Oghma

Oghma was the neutral or unaligned greater god of inspiration, invention, and knowledge and the patron of bards in the Faerûnian pantheon. The Lord of Knowledge was the leader of the Deities of Knowledge and Invention and as such was the most powerful god of knowledge in Faerûn. The Binder of What is Known, or simply the Binder,  was also a member of the Celtic pantheon as a neutral or neutral good intermediate deity of speech and writing, as well as patron of the arts and everything beautiful and creative. Oghma's domain was nothing less than the whole of knowledge and thought, whether they were written down, spoken aloud, or even still remained in the mind, for the idea was the purest and highest incarnation of knowledge.

Oghma was also known as Curna, goddess of wisdom, in the Shining Lands, where she was a part of the faith of the Adama, and to the shalarin he was Ri'dea'goma.

"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
Although he was seldom sighted and was depicted in many different forms, Oghma's avatar most often appeared as a handsome, dark-skinned man in bright, resplendent, and stylish clothes and ornate armor more appropriate to a fantastic stage play than anywhere else. 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 boots with long pointed toes that curled around and were tipped with dangling crystal teardrops that nearly touched the toes.

On very rare occasions, when battle was expected, Oghma appeared as an enormous, elderly but brawny man entirely cloaked by his long, flowing hair and beard, which was either white or black streaked with white.

Personality
While Oghma was outwardly carefree and cheerful in manner, often with a quiet humor and a ready smile, the Binder was possessed of great wisdom and could be solemn and righteous when needed. He was legendary for his geniality and all beings apart from the most evil and hateful appreciated his fine singing voice and fabled musical talents. He possessed profound powers of persuasion, using his good looks, peerless charm, and rhetorical prowess to sway even his most fierce opposition toward his point of view, and he did so at any opportunity. However, his critics—like fellow deities Lathander and Lliira, who were often radically opposed to conservatism—saw such oratory and charm as manipulative and narrow-minded.

But it was Oghma's burden to choose which ideas and thoughts would spread and which would fade away with their creator, so that all others would not be in jeopardy. Resting heavily in his heart were the experiences of millennia and hence in this duty he was serious, firmly protective, and deeply cautious. He favored a doctrine of ideological conservatism and sticking strictly to the status quo, rather than risking a rogue idea disrupting the delicate balance of knowledge he had been preserving since history began.

Yet after the Spellplague, something changed in Oghma. He was still the judge of ideas and innovations, choosing which would be remembered and forgotten, but the Lord of Knowledge could not stand the suppression of any original thought, regardless of whether the consequences were good or bad. He thrived on ideas, especially new ones, and the sharing of knowledge in all its forms.

If the Wise God had a weakness, it might be his tendency to overthink things. He often concocted convoluted schemes in his head and implemented those rather than simply act directly.

Powers
Oghma had all the abilities of a great bard and wizard and more, as well as, of course, a god. In particular, every non-divine being who heard Oghma's avatar speak could be charmed by him; while they could resist the magic, there was no immunity and it continued as long as he kept talking. He himself was invulnerable to all spells and powers that charmed, altered emotions, or harmed or hampered one's intellect, wisdom, or sanity.

Oghma was known to use all schools of arcane magic and was especially potent in spells of abjuration and divination. He possessed four psionic powers (three devotions, one science) with all attack and defense modes. He also had ESP, allowing him to read the minds of all creatures up to away.

Oghma could sense any idea or type of creative expression anywhere in the world, up to 160 days before it occurred and retain the feeling for as long afterward. The Lord of Knowledge could answer any question put to him, though it might take even him a little while to research for the trickier topics.

Oghma also knew (or could see) the secret name or true name of every non-divine creature, especially on worlds where the Celtic pantheon held sway. With this name, Oghma could control any creature or cause them to die. Though this was usually not applicable on Toril, truename magic was clearly associated with the Oghmanyte faith. This was one reason he was known as the Binder, but some accounts alleged the origin of the title laid in his power to force demons, devils, and other fiends into a special prison he had created or of his choosing, where they would remain trapped until he chose to let them out for some reason.

Manifestations
When Oghma did manifest, it was commonly as a blue-green radiance with an accompaniment of musical chords. These were distinctive, being described as crawling or rising and almost menacing in their pitch. The chords never changed between manifestations and were proprietary to the Patron of Bards—any musician who dared to try play them was instantly met with a manifestation warning them to desist. Those who continued were also encircled by a ring of blue flame that could burn them, inflicting serious injuries and even death if they had angered the god enough. In any case, those who beheld the blue-green radiance had a strong feeling that were being watched. Oghma was known to speak through it in a voice that was aged, refined, and echoing and made laconic statements such as "Well said," "Tis well done," "Desist from thy course, or perish," or "What ye seek is to be found in..."

An alternative manifestation was as a white light of blinding intensity. It could display a pair of eyes of blazing flames; project colored beams of force to apply magical effects; or extrude arms and hands capable of carrying items, wielding weapons, and indicating things of importance.

To aid his followers or show his approval or disapproval of their actions, the Binder could send golems of various makes; metallic dragons, particularly electrum dragons; feystags, translators, watchers (a type of beholderkin); watchghosts, and lillendi.

Possessions
Oghma usually carried a special yarting made of white snowwood. This instrument could play any tone or song flawlessly, sound like several instruments at once, and perfectly mimic any noise. Any music Oghma played from it could influence the emotions of the listener, filling them with enrapturing joy, deep despair, or uncontrollable fury. The yarting seemed to possess other magical powers that might change each time. Oghma sometimes lent it to his followers when they were carrying out some important mission for him, in which case its powers could differ from those Oghma commanded.

In battle, Oghma wielded a magical longsword known as Mortal Strike. He wore +4 chainmail.

Tactics
Oghma preferred to use his spells in combat, but was incredibly capable as a warrior. When he had need of a weapon, he could summon his longsword into his hand, and was highly specialized in its use. His battle-specialized avatar flew through the air hurling spells.

In addition, he was exceptional at the sport of wrestling,  being the best among the Celtic pantheon at least  and their chosen champion in their battles with giants. He would often call out foes for a wrestling match, with the loser being forced to leave the field of battle. However, his strength in wrestling was always the sum of his own strength and that of his opponent.

Divine Realm
Oghma's divine realm was known as the House of Knowledge which, contrary to its name, was actually a wilderness of old oaks and clear pools, a lonely woodland across which could be heard the echoing music of harps. The plane was dedicated not just to preserving written text in dusty scrolls, but to living, oral tales, the blessings of speech, the understanding of deep familiarity with others, and all other forms of knowledge. Oghma maintained the three magical springs scattered amidst the woods, the question-answering Spring of Knowledge, language-granting Spring of Poetry, and performance-enhancing Pool of Music, each of which changed locations at his leisure, but he spent only about half of his time in his realm.

Within the Great Wheel cosmology, it was found in the Outlands, also called Concordant Opposition, a plane of complete neutrality. There, it lay in the land of Tir na Og. But in the World Tree cosmology, the House of Knowledge was considered a plane in its own right and in the World Axis cosmology, it was a dominion in the Astral Sea.

Activities
Oghma much preferred quiet conversations with travelers and sages to combat. He loved collecting and maintaining knowledge, spending half his time traveling to learn new things. He particularly sought to learn secrets, and was also interested in the classification and definition of things. He valued all knowledge, as well as all innovation, inspiration, and discovery, and truth no matter what form it took, and he accepted all who pursued such things.

However, it was his role to decide what place each idea and invention had to have in the world. Oghma passed judgement on each and every new idea and innovation, determining if it should be released to the world or if it should remain with the one who formed it. Thus, he was widely viewed as the source of creativity and inspiration. He was quite protective of this duty and of the body of knowledge that was in the world.

Oghma loved music and the bardic arts, and so enjoyed hearing stories, poetry, and songs that he regularly adopted human form and wandered the world in search of the most talented composers and performers. When a song was sung for the first time, there was a one-in-a-hundred chance that Oghma would be in the audience. Otherwise, when a new song or story was then spread by others, there was a one-in-twenty chance the Patron of Bards would soon hear it and gift its creator with gold, often via the local lord strangely choosing to bestow it. His avatars would perform the greatest ballads in all Faerun for those willing to stop and listen.

Relationships
Oghma was the head of a small pantheon called the Deities of Knowledge and Invention, including himself, Milil, the god of music; Deneir, the god of writing and images; and Gond, the god of crafts. These three gods were allies of Oghma, but were secondary to him, acting as his servants and agents in the preservation and propagation of knowledge in a slightly patronizing arrangement. Milil and Deneir were both Oghma's intermediaries, who brought new knowledge to him and delivered it to beings he favored. Deneir was called the Scribe of Oghma and considered his right hand, while Milil was the left hand, also called the One True Hand. No insult was intended to Deneir by this title, it merely represented a belief in the tendency for artistic talent to be linked with left-handedness, and the idea that the highest art arose from the acceptance of truth. In the 15 century DR, Milil became Oghma's exarch while Deneir had written himself into the Metatext in an attempt to stabilize the failing Weave, seemingly becoming one with it as a result.

The third hand, however, was Gond. Gond's role was to put ideas in physical form as crafts, devices, and new inventions. While they enjoyed amiable relations however, these were somewhat strained by some of Gond's inventions, especially the firearms developed in Lantan in the 1360s DR. Gond pushed for the speedy proliferation of all new devices across Faerûn, some of which seemed ill-considered, and though Oghma did admire Gond's creativity and even his enthusiasm, he disapproved of how he placed innovation above introspection and always pushed his technology too far. Sometimes Gond acted so independently of Oghma that many forgot he was actually supposed to serve him.

Oghma had no superior himself, being the most powerful deity of knowledge in the Realms, second only to Mystra if one counted magical ability as a form of knowledge. He was allied with the first Mystra and second Mystra, the goddesses of magic, and her own suboordinate Azuth, the patron of mages. Oghma and his subordinate gods regularly worked with the first Mystra, likely in areas of magical knowledge. The two apparently had a secret agreement regarding the sanctity of Candlekeep.

Other allies of Oghma included Lathander, god of creativity, and Lliira, goddess of joy. Oghma and his gods were brought into contact with Lathander in the area of creativity. Oghma was one of the few deities (the others being Chauntea and Lliira) who were aware of Lathander's efforts to attempt again what had led to the Dawn Cataclysm, though circa 1372 DR they kept their own counsel in order to focus on the direct threat posed by Bane and other evil deities. Although Lliira served Sune, goddess of love, she was linked most closely with Milil, and thus was counted as an ally of the Deities of Knowledge and Invention, so much so that sages habitually mistook her for a servant of Oghma.

Outside the Faerûnian pantheon, Oghma established around 1370 DR a mutual accord and tentative alliance with Thoth, his counterpart in the Mulhorandi pantheon. They even had a friendly contest going to claim followers in Unther. Oghma was also allies with Dugmaren Brightmantle, dwarven god of scholarship and invention; Labelas Enoreth, the elven god of history; and Cyrrollalee, the halfling goddess of crafts. Further afield, Oghma was good friends with Bragi of the Norse pantheon; they respected one another and collaborated on creating some of the best music known in the upper planes.

Enemies
Oghma's most common foes were Mask, patron of thieves; Cyric, the god of lies; Talos, the god of destruction; and Bane, the god of tyranny,  and the feeling was mutual. He saw these gods as the greatest threats to his balance of knowledge, as they all tried to lock away knowledge for their own end, corrupt it, or destroy it altogether. Oghma had also opposed the former goddess of lies, Leira, and their conflicts were legend. Over the centuries, every time Leira, goddess of lies, sent revolutionary and dangerous ideas to her faithful, Oghma restricted them to remain among her small cult, thus preventing them doing harm to wider society. In the planes, the Lords of the Nine and Druaga hated Oghma for his habit of trapping fiends, but he did not fear them.

Others
Oghma's proxy was the bard Fial Cairbre, who was believed to be his son.

A minor servant of Oghma was the brass dragon Ileuthra. According to legend, the great wyrm adored the game of chess and became so great at it that no mortal players could provide enough of a challenge. Finally, Ileuthra challenged Oghma himself to a match of three games—and handily defeated the god each time. Ileuthra then politely thanked Oghma and offered to then play a game of the god's choice. Oghma would raise Ileuthra to his servitor status and the two would continue to play chess, Ileuthra continuing to win.

Worshipers
The Lord of Knowledge had the distinction of being revered by beings of every race, every stratum of society, and every philosophy and moral alignment. Unlike most neutral gods, his clerics could be of any alignment including neutral. All folk who valued, preserved, shared, sought, created, or uncovered knowledge and learning were perforce followers of Oghma  and anyone looking for information, especially if it was lost or concealed, would say a prayer to the Binder and beseech him for a blessing. Those who worshiped Oghma included artists, artisans, bards, cartographers, clerks, inventors, librarians, loremasters, sages, scholars, scribes, smiths, and wizards. Archivists and truenamers might pray to him as well. Oghma was also among the deities of knowledge favored by the Fraternity of Order in the planes.

The worship of Oghma was favored in the Dalelands, the Western Heartlands, the Shaar, and in the North, especially in the Silver Marches and Silverymoon,  and it was a major faith in Waterdeep. In the Sea of Fallen Stars, he could be followed by the aquatic races of Serôs, including shalarin, dolphins, and whales (who had some of the greatest bards).

Symbol
Oghma's holy symbol was a blank scroll, plain and partially unrolled. In the Celtic pantheon, Oghma's symbol was a Celtic-style chalice.

History
Oghmanytes believed that, soon after the creation of the world by Selûne and Shar and the birth of Chauntea, a traveller from a faraway realm arrived. He found a land in chaos, filled with vague, ill-defined concepts wanting to be given form, so he bestowed a name on each one, giving it a definition forevermore. These names held such power that the concepts were bound to physical forms within the material world and order was brought to the chaos. Some held that this was the origin of his title as the Binder of What is Known and so did he take his place as one of the oldest and greatest of the gods of Toril.

Whether this was true or not, Oghma was an interloper deity of the Celtic pantheon who had links to many different planes. But finding himself being pushed out power in his own pantheon, he looked elsewhere, to Toril, as many other deities did. He gained power in Toril's crystal sphere around the time of the rise of Netheril, when a wave of planar immigrants came from another world and settled in Faerûn. One of these groups of people came from a rugged land with a culture tied to nature, the sea, and the warrior history of its dozen-king greater god, bringing with them their own style of society and faiths, and their gods, of whom Oghma was but one.

Myths regarding Oghma were as old as human history, if not far older. As well as the one above about being responsible for all concepts, Oghma was also said to have given written language to the world. Scholars and theologians debated their veracity, but none disputed he was an ancient deity whose faith predated recorded history.

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.

Time of Troubles
When the gods were cast down to walk the Realms in mortal form during the Time of Troubles in the, the fate and deeds of Oghma, were, perhaps surprisingly, a matter of mystery. Early on, in Kythorn, one old man in Arabel fervent in his belief, insisted that Oghma had adopted the form of his cat, Pretti. Supposedly the cat even talked, speaking to the man on things of great import. No one in Arabel believed him, and they were distracted by Tymora's much more public arrival anyway.

More importantly, Grand Patriarch Cullen Kordamant, head of the whole Oghmanyte church and widely recognized as the Voice of Oghma, vanished without a trace from his home in Procampur,     as did much of his immediate clergy. The disappearance was a subject of much mystery and speculation. Unfortunately, answers from Oghma and other gods were confusing and contradictory, providing no clear solution. Though some thought that Kordamant simply died during the chaos, others claimed that it was actually Oghma who died, and the Grand Patriarch ascended to replace him. Some admitted the possibility that the Patriarch might be on another plane or had ascended to semi-divinity.

With the Oghmyte church left without an ultimate head, the mystery caused a growing split into rival factions, disagreeing along hierarchical and theological lines. In Procampur, the Orthodox Church of Oghma stated that Kordamant had ascended to semi-divinity and was currently serving Oghma and, until he was proven dead or the god appointed a replacement or commanded otherwise, Kordamant was still the only true Patriarch and they would not recognize any replacement. On the other hand, the Oghmanyte Church in Sembia and the Pursuers of Pure Knowledge in Mintar claimed that a new Patriarch had in fact already been appointed by Oghma himself, and naturally put forward their own competing candidates. This remained unresolved more than a century later.

Later, there arose a belief or heresy, depending on the faction, suggesting that Kordamant's fate had been concealed by Oghma as a test of faith for his priests, to determine whether they would hold to the quest of discovering and recording knowledge, or if they would fall prey to power struggles and reinterpretations of scripture. The cat's involvement and opinions are unknown.

In the, Cyric created the Cyrinishad, a book of great power that gave a false account of his life and twisted the reader to his faith. To counter it, Oghma collaborated with Mask, Mystra, and Fzoul Chembryl to create another book, an accurate biography titled The True Life of Cyric. Both Cyric and Oghma enlisted the Zhentish scribe Rinda to write their respective books. Oghma granted Rinda an amulet of godblinding to shield her from all detection, allowing her to escape with the Cyrinishad in her care. The books were switched and The True Life read by Fzoul, revealing Cyric's treachery to the Zhents. This thwarted the schemes of the Prince of Lies, at least for the time being, but only after much of Zhentil Keep was destroyed and Mask inadvertently read the Cyrinishad and lost his power.

Background
As depicted in the 1-edition Deities & Demigods, page 29, Oghma is based on the Ogma, or Oghma, an Irish god of language, learning, and eloquence, and on the related Ogmios, a Gallic god of eloquence, both echoes of a lost Celtic deity. In particular, the 'Binder' title arises from a depiction of Ogmios with chains of gold and amber linking his mouth to followers' ears, representing the power of persuasion and eloquence to bind and control the listener.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Prince of Lies • Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad

Connections
Oghma