Urogalan

Urogalan (urr-roh-gah-lan) protects the souls of the halfling dead and acts as Yondalla’s advisor and divine judge. Sages claim that the Nurturing Matriarch values his word over that of all others. Urogalan limits his interest in the material world to the space below the surface, an environment foreign to most halflings. Thus, Urogalan remains detached from his people, uncharacteristically morose and pensive for a halfling deity. Despite his outlook, halflings appreciate his role, and know that He Who Must Be will watch over their souls when it comes time for them to make the transition from this world to the embrace of the Green Fields.

Urogalan’s clerics preside over the internment of the dead and tend to halfling graces. Aside from their grim duties, they keep records, archive genealogies and note the important deeds of those that have died. They are called upon to bless new constructions and dig sites, and it is a tradition for a cleric of Urogalan to speak a prayer before the first meal eaten in a new building.

Urogalan’s clerics, known as grimwardens, pray for spells in the morning. Grimwardens celebrate nights of the full moon as “Earthrisings,” a time when followers of the Lord of the Earth gather with the relatives of halflings who perished in the last month for a special ceremony within a natural earth basin. Participants give offerings to the deity, softly chanting funeral dirges and elegies to the percussive pounding of bare feet while making slow rotations around the central stone. Clerics of Urogalan share so many rituals and beliefs with the dwarven deity Dumathoin that they often are welcomed as brothers in temples dedicated to the Keeper of Secrets under the Mountain. Grimwardens seldom multiclass. They turn rather than rebuke undead.

History and Relationships: Urogalan finds little comfort in the company of his pantheon, keeping up cordial relations but maintaining a certain emotional distance. As his detached, somber mien is as off-putting to the other halfling gods as their frivolity and merry-making is to Urogalan, the arrangements works well for both parties. He finds some companionship with other earth lords such as Grumbar, Callarduran Smoothhands, Dumathoin, and Flandal Steelskin, but is most at home when visiting the Crystal Spire and discussing the nature of death with the likes of Jergal and Kelemvor. The time requirements of stewardship over the dead tax even those worthies, however, and such visits are rare. Urogalan has no time for deities who include necromancy and undead among their portfolios, treating them as sworn enemies.

Dogma: Earth is the giver and receiver of life, providing shelter, food, and wealth to those whose toes embrace it. The sacred soil is to be revered as the mantle of Those Who Have Been and the shelter of Those Who Will Be. The thanatopsis of He Who Must Be reveals that death is to be embraced as a natural end, thus giving honor to the life that war.