Church of Cayden Cailean

Most Caydenites are common folk who seek simple contentment in their daily lives, like to have a drink with their friends, and find the courage to stand up to evil when it rears its ugly head, no matter what shape it takes. They are happy people, preferring to look on the bright side of things and accepting any downturn as a challenge to make right. Brewers, vintners, barkeeps, and innkeepers pray to the Drunken Hero for tasty beverages and the good business that comes from them. Happy drunks and revelers of all sorts toast his name. Wealthy folk do good deeds in honor of him, such as sharing a private store of wine in lean times. Cayden Cailean is a popular deity among good adventurers, who share his casual goals of questing and celebrating one’s victories. Those not keen on adventuring often work as guides or explorers, enjoying the freedom of living and going wherever they please. While most worshippers are human, a significant number are half-elves, finding comfort and acceptance in a faith interested in good works and good times rather than formal hierarchies, ancient traditions, and old grudges. Although dwarves appreciate his interest in ale, few worship him, though some clans will lift a mug to him while telling stories about Torag, in which he typically takes the role of a humorous sidekick.
There are many mortals alive today with the surname Cailean, and they may be distantly related to the god, but children raised in church-funded orphanages also often take the god’s surname as their own when they leave. Thus, the handsome farmhand might be a direct descendant of Cayden Cailean’s brother, or merely a survivor of a goblin attack that wiped out entire families.
The faith is not inclined to formality, and official church holidays resemble festivals more than worship services. Services to Cayden Cailean always include a toast or a song, which typically involves shouting choruses, stomping feet, and the clanking of drinkware, and a simple toast at a wedding might become a game of “dueling dares” between the groomsmen. Services may be indoors or outdoors, aboveground or below, day or night—whatever is appropriate to the occasion.
Cayden’s church essentially has no hierarchy, and the god himself sometimes has to send visions or dreams to his priests to encourage them to meet on an issue and decide how to deal with it. None of his priests really like other people telling them what to do, despite any good intentions, and while his faithful combat evil and injustice where they find it, they’re rarely out to change the world in a systematic and orderly way. Elderly priests and those renowned as local heroes often garner special respect within the church, but few attempt to lead by warrant of their age or reputations. Most priests believe that the people who discovered a problem are the best people to deal with it, and don’t bother trying to follow a chain of command unless an issue turns out to be too big to handle alone. The majority of the god’s clergy are amiable with each other, and while there can be personal rivalries, they can generally be solved with a shared drink or friendly bar fight.

Temples & Shrines

Most of the Drunken Hero’s sacred buildings are alehouses run by clergy members or small inns bearing a shrine to him above the bar. Large breweries often contain a small room set aside for the church, and members of the owner’s family may enter the priesthood to secure prosperity for the brewery. In cities, the occasional feast hall might bear the symbol of Cayden Cailean on its sign or over its doors. These larger “temples” donate much of their earnings to promote the public good, ease the burden of the poor, buy slaves’ freedom, or fund pious adventurers.
The casual nature of the faith—plus its popularity among non-spellcasters—means that a typical temple or shrine might only have a very low-level cleric on hand. If someone comes knocking covered in blood, however, any able cleric will usually patch her up, perform a healing incantation, and give her a stiff drink to numb any remaining pain.

Clothing

Formal raiment of a Caydenite priest is a simple brown tunic or robe with a wine-red stole bearing the god’s ale-mug symbol, though most clergy and lay worshippers content themselves with a simple stein or other drinking vessel. Ceremonial objects are primarily functional rather than decorative, and a high priest of Cayden Cailean would think nothing of performing a blessing with water or wine from a common bar mug rather than a bejeweled font. His church’s holy water may be blessed water, wine, ale, or other spirits, though the stuff intended for use against evil monsters is usually of inferior quality. After all, why waste good wine by throwing it at something?

A Priest’s Role

Cayden Cailean’s easygoing nature and lack of a central church mean that his priests are able to use their discretion when it comes to deciding how to advance his cause in the world. Some are solo crusaders for good, while others found adventuring companies or support border towns in need of faith and comfort. Some brew ale or beer, some make wine, some plant crops for these beverages, and some involve themselves in the transport or sale of spirits. City-based clerics might be heavily involved with the local brewers’ or vintners’ guilds, and may even oversee the quality of spirits for the city government (provided any bureaucracy is kept to a minimum). In smaller communities, a cleric might work as a mediator, teach farmers how to brew their own drinks in small quantities, and encourage townsfolk to share with their neighbors to create bonds of friendship. Explorer clerics and adventurers in distant lands often seek to assuage or combat the scars of slavery; look for new stories, rumors, and recipes to share; or act as healers and spiritual support for principled mercenary companies.
The god’s close association with alcoholic beverages leads most clerics to have a high alcohol tolerance. Most individuals who are easily sickened from drinking or dislike the taste of alcohol usually do not enter the clergy, but the faith would never turn away a worthy potential who has no taste for booze. The church is also aware that some folk drink to the extent that it becomes a crutch or a poison to the will. Cayden Cailean and his priests believe this is a corruption and abuse of his favorite things, and sometimes a priest takes it upon himself to counsel these poor souls, often using minor magic to bolster a patient’s resolve and steering the person toward work or activities that improve the patient’s life and negate the need to drown his or her sorrows.
The clergy has a tradition of drinking contests and “dueling dares” or boasting contests, all in good fun and never with the intent to harm or humiliate. In contests that become heated, a competitor who feels the contest has gone too far may suggest that the other person take the Test of the Starstone, at which point the opponent usually says, “I’m great, but not so great as Cayden Cailean,” refusing the dare and ending the contest honorably, usually buying the darer a drink in the hopes of becoming comrades. By custom, many brigands who consider themselves civilized will allow a priest of Cayden Cailean to pass safely in exchange for a drink and a blessing, though this courtesy rarely extends to the priest’s companions.
A typical priest of Cayden Cailean has at least one rank in a useful Craft or Profession skill. Most study Diplomacy, Knowledge (geography), or Knowledge (nature) to better influence people or enhance their craft. Priests tip well and have relatively relaxed attitudes toward marriage. Many also develop close platonic friendships with people of all genders. Given Cayden Cailean’s own status as an orphan, priests and temple-taverns often foster orphans and children born of other traveling priests. These are raised by the church community, though if the parents’ identities are known, they are still held responsible for their children’s welfare.
A typical day for a priest involves waking, a prayer-toast, breakfast, and a period of work. Meals are always begun with a toast, and in some places late afternoon is marked with a swig of hearty, thick ale. Evening is for friends, family, telling stories, and personal interests. Spell preparation takes place after breakfast. The church uses no formal titles, though those who have a title from a guild or profession normally use it within the church as well.
While many bards claim Cayden Cailean as their patron, only a small number are so devout that they consider themselves part of the clergy. Bards are proud to point out that it was their forebears who first spread the news of Cayden Cailean’s ascension, and bards believe that they (as a profession) have a dear place in the god’s heart because of this. Their skills and magic make them excellent rabble-rousers in unhappy lands, and many like to keep an ear to the ground for such opportunities.

Adventurers

The Drunken Hero attracts more than his fair share of adventurers and glory-seekers. A follower of Cayden Cailean is generally a happy and companionable traveler, looking to right wrongs and explore the world at her own discretion. Caydenites leave it to others to bear the burden of grim and tortured personas; for a follower of the Drunken Hero, the world is too big and life is too short and sweet to waste any time whining about it. This is not to say that Caydenite adventurers don’t have a keen sense of justice. If one is stout enough to be an adventurer and serious about one’s faith, one don’t turn your back on the poor and oppressed—Cayden’s faithful just do the job, show them how to take care of themselves, and then get back to the serious business of enjoying life.