Umberlee, the Goddess of the Sea (um-ber-lee)
Queen of the Sea Umberlee (a.k.a. The Bitch of the Sea)
No community that lives by the sea can ignore the influence of Umberlee, the furious goddess whose tempestuous nature reflects and is reflected by the waters of the deep. Any such community makes sure to host festivals to propitiate the Wavemother and seek her favor. Although mercurial in temperament, she can be generous to those who do her honor, as is any great queen.
The Bitch Queen is worshiped out of fear instead of adoration, and ship crews offer her gems, tossed over the side, to calm storm-tossed waters. As her most common moniker suggests, she is viewed as capricious and cruel with no firm ethical outlook; the sea is a savage place, and those who travel it had best be willing to pay the price of challenging her domain.
There is little in the way of an organized clergy of Umberlee. Her priests roam coastal cities, warning of doom and demanding free passage on ships in return for ensuring the goddess’s pleasure. Often they wear the colors of waves and storms, and they decorate themselves with items that remind others of the sea’s dangerous nature — a necklace of shark teeth, seaweed wrapped about a human bone, and so on. The preserved hand of a drowned person is thought to be a particularly holy object, and some of her few clerics use such severed hands as holy symbols. Umberlee does have a large number of shrines in the coastal cities, and sailors often leave flowers or small candies at them in hopes that she will spare them on their next voyage. Both Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate have true temples dedicated to Umberlee, staffed largely by the widows of sailors lost at sea.
Divine Domains
The sea.
Holy Books & Codes
“
Great Umberlee, hear me! Great Queen of the Sea, heed this fervent supplication! Too long have we forsaken your true way, in our times far from the sea! Yet we return, and can never forget you! You, who quell storms and raise them with but a thought! Yet we cry unto you in our time of need, and make what humble offerings we can! Take, now, all the gold this ship carries, every last piece of it-and all the glistering gems, too! More than the weight of a man-yours, if you but take back your faithful guardians, to rest once more upon the bottom and await other intruders! Hear me, Great Umberlee! Accept now this offering!
”
— Belmer Droon's plea for Umberlee's mercy
Holidays
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.
Divine Classification
Goddess
Church/Cult
Children
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
