Beshaba

Beshaba

Beshaba (pronounced: /bɛˈʃɑːbɑː/ be-SHAH-ba), or Lady Doom as she is also known, is the chaotic evil intermediate deity of accidents, bad luck, misfortune, and random mischief and a member of Tempus' pantheon. She demands worship to keep her bad luck at bay. Her aim in life is to destroy her sister Tymora, or Lady Luck. She also delights in cursing others, often causing seafarers to lose their navigational instincts.

History

Beshaba came into being when the deity Tyche split during the Dawn Cataclysm, a separate disaster relating to the machinations of Lathander. Tyche was infected with a taint of the dark god Moander and was forced to split into two parts by her friend Selûne. Those two parts, Tymora and Beshaba, sprang out fully formed and immediately began fighting.

Relationships

Beshaba, who is said to have gotten Tyche's looks where Tymora got her love, is considered to be attractive to many male deities and some have been devoured by her lustful passions. She rejected advances from Talos, among other hopefuls. Mortals who perceive the Maid of Misfortune are often destroyed by their lust or driven to maddened loyalty.
Beshaba is the twin sister and sworn enemy of Tymora, whom she seeks to destroy. At one point, she was Tempus' lover.

Worshipers

Beshaba is revered more out of fear than out of religious faith. Her doctrine states that bad luck befalls everybody and the only way to avoid it is by worshiping her. She is renowned for being spiteful and malevolent, and her priests manipulate common folk into revering and providing for them by acting mysteriously and playing on morbid fears. Her clerics offer an entreaty for their spells and make sacrifices of alcoholic beverages such as burning brandy or wine. There are two festivals in the calendar of Beshaba followers at Midsummer and Shieldmeet. Both are celebrated by revelry and indulgence in food and drink. The Red Wizards of Thay are known to erect shrines to Beshaba near their ritual chambers to ward off bad luck.

Orders

• Doommasters - The best known order of specialty priests were the Doommasters, universally feared for the way they reveled in the infliction of misfortune on others
• Black Fingers - Only by Beshaba's favor, some evil male clerics, thieves, and fighters of Beshaba can join the secret order of the Black Fingers. They act as assassins dedicated to their goddess's name
• Wormlucks - In order to spread Beshaba's influence and counter the church of Tymora, the Wormlucks (or Priests of Bad Fortune) were created, serving as a focus for calamities, which occur wherever they go, often affecting them as well. Their style of dress is distinctive, forced upon them by the orthodox clergy to avoid confusion with the orthodox clergy and for high visibility. They wear bright red robes over armor and white hair wigs, which have to be obvious and usually ill-fitting, to honor Beshaba's own locks.