Kaelus

The Laughing God

Kaelus is the god of freedom, revelry, bravery, and impossible luck. Known as The Laughing God, he is worshipped by adventurers, drunkards, duelists, and dreamers. Anyone who believes the world is better lived loud and without apology. Once a mortal with a thirst for chaos and courage, Kaelus stumbled into divinity through a tale so tangled in bardic exaggeration and cultural variation that even his priests don’t agree on the details. What all stories share, however, is this: Kaelus never wanted to be a god. He still doesn’t act like one. And somehow, that makes him more divine than most.

Appearance

Kaelus is most often depicted as a roguishly handsome man in half-armored leathers, one boot missing, his hair windblown and ale-slicked. He’s almost always smiling, mischievously, drunkenly, or just before something explodes. In one hand, he carries a tankard that never runs dry; in the other, a rapier he named Lady Regret. He wears mismatched bits of gear from every culture, his cloak tattered from taverns and battlefields alike. In more symbolic art, Kaelus is portrayed as a rising toast carved into a starburst, or a pair of dice tumbling across a map of the world.

Dogma

The Laughing God teaches that life is too short, or too long, to live in fear. Joy, love, freedom, and courage are worth fighting for, and anyone who tries to take them away deserves a cracked nose and a ruined feast. He doesn’t care for rules, rituals, or rigid beliefs. What he asks is simple: Live. Loudly. Take the risk. Tell the truth. Make the toast. Kiss the person. Swing the sword. To follow Kaelus is to embrace chaos, not as destruction, but as the natural consequence of truly living.

Worship

Kaelus has no grand temples, only gathering places. Taverns, festival grounds, and even the occasional battlefield become his sanctuaries when the mood is right. His clerics, affectionately known as Alepriests, wander where they please, bringing laughter, luck, and sometimes surprisingly good healing magic with them. They perform marriages, break up bar fights, and bless dangerous plans with a wink. His most infamous scripture is The Toastbook, a collection of barroom toasts, dares, declarations, and tales of ludicrous courage. Like most toasting songs, no one agrees on a single version, and Kaelus wouldn’t want them to.
His holy day is The Night of Spilled Stars, celebrated once a year on a night when its believed that Kaelus achived godhood. It is a day of feasting, drinking, brawling, and declarations of love or rebellion. Kaelus is said to appear at random during the revels, often unrecognized until he’s long gone and the furniture is on fire.

Relations

Kaelus is broadly liked, if rarely respected, among the gods. Valmira adores him for his spontaneity and heart. Aurora finds his courage endearing, if exhausting. Anwhe pretends not to know he exists. Ugur has punched him at least once. Yet even the most grim gods cannot deny the strange power he holds, the force of freedom so undeniable it became divine.

History

Legends say Kaelus ascended by mistake, after drinking from a divine relic during a bet, stealing a god’s name, and accidentally signing his soul into the celestial registry. Some, mostly halflings, believe Bucca herself crafted him from a mortal spark of joy.  Kaelus’s mortal life is a tapestry of contradictory tales. In one version, he was a rogue who dared steal a chalice from a celestial feast and drank his way into the heavens. In another, he won his divinity in a duel with a drunken god, or perhaps bet his soul in a dice game with Velkareth and won on a bluff. Others think the world simply needed someone like him, and so he became. What’s agreed upon is this: Kaelus was mortal, foolish, and impossibly lucky. And now, he’s divine, because no one stopped him, and everyone loves a good story.
He did not ask for worship. He never built a church. But he is remembered, and wherever hearts race and laughter rings, Kaelus is already there, probably with a bottle, probably singing loudly off-key.

Divine Classification

Ascended God

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Realm

Elysium

Honorary & Occupational Titles

• The Laughing God
• Drunkard of the Stars
• The Accidental God
• The Lucky Drunk
• Patron of Bravery and Brew

Pathfinder Statistics

Divine Attribute: Constitution or Charisma
Divine Domains

• Cities
• Freedom
• Indulgence
• Luck

Divine Font: Heal
Divine Skill: Performance 
Favored Weapon: Rapier
Cleric Spells: 1st: fleet step, 2nd: stupefy, 5th: hallucination

D&D 5e Statistics

Suggested Domains

• Peace Domain
• Trickery Domain