Valkur

Valkur is a minor Astoran god of sailors and their ships, as well as favorable winds and naval combat. The Captain of the Waves is the very picture of the daring sea captain, one capable of sailing his vessel through any disaster the Gods of Fury could unleash.

Description

Valkur's avatar appeared as a 10‑foot-tall (3‑meter) man of broad girth with a full black beard and brown eyes that sparkled with derring-do. He had a great belly laugh, but when driven to anger his voice would crack like rolling thunder. He was often depicted wading through the ocean, the water only coming up to his knees, and was known to actually make such appearances.

As buffeted by uncountable storms as he seemed, Valkur always looked dapper. His fantastic captain's outfit consisted of a blue frock coat with gold braid trim and brass buttons over a colorful brocade vest and white shirt with a ruffled collar and cuffs, along with knee-length trousers, hose, and shoes, with silver buckles. His tricorn hat shared the same color scheme, blue but trimmed in gold braid, and featured a large, white plume. Manifestations

Valkur often manifested as an aurora borealis or aurora australis and sailors swore he appeared to becalmed ships at sea as a ghostly wind in which his image could be faintly glimpsed. Sometimes he manifested as a ghostly ship on the horizon, which always sailed to the nearest port but never seemed to get closer or farther away.

Valkur was served by many intelligent and benevolent animals, including dolphins, whales (especially narwhals), and sea birds. He used the latter to indicate his mood, manifesting as a silver albatross or gull drifting on the wind currents to indicate his favor and as a night black raven to convey his displeasure.

Personality

Valkur is usually jolly and never holds a grudge. He is a figure of endless luck and great boldness, emphasizing his points by shaking his fist in the air and never backing away from a challenge. However, he is not always available for his followers, and there is no guarantee he will answer a call for aid. He is fickle and unpredictable, his moods as mercurial as the weather, but he is always extremely loyal to his crew and does in fact feel his primary responsibility is protecting sailors. Though still unreliable, he has become more responsive to his faithful's petitions after the Time of Troubles.

Divine Realm

Valkur's realm is located in either Ysgard in the Great Wheel Cosmology, or Warrior's Rest (as part of Tempus's realm) in the World Tree and World Axis Cosmologies. His domain stands apart from the others, primarily due to the terrain but also for its relative calm. Safe Harbor, as it is called, is a placid range of saltwater between two warzones, a desert battlefield and a larger watery expanse of raging naval battles.

Activities

Alkur often uses the tether ability of the Captain's Cutlass to tow ships to shore, hauling them in hand-over-hand. There is at least one occurrence where he harpoons a sea monster and uses it for tow. Some claim to see him stride through the waves dragging a small boat to sailors who go overboard, feeding them with the sea biscuits and casks of water contained within.

Worshippers

Valkur was little known by those who dwelled inland. While there were many gods that Faerûnian sailors might pray to in regards to their work, Valkur was invoked in hopes of good tidings for the ship, all hands onboard and the voyage as a whole. Besides sailors, he was venerated by many along the coasts who made their living from the sea, ranging from rich merchants to simple fisherfolk. His clergy was loosely organized, with many of its clerics serving as captains or sailors aboard ships. Usually they met each other only by happenstance, such as when they were both serving the same ship or were present in the same port.

In the past, Northlanders only honored Valkur occassionally as a result of the unreliability of his protection. In more recent times, he had become their unique god, the mighty deity they revered and honored above all others. In him they saw embodied and exemplified the traits that they, particularly their warriors, most admired and treasured: strength, courage, ferocity, guile, and sailing skill. To question, let alone insult this veneration was not advisable.

Valkur was venerated by the humans and general half-elf populance of Aglarond. He was a favored deity in Impiltur, Altumbel, Tharsult, and Wizard's Reach, appeased and beseeched by sea traders in Amn, and significiant in areas where Illuskans and Tethyrians lived together.

Water genasi tended towards deities of water, including Valkur. Those who revered him were respected by common sailors and welcomed aboard by captains, as even those without a taste for adventure loved working on boats. Clerics among air genasi were also known to choose Valkur as a patron.

Dogma

Valkur's doctrine placed emphasis on the importance of defying the odds and daring the impossible. This exploratory spirit was seen as both necessary to spread the reach of huamanity and for the thrill in and of itself. It was a philosophy of carpe diem that embraced risk and viewed life on a ship, feeling and fighting the elements themselves, as the greatest, most invigorating feeling in the world. Notably, his dogma encouraged self-sufficiency and independence from his followers and placed himself third in their list of priorities, their loyalties going first to their crew and second to their ship.

Rituals

Clerics of Valkur prayed for their spells around dawn, upon the stirring of the first breeze. Valkur's church celebrated only one holy day known as the Shattering. The exact date of the festival varied but it was always celebrated in the spring. The purpose of the festival was to celebrate the breaking up of ice floes in the north, which marked the beginning of the sailing season.

Valkur's name was spoken to bless the spirits of dead sailors and lost ships.

Relationships

Valkur looked to Selune for guidance across the oceans of Faerun, the two sharing such a friendship that the moon goddess passed on a minor blessing to Valkur's faithful in the form of improved navigational abilities. In more recent times, Deep Sashelas of the Seldarine lent his aid to the Captain of the Waves so that he could better act as a counterweight to Umberlee's burgeoning influence, and Istishia, the elemental god of water, had ties to Valkur even if he was uninterested in his sailors (or Umberlee's storms for that matter).

The Red Knight, and by extension Tempus, attempted to persuade Valkur in taking a greater interest in the area of naval conflict. Her expectations of him sometimes exceeded his demonstrated commitment to anything but protecting sailors, but she still saw him as her best ally in that field even despite his unreliability. Tempus himself was casually friendly with Valkur, as he was at least somewhat martially-inclined, and at one point the sailor's god become an exarch of his.

Valkur was the sworn foe of the Gods of Fury, as the Captain of the Waves protected ships from the destruction wrought by their leader Talos, invoked as he was by sailors to intercede with favorable winds. His true nemesis among them however was the Sea Queen Umberlee, whose cruel whimsy he defended sailors against. She might yet try to destroy the upstart for daring to challenge her dominion, but as far as could be discerned he continued to defy her without significant retribution.

History

Valkur's worship originated in North Faerûn centuries before the 13th century. He seemed tied to the story of a legendary captain from Mintarn, a mortal sailor (possibly himself) who challenged Umberlee and emerged victorious against all odds. From there his faith spread quickly to Tethyr and Amn, where it became centered, steadily increasing southward.

Valkur's activities during the Time of Troubles were unclear. Since then, he had worked on his unresponsiveness, which resulted in northern sailors trying to placate the Gods of Fury rather than seek his unreliable protection. Although his help still could not be relied upon, he had become more attentive to entreaties from his faithful. In the 15th century DR, his focus had notably recentered to the North to the point he was considered a deity of Northlander sailors.

Valkur

Demigod

Basic Information

Titles

Captain of the Waves
The Mighty

Adjectives

Valkuryte

Pantheons

Astoran

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Symbol

A shield depicting a cloud with three lightning bolts

Realm

Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo/Warrior's Rest/Safe Harbor

Portfolio

Faborable Winds, Naval Combat, Sailors, Ships

Favored Weapon

The Captain's Cutlass (cutlass)

Following

Worshippers

Fighters
Rogues
Sailors

Alignments

NG, CG, CN

Domains

Air (Wind)
Protection (-)
Travel (-)

Favored Aspects

Animals/Plants

Albatross
Silver seagulls
Intelligent and benevolent sea creatures
Dolphins
Whales (particularly narwhals) Disfavor:
Black raven

Colors

Blue
White

Manifest- ations

Aurora, ghost ship