Tetsuor, the Deep One

Tetsuor, the Deep One

“A ship’s not just a rudder and some sails, that’s what a ship needs. But what a ship is…is freedom.”

 - Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Alternate Names: Brimwylm (halfling), Dayal Juul (elf), Morethivy (dwarf), Saevio (gnome), Tenutaz (orc)

Expanded Domains: Chaos, Exploration, Freedom, Luck, Travel, Water, Weather, Wind

Portfolio: fortune, freedom, journeys, lakes, oceans, water, weather

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Knowledge (Religion) DC 10:

Tetsuor, sometimes called Undertow by sailors, is a mercurial deity, his moods as unpredictable as the seas. His priests speak of a palace on the back of a lobster the size of a mountain at the bottom of the ocean, where he rules the ocean from his throne of gold and sapphire.

     Sailors make regular offerings of food and drink to Tetsuor, asking for favorable winds and calm weather. Those that do not risk invoking Tetsuor’s wrath.

     In art, Tetsuor is most frequently depicted as a well-built human man with a shark’s body in place of legs and a fisherman’s trident in one hand. On occasion he is depicted as an elderly fisherman of regal posture and bearing.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 15:

According to the clergy of Tetsuor, his heart is filled with an unending sense of wonder. He is in awe of the beauty to be found in the world, both those wrought by his fellow gods when they created the world and those created by mortal races.

     Tales abound of Tetsuor acting as both guide and adversary to mortal heroes. These tales typically involve the hero going on a long journey, that had Tetsuor not interfered would have been short, simple things. Through Tetsuor’s blessing of ill fortune, the hero gets to see sights that they would never have seen otherwise.

     Shrinking Land, an old text from just after the Historical Wipe, tells of an island nation just east of where Argoport is today. In the text, it tells of the islanders growing proud and ignoring the gods, feeling that they no longer needed them. The gods struck at the islanders for their hubris, but again and again the islanders rebuffed the gods’ attacks. Until Tetsuor created a wave larger than any the world has seen before or since. The wave scoured the island to the rock, and the islanders were turned into sahuagin to eternally live under the waves. Gnomes living in Argoport periodically send out expeditions to find the remains of the island nation, but thus far no expedition has been successful.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 20:

The Book of Trun tells that despite Tetsuor’s love of travel, his greatest love is the sea. The sea is freedom, with naught but the wind and one’s own skill guiding your path. The wind on your face and the spray of the sea are treasures unbeknownst to those that live their lives on land.

     Sages speaking with koup’ira, dornii, zang, and other races that call the ocean home have learned a surprising fact: outside of coastal shallows dragons do not exist in the ocean. The undersea races tell of a god banishing the early dragons and raising up native creatures to take their place. Called aumakua, these creatures are to sharks what dragons are to lizards. Scholars agree that the god in question was without a doubt Tetsuor.

     In Ahrk’Jen Ihra, a set of scrolls nearly seven hundred years old, fables tell of monstrous entities called aboleths that sought to lay claim to all of Tetsuor’s domains. Though mental domination and transmutation magics, the aboleths corrupted and perverted all that worshiped Tetsuor and that the god loved about the world. In a terrible rage, Tetsuor struck back at the aboleths, destroying their underwater cities and decimating their numbers. By the end of the year that Tetsuor responded, the aboleth were gone forever. Despite this, whispers can be heard in the dark alleys of port cities, of the descendants of the aboleths slaves coming from beneath the waves to pillage, rape and kidnap from isolated coastal villages.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 25:

Ancient legends whispered between sailors tell of a war that was waged beneath the waves. A war between aboleths and a terrible race of monsters called nyriok. The aboleths ruled the shallows and were branching out onto land when the nyriok attacked from the lightless depths of the ocean floors. Resembling giant sharks with strange forehead growths, the nyriok possessed powers over shadows and darkness, and were able to deliver vicious bites from dozens of feet away, their jaws shooting out from their bodies before dragging their prey in close. Some sailors claim that the nyriok still exist, ruling empires on the bottom of the sea.

Organization: Raptors of Reckoning

“Listen up, if word gets out that we’re here the commodores will tie anvils to our feet and throw us overboard. The hobs have a shipment of slaves comin’ through here in an hour. We’re goin’ t’ board ‘em, subdue the hobs, free the slaves, put the slave chains on the hobs, then burn the ship. Ya ready to give Tetsuor his due?”

 - Brynwyll “Black-Eye” Varain

Not technically an organization, the title “Raptors of Reckoning” is more of a call sign used by various individuals that launch missions against known slavers. These missions typically involve attacking slaver hideouts to free newly captured slaves or to eliminate slaver bands. Despite this lack of organization, the Raptors have been credited with the rescue and freedom of hundreds of people captured by slavers in the employ of the hobgoblin empire.

     Most slaves or captives rescued by the Raptors never see the faces of their rescuers, and tell stories of strange figures wearing hawk and eagle masks butchering slavers and freeing their victims. From all the assorted reports, the only link has been the masks worn and the type of mission that they are seen on. The Raptors have been seen fighting with blade, bow, fist and foot, as well as spell. In one report, a single Raptor killed nearly half a dozen slavers by ripping the blood from their bodies with a few gestures.

     Some insist that the Raptors of Reckoning are in fact a secret society of abolitionists working to undermine the hobgoblins. They claim that while at first glance the Raptors are unrelated, patterns arise if you dig through the various reports and read between the lines.

Code of Conduct: Paladins of Tetsuor

“I’m told that most people die within a mile of the place that they were born. I cannot imagine living in one place all my life, there’s too much to do and too much to see.”

 - Ahrnur, dwarven paladin of Morethivy

This code of conduct applies to those who would call themselves paladins of the faith, not just any follower of Tetsuor.
  - Seek out new sights and experiences. The world is filled with wonders, both natural and created.
  - Respect the sea. It is a source of great bounty, but never forget that its wrath is unmatched by any force on land.
  - Assist and protect the artist creating the next great wonder.
  - Do not tolerate slavery in any form. Remove the chains of slaves and put slavers to the sword.

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