Tyr

The Even-Handed, The Maimed God, The Just God

When he is depicted in religious art, Tyr (TEER) appears as a noble warrior missing his right hand, lost to Kezef the Chaos Hound in proving his resilience and strength of spirit. In recent years, he has been shown blinded as well, a fatality of the wrath of Ao during the Time of Troubles. Tyr's symbol shows his nature: justice through benevolent force and armed vigilance. He opposes all beings who deal in trickery, rule-breaking, and unjust destruction or misdeeds. He is said to be a latecomer among the powers of Faerun, appearing over a millennium ago but after most other Realms powers had established themselves. His faith is popular, as everyone knows exactly what Tyr expects his faithful to do and everyone can trust Tyrrans to be honorable, honest, just, and righteous.
Tyr is rather enigmatic to those outside his faith. He represents such stern justice that it is difficult to see the more subtle qualities of the god. He is a courageous father figure to his faithful and struggles continually to achieve for his followers a paradisiacal state of affairs in Faerun that he knows will never come in an imperfect world. In his more affectionate moods, he sometimes refers to his abode in Lunia as the Just House, and one senses from him at times an odd sort of longing to want to be able to deal with troubles as one could among a perfect family: with love, courage, and the knowledge that everyone will try their best and not betray their fellows because of a special bond that all share. Unfortunately, he also knows that this will never happen, and so emits an undercurrent of stern sadness for what can never be. He is terribly protective of his priesthood, and because of this, he is more likely to manifest in some form to aid them than many other powers.
Torm and Ilmater serve Tyr, and the three deities are sometimes called the Triad.

Divine Domains

War

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Balanced scales resting on a warhammer

Tenets of Faith

Novices of Tyr are charged to: "Reveal the truth, punish the guilty, right the wrong, and be always true and just in your actions." Tyr and his followers are devoted to the cause of justice, to the righting of wrongs and the deliverance of just vengeance. This is not necessarily equality or fairness, as some make the maimed god out to represent, but rather the discovery of truth and the punishment of the guilty. Tyrrans tend to be stiff-necked about theology and to see matters in black and white terms.
Clergy of Tyr are sworn to uphold the law wherever they go, and to punish those wronged under the law. They are to keep complete records of their own rulings, deeds, and decisions. Through these records, a priest's errors can be corrected, his or her grasp of the laws of all lands can grow and flourish, and lawbreakers can be identified by others. No known injustice done by a Tyrran priest must go unbalanced. Priests of Tyr should also always be vigilant in their observations and anticipations, seeking to see what forces and which beings intend or will cause injustices and threaten law and order in the future. They should then act to prevent such challenges to justice in coming to pass. In short: Abide by the laws, and let no others break them. Mete out punishment where lawbreaking occurs.

Holidays

The priesthood of Tyr follows a monthly cycle of high rituals, beginning with Seeing Justice on the first day of each month, the Maiming on the thirteenth day of the month, and the Blinding on the twenty-second day of each month. These major rituals involve chanted prayers, thunderously sung hymns to the god, and conjured illusions: a gigantic war hammer that glows blinding white hanging over the heads of the congregation at Seeing Justice; at the Maiming, a gigantic right hand that bursts into view above the congregation surrounded by a nimbus of burning blood, then tumbles away into darkness and fades from view; and two eyes that burst into fountains of flaming tears until they have entirely spilled away and are gone at the Blinding. Early in the ceremony of the Blinding, symbolic blindfolds of diaphanous damask are bound over the eyes of the celebrants by clergy to remind the worshipers of Tyr's blindness.
In addition to the high rituals, Tyrrans celebrate daily rituals of prayer to the god, which take the form of a sung invocation, a series of responsive prayers led by a senior cleric, a short sermon of instruction or reading of wisdom from the Sacred Judgments of Tyr, and a rousing closing anthem.
In temples and abbeys dedicated to the god, such rituals are celebrated every two hours around the clock, with the most important offices taking place at dawn, highsun (noon), the equivalent of six o'clock, and the equivalent of nine o'clock. The dawn ritual, The Awakening, is a gentle, uplifting renewal of faith. The noonday ritual, the Hammer at Highsun, is a stirring, exultant expression of the church's vigilance and martial might. The evenfeast ritual, High Justice, is a stern, proud celebration of Tyr's commandments and the church's purpose. The evening ritual, the Remembrance of the Just Fallen, is a haunting, softly chanted reverence for those who have laid down their lives for justice, both inside and outside the faith—a ritual of quiet dignity and respect that always leaves many witnesses, even those who do not follow Tyr, in tears.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Day-to-Day Activities

Priests of Tyr serve as judge, jury, and executioner in wilderness areas where there is no law but that of the sword. When doing so, their code cleaves fairly close to "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," but does adhere to common trade custom leavened by "the mercy of ignorance." This last means that if a being is truly ignorant of the proper behavior, minor transgressions can be forgiven once with a warning, an explanation of the proper law—and a record of the warning being written down in the priest's Book of Lawgiving for later distribution to other Tyrrans so that the particular being will not be forgiven a second time.
In civilized areas, Tyrrans (inevitably called "tyrants" behind their backs by nonbelievers) become legal experts and serve as the lawyers of Faerun by dispensing advice and "speaking for" accused persons in trials. The fees they charge go to the Church of Tyr.
Tyrrans often go about lecturing others on their shortcomings as to following laws, rules, and regulations, but they also serve to fearlessly take complaints about such formalities to the authorities who make such rules. No Tyrran will enforce a law that contradicts other laws or can be shown to be unjust. Note the concern is not that it is unfair, but unjust—defined in the Tyrran church as out of compliance with the principles and definitions adhered to by other laws in the body of legal doctrine of which it is a part. Priests of Tyr also have the duty of delivering just vengeance as punishment on the part of those who cannot do it themselves. Tyrrans undertake formal missions to do this, making promises to those to be avenged and forcing open confrontations with those the vengeance is to be visited upon, rather than working behind the scenes or employing intrigue.

Priestly Vestments

The vestments of Tyr are blue and purple robes with a white sash. A white glove or gauntlet is worn on the left hand and a black one on the right to symbolize the loss of the god's right hand.

Adventuring Garb

For everyday use, most priests of Tyr wear armor or practical clothing adorned on the shoulders and back with the symbol of the hammer and scales of Tyr.

Symbol: Balanced scales resting on a warhammer
Home Plane: House of the Triad
Alignment: Lawful good
Portfolio: Justice
Worshipers: Paladins, judges, magistrates, lawyers police, the oppressed
Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG
Domains: War
Favored Weapon: “Justiciar” (longsword)
ALLIES: Ilmater, Torm, Lathander
FOES: Mask, Talos, Bane, Bhaal, Cyric, Talona

Divine Classification

Greater Power

Religions

• Church of the Triad
• Church of Tyr