Complete Divine: WASTRI god of bigotry AND AMPHIBIANS???

[stevelabny]

so here I am flipping through a borrowed copy of Complete Divine, and I get to the deities section and find a listing of minor Greyhawk deities including WASTRI, whos portfolios include bigotry (human supremacy) AND AMPHIBIANS.

WTF?

can anyone who played in Greyhawk give me a reason for his existence?
which rule book/ module/ novel is his first appearance?
I NEED to know the story behind this guy.

How does someone into human supremacy develop a soft spot for toads?

This has to be the absolutely most bizarre thing I've ever seen in an "official" d&d book.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

BULLYWUG POWER!!! GO GREEN!!!!

 

[Davelozzi]

Ahh, my old nemesis...the hopping prophet.

 

[Phineas Crow]

Some background on Wastri, the hopping prophet, can be found here and here.

 

[Faraer]

First mention: Not in the Vast Swamp writeup in the 1980 World of Greyhawk folio, so maybe Dragon #56? First full writeup in Dragon #71. "It is he who preaches the ultimate superiority of humankind. While humanoids can serve, demi-humans are fit only to be slain — especially dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. These, with the aid of his gray-clad “Servants,” he hunts with his toad packs and exterminates whenever possible."

And I should add, "“Great Gods!” expostulated the startled errant. “It is a dwarf being pursued by a pack of giant toads and weirdly hopping men!”"

 

[trollwad]

I [bold] NEED [/bold] to know the story behind this guy.

How does someone into human supremacy develop a soft spot for toads?

This has to be the absolutely most bizarre thing I've ever seen in an "official" d&d book.[/QUOTE]


Wastri rules. Gygax obviously regretted not taking full advantage of wastri's potential -- he called him something like "the unfulfilled prophet" in a fairly recent dragon (up on a soapbox). I seem to recall gygax saying that the bigotry angle was a ploy to get popular support from humans who wanted to rule demihumans. Wastri's real angle (obviously less popular with normal humans) was to idolize his batrachian consorts. This is kind of a common gygax theme -- a cult (wastri or temple or elemental evil) has an ostensible goal (bigotry or evil druidism) which has more likelihood of generating human worshippers and then an inner circle of true worship (amphibians, zuggtmoy or tharizdun depending on whether you go with gygax's original or monte's remake).

If you look back at the 2e supplement "Scarlet Brotherhood", I believe that product implies (its been a long time since ive read it) that Wastri was an early member of the brotherhood who wandered off into the Vast Swamp to the north and discovered a kinship with amphibians and perhaps some relic or something that made him who he is today.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Wow..that has got to be the strangest god *ever*.

 

[stevelabny]

So I guess I can start working on my all-toad campaign

bullwugs, wastri cultists, slaadi and a tarrasque.

nifty.

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

Don't anger him, he'll send the KKK and Frog and Toad after you.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

It is all about self-deception.

How does someone into human supremacy develop a soft spot for toads?

This has to be the absolutely most bizarre thing I've ever seen in an "official" d&d book.

Leave it to Complete Divine to strip important flavor out of these deities. Wastri is also the god of self-deception.

How does a god who promotes human supremacy among his followers reconcile also pushing his followers into admiring amphibians? Self-deception.


Regards,
Eric Anondson