Oghma

Oghma, also known as the Lord of Knowledge, was the Faerûnian neutral greater deity of bards, inspiration, invention, and knowledge. Oghma was the leader of the Deities of Knowledge and Invention and his home plane was the House of Knowledge. His symbol was a blank scroll. "An idea has no heft but it can move mountains. An idea has no authority but it can dominate people. An idea has no strength but it can push aside empires. Knowledge is the greatest tool of the mortal mind, outweighing anything made by mortal hands. Before anything can exist, the idea must exist."

- An aphorism and common prayer of Oghma's faithful.

Description
Oghma was known to appear as a handsome, dark-skinned man in bright, resplendent, and stylish clothes. Typically his outfit included a tabard with projecting, ornamented shoulder plates, a cummerbund with an exquisitely beautiful scene painted on its medallion-shaped buckle, and open meshwork, point-toed boots with crystal teardrops dangling from the end of uppers, almost enough to touch the upraised toes.

On very rare occasions, Oghma appeared as a gigantic elderly man entirely cloaked by his long, flowing hair and beard, who flew through the air hurling spells.

Personality
Oghma was legendary for his geniality and possessed both great wisdom and profound powers of persuasion. He used his good looks, peerless charm, and rhetorical prowess to sway even his most ardent opposition to his cause. However, while outwardly cheery and often quietly humorous and quick to smile, the Binder could also be solemn and righteous.

Sitting upon Oghma's shoulders was the experience of countless generations, a delicate balance of knowledge he had been preserving since practically the beginning of time, and it was his burden to choose which ideas and thoughts would spread so that all others would not be in jeopardy. In this area he was incredibly cautious, preferring a doctrine of ideological conservatism, and he was a rigid adherent to the status quo. If he had a weakness, it might be his tendency to overthink things, concocting convoluted schemes in his head and implementing those rather than simply take direct action.

Possessions
Oghma's more common form usually carried a special yarting made of white snowwood. This instrument could play any tone or song flawlessly, sound like multiple instruments at once, and perfectly mimic any noise. Any music Oghma played from it was capable of emotionally controlling the listener, filling them with enrapturing joy, deep despair, or uncontrollable fury. Depending on the effect utilized, a target unable to resist might be rendered incapable of being hostile or dangerously ferocious.

The yarting seemed to have other magical powers, but sages couldn't agree on what they were. Its abilities might change over time, and when loaned to others (Oghma was said to sometimes grant it to his faithful when they were performing some important mission for him) its powers could vary from those typically manifested in Oghma's own hands.

Relationships
Oghma's most common foes were Mask, Cyric, and Bane.

Along with Milil, Deneir, and Gond, Oghma was one of the Deities of Knowledge and Invention. Oghma led the deific group.

Worshipers

 * Main: Church of Oghma

Those who worshiped Oghma included artists, bards, cartographers, inventors, loremasters, sages, scholars, scribes, and wizards. Archivists, a generalist cleric, might pray to him as well. His clerics could be of any alignment, unlike most neutral gods.

History
Oghma was an interloper deity of the Celtic pantheon who gained power in Toril's crystal sphere when a wave of planar immigrants settled in Faerûn, bringing their gods (of whom Oghma was but one) with them. He rose in power to the point where he became the leader of the Deities of Knowledge and Invention.

Shortly after ascending to divinity, Oghma fathered many demi-power children. A few of the children decided to specialize in a single subject and learn everything they could about it. At some point Cyric lured twenty-two of the children away from Oghma and transformed them into paintings known as the Whispering Children.

Connections
Oghma