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Sigvaldr
Acolyte
2 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Jun 2014 : 17:36:23
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I'm starting this thread to gather info and discuss Umberlee and her clergy. She is supposed to be a pervasive and influential goddess throughout Faerun's coasts and seas, yet she remains quite obscure and there is little info to be found. Deep Sashelas, a minor deity of the remote aquatic elves, boasts dozens of articles on the net, while the Queen of the Depths only a handful.
It is time to remedy.
- Origins and age of Umberlee have been discussed here:
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11232
- Rivals here:
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4972
GENERAL INFO
Title(s):
The Bitch Queen (?!? - why?), Queen of the Depths
Symbol:
Blue-green wave curling left and right
Power level:
Intermediate deity
Portfolio:
Currents, Oceans, Sea Winds, Waves
Domains:
Sea, Storm, Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Water
Alignment:
Chaotic evil
Worshipers:
Coastal dwellers, sailors, sentient sea creatures, krakens, and weresharks
Favored weapon:
Drowning Death (trident)
DOGMA
The sea is a savage place, and those that travel it had best be willing to pay the price of challenging Umberlee's domain. All should know the Bitch Queen and fear her, for the wind and the wave can reach everywhere if sufficiently angered. Fair offerings bring fair winds to sea travelers, but those that do not pay their respects will find that the sea is as cold as Umberlee's heart. Spread the word of the might of Umberlee, and let no service be done in her name without a price. Make folk hear the wind and wave unless a cleric of Umberlee is there to protect them. Slay those who ascribe sea and shore storms to Talos.
ClERGY
Umberlant clergy are charged to spread respect for Umberlee by preaching of the doom she has wrought in the past and the storms to come in all coastal cities and settlements. Along the way, they seek to build up favor enough to be washed ashore by the deity if they are ever in danger on the seas and to enrich themselves by accepting offerings, selling the safety of their own presence on shipboard, or by casting certain spells.
Clerics of Umblerlee pray for spells at high tide (in the morning or evening), making offerings and self-anointing on the brow, hands, and feet with sea water. The drowning is a private ritual and only clergy members may witness it or take part. In the Drowning, a supplicant lies before an altar and is surrounded by candles lit to the deity, each placed with an intoned prayer by a different Umberlant cleric. The attending clergy then withdraw and release a wave of sea water to flood the room in a huge breaking wave and then flow away. Supplicants who survive are confirmed in the service of Umberlee and warned that if they should ever betray the Queen of the Deeps, drowning is the fate that awaits them. They were spared during the Drowning and so can be taken by the Sea Queen at any time to come. (Clergy whom Umberlee feels have failed her go to sleep one night never to awaken, dying during the night of drowning, their lungs mysteriously filled with sea water.) The two public rituals of the Umberlant faith are the First Tide and the Stormcall.
- First Tide:
It is celebrated when the ice breaks up in a harbor and involves a parade through town with a caged animal, which is then tied to a rock and hurled into the sea. If it reaches shore alive, it is treated as a sacred animal for the rest of its days.
- Stormcall:
It is a mass prayer to send a storm to devastate a specific harbor or ship or to turn away an approaching storm or one that has already broken upon the worshipers. Its participants pray around pools upon which float candles on driftwood planks, and throw sacrifices into the pools. A doused candle is a sure sign of the Bitch Queen's anger.
Umberlee's clerics tend to multiclass as druids, fighters, rogues, divine disciples, or waveservants.
The ceremonial garb of the Umberlant clerics consist of a skintight blue or green body stocking worn with voluminous cape of blue or green trimmed with white fur (to represent foaming breakers). A tall collar, similarly trimmed, rises from the back of the cape's neck. A popular badge of rank is the skeletal hand of a drowning victim.
TEMPLES
Temples of Umberlee are always located along the coast or underwater. Many lie within sea caves, while free-standing structures are usually constructed from flotsam, surf-pounded rocks, and the shells of great sea beasts. Umberlant temples are mainly vehicles for sailors and merchants to make offerings of candles, flowers, candies, or coins to appease Umberlee's wrath.
The church of Umberlee is disorganized and run differently in different locales. The only organized hierarchy is that imposed by a particularly favored and powerful cleric, and such regimes are inevitably washed away in time by the ever-fickle Bitch Queen. Clerics of the faith are even given to dueling each other to settle disputes of rank or ability, although such combats are rarely fatal. Instead, the loser is usually thrown aboard the next ship to leave port, regardless of the destination.
- Places of worship
Apart from the region around the Sea of Fallen Stars and at Nelanther Isles, Umberlee had places of worship at many ports. Among these were a temple in Urmlaspyr, Sembia and a small shrine in city of Marsember in Cormyr. Others included:
Water Queen's House – a temple in Baldur's Gate.
Halls of the Sea-Born – a temple complex in Cimbar, Chessenta.
The Queenspire – a temple complex fronting the harbor in Waterdeep.
Priory of the Depths - a shrine complex north of Port Llast.
Brynnlaw - a small temple on the island of Brynnlaw
Whitecap Hall - a temple of Umberlee in Westgate.
CHOSEN
- Slarkrethel
Slarkrethel was a huge kraken wizard and Chosen of Umberlee, that also founded the Kraken Society.
Born in the Year of the Kraken, it wasn't until Slarkrethel found the submerged ruins of Ascarle in 244 DR that he began building his undersea empire. There, he was inspired by legends of his ancestors' past, and his studies left him aspiring to godhood and to regain some of his race's former glory. Centuries later, he had extended his tentacles all over the Trackless Sea, and created the web of informants and spies called the Kraken Society.
He was adopted by Umberlee as her chosen in the Year of Shadows.
Edit 1 - Typos
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Edited by - Sigvaldr on 17 Jun 2014 18:16:43
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Sigvaldr
Acolyte
2 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2014 : 17:40:26
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SPECULATIONS
- Could Umberlee also embody undersea life?
Her portfolio consists of currents, oceans, sea winds and waves. Currents are important in marine ecosystems because they redistribute water, heat, nutrients, and oxygen about the ocean. If we take this aspect into account, she is actually the life force of the oceans.
- Marine beauty
The sea is treacherous and ever changing, just like Umberlee. Still, it is undeniable that this environment holds much beauty in the midst of all its dangers. Is this aspect contemplated by Umberlants in the Realms?
- Marine preservation
Could Umberlants act as caretakers of the sea? Eg. An Umberlant cleric or druid drowning animals and sentient beigs as sacrifices who, at the same time, takes care of pollution or exploitation. Does Umberlee care about her domain or is she just a force of destruction? Judging from her portfolio I'd say she is much more.
- Undead
Does she have a special connection with certain undead? |
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hashimashadoo
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1155 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2014 : 10:03:54
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She's called the bitch queen presumably because she's vain, fickle, greedy, malicious, vindictive and happy to break deals - not because she shares qualities with dogs.
It's important to note that Sea of Fallen Stars notes that Umberlee's influence only extends to destructive forces within her domain and her domain includes only "along the surface and the shallows to a depth of about 100 feet." - Many believe Eldath to be the dominant deity in the calmer waters beyond that depth and Istishia to be the deity in control of the 'lifeforce' of the sea and the sea as a general aspect of nature.
PLACES OF WORSHIP
Coral Crown Church - Somewhere on the Sword Coast.
Cove of the Queen - A hidden harbour on Mintarn for pirates who follow Umberlee.
Seacaves of the Roaring - An opulant golden temple in Teshburl that sells charms to people to keep them safe at sea.
Shipsgrave Tower - A site in Velen manned by veteran pirates.
Stormhaven House - A complex on Orlumbor.
Towers of Fury - A temple complex devoted to all of the gods of fury in Calimport
The Trident Towers - A large converted villa in Almraiven.
There was also a temple to Umberlee in Murann, but I don't know what happened to it after the monstrous invasion.
CHOSEN
Slarkrethel was supposedly made a Chosen because Umberlee foresaw the return of Iakhovas, who, according to locathah legend, used to be Umberlee's lover in ancient times.
In The Reaver, an undead pirate captain named Evendur Highcastle was also named as a Chosen of Umberlee.
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When life turns it's back on you...sneak attack for extra damage.
Head admin of the FR wiki:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/ |
Edited by - hashimashadoo on 20 Jun 2014 10:34:48 |
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1303 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2014 : 21:33:40
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| In Tymora's Luck the characters visit her home plane in the Abyss. I think it is the 12th layer of the Abyss? Tyche lives there as well on a mountain that rises out of the depthless sea. |
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Barastir
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1607 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jun 2014 : 17:50:50
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quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo
She's called the bitch queen presumably because she's vain, fickle, greedy, malicious, vindictive and happy to break deals - not because she shares qualities with dogs.
I think it is also because she is the Queen of the Seas, so "bitch" is also relate to "beach", with a meaner disposition.  |
"Goodness is not a natural state, but must be
fought for to be attained and maintained.
Lead by example.
Let your deeds speak your intentions.
Goodness radiated from the heart."
The Paladin's Virtues, excerpt from the "Quentin's Monograph"
(by Ed Greenwood) |
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Umberlee - detailed info and speculations
