Bara

The barae were the seven Chosen of Ubtao, undying men and women who ruled the holy city of Mezro as priest-kings.

History

The god Ubtao personally selected the seven barae from among the citizens of Mezro some time after he created that holy city in -2637 DR. He originally appointed them to assist him in dealing with the petty issues of ruling the city of Mezro, but when he continued to grow weary of the people's fickle demands, he left Chult altogether and passed the rule and defense of the city on to the barae.

Powers

All barae were granted special powers by Ubtao as his Chosen:

• They could utter magical commands.
• They regenerated health rapidly.
• They could detect evil at will.
• They had improved reflexes and physical and mental resistances.

If within the Temple of Ubtao, they could also cast the following spells:

• Cure critical wounds
• Forbiddance
• Remove blindness or deafness
• Remove disease
• Restoration
• True seeing

Each bara neither aged nor grew sick. If not killed, they would live forever.

In addition to these common powers, every bara was granted a power unique to the individual.

It was said that if the city of Mezro were ever destroyed, the barae would turn to dust.

Selection

Of the original barae Ubtao selected, only Ras Nsi remained alive. When a bara was killed, a new one was selected by Ubtao to replace the fallen Chosen. When this occurred, a supplicant would enter the barado in the Temple of Ubtao, where he or she would face the bara test, which centered around the dogma of all life being a great maze. If the potential bara passed the test, he or she would be granted new powers. If the supplicant failed, he or she would be taken to the afterlife. The exact nature of the test itself was a sacred secret.

Members

In the 1370s DR, the current barae were:

• Osaw I
• Kwalu
• Dhlamass Rayburton
• Alisanda Rayburton
• Mainu
• Fipya
• Ras Nsi (banished)