Hoar

Hoar, also known as The Doombringer, was the vengeful deity of retribution invoked by those who sought to repay an eye for an eye. He was also an exarch of Bane.

"Violence repays violence. Evil repays evil. Good repays good. These are the tenets of Hoar, who brings justice and retribution to each according to their actions. Allowances? Excuses set forth to falsely acquit the condemned. Allowances exploit, pervert, and impede the course of justice. If you cannot see this, we've nothing to discuss."

- Mercy Whitedove

Description
Hoar's favorite avatar appeared as a tall (either or  tall) dark, gaunt man wearing a pair of gold bracers and the clothes of a noble or rich merchant, typically of Unther but sometimes of Chessenta or west Faerûn. He had jet black eyes and dark hair shaped into long, ringleted strands and a pointed goatee.

The Doombringer usually seemed tired and battered, with several poorly healed, serious cuts across his body, a dry, hollow chuckle, and an overall haunted appearance.

The god's avatar wielded a massive enchanted +3 broadsword – Hand of Retribution, and carried an endless quiver of immensely powerful magic javelins of lightning on his back.

Manifestations
Hoar's favorite manifestation were three deep rolls of thunder that echoed across the skies, often punctuating fitting punishment dispersed upon a guilty individual. Another common manifestation was a ghostly hand that presented itself only to the guilty party as it delivered its ironic punishment.

The Doombringer's good will could be discerned through appearance of red-colored gemstones shaped as a tear, while Hoar's fury was communicated via discovery of pulverized Laeral's tears. His servants were various aerial servants, invisible stalkers, cursts, feyrs, harrlas, haunts, justice incarnates, keres, living steels, revenants, lhiannan shee, and maruts.

Personality
Hoar was a god prone to violence, mood swings, and had a penchant for bitter humor. He had a morbid fascination with doomed mortals and sought to unleash misfortune on those who deserved it.

Powers
The God of Revenge could produce spells from any divine sphere or school of magic. However, he preferred wielding illusions, charms, and magics that affected the weather. With careful use of these spells, Hoar could craft appropriately ironic tools to smite his enemies with. Additionally, Hoar could cast any spells of electrical nature.

The avatar of the Doombringer easily swung his massive two-handed sword, Hand of Retribution, with his right hand, while dispersing javelins of lightning with his left hand. When in battle, Hoar liked to use variations of Bigby's hand, Caligarde's claw, or Geirdorn's grappling grasp. Unlike mortals, Hoar could concentrate on three similar spells simultaneously without having to drop them in close combat.

When Hoar's avatar clapped his hands or stomped his feet, it created a deafening blast of thunder, similar to the effects of the Great shout spell.

Divine Realm
In the Great Wheel cosmology, Hoar held his Doomcourt, as his divine realm was known, on the lawful plane of Mechanus. His realm was tastefully decorated with heads of mortals on the pikes that gave it the atmosphere of crushing despair and crawling horror. The Court itself was an elegant building of frosted cold marble with spacious halls that produced intimidating echo.

Following the cosmic chaos of the Spellplague, Hoar became a exarch of Bane, relocating his realm to Banehold.

Relationships
Hoar's bitter rivals were Untheric gods Anhur and Ramman, both at one point banished Hoar from the region. Centuries later, Ramman was killed by Hoar's avatar.

The human deities Beshaba and Bhaal were among few allies of the Hurler of Thunders. In other pantheons, Hoar was allied with the drow goddess of necromancy, Kiaransalee, the god Shevarash who embodied elven hate for the drow,

As a deity whose domains included a very specific type of luck, Hoar's relationship with Tymora was complicated. At times, Hoar attempted to flatter and charm the goddess to bless him with better luck, yet occasionally treated her as an enemy. Tymora's sister Beshaba was an ally, and Hoar sought her aid when cursing mortals with ill fortune.

Both Tyr and Shar tried to influence Hoar. The Dark Goddess pushed him to become more like his "Doombringer" persona and be her servant of bitter vengeance at all costs. The Maimed God cajoled him to embrace the humor and irony of life and bring poetic and satisfying justice to those with a sad view of fate. But Hoar rebuffed them and dallied with Beshaba instead, working with Lady Doom to spread misfortune to those that did not honor them.

Worshipers


"He is the righter of wrongs. I heard you whisper Tymora's name earlier. Like that goddess, Hoar is a bringer of luck-bad luck, but only to those who have called it down upon themselves by their own actions. He seals their doom– and in the process, saves those who are doomed."

- Nicco of Hoar Hoar's worshipers rarely held official sermons and participated in organized worship. The god's name appeared on the lips of those seeking vengeance. Hoar's hand was said to be responsible for unlucky accidents that took lives of wrongdoers.

If one wanted to seek vengeance on another by praying to Hoar, it was believed that writing prayers down made them more likely to be answered. To ensure a long-lasting reach for prayers, some vengeance seekers carved them into items made of lead. These were then buried to keep others from knowing about them.

In the lands around the Sea of Fallen Stars, Hoar was worshiped as Assuran, a deity of revenge, While in North Faerûn, Hoar was seen as the deity of poetic justice.

Besides those seeking justice, Hoar was worshiped by bounty hunters and some assassins. Prayers to the Hurler of Thunders were uttered before operations. The most devout among his worshipers tried to emulate Hoar by killing or capturing the marks in an ironic style. Some pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars who survived unfair struggles of life came to worship Assuran.

Non-Human Worshipers
Among other deities, Hoar was an appealing god for githyanki renegades found in the Realmspace, who did not sway too much to extremes of good nor evil. Fey wild hunters were creatures who sought to exact vengeance on behalf of fellow fey. They venerated both Hoar and Silvanus. Half-orcs were among less exotic non-humans who often turned to the worship of Hoar.

Places of Worship
Temples to Hoar were rare and usually found in antique parts of Chessenta and Unther. By the late-15 century DR, smaller shrines of Hoar spread further north. One such shrine could be found in Baldur's Gate. Another well-maintained shrine to the deity could be found on Dragonisle in the Sea of Fallen Stars. Some of the other notable places of worship found in north and south Faerûn were:
 * Amphitheater of the First Thunder, a coliseum temple in Mourktar where the accused and accusers clashed in gladiatorial battles.
 * Hidden Hand of Fate, a temple in the Arch Wood that saw growth in worshipers following the Time of Troubles.
 * Temple of Hoar in Bezantur, the City of a Thousand Temples, was the main place of worship of Doombringer in Thay.
 * Thunderous Hand of Vengeance, a loyalist temple in Akanax that sought to claim the leadership of the faith.

Holy Days
The worshipers of Hoar were encouraged to celebrate vengeance and punishments on a personal level. There were only two festivals holy to the Doombringer: the Penultimate Thunder and the Impending Doom. The Penultimate Thunder celebrated Hoar's triumph over Ramman, on Eleint 11, with lavish feasts. The Impending Doom was a ceremony honoring future justice, celebrated on Marpenoth 11. The observance of the holiday lasted for an entire day, filled with ceremonies of oaths, exhausting acts of purification, all performed to the music of rumbling drums.

History
Hoar's recorded origins stated that he was worshiped in the ancient Unther, where he was known as Assuran in the nations of the eastern Inner Sea. Many centuries before the Godswar, Hoar battled Ramman, the god of war of the Untheric pantheon. The battle of divinities was ruinous for Hoar as he and his devotees were pushed out of Unther by Ramman. Following the banishment, Ao allowed Hoar to gain power in Faerûn in exchange for giving Mystra influence in Unther.

Despite losing a majority of his worshipers in Unther, the cult of the Doombringer remained active in Unther, Chessenta, and the cities of Akanax and Mourktar. However, Assuran was no longer worshiped as part of the Untheric pantheon. With time, even the cult of the Doombringer lost worshipers to Anhur, the Mulhorandi god of war, introduced to Unther by Chessentan mercenaries.

In the, during the Time of Troubles, the deities of Unther and Mulhorand were greatly reduced in power and were as they stalked the Old Empires. The god-king avatars attempted to increase their divine powers by absorbing powers vested in their mortal incarnations; however, that plan failed. In Akanax, Hoar took the body of King Hippartes as his avatar. Then he appeared in Thay to obtain a cache of weapons, where the avatar that held Hoar's essence became a target for a power-hungry Red Wizard of Thay known as the Masked One. The ambitious wizard saw an opportunity to claim powers of a weakened deity, but with the aid of Overgod Ao and Elminster, the Masked One's hunt was unsuccessful. As King Hippartes, Hoar led mercenary companies of Akanax against the cities of Cimbar, Soorenar, and Luthcheq. His armies reignited old conflicts and grievances, plunging Chessenta into a series of long-winded armed conflicts that culminated in a forged alliance between Akanax and its old rivals – Cimbar, Soorenar, and Luthcheq. After this, Hoar led his armies to Unther, targeting the Church of Ramman. The Doombringer and Ramman faced off in an epic battle. Hoar exercised his love for poetic justice as he weaved a spell that turned Ramman's own lightning against him, slaying the ancient rival. However, Anhur swooped in and was gifted Ramman's portfolio by the dying avatar before Hoar could gain control. Empowered, Anhur led Mulhorandi armies against Hoar's Chessentan mercenaries, repelling them from Unther and swaying many of Hoar's worshipers to his side in the process. The Doombringer lost his place in the nation of Unther once again.

As the gods returned to the planes and the Time of Troubles came to an end, Hoar withdrew from the Realms. His church was slowly growing throughout the Heartlands. As of the, Hoar's thunder has not been heard for a decade, and theories of the deity being dead started appearing. In reality, Hoar's divinity was reduced to that of a demipower, and he retreated to plot revenge against Anhur.

By the 1370s DR, Mulhorand took control of the two-thirds of Unther while faith in Hoar was lit anew with zealot passion. Along with Hoar, zealots of Tiamat, Anhur, Selûne, and Horus-Re all fought for religious dominance. While Hoarites waged vengeful war against Untheri and Mulhorandi enemies, Hoar himself was searching for a worthy emissary in Unther to guide the faith to its former glory. Hoar enjoyed the poetic justice of taking back territory from his long-slain opponent, even if it took him centuries to accomplish.

With Tyr's death, Bane recruited Hoar as an exarch, causing Hoar to take on a more cruel persona.

Following the Second Sundering, Hoar shifted back to his more neutral outlook. He became something of a counterpoint to Tyr&mdash;concerned with punishing those who would break the law, whereas Tyr focused more on his role as an arbiter.

Notable Worshipers

 * Twilight Knight, a young 15 century vampire member of Westgate's Night Masters.

Rumors & Legends

 * In Threskel, locals believed that Hoar, or Assuran, made a home in the Mount Thulbane volcano. In the 14 century DR, the volcano was the lair of Jaxanaedegor, a very old vampiric dragon. The undead green dragon assumed the guise of Assuran's aspect to lead the local worshipers of the Doombringer..

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Four from Cormyr &bull; Murder in Baldur's Gate
 * Novels
 * Cloak of Shadows &bull; Bloodwalk
 * The Yellow Silk &bull; Venom's Taste &bull; Viper's Kiss &bull; Vanity's Brood &bull; Eye of Justice &bull; Cry of the Ghost Wolf
 * Video Games
 * Icewind Dale &bull; Neverwinter Nights &bull; Neverwinter
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * The Worst of All Snares &bull; Twisted Roots Run Deep
 * Icewind Dale &bull; Neverwinter Nights &bull; Neverwinter
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * The Worst of All Snares &bull; Twisted Roots Run Deep
 * The Worst of All Snares &bull; Twisted Roots Run Deep