Church of Gorm Gulthyn

The church of Gorm Gulthyn was the primary religious organization dedicated to the worship and service of the god Gorm Gulthyn, the Lord of the Bronze Mask. They were commonly called Gormites.

"Paying Gorm's greatest price."

- The Gormite term for sacrificing one's life to protect their charge.

Dogma
Gorm's devoted were sworn to protect the Stout Folk from the hostile forces beyond their holds, and were never to waver in their duty to these sacred charges, remaining ever-alert and unceasingly vigilant so as to never be surprised. As every priest knew, they had to be willing to pay "Gorm's greatest price" to ensure the lives of their charge, clan, and community, taking solace in the knowledge that their name would be remembered for generations.

Activities
Upon entering the church, each member was assigned a charge to protect and act as the bodyguard for; higher ranked and more powerful veteran priests could choose their charges, often picking important clan members, but novice initiates were often given assignments at random. Such charges might be children, a childrearing parent of either sex, the elderly, or the otherwise infirm, and the foremost aim of any lesser priest was protecting their assigned charge.

They also instructed other local dwarves about the value of vigilance, and organized the community's defense in the steady, reliable way Gorm had taught. Guardian-priests tutored warriors in how to use certain weapons or how to fight while blind.

Membership
All dwarves who served as guardians in some way worshiped Gorm, and those that required protection or armed assistance paid tribute to him as appeasement. Lawful good and lawful neutral dwarves in particularly turned to his faith, though Gorm accepted worshipers of all alignments except chaotic or evil ones, with chaotic good being an exception. Becoming a formal member of Gorm's clergy required a stricter code of honor than simply being a worshiper (true or chaotic neutrality not being allowed).

Gorm's clerics, especially his specialty priests, were known as barakor, a dwarvish word loosely translated to mean "those who shield". The vast majority of his clergy (95%) was male, and before the Time of Troubles they were entirely so. Most members of the clergy were either mountain dwarves (48%) or hill dwarves (52%). Though nearly every subrace was called to be a barakor, and while there were no formal barriers to entry for jungle dwarves and gray dwarves, none had joined his ranks in more recent history.

Titles
Novice members of the clergy were known as the Watchful Guards, while full members were known as the Vigilant Host. In ascending order of rank, priests were known by the titles of Lookout of the First Rank, Scout of the Second Rank, Sentry of the Third Rank, Sentinel of the Fourth Rank, Defender of the Fifth Rank, and Guardian of the Sixth Rank, with High Old Ones of the church having individual titles and being collectively known as Lord and Lady Protectors.

Classes
Becoming a specialty priest of Gorm required physical prowess and vitality, wisdom, and a lawful disposition. Such barakors had the benefit of being immune to magic meant to put them to sleep, and often needed less sleep than normal. They got access to spells that let them better protect, or keep a closer eye out, notably the ability to cast a know alignment spell that overrode all magical misdirection and concealment. Even regular priests however were especially wary, able to interpret noises, half-seen movements and other symptoms of movement with startling accuracy. Provided they had time to study their surroundings, they could recognize the exact distance and direction of features around them.

The clergy of Fire Eyes was dominated by specialty priests, though crusaders and clerics made up a larger percentage collectively and clerics frequently trained as fighters or dwarven defenders, the latter of which in the were offered the highest possible honor within its ranks.

Orders
Many knightly orders of multiple sizes had been founded in Gorm's name and been affiliated with his clergy over the centuries. Among the more legendary orders were:


 * The Company of the Scarlet Moon


 * The Fellowship of the Stern Gauntlet


 * The Guardian-Knights of Gorm


 * The Order of the Smoking Shield


 * The Sacred Shields of Berronar's Blessed: One of the oldest and most revered orders of Gorm, which could be found in nearly any clanhold or kingdom. The Knights of the Sacred Shield guarded nurseries of dwarven children and parents, and were also charged with recovering kidnapped youths, with at least two dwarven clans owing their continued existence to the rescue of an entire generation from the clutches of Lolth's priests.


 * The Silent Sentinels


 * The Twin-Blade Axes of Fire


 * The Vigilant Halberdiers

Rituals
Barakor prayed for spells in the morning, usually followed by a tour of their community to ensure that no incidents happened at night.

Gorm's priests celebrated each festival in the Calendar of Harptos as a sacred event, and on such holy days they gathered to perform (as outsiders saw them) tedious procedures, including formal salutes, didactic, chanted prayers, and a ritual involving the rhythmic grounding of weapons. Other rituals involved silent vigils, muttered prayers and answering Gorm's visions. Offering were made to Gorm in the form of used weapons to guard, even if broken, anointed with tears, sweat, and drops of blood form the worshiper.

At the height of the salute, if performed at the chancel of one of his temples, Gorm's power might open the door kept behind the altar and through it bestow scrolls, potions, weapons, armor, maps, or instructive phantom images to help his followers fulfill their duties. A worshiper wearing, carrying or using a gift of the god typically had a great boost in morale.

Shrines & Temples
Temples dedicated to Gorm were typically constructions of plain stone, always undecorated caverns or rooms quarried from solid rock. The altar was a stone bench in front of a massive door, closed and locked, that represented a location a dwarf might have to protect, though instead the central altar might be an old tomb casket that if occupied, contained the remains of a dead (not undead) priest of the Golden Guardian. These chambers were often adorned with visored helms, though shields or armor that Gorm had burned eyeholes into were considered treasures to be displayed as trophies and temples were considered especially blessed to have one for display.

Gorm's houses of worship were protected, predictably, by his Guardian-priests, and most of his temples contained a small armory and were well-fortified against attack. Regardless, chapels were typically adjacent to an armory, training hall, and barracks, and most were located among fortifications guarding against entry into dwarven halls.

Symbol
Their holy symbol was a miniature bronze shield attached to a burnished steel chain, typically worn around the neck as a medallion.

Dress
Gorm's clergy typically wore red and black cloaks and helms, often marking their status with red and black armbands on their left and right arms respectively. Regardless of whether they were expecting to do some strenuous activity or simple ceremonies, they always wore the finest armor (in both metal and type) they could find under their clothes. They never removed all their armor unless in need of care of some kind.

Weapons
Similarly to their stance regarding their armor, Gormites never left all their weapons aside.

Spells
A number of spells were unique to Gormite priests or were closely associated with them:
 * Alert allies
 * Blessed watchfulness
 * Fire eyes of Gorm
 * Iron vigil
 * Sentry of Gorm

Relationships
Gorm was well regarded by the dwarves for his unwavering commitment to their defense. Most saw him as stern, but they could not ignore his role in the survival of their remaining strongholds. A possible exception were the shield dwarves of North Faerûn (at least during their period of dwindling decline) who felt that he had abandoned them for their golden cousins due to the stretching nature of Gorm's duties.