Lady of Tellene

Holy Mother

THE DIETY

Name(s): LADY OF TELLENE, THE HOLY MOTHER, HOMEMAKER, THE COUNSELOR, BOLDREI

Spheres of Influence: The Holy Mother is the deity of home, industriousness, and marriage.

Alignment: Lawful Good

Spells Returned: At Dawn

Favored Weapon: Light Hammer

Appearance: Homemaker appears as a female commoner dressed in work clothes.

THE CHURCH

Worship: Churches are found in cities, towns and villages. Services are commitments to family. Each family member has a different recitation based on his role: son, brother, wife, grandparent, etc. After formal services, the clerics make themselves available for settling disputes between family members, helping families new to the area meet new “brothers” and “sisters” and urging lovers to commit to marriage.

Holy Symbol: A house encircled by a ring.

Holy Days: The First of Renewal is called “Betrothal,” and the clerics urge the faithful to plan their weddings on this day. In fact, some clerics spend most of the year trying to arrange for mass wedding on this date. At the higher levels of the hierarchy, it is a deliberate attempt to try to associate the beginning of the year with the Home Foundation. At the lower levels, the clerics jockey for the prestige of having the largest wedding ceremonies.

Local holy days always celebrate the wedding anniversary of the local ruler. Followers are expected to send token gifts to the ruler. While commoners see this “gift” as yet another tax, the wealthy see it as a way to curry favor. They lavish very generous gifts on the rulers. The local church may even declare a particularly good and popular ruler’s anniversary to be celebrated for centuries.

Holy Colors: White, blue and gray.

Holy Animal: The industrious beaver is the revered animal of the Brotherhood.

Raiment: Brothers of Industry tend to dress very simply out in public, in an attempt to make commoners feel more comfortable around them. During official ceremonies and services, they wear robes and accessories dyed according their rank in the church. Regardless of their garb, clerics of the Holy Mother wear a short gray cylindrical cap (a fez).

Advancement: Advancement within the church is based on seniority and service to the community. Brothers of Industry have no additional skill, feat, or quest requirements to advance in rank. Characters who spend their time between active adventures idly will find their seniors soon reproach them. Further chastisement may be harsh and might include suspension of privileges such as followers or stipend.

Characters not otherwise occupied must volunteer their services among the community. Serving with the militia is one way to spend this time, as is participation in a work project like building a bridge, a road, or a wall. If the nobility do not enforce these activities, the Brother or Sister of Industry must arrange a volunteer group.

An Uncle or Aunt can use the volunteer labor group of lower level clergy and worshippers to reduce the cost of constructing a personal home, stronghold, temple or other building by 10%.

A Father or Mother can reduce building costs by 25% by calling on volunteer labor and donated materials. A Father or Mother’s stipend increases to 200 gp/month.

A High Father or High Mother who constructs a building reduces its cost by 25% and reduces the time required to build it by 25% as well.

DM Special Notes: Recently, the Brotherhood of Industry gained a great coup in converting a young gold dragon named Desertyna, living along the northern coast of Reanaaria Bay. Desertyna already has two wyrmlings and has become an effective evangelist for the faith. Babysitting her children has become an almost unmatchable honor among the faithful and many adventurers have undertaken grand quests in order to prove their worth to her. In some cases, the local High Mother may approach a group of potential sitters and request their help while Desertyna is traveling.

Sacrifices: Followers perform one week of hard labor for a worthy community cause, at least twice per year. They also sacrifice scrap lumber on a monthly basis by burning it. The clerics then mix the ashes with holy water and use the mixture to bless new building material.

Friends and Allies:

The Founder’s Creation: “They do good work, providing sound foundations for people to build a life on. They also make good buildings.”

The Parish of Love: “Any group that can see this much love in the world is a good group of people. They sometimes put love over family, but love is a very important part of any family.”

The Theater of the Arts: “An entertaining group; they are useful in maintaining a community.”

The Hall of Oaths: “Every community is based on a foundation of trust, and these fine people show us how to build that foundation.”

Foes and Enemies:

The House of Vice: “Every community has someone who would rather starve in the winter than save in the summer…”

Temple of Strife: “They are a blight on the world, and we work to protect ourselves from them.”

The Confuser of Ways: “We need trust on which to build a strong community, but every act the Impostors perform hurts that trust.”

The Courts of Inequity: “They are sickeningly righteous, even while they kill and spread envy throughout the lands.”

Major Temples: Important centers of worship for the Home Foundation can be found in Crandolen, Dalen, Bet Kalamar, Sobeteta, Bet Urala, Aroroleta, and Bet Bireli.

The Home Foundation’s temples are practical buildings designed to fit with the local architecture and building materials. They feature a large, rectangular hall for worship, but they also use the same hall for their dances and other social activities. Popular decorations in the halls show portraits of large, happy families. Temples feature only one story for the safety of the children and the comfort of the elderly.

The temples are very friendly to children, and services tailored to a young audience are common. The clerics spend many hours tending to orphaned and lonely children and help many of them grow up to be a useful part of society. Child-sized private rooms are a luxury of space that not all temples can afford, but comfortable barracks-style common rooms for the children are an important part of the temple.

Cathedrals spread wide rather than high. Their central hall usually boasts a grand continual flame-chandelier, and the altar is covered in gold. The lighting effect is warm and comforting.

The holy seat of the Home Foundation is in Zha-Nehzmish, where it has been for centuries. A few generations ago, one of the Grandfathers began a tradition there that has spread to some of the other Svimohzish temples: the Grandfather conducts ceremonies while standing in the middle of the worshippers, who sit on the floor. The worshippers enjoy this close connection with the highest cleric in the faith, and he has instilled great personal loyalty with his followers.

Razhan Hoshano Newhiz has been Grandfather since 548 IR. He’s unique in that his real grandfather was a Grandfather also from 480 to 503 IR. Razhan literally grew up in the faith’s seat and knows the faith’s inner workings better than anyone else.

Razhan’s critics claim that he fails to fully utilize the enormous power he controls within the city of Zha-Nehzmish. His followers are very numerous and include the entirety of several guilds. He could conceivably manipulate legislation very effectively.

Razhan counters this criticism by pointing out that the ability to do something does not mandate its doing. He spends his time with his wife and among his dozen children and grooming Hamaka to take over when he retires. That, he says, is exactly what any Brother of Industry should do, regardless of rank.

Sayings: “All that is good in the world can be traced back to a loving family.”- “If you work hard, all your goals will be in sight.” - “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” - “You get what you work for.” - “Dreams don’t build themselves.” - “Laziness builds nothing.”