LOST LORE OF THE REALMS #32

Yes, feels early, I know, but I'll be silent next Monday (off filming Legacy of Worlds, which if you're into D&D you really should watch! Look for it on the Six Sides of Gaming YouTube channel), so here's another foray into the lore of the Forgotten Realms! Enjoy!

Time to take a look at an oft-neglected god of the Realms...

The Deity Valkur And One Of His Temples

Back in the 1970s, when playing D&D with September as my DM, I created Vulkur, a Breckenridge Elkins-like (note: the hero of a series of short stories by Robert E. Howard) amiable meat-mountain barbarian, bewildered by civilized ways but a faithful sword-brother to his adventuring companions.

After September died, we ended that campaign by imagining all of our PCs literally sailing off to new adventures (offstage). One fellow player joked that Vulkur likely drowned, when his ship sank in a fierce storm at sea.

I did not want that fate for him, so I imagined he sailed into the Realms, across the planes, and a deity there saw his ship safely to a far shore. That deity I named “Valkur” as an echo of Vulkur, and in memory of dear September.

Valkur has a temple in Suzail, the capitol city of Cormyr.

Valkur’s Berth stands on Tholone Lane. On the map of Suzail (published on page 54 of the “A Grand Tour of the Realms” booklet, in the 2nd Edition FR Campaign Setting boxed set), Tholone is the short arc of street that bounds a block of buildings immediately to the north of the block that contains The Black Rat tavern (map feature 51). Tholone (pronounced ‘THOWE-loan’) begins at its western end in a moot with Nerester’s Run, and at its southern end in a moot with Silverscales Street (which the Black Rat fronts on).

The large cobbled area between Silverscales and the buildings fronting on it to the north is occupied by drying-frames for fishing-nets, that double from time to time (when catches are unusually large) as overflow vending space for fresh fish.

The block of buildings bounded by Nerester’s, Tholone, and Silverscales are all aging three-storey stone-and-timber tallhouses, in some disrepair. They house businesses in their cellars and street levels, and the floors above are divided into apartments wherein dwell dockworkers and ‘retired old salts’ who now eke out meagre livings as errand-bearers, spies, and small-illicit-item vendors. Most are owned by middle-class merchants of Suzail who seldom venture near their dockside possessions (sending around rent collectors each month, who are never accompanied by less than a quartet of bodyguards).

Around the midpoint of the buildings fronting on the south side of Tholone is a gap or ‘wagoncut’ allowing traffic to enter the block of buildings bounded by Nerester’s, Tholone, and Silverscales (there’s another wagoncut onto Nerester’s, just one building north of the Nerester’s/Silverscales corner).

The end building on the west side of the southfront-Tholone wagoncut is known as ‘the Black Rock’ because its dark stone is covered with soot from three serious fires. It’s a massively-built, beast-face-carving-adorned onetime headquarters of a long-defunct trading coster (the Tireless Eyes), and is now home to Murrock’s Fine Glass, a cellar glassworks with street-level shop above where sarcastic, scarred old Ildul Murrock (LN hm F6) and a dozen apprentices—including his three swift, efficient, fearless, sharp-tongued, and increasingly-restless-to-get-away teenaged daughters (Amra, Ildelue, and Neldra, all CG hf F1s) who’ve attracted the attention of some young and restless noblemen, though nothing has yet come of this—make and sell sturdy ‘everyday’ glassware of stout construction rather than stylish beauty (glass net-floats, bowls, jugs, drip-tubes, and oil-lamps). The Murrock household and staff all dwell on the floors above, and make steady, comfortable coin.

(Murrock’s wife died over a dozen summers ago of an unknown sickness brought into port that claimed almost twenty victims before fading out. Ildul Murrock devised a way to shape glass into a magnifying lens four years ago, and since then has been unable to keep up with a stream of covert orders from nobles and wealthy merchants whose eyesight is failing them; he usually makes ‘handglasses’ consisting of a round eye lens on a pierced-for-a-lanyard glass handle, and sells them for 100 to 120 gp each.)

Unbeknownst to many in the neighbourhood, the Black Rock has a secret side-entrance (next to its garbage-heap) that leads down into a ‘second cellar’ south of the one occupied by the glassworks (another secret door connects the two cellars).

This second cellar, the Berth, underlies the center of the block of buildings, a place customarily crowded with dock-cargo-wagons. Its ceiling is about fifteen feet below ground level, making it much deeper than the glassworks (both secret doors leading into the Berth open onto steep ramps descending into it). Harbour water constantly seeps through its glistening walls, even during winter freezeup, and is pumped out by the temple staff when it becomes more than three feet deep (the floor of the Berth is always covered by at least ankle-deep water, because no one wants to pump constantly, and because the flooded conditions keep roaches, rats, and other vermin away).

Valkur’s Berth is furnished with several wooden benches that hang on chains from ceiling-rafters, walkways of raised stones (about a foot higher than the surrounding floor) connecting both entrance ramps with a central altar, and a floating raft of large, old logs lashed together in three layers to keep a railed uppermost platform dry (a storage-place for smuggled goods, temple offerings, and temple supplies). The altar is a square stone block graven on all four sides with the stormcloud-and-three-lightning-bolts symbol of Valkur, and a larger depiction of this device (a mosaic that employs gilded stones for the bolts) is on the south wall of the cellar. The south wall of the cellar has several secret doors opening into side-cellars used for goods storage and by the clergy as sleeping-quarters, and at least two of these are connected to buildings in the Nerester’s-Tholone-Silverscales block by crawl-passages that give into rooms inside those buildings, sometimes ascending through the walls to the back of a closet in an upper floor room.

Like many old sailors and senior merchants of the port, Murrock (who knows many safe shipping voyages provide not only his personal prosperity, but that of Cormyr beyond what mere subsistence farming and logging would bring) is a faithful worshipper of Valkur. He provides space for the temple for free, and contributes the meals and comfort of its clergy regularly.

Most clergy of Valkur in the Sea of Fallen Stars region believe they can only maintain their personal standing in the eyes of both the god and His lay worshippers if they go on voyages at least once a season. Many fall into the habit of exploring most of the Inner Sea ports, and often trade temple duties with fellow clergy of the Captain of the Waves.

As a result, the staff of the Berth (one of the quieter but wealthier and more pleasant, if less ornate and socially prominent, temples of The Mighty) change often. They are usually three to five in number, and diligently serve sailors who come into port, comforting the lonely and bereaved, and caring for the sick, the injured, and the penniless.

Although clergy of Valkur don’t advocate smuggling (especially frowning on trade in illicit goods, and being dead set against slavery), they see as part of their work aiding working sailors in avoiding port taxes and oppressive rules (such as any prohibition on visiting sailors entering certain areas of a city). Therefore, they often store (hide) smuggled goods, arrange ‘undercloak’ (undercover) trades, and provide refuge for sailors fleeing authorities. They never request payments for such services, but do accept them if offered, and captains who make regular use of the Berth’s help take care to reward its clergy well.

As a result, the clergy found here are usually diligent, loyal to sailors as well as professed worshippers of Valkur, and maintain a large network of coffers and chests with hidden compartments, and cellars, back rooms, and upper-floor closets about the port area where such items can be stored.

At least one Valkuran priest on staff at the Berth at any time (and usually as many as three) will know the secret passages, backrooms, cellars, and alleys of Suzail’s port intimately, and be able to signal (with whistles, patterns of tossed pebbles, and the like) for ropes to be let down in a dozen buildings, to enable fleeing sailors to get up and into rooms before pursuers catch them.

It’s understood by sailors that the Berth isn’t to be used as a long-term home, and its clergy are not homemakers for lazy sailors or sailing old salts; the Valkurans provide emergency or short-term aid, not ‘a living’ for anyone who’s tired of going to sea. (Priests of Valkur do try to put retiring sailors in contact with folk who can find a place and work for them, and also help to trace relatives and former shipmates for folk.)

The wild-bearded, gray-haired old priest Amagar Warland (CG hm P11), now quite elderly, came to the Berth three seasons ago and shows no sign of leaving. (The fact that two of Murrock’s daughters lionize him, feed him, and flirt with him outrageously might have something to do with that.) The flamboyant, full-of-tales old priest is now considered the head of the Berth, and is becoming known around Suzail. In the past, Berth clergy made the rounds of taverns trying to convince unhappy sailors to leave off drinking and come to the Berth for comfort; now, Warland need only thrust his head in and remind them of how many bells it is until the next service to get a roaring escort. Of course, Warland’s habit of spending his own coins on hiring low-coin lasses to ‘come around to the Berth’ to give kisses and cuddles to sailors probably influences more visiting salts than the still-vigorous old priest’s craggy, wildly-whiskered face.

Warland is said to have found a sunken treasure ship somewhere in the shallows of the Neck one year, and made a vast fortune from it (coins that are banked in Suzail, which is why he now tarries there). Whether this is true or not, the priest seems to own several buildings in Suzail, to have some friends in surprisingly high places, and to never personally run short of coin.

Another cleric of the Captain of the Waves who seems to like the Berth and serve in it often, though she always departs after two or three seasons, is the sharp-tongued ‘Storm Bird,’ the darkly beautiful Jalatharra Storn (CG hf P9). Short-tempered, restless, and given to wild but short love affairs, she never talks about her past, but lovers report that her back and backside are a mass of deep, crisscrossing whip-scars. Jalatharra respects Warland and Murrock, but seems to think highly of few other men she meets, using them as lovers and then curtly telling them to begone. She does seem to yearn for something more than the stink of the docks, though, accepting almost every young nobleman’s invitation to a revel or a feast (and has sometimes even journeyed upcountry to various noble castles, to put on fine gowns and dance for a night or two).

Clergy of Valkur fight against all use of slaves and undead in ship crews, and against slavery and ‘kidnappings to the waves’ of all sorts. They frown on (and covertly work against) any one owner assembling a fleet large enough to dominate the shipping of any large port or country, and are especially alert for attempts by rulers or nobility to covertly control shipping or goods prices by arranging “shortages,” and the like. Otherwise, they don’t approve of sailors working with rebels to overthrow any but the most naval-unfriendly rulers, and will never themselves knowingly aid such conspirators (Valkuran priests never help the malcontents of Marsember against the Crown of Cormyr). Clergy of Valkur disapprove of piracy in direct relation to how violent the particular pirates are to other sailors: those who slay, burn ships at sea with folk aboard, or torture prisoners and defeated foes will receive poor welcomes from Valkurans, whereas those who do as little violence as possible will be treated with friendliness.

Some Valkuran oaths (with rough real-world equivalents given in parentheses):

“By the wheel!” (Son of a btch! or Holy sht!)

“Brokenkeel!” (Damn! or Sh*t!)

“Storm at the helm!” (Bloody hell! or G*ddamnit, no!)

“Drown!” (Fck!) [thus: “Drown you!” means fck you or f*ck off]

“Safe harbour!” (Valkur aid you!)

...And the "wouldn't fit" tags this time around are these:

#Sea of Fallen Stars (the)

#secret doors

#September

#Silverscales Street

#slavery

#slaves

#smuggling

#spies

#Storm Bird (the)

#sunken treasure

#Suzail

#tallhouses

#taverns

#taxes

#temples

#The Black Rat

#Tholone Lane

#Tireless Eyes (the)

#undead

#Valkur

#Valkur’s Berth

#Valkuran

#vendors

#vermin

#Vulkur

#wagoncut

#winter freezeup