Baen, the Dead God

Name:

Baen, The Dead God

Domains:

Walls, Law, and Necromancy

Alignment:

High

Story:

The story says that when the first Pantheon was raised, the Father-god Talon touched each of the gods in turn and gave them their domains. Next to Jiran was Brean, who was announced as the god of Walls, Law, and Life. The idea of such an order existing in the world incensed Jiren, and, before the Father-god could bestow any official position on her, she reached over and slit Brean’s throat. Thus, Brean became a god of undeath instead of life. Although dead, his followers say the corpse still whispers to them, guiding society whenever it stops and listens.

Glyph:

Brean’s glyph is two half-circle arcs facing each other in two pairs, one over the other. These are said to represent his followers listening, and the great rock sealing the tomb under which the god slumbers

Appearance:

Baen rarely manifests as anything more than a whisper, but his followers depict him as a mummified corpse, lying in a tomb of stone. It’s said that great champions and priests are sometimes granted visions of the tomb, in which the mummified god stirs and mumbles in his undeath.

Theology:

Baen is a member of the traditional pantheon beliefs, outside of the fact that he is somehow dead. His champions seek to emulate his calm, quiet manner while building bridges to the organizations of other patrons.

Patronage:

Baen’s temples can be found in many city-states, which double as education centers for stone masons. His Champions and Priests spend at least some time each day meditating, making themselves available to hear the whispered words of their patron. Most of these are directions to support those persons who are working the hardest towards the improvement of local society, but there are also tasks to help ensure their success.

Champions of Baen are often directed to guard diplomats, politicians, and other people seeking society’s benefit. Priests are often dispatched to help rebuild shattered walls and city-states, thier immortal skeleton-acolytes working tirelessly under the mason-priests to rebuild defenses after a disaster.

Sometimes a champion may serve directly as a bringer of order, serving as temporary mayors and military commanders when the usual servants of the public are not available. The people often follow them easily, as their quiet, considered words and seen as a bastion of calm in a world of chaos.

The priests dedicate themselves to two professions: stonemasonry and raising the dead. Necromancy may seem like a poor fit for the patron or order, but each skeleton is sourced from the faithful or bought from grieving families. These are then properly flenshed, preserved, and dressed in marks of the temple. They then serve as skeleton-acolytes, performing the menial and brute tasks in masonry that don’t require the skilled hands of the priests. This frees up the rank and file of the temple to study the art of stone masonry and to maintain the city-state’s stone defenses.

Retirement:

Each champion of Baen serves for the traditional century before retiring, usually as a mason-priest or a skeleton summoner. Baen usually holds to the rules strictly; he doesn’t permit retirement before a century outside of career-ending injuries, and he doesn’t call upon retired champions unless absolutely necessary.

However, removing oneself from Baen’s service is also possible to be refusing to listen. The god almost never directly intervenes or presents himself, so a stubborn champion could avoid service by constantly keeping busy and ignoring those calls to service that come during the quiet moments and sleep.

Favors:

Baen doesn’t use any form of currency to measure favor, but does track them all the same. Champions of the order can request materials and supplies from a temple at either market rate or at roughly one favor for a bag of gold or supplies. Most of the temples don’t carry spare weapons or armor, but chain mail and maces from the temple guards could be lent at the relevant rates.

Antithesis:

Baen’s antithesis is Jiren, but he doesn’t preach any particular conflict. Instead, anyone who serves Brean for a decent amount of time has a negative story about the champion of Jiren. The priesthood will usually ask that anyone they know not be a Jiren follower to stay outside the temple