Sharess

Sharess, known in the Mulhorandi pantheon as Bast, is the goddess of festhalls, hedonism, and sensual fulfillment. Passionate and willful, The Dancing Lady has the independent and hedonistic temperament of a feline, and encourages her followers to spread pleasure to all. Sharess is an interloper deity of the Mulhorandi pantheon, but has since gaiend acceptance as a member of the Astoran pantheon.

Description

Sharess was often depicted as a beautiful, voluptuous woman with the head of a cat, especially in Mulhorand. She was constantly grooming herself to ensure her appearance was always up to standards.

Personality

Sharess is an innate flirt and loves toying around with beautiful mortals; once she has her fill, she swiftly moves on to other sources of pleasure.

Worshippers

The Church of Sharess was of casual nature, and her clergy were responsible for the running of many festhalls found throughout large cities in Faerûn. These festhalls sought to indulge every pleasure imaginable. Privately owned festhalls usually employed at least one or two Sharessan clerics.

The Church of Sharess probably celebrated the most festivals out of all the faiths of Faerûn. These revels were known collectively as the Endless Revel of Life. Even daily events, such as the rising and setting of the sun, presented a chance for Sharessans to revel. Their most beloved festival was the Midsummer's Eve festival, where the pursuit of pleasure had no boundary.

Sharessan clerics prayed for their spells at dusk.

Clergy

Sharess didn't have any orders as such, but a group of werecats devoted to both her and Selûne, and calling themselves the Eyes of the Evening, hunted down Sharran cultists on nights of the full moon.

Relationships

As Bast, she opposed the evil Set along with the other good-aligned gods of that nation. She had a close relationship with Nobanion, who shared her interest in felines, though Sharess did as much to annoy him as she did to entice him. She also had a romantic relationship with Anhur, though their opinion of each other varied wildly from absolute love to indifference depending on how many fights they had.

As Sharess, she was an ally of Selûne, Sune, Milil, Hanali Celanil, and Lliira, and she opposed both Loviatar and Shar, the latter of which never forgot that Sharess escaped from her clutches.

History

Sharess was originally known as Bast, a Mulhorandi power who was the patroness of cats, and Anhur's lieutenant. During the Second Mulhorandi Empire (beginning −1048 DR), she subsumed the portfolio of Felidae, a beast cult deity of felines, nomads, and sensual pleasure. Struck by wanderlust, Bast traveled across Faerûn leaving many cults in her wake. During these travels, she also subsumed the divinity of Zandilar the Dancer, a goddess of the Yuir elves, gaining that goddess' portfolio of intense passionate love.

After Myth Drannor fell, she began to experiment with the darker side of pleasure and fell under the sway of Shar, and became known as Sharess. During the Time of Troubles, Sune freed Sharess from Shar's influence, when the latter tried to assassinate Sharess, as she had Ibrandul due to her reluctance to be completely dominated by the goddess of shadow. Sune doused Sharess with a chalice filled with waters from Arvandor's Evergold that restored Sharess' beauty and willpower, giving her the will and the edge to rebel against her mistress.

After that, Sharess spent much of her time in Arvandor, frolicking and pursuing pleasure in all of its forms, despite the warnings of her deific allies and the offers made by Shar, and guarding herself from Loviatar.

After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, Sharess became an exarch of her ally Sune. However, she lost many of her temples and public veneration during the Second Sundering. After the Mulhorandi rebellion of 1486 DR, she gained many mulhorandi followers, who began to worship her as Bast once more.

Sharess

Demigod

Basic Information

Titles

The Dancing Lady
Patroness of Festhalls
The Festhall Madam
The Lustful Mistress
The Tawny Temptress
Succubus of Sensation
Mother of Cats
Feline of Felicity
Foe of Set

Pantheons

Astoran
Mulhorandi

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Symbol

Feminine lips

Realm

Olympian Glades of Arborea/Olympus/Brightwater/Rapture

Portfolio

Cats, Festhalls, Hedonism, Sensual Fulfillment

Favored Weapon

A great cat's paw (claw bracer)

Following

Worshippers

Bards
Hedonists
Sensualists

Alignments

NG, CG, CN

Domains

Animal (Fur)
Charm (Captivation, Lust)