Sharindlar

Sharindlar: Lady of Life, Lady of Mercy, the Merciful, the Bountiful, the Shining Dancer
Symbol: Flame ring rising from a steel needle
Home Plane: Nidavellir/The Merciful Court
Alignment: CG
Portfolio: Healing, mercy, romantic love, fertility, dancing, courtship, the moon
Domains: Chaos, Good, Healing
Worshipers: Bards, dancers, healers, lovers
Aliases: N/A
Cleric Alignments: CG, CN, NG
Favored Weapon: Whip - "Fleetbite"

History/Relationships: Sharindlar (Sha-RIHN-dlar) the Merciful is widely known as the dwarven goddess of healing and mercy. Dwarves wounded in battle are often healed in her name. Sick dwarves, dwarven healers, midwives, physics, and lovers pray to the Lady of Life. However, her aspect kept secret from nondwarves is her most important modern role: her patronage of romantic love, courtship, and fertility. Dwarves of all alignments and races who are courting appease her, as do those who sentence others in the cause of justice. When dwarves dance, they pray to Sharindlar to guide their feet, for she is said to be the greatest dancer the dwarves have ever known.

Sharindlar is on excellent terms with most of the other members of the Morndinsamman. She has forged working relationships with those whose principles she abhors-Abbathor, Deep Duerra, and Laduguer-to facilitate her efforts for the benefit of the dwarven race. The Lady of Life has served as an emissary between Laduguer of the gray dwarves and Moradin on the rare occasions they must communicate. Sharindlar has little tolerance for hatreds or rivalries that interfere with her efforts to dispense healing and mercy to the wounded and distressed. She has made strong friendships with the deities of the korreds, and some myths claim that Shiallia, the Dancer in the Glades, is the offspring of Sharindlar's brief dalliance with Tapann.

Sharindlar is invariably warm and caring with a kind word for all, both mortal and divine. She is given to shouts of joy, impromptu dances, and gales of uncontrollable laughter. The Lady of Life is an inveterate match-maker and true romantic who seeks to conjoin star-crossed lovers no matter what the odds. More than one favored dwarven bachelor or maiden has been swept up in a series of whirlwind affairs, thanks to the unceasing efforts of the Shining Dancer to provide the perfect mate.

Dogma: Be merciful in speech and deed. Bring relief and healing where needful. Temper anger and hostility with constructive and charitable endeavor. The children of Moradin must live in safety and propagate. Maintain and encourage the traditional rites of courting and marriage. Celebrate the endless, joyous dance of life by living it to the fullest. Sharindlar restores the fertile seed of dwarven life, while Berronar protects the fruit.

Avatar/Manifestations: Sharindlar rarely appears in avatar form in the Realms, but quite often aids dwarves by manifesting as an amber or rosy radiance and warmth. If healing herbs or plant antidotes are required and exist nearby, Sharindlar illuminates them with her radiance, to mark them for searching dwarves. If a sick dwarf seeks shelter or water, Sharindlar's radiance guides them. If dwarves are cold and lack shelter, Sharindlar's warmth and light can keep them comfortable while they rest, even on glaciers or rock ledges in blizzards. Her light is bright enough for wizards to study by and for maps and books to be read.

At dances, moots, and other meetings when dwarves may be conceived, Sharindlar often attempts to sway the thoughts and actions of dwarves by her warmth and radiance. Dwarven sages still argue over whether this is purely the result of her presence, serving as a hint and sign of approval, or if she can manifest subtle aphrodisiac powers.

Agents/Petitioners: Sharindlar is served by dryads, (Ysgardian) dwarves of Nidavellir, einheriar, too dogs, galeb duhr, hollyphants, incarnates of hope, temperance, and wisdom, korred, lillendi, linnorm dragons, slyphs, and sunflies. She manifests her favor through the discovery of emeralds, moonstones, and round silver coins and her displeasure through the discovery of worn, mateless boots, shattered egg shells, and curdled milk.

The Church of Sharindlar: Sharindlar is universally well regarded by dwarves and held in high esteem by those who share her beliefs among other races. Even the most xenophobic elves and the most supercilious humans are impressed by her devotion to the downtrodden and her kind and unassuming nature, despite their deep-held prejudices.

Temples to the Lady of Life are great halls, free of pillars or other architectural features. Serving as both chancels and grand ballrooms, they are well lit, often above ground or partially open to the sky, and typically hold fountains, pools, and formal gardens. The goddess's temples have numerous small guest chambers for visitors, of which there are many. Most of the Shining Dancer's temples have a small library that serves as a repository of runestones inscribed with dwarven genealogies, clan records, courting rites, descriptions of formal dances, astronomy charts, medicinal practices, herbal brews, agricultural and husbandry records, and the like.

Day-to-Day Activities: The traditional duties of Sharindlar's clergy include dispensing healing and mercy to dwarves and other individuals in need. This role requires both hospices in dwarven strongholds and travel to isolated dwarven holds scattered throughout surface and subterranean wildernesses. As dwarven birthrates slowly decline and the ranks of the Stout Folk shrink, particularly among the shield dwarves of the North, priests in Sharindlar's service devote most of their energy to reverse these trends, with the assistance of Berronar's clergy.

The Merciful Maidens/Youths have focused on maintaining and teaching dwarven courting rites: traditional dances, ritual forms of address, and the like. They strive to bring young dwarves together, engendering likely matches, particularly outside the traditional clans, hoping to increase the number of prolific unions. Sharindlar's oversight of fertility has been extended in many dwarven cultures (particularly in surface-dwelling cultures such as High Shanatar and Besilmer) to include agriculture and animal husbandry.

A particular emphasis has been placed on developing new strains of crops - wheat, barley, mushrooms, lichens, etc. - and hardier breeds of beasts - donkeys, sheep, etc.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The worship of Sharindlar has been kept secret from outsiders, especially her fertility aspect. Dwarves in general refer to her as the Lady of Mercy whenever they know nondwarves to be listening. Dwarven priests of any faith who care for the wounded or sick often pray briefly for Sharindlar's favor.

When the moon begins to wax (the night after the new moon), at Greengrass, at Midsummer Night, and whenever the moon is full, Sharindlar's clergy gather to pray to the Lady of Life. The more secret rituals of Sharindlar take place in hidden caverns, wherever there is a pool of water. Such ceremonies involve dancing, prayers for the Lady's mercy and guidance, and the sacrifice of gold. Gold is heated until molten, and dwarves let blood from their own forearms into the mixture, which is then poured into the water, as Sharindlar's name is chanted and the dwarves dance about the pool in a frenzy, armor and weapons near at hand but not worn or carried.

In the Deep Realm, Sharindlar's rituals take place around the Lake of Gold, a subterranean lake whose rocky bottom is streaked with gleaming veins of gold. The Lady of Life's dwarven faithful never take gold from the lake, whose bottom is now carpeted with the sparkling gold dust of long ages of worship resulting from rituals performed in an effort to raise the low birthrate of the race. Rituals in honor of Sharindlar's fertility aspect celebrated here always end with splendid feasts and courting chases through the underways of the Deeps. Rituals invoking Sharindlar's healing strength enacted by two or more priests of the goddess involve their gathering over injured or sick beings. The Lady of Life's priests sprinkle the ill from a vial of water from the Lake of Gold, while whispering secret names and descriptions of the goddess.

Even Sharindlar's name, whispered or repeated silently in the mind by the faithful, has a calming effect on upset or pain wracked dwarves of all faiths, allowing them to sleep.

Major Centers of Worship: Tyn'rrin Wurlur, the Vale of Dancing Water, is a sprawling temple complex built among the ruins of the longfallen summer palace of King Torhild Flametonguee of Besilmer. Nestled amidst the rolling Sumber Hills-the modem name for the hills bisected by the River Dessarin, which lie just south of the Stone Bridge-the Rook of Torhild, as it is also known, is located on the western bank of the River Dessarin east of the abandoned, monster-haunted, adventurers' keeps along the Larch Path. If dwarven legends are true, the temple's catacombs contain the lost riches of fallen Besilmer, as yet unplundered, and access to subterranean tunnels that stretch from the Sword Mountains to the Unicorn Run.

The very existence of Sharindlar's temple in the Sumber Hills is a closely guarded secret among the Stout Folk of the North, a practice in keeping with the general reticence among dwarves to even discuss the beliefs and role of the Lady of Life with nondwarves. Passersby on the swift-flowing current below the hidden vale can see naught but three tiny creek-fed waterfalls that rush over the 30-foot-high cliff in an endless cascade of water and shimmering light. The aboveground structures of the temple complex are nearly invisible to anyone flying overhead, appearing as little more than boulderstrewn hillocks. Few travelers make the dangerous trek overland from the village of Red Larch to the western bank of the River Dessarin-even fewer stumble into the isolated dell, as the few footpaths in the region are cunningly constructed so as to lead travelers away from the elevated valley.

The fortified hospice of Tyn'rrin Wurlur is ably led by the aging matriarch, Dame of the Dessarin March Gwythiir, daul of Zarna. Gwythiir is assisted by a council of the eight highest-ranking priests residing in the abbey, collectively known as the Ladies of Merciful Life. When not roaming the North healing those in need, the temple's clergy-whose ranks include nearly two hundred dwarven priests who have received the call of the Lady of Life-spend their days at the temple tending small vineyards, making wine, and cultivating mushrooms on the shaded banks of the small creeks that wind through the valley.

The wine presses of Tyn'rrin Wurlur are renowned in dwarven societies throughout the North for producing tuber nectar, a grape and mushroom wine legendary for its aphrodisiac properties. The Vale of Dancing Water is nearly as well known among the Stout Folk for its instruction of young dwarves, both male and female, in the rites of courting and the formal dances that have been passed down for centuries. In recent decades, successful dwarves-particularly those who have earned both wealth and honor by adventuring-have been returning to Tyn'rrin Wurlur when they are ready to settle down to enlist the Dame of the Dessarin March in finding them a suitable mate. Finally, the Vale of Dancing Water serves always-welcoming hospice to wounded or sick dwarves who seek sanctuary in order to finish out their days, or if possible, until they recover. Aging dwarves, particularly those whose careers developed their fighting prowess, often retire to Tyn'rrin Wurlur where they serve as seasoned, if aging, defenders of the vale.

Affiliated Orders: While Sharindlar has no martial orders dedicated to her name, about one in five other priests serve small dwarven communities as midwives, independent of the faith's more organized temple hierarchies. Members of this informal sorority are known collectively as the Maidens of Midwifery, and often extend their roles to include that of physician, matchmaker, and brewer of both aphrodisiacs and elixirs said to increase fertility.

Priestly Vestments: For ceremonial functions, Sharindlar's priests wear red robes with a blue girdle. The head is left bare except for a robin's egg blue scarf. The holy symbol of the faith is a silver disk embossed on both sides with the symbol of the goddess. It is often hung from an argent chain placed around the neck.

Adventuring Garb: Sharindlar's priests avoid violence if possible, but they defend themselves or their charges against obviously hostile and violent opponents. While they prefer regular dwarven garb, the Maidens of Mercy gird themselves with armor when appropriate. A blue scarf, tied around the brow, upper arm, wrist, or ankle, is worn as an adornment. Although they rarely advertise it, members of Sharindlar's clergy usually carry a small knife so that they can mercifully end the suffering of creatures whose pain cannot otherwise be alleviated and whose demise is imminent.