Sharess

Sharess

Sharess (pronounced: /ˈʃɑːrɛs/ SHAH-ress) is the deity of hedonism, festhalls, and sensual fulfillment. She has the individualistic and hedonistic personality of a feline and she is constantly grooming herself to ensure her appearance is always up to standard. Sharess is an innate flirt and loves toying around with beautiful mortals; once she had her fill, she swiftly moves on to other sources of pleasure. She is known in the Mulhorandi pantheon as Bast.

Description

Sharess is often depicted as a beautiful, voluptuous woman with the head of a cat (especially in Mulhorand).

History

Sharess was originally known as Bast, a Mulhorandi power who was the patroness of cats, and Anhur's lieutenant. During the Second Mulhorandi Empire (beginning -1048 DR), she subsumed the portfolio of Felidae, a beast cult deity of felines, nomads, and sensual pleasure. Struck by wanderlust, Bast traveled across Faerûn leaving many cults in her wake. During these travels, she also subsumed the divinity of Zandilar the Dancer, a goddess of the Yuir elves, gaining that goddess' portfolio of intense passionate love.
After Myth Drannor fell, she began to experiment with the darker side of pleasure and fell under the sway of Shar, and became known as Sharess. During the Time of Troubles, Sune freed Sharess from Shar's influence, when the former tried to assassinate Sharess, as she had Ibrandul due to her reluctance to be completely dominated by the goddess of shadow. Sune doused Sharess with a chalice filled with waters from Arvandor's Evergold that restored Sharess' beauty and willpower, giving her the will and the edge to rebel against her mistress. Since then, Sharess has spent much of her time in Arvandor, frolicking and pursuing pleasure in all of its forms, despite the warnings of her deific allies and the offers made by Shar, and guarding herself from Loviatar.
After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, Sharess became an exarch of her ally Sune. However, she lost many of her temples and public veneration during the Second Sundering. After the Mulhorandi rebellion of 1486 DR, she gained many mulhorandi followers, who began to worship her as Bast once more.

Relationships

Deities

As Bast, she opposes the evil Set along with the other good-aligned gods of that nation. She has a close relationship with Nobanion, who shared her interest in felines, though Sharess did as much to annoy him as she has to entice him. She also has a romantic relationship with Anhur, though their opinion of each other varies wildly from absolute love to indifference depending on how many fights they have recently had. As Sharess was an ally of Selûne, Sune, Milil, Hanali Celanil, and Lliira, and she opposed both Loviatar and Shar, who never forgot that Sharess escaped from her clutches.

Worshipers 

The Church of Sharess is of casual nature, and her clergy are responsible for the running of many festhalls found throughout large cities in Faerûn. These festhalls seek to indulge every pleasure imaginable. Privately owned festhalls usually employ at least one or two Sharessan clerics.
The Church of Sharess probably celebrates the most festivals out of all the faiths of Faerûn. These revels are known collectively as the Endless Revels of Life. Even daily events, such as the rising and setting of the sun, present a chance for Sharessans to revel. Their most beloved festival is the Midsummer's Eve festival, where the pursuit of pleasure has no boundary. Sharessan clerics pray for their spells at dusk.

Affiliated Orders

Sharess doesn't have any orders as such, but a group of werecats devoted to both her and Selûne (calling themselves the Eyes of the Evening) hunt down Sharran cultists on nights of the full moon.