Malar

<b>Malar:</b>
<i>The Beastlord, Lord of Beasts, the Black-Blooded Pard, the Ravaging Bear</i><br>

<b>Symbol:</b> Bestial claw with brown fur and curving bloody talons<br>
<b>Home Plane</b>: <br>
<b>Alignment</b>: CE<br>
<b>Portfolio</b>: Bloodlust, Evil Lycanthropes, hunters, marauding beasts and monsters, stalking<br>
<b>Domains</b>: Animal Evil Strength <br>
<b>Worshipers</b>: Hunters, Evil Lycanthropes, sentient carnivores, rangers, druids<br>
<b>Aliases</b>: N/A <br>
<b>Cleric Alignments:</b> CE, CN, NE<br>

<b>Favored Weapon:</b> Claw bracer (a beast's claw)<br>

<b>History/Relationships:</b>
Malar (MAH-larr) is the god of the savage wild. Along with Umberlee and Auril, he is one of the Gods of Fury who revel in the kill or who hunt for sport or to excess, fallen rangers, sentient carnivores, and lycanthropes. Those who suffer the depredations of wild beasts attempt to placate the Beastlord with offerings of freshly killed and bloody meat, but Malar rarely recognizes their entreaties. In his more favorable aspects he is revered by beings who identify with the untamed nature, grace, and amorality of predators.

Malar achieves almost sensual fulfillment from the hunt and the kill. He revels in the fear radiated by the hunted and hungers for the blood of his prey. He speaks only in low growling undertone or vicious snarl. The Lord of Beasts despises the Balance sought by druids and their deities and seeks to overthrow it through the actions of his faithful. He manifests an avatar in Faerûn in an endless hunt across the Realms whenever the mood strikes him—which is almost constantly.

During the Time of Troubles, Malar stalked the length and breadth of Faerûn. He is known to have battled Nobanion in the Gulthmere Forest in a fierce conflict known as the Roar of Shadows. The Beastlord was driven north and west by the Lion God working in an alliance with the Emerald Enclave. When Malar appeared in the North, he was relentlessly pursued by Gwaeron Windstrom and could not shake the Master of Tracking from his trail. The Beastlord did challenge and defeat Herne, a corrupted incarnation of the Master of the Hunt brought to the Realms by an ancient wave of immigrants along with Oghma and other powers. Herne was venerated by the orcs of the High Forest, and Malar has since assumed his portfolio.

In the aftermath of the Time of Troubles, Malar has been weakened by the growing strength of Talos. As a result, he has been forced to seek new worshipers among the nonhuman tribes, and now numerous humanoids have begun to venerate the Beastlord as an adjunct to their traditional pantheons. Malar has also acquired additional human worshipers from the ranks of a few beast cults by slaying their totem spirits and assuming the animal spirits' portfolios as aspects of his own. One of the first beast totems to fall to his bloody talons was Blue Bear, an Uthgardt beast cult corrupted by pervasive contact with lower planar beings and venerated in other lands as Render, the Bear God. <br>

<b>Dogma:</b>
Survival of the fittest and winnowing of the weak are Malar's legacy. A brutal, bloody death has great meaning: "May you die an old man" is an insult among Malarites. The hunt is the fulcrum of life and death, and the focus point of life is the challenge between the hunter and the prey, the judgment of who may live or die. Malarites are expected to view every important task as a hunt and to remain ever alert and alive. They must walk the wilderness without trepidation, as Malar does, and must show no fear in the hunt. By being bold, they expect to win the day.

Malarite novices are charged as follows: "Savagery and strong emotions defeat reason and careful thought in all things. The strong must slay as frequently as possible and exult in the doing if they are to survive and achieve dominance of the pack that society truly is under the polite veneer it maintains. Taste the blood of those you slay and never kill from a distance. The glory and danger in the hunt should be told to all in grand tales. Work against woodcutters, farmers, and all fools who seek to cut back the forest and slay beasts because they are dangerous. Suffer no druid to live, for they believe not in survival of the strong, but in a weak-minded balance that allows the inferior to survive and often to rule. Slay not pregnant wild creatures, young wild creatures, or deepspawns so that dire beasts to hunt may always be plentiful." <br>

<b>Avatar/Manifestations:</b>
Malar prefers to manifest as a cloud of darkness in which two large, red, feral eyes gleam. From this cloud may issue forth his voice, bestial roars or snarls, or (most often) deep, snarling laughter.

Malar may also manifest as, or change in one round to, a disembodied, animated furry beast limb (akin to that conjured up by the beast claw spell, described below) that can point, draw symbols or write in the air in letters of floating, blazing blood, carry or manipulate items, or fight. An impossibly deep, bone-shaking snarl usually accompanies this latter manifestation. <br>

<b>Agents/Petitioners:</b>
Malar acts frequently through all sorts of predators, particularly bears, wild hunting cats of all sorts, displacer beasts, fang dragons, jackalweres, gargantua, leucrotta (greater and lesser), evil lycanthropes, owlbears, perytons, wolfweres, wolverines, aurumvorae, wolves, and even (very rarely) the tarrasque. He has been known to place appropriately seeded deepspawns in regions where predators and/or prey are scarce so as to ensure the hunt never ends.<br>

<b>The Church of Malar:</b>
Malar is not a popular god with many devoted followers. Like Umberlee, he is invoked usually to prevent his intercession (usually heralded by wild beasts) as opposed to beseeching it. Groups devoted to following him are present, however, terrorizing civilized areas and surviving by poaching what they need.

Temples of Malar are simple affairs. Typically they are inwardly curving, fang-shaped stones arranged in a ring in shadowy forest glens. Many temples, particularly those located in more civilized settings where the activities of Malarites are viewed with loathing by the local populace, are built above extensive limestone caverns and accessed via a sinkhole in the circle's center. The twisting subterranean passages serve as hunting grounds through which ruthless Malarites stalk sentient prey (particularly humans and demihumans) captured from the surrounding region.

The church of Malar is loosely bound and without a central hierarchy. This makes it all the more difficult to counter or remove, for as soon as one den of Malarites is contained, another arises. The church organization is built around the concept of the hunt, and consists of local, independent cells or "Hunts." The leader and most powerful individual of each hunt is known as the Huntmaster, who may be a priest, warrior, wizard (very rarely), or shapechanging predator (such as a wolfwere or evil lycanthrope). If human, the Huntmaster can be identified by his or her headpiece: usually a bear, great cat, or other creature the leader has killed with his or her bare hands. The office of Huntmaster is won by challenge—a fight to the death if the incumbent does not resign—and the Huntmaster decides the locale, time, and prey to be stalked in the ceremonial hunts of the faithful.

Malarite priests are known as Lords of the Hunt or Huntlords (to distinguish them from lay followers, who are merely "of the Hunt"). No individual titles are used, except "Old Hunter" as an address of respect to senior clergy, but clergy members are often known by names such as Brother Stag or Sister Wolf in recognition of the most powerful beasts they have slain along with only their daggers, their bare hands, or claws of Malar. Specialty priests of Malar are known as talons.
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<b>Day-to-Day Activities:</b>
Priests of Malar indulge in hunting as often as possible and strive to route the hunt to make it as dangerous as possible, so that its finale (the killing of the quarry) takes place in a settled area (so that the Malarites can demonstrate their superiority, of course). Common folk who do not appreciate having desperate leucrotta, wolves, displacer beasts, and the like chased through town tend to hate and fear Malarite clergy members—which is the whole idea: Those who do not venerate the Lord of Beasts should respect him out of fear.
Malarite clergy members also preach the joys and the bountiful yields of the hunt and work to thwart the expansion of farms and settlements so as to preserve as much wilderness as possible. They work against the priesthoods of Chauntea, Deneir, Eldath, Silvanus, and Ilmater, staging raids and vandalism much as outlaws nad bored young noblemen indulge in.

Malarite clergy seek to slay druids of all faiths whenever possible, for they see the natural Balance that druids promote and maintain as the true foe of all who love to hunt. They believe it interferes with the rightful triumph of the strong over the weak. Consequently, druid organizations, those with druidic connections, and those sponsored even partially by nature deities (including the Harpers) also seek out and destroy Malarite strongholds at any opportunity.
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<b>Holy Days/Important Ceremonies:</b>
Worship of Malar centers around the hunt and tends to consist of personal prayers to the Beastlord offered before the chase, during pursuit, and while drinking a toast over the slain quarry (sometimes a toast of the blood of the very animal killed). The droning Bloodsong is intoned over the bodies of all creatures slain during a hunt—and specific ritual prayers and chants should accompany feasting on any beast slain duringa hunt.

The only high rites of the faith are the Feast of the Stags and the High Hunts. The Feast is celebrated at Higharvestide, when Malarite clergy parade through settled areas bearing the heads of the beasts they have slain during the previous tenday (a frenzied orgy of killing) and lead all who desire to eat to a feast. The beasts hunted down by Malarite hands are the main dishes at this two-day-long revel of gluttony, and all folk are invited (even druids may come and dine in safety, protected by "the Peace of the Table"). At this feast, clergy publicly undertake to hunt throughout the winter ahead for the tables of specific widows, aged folk, infirm individuals, and orphan children. This day marks the annual high point of regard for the faith of Malar in most communities.

By Malar's command, every hunt (religious ceremony) of his worshipers must celebrate at least one High Hunt in each of the four seasons of the year. A High Hunt is a sporting event attended by all Malarite clergy members able to walk. They wear boots and headpieces made from the skulls or heads of beasts they have personally slain, and each wields only a single knife or the claws of Malar. Their quarry—a sentient humanoid, usually a human male—who is set free in a wooded area (or extensive cavern complex if necessary) ringed by Malarite clergy members. The quarry is armed and armored with all the nonmagical items he or she desires that can reasonably be obtained—and then hunted to death for the glory of Malar. However, if the prey escapes the boundaries of the hunt (set up at its beginning) within a day and a night or survives until the sun has cleared the horizon on the morning after the hunt begins, he or she wins freedom, can never be so hunted again, and can ask any boon of the Huntmaster that is within his or her power and does not involve killing a Malarite.

The prey is often a druid and cannot be a worshiper of Malar. (Huntmasters cannot use the High Hunt to eliminate potential rivals within the clergy.) When slain, victims of the hunt are wholly burned to ashes as a meal for Malar. <br>

<b>Major Centers of Worship:</b>
The Divine Den in Bezentil, where High Huntmaster Skith Tsornagar leads a congregation of 70 or so Malarite clergy members and twice as many lay worshipers who are avid hunters, is the center of Malar's faith in the Great Dale and all of Faerûn east of the Dragon Reach and north of Thay. The clergy members of the Divine Den mount many hunting expeditions to remote and perilous regions of Toril in pursuit of exotic prey. A dozen skilled smiths among them make the True Talons of the God (approved claws of Malar).

The Deep Hunting Grounds in Undermountain beneath Mt. Waterdeep is a powerful and rapidly growing temple located amidst a subterranean forest known as the Wyllowwood. Led by Benita Darkwind, the congregation of 60 or more priests and as many warriors, rogues, and lay worshipers is actively expanding its influence through the streets of Waterdeep.
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<b>Affiliated Orders:</b>
The church of Malar also includes lone priests unaffiliated with any particular hunt. These solitary women and men, known as Beastmasters, exhibit an amazing rapport bordering on telepathy with animals and other predators, and they are rumored to command fearsome powers resembling those of powerful druids.

Beastmasters resemble savage beasts in disposition and lifestyle and exert control over most predators in large swaths of wilderness through the use of multiple, concurrent find companion spells. (Other clergy can only have one animal companion at a time.) Beastmasters only rarely call upon the aid of other Malarites in their territory, but when they do, few local Huntmasters defy their requests. There is a loose correlation between the geographic areas of influence of Beastmasters and circles of druids in the wild. Individual Beastmasters and their servitors contest in an endless cycle of violence with nearby druids.

Malar is also served by a few rare Beast Lords. These lone spellcasters breed unnatural monsters like bulettes, stegocentipedes, owlbears, perytons, and so forth. While most Beast Lords are human, a few are drawn from the ranks of other races such as illithids and beholders. One prominent nonhuman Beast Lord in the North is an illithilich, believed to be based in ruined Dekanter, who seeks to conquer part of the dark realms of the Underdark with an army of beasts.
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<b>Priestly Vestments:</b>
Huntmasters wear headpieces made from the pelt and head of the most impressive beast they have been able to slay with their bare hands (usually a bear or great cat, but sometimes an owlbear, leucrotta, or peryton). Malarites carry hunting horns as their belts and are never without at least three daggers (usually one sheathed in each boot, two in belt sheaths, one strapped to either forearm, and another hidden in a nape-of-the-neck sheath under the hair or in an armpit sheath). Woodland garb of red or brown is the favored dress for hunts. By day, red hunt clothing is often concealed by a woodcloak of mottled black, gray, and green. Necklaces of animal bones, fangs, and claws, and a variety of pelts are often worn in addition to normal hunt clothes when priests desire to impress.<br>

<b>Adventuring Garb:</b>
When adventuring, priests of Malar dress practically, but most favor armor constructed from the hides of living creatures that allows flexibility and rapid movement. Necklaces of claws and fangs and a variety of pelts from predator animals are often worn to quietly demonstrate a Malarite's hunting prowess to the members of a community.

Talons of Malar and Huntmasters are allowed to employ the weapons known as claws of Malar. Claws of Malar are metal weapons gripped in the fists that resemble brass knuckles studded with rows of sharp, jagged edges along the top like lion's claws.

Although crude local specimens of these weapons exist, the best True Talons of the God come from one source: the Divine Den in Bezentil, the most important temple to the Lord of Beasts in all Faerûn. Claws from this source are blessed in the blood of beasts slain in the hunt, enchanted to never rust (even if touched by rust monsters or assaulted by spells that should make them rust), and bear tiny markings that allow the smiths who made them to identify each pair. Other individuals can try to use the claws, but a nonbeliever or a nonpriest of Malar suffers the wrath of the church if she or he does so, and said wrath translates the the Malarites hunting down and slaying the individual as a warning to others. <br>