Beltar
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| Greyhawk Deity | |
|---|---|
| Beltar | |
| Title(s) | The Dark Mother |
| Home Plane | Tarterian Depths of Carceri |
| Power Level | Lesser |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil (Chaotic Neutral) |
| Portfolio | Malice, Caves, Pits |
| Domains | Chaos, Earth, Evil, War |
| Alias(es) | none |
| Superior | none |
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Beltar is the Suel goddess of Malice, Caves, and Pits. She was formerly a goddess of earth and mines, but was supplanted by other Suel gods until her only worshippers were nonhuman slaves. It is perhaps for this reason that Jascar is one of her greatest enemies. She hates nearly everything, even other deities. She will often take mates in her various forms, but few survive, as she eats them afterward, as well as any young born from such a union.
[edit] Description
Though often depicted as a haglike human female, Beltar is known to also appear as a beholder, red dragon, or marilith. Some regard the later form as a likely cause of rumors of the existence of a Suloise snake-cult.
[edit] Clergy and temples
Beltar's holy symbol is a set of opened fangs poised to bite. Her followers are encouraged to mine and explore caverns for riches and foes to kill. Her followers are mostly savage humans and evil nonhumans. Beltar encourages her followers to join together in great armies and ally themselves with beholders, demons, red dragons, liches, and other powerful creatures.
Beltar's priests preach hatred of one's enemies, rather than fear. They are expected to take positions of leadership in their tribes, or to form their own. The priesthood makes examples of the weak-willed and traitors. They usually fight with their natural weapons, cesti, or spiked gauntlets. Devoted priests, within a year of their deaths, often rise from the grave as undead, often return to their original tribes.
Services to Beltar are usually held in caves or points of low ground, and often involve sacrifice of sentient beings. Beltar is worshipped in the Bone March, the Pomarj, Stonehold, and even in Erelhei-Cinlu.
[edit] References
- Brown, Anne. Player's Guide (TSR, 1998).
- Conforti, Steven, ed. Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0 (Wizards of the Coast, 2005). Available online: [1]
- Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
- Lakofka, Lenard. Gods of the Suel Pantheon. Dragon #89 (TSR, 1984).
- Noonan, David. Complete Divine (Wizards of the Coast, 2004).
- Niles, Douglas, and Carl Sargent. The City of Greyhawk (TSR, 1989).
- Reynolds, Sean K. The Scarlet Brotherhood (TSR, 1999).
- Reynolds, Sean K, and Chris Pramas. Slavers (TSR, 2000).
- Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes (TSR, 1992).
- Sargent, Carl. Ivid the Undying (TSR, unpublished). Available online: [2]
