Umberlee

Umberlee was the evil sea goddess in the Faerûnian pantheon, most often worshiped by sailors or people traveling by sea, out of fear of her destructive powers. She was known as a particularly malicious, petty, greedy, and vain deity who controlled the harshness of the sea while reveling in her own power and was not hesitant to drown people if she so pleased.

"Coins are what matter. And to earn coins, one needs roads — or the love of Umberlee."

- King Palaghard Obarskyr II of Cormyr

Personality
Umberlee was temperamental, evil, and malicious. She did not feel the moral obligation to honor any of her agreements nor promises, if the end result was not beneficial to her. That and her desire for the valuables and excessive tributes characterized her insatiable greed and cruelty. She was power-hungry and loved exercising it, toying with her worshipers. She fed her sadistic nature by destroying naval vessels and feeding shipwreck victims to her sharks while watching the others drown.

She rarely favored individual mortals, unless it benefited her in some way. Umberlee did not tolerate any one member of her clergy becoming famous and overshadowing the church and the goddess herself.

Divine Realm
After the Time of Troubles, Umberlee resided in Blood Tor, the 13th level of the Abyss, flooded, characteristically to its ruler.

Relationships
Umberlee was strongly opposed to Selûne, whose stars guided navigators at sea; Valkur, who guided travelers safely home; Sune, whose beauty made her green with envy; and Chauntea for her dominion over land.

Silvanus was technically Umberlee's superior, as the ruler of the dominion the Deep Wilds within which she resides. However, Umberlee rarely, if ever, saw herself as Silvanus' servant.

Umberlee openly fought with Selûne, the goddess of the moon, Chauntea, the goddess of the earth and land, Sune, whose beauty spurred jealously within the Bitch Queen and Valkur, the deity to whom sailors prayed for safe return from the sea.

Deities of Fury
Umberlee was a member of the Deities of Fury, a group that included Auril and Malar, led by the Storm Lord Talos. As Talos encroached upon Umberlee's portfolio, as both deities ruled over storms, she attempted to distract him with a romantic relationship.

Even though Talos was her superior and patron, he often attempted to usurp Umberlee's power over sea storms and hurricanes, folding them under his own portfolio. Despite that, the Queen of the Depths positioned herself as a flirt, keeping herself in Talos' good graces. Although her ambitions were limited by not being able to directly affect land, given opportunity, she would have gladly destroyed her patron, taking his portfolio of destruction for herself.

The closest deity Umberlee could consider an ally was Auril, the fellow member of the Deities of Fury. When Umberlee required aid she was likely to call on the Frostmaiden.

Deities of the First Circle
In the late 15th century DR, Umberlee was a part of the loosely-related group of deities known as the First Circle to their worshipers. The First Circle consisted of the gods who loved over nature: Chauntea, Eldath, Mielikki, Silvanus, Auril, Matar, Talos, and Umberlee herself.

Avatar


The Bitch Queen's seldomly seen avatar was a giant woman with the body colored like the sea, of blues and greens. Her hands had talons, elbows had fins, and green hair of seaweed and kelp. Her white eyes were reminiscent of pearls and her voice sounded like the fiercest sea storm, booming with breaking waves.The goddess appeared in that form to scare and impress the mortals on board of dying ships.The towering avatar wore jewelry made out of sea shells, she carried a trident, and was dressed in a flowing cape made out of countless pale-purple jellyfish. Umberlee's avatar laughed with malicious glee as she toyed with the doomed vessel.

Umberlee's avatar had access to divine spells (except earth, fire, sun, though, and time magic), and arcane spells (except earth and fire). All of the water magic the avatar was able too cast manifested at triple strength making it extremely hard to avoid. The trident the avatar wielded was a powerful magical item that combined the powers of a trident of submission and a trident of fish command. She had the ability to summon 6-12 sharks or 2-6 giant sharks to do her bidding every 30 minutes. Every 12 hours, the avatar of Umberlee was able to summon water elementals of various sizes and power to serve her. All the creatures summoned by Umberlee could not be controlled by any mind-affecting magic.

Manifestations
The most common manifestations of the Bitch Queen were waves and winds of the seas. Sailors knew that when storms hit their ships and the winds or waves carried sinister cold laughter or hissing words, they were facing the cruel goddess herself.

Following the Time of Troubles, Umberlee's powers were decreased and she could manifest gales of wind 4 times a day. Her watery manifestation in the form of waves, although, did not have many limitations in the sea. She used the wave forms that reached in length of considerable power. These waves could momentarily kill an unlucky victim or grab and carry away items and treasures of value from the ships, including items such as rings and gauntlets.

Another common manifestation of the Great Queen of the Sea was the shape of an aquatic monster of terrible size. She took on many shapes, including monstrous-sized sharks, krakens, and aquatic undead and undead lake-dwelling monsters.

Worshipers


Great Queen of the Sea was worshiped out of fear by most. Umberlee acted on her turbulent whims when making deals with mortals. Temples of Umberlee were few and far between, and the church was disorganized, universally hated throughout Faerûn, and perpetuated out of fear of the goddess. Umberlee's church rested on her chaotic nature where disputes were ruled in favor of the strongest individual.

Druids who worshiped the First Circle, also venerated Umberlee, as she was a representation of nature in its cruel form.

Non-human worshipers
Umberlee had worshipers among krakens, sahuagin, and other evil sea creatures. A number of these were actually worshipers of Panzuriel, a deity with no power on Toril; Umberlee merely granted spells on his behalf.

Most weresharks, created by the Queen of the Depths herself as a way to undermine her bitter opponent Selûne, venerated Umberlee out of admiration, rather than fear.

Dogma
The Undrowned and Umberlants held no ethical standards nor persuasions, the only thing that was set in stone was their belief in the cruelty and viciousness of the sea, the most dangerous place. The folk who were brave enough to travel the savage sees should have been ready to pay the price for their challenge to the Both Queen's domain. The Church of Umberlee's doctrine was fear, all were to tremble before the Queen's power, as her waves and winds were all-reaching. The mercy of the Great Queen of the Sea was to be bought with generous offerings as the fair offerings brought fair winds. All who dared to travel through her domain were to know that Umberlee controlled the monsters of the deep, the drowned dead. The priests and priestesses were to spread the holy word of the Bitch Queen and spread the fear of her rage, and perform no device service in her name without collecting high tithe. They were to promote the fear of Umberlee's waves and winds unless the travelers were accompanied by her clergy. And final divine directive was for the followers of Umberlee's faith to slay anyone claiming the storms over the seas were Talos's doing.

Places of worship
There were numerous shrines dedicated to Umberlee, predominantly located in port cities of the Sea of Fallen Stars and in the Nelanther Isles. Travelers by sea were sure to pay their tribute to the Bitch Queen as the preaching of her clerics were built upon the terrible fate that would befall any who did not bring a sacrifice to Umberlee. Clerics were available at these temples who, for a price, would travel with sailors to ensure no harm was inflicted.

Apart from the region around the Sea of Fallen Stars and at Nelanther Isles, Umberlee had places of worship at many ports. Among these were a temple in Urmlaspyr, Sembia, Murann a small shrine in the city of Marsember in Cormyr, an opulent shrine in Athkatla, and another small shrine in Hillsfar, on the Moonsea. Some of the noteworthy temples:


 * Brynnlaw - a small temple on the island of Brynnlaw.
 * Cove of the Queen - a hidden harbor temple in Mintarn manned by pirates.
 * Hall of Black Waves - the temple on Ruathym Island, north of the Moonshae Isles.
 * Halls of the Sea-Born – a temple complex in Cimbar, Chessenta.
 * House on the Cliff - the biggest and richest influential temple located in Marsember, Cormyr. It was destroyed during the Time of Troubles.
 * The Last Drop - a shrine in Mulmaster.
 * Priory of the Depths - a shrine complex north of Port Llast.
 * The Queenspire – a temple complex fronting the harbor in Waterdeep largely staffed by the seafarers' widows.
 * Seacaves of the Roaring - a large and prosperous temple in Teshburl that made coin by selling stone storm tokens to Calishites, that, supposedly, guaranteed safe sea voyage.
 * Shipsgrave Tower - a prominent temple in Velen, one of the biggest after the tumult of the Time of Troubles.
 * Spindrift Town's Temple of Umberlee - a strict temple closed to anyone but the sisters umberlants.
 * Stormhaven House - a temple in Orlumbor with its high priest bearing the title of the High Trident.
 * The Temple-Under-The-Sea - the submerged temple in the Fiddler's Green underwater region of the Sea of Swords.
 * Temple of Red Sails - a temple in Luskan.
 * Water Queen's House – the oldest temple in Baldur's Gate, worked by the widows of the sailors perished at sea.
 * Whitecap Hall - a temple of Umberlee in Westgate.

Rituals
It was a common tribute among sailors and ship crews to toss gems, gold, and valuables overboard to appease Umberlee and calm the storming waters. On cargo ships, the sailors often tossed the transported valuable trade goods overboard to gain favorable winds, while the sounds of mouthpipes played tunes dedicated to the goddess. When the danger was especially severe, the sailors made sure the goods tossed overboard contained living creatures. On some occasions, when ships with Umberlant priests on board ran aground or foundered, in anger, the sailors turned against the priests who promised them safe passage. The desperate sailors made sure the treacherous priest of Umberlee were killed before the ship sank. There have been bloated corpses of the Bitch Queen's priests washed ashore with as many as thirty cutlasses stuck in them.

Prior to a voyage, sailors often left small tokens on Umberlee's shrine altars in hopes for calm waters. The most common tributes were flowers, candles, coins, and candy. Such tributes were also often paid by merchants who transported their trade cargo by sea, townsfolk of costal cities and islands who did not have a powerful patron deity and were in danger of storms and hurricanes. When no other was present, the clergy of the Both Queen removed the offerings from the shrines, washing the altars with sea water and kelp to symbolize the goddess claiming her tithe.

Worshipers of Umberlee in the pirate city of Tharkar often placed small sacrifices to the goddess. To protect the buildings from flooding and collapse, the folk drowned small critters like rats and squirrels in bowls of seawater decorated with seaweed. These sacrifices stood on plinths in their bowls, left alone in the buildings' basements, creating foul smells of wet decay.

Umberlee's clergy performed the rite known as the Drowning. It was a ritualistic drowning of the Untaken supplicant (novice cleric of Umberlee). If they survived, they were confirmed in the service of the Queen of Depths.

Holy Days

 * First Tide: this holy day was celebrated when the ice broke up in a harbor, it consisted of a flute and drums parade through town with a caged animal, which was tied to a rock and then thrown into the sea. If it survived, it was magically healed and treated as a sacred animal with the rank of an Umberlant. This was an ancient custom with its roots in the days of old when Umberlee selected her clergy from among the human sacrifices drowned in the same manner as the animals of the First Tide.
 * Fair Seas Festival: a Waterdevian holiday that took place at the end of Fleetswake. It was the festival to appease Umberlee during which the worshipers paid tithes by throwing the valuables and the coin made off the temporarily raised docking fees into the deepest reaches of Waterdeep's harbor. The valuables then were swept away by the currents and taken to Umberlee's Cache.

History
In 1358 DR, during the Time of Troubles, Umberlee manifested herself in the Sea of Fallen Stars, where she entertained herself by destroying pirate islands with her storms and minions. After the end of that calamitous period of time, it remained ravaged by storms for some time, although not as powerful as when the Queen's avatar was personally stirring the sea. With the efforts of the alliance of merchants, inhabitants of the coastal cities, and the Iron Throne, of all people, Umberlee was appeased and calmed the Sea of Fallen Stars by 1360 DR - 1361 DR. During the same period of time, the Queen of the Depths was responsible for the creation of weresharks within the Realms to spite Selûne.

Around 1479 DR, a northlander who called herself the Storm Maiden led her followers on a crazed mission to take over the Sea of Swords, consumed by the power of the Bitch Queen. The Storm Maiden was defeated and disappeared along with her ship.

Umberlee once had a relationship with Iakhovas, variously described as a megalodon, wereshark, or sharkwere. She even granted him immortality. However, their relationship fell apart, and she sought revenge on him.

Umberlee's Chosen

 * The very old kraken wizard, Slarkrethel, was a Chosen of Umberlee. He was also the leader of the Kraken Society.
 * The undead pirate Evendur Highcastle.
 * The mysterious northlander woman only known as the Storm Maiden who amassed a significant following and attempted to conquer the Sea of Swords but failed and along with her ship, vanished circa 1479 DR.
 * Gar Shatterkeel was another one of Umberlee's chosen in 1490s DR who opened a rift to the Elemental Plane of Water to draw power directly from it.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Talon of Umberlee
 * Novels
 * The Mercenaries
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast