The Code of Torm

Since the Chosen of Eilistraee is a religious oriented player group, naturally there is a place to have theological discussions. That is in-game religions; please leave real-world religion out of it. Debate the fine points of a certain dogma, how a church can enforce worship while staying true to its tenets or simply why one deity is better than another one is. All are free to talk about it here.

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Talwyn Aureliano
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The Code of Torm

Post by Talwyn Aureliano »

I found this today elsewhere.

Although this site is dedicated to Eilsitraee, I'd like to just hang on the temple wall in a quiet corner, the code in which the Tormtar strive to follow.

I ask please for your indulgence on this one :angel:

[From Faiths & Avatars]

[quote:3cdebea3] Dogma and Beliefs: Torm's followers are loyal and obedience. Blind obedience is not encouraged, for serving an evil master obediently is still evil. Salvation is found through service to others, and every success in service adds to Torm's glory. They strive to maintain law and order but not at the expense of doing what is right. The Tormish are to be alert and ready to act against evil and corruption, and to bring swift death to betrayers and those who serve evil. They are to question unjust laws by working within the system. The Tormish owe duty to "faith, family, masters, and all good fellow beings of Faerun."

After the Time of Troubles, the religious hierarchy of the church was overhauled. This was in part due to corruption at the highest levels, and also due to acts of religious persecution of other good-aligned faiths undertaken in Torm's name during his absence. Torm has since then dictated a series of responsibilities and obligations for his followers to atone for their collective failings. These "debts" are called the Penance of Duty, and all of the Tormish are required to actively seek out ways to ensure they are met:

Debt of Persecution:
To repay their persecution of other religions, the truly faithful must aid other goodly religions in reestablishing themselves. This includes offering service or protection to followers of Ilmater, Tyr, and Lathander, but also to less like-minded gods such as Tymora (CG, Luck) and Eldath (NG, Water).

Debt of Dereliction: To atone for their abdication of duty to guard against strife, the Tormish must expend all possible effort to eliminate any surviving cultists of Bane, as well as Cyricists and the Zhentarim.

Debt of Destruction: Followers of Torm are obliged to relieve the destruction to the magic weave incurred during the Time of Troubles. All "dead magic" and "wild magic" areas are to be reported and (if possible) repaired.

Day-to-Day Activities: The Tormish provide training for paladins, guardians, and orders of knights. They watch for signs of trouble and have no compunction about sticking in their noses in things that might seem to not be their business. They don't perceive themselves as a military force but rather a protecting force and a pre-emptive force. They have become more tolerant in recent years to non-clergy serving as important members of the religion. Wizards, warriors, and even the occasional "gold-hearted rogue" can all share in the duty of Torm. The Tormish normally disdain material wealth and tithe heavily, giving as much as 60% of their wealth to the church. On the other hand, they rarely go without the finest equipment money can buy. A Tormish cleric, paladin or affiliate will be offered better armor and weapons as he or she advances in rank. And affiliates are under no compulsion to tithe anything, as they are already giving by serving the church.

Some Tormish churches use a "favors" system, whereby the temple can acquire goods and services from nearby communities in exchange for "IOUs" from the temple; these can be redeemed for temple services such as healing or magical supplies. In this way, Tormish churches become integrated with the communities they serve.

Holy Days: There are two great holidays during the year for the Tormish:

Divine Death (Eleasias 13th) -- solemn ceremony of rememberance for the fallen who died for just causes, particularly for Torm's death during his battle with Bane during the Time of Troubles.

True Resurrection (Marpenoth 15th) -- joyous feast where laws are set aside for this one day and night. Many use this one chance each year to revel in sensual pleasures or to speak freely to their superiors without fear of retribution. Marks Torm's resurrection. [/quote:3cdebea3]


An expanded look at the code:

The Code of Torm:

Be the champion of the weak and the defenseless.
Be stern, unyielding and unswerving in your battles with evil.
Obey your masters with alert judgment and anticipation.
Serve the common good and the rule law established by honorable rulers.
Seek prowess and skill in all endeavors.
Stand ever alert against corruption.
Every failure of duty diminishes Torm and every success adds to his luster.
Be ever mindful of the code, and use them in your actions to swiftly enact justice.


[b:3cdebea3]Precepts of the Code: [/b:3cdebea3]

[b:3cdebea3]Be the champion of the weak and the defenseless.[/b:3cdebea3] Your duty is to those who lack the power you wield. Care for the sick and aid the distressed. Be an example to the young. Protect your friends. Be generous in so far as your resources allow. There are two things that will blemish the faithful, and these are riches and pride. If one but remains in strained circumstances, he will not be marred.

[b:3cdebea3]Be stern, unyielding and unswerving in your battles with evil.[/b:3cdebea3] Make war upon evil and injustice without cessation. Do not recoil before the enemy, but let your wrath undo the wicked. Seek not only courage, but also wisdom to see that stupidity and courage are cousins. Courage also means taking the side of truth in all matters, rather than seeking the expedient lie.

[b:3cdebea3]Obey your masters with alert judgment and anticipation[/b:3cdebea3]. Trust in your master, for his duty to you is given by Torm, serve him as though your own body were already dead, and you will be one man in a thousand. There are many places where compromise is expected; loyalty is not amongst them. If your path is without mortal master, let Torm and his code guide your steps.

[b:3cdebea3]Serve the common good and the rule law established by honorable rulers[/b:3cdebea3]. Your fourfold duties are to faith, family, masters, and all good being of Faerun. Strive to maintain law and order. Question unjust laws by suggesting improvement or alternatives, not additional laws.

[b:3cdebea3]Seek prowess and skill in all endeavors.[/b:3cdebea3] Throughout your life, advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today so that your strength may be used in the service of the Triad, rather than in personal aggrandizement. This is never ending.

[b:3cdebea3]Stand ever alert against corruption. Strike quickly and forcefully against the rot in the hearts of mortals.[/b:3cdebea3] Avoid all excesses and seek to defeat hubris, gullibility and ignorance within yourself. Purpose and discipline clear the mind. Your breath should only bring truth, always be faithful to your word. Bring painful, quick death to traitors.

[b:3cdebea3]Every failure of duty diminishes Torm and every success adds to his luster.[/b:3cdebea3] Stand firm in your beliefs, for this faith roots you and gives hope against despair. In the midst of a single breath, where only goodness is held, is the way of Torm. But there is no one who can understand this clarity at first. Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort.

[b:3cdebea3]Be ever mindful of the code, and use them in your actions to swiftly enact justice.[/b:3cdebea3] The church of Tyr and Ilmater are the mind and heart of the Triad, bringing judgment and compassion to men. The church of Torm is the mighty hand of the Triad, swiftly enacting their wisdom. Hold to the virtues and duties of the code, realizing that though the ideals cannot be reached, the quality of striving towards them ennobles the spirit. In confronting difficult matters, if at first you leave it alone, fix the code in your heart, exclude self-interest, and make an effort, you will not go far from your mark.


addendum:

Obey your Duty, not your master - a worthy mortal master will be one whose directives are compatible with the dictates of your Duty. If not, this is part of a Paladin's Duty to be wary of corruption.

Bring MERCIFUL, quick death to traitors - why would a Paladin of Torm seek to cause any living thing pain, other than occasionally in lesson, with their best interests at heart? There is no honor in retribution, and no purpose to a lesson taught to one you intend to kill immediately afterward - only a darkening of the soul.

Be mindful to serve your Duty through adherence to Purity, Virtue, and an honorable amount of precision and cleanliness of appearance. That which serves to improve the reputation of Paladins in the eyes of the people, without being dishonest or bringing dishonor, serves to ease Duty when it relates to those people, and thus makes Paladins more effective in their service
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.

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Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind
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Post by Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind »

Nice job, Tal. Wish I could do one of these.

Sadly Umberlee is basically Aria with more random smiting.

Only one rule: Do not F-k with Umberlee.
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Talwyn Aureliano
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Post by Talwyn Aureliano »

[quote="Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind":1ihr39j4]Nice job, Tal. Wish I could do one of these.

Sadly Umberlee is basically Aria with more random smiting.

Only one rule: Do not F-k with Umberlee.[/quote:1ihr39j4]

Just for you my friend :D


[color=darkblue:1ihr39j4]Umberlee [/size:1ihr39j4][/color:1ihr39j4]

The Bitch Queen, Queen of the Depths (Intermediate Deity)
Home Plane: Fury's Heart
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Portfolio: Oceans, currents, waves, sea winds.
Worshipers: Sailors, weresharks, sentient sea creatures, coastal dwellers.
Cleric Alignments: CE, CN, NE.
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Water.
Favored Weapon: "Drowning Death" [trident] or jellyfish [trident]

Malicious, mean and evil, Umberlee (uhm-ber-lee) is the terror of sailors and coastal dwellers across the world. She breaks agreements on a whim and takes great pleasure in watching others die by drowning or in the jaws of sea predators. Vain and desirous of flattery, she is excessively greedy for power and revels in exercising it. Weresharks are her creations and theirs is one of the few races that worship her out of admiration rather than fear.

The Bitch Queen is always depicted as a female blue-green torso garbed in shells and a mauve cape made from jellyfish rising out of the waves with taloned hands, elbow fins, eyes of pale pearly death and hair of help. Like the church of Talos, the church of Umberlee is almost universally despised and propitiated only out of fear. Nevertheless, despite the promise offered by the relatively weak church of Valkur, nearly every sailor makes an offering to the Bitch Queen before heading into her domain and Umberlant clerics can walk unmolested in dockside wards in most ports. They are even welcomed aboard most ships, in hopes that their presence will help appease the Bitch Queen.

Uberlant clerics 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 the Sea Queen 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. The former 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 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.

[b:1ihr39j4]History / Relationships:[/b:1ihr39j4]

Umberlee is one of the Gods of Fury. She serves Talos, along with Auril and Malar. Talos has been encroaching upon her portfolio and since she lacks the strength to fight him, Umberlee has been trying to distract him with romantic intrigues. She fights Selune and Valkur (to whom sailors pray to bring them home safely), Chauntea (for her dominion over land) and Sune (whose beauty she envies).

[b:1ihr39j4]Dogma:[/b:1ihr39j4]

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.
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.

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