(The Festhall Madam, the Lustful Mistress, Feline of Felicity, Succubus of Sensation, the Tawny Temptress, the Dancing Lady, Foe of Set, Mother of Cats)
Demipower of Olympus and Gladsheim, CG
PORTFOLIO: Hedonism, excess, lust, sensual fulfillment, festhalls, cats, pleasure seekers
ALIASES: Bast, Bastet, Felidae, Zandilar the Dancer
DOMAIN NAME: Olympus/Brightwater and Gladsheim/Merratet
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: Anhur, Hanali Celanil, Lliira, Milil, Nobanion, Selûne, Sune
FOES: Set, Shar, Loviatar
SYMBOL: Feminine lips (Sharess) or a cat's head wearing delicate golden hoop earrings (Bast; older)
WOR. ALIGN.: Any
Sharess (SHAH-ress) is the more commonly recognized name of the deity originally known as Bast (BAAST). When the Mulhorandi deities emigrated to Faerûn, Bast accompanied them. At that point, she was known mainly as Anhur's lieutenant in the eternal struggle against Set and as the patroness of cats, revered for their ability to keep rats from the precious grain of the Mulhorandi people and their eternal vigilance against the serpents and scorpions of Set. At the height of the second empires of Mulhorand and Unther, numerous beast cults gained popularity for a time. During this period, the Mulan and Turami peoples began to venerate Felidae, a goddess of felines, sensual pleasures, and nomads revered by the barbarians to the north and west, and in a very short time the more powerful Bast subsumed Felidae's portfolio and position into her own. However, the taste of foreign ways and foreign places tantalized Bast and like many felines, she was struck with wanderlust. When Ao allowed Mask to expand his geographic sphere and influence to include the thieves of the Old Empires (since they had no native deity who served that function and an innate prejudice against such), he required that the Faerûnian pantheon accept a Mulhorandi power into their geographic sphere of influence in exchange.
Bast immediately set off to explore Faerûn. She maintained a few followers in the Mulhorandi sphere, however, and continued to answer their prayers (if sporadically), so her name and powers were never lost to the people of the Old Empires. She soon became known as the Patroness of Festhalls as she wandered through the rest of the Realms. Numerous short-lived cults were created in the wake of her passing, but most quickly vanished when the goddess lost interest in her current flock and moved on to new pleasures. The veneration of cats in Cormyr and Mulhorand is the main remaining legacy of these ancient, wild revels. The connection between Bast and the Old Empires and Sharess of western Faerûn is supported by the tendency for most images of the goddess to be depicted stroking a resplendent black cat.
Some time later, Bast acquired the portfolio and aspect of an elven demipower worshiped by the elves of the Yuirwood. Zandilar the Dancer was an elven goddess of love whose portfolio, unlike that of the more romance—and beauty—oriented Hanali Celanil, was directed toward passionate, physical love which burned hot and quickly but eventually died out. Zandilar was a joyful and tragic demipower who is said to have used her feminine wiles to gain vital information from deities of other pantheons and to persuade human chieftains and kings to leave the Yuir in peace. When the Yuir elves began to falter in a series of battles with drow armies, Zandilar attempted to seduce the dark elven deity Vhaeraun either to gain information or to elicit his assistance in battling the forces of Lolth. However, the dark elven lord betrayed Zandilar and imprisoned her avatar, and her self-sacrifice went for naught. Vhaeraun intended to seize Zandilar's divine essence for himself, but failed when Bast distracted him long enough for the elven demipower to escape. In gratitude and out of necessity, the severely weakened Zandilar voluntarily merged her essence with that of Bast. A reinvigorated Bast/Zandilar was then strong enough to help the Yuir elves drive off the drow forces for a time. As a result of this union, Bast became more focused on the pursuit of pleasure and acquired the nickname "the Dancing Lady."
Some time after the fall of Myth Drannor, Bast began to experiment with the darker side of pleasure and fell under the influence of Shar, Mistress of the Night. Known as the Maidens of the Forbidden Fruit, the two goddesses were strongly linked in the liturgy of the church of Shar until Bast was seen simply as an aspect of Shar known as Sharess. The ranks of the Lustful Mistress's clergy slowly dwindled throughout the Realms as the nightbringers spoke of her being a precursor to the despair and loss that all beings will eventually embrace. Those who encountered the goddess of pleasure during this time found her beauty slowly fading and the joy of life leaving her eyes.
Sharess was never fully absorbed by Shar, however, and during the Time of Troubles she was released from this dark link by Sune. Sharess had assumed the form of the favorite concubine of the Pasha of Calimport as her avatar and was engaged in a wild life of decadence within that ruler's haren when the avatar of Shar arrived to slay Sharess once and for all, as she had already done to Ibrandul. However, before Shar could destroy Sharess and seize her portfolio, the avatar of Sune arrived with a chalice filled with the sacred waters of Evergold and doused Sharess in its liquid essence. Sharess immediately regained her faded beauty and rebelled against the Dark Dancer's bitter influence.
In the wake of the Godswar, Sharess has removed herself from the Realms to Arvandor where she joins Sune and the elven goddess Hanali Celanil in frolicking in and around the pool of Evergold. Some tales claim Sharess is the younger, more decadent sister of Sune, although this is not strictly true. Sharess puts even Sune and Lliira to shame with her excesses.
Sharess fiercely clings to her newfound independence and remains infatuated with the pursuit of pleasure in all forms despite the counsel of Sune and the dark entreaties of Shar. Her revitalized clergy is spreading through the festhalls of the Realms, regaling worshipers with (wholly unsubstantiated) tales of Sharess's bawdy exploits in league with her friends Milil and Lliira and with other Faerûnian deities. Sharess is well aware of the fine—dark—line between her portfolio and that of Loviatar and jealously guards her domain from the Maiden of Pain. She is morbidly fascinated by Ilmater and frequently attempts to seduce him—so far without success. Sharess and Nobanion get along well because of their mutual feline natures, but Sharess cannot resist teasing him occasionally (and thus getting him irked at her) because she likes to fray the edges of his straight-laced nature to see what will happen. Bast and Anhur have an off-again, on-again relationship that swings from deep love to indifference and involves frequent spats and occasional fits of pique (especially on Bast's part), but both of them would always help each other when it comes to matters of importance. Sharess maintains an active hatred for Set and his activities as the core of her nature and can always be relied on to oppose him and aid those who fight to root out his influence.
Sharess only rarely appears in avatar form in the Realms, but when she does it is often as the Dancing Lady at Godswalk Keep in the Barony of Great Oak in the Border Kingdoms. Her clergy claim she appears to taunt Garagos and Jergal who contested for her affections long ago and whose avatars also appear in a confluence known as the Meeting of the Three. She is also said to be working in some fashion again in her alias as Zandilar the Dancer in the Yuirwood.
Sharess is a strange and radiant demipower whose beauty is rivaled only by Sune among the Faerûnian pantheon, but whose aura is tinged with faded promise. Her voice is said to be a throaty purr and to give the listener the feeling of being brushed by the softest fur or velvet when she speaks. She is a fickle, flighty deity, who prevents anyone from getting too close to her true spirit. She has the willful independence and pleasure-seeking nature common to felines and is constantly preening and grooming to maintain her appearance. She is often depicted as a voluptuous human female with the head of a cat. Sharess enjoys toying with beautiful mortals—male and female—and she cannot resist casually flirting anyone she encounters. However, when her ardor cools and her passion is sated, Sharess is easily distracted and quick to move on to new pleasures. She dislikes snakes intensely.
Sharess (as Bast) is served by divine minions that can assume the form of a lion, a leopard, or a small wild cat (a feral domestic cat).
Sharess's Avatar (Thief 23, Mage 18, Spellsinger 18, Cleric 16, FIghter 10)
Sharess favors two forms when she manifests in the Realms. As the Lady of the Golden Heart, she appears as a voluptuous, bronze-skinned human female with long wavy raven hair and the slitted green eyes of a cat. She dresses in provocative clothing ranging from that of a tawdry tart to that of a pampered concubine. This is also the form she appears in as Bast in Mulhorand, though she wears Mulhorandi garb. As the Feline Huntress, she appears as a huge tawny house cat with razor sharp claws, wickedly gleaming emerald eyes, and a sensuous aspect. Sharess has not, to anyone's knowledge, assumed the form of Zandilar the Dancer for centuries. When she does, she appears as a beautiful and seductive blue-skinned elven woman who wears layered gauzy outfits. All forms have access to all spell schools and spheres, but Sharess prefers spells from the spheres of charm and from the schools of enchantment/charm and illusion/phantasm.
AC -3; MV 15; sprint 45; HP 172; THAC0 10; #AT 2 or 4/1
Dmg 1d10+7/1d10+7 (claws, +7 STR) or 1d4+10 (thrown dagger +3, +7 STR)
MR 70%; SZ L (7 feet tall; Lady of the Golden Heart or Zandilar) or L (12 feet long: Feline Huntress)
STR 19, DEX 24, CON 20, INT 19, WIS 10, CHA 25
Spells P: 7/7/7/6/4/3/1, W: 5/5/5/5/5/3/3/2/1 + Special (see Wizards and Rogues of the Realms for
details on spellsingers, who effectively have no limit on their number or level of spells)
Saves PPDM 4, RSW 4, PP 7, BW 9, Sp 5
Special Att/Def: In all her forms, Sharess can attack twice per round by raking with her deceptively delicate fingernails (which are as sharp and deadly as the claws of a hunting cat) or claws. As the Feline Huntress, if she scores hits with both her forepaws in a single round, she gains an additional two attacks with her rear claws for 1d12+7 points of damage each if they hit. In her Zandilar the Dancer or Lady of the Golden Heart forms Sharess is proficient in all weapons and specialized in throwing daggers, which she has very rarely used, usually in a sort of pinwheeling dance attack. Her thrown daggers are daggers +3 and appear in her hands at will, summoned from thin air. She apparently can access an infinite supply of them, and they disappear again shortly after they strike a target or one round after they are thrown.
Any of her avatar forms can shape change into the form of any cat, great or small, young or old, wild or domestic and gain all the forms of attack and special abilities of the form while retaining her own defensive abilities, Armor Class, and immunities. She can also see through the eyes of all cats at all times, though she must concentrate on the input to pick out images of importance. Sharess can also appear as any creature's most passionate desire thought a sort of divine illusion, but she does not change form to do so. Her kiss can bestow a kiss of Sharess or reverse a being's gender (as a girdle of femininity/masculinity) at will. Her touch can create the effect of an excessive indulgence or intensify sensation spell at will.
Sharess has the legendary nine lives of a cat, and her avatar must be slain nine times before it is truly destroyed. She can fall from any distance and land on her feet, unharmed and unruffled. She is immune to illusion/phantasms, enchantment/charm spells she does not wish to be affected by, and the harmful effects of necromantic sphere or necromancy school spells. Sharess cannot be harmed by her own daggers; she can be damaged only by spells or +2 or better magical weapons.
Other Manifestations
Sharess's favorite manifestation is that of an unseen caress whose contact brings uncontrolled shuddering rapture (as the 3rd-level priest spell of the same name detailed in the write-up of Sune found in Faiths & Avatars) and intensifies all pleasurable sensation (as the spell intensify sensation). Sharess is also known to manifest as a pair of disembodied, floating female lips (as big across as a human's head) whose touch bestows a kiss of Sharess.
Sharess also shows her favor through the presence of cats, dopplegangers in pleasing shapes, dryads (or satyrs), good and neutral sirines, elven cats, tressyms, and a few (very rare) nonevil alu-fiends who act in accordance with her philosophy of life. She often lingers for days as a perfumed scent that creates an excessive indulgence in any who breathe its essence. She enjoys sumptuous jewelry, gourmet foods, and things of beauty and may grant a boon to anyone who sacrifices such things to her.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, mystics
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: NG, CG, N, CN; rarely and briefly, NE, CE
TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, Mys: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mys: No
All clerics, mystics, and specialty priests of Sharess receive religion (Faerûnian) and religion (Mulhorandi) as bonus nonweapon proficiencies. Sharess includes a small but significant number of elves and half-elves among her clergy, most of whom venerate her as Zandilar the Dancer.
Sharess is worshiped in large urban areas such as Waterdeep, Calimport, and other cities along the Sword Coast. She is revered by male and female professional escorts who take pride in their professions, the decadent rich, and those who seek only endless pleasure in life. In Mulhorand, she is also revered by those who combat Set and rewards those who work long and hard against him with occasional nights of wild pleasure to inspire them to further efforts. Sharess's faith is still very young and its ceremonies very loose and fluid, with long worship services that resemble nothing so much as extended feasts and revels, heavy on the pleasures of the flesh and light on the teachings of the spirit. A goodly number of former followers of Waukeen who have rejected Lliira's teachings have become interested in Sharess.
The few temples of Sharess are typically located in large cities along the Sword Coast, but small shrines to the goddess of pleasure may be found in almost every festhall in the Realms. Her temples are typically constructed to resemble elaborate festhalls, with graceful, fluting pillars, octagonal domes, great halls sculpted to resemble forest glades, secluded nooks, bathing areas in natural mineral springs, great banquet halls, and richly scented massage parlors. Most are guarded by staunch fighters and even exotic sentient monsters who are sworn to protect all revelers who partake in the name of Sharess.
The clergy of Sharess are collectively known as Sharessin. Both male and female humans can be found in their ranks, but charismatic and physically beautiful female humans comprise the great majority of them. Specialty priests of Sharess are known as sensates. As there is no known connection between Sharess's faithful and the Outer Planar faction of the same name, this is a potential point of confusion.
The clergy of Sharess is split evenly between clerics and specialty priests, with the balance slowly shifting in favor of specialty priests. Alignment restrictions for Sharess's clergy (particularly clerics) are weak, and a gentle slide toward evil is still often tolerated. Those priests who remain evil and seem unwilling or unable to drift back toward neutrality in their behavior are secretly entreated by agents of Shar to shift their worship to the Dark Maiden while maintaining their position within the clergy of Sharess. The Feline of Felicity seems unwilling or unable to prevent such defections at this time, rare though they may be.
Dogma: Sharess's priests are expected to live their lives in the decadent sensual fulfillment of themselves and others. Pleasure is to be sought out at every opportunity and life is to be lived as one endless revel. Initiates to the faith are taught that: "Life is to be lived to its fullest. That which is good is pleasurable and that which is pleasurable is good. Spread the bounty of the goddess so that all may join in the Endless Revel of Life and bring joy to all those in pain. Infinite experiences await those who would explore, so try the new as well as savoring the old."
Day-to-Day Activities: Many priests and priestesses of Sharess run pleasure houses in large cities or directly serve decadent rulers. These pleasure houses cater to all the senses and include fantastic feasts, heavenly baths and massages, unique experiences, such as flight, and every other pleasure imaginable. Wealthy festhalls often employ one or two mid-level Sharessin, and some Sharessin wander the countryside, with Sharess's blessing, seeking new pleasing sensations to add to their repertoire.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The clergy of Sharess celebrate more festivals than possibly any other faith in the Realms. They are known collectively as the Endless Revel of Life. The daily rising and setting of the sun, the yearly passage of seasons, the appearance of a full moon, or nearly any other event is cause for a celebration and wild revel to which the general populace is always invited. Each such festival has several outlandish titles and new festivals are added all the time as old ones are forgotten. Without comparison, however, Midsummer's Eve is the time of greatest rejoicing among Sharess's faithful and an occasion for the most extreme pursuits of boundless pleasure.
Major Centers of Worship: The center of Sharess's faith is the Festhall of Eternal Delight located along Calimport's waterfront. An earlier temple on this spot was destroyed during the most recent Night Parade, and the new temple is even more extravagant than the last. Dark marble columns, jutting spires, crystalline statues in enticing poses and vast, landscaped atriums decorate this sprawling complex. The temple baths are legendary for their recuperative powers and skilled masseuses, and the temple flowers are carefully selected for the reputed aphrodisiacal properties of their scents in some rooms and their calming or soothing properties in others. Gigantic fighters (several who appear to have giant or ogre blood), a sirine (somehow magically equipped to breathe air), and a faerie dragon, among other exotic protectors, stand guard against the frequent raids from the neighboring Temple of Old Night.
Affiliated Orders: Sharess is served by no military or knightly orders. Most professional escorts in major cities join formal or informal guilds led by her clergy, however. Sharess is served by a secretive sisterhood of female werecats known as the Eyes of Evening who also pay tribute to Selûne. The aims and goals of this mysterious fellowship are unknown, although they are rumored to hunt cultists of Shar and Loviatar during nights of the full moon.
In Mulhorand, Bast has a more militant reputation than Sharess. A number of adventuring bands who work against Set and his agents, including the Desert Fire and the Daggers of Truth, count Bast as a patroness and also receive support from other Mulhorandi faiths, including those of Anhur and Horus-Re.
Priestly Vestments: All priests of Sharess wear their hair long and style it to show off their faces and bodies to their best advantage. The priestly raiment of Sharess's clergy varies widely according to the priest's gender, the local climate, current fashions, and the priest's taste. Waterdhavian courtesans favor highly suggestive evening dresses that make them seem half-undressed, while the women of Calimport's harems wear diaphanous negligees, short vests, sheer pantaloons, gold dust, and endless gemstone beads and coins strung in ropes and made into decorative chains and fringes. Male clergy typically prefer tight-fitting breeches that are tailored to their charms and blousy open shirts. They often wear decorative belts and vests. Sharess's holy symbol is the image of feminine lips carved from dark amber or ruby and worn on a golden chain on the wrist or ankle.
The few priests and priestesses of Bast who remain in Mulhorand favor tight-fitting kalasiris (tight-fitting white linen knee-length skirts) and ornate pectoral collars draped suggestively over the chest or breasts. The holy symbol of Bast is a cat's head wearing golden hoop earrings.
Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, the clergy of Sharess endeavor to preserve the gifts of the goddess as best as they can and hence typically wear the best armor they can afford. There is no point to living life without pleasure, however, so they always decorate such armor as provocatively as possible.
Specialty Priests (Sensates)
REQUIREMENTS: Dexterity 10, Wisdom 9, Charisma 13
PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, Charisma
ALIGNMENT: CG, CN
WEAPONS: Club, dagger, knife, khopesh, net, sling, scimitar, whip
ARMOR: Any, but decorated provocatively
MAJOR SPHERES: All, chaos, charm, combat, healing, guardian, protection
MINOR SPHERES: animal, creation, elemental (water), necromantic, travelers
MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics
REQ. PROFS: Dancing
BONUS PROFS: Singing, artistic ability (pick one), and musical instrument (pick one)
1st Level
Excessive Indulgence (Pr 1; Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere: Charm
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 4
Area of Effect: One living creature
Saving Throw: Special
This spell enables a Sharessin to cause its recipient to focus on his or her current activities to the point of overindulgence for the duration of this spell. When the spell is cast, its target receives a saving throw vs. spell to avoid the effect. If the saving throw is failed, the victim's current actions that round become compulsive and excessive for the duration of the spell.
Each round, the target must make an Intelligence check and a Wisdom check (both at a -2 penalty) to perform any action besides his or her compulsion. For example, if Blenzer the Bulging was eating when the spell was cast, he feels an overwhelming urge to gorge himself for the duration of the spell. All surprise checks are made with -2 penalty during this period.
If the victim of this spell is attacked while under its effects, the spell is instantly canceled. Likewise, victims do not truly injure or kill themselves while under this spell's effects, although they may come close due to gluttony or some other behavior.
The material components of this spell are the priest's holy symbol and three fresh flower petals.
3rd Level
Intensify Sensation (Pr 3; Enchantment/Charm) Reversible
Sphere: Charm
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round / level
Casting Time: 6
Area of Effect: One living creature
Saving Throw: Neg.
This spell enables a Sharessin to intensify sensations in herself or a single recipient. Unwilling targets receive a saving throw vs. spell to negate this effect. Any physical or emotional sensation can be heightened to unbelievable heights through the application of this spell, often disconnecting the recipient from reality, creating an extremely heightened interest or emotion, and proving to be an immense distraction from dealing with fast-paced and changing circumstances (such as in a combat situation). While this spell is in effect, all ability checks, attack rolls, damage rolls (minimum 1 point of damage), and saving throws are made with a -2 penalty, and all wizard and priest spells are cast with a 1d4+1 casting time initiative penalty.
Although normally employed in pleasurable situations, this spell can be used heighten pain as well to a potentially incapacitating level. Damage suffered during the effects of this spell is perceived as 25% (round up) worse than it actually is, although the spell has no effect on the actual damage inflicted. (Basically, add 25% to damage (rounding down) as phantom damage that goes away when the spell ends and that cannot kill a target, though it can render him or her unconscious.) As a result, the target may collapse into unconsciousness wracked by unbearable pain even if she or he could normally continue to fight on. Likewise spells such as whip of pain (both wizard and priest versions), symbol of pain, or pain touch have twice their normal effect (or if inapplicable, twice the duration).
This reverse of this spell, deaden sensation can be employed to suppress physical pain or other harmful feelings. While this spell is in effect, the recipient is immune to the effects of whip of pain, symbol of pain, pain touch, suggestion, other charm-type magics (and it terminates an existing charm), emotion, stunning, or nausea. All damage received while the reversed form of this spell is in effect is perceived as 25% less than actual, although the full effects are felt when the spell ends. (Reduce the damage by 25% (rounding up) but keep a total of the amount of points of damage held in abeyance. When the spell ends, all unapplied damage is applied at once.) This dulling of pain can enable a Sharessin to fight on beyond normal unconsciousness (or death) for the duration of the spell, although the Sharessin collapses into immediate unconsciousness upon the spell's expiration if the damage would normally cause this effect and may die instantly if seriously enough injured.
5th Level
Kiss of Sharess (Pr 5; Alteration, Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere: Charm
Range: Touch
Components: S
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: One living creature
Saving Throw: Neg.
This spell enables a Sharessin to grant any being's fondest and most pleasurable wish, similar to the effects of a limited wish spell (as the 7th-level wizard spell of the same name). Neither the spellcaster nor the recipient has any control over this spell's effects as they come from the depths of the recipient's unconscious. (The DM must adjudicate the effects.) If the spell recipient does not want to be affected by this spell, she or he must make a successful saving throw vs. spell.
Unfortunately, this spell's effects only last until the following dawn, never seem so wonderful in retrospect, and seem to have little lasting impact on the recipient's life. For example, a serving maid might masquerade as an exotic princess for one night at the annual ball, but in the morning the prince turns out to be a lout, all her fabulous garments have been misplaced, she still has to go back to her old job, and her debut is quickly forgotten among the city's social circles and her common friends.