Samora
Disclaimer: This page discusses one view of Thay, an infamously evil, slave-keeping, magocratic country in the Forgotten Realms. This vision is offered for entertainment purposes for adults only. I do not condone anything described; quite the opposite. Please read with discretion, and feel free to stop anytime. Before you use any ideas herein, please gain your group's full consent to engage the material.
"Samora" created with the PortraitWorks app (beta version)
The Blackened Heart
Divine Rank: Demigod
Symbol: A withered rose, a blackened heart
Home Plane: Azzagrat, city of Samora
Alignment: NE
Portfolio: Tainted love and forbidden pleasure
Worshippers: Hedonists; selfish, possessive, desperate and tyrannical lovers; addicts
Cleric Alignments: LE, NE, CE, N
Cleric Colors: Black and purple, often with gold embellishments
Domains: Charm, Evil, Trickery, Perversion, Pleasure
Favored Weapon: The sting of love (long bow, acid arrows)
Note: This deity was created for a mature campaign comprised of adults comfortable with these concepts in a fictional setting. Your mileage may vary.
Appearance
Samora is a lithe and strikingly beautiful humanoid, with obsidian skin and golden orbs for eyes. She has a fall of hair the hue of spun gold which nearly hides the two small horns that curve up from just above her forehead. She has six fingers on each of her hands and six toes depending from each of her feet. Samora favors finery and jewels, but sometimes wears less valuable items due to "sentimental value." (She has a collection of wedding rings that have been abandoned due to adulterous love.) She has also been seen to favor black, gold, and crimson.
History & Relations
During the Time of Troubles, the goddess Waukeen was betrayed and imprisoned by the demon lord Graz'zt, who proceeded to use her for his own wealth and pleasure. He went on to love her in his own twisted way, as he had come to love his former captor, Iggwilv. And as with Iggwilv, Graz'zt fathered a child with Waukeen - a female born in and named for the city of Samora. When adventurers eventually rescued Waukeen, she made no mention of her daughter to them or to her friend, the goddess Llira. It is said that Waukeen made an offering of Samora in exchange for her freedom, and apparently Graz'zt accepted. Waukeen returned to Toril and Samora was left as princess of one of the greatest pleasure dens in all the planes.
As she grew in stature, a number of the city's residents began to favor and then to worship Samora as the embodiment of the city's purpose. A few believe that she actually is the essence of the pleasure den given life and form, a creation spawned out of the plane itself. Samora regularly encountered visitors, some of which realized that they already believed in her dogma, which is why they made their way to the infamous city in the first place. These visitors took her faith with them. More recently, Samora discovered that she could grant clerical spells and that her powers had evolved. She has become able to shape the city for which she was named to match her own desires, as well. She's started to hear the hidden pulse of tainted desire in Faerun and she feels that this is no coincidence; Samora believes it is her destiny to take root in the world her mother favors, as she has in Graz'zt's realm.
Samora has the encouragement of her father and her half-brother Athux to seek her fortune in Faerun (indeed, it was Athux's drow blood that led Samora to consider the drow as future worshippers). The disgraced Thraxxia is at her bidding, and Samora is completely aware of the embittered love Thraxxia suffers. Samora secretly aims to find and destroy Belyara, a half-sister who has become a nuisance to their father. Samora also seeks to distance Graz'zt from his son Iuz and to erase any lingering affections for Iggwilv in Graz'zt's blackened heart.
Samora has avoided the other gods of Faerun thus far, preferring to learn about them before she makes her move. She takes note of the gods' lusts that she might be able to use to her advantage and looks for lesser divinities that she might subsume, if she is careful and lucky. As far as her worshipers know, Samora only hates one other deity outright: the goddess Waukeen.
Dogma
Nothing is as sweet as the delight which is forbidden or the joy that is stolen, so give in to the dark side of love and passion and truly live. Nurture covetous glances, envious desires, and hidden yearning. Arrange for secret trysts, carry off the mate you favor, or blackmail the lover of your choice so long as you get a taste of what you need. Foster the lust that defies everything and threatens to consume all. Those who live only for acceptable passions know nothing. Those who say they love selflessly are liars. Obtain as much gratification as you can, and encourage others to indulge themselves. Twist the rules toward your own ends or break them entirely, but always remember to dedicate the burning lust of your deepest heart to Samora. Call out to her in your dissolution as you would in your victory.
Clergy & Temples
Samora's clergy are often secretive and spread out, but a few are making names for themselves in evil lands like Thay. For now, they receive intermittent personal attention from their goddess, usually through visions but sometimes through the granting of particular prayers. The children of her cleric Azonia Valgon are said to have been blessed by her directly. In 1379, Samora gained her first known temple in the religious district of Eltabbar, the capital city of Thay. This caused quite a scandal which pleased Samora greatly. Shrines to her have been popping up near (or in) dens of pleasure and intoxication, particularly those dedicated to Sharess and Llira. Rites to Samora involve indulging in pleasures that cross social, moral, and personal boundaries. Offerings of currency are accepted but offerings of dedicated tokens are favored - the blood of a jealous rival bested in combat, the handkerchief of an adulterer's wife, or the wedding ring of a blackmailed husband, for example.
Worshipers
Those who want to give in to their most forbidden desires and consistently work to do so are closer to Samora than they understand, whether they live in good or evil communities. Every land has restrictions and taboos, even if they aren't passed into law, and every heart has the potential to seek dark pleasures and obsessions despite all warnings. Samora calls out to people through intoxication, perversion, and jealousy, and she blesses them in their dangerous trysts, blackmail, and conquests. Some addicts dream of her as they reach their greatest high, and other worshippers have visions of her during stolen orgasms. True followers begin to dedicate their lusts and plots to her because they feel most like themselves and closest to the divine when they are reveling in what they should not have.
Societies that strictly repress people's desires and harshly punish transgressions, even for minor slights, are at greater risk of welcoming Samora into citizens' hidden hearts. Samora delights when "good" and "true" beings fall to their wanton desires, but she is just as likely to favor evil people who decide to truly live for their own thrills. Ironically enough, the social fallout from violating taboos will sometimes drive transgressors right to her as they look for acceptance of their perversions. As a daughter of The Abyss, Samora has been served by succubi and incubi since she was born.
Clerics of Samora pray for spells at night, often following fantasizing, drug use, or sexual activity, or the viewing thereof. Ceremonies are held after (or during) seductions and conquests.
Their first major holy day coincides with Waukeen's holiday of Orbar, held on Nightal 25. Clerics celebrate the dark side of wealth through buying slaves, finery, drugs, aphrodisiacs, and favors. The faithful are encouraged to sabotage other Waukeenian celebrations, as well.
As of 1379, the approval of the first temple on Tarsakh 25 was christened Samora's Rise. This new holy day will be celebrated with raves steeped in the forbidden, from luring improper guests to offering outlawed entertainments to holding the parties in locations without permission.
Resources are free for personal use; please do not offer them for sale or claim them as your own work.
Please do not repost material elsewhere; link to this site instead. Thank you, and happy gaming!