The gods know our hearts and we show theirs in our actions. The good in the land and the growth that may be healing or sustenance, these are Chauntea’s ways, and I strive to honor the goddess of grain and harvest in my life and my dreams. The gods, though, are not all golden. I have dreamed whipmistresses of the Maiden of Pain and hidden ones behind their Mask; I have quivered ‘neath the dreadful gaze of the returned god, Bane, and melted in the waters of Istishia. All things have I seen and none do I despise. Only this I know: those you meet shall know your god by your works. Even the non-clerical among us should honor a god, lest death be an eternal torment squeezed in the wall of the faithless. Even more so, as a priest, it is best to know your god very, very well, so as not to displease holy might all unintended. By deeds, speech, arms and armor, follow the will of your patron.
In my travels I have discovered that power is given to each cleric to channel two separate aspects of their single deity. (Woe unto the priest who attempts to please two gods, for he shall surely be punished by offended powers.) Make of this duality what one will: heart and soul, mind or matter. Rough common sense suggests that the direction this devotion takes should be neither lightly chosen nor become a temptation into the deadly failing of hubris. The wise priestess does not choose domains to the enlargement of her own glory, for the gods are jealous of theirs. Worship that exemplifies the Master or Mistress earns praise, but the wages of overweening pride come according to the deity displeased — abandonment, injury or eternal torment. Far better, it is, to live by the will of the gods than so to perish.
Search the web or consult sourcebooks for more information on the specific deities.
