Umberlee (əmbɛrˈli/ uhm-ber-LEE)

Umberlee , The Bitch Queen

Umberlee was the evil sea goddess in the Faerûnian pantheon, most often worshiped by sailors or people traveling by sea, out of fear of her destructive powers. The Queen of the Depths was known as a particularly malicious, petty, greedy, and vain deity who controlled the harshness of the sea while reveling in her own power and was not hesitant to drown people if she so pleased.

“Coins are what matter. And to earn coins, one needs roads — or the love of Umberlee.”
— King Palaghard Obarskyr II of Cormyr

Divine Domains

Portfolio; Sea
Tempest Domain

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Tenets of Faith

The Undrowned and Umberlants held no ethical standards nor persuasions; the only thing that was set in stone was their belief in the cruelty and viciousness of the sea, the most dangerous place. The folk who were brave enough to travel the savage seas should be ready to pay the price for their challenge to the Bitch Queen's domain. The Church of Umberlee's doctrine was fear; all were to tremble before the Queen's power, as her waves and winds were all-reaching. The mercy of the Great Queen of the Sea was to be bought with generous offerings, as they brought fair winds. All who dared to travel through her domain were to know that Umberlee controlled the monsters of the deep and the drowned dead. Priests and priestesses of Umberlee were to spread the holy word of the Bitch Queen and spread the fear of her rage, and perform no service in her name without collecting high tithe. They were to promote the fear of Umberlee's waves and winds unless her clergy accompanied the travelers. The final divine directive was for the followers of Umberlee's faith to slay anyone claiming the storms over the seas were Talos' doing.

Non-Human Worshipers

Umberlee had worshipers among krakens, Sahuagin, anguiliians, Water Genasi, and other evil sea creatures. A number of these were actually worshipers of Panzuriel, a deity with no power on Toril; Umberlee merely granted spells on his behalf. In addition, some tanar'ri priests were known to pledge themselves to Umberlee's service.
Most weresharks, created by the Queen of the Depths herself as a way to undermine her bitter opponent Selûne, venerated Umberlee out of admiration rather than fear.

Holidays

• First Tide: This holy day was celebrated when the ice broke up in a harbor. It consisted of a flute and drums parade through town with a caged animal, which was tied to a rock and then thrown into the sea. If it survived, it was magically healed and treated as a sacred animal with the rank of an Umberlant. This was an ancient custom with its roots in the days of old when Umberlee selected her clergy from among the Human sacrifices drowned in the same manner as the animals of the First Tide.
• Fair Seas Festival: A Waterdevian holiday that took place at the end of Fleetswake. It was the festival to appease Umberlee during which the worshipers paid tithes by throwing the valuables and the coin made off of the temporarily raised docking fees into the deepest reaches of Waterdeep's harbor. The valuables then were swept away by the currents and taken to Umberlee's Cache, the deep chasm in the waters of Waterdeep.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

The Bitch Queen's seldomly seen avatar was a giant woman with the body colored like the sea, of blues and greens. Her hands had talons. Her elbows had fins. She had green hair of seaweed and kelp. Her white eyes were reminiscent of pearls, and her voice sounded like the fiercest sea storm, booming with breaking waves. The goddess appeared in this form to terrify the mortals on board sinking ships. The towering avatar wore jewelry made out of seashells, carried a trident, and was dressed in a flowing cape made out of countless pale-purple jellyfish. Umberlee's avatar laughed with malicious glee as she toyed with doomed vessels.
After the Godswar, the aspect of Umberlee that gathered her devotees from the Fugue Plane appeared as a humanoid with a manatee face and green seaweed hair.

Manifestations

The most common manifestations of the Bitch Queen were waves and winds of the seas. Sailors knew that when storms hit their ships, and the winds or waves carried sinister cold laughter or hissing words, they were facing the cruel goddess herself.
Following the Time of Troubles, Umberlee's powers were decreased, and she could manifest gales of wind four times a day. Her watery manifestation in the form of waves did not have many limitations in the sea. She used wave forms that reached heights of 160 feet (49 meters) and which possessed considerable power. These waves could instantly kill an unlucky victim or grab and carry away items and treasures of value from the ships, including items such as rings and gauntlets.
Another common manifestation of the Great Queen of the Sea was in the shape of an aquatic monster of terrible size. She took on many shapes, including monstrous-sized sharks, krakens, and aquatic undead and undead lake-dwelling monsters. Her most notable aspect was the kraken-like Dweller that grew within the Temple-Under-The-Sea, slowly increasing its strength and corruption influence.

Special abilities

Umberlee's avatar had access to divine spells (except earth, fire, sun, thought, and time magic) and arcane spells (except earth and fire). All of the water magic the avatar was able to cast manifested at triple strength, making it extremely potent. The trident the avatar wielded was a powerful magical item that combined the powers of a trident of submission and a trident of fish command. She could summon 6-12 sharks or 2-6 giant sharks to do her bidding every 30 minutes. Every 12 hours, the avatar of Umberlee was able to summon water elementals of various sizes and power to serve her. All the creatures summoned by Umberlee were immune to any mind-affecting magic.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

“In my experience, sea travel has always been hazardous. It could be I have offended Umberlee in some way. She is such a temperamental - er - I mean, magnificent goddess of the vast ocean!”
— Volothamp Geddarm

Umberlee was temperamental, evil, and malicious. She did not feel a moral obligation to honor any of her agreements or promises if the end result was not beneficial to her. That, and her desire for the valuables and excessive tribute, demonstrated her insatiable greed and cruelty. She was power-hungry and loved exercising it, toying with her worshipers. She fed her sadistic nature by destroying naval vessels and feeding shipwreck victims to her sharks while watching others drown.
She rarely favored individual mortals unless it benefited her in some way. Umberlee did not tolerate any one member of her clergy becoming famous and overshadowing the church or the goddess herself.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Silvanus was technically Umberlee's superior, as the ruler of the the Deep Wilds within which she resided. However, Umberlee did not see herself as Silvanus' servant.
Umberlee openly fought with Selûne, the goddess of the moon whose light guided navigators at sea; Chauntea, the goddess of the earth and land; Sune, whose beauty spurred jealously within the Bitch Queen; and Valkur, the deity to whom sailors prayed for safe return from the sea. She hated Chauntea for her dominion over land.

Deities of Fury

Umberlee was a member of the Deities of Fury, a group that included Auril and Malar and was led by the Storm Lord Talos. As Talos encroached upon Umberlee's portfolio since both deities ruled over storms, she attempted to distract him with a romantic relationship.
Even though Talos was her superior and patron, he often attempted to usurp Umberlee's power over sea storms and hurricanes, folding them under his own portfolio. Despite that, the Queen of the Depths positioned herself as a flirt, keeping herself in Talos' good graces. Although her ambitions were limited by not being able to affect land directly, given the opportunity, she would have gladly destroyed her patron, taking his portfolio of destruction for herself.
The closest deity Umberlee could consider an ally was Auril, the fellow member of the Deities of Fury. When Umberlee required aid, she was likely to call on the Frostmaiden.

Deities of the First Circle

In the late 15th century DR, Umberlee was a part of the loosely related group of deities known as the First Circle to their worshipers. The First Circle consisted of the gods who lorded over nature: Chauntea, Eldath, Mielikki, Silvanus, Auril, Malar, Talos, and Umberlee herself.

Relationships

Slarkrethel

Chosen (Vital)

Towards Umberlee

5

Honest

---

Umberlee

Patron (Important)

Towards Slarkrethel

5

Honest

---

Divine Classification

Intermediate deity

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Honorary & Occupational Titles

The Bitch Queen
Great Queen of the Sea
Queen of the Depths
The Wavemother
Goddess of Oceans
Goddess of the Deep Wilds
Stormgoddess of the Seas
Sea Queen
Sea Bitch

Spouses

Siblings

Presentation

Feminine

Other Affiliations

• First Circle

Ruled Locations

• Temple of Red Sails