Tymora

Tymora, or more commonly Lady Luck, was the goddess of good fortune in the Faerûnian pantheon and the second incarnation of the goddess of luck after her predecessor Tyche was split in two deities: Tymora and Beshaba. In the 14 and 15 centuries DR, Tymora held the portfolios of the good fortune, skill, victory, adventurers, justice. She shone upon those who took risks and blessed those who dealt harshly with the followers of Beshaba.

"Fortune favors the bold."

- The battle cry of Tymora's followers.

Description
Before the Time of Troubles, Tymora used to manifest in her avatar form, as a barefoot, crafty-faced, tomboy with brunette hair. In 1368 DR, she still appeared as a slender short-haired woman, but dressed in a short white satin gold-trimmed tunic and high brown leather boots. Her head was adorned with a delicate silver coronet that glistened in the light. However, after surviving a foiled plot to steal her powers and merge with her sister, she changed her form into a tall, thin, almost boyish, yet graceful maiden with long, flowing, unbound, platinum blond or silver hair, regal face and blue-black eyes.

By 1489 DR, some tiefling followers of Tymora claimed to have received visions of her in their own image, describing her as the "dark, devilish lady of fortune". The tieflings argued that these visions meant the heart and soul meant more to the gods than appearance and bloodline.

When Tymora appeared, which was rare, she liked to take a form of a fit female, with an impish nose and long flowing white hair with a capricious lock that periodically danced on her forehead. She usually materialized barefoot and wore a blue robe with silver trim. She liked to appear as a member of whatever race the observer belonged to, which meant that each person could simultaneously see her as a member of their own race.

Personality
Tymora was a cheerful and curious goddess, who inherited Tyche's grace and kindness, when the latter was split apart. She did not have any malice or vengeance in her, since both of these emotions were inherited by Beshaba. She remained jovial even in the darkest times, preferring mischief and ironic justice to open violence. Tymora was jaunty and high-spirited, but not rude or haughty. In battle she sang, whooped, or emitted beast-calls with gusto. Tymora was well-known for her antics over the centuries. She was much more adventurous and less serious than any of her fellow deities.

Just like Tyche, Tymora used to romance many deities, and just like her, she would cut-short their relationships, whenever she was bored of them or her attention was drawn to something or someone else. Moreover, scholars from the Outer Planes had a theory, that Tymora might have been Tyche from the beginning. Their theory suggested that since no divine corpse was found in the Astral Plane, Tyche didn't die, as the Faerûnians believed. According to this theory, Tyche learned to manifest as the two twin goddesses instead of dying. However, it was not known if Tyche was the dominant personality in each of the two goddesses, or if she had faded away and was just an unconscious source of power for them.

Unlike her sister Beshaba, Tymora was generous with sharing her godly powers. She empowered magic items, granted powers of luck to adventurers, crated power keys for her worshipers who embarked on planar adventures, and lent her power to allied gods and their clerics. This meant Tymora has less divine power reserved while Beshaba hoarded her divinity.

Powers
When Tymora manifested as an avatar her voice could carry for more than a 100 miles. Any game based on chance would be won by ridiculously improbable odds if played within a hundred yards of her avatar. She was capable of sensing acts of good fortune as soon as they happened. Beings of her faith would also receive small magic resistance. She could also change between bird and human forms at will. The shift required roughly 6 seconds.

Tymora was immune to all illusions, charm spells, priest spells from numbers spheres, thought spheres, chaos spheres, law spheres, and time spheres. Any wild magic wizard spells cast near Tymora would twist and aid her or her allies. If Tymora was unaffected by a magical spell, the spell was turned back on the caster with full effect. Any form of spells or powers that were used to control her will or dominate her mind were instantly nullified.

Divine Realm
Tymora resided in the Gates of the Moon after the events of the Spellplague, allied to, but independent of, that realm's twin mistresses. Her realm was the Great Wheel, seven earthmotes connected by lofty bridges, where games of chance, tests of luck, and gambling abounded. She named it after her former gambling quarter on the plane of Brightwater.

In Brightwater, Tymora resided within the grand casino of the Hall of Chance, filled with petitioners playing every game of chance known in the Realms and beyond. The streets that led to the casino were paved in glistening illusory gold and had gaudy statues of all shapes along them. Adjacent to the Hall of Chance laid lush bat chaotic garden frequented by the goddess. The garden appeared to have been planted by randomly tossing various seeds and letting it all grow. Among the trees in the garden grew birch trees, illuminated by fireflies after dusk.

Possessions
Tymora used to wield +5 silver luck blade longsword named Silver Tear, that would appear as a silver tear from her eye and then be reshaped in midair into a weapon whenever the goddess desired. It was not, however, her favored weapon; that honor went to the coins that she used as +5 distance speed shurikens.

Creation
During times known as the Dawn Cataclysm, the former deity of luck, Tyche, controlled both good and bad luck. While traveling around the world, she came upon a beautiful rose, which she attempted to pluck from the earth. Unable to do so, Tyche cursed it with bad luck, whereupon its stem broke and it fell to the ground. She placed the rose in her hair, oblivious to a fact that it was in fact a trap from Moander, deity of rot and decay. His evil essence worked its corruption into Tyche’s ear, after which started to drain her lifeforce, wither her form within and corrupt her in body and soul. When she finally returned to the Upper planes, the oblivious Tyche came upon her friends: Selûne, goddess of the moon, Lathander, god of birth and renewal, and Azuth, god of arcane magic; who were waiting to speak to her. However, instead of beautiful goddess, the three deities witnessed the disgusting creature that had once been Tyche, rotting from the inside. They saw the corruption destroying her, and unable to help her in any other way, Selûne casted bolt of light as the last effort to purify her. However, Tyche instead split apart, creating Tymora, the goddess of good luck, and then Beshaba, the goddess of misfortune.

The Time of Troubles
In 1358 DR during the Time of Troubles, Tymora's avatar manifested in the Cormyrian city of Suzail and then traveled to the Lady's House, a temple devoted to her worship in Arabel. She protected that city during the crisis. It is thought that her presence in that city spared Cormyr from the chaos which affected most of the rest of Faerûn at the time.

Recent History
In 1384 DR, shortly before the catastrophic events of the Spellplague, Tymora was involved in an unfortunate misunderstanding when the goddess of love Sune, encouraged her and Tyr, god of law and justice, to pursue a romantic relationship to restore balance to the Celestial Planes, after Siamorphe left the House of the Triad to make her realm in Brightwater. Tyr was led to believe (some say due to the machinations of the god of deception, Cyric), that Helm, god of guardians, who was chaperoning the couple, was seeing Tymora behind his back, and completely stole her heart. This led to Tyr challenging Helm to a duel, which the latter accepted because he felt that it was the honorable act to accept the challenge. As a result of a duel, Helm was apparently slain, leading to more chaos in the Celestial realms. So upset was Tymora at this turn of events, that she abandoned her realm in Brightwater, and was accepted by Selûne to live in the Gates of the Moon. In 1386 DR, Iyachtu Xvim attempted to deceive Lathander into rejoining Tymora and Beshaba back into Tyche, however his plans were foiled.

Relationships
Sages have claimed that Tymora had fostered many brief trysts with good-aligned male deities, always ending them amicably when her attentions were drawn elsewhere. She was known to count Azuth, Baravar Cloakshadow, Dugmaren Brightmantle, Erevan Ilesere, Finder Wyvernspur, Garl Glittergold, Haela Brightaxe, Hanali Celanil, Lathander, Lliira, Sune, Marthammor Duin, Selûne, Shaundakul and Vergadain as her allies.

Finder Wyvernspur was one of Tymora's closest and loyal allies. It's was not surprising, since she sponsored his rise to godhood, and was his old patron deity, that presumably helped him permanently slay Moander. He was jokingly referred to as the god of reckless fools, which Tymora may have appreciated.

Tymora had a very close friendship with Selûne, who was not only her oldest friend in this life, but also in the one before, when Lady Luck was still goddess Tyche. Moreover, Selûne was the reason, why Tymora was "born", since she was the one that split Tyche into Tymora and Beshaba. She also invited Tymora to live with her the Gates of the Moon, when Tyr broke her heart.

She also had a good relationship with Brandobaris, acting as his accomplice when he played tricks on others. Their friendly attitude to each other, was likely the reason for his good luck. Brandobaris, Erevan Ilesere, Garl Glittergold and Tymora, formed an informal group of mischief, which sometimes worked on the nerves of more serious gods.

Beshaba was her twin sister's fiercest foe since the day they were "born" from Tyche's husk. They were opposites of each other and fought constatly, but Beshaba wasn't Lady Luck's only enemy. Tymora also held enmity towards Bane and Moander. Though she held no malice towards them, she occasionally played tricks and pranks on the more staid deities, such as Helm and Tyr.

Symbol
Throughout her existence, Tymora had several symbols related to her. That included: featureless disk of silver, triangle of silver shooting stars falling in the night sky, and a floating, randomly and slowly turning, sphere of everbright silver. However, Tymora's most well-known and latest holy symbol was a face-up silver coin with an image of her face surrounded by shamrocks.

Prayers
Offerings made to the goddess of luck are often accompanied by the prayer, "A copper to the Lady returns tenfold in gold." When Tymorans were struck with misfortune, they used to say: "Sometimes the Lady smiles, sometimes she laughs out loud."

Worshipers
Commonly consisting of adventurers and others who relied on a mixture of luck and skill to achieve their goals, the Tymoran clergy encouraged folk to pursue their dreams. Members of Tymoran faith believed that one should be bold and trust in one's own luck. Priests of Tymora were taught to think of themselves as their own masters and to be brave enough to accept both good and bad fortune, as a trust in their goddess and in themselves. They were also duty-bound to aid the daring by providing healing and even some minor magic items. Shrines and temples of Tymora were as widespread as the needs of adventurers to be healed, which made the temples wealthy. These places of worship often differed significantly from each other in powers, manners, and titles though, with little overall authority or hierarchy. They were independent from each other, and each temple reflected the tastes of its high priestess or priest. The temples provided potions, scrolls, or other little things like glowstones, often as rewards to those who served Tymora and her tenets well. However, despite their differences, most of the Tymoran temples shared some traditions. The common item worn by all clergy of Lady Luck was the disk of Tymora, usually carried on a small chain and always prepared for the greeting rituals. Blue and silver colors were commonly seen on clerical dresses. The Church of Tymora didn't discriminate, and saw all races and sexes as equal in the eyes of Tymora. However, in practice, most exalted ranks of the priesthood consisted of human women.

Tymora was the most famous deity around the country of Cormyr, after she protected their capital, Suzail, during the Time of Troubles. Her efforts prompted a resurgence of her faith throughout the nation. The priests of Tymora didn't charge visitors for service, however most people provided offerings, believing that it would increase their luck. Thanks to those donations, the Tymoran temples around Cormyr were extremely wealthy.

Nobles and merchants were constantly seeking the blessing of Tymora, and no significant venture was undertaken without the prayers of the Luckbringers. Halflings believed that, since Tymora often manifested as a halfling to them, she was actually a halfling deity herself and had conned the 'big folk' into worshiping her as well. Some even considered her to be one of Yondalla's Children. Halflings called Tymora either “Tymora” or “Shalamora” or referred to her as Lady Luck or Our Smiling Lady.

Associated Items

 * Stone of Tymora was an artifact sacred to the goddess of good fortune. When the stone was in close proximity to the creature of its own choosing, it would bind itself to their soul and allow them to perform feats of extraordinary luck. However, when it altered the luck of its wielder, somewhere another soul would experience an equal amount of bad luck.
 * Tymora's cup was a ceremonial offering to the goddess of luck, located in Lady Luck Tavern. It was always prepared for her and filled to the brim, should she want to stop by for a drink. There were times when the goblet would suddenly and silently get enveloped in flames, and the wine inside would disappear. It was believed that during those times, Tymora herself drank with patrons of the tavern.

Background
In Ed Greenwood's original campaign, Tymora was called "Tyche". Her name was changed to Tymora by Jeff Grubb because he was afraid that calling her Tyche might offend Wiccans.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Tymora's Luck
 * ''Stone of Tymora trilogy
 * The Stowaway
 * The Shadowmask
 * The Sentinels
 * ''Stone of Tymora (omnibus)
 * ''Blackstaff Tower (novel)


 * Stories
 * The Night Tymora Sneezed

Connections
pt-br:Tymora Тимора