Religion in the Realms

From Faiths & Avatars

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From Elminster's Forgotten Realms

Gods and Followers

Almost all beings in Faerûn worship many gods; as a rule, only zealots and clergy venerate just one deity. In other words, a farmer could mainly revere Chauntea, but also pray to appease Talos to keep crop-damaging storms away, Malar to keep beasts from attacking him or his folk in the fields and to send vermin elsewhere, Talona to keep disease and blight at bay, and so on.

Any mortal of any race can worship any deity.Of course, a would-be worshiper’s upbringingand moral or ethical stance make some matchupsof faith and individual highly unlikely. Themost unusual ones are usually the result of anindividual searching for the right calling, or ascribingthe outcome of an important life event tothe influence or direct action of a particular deity.That phenomenon extends to divine casters, too,though some priesthoods don’t welcome unusualraces, such as drow or illithids, as clergy.

The average Faerûnian lives long enough to worship (or serve through one’s actions) one deity above all others—though in many cases, which deity a given person has served most might not be clear to a dying mortal or anyone else. If a mortal dies before finishing a mission or a task for a particular deity and it’s a matter he felt strongly about in life, he could be sent back by that deity, reborn as another mortal, to try to complete that task. Otherwise, he ends up in the afterlife serving the deity most appropriate to his moral and ethical outlook. Only those who repudiate the gods (or who as a result of their actions are renounced by their gods), despoil altars and frustrate the clerical aims of any deity, or never pray or engage in any form of deliberate worship will qualify as either Faithless or False.

A few deities, Cyric being one, are insaneenough not to recognize and accept the polytheistic“appease this deity and that, as life situationsand strivings demand” model. These mad fewdemand that their faithful worship them and onlythem. Almost all other deities accept and engagein competition for worshipers, though most mortalscan’t begin to perceive and understand theintricate, long games of divine machinations, andmight well misinterpret what little they see. Foralmost all mortals, religion is a matter of embracingprimary worship of one deity above—even ifonly slightly above—all others.

How Folk Worship

Most people in the Realms embrace a patron (primary)deity, and carry a token, a holy symbol, ora remembrance of that primary god. Adventurersusually pray briefly to this deity in the morning,when they aren’t under attack or in some emergency,as well as at moments of crisis, such ashealing a wounded friend or trying to keep a sickor poisoned person alive. They offer lengthierprivate prayers following evening meals or uponretiring to slumber. Such prayers are usually requestsfor protection and direction, and deitiesor their servitors often reply with guidance inthe form of dream visions, or more rarely in suddenmental visions received while awake. Each ofthese visions is usually a snapshot seen only bythe worshiper, and it usually comes tinged with afeeling of favor or disapproval.

Rarely, a divine response to a worshiper comes as a sign visible to everyone present. Lathander, for example, might manifest as a rosy glow around a weapon, a person, a keyhole, or a secret door. Lurue might send an image of a unicorn that guides by movement or by touching persons or things before glowing blue-white and fading, to make its divine nature clear.

Upon arriving in a town or village that hasa formal shrine or temple to one’s patron deity,most Realms folk attend a service and give anoffering. The offering is customarily coin, butsometimes food or trophies from fallen foes, orsomething appropriate to the deity. For Malar,hunted game makes a good offering, and for Tempus,the weapons of defeated foes are favoredgifts. Empty-handed worshipers usually offer informationabout their deeds and observations topriests—but paltry or verbal-only offerings oftenresult in a request from the clergy to do a service.This service can be something as simple as “Helpmove this temple furniture” or “Confess in full tothe superior priest tomorrow” or “Help guard thetemple doors tonight.”

A traveler who comes across an untended or desecrated shrine of one’s patron deity is expected to cleanse it and pray there using one of the more elaborate prayers of that faith, usually involving a chanted or sung ritual. Wayfarers who encounter holy hermits or traveling priests of their patron deity are expected to share food and drink with those personages, and offer to encamp with the priest and provide any protection they can render.

Those residing in a locale that has a temple usually attend services at least once every two days. Priests of many faiths do a lot of “influencing the laity” work by dispensing news and gossip slanted to promote the importance of their god as well as the creed and the aims of the faith. At the end of formal services, sometimes while blessing departing worshipers, priests also try to motivate the laity to do certain things that further the work of their god.

Every settlement in the Realms has private family chapels as well as public shrines to most deities, even if it lacks a temple. So, the lack of a temple to a particular deity in a community does not mean that deity is not venerated locally. Temples, in contrast, are permanent buildings staffed by live-in clergy, each dedicated to one deity.

Folk in the Realms also pray and make offerings to deities other than their primary one. They often make these offers in the hope of appeasement, such as “We’ve got to cross the Neck in a boat, so Umberlee, please don’t sink us, and Talos, send no storms . . .”

It is not acceptable to treat any gods disrespectfully. Their worshipers and clergy can be resisted, yes, and sometimes, for followers of good-aligned deities opposed to human sacrifice, their altars can be shattered, too. However, the gods themselves are known to be very real, so while you are thwarting their mortal servants, it’s always best to not personally defame the god. Mocking their holy sayings is about as far as most folk dare go. For example, a man slaying a Stormsender (priest of Talos) in battle might snarl, “Send a storm— now reap a storm!”

Only clergy, paladins, and fanatics specialize in the worship of certain deities. Everyone else in the Realms is constantly poised between the gods, making offerings, participating in rituals, and seeking guidance as they see fit from among all of the gods, as the situations and necessities of their personal lives suggest is most appropriate.

Becoming a Priest

Usually an individual desiring to become a priest has received vivid dream visions from various divine servants. If that person responds to some of these visions in the right ways, by desiring to see more and asking local clergy or deity-tied persons such as temple guards, paladins, and hermits about the visions or about a particular deity, more are sent.

If the individual chooses to respond, he or she is on the road to becoming a priest. Since those who are not brightly loyal to a deity make poor clergy, no one is forced into worship or holy service.

Stepping forward on that road often takes the form of contacting a temple or a passing preacher, or undertaking a vigil at a known holy site to receive more guidance. Someone who meditates at such a holy site might receive more vivid dreams or even a manifestation or a visible sign, such as Lathander’s holy glow coming briefly into existence around the person’s head and upon the altar, holy stone, marker, or site. Each faith—and in some cases, each temple—has its own way of taking in supplicants, should the character at that point reach out to the organized church.

It is possible for a priest to serve more than one deity, but it’s not easy, and so is rare, even among adventurers. Both the personal nature of worship and devotion and the rarity of close sharing among deities work against such double-dealing. If a character does attempt to serve two masters, the opportunity arises for extensive roleplaying, with ongoing moral dilemmas, god-sent tests, and the occasional tug of war between the two deities over the deeds and loyalties of the character.