Re: Re: Bevara

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 09:21:26 -0700

> > The info i can remember " His god is known as the strecher bearer" . His
> > gods name begins with "B"
> > i no its not much but i have a poor memory
>
> You actually know just about all there is then. The goddess is
> Bevara, and I believe she has never appeared outside the half-page in
> Hero Wars. I believe she's one of several minor healing deities, none
> of which are as powerful as Chalana Arroy. However, Bevara is a lot
> easier to be an initiate of, and my guess is that a Bevara initiate
> can take the role of Chalana Arroy in a Lightbringer's Quest if need
> be.

Bevara is like an Emergency Medical Technician (the ones that show up to accidents in the ambulance). To continue the metaphor, Ernalda the Healer is your local hospital - competant, but often understaffed and busy. Chalana Arroy is the equivalent of Johns Hopkins, Cedars Sinai, or other top-of-the-line hospitals. You know that if CA can't heal you, then it just can't be done.

> So, the player and narrator are free to make up whatever they want
> about Bevara. The only things that would strain my credibility would
> be if she were very common in Sartar (or else we would have heard
> about her before), or if she had better healing magic than Chalana
> Arroy.

I think she (and/or others like her) is actually more common than CA, but much less magically equipped. For instance, she has no anti-Disease magic. Worshippers probably go out with the war bands for battlefield medicine, stabilizing the worst so that they can be brought back to Ernalda the Healer or CA. To my mind CA is *so* overspecialized that her worshippers can't be supported by every clan - Ernalda the Healer is the "highest level" of healing most people will see in their lifetime. Probably every clan can support an Ernalda the Healer, and a couple Bevara/Dovilda/other minor healing diety.

This, is my own opinion, not necessarily that of Issaries.

> (A very old draft of Thunder Rebels had a *different* minor healing
> goddess named Dovilda. It's quite possible that there are many such
> deities, each worshipped in a couple of clans.)

Dovilda is still in Thunder Rebels (at least, she hasn't been cut yet). She is only worshipped by the Colymar tribe. She doesn't have any of this namby-pamby "heal anyone, regardless of race, color or creed" nonsense. She heals her own clan *only*, and incites people to acts of aggression against other clans - she's the healer that wants to kick a** and take names. She's being included as an example of a minor god who is worshipped by a specific clan or tribe, of which there are probably hundreds, if not thousands.

RR