Chapter 4 - EFU:R - Update

[Howlando]

Please check this thread before playing a cleric/choosing a deity in EFU:R.

[wcsherry]

Tyche
Profile: Fate, Luck, Mayhem, Chaos

The Mistress of Destiny, Luckbringer, Herald of Misfortune
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Acceptable Cleric Alignments: Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil
Domains: Luck, Chaos, Fate
Worshippers: Adventurers, Merchants, Travellers, Mystics, Parents
Holy Symbol: Outstretched palm, grasping eternity - the hand of fate
Favored Colors: Maroon and Gold
Rival Deities: Helm, Bane, Tyr
Favored Weapons: Destiny's Embrace (Scourge), Stars of Destiny (Shuriken)

History/Relationships: Born from the chaos of Dendar's rampage, Tyche embodies the chaotic element of luck - both good and bad. Through her mysterious actions, a person may discover immense prosperity, or suffer through a life of agony and decline. On any given day, adventurers, travellers, and merchants understand that luck is a tangible, and terrifying force in their lives. A chance meeting in a tavern, the deft placement of a blade, a broken lance, and the placement of a shadow -- each plays a critical role in the success or failure for many adventurers, and each understand that it is better to have fate on his side, rather than against him.

Dogma: All matters in life are determined by luck. Fate is mercurial, and forged by those that benefit most from this understanding. Through Tyche, all things can be understood. She embodies success, failure, and everything in between. Bow at her altar, pray for her favor, and plead for a life free from misfortune. For every person that is spared, one must be seized. Pray wisely.

Clergy: Clerics of Tyche break off into three distinct sub-categories.

Chaotic Good
Goodly clerics will promote the benefits of Tyche in a worldview that sees all events as an opportunity to gain favor with Tyche in order to promote a favorable outcome. They will donate to charity, attempt to bestow blessings of good luck on others, and some will even espouse that "Tyche favors the bold", still caught in the logic of a Tymoran mindset. Tyche tolerates this in order to gain more followers. She is cunning and realizes that the fear of bad luck alone will not maximize her ability to grow in power.

Chaotic Neutral
These clerics embody the true nature of Tyche. They are wild, chaotic, and incredibly fickle. Some will grant boons for no reason at all to passerbys, while others will curse and condemn at random a traveler that does not offer proper respect. The mercurial nature of the Chaotic Neutral cleric of Tyche makes him an oddity, and a difficult, if uncertain ally at best.

Chaotic Evil
These clerics personify the malignant side of Tyche. They actively punish and inflict ill fortune upon heretics and disbelievers. The bulk of these clergymen are made up of former clerics of Beshaba. They obsess on the merits of misfortune, and insist Tyche is primarily an evil entity. As with the goodly clerics, Tyche continues to grant these clerics spells in order to maximize her potential to grow in power.

[Secutor]

The Seldarine
Except Shevarash, the Seldarine has ceased granting spells or answering prayers. Some elves still pray to the Seldarine out of habit, sorrow, or hope.

Mourning
Effectively, this is a "faithless" deity entry, however it shows that the elven character has undertaken the practice of Mourning. In the absence of their gods it is rumored that the elven race, in their sorrow, has begun to intuit a way to move beyond mortality, immortality, and the planes themselves. The method seems to involve an aesetic lifestyle and a transcendental mentality. Elves pursuing this in life are known as the Mourning. More on Mourning is found out in-game.

Shevarash
The Revenant Prince, The Last Blade of the People, The Coward
Symbol: Broken arrow above a drop of blood.
Home Plane: Unknown
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Revenge upon man, war with the illithid, hatred of drow, vengeance, crusades, loss.
Worshipers: Purists of elven culture, war-minded elven survivors, seekers of revenge, leaders of elven communities, proxies of the Revenant Court.
Favored Weapons: "The Black Bow" (longbow), "Our Blood" (longsword)

Cleric Alignments: NE, N, CE, CN
NwN Domains: Elf, War, Retribution

History/Relationships: Little is known of the fate of the Seldarine during the release of Dendar. All that is known is only Shevarash's presence is still felt. Some say he left the Seldarine in terror. Many who worship him now tell the story how Correllon saved him before disappearing. They believe the elf-father's final act was to free him from his original oath, and immediately bind him to a new oath: to preserve the culture of the elven people and endlessly persecute its enemies. It is rumored Shevarash then fell on his own sword in sorrow or in shame, but he has been resurrected in either Evermeet or Myth Dranor, by an organization of elven mages waging war against the Dread Empire. They are called the Revenant Court, and their Revenant Prince now presides over them. Shevarash has no known allies left among other deities. He is enemies with all human deities, and has openly declared war on Mystryl for reasons not clearly understood.

Dogma: The end has come after thirty thousand years. We have no hope of peace. The People are now instruments of graceful and refined destruction. It is Man who has made forfeit our mothers and fathers, our ability to love, our ability to see. Now our arrows fly in pernicious blindness toward them. Destroy the drow, their taint cannot outlast our light. Destroy the illithid, never bend to the creeping and alien dread. But save your greatest tragedies for Man. Waste no time in reverie, prepare for war in the name of our ancestors. Act, without desperation, in the purity of our form.

[Kinslayer988]

TARGUS
The Blood God, Victorious One, Progenitor of all Feuds

Symbol: Five-Armed Tentacus Emerging From Flame
Home Plane: Battle Garde
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Conflict, war, violence, victory, skill-of-arms, duels
Worshipers: Soldiers, duelists, militia, barbarians, skalds, gamemasters, expansionists, conquerors
Favored Weapon: Tentacus (Longsword), Amputator (Battleaxe)

Cleric Alignments: CG, CN, CE
NWN Domains: Protection, Destruction, Chaos, War, Strength

History/Relationship: Since the beginning of time there was Targus. His most ancient believers claim he create the battle of light and dark, that he was the center of the god's procreation. In -334 scholars claimed that the interloping Tempus slew a weakened Targus and thrust his corpse into the Shining Sea. From it emerged the angry and mindless Garagos, unparalleled in his desire to retake his old form. It would take a millennium of battle for them to end their conflict. In 1387 DR, when Tempus had lost his allies the Reaver struck him down. Only to realize he was not who he thought he was. The essence of the two gods combined, their forms warping to return to Targus, God of Blood. His awakening was met with anger at what had become of his armies and his essence taken by Red Knight (represented by a hole in the deity's head). Set to reclaim his former might, his gaze focuses on demolishing Dendar and the Red Knight.

Dogma: Since before time itself it was known there could only be one victor. All courses of the world are a result of battle. To shy from it is to deny nature itself. Victory belongs to the honorable and the strong. To make peace is to accept defeat. Break all warmachines and those who rely on petty sorcery, for the heart of battle emerges when your eyes meet with your foe's. To strike at one's back is to spit in the face of Targus. In the world of battle the victor rules all, and has full right over the defeated. Sack and raze the homes of the dishonorable, but invite companionship and respect to those who fight honorably.

Sub-Cults
The forces of Targus are scattered. Each one battling for his favor against a plethora of rivals. Among his many worshipers, three large cults have emerged.

Reavers
The Reavers believe that Targus is and has always been Garagos. To them, nothing has changed between the two two masters save for the increase in their faith. They are known for being bloodthirsty and wild, causing as much destruction in their path. To turn down a battle is to invite weakness, to run from one even worse. Targus looks over them with a fondness for his previous fury, often granting them gifts.

Red Wolf Totem
Descending from a blood storm the two headed Red Wolf spirit was sent by Targus to secure the Uthgardt people. The grief stricken members of the Gray Wolf recognized their twisted master, and bowed to greet it. However their chief claimed it an abomination and thief to Uthgardt's name. The victors of the bloodbath proclaimed themselves the Tribe of the Red Wolf. Composed of the Grey Wolf Uthgardians, the lost of Malar, and the savage half-orc, to them battle is the nature of all beings. It is the tribe's duty to fight, hunt, and raid the weak. The greatest battles are found against the world itself. Battle all creatures be they human, insect, or dragon. Targus has rewarded the followers of his pet with power. Expecting them to bring battle with the deities of nature and collect the lost followers of Malar. It is said that some of the greatest Red Wolf tribesmen still hold their lycan blood.

The Honorguard
Members of the honorguard are reviled by other members of the faith for being ex-Tempurans. Conducting themselves through lodges, arenas, and pits, they arrange a variety of contests and bloodsport. Members believe that all out war is messy and proves little between individual fighters. They preach Targus as one of endless honor and nobility in light of the destructive reavers. Champions and representatives should be used for battle, not armies, for what difference is a dispute won between a thousand men or two. Victory holds weight, not the bloodshed of the battle itself. Although the rest of his faith despise their ways, Targus himself smiles at their games and blood sports, often watching from the contestant's blood haze.