Background help-- Faerun

[Chronos]

My turn in the barrel is almost up, which means it's time for me to start worrying about my own character. Short form, he's a valor bard who's a former gladiator, until he led a successful slave revolt, but who liked fighting enough that he's still doing it (just, of his own free will, not because a master forces him).

Two details I need: First, someplace somewhere in Faerun, preferably a decent distance from Waterdeep, where slavery is legal, for him to be from.

Second, what would be a good deity for him to follow? A CG god of freedom would be ideal, but I can't seem to find one on the Faerunian list-- maybe a god of warriors, or of performers?

[Zevox]

There's probably a number of nations that would work, but the most obvious option is Thay, the land of the Red Wizards, which is rampant with slavery. Though a slave revolt there probably won't remain too successful for too long, given it has Szass Tam (a very powerful Necromancer Lich) in charge, but hey, maybe that's why your character left Thay? Assuming the campaign isn't set there, anyway.

As far the god goes, "Chaotic Good God of Freedom" is practically an oxymoron - most any CG deity in the Realms celebrates freedom in some form or another. The two biggest names would be Tymora and Selûne, Goddesses of Good Luck and the Moon respectively, both of whom are very popular among adventurers. Tymora for the obvious reason, Selûne because she's a patron of travelers and is the most ancient good-aligned deity of the world, involved in its creation alongside her sister, Shar. For other options in that alignment you'd have the likes of Lliira, Sune, and Sharess - Goddesses of Joy, Love, and Sensuality, respectively. Basically they're all benevolent deities who teach that life is to be enjoyed, with Lliira's flavor being more "Don't worry, be happy!", Sune's being along the lines of "Find and nurture love, for it is the greatest gift of life", and Sharess' being full-blown hedonism. Each of them is well within the norm to be a patron of a performer or artist, such as a bard, though less common for gladiators specifically. Other CG deities tend to be more of the nature god sort or racial deities (there's a lot of them among the Elven Pantheon, for instance) - which could be an option even if you're a human, though it would be pretty rare for a human to worship a God from another race's pantheon. One last option, if your character were Mulhorandi, might be Anhur, the Mulhorandi God of War, who does happen to be CG and a more benevolent War god than those of most other pantheons.

For a good-aligned deity who's not chaotic but perhaps more likely to be a warrior's patron than the above, Lathander's always an option. He tends to be the setting's go-to General Good-Guy god, equally happy to teach helping others and fighting evil. And he is known as a patron of athletes, so a bit fitting for a gladiator in that respect, and he's the God of Creativity as well, so being a patron of a performer is well within his purview too.

If you're looking for more combat-focused deities, you probably want some of the more CN-types. Tempus, God of War, is kind of the default there. Though he's not the most morality-driven God, pretty much in anyone in Faerûn who gets into fights typically pays him some amount of homage, and he'd definitely be a very common one to be a gladiator's patron of choice. Uthgar could be an option, if your character were an Uthgardt Barbarian - he's pretty much what you'd expect a Barbarian God to be, but almost exclusively worshiped by them. There's also Garagos, a more minor war god, but he tends to be more on the bloodthirsty side, kind of a CN verging on CE type.

For a deities more specifically for performers, aside from ones already mentioned, there's Oghma, God of Knowledge, who is probably the most common patron of artists or bards, though he's TN; and Milil, God of Poetry and Song, is a lesser deity in Oghma's service is the god most specifically for performers in the Realms. Both would be a bit odd as patrons of a gladiator, but not completely outlandishly so given you're a bard.

Personally, with the general description you gave, I'd say that Tymora, Lathander, or Tempus feel like the easiest fits, depending on which way you want to go - CG deity who fits with any freedom-loving character; generally good deity who fits a gladiator bard well; or warrior deity who would definitely fit a gladiator. But yeah, there's plenty of options to go around in this setting.

[xanxosttheslaad]

I recommend Ilmater, the god of suffering, and the patron of the oppressed and persecuted. He also encourages his followers to lend aid to those who suffer, which could relate to your slave revolt. Additionally, he had the freedom domain in 4e, according to the Realms wiki.

[Aett_Thorn]

Look into some of the more southern nations of Faerun. Many of those have, or at least had, a decent amount of dependence on slave labor. For instance, Calimshan or Mulhorand.

As for deity, I am going to make an off-the-wall suggestion and say Lliira, the goddess of joy and dance. I think that she’s be quite okay with someone expressing themselves through fighting if that is what their heart desired, and would explain some of the other bardic gifts.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Literally anywhere, say he escaped from the Drow or some other Underdark denizens, or from an illegal operation.

Tymora is almost definitely the right choice of deity. If you're an elf or half-elf maybe one of the elven deities, just about every one of them is CG.

[Nifft]

Athkatla (in Amn, south of Waterdeep on the sword coast) allows slavery, but it's not nearly as slave-centric as Thay.

Might be a good place to gain your freedom and then decide to hang, around doing gladiator things.

[LtPowers]

There's probably a number of nations that would work, but the most obvious option is Thay, the land of the Red Wizards, which is rampant with slavery. Though a slave revolt there probably won't remain too successful for too long, given it has Szass Tam (a very powerful Necromancer Lich) in charge, but hey, maybe that's why your character left Thay? Assuming the campaign isn't set there, anyway.

True, but I'm not sure the Red Wizards use their slaves for gladiatorial combat.


Powers &8^]

[Zevox]

I recommend Ilmater, the god of suffering, and the patron of the oppressed and persecuted. He also encourages his followers to lend aid to those who suffer, which could relate to your slave revolt. Additionally, he had the freedom domain in 4e, according to the Realms wiki.

Him having the freedom domain in 4e would be extremely odd, given he's one of the most Lawful Good deities in the setting, closely associated with the two most LG deities in the Faerûnian Pantheon, Tyr (God of Justice) and Torm (God of Duty and one of the most common patrons of Paladins). The three of them together are known as the Triad and act as the main deities promoting LG teachings across the continent.

Not saying 4e didn't do that, but well, it would just be one more case of 4e doing very strange things that don't make sense, to my mind.

True, but I'm not sure the Red Wizards use their slaves for gladiatorial combat.

Wouldn't be their typical use for them, but almost certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Even Red Wizards must get bored sometimes, and it's a classic way to appease and control the masses through entertainment.

[Yakmala]

I'll put in another vote for Mulhorand. Very cool background. They were brought to Toril from literal Earth as slaves by the Imaskar Empire. Eventually, their gods made it to this realm and helped lead the revolt.

This allows you to choose from the Egyptian pantheon. Anhur (War, Storms, Thunder) is Chaotic Good, as is Bast (Festivals, Love, Cats) and Nephthys (Trade and Wealth)

[SLOTHRPG95]

For cities, I'd like to mention:

Purskul (in Amn), historically has a large population of orcish and half-orc slaves, primarily in agricultural production, but the hardest workers can gain their freedom and they/their descendants often work as mercenaries or caravan guards. Race-specific, but has a more non-generic feeling to it.

Calimport (in Calimshan) is the capital city of an empire built on slavery, and has two great arenas (for gladiatorial matches), and assuming you're not a (half-)orc would be a more fitting pick.

For deities, I'd second Ilmater or Lliira, with the former's domain including perseverance and martyrdom, and the latter's including freedom and liberty.

[opaopajr]

Depends on your GM's take on FR and which slice of time on the canon timeline they are using. From 'Grey Box' (FR 1e) there are so, so many places that have slavery -- everything from human, humanoid, demi-human, matriarchal misandry (men-hating women-power structure), gladitorial, sacrificial, pleasure, necromantic, etc. slavery. And many are there to give an obvious foil to push back against.

Ask your GM first. But I might say Chessenta, the pseudo-Greek analog, just for the bard-gladitorial angle. 'The Old Empires' are a collection of old Greek (Chessenta), Babylonian (Unther), & Egyptian (Mulhorand) mix where you have a stargate-like bleed of Earth into Toril cross-cultural pollination. It also gets away from the typical easy answers of Thay & Calimshan.

Finding nearly any political structure, culture, & mythos is not too hard for Toril. The challenge is digging deeper and not treading too much familiar ground. But again, it is the GM who has to juggle the connections, so be kind and work with them.

edit: As for the god, most deities have some alignment range leniency for their followers. You could 'shop' strictly for the CG alignment, or you could get two to three steps away as per GM conception of alignment and faith stringency. Again, work with the GM and their conception of the shared imagined space.

[Chronos]

My character isn't a half-orc, but his arena rival and best friend is. And there are further details to the backstory that mean it can't have been a matriarchal culture, so drow are out, and it was a large enough scale operation that it couldn't just be some underground illegal fight club. Wherever it was, he didn't stick around there: Most of the slaves ended up founding a new village on the edge of the wilderness, and if he were to stick around anywhere, it'd be there, but he's not the settling-down type.

Right now I'm leaning towards either Calimport or Athkatla. I might go with Athkatla just because it's more fun to say.

For deities, his priorities are freedom first, and fighting and performance only after that, so a lawful or true neutral war god would be a poor fit. And I also specifically don't want Lathandar, because I'd already decided that one of the few non-slaves who fought on the slaves' side was a cleric of Lathandar, and I want a contrast there (i.e., he's very grateful but...). Probably either Tymora (though he would insist that when he wins a match, it's not through luck) or Lliira.

Gah, I don't know why I always put so much effort into backstories. I already have, like, a dozen of his comrades from the revolt, and details of the sociopolitical structure of the town they founded, and so on, and almost none of that is ever going to come out in-game. By contrast, my group also has a player who didn't even decide what gender her character was until someone asked eight levels after we started.

[Nifft]

Right now I'm leaning towards either Calimport or Athkatla. I might go with Athkatla just because it's more fun to say.

If your character has a bit of a drawl, you can pronounce "I'm" and "Ahm" exactly the same.

"Ah a'ready tol' y'all, Ah'm from Ahm."

[Chronos]

He talks with an Ahnold-ish accent that isn't quite completely consistent, because he's faking it because being "foreign" makes him more exotic and a better show.

[Zevox]

Gah, I don't know why I always put so much effort into backstories. I already have, like, a dozen of his comrades from the revolt, and details of the sociopolitical structure of the town they founded, and so on, and almost none of that is ever going to come out in-game. By contrast, my group also has a player who didn't even decide what gender her character was until someone asked eight levels after we started.

Eh, it's part of the fun and it helps with roleplaying. When I wrote up my current character I went beyond just writing a normal backstory for him and, since his decision to become a Paladin and his beliefs about how he should act were supposed to be motivated by old stories about his order's founder, I wrote up a few of those stories in addition to his backstory, just with the thought that knowing exactly what a few of them were would help with roleplaying him, and because I was having fun adding detail to the character's background like that. Of course, I also have a DM who very much encourages that kind of thing and tries to work with as much of it in his campaigns as he can.