Gond (GAHND)

Overview

Gond is the god of artifice, craft, and construction. He is revered by blacksmiths, woodworkers, engineers, and inventors. Anyone who is crafting something might say a prayer to Gond to guide the work, but folk know that Gond smiles most brightly upon new inventions that others find useful. Priests of Gond wander the North dressed in saffron vestments, adorned with sashes that contain within their folds gears, locks, hooks, and bits of steel, tin, and wood that might prove useful in a pinch. They also wear belts of large, linked metal medallions and enormous sun hats. A traveling priest of Gond offers services to distant villages as a tinker, a carpenter, and a civil engineer rolled into one, ready to help build a better paddock gate, dig a new well, or mend pots or furniture that might otherwise go to waste. All priests of Gond keep journals in which they record ideas, inventions, and innovations discovered in their travels, and take great delight in meeting fellow priests and sharing their findings. In large cities, the Gondar construct temples that serve as great workshops and inventors’ labs. Wandering priests turn their journals over to the resident scribes at such temples, who then record the priests’ observations for posterity and the benefit of all.
Most who favor Gond practice time-honored crafting professions: they are smiths and engineers, architects and weavers, leatherworkers, and jewelers. Even so, this faith has a well-earned reputation as a haven for crackpot inventors and visionaries. The center of Gond’s worship on the Sword Coast lies in Baldur’s Gate, where the faithful have erected two huge structures in honor of the Wonderbringer: a temple called the High House of Wonders and a museum of craft and design called the Hall of Wonders. Lantan had been the preeminent place of Gond’s worship in the world until a century ago when the island nation disappeared, and since its return, the few Lantanese merchants seen in Sword Coast ports have said little about the present state of their homeland.

(Smiths, Crafters, and Inventors of all races inspired by Gond)

Ethos & Dogma

The divine personality of the Wonderbringer was as varied as his desire to innovate was intense. He would at times act wholly disciplined and methodical, while others become easily distracted. He was just as often insightful and accommodating as he was sardonic or condescending. Gond remained ever-concerned with making real any theoretical concept or schematic and held little concern for any complications or problems that arose therefrom. He would readily accept commissions from any unscrupulous patron, so long as compensation was substantial and he was given the opportunity to create novel and innovative devices. Gond was not anti-magic as some may think but viewed magic as simply another means by which to craft new inventions.

Religious Orders

• Church of Gond
• High House of Wonders
• High Holy Crafthouse of Inspiration
• House of Inspired Hands
• The Turning Wheel

(Legendary forges are holy sites blessed by Gond)

History & Relationships

Gond is an enigmatic deity, serving Oghma is the thirst for knowledge, but is independent which many forget in this relationship. He is friendly with Lathander, Waukeen, and Tempus, for his inventions related to creativity, profit, and war respectively. His only true adversary is Talos, whose unhindered destruction threatens not only Gond's inventions but also his dominion over devices of destruction.

(The tinkering clockwork fascination of gnomes and humans is tribute to Gond)

Tenets of Faith

• Actions count. The intent is good, results are better
• Practice, Experiment, and Innovate
• Record your work and share your work so it may live on

(The depiction of Gond from a humble blacksmith has grown in power as technology is discovered)

Holy Symbol

(The holy symbol of Gond)

Statistics

Titles

• Holy Maker of All Things
• Lord of All Smiths
• The Gearsmith
• Inspiration Divine
• The Meddler
• Wonderbringer
• Gond of the Forgestinking Breath (Derogatory)

Adjectives

• Gondar
• Gondsmen
• Nebelunan

Portfolio and Domains

• Forge
• Knowledge
• Trickery
• Crafting
• Invention

Common Worshipers

• Blacksmiths
• Woodworkers
• Engineers
• Inventors
• Gnomes

Favored Manifestations

• Nebelun (Gnomes)
• Zionil (in the Shining Lands)
• Arnaglaerus
• Balateng
• Daerosdaeros
• Klannauda
• Mrangor
• Purphoros

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Divine Classification

Intermediate Deity

Alignment

Neutral

"I thank you again for your assistance, Wonderbringer. You prove there are things better left to the hammers of your smiths than the spells of my faithful.”
— Mystra recognizing Gond.