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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 316460" data-attributes="member: 2067"> DENNARI, THE EARTH MOTHER The dwarven revolutionaryAlignment: Chaotic GoodWorshipers: Dwarves, oppressed and poor people, farmers and peasantsDomains: Chaos, Earth, Good, Liberation, PlantFavored Weapon: WarhammerHome Plane/Domain: The Beastlands/Freedom Springs ForthDivine Rank: Lesser Deity (10)Classes: ClericPortfolio: Earth, liberation, sufferingSalient Abilities: (12) Alter Reality, Area Divine Shield, Clearsight, Command Plants, Divine Blessing (Constitution), Divine Earth Mastery, Divine Fast Healing, Divine Inspiration (hope), Divine Shield, Extra Domain (Chaos), Extra Domain (Liberation), Gift of LifeSpecial Possessions: NoneAlternate Domains: HealingSymbol: A warhammer with leaves sprouting from the handleDESCRIPTION, DOGMA, CLERGY AND TEMPLES    These have been omitted so that I don't get a Cease and Desist order from WotC. They're in Deities and Demigods...though I coulda done 'em better. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" /> -- JRITES AND RITUALSDennari's rituals revolve around her agricultural roots and simultaneously serve as allegories for the oppressed people she represents. They are often litanies (usually in dwarvish) about the persecutions suffered at the hands of those who have no right to persecute. Though it often sounds like simple complaining, the clerics see this as a powerful source of inspiration, and a petition for help from the deity who feels all of the pain.Often, shows are made of love to the earth and ground, including bowing, sleeping on the bare ground, kissing the ground during prayer time, spreading handfulls into the air, or planting seeds.Some result to ritual scarring or cutting to represent that they, themselves, wish to take some of the burden off of Dennari and place it upon themselves.MYTHOGRAPHYDennari is a superb example of a transitional deity: one born for a specific purpose whose nature has shifted due to the nature of her worshipers.The oldest records of Dennari date back to the earliest dwarven records, where she was refered to as a friendly goddess of motherhood, childbirth, and love. She was said to be the Mother of All Born. Gradually, she became to be more closely associated with the suffering matron, whose children had hurt her in so many ways, still associated with a cult of women only. Rather abruptly she shifts from a passive observer of pain to an active fighter of it, and simultaneously spreads beyond the dwarven lands, first to the towns surrounding various dwarven camps, and then further and further out.The most popular theory holds that, much like the elven beauty fetish can get out of control, the dwarven reverence for obedience and love of war can get out of control, too. Though little is forthcoming from the insular people, it can be reasonably determined that on at least one occasion, this has resulted in a very strict patriachy system that the women of the dwarven lands (long-suffering but as tough and hardy as any other dwarf) rebeled against, as much as a dwarf can rebel.The most likely scenerio for her spread is that various outsiders were present at some of these rebellions, and Dennari, a long-time example of a dwarven woman, was instrumental in the symbolism of the rebellion. Take away the woman, the source of stability in the often violent dwarven lifestyle, and you can cause a collapse of the entire society.Dennari, then, grew out of this icon of the dwarven hearth and home and her place as the Eternal Mother, and was spread to other areas where rebellion was needed, often from very destitute people. In this way, she slowly became less and less of a dwarven hearth-mother and more and more a figure of the subjugated masses rebelling in all ways possible. Every flower that blooms is a source of freedom from the pain of their lives.LEGENDSFew of the original legends of Dennari and her role as the patron of childbirth and the home, are preserved any more, or if they have they have been so changed by her alteration as to be indistinguishable.Perhaps the most famous legends of Dennari are actually expressed in a motif that varies in it's players from region to region. It always stars a woman of stout, resolute heart, who is put down and subjugated by those around her. She perserveres, showing toughness that is usually compared to a dwarf's, and soon finds that those who subjugate her depend more on her than she on them. She rebels by refusing to do that which the powers that be want her to do, and succeeds in causing their lives to fall to peices around her. The tale frequently ends with her violent and untimely death at the hands of a furious lord or king, but always with an afternote that states that those that killed her lead lives not worth living in subjugation to others because of her abscence. The woman is said to, sometimes, be braught back to life by her prayers to Dennari, and to be offered a place of importance at the head of a kingdom, but she always refuses, choosing instead to help the lives of the common folk now that she is free.One would think that, perhaps, this echoes a dwarven history somewhere.ETC.PrC's· The Bearer of Pain: Gets more and more abilities to resist/endure damage (bonus HP, DR, regeneration, etc.)· Poor Revolutionary: Focuses on rabble-rousing and mob-gaining for winning a rebellion.Spell· Dennari's Wail: Clr 4 (Dennari), You release an agonized scream that tears through the air, and can be heard for a distance of one mile. Those with 30 feet of you are dealt an amount of damage equal to your current HP subtracted from your maximum HP, ignoring all forms of damage reduction or energy resistance. This is a sonic spell. The effect is often described as Dennari herself releasing the force of the pain that has been caused on her faithful that she also had to bear.Plot Hooks· Set Your Mind Free: Some cultists of Dennari have been farming a strange plant which, when smoked, gives you a sense of floating, falling, flying freedom. However, the authorities suspect that the plant is addictive. Perhaps the PC's can be instrumental in this investigation: does the plant set you free, only to bind you to it's freedom? Is that a bad thing? Does craving freedom mean you must be a slave to it?</blockquote>

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