Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (Part 1)

I'm reading through the Sword Coast Adventurers' Guide, and the most interesting part by far (at least in the early going) is the list of deities. 

Like... who worships Beshaba, goddess of I'll-fortune?  Or Asmodeus, the king of Hell and greed? Or Cyric, the Black Sun, god of madness and deceit?

The Guide goes to a lot of trouble to give reasons why someone might identify with an evil god. Heck, Asmodeus's teachings are almost respectable if you go by the letter of what's written.  For that matter, Cyric's worshippers claim that their patron is mostly misunderstood (god of Kylo Ren, anyone?) while Bane, patron of conquest, domination, and war, claims he's mostly about order and discipline. He could be described as the god of the Sith--or as the Roman conception of Mars, god of civilization and what later folks would call "the White Man's Burden".

It's all fascinating stuff. 

However some of the pantheon are a poor fit for their domains. For example, Beshaba, Cyric, and Lloth all get "Trickery".  

I mean... really?  These are very different mythological conceptions. 

As God of deceit, Cyric probably deserves the "Trickery" domain. Similarly, Lloth's worshippers are well-chronicled. She is the "Demon Queen of Spiders" and goddess to the Drow. I would have given her the domains "Poison" and "Chaos", but I'm not sure such things have ever appeared as official canon.  However, I think Beshaba's followers are different. Much different. Almost like Marvel Comics' characters, specifically Longshot or the Black Cat. To me, you begin to identify with Beshaba--and to even worship her--after you've had so much misfortune in your life that you've actually begun to manifest a degree of control over the misfortunes of others.  In time, through worship and study, you refine this power, and here we are.  You've become a cleric of Beshaba.

I would call this the domain of "Chance".

Question: Have any of these domains--Poison, Chaos, or Chance--ever appeared in official canon?  I might write one up for chance (I've already done "Chaos"), but I don't want to do it if it's already out there. 

Thanks in advance. 

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