Karametra

God of Harvests

Karametra is recognized as the serene, maternal god of the harvest, her arms spread wide as she offers bounty to her worshipers or cradles communities in her embrace. Almost every human settlement contains at least a modest shrine to solicit her favor, and she is closely associated with Setessa, the center of her worship. Wise and even-tempered, Karametra values community, stability, and the balance of nature. She is the god of maternity, family, orphans, domestication, and agriculture, as well as defense of the home and territory.
Karametra appears to mortals as a motherly figure with hair made of ordered rows of leaves that shroud her eyes from view. She is always shown in art (and often seen in Nyx) seated on her throne, which is formed from a tangle of grape vines growing out of a collection of jugs and amphorae that surround her. An elaborately carved wooden canopy extends above her, and a giant sable—her faithful companion—curls around the base of the throne at her feet. In one hand, she holds a harvester’s scythe.

Karametra’s Influence

Karametra governs nature as it comes into play in the lives of mortals, representing domesticated nature—a bounteous, nurturing provider. But she also reminds mortals that they are part of the natural world; they are animals that eat and digest and reproduce and sleep, and Karametra is influential in all of that, as well. Mortals seek her favor because the fertility of nature is necessary for their existence. It isn’t her wrath they fear—she is not a god of storms or plagues—but her withdrawal. Without her, plants, livestock, families, and communities simply fail to thrive. Her goodwill is a bulwark against both physical starvation and starvation of the spirit: despair, loneliness, and moral weakness.
Karametra promises that spring will always come again, trees will always bear fruit, and flocks will always bear young. Children will always be born, parents will always care for them and be cared for in their turn. Great fortune or adventure might not be at hand, but the little joys of life—the smell of spring blossoms, the sweetness of ripe fruit, the flaming beauty of autumn leaves, the fellowship of community—can be savored.
In many ways, Karametra represents the essence of the divine relationship with mortals: fertility and protection are the nucleus of the aid mortals have always sought from gods, and Karametra doesn’t complicate these basic needs by couching them in terms of abstract ideals of honor or law or justice. She is the distillation of an ancient and primal exchange: mortal devotion in return for divine blessing.

Karametra’s Goals

Karametra doesn’t engage in underhanded politicking or petty disputes. She seems to stand above the quarrels and tumultuous rivalries of other deities, and equally aloof from the machinations of the mortal world. Her fundamental concern is for the well-being of mortal folk, starting with their physical health but also including their need for security, love, and belonging.

Divine Relationships

Karametra might not want to wield power over other gods, but her position of detached compassion lends her significant influence to wield as she chooses. The other gods trust her to be impartial in their disputes and honest about her motivations, and they look to her for wisdom and even sometimes comfort. Karametra’s closest relationship is with Heliod. He respects her civilized demeanor, and she recognizes the vital role the sun’s brilliance plays in nurturing life.
The relationship between Karametra and Nylea is respectful but strained. Nylea is disappointed by Karametra’s decision, as a nature deity, to subordinate nature to the needs of mortals. Karametra is frustrated by what she sees as Nylea’s refusal to recognize mortal folk—and all their civilizations—as part of the natural world. Despite this tension, both gods encourage their worshipers to leave offerings at each other’s shrines.
The gods who provoke Karametra’s sharpest disdain are Iroas and Mogis, who seem devoted to the idea of preventing mortal life from fully flourishing. War—even if it’s couched in noble terms, as Iroas’s followers like to do—is fundamentally an instrument of death, bringing a premature and pointless end to mortal life. That said, Karametra does recognize the need to fight in defense of one’s life, family, and community when they come under attack, so she and Iroas are able to find some common ground in that matter—and in their shared hatred of Mogis.

Worshiping Karametra

The earth’s fertility is essential for mortal life to continue. Those who live in the modern poleis might not be as aware of that fact as those who farm their own food, but even they long for children, know the pinch of hunger, and feel the turn of the seasons. Prayers to Karametra focus on asserting Karametra’s constancy and bounty, praising the god’s love and generosity. Worshipers of Karametra gather for a feast once a month, on the evening of the full moon, that celebrates the god’s role in parenthood and community. New parents receive gifts and blessings, and young couples sneak away into the woods in hopes of finding sweet berries and sweeter kisses

Myths of Karametra

Karametra rarely engages in legendary undertakings. It is her unshakable reliability that makes her a popular deity.

The Miraculous Field

Outside Setessa is a farm that produces incredible fruits and grains that can heal illnesses, increase fertility, and stave off hunger for days. The field is said to be Karametra’s tribute to her beloved human priest, Thamuzus, who died there. While many seek the farm, it is said that the vineyard around it is so labyrinthine that few have ever reached its center.

The Old Harvest

In rare, remote settlements, high summer ceremonies acknowledge ancient rural practices devoted to a less merciful vision of Karametra. These communities offer abundant sacrifices to the god, but also guard their ancient rituals from outsiders, as Karametra’s organized clergy harshly forbids discussion of abandoned religious practices. However, occasionally, a centuries-old depiction of the goddess breaks, revealing an ancient icon inside, typically a primitive mud idol of a woman bearing a sheaf of grain in one hand and a skull in the other.

Partners in Possibility

The fall holiday known as the Blessing of the Beasts (or, in Meletis, the Therimakarion) celebrates humans’ partnership with domestic animals. The horses and oxen that pull plows, the cats that guard the granaries, and the roosters that wake families and call them to their work are given blessings, special treats, and a day of rest. Stories say that strays found on this day are servants of Karametra and destined for great things. Others claim that on this day domestic animals can speak—that is, if they have anything they care to say to their supposed owners. A kraken that escaped its sea lock once threatened the small seaside city of Altrisos. Recently weakened by a triton raid, the city had no defenses left and would be destroyed by an attack. The people prayed to Ephara, and the large image of her face on the city’s wall came to life. The walls of the city grew impossibly high and strong, and the kraken could do no more than dash its head against the impassable barrier. The monster soon returned to the ocean to find an easier meal.

Striving for Protection

Although Karametra delights in nature’s bounty, she ever strives to tap its greater potential. Her followers recount legends of breeders and horticulturalists who cultivated remarkable new types of plants and animals—such as the everfruit of Dakra or the storied Oraniad dragon-hens. Yet, while Karametra looks on such innovations with delight, some other gods see them as blasphemies.

The Years of Rage

The tales about Karametra don’t specify what ignited the god’s rage in ancient times, but they do record that for a year, she tore down her own temples and refused to let any plants grow. The mortals of the world, threatened with starvation, beseeched her to curb her wrath. In an effort led by Karametra’s priests, nearly all of humanity prayed for a week, neither eating nor sleeping, praising Karametra for her serenity and generosity. After that time, she relented and produced a miraculous crop of grapes that cured illness and fed the people. Ever since then, her statues have been adorned with twining grape vines around their left wrists in commemoration of that event.

Karametra’s Champions

Alignment: Usually neutral, often good
Suggested Classes: Cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger
Suggested Cleric Domains: Life, Nature
Suggested Backgrounds: Acolyte, folk hero, guild artisan, soldier, urchin
Most champions of Karametra are advocates of community and family. They typically form tight-knit squads or surrogate families and take care of their people.

Karametra’s Favor

Karametra’s champions build community, advance civilization, and bestow bounty wherever they go in the name of their god. Karametra seeks to provide for all, end famine and desperation, and ensure that everyone is supported by family and community. She isn’t a demanding god, but her champions diligently court her favor by trying to further her goals. Karametra grants her favor to champions in the mortal world who advance the cause of civilization and community. She nurtures the power and influence of those who provide food and care to others and has little patience for those who display arrogance and self-centeredness, instead elevating those who seek to elevate others.
Although Karametra’s demeanor is gentle, her call to service is nonnegotiable. She lavishes fortune and prosperity on those who serve her, but she will not be ignored. It is rare for her to abandon a champion, but neither will she allow a champion to abandon their service. The Karametra’s Favor table offers suggestions for what might make the god of the harvest take notice of you.

Earning and Losing Piety

You increase your piety score to Karametra when you expand the god’s influence in the world in a concrete way through acts such as these:

• Turning a wild field into fertile cropland
• feeding those who are hungry
• Defending a farm from monsters
• Building or restoring a temple to Karametra

Your piety score to Karametra decreases if you diminish her influence in the world, contradict her ideals, or undermine her civilizing influence through acts such as these:

• Destroying a settlement's food source
• Releasing and scattering domestic animals
• Diverting a water source needed for irrigation
• Starting a fire that threatens a settlement

Karametra’s Devotee

Piety 3+ Karametra trait
As a devotee of Karametra, you have proven yourself a worthy potential champion of the harvest god. As a bonus action, you can invoke her protection; spectral plants cover you, providing you with a +1 bonus to AC for 1 minute. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Karametra’s Votary

Piety 10+ Karametra trait
You can cast create food and water with this trait. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.

Karametra’s Disciple

Piety 25+ Karametra trait
By performing an hour-long ritual, you can conjure enough grapes to fill three vials (4 ounces each) of wine. Each vial serves as a potion of healing for 24 hours, after which it loses this property. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Champion of Harvests

Piety 50+ Karametra trait
You can increase your Constitution or Wisdom score by 2 and also increase your maximum for that score by 2.

A Karametra Campaign

At first glance, a campaign in which the player characters are champions of Karametra might seem counterintuitive, since Karametra’s goals seem to promote the antithesis of an adventuring life. But her ideals might be attractive to some adventurers, such as exiles for whom the idea of settling down in a safe, prosperous community can be a profoundly seductive prospect. Karametra lavishes her favor on those who protect established communities, but her most cherished champions are those who strike out to found a new settlement or bring aid to a struggling or endangered community. She loves most keenly those followers who embody her values of putting community before self by leaving their peaceful lives behind and looking for others to bring into the fold. And her pride in them is all the greater when they manage to build chosen families who journey with them to pursue the same goals.
At the beginning of the campaign, the characters might discover a community in desperate straits and receive Karametra’s blessing as they restore it to a state of safety and prosperity. Or they might find their home destroyed, only to receive a vision from Karametra that she’s placing the community’s refugees in their care.
The greatest danger to champions of Karametra is walking the line between cultivating bounty and protecting the vulnerable versus becoming greed-driven and paternalistic. Karametra values humility, and often seeks to teach those who grow too big for their britches sharp lessons against hubris.

Karametra’s Villains

Karametra’s followers can embody the best or worst of civilization. Just as society can protect the vulnerable it can also reinforce injustice and give it the power of law. Too much material wealth and security can make people less inclined to empathize with those who have less, or even make them believe that wealth is a sign of virtue. Ignoring these truths can lead Karametra’s followers down wicked paths. At its worst, the worship of Karametra can be twisted into compulsory conformity. It can value nature and people only for what they can provide. It can care for orphans while doing nothing to remedy the circumstances that made them orphans. It can turn defense of one’s community into xenophobia. It can come to treat the wealthy as moral exemplars and the poor as moral failures. Karametra’s followers can easily tip from valuing bounty to indulging in greed. Those who provide for others might come to believe it gives them a right to control them.

Karametra as Campaign Villain

The intrinsic wildness of nature is part of Karametra’s being. A campaign that paints Karametra as a villain might explore the ferocity that seethes inside her, a wild aspect held in check by the power of mortal belief, which paints her as a gentle, mothering source of bounty. She no longer demands blood sacrifices from her worshipers because they no longer believe such supplication is necessary—not because she decided to stop. In the pantheon, she personifies a truth that most gods don’t fully appreciate but do fear: for all the influence they might have over mortal lives, the collective force of mortal belief can reshape the gods’ very nature. As a campaign villain, Karametra might seek to return to her blood-soaked origins, sending her champions to convince communities they must again make blood sacrifices to please her. Karametra may send monsters to the poleis to remind them of the dangers of displeasing her, causing even more bloodshed. The campaign might end with heroes confronting Karametra or finding some other way to appease her.

Arbor Watchtower

Sites that are sacred to Karametra, from her grand temple in the heart of Setessa to outposts in the wilderness, combine careful construction with natural growth. The god favors towers and hanging gardens that lift the verdant natural world up toward Nyx in her honor. In the Nessian Wood, Setessans build watchtowers that serve the dual purpose of military defense and worship.

Watchtower Adventures

A watchtower adventure usually hinges on challenging the characters to find a way into or out of the fortress. As a military structure, a watchtower might hold secrets, weapons, soldiers, and prisoners, any of which the characters could liberate or defend. If the characters take over a watchtower, they could try to keep it for themselves. The Watchtower Adventures table offers ideas for adventures in such a place.