Gorothir's Girdle

Gorothir's Girdle was a holy text of the church of Shar, which took the unusual form of a black leather corset instead of an actual book. It was said to be one of the oldest garments in Faerûn.

Description
The Girdle was a black leather corset studded with many small figures carved out of jet. There were a total of 28 figures decorating it, each of them as tall as a small man's palm and sporting empty eye sockets. Those visages were particularly life-like, and could easily be recognized from each other. They were described as follow:

A laughing lady &bull; a sad old bearded man &bull; a jester &bull; a knight &bull; a fat woman &bull; a hook-nosed man &bull; a cowled man &bull; a bearded man in a feather cap &bull; a girl child &bull; a weeping lady &bull; a grim scarred warrior &bull; a scowling dwarf &bull; a sneering elf &bull; a crying boy &bull; a baby &bull; an idiot man &bull; a whistling man &bull; a man with his tongue sticking out &bull; a staring man &bull; a bald man &bull; a howling man &bull; a man with many tufts of hair &bull; an alluring lady &bull; a woman with her tongue sticking out &bull; a screaming woman &bull; a smiling lady &bull; a jolly man &bull; a woman with scaly skin

While made to be worn by an individual with a small waist, the laces holding the Girdle together allowed almost anyone to wear it&mdash;albeit sometimes in a ridiculous fashion.

Powers
This sacred item was protected by enchantments against deliberate attacks and the ravages of time, making it as resistant as bone or ivory. It also benefited from a permanent ironguard spell.

The knowledge contained in the Girdle could be revealed by placing the correct gems in the jet figures' empty eye sockets. When the correct gem were inserted, the would stick in place and glow slightly. When a wrong gem was used it would vanish, consumed by the divine item. Once both gems in a specific figure were matched properly the corresponding spell would appear within that face in midair, in vertical floating letters of green fire. Doing so would not consume the gems, which would be safeguarded by the divine relic's protective powers, and could only be removed deliberately.

While typical holy books could only be used by faithful of the corresponding deity, Shar allowed the Girdle to be used by priests of any faith&mdash;even against her own clergy.

Contents
As a Spellbook, the Girlde contained information on the 28 spells, as many as the visages ornamenting it: Animate dead, Armor of darkness, blade barrier, circle of privacy, crawling darkness, creature of darkness, crushing walls, dark road, darkbolt, dispel magic, dissension's feast, efficacious monster ward, greater creature of darkness, grounding, heal, hovering road, imbue with spell ability, invisibility to undead, meld into stone, mind read, mindshatter, miscast magic, mistaken missive, modify memory, monster mount, obscurement, telepathy, and whip of Shar.

History
The Girdle was first used circa -310 DR by Gorothir the Dark Prophet of the Night, a priest of Shar. Some believed that Gorothir built the item, while others thought he received it from the goddess or one of her servants.