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

Description
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. Her 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 seashells, 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.

After the Godswar, Umberlee's aspect that gathered her devotees from the Fugue Plane appeared as a humanoid with a manatee face and green seaweed hair.

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 four times a day. Her watery manifestation in the form of waves did not have many limitations in the sea. She used the wave forms that reached in the 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. Her most notable aspect was the kraken-like Dweller that grew within the Temple-Under-The-Sea, slowly increasing its strength and corruption influence.

Personality
Umberlee was temperamental, evil, and malicious. She did not feel the moral obligation to honor any of her agreements or 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.

Powers
Umberlee's avatar had access to divine spells (except earth, fire, sun, thought, and time magic) and arcane spells (except earth and fire). All of the water magic the avatar was able to 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 could 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.

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

Following the dire changes brought on by the Spellplague, Umberlee, along with Silvanus, Auril, Mielikki, and Shiallia resided in the domain of the Deep Wilds. She made home in the realm's deep dark ocean.

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 since 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 affect land directly, given the 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 lorded over nature: Chauntea, Eldath, Mielikki, Silvanus, Auril, Malar, Talos, and Umberlee herself.

Worshipers


The 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.

In the lavish magical hedge maze of Moonstone Palace, Evermeet, multiple globes of illusion depicting moments from the history of the elven race were placed. One of them depicted the birth of sea elves, with the avatar of Umberlee rising from the depths of storming sea.

Non-Human Worshipers
Umberlee had worshipers among krakens, sahuagin, anguiliians, water genasi, 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. In addition, some tanar'ri priests were known to pledge themselves to Umberlee's service.

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 seas should have been ready to pay the price for their challenge to the Bitch 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 they 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 service in her name without collecting high tithe. They were to promote the fear of Umberlee's waves and winds unless her clergy accompanied the travelers. The final divine directive was for the followers of Umberlee's faith to slay anyone claiming the storms over the seas were Talos' 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, a shrine of Umberlee could be found in the palace Dangwaru on the Snout of Omgar, and another small shrine in Hillsfar on the Moonsea. Some of the noteworthy temples:


 * Battering Wave - a temple in Tsurlagol, the Gateway to the Unapproachable East.
 * Brynnlaw - a small temple on the island of Brynnlaw.
 * Cove of the Queen - a hidden harbor temple in Mintarn manned by pirates.
 * Darkwave Hall - a temple in Urmlaspyr.
 * Grotto of the Queen - a temple in a small fishing village Lathtarl's Lantern.
 * Hall of Black Waves - the temple on Ruathym Island, north of the Moonshae Isles.
 * House of the Seas - a manor in Monksblade used by the Worshipers of the Wave as a holy house.
 * 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.
 * Towers of Fury - the temple complex in Calimport dedicated to the Gods of Fury constructed in 1356 DR.
 * 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 typical 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, 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 priests 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 30 cutlasses stuck in them.

Before a voyage, sailors often left small tokens on Umberlee's shrine altars in hopes of 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, the townsfolk of coastal 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 Bitch Queen removed the offerings from the shrines, washing the altars with seawater and kelp to symbolize the goddess claiming her tithe.

The pirates and sailors of Alamber Sea paid some homage to Umberlee, who was not commonly worshiped in the region. They did send sacrifices into the sea's depths, but it usually consisted of unsalvageable goods and cargo.

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.

The islanders from Kelthann eagerly accepted any dead body to perform a burial in their catacombs just to avoid performing burials at sea. Kelthanni believed that performing the rites of the burial at sea strengthened Umberlee. Those who performed the rites against the Kelthanni tradition were told that the earth was going to reject their bodies, and upon death, the Bitch Queen would claim their bodies and use them as her sea zombie servants.

Umberlee was a common namesake for ships. A caravel called Umberlee's Get was helmed by a notorious and fierce sea wolf Jezgar Skentzin of the Inner Sea circa 1359 DR.

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 of 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, the deep chasm in the waters of Waterdeep..

Notable Worshipers

 * Bjorn - a young sailor in the crew of Elfmaid who sailed alongside Liriel Baenre in 1361 DR, often painting the pictures of Umberlee's wrath.
 * Caldos Hellingskorn - a mad Illuskan cleric of Umberlee on board of a pirate ship Stirge in the late 15th century DR.
 * Shakey McGuire - a stuttering devout and an aspiring sailor from Spindrift Town.
 * Sister Foam - a chubby devotee of Umberlee who, alongside Captain Athgar, traveled on board of the Tortured Tortle ship in 1496 DR.
 * Thur Aquarvol - the Merfolk shaman who demanded of the Lords' Alliance of Waterdeep for the coin collected during Fleetswake and the Fair Seas Festival to be smelted into an underwater statue of Umberlee in Ches of 1368 DR. The demand was refused but commissioned a similar statue made of marble the following year.

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; she 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.

History
At some point before the 14 century DR, Umberlee flooded the city of Memnon and a part of Calimshan to inspire worship by fear. Since then, her temple in Memnon, adjacent to the city's cemetery, was kept in impeccable cleanliness with all its tiles polished to brilliance by the devotees of the goddess of the sea.

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. Umberlee took an opportunity to visit the island of Kelthann during the Time of Troubles and exact revenge on the denizens of the island for their belief that winter storms in the sea came from Grumbar's rivalry with the Bitch Queen. She made several attempts to wash the Kelthanni off the island with her powerful storms but failed to achieve her goal, strengthening the islanders' belief in Grumbar, to Umberlee's disdain.

After the end of that calamitous period of time, Kelthann 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.

In 1360 DR, during the Crusade against the Tuigan invasion, Umberlee was responsible for almost destroying the ship that carried king Azoun Obarskyr IV across the Lake of Dragons. The vessel Welleran failed to pay the tithe to the Queen of the Sea and only stopped the deadly storm after King Azoun's scribe sacrificed his most prized possession to the sea, the historical records of the ongoing Crusades.

In 1363 DR, during the Day of Wonders festival in Waterdeep, a wondrous mechanical dragon turtle sank after completing one lap around the harbor, becoming a part of the treasures of Umberlee's Cache.

Circa 1372 DR, Umberlee led her local priestess Tasina Alcrest to acquire a mysterious artifact of power and deliver it to the Temple-Under-The-Sea in the Fiddler's Green underwater region of the Sea of Swords. There, a horrific sea-beast called the Dweller lived. That creature was one of the first aspects, the first avatars of the goddess since the Time of Troubles. The kraken-like Dweller grew and expanded its corrupting influence, nourished by the priestesses and sahuagin worshipers alongside Umberlee's humanoid avatar manifestation.

By 1479 DR, recently abandoned Port Llast was claimed by Umberlee and her sea monsters.

Around the same year, 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.

In 1484 DR, Umberlee pummeled Neverwinter with a devastating storm after Dagult Neverember offended the goddess by restricting regular sacrifices to her.

In 1490s DR, Umberlee contributed to the destruction unleashed upon the Sword Coast by the four elemental prophets. She empowered Gar Shatterkeel as her chosen, and Olhydra gave him powers of one of the prophets. After the prophets' defeat, Gar found a way back to Toril and was re-empowered by his otherworldly patrons. Umberlee gifted him a powerful artifact trident called the Wave. With the Bitch Queen's guidance, he was able to find an elemental node off the coast of Turmish at Umberlee’s Maw, opening the rift to the Elemental Plane of Water.

In the 15 century DR, a book called Shanties for the Bitch Queen was published and beloved by fishermen of the Western Heartlands.

Rumors and Legends

 * According to one legend, 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.


 * There were some superstitions among the seafaring folk and pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars. They believed that cutting hair and trimming nails while at sea angered Umberlee, who thought grooming to be an offering to her enemy Sune. It was forbidden to say the word "drown" while at sea as it was believed it attracted Umberlee's attention. They also believed that if you fell overboard, it was useless to fight Umberlee's will and learn to swim.


 * Legends claimed that Umberlee was responsible for the creation of cyclopskin. She placed a curse on giants, firbolgs, or some such creatures for their refusal to acknowledge the Bitch Queen's control over winter storms.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Talon of Umberlee &bull; Locathah Rising
 * Novels
 * Waterdeep &bull; Crusade &bull; Elfshadow &bull; The Veiled Dragon &bull; Tangled Webs &bull; The Mercenaries
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast