Ringil, Gnome God of Smiths and Jesters

Ringil is the Gnomes only God. He is the protector of the communal burrow and the embodiment of the Gnomic skills of smithing and jesting.

Depictions

He is usually depicted as an elderly male Gnome with an impish grin, his right hand wielding a hammer and the left clutching either a bladder on a stick or a fishing rod.

Symbols

Ringil is usually represented by a stylised version of a jester's head on a stick. The most common symbols of his worship are anvils, fishing rods and bladders on sticks, often combined into single devices. Friars of the Cult wear iron pendants with an anvil design round their necks when on duty.

Temples

All Gnome burrows have a temple to Ringil; in most cases, this takes the form of a huge cavern, preferably a natural one, illuminated only by Glowing Light spells. The temple is also used for large clan meetings.

Strictures

Ringil is not the sort of God that lays down hard and fast rules, considering the virtues of living according to his virtues to be self-evident. His Friars (or Priests if you prefer) do have a self-imposed responsibility to teach other Gnomes, particularly the children, how a good gnome should behave and live their lives. Needless to say, these teachings do tend to vary enormously and are entirely dependant upon the opinions and experience of the teacher. But common themes include:

• Never spoil a fellow Gnome's prank by informing on him or alerting his victim.
• Do not allow insults against Gnomes to go unanswered.
• Do not allow the works of Gnomish craftsmanship to be abused.
• One-tenth of everything a Gnome earns belongs to Ringil.

To these are often added random additional strictures based upon the teacher's personal experiences. Such as:

• Beware of dogs. Horrible things. If they ain't trying to eat you, then they is slobbering all over you.
• All long-legs are stupid and gullible, but the females can sometimes be useful if properly rewarded.
• Watch yer back, an always leave the door open.
• Keep 'em guessing. what dey dunt know can't 'urt us.

Festivals of Worship

Lesser festivals to Ringil are held on the first day of each month and major festivals, usually known as 'Fools' Days', take place every three months.

Followers

All Gnomes are followers of Ringil and those with the knowledge will often volunteer to be Friars of the Cult and spread his teachings. However, this is rarely a permanent role and Gnomes tend to adopt it only as they get older and too tired or frail to do anything else.

Teachings Of Ringil

'So Master Glimbrin are all these other Gods real?' asked Dinglebell with an impish grin.
Glimbrin Oddsocks chuckled, trust young Dinglebell Bigears to come up with an awkward question. Clever little thing that one, smart as a tack and cute as a button. He had a mind to take her under his wing when she was old enough to start travelling. He could do with an assistant, and with those ears, she would be an excellent distraction.
'Them's as real as you and me, young missy.' he replied looking around the table of bright-eyed faces 'But then again we ain't God's either are we.' he grinned. 'Not that the long-legs let a silly little thing like that stop 'em worshipping them.'
He leans forward conspiratorially and all the sprogs do likewise as he adds in a low voice 'You know they even have one who wandered off into the mountains and got his'elf lost, and when he didn't come back they just decided he must be a God and started worshipping 'im.' The sprogs all burst out laughing and Glimbrin sat back contentedly.
Sometimes doing the work of Ringil was very rewarding.

Spread

Appears to be worshipped by all Gnomes throughout the Old World and has also been adopted by some Dwarfs as Rukh, God of Smiths.

Cultural Reception

The Cult of Ringil maintains friendly relations with the Dwarven pantheon and has cordial, if infrequent, contact with that of the Halfling deity, Esmeralda. It has very little to do with the gods of Elves or Humans and is openly hostile towards the enemies of the Gnome and Dwarven races.

An lo the bush burned and Ringil spake, "Commandments?...Commandments! What kind of religion do you think this is?! Thou shalt go out and seek what is there to be found. You lazy beggar."
The Book of Ringil, Chapter One, Verse One.

And Ringil spake unto his faithful followers and said unto them "Can one of you please tell me who the hell this Morris is you all keep prattling on about?"
The Book of Ringil, Chapter Three, Verse Four.