to by dwarves in red lether armor and red caps: Clerics of Abbathor known as aetharnor (a dwarves word meaning "those consumed by greed"). They pray for spells at night. Solar eclipses, volcanic eruptions, or any other natural phenomenon that blocks the light of the sun during the day are causes for great religious celebration among the aetharnor, who use the cover to hatch their larcenous schemes. Once annually, aetharnor sacrifice an enemy of the dwarves (ranging from elves to umber hulks), opening the unfortunate's ribcage to create "Abbathor's purse," into which the penitent cast coins and gems. The entirety is then burnt in offering to the Trove Lord. Favorite sacrifices include orcs, trolls, and giants.
Amaunator, Candlekeep Studies
AMAUNATOR
The Yellow God, Keeper of the Yellow Sun, Keeper of the Golden Sun, Keeper of the Eternal Sun, Keeper of the Sun, Keeper of Law, Light of the Law
Rank: Dead
Symbol: A sun with a face on the disk
Home Plane: N/A
Alignment: None. Presumed to previously be Lawful from translations of ancient tomes
Portfolio: None. Previously Bureaucracy, Written Law, and the Sun.
Faithful: None. Previously Netherese Rulers, Soldiers, and Wizards.
Amaunator is a currently dead diety who was the Netherese god of the sun, order, law, and time. Not much is known for certain of the god, and what little seems likely is all learned from ancient netherese texts found throughout the empires old reach. Amaunator seemed to have been considered a harsh but fair god by the upper netherese population, similar to how Helm or Hoar is seen by law abiding humans today. Amaunator was likely prayed to by most of the ancient kingdom on a daily basis considering his dominion over the sun and the time of noon, but was most prominent worshiped in their regular use of his clergy in nearly all record keeping, document processing, and beauracracy.
Dogma: No complete dogma of Amaunator has been discovered to the knowledge of Candlekeep cerca 1368 dr.
History: Nothing is known of Amaunator's origins, whether he was born, risen, or arrived in our plane from elsewhere. For all of Netherese known history, between the years -3830 dr and -339 dr, Amaunator seemed to be the prominent god of his historic portfolios within the region. The god is presumed to have died when Karsus's folly caused all of the floating cities of Upper netheril to come crashing to the ground. This is believed to be because of the following cooperating factors: The netheril pantheon's generally weakened state after losing nearly all of its power and much of its population. Aamaunator's disproportionate following amongst the highest status citizens who were then that much more likely to be victims during the fall. Some percieved blame by the few remaining followers, seeing that the god did not intervene to stop the tragedy. A complete collapse of many of Amaunator's domains, namely beauracracy and written law, immediately following the society's collapse.
Temples: Ruined temples to Amaunator have been discovered in many ruined netheres upper cities, enough to imply that a large majority had one before Karsus's Folly. The most intact examples appeared to be primarily offices designed for beaurocratic meetings, document storage and processing. The size implies that most of the netherese used Amaunator's faith specifically for such tasks. Ones that today are typically handled by which ever faith a family trusts most, and in triplicate for settlements larger than a town by the three faiths its community trusts most.
Controversy: I would be remissed to not mention the unpopular but well documented idea that the sun god is still with us under a different name. The heresy of the risen sun proposes that Amaunator did not die with the fall of Netheril, but was only weakened. It then claims that he later rose again a changed god as the diety of the dawn and new beginnings, Lathander. Most clergy of Lathander are skeptical of the heresy. Some claim that divinely gifted clerics of Lathander have strongly supported the heresy and not been denied magic or corrected in dream. This would imply that Lathander at least doesn't consider the matter worth their time to correct. However none such priests could be contacted during this lengthy research period to confirm their existence. Most priests agree that Lathander has never spoken personally on the subject. Proponents of the idea claim that Lathander is both unwilling to lie about his origins but also wanted his reign as a god of new beginnings to start unburdened by his history. It is also possible that even if he was not the ancient sun god, that the god of optimism simply sees no need to dwell on the past. After scouring for evidence claimed by proponents for the idea, the most consistent and persuasive is simply noticing how one god related to the sun rose to prominence after a previous god of the sun had died. This is what we would also expect to see if a new god ended up with part of the sun portfolio after the old god of the sun died. Is the fact that the two gods are nothing alike and that the current one promotes themes of personal change and new beginnings a mere coincidence? This author thinks so.
Arvoreen, Candlekeep Studies
ARVOREEN
The Defender, The Vigilent Guardian, The Wary Sword
Rank: Intermediate Halfling Diety
Symbol: Two Crossed Short Swords
Home Plane: Green Fields
Alignment: Lawful, Good
Portfolio: Defense, Vigilance, War, Duty
Faithful: Halfling Warriors and Protectors
Arvoreen is the Halfling god of defense, guardians, and watchers. Sages of other races consider him the closest thing the hin have to a war diety. The god is strict in his regiment and preparations, but preached to only react to aggression and never become the aggressor. He does not support starting conflict unless it is to prevent evil acts that could not be stopped through persistent protection. Arvoreen holds that halflings should never steal from each other or their allies, but finds the act not inherently dishonorable and can be a useful tactic against enemies of the hin.
Dogma: Vigilance against attack protects the community. Prepare an active defense, drill continuously, and leave nothing to chance. Put down danger before allowing it a chance to rear its head. Seek out allies, no matter how unorthodox. Stealing from other halflings or allies is never acceptable, but thieving is not dishonorable when employed against enemies to better the odds in later combat.
History: Nothing could be found of the god's origins or of any significant changes in their domain or power over the many centuries during this publications research. His faith today treats such ancient details as superfluous in face of very present threats.
Relationships: Of the halfling gods, Arvoreen is most closely aligned with Yondalla, Cyrrollalee, and Urogalan. He disapproves of the more capricious members of the pantheon, such as Brandobaris. Evil deities, especially the patrons of the goblinoids, incite Arvoreen to great wrath. He opposes Bane, Cyric, and the Deities of Fury.
Temples: Many halfling settlements have a temple to Arvoreen although many will avoid the area except for in times of war. They are easily mistaken for keeps thanks to their war ready construction, and the clergy of the temples can nearly always be found drilling or otherwise training in their holy robes of war chain mail and helmets.
Auril, Candlekeep Studies
AURIL
Frostmaiden, Icedawn, the Cold Goddess, Lady Frostkiss
Rank: Lesser Diety
Symbol: A white snow flake on a Grey diamond with a white border
Home Plane: Fury's Heart
Alignment: Evil (Unconfirmed)
Portfolio: Cold, Winter
Faithful: Inhabitants of arctic climates, winter druids, and beings immune to the cold such as frost giants.
A special thanks to Druid Bryska Healthweather near the Bremen settlement in icewind dale for providing the faith's internal perspective.
Disclaimer: Only one, confirmed peaceful, magically gifted priest of Auril was able to be located and agreed to questioning within feasible travel distance of Candlekeep. This will skew the views represented from the faith towards opinions of their region and even the single priests personal choices. There was active attempt to remain objective, but readers should keep this bias in mind. Peaceful sources from outside the faith were not difficult to locate.
Introduction: Auril (aw-rill) is a fickle, vain, evil deity with a heart of ice who is venerated primarily out of fear. She remains untouched by any hint of true love, noble feeling, or honor. She enjoys toying with those who offend her, trapping them in snow storms and then driving them insane with tantalizing visions of warmth and the comforts of home before freezing them to death. Her beauty is cold and deadly, the flower of womanhood preserved forever in a slab of arctic ice--with sensibilities to match the ice. Her own clergy describe her as a god of perseverance, the beauty of winter's stillness, and the stability of a cold heart.
Dogma: Cover all the lands with ice. Quench fire wherever it is found. Let in the winds and the cold; cut down windbreaks and chop holes in walls and roofs that my breath may come in. Work darkness to hide the cursed sun so that the chill the Auril brings may slay. Take the life of an arctic creature only in great need, but slay all others at will. Make all Faerun fear the Frostmaiden. Revere the Cold Goddess and sing her praises into any chill breeze or winter wind. Do not raise your hand against any other cleric of Auril.
History: Within the faith, it is rumored that Auril is immeasurably ancient. Arising from the first cold winds themselves, her power was apparently greatly worshiped among frost giants during the prime of their civilization. No frost giants were contacted to confirm this legend among their own kind. Elves have legends that mention Auril amongst their enemies since the time of the goddess who would become Lolth leaving their pantheon. Since her earliest appearances in legend, Auril has seemingly remained consistent in both portfolio and diety rank.
Relations: Most inside and outside the faith seem to agree that in her earliest days, Auril ruled over the cold as an isolated power. It is unconfirmed whether she had always been a part of the faerunian pantheon or migrated to it from some other divine status. However by the time of the late elven crown wars, Auril had already been shown to have a loose alignment with other brutal nature and monstrous gods against the elves. Likely after that event, although no records show how soon after, Auril agreed to place her domain under the god Talos along with the dieties Malar and Umberlee. That alliance still exists to this day, but by all accounts is presumed to be one of necessity over good will or shared cause. The goddess seems to have qualms with Talos over his decisions to her detriment and the domain of blizzards, tensión with Umberlee over the reigns of arctic seas, and outright seems to despise Malar. However the ever present threat from good aligned nature dieties have kept the group from outright attacking each other and has easily convinced them to put aside their differences when a common enemy appears.
Clergy: The church of Auril is very loosely and informally organized, and clergy members wander and are largely independent. They seek to make all folk fear their deity and her clergy (to cut down on the attacks they face) through the fury of the winter weather. They also generate personal wealth and influence by carrying out tasks that others cannot in the worst winter weather and by magically protecting those who pay or obey froom the worst winter conditions. Clergy members make offerings to the deity of some of the wealth they amass by scattering it in falling snow during a storm or throwing it through cracks in river ice or glacial crevasses during the winter. In the cold months, Auril expects each of her clerics to force or persuade someone to pray to her in the approved manner by beseeching Auril for mercy and praising her for the "cold cleansing" she brings. This prayer must last for the length of time it takes a piece of ice larger than the "supplicant's" hand to melt against his or her bared flesh. It mustbe done out of doors and preferably at night. During the winter, Aurilian clergy are also expected to slay at least one creature with cold. This is often done so as to provide worshipers or potential worshipers of the deity with food or to slay a personal foe of the cleric.
Clerics and druids of Auril pray for their spells at midnight or whenever the temperature drops to its lowest point during the day, lying out in the snow or the coldest stream available all night if possible. Midwinter Night is the most holy time of the year to the clergy of Auril. It is a nightlong festival of ice-dancing that is intended for both enjoyment and recruitment. The Coming and the Last Storm are two enthusiastically celebrated rituals, howling ice storms called up by clergy working as a group to mark the onset or last gasp of winter. Joining the clergy requires undergoing a ritual known as the Embracing, during which one runs through a blizzard all night long dressed only in boots, a thin shift, and body paint depicting the symbols of Auril, without the protective mantle of any magic. Auril accepts those who do not freeze to death.
What Auril doesn't want you to know.
AURIL
"Cover all the lands with ice. Quench fire wherever it is found. Let in the winds and the cold; cut down windbreaks and chop holes in walls and roofs that my breath may come in. Work darknesses to hide the cursed sun so that the chill I bring may slay. Take the life of an arctic creature only in great need, but slay all others at will. Make all Faerûn fear me."
Most have heard of the Frost Maiden. The ice statue obsessed, cold hearted goddess of brutal winter and the pain of the cold. Her clergy, most of which are forced to either be out of sight most of the time or confined to the arctic, tell us how we must: fear, pray to, sacrifice to, and celebrate the goddess if we do not wish to have winters grow longer, colder, and darker until we have lost everything to her anyways. Her clergy tell us they are only helping us disway their goddess's wraith, but any diety can lie and no god is all powerful. This is what the goddess Auril doesn't want you to know.
The Frostmaiden's clergy claim to be helping us. The fair guard between us and a ruthless queen. But they are secretly the root cause of all their own solved problems.
Think to yourself, does this story sound familiar? You are having a lovely autumn when winter has sticken early with a sudden storm, only for you to find your home has lost all ability to retain heat. After complaints to your neighbors, someone mentions the wrath of Auril. After some days you find a druid, only to be told a sacrifice is needed. Perhaps some many hours in an iced over stream or enough gold to convince the druid to do it in your stead. You pay one way or the other, and then the home seems to retain a little heat after. What actually happened? The druid had bore holes in your home before sending the storm herself. She benefited from your loss and then covered the holes with dirt 'answer your prayers'. You saw Aurils own words at the beginning of this book. She tells her clergy to do this. These problems may still exist in some way without them, but Auril's personal interference comes through her clergy.
But do we have to simply put up with it? Grit our teeth through thinly vailed threats so the problems go away? Perhaps, but there is something else the goddess does not want you to know. She is weakening.
Many know of the goddess's allies, the furies. The evil deities of nature's cruelty: Auril, Malar, Talos, and Umberlee. But what fewer may know is that this is not an agreement of equals. All the four live in Talos's domain, and require his protection from good gods above all others. However, Talos is not a giving god any more than Auril. Recently, he has used his position over her to claim partial dominion over cold fronts and blizzards, areas that drastically weaken Auril. And we can see the effects! Rumer has it that scribes have noticed winters becoming shorter. They have their storms still, likely magical outliers, but the world is warming. And as much as Auril wants to hide this from us, she has another secret to waste divine magic on.
Auril is secretly helping the good gods of nature.
A mad thought, to be certain. Meiliki, Chauntea, Lurue... would surely slay the furies if they ever got the chance. Why would Auril aid her own destruction? But then, these enemies are the only thing keeping her allies cooperating. Think to yourself. Talos could surely take most of Auril's portfolios if he tried, and he is not a god to pass up power for the benfit of others. Umberlee is famous for finding retribution over even the smallest flights, and there are hundreds of miles of Arctic seas for the goddesses to squabble over. Then, even I have heard of the legendary despise Malar and Auril have for each other. And these are the gods Auril shares a realm with! If the threat of the good gods ever entirely dissappeared, Auril would immediately find herself in a den of lions. The goddess cannot let that happen. She must play her cards carefully to keep the situation as a stalemate... at least until she runs out of enough strength to continue doing it. One day auril will fail one way or the other. Her aid of good gods will be discovered by her allies, she will over tune her help and see good gods succeed, or will fail entirely and proceed to fall to her own allies in turn.
So keep praying to Auril as you must. Celebrate her holidays if you are that far north. But if you begin to fear, look to the skies. Perhaps the days where Auril's clergy can cause us so many problems are numbered. We will simply need to wait and see.