Deities NPCs are most likely to worship.

Mhamza

Throughout the Baldur's Gate series there a lot of party members who as clerics, monks and paladins are devout worshippers of their respective deities, this got me thinking about the other party members, the likes of Valygar and Coran, who would they worship? So because I like making lists (hey, typing's relaxing) I thought I could make a list of who the non-divine class NPCs would probably worship.

Note: This refers to BG I and BG II, also there are a few NPCs that are not clerics but missing from the list, e.g. Rasaad, Dorn, Mazzy, this is because it is confirmed in game that they worship Selune, Ur-Gothoz and Arvoreen respectively.

Good Aligned NPCs:

Neera: Fenmarel Mestarine (Elven god of outcasts) or Erevan Illsere (elven god of mischief)

Minsc: Tempus/Uthgardt? Edit: Mielikki

Dynaheir: Mystra

Coran: Halani Celanil

Alora: Brandobaris (Halfing god of trickery and mischief)

Kivan: Shevarash (Was once an archer himself, hates drow and deals with vengeance, nuff' said)

Khalid: Maybe Silvanus but I'm not sure

Nalia: Ilmater, although Siamorphe (goddess of nobility) is a possibility

Valygar: Mielikki/Faithless?

Neutral NPCs:

Yoshimo: At first I thought of Tymora but he does say to the PC to take his heart to a temple of Ilmater so most likely he worships Ilmater.

Garrick: Milil

Jan: Gond or Baravar Cloakshadow (Gnomish god of deceptions, traps and illusions)

Haer'dalis: Tymora/Finder Wyvernspur

Xan: Corellon Larethian

Safana: Sune/Sharess

Skie: ????

Evil aligned NPCs:

Korgan: Abbathor (Dwarven god of greed)

Kagain: Abbathor

Edwin: ????

Xzar: Cyric

Montaron: Cyric

Eldoth: ????

Shar-Teel: Loviatar

Baeloth: Lolth

Hexxat: Eschowdow (From what I read about her romance and ending, she's not a big fan of Ubtao and has an association with shadow as both a thief and vampire so she most likely worships Eschowdow, the Chultan aspect of Shar).

Sarevok: ????

Anyway these are my thoughts as to who non-divine NPCs would worship. Suggestions? Opinions?

CrevsDaak

Sarevok's deity is Sarevok, the new Lord of Murder!

Mhamza

Yeah, I kinda figured him as faithless but he was Chaotic Evil and if I remember correctly faithless Chaotic Evil souls go to the Abyss and begin new life as demons aiming to rise higher in the hierachy, eventually becoming demon lords. (idea for a mod)

elminster

People might get some ideas from this older (archived) thread

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19657/baldur-s-gate-series-npc-religion

I feel like there was another thread as well on this but I can't find it at the moment.

CrevsDaak

Tiax worships Cyric, Aerie worships the same gnomish god as Quyle (can't recall it's name), Khalid and Jaheira worship Sylvanus, Keldorn worships Torm and Ajantis worships Helm, this is what the games say.
I think Jan would worship Gond.

Mhamza

CrevsDaak said:

Tiax worships Cyric, Aerie worships the same gnomish god as Quyle (can't recall it's name), Khalid and Jaheira worship Sylvanus, Keldorn worships Torm and Ajantis worships Helm, this is what the games say.
I think Jan would worship Gond.

That's why I left most of them out of the list because it's already been stated who they worship but thanks anyway for the input.

LadyRhian

Edwin might go for Azuth (another deity of magic) or Savras the All-seeing. Given his ending, I suggest Karsus, the Momentary God.

Baeloth would probably be Lolth.

Eldoth, being a thief, even an evilly aligned one, would have Mask.

Yoshimo is from Kara-Tur. They don't have deities as such, but have philosophical religions known as the "Path of Enlightenment" and "The Way". Other nations have "The Celestial Bureaucracy", composed of "The Celestial Emperor" and served by nine Immortals, rather similar to Ho Tei (the Laughing God), which you can see statues of in Chinese Restaurants. These immortals are: Kwan Ying (like our Kwan Yin), Chan Cheng, Ch'en Hsiang, Chih Shih, Ah Chih'hing, Fa Kuan, Hsing Yong, and Shi Chia. Another area venerates the "Eight Million Gods". Closest for Yoshimo would probably Kwan Ying, who rules over Mercy.

Khalid might also worship an elven God, being he's an elf. Corellon Larethian, perhaps. And remember, Silvanus is not the only choice for Druids. There is also Eldath (Goddess of the Sweet, Singing Waters), Shiallia, Nobanion and Lurue.

Valkur, who Branwen occasionally talks about (By Valkur's Strapping Buttocks!) is a demigod of Sailors, ships, favorable winds and naval combat. Likewise, Auril is a deity of ice and cold, and she's evil in the bargain.

LadyRhian

Ah, one more thing I forgot to mention- Thay worships the Mulhorandi Pantheon, and Set is the Deity of Evil Magid there, so let's say Set for Edwin.

Kaltzor

For Xzar... Another possibility due to the whole thing with Zhentarim... Bane might be a possible diety for him (and possibly Montaron as well).

Kamigoroshi

LadyRhian said:

Ah, one more thing I forgot to mention- Thay worships the Mulhorandi Pantheon, and Set is the Deity of Evil Magid there, so let's say Set for Edwin.

This feels rather strange @LadyRhian ... Do you have a source for that? As far as I know Thay and Mulhorand are more or less bidder enemies, even though they were once one single nation. I also seem to recall that many Thayans, in contrast to most other denizens of Faerûn, don't feel the need to worship any god in particular. And those who are more inclined to listen to the gods follow either Beshaba, Jergal, Hoar, Velsharoon, Bane, or other powers of the Faerûnian Pantheons.

Mhamza

Velsharoon had just ascended during Baldur's Gate so I'm not sure Edwin would have known him, let alone worshipped him. Bane would have been a possibilty since when Szass Tam took over Thay he banned worship of all deities other than Bane but the Ultimate Tyrant was dead during Baldur's Gate.

AstroBryGuy

Mhamza said:

Minsc: Tempus/Uthgardt?

Minsc is Rashemi, and according to Races of Faerun, Rashemi commonly pray to Chauntea, Mielikki, and Mystara. Since Minsc is a ranger, he probably prays to Mielikki.

Mhamza

I always thought that Minsc wasn't a pure ranger but more a Rashemi version of it, a ranger berserker so I assumed that he could have worshipped Tempus under an alias he uses with the Rashemi (if even has one)

Dazzu

I'm pretty sure that Valygar is canon a non-worshipper of any gods if I'm not mistaken.

BelgarathMTH

There's a good chance that Garrick worships Oghma, the god of knowledge and bards, or Oghma's assistant deity Milil, the god of music.

The mod npc Finch is stated to worship "Oghma's right hand" Deneir, and the mod npc Gavin is stated to worship Lathander. (He's a very well-written cleric in that he almost never stops talking about Lathander through the whole saga.)

SapphireIce101

Well, according to the BG1NPC Project, and Xan mod for BG2. Xan worships Corellon Larethian for he's the elven god of magic, and high magic, as well as other things.

LadyRhian

@Kamigorosshi I believe that is from Powers and Pantheons, a 2e book about the other deities worshipped in Faerun, along with Demigods like Gwaeron Windstrom, Finder Wyvernspur, The Red Knight and so on. The book says that the Mulhoradi Pantheon receives "token acknowledgement" in Thay, which I didn't catch the first time I read the book. So it probably receives some veneration from slaves from Mulhorand, and none from Thayvians proper. But the Spellbound Boxed set says the ruling powers in Thay are descended from an offshoot of people from Mulhorand- the Mulan. But you're right- Deities in Thay are mostly given lip service, and Thayans who do worship tend to go for Faerunian Gods. Some worship Kossuth, the King of Fire Elementals (who is evil), while others worship Demon lords like Jubilex or Demogorgon.

SCARY_WIZARD

CrevsDaak said:

Sarevok's deity is Sarevok, the new Lord of Murder!

"HI GUYS I'M A CLERIC NOW TOO"
"OOOOWWWW STEPPED ON A BOTTLE GOT A NEW SPHERE NOW, HEALING"
"Sarevok we need to go to the Astral Plane can we have access to Astral"
"UM YA"
And then the other gods got mad and Ao grounded Sarevok.

comebackhome

Cyric ftw.

Mhamza

LadyRhian said:

@Kamigorosshi I believe that is from Powers and Pantheons, a 2e book about the other deities worshipped in Faerun, along with Demigods like Gwaeron Windstrom, Finder Wyvernspur, The Red Knight and so on. The book says that the Mulhoradi Pantheon receives "token acknowledgement" in Thay, which I didn't catch the first time I read the book. So it probably receives some veneration from slaves from Mulhorand, and none from Thayvians proper. But the Spellbound Boxed set says the ruling powers in Thay are descended from an offshoot of people from Mulhorand- the Mulan. But you're right- Deities in Thay are mostly given lip service, and Thayans who do worship tend to go for Faerunian Gods. Some worship Kossuth, the King of Fire Elementals (who is evil), while others worship Demon lords like Jubilex or Demogorgon.

I thought Kossuth was a primordial and aren't all primordials of neutral alignment?, and correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Jubilex just an aspect of Ghaunadaur

CaloNord

Personally, I think Edwin is an atheist. There is no reason he HAS to worship any particular deity for his powers are there? I know clerics gain their powers from their deities but mages do not?

BelgarathMTH

@CaloNord, Forgotten Realms lore uses the traditional threat-based religion: people who die without having worshipped a deity are called "the Faithless", and their souls are absorbed into "the Wall of the Faithless" where they suffer forever. The lore says that this actually happens, and isn't just a myth. So, almost no one in the Forgotten Realms neglects to pay tribute to a patron deity.

TheGraveDigger

The Wall of the Faithless is my favourite thing about the Forgotten Realms. It's like a big fuck you to the gods. My characters are always faithless, I never play divine. Bishop in NWN2 was faithless... and I like to think Shar-Teel is too.

Mhamza

@TheGraveDigger‌ but wasn't the Wall of the Faithless designed as a warning against what would happen to faithless?, if so I can't imagine the gods being that bothered with it unless someone tried to bring it down.

TheGraveDigger

@Mhamza‌
A warning to the sheep maybe. Nothing bothers the gods more than being ignored.

As a faithless you can mock the gods and live as you want, then you die and sleep forever.
As a faithful you live under their thumb in life, then become their slave for eternity in death...

I know which I prefer.

Mhamza

I thought when you were interred in the Wall of the Faithless, you dissipate into nothingness, but I see your point regarding the gods being angry for being ignored since that's what their existence depended on. The Wall of the Faithless is a great feature of the realms due to its moral implications and I was gutted NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer didn't have an option to destroy it.

AstroBryGuy

CaloNord said:

Personally, I think Edwin is an atheist. There is no reason he HAS to worship any particular deity for his powers are there? I know clerics gain their powers from their deities but mages do not?

Considering the ample evidence of the presence of deities in FR, I think one would have to be willfully ignorant to be a true athiest, i.e., one who rejects the existence of supernatural beings.

I could see Edwin only paying lip service to the gods, just attending services on required holy days, etc.. - basically doing just enough to not get on the deity's bad side. But, I don't see him claiming they don't exist.

SethDavis

CaloNord said:

I know clerics gain their powers from their deities but mages do not?

I think there was a point where the goddess of magic bit the dust during the Time of Troubles and magic took a dive, so they might depend on gods as well.

I have more experience with the DragonLance side of things though, and they are definitely dependent on gods.

DreadKhan

Shar-Teel makes sense for Garagos, God of Slaughter and related aspects of war.

Xzar should likely worship Cyric, being a Zhent and ce in that period. Bane is dead, remember the dude in the Iron Throne?

Kossuth is big in Thay, but I suspect this might be a bit retconey for 3rd.

Valygar cant be cannonically faithless, or he'd be a fallen ranger. Or not have been eligible to be one. His patron could be any deity interested in personal responsibility. If it could be allowed Ilmater would totally fit.

Nalia might worship Nobanion (good god of nobility and nature), or even Ilmater, due to her desire to help the poor.

Being faithless in Faerun is really, really stupid. the wall sucks.

In Faerun, the god in charge of Magic has something of an obligation to supply magic to anyone capable of wielding it. Mystra would be tossed out by Ao if she revoked Weave access to a magic user using the Weave to kill her worshippers. However, if a user (or God other thsn Ao) is endangering the Weave (ie Karsus 2.0), they can be cut off. Shar was all 'Screw you, Imma make my OWN Weave!' so there is also the really cleverly named Shadow Weave too.

Buttercheese

I am 99,99% certain that Xzar and Montaron worship Bane, since they are Zhents.
Also, Yoshimo worships Illmater, as said in the game.

Other than that, Edwin is faithless, at least in my book. That would also explain why he is so obsessed with becoming immortal because, and let me loosely quote Kenshin here: "All intregants are cowards in their hearts." He doesn't want to end up in the wall. Though, he is lawful evil, which would also suggest that he bows to the "laws of nature" if you will. Maybe he just doesn't worship anyone specific (like I think actually goes for most people in the Realms).

BladeDancer

Uh, Neera is a Neutral aligned NPC, she follows her gut on what's right or wrong instead of relying on some kind of ethical code. She explains this to Mazzy in a banter with her in BG2:EE.