(Illusionist 30, Mage 22, Cleric 16, Thief 10)
The true appearance of Leira is unknown. Most senior clergy members and holy writings say she seldom looked the same way twice, but a recurring fig- ure in accounts of her down the ages was that of a very tall, very thin woman with long smoke-hued hair and robes that exuded mists. Her eyes were said to be black, glistening, and very large—seeming to bore through any mortal and “see all” (or at least make mortals feel that she did). Leira was always a dangerous deity to cross, but her deceptions were essentially capricious, not works of malice or deliberate attempts to conceal evil. She liked to tantalize, appearing to mortals as beings who attracted them, and because of this often
appeared as a comely, beckoning female or heroic-looking, handsome male. Leira seemed to prefer a feminine appearance whenever convenient for her purposes. Leira could draw spells from any sphere and from the schools of il- lusion, alteration, lesser and greater divination, enchantment/charm, and conjuration/summoning. She preferred using illusions, of course, and could
Pompous titles are often followed by misleading ones, and this tendays high pontiff is next tendays acolyte. This wild, constantly changing array of grandiose, silly, frivolous, and obviously spurious titles ranges from Supreme High Lord of the Heights and Depths to Most Holy Guttersweeper. Within the faith, specialty priests are known as mistcallers to distinguish their capa- bilities from those of clerics and illusionists, but they sport the same diverse and ever-changing titles as others of their kind when asked publicly what their duties and positions are.
Compulsive liars and workers of illusions, both magical and otherwise, venerate the Lady, as do many wise thieves, but most other folk only make offerings to placate her. They otherwise mistrust her church entirelya pru- dent judgment. The only time one can be sure that a priest of Leira is telling the truth is any words spoken between two utterances of the phrase By the Mistshadow, although a sure sign that she trusts someone is that she em- ploys huge, impossible lies without a shred of plausibility rather than the sin- ister misleading half-truths that the folk of the Faith That is Not What it Seems usually deal in. (The Mistshadow is one of Leiras secret names, known only to her faithful.)
Devout Leirans are unconcerned that the goddess may be dead, since that death may be an illusion, the original Leira may be an illusion, or Cyric, slyly rumored to have replaced Leira, may be an illusion. Official statements by the church say there is no trouble and Leira emerged from the Godswar more powerful than before. However, given the fact that most official state- ments are lies, most people believe her dead, though large numbers of her faithful (mainly those of good and neutral alignment) steadfastly are holding to the belief that she is not. She has not been definitely seen in avatar form since the Godswar, but then even her church could not definitely say she had ever been seen before the Time of Troubles, since every form that has ap- peared claiming to be an avatar of Leira has been different. She certainly has not failed in granting the spells or abilities her priests are accustomed to re- ceiving to them.
Temples of Leira are few and far between. Most are small, partially open structures of classical classical construction with large columns and porticos and a wide inner sanctum where services are held before low, flat, rectangular al- tars with horns or imitation horns of metal curving upward from their cor- ners. No images or statues of Leira grace the sanctuary anywhere. Leiras temples are constantly filled with a light white mist that normally remains at ankle height but can rise to fill the room and thicken to obscure vision if the high priest or priestess of the temple desires.
Dogma: Leirans believe that the Lady can be anything, anywhere, that is not what it seems. They are taught to make folk everywhere doubt what they believe and see in order to restore Holy Mystery to the world. Leirans are to give as well as take, to raise hope as well as dashing hopes. Leirans must never tell the truth when less can do and never use a half-truth when a lie would serve better. They should speak truth whenever possible only to fellow worshipers of Leira.
Novices in the faith are charged by the whispering mists of the goddess that: The Lady is never quite what you think she is. Truth is a worthless thing to know and worth even less to speak aloud. Never speak truth when falsehood will suffice. Cherish and further illusions and rumors, for distor- tion and legend are what make folk happy and life alluring. Hiding a thing gives it value by the very act of cloaking.
not use true seeing.
AC -2; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 164; THAC0 11; #AT 1 Dmg 1d10 MR 70%; SZ L (9 feet) STR 14, DEX 24, CON 21, INT 24, WIS 18, CHA 21 Spells P: 9/9/8/7/4/3/1, W: 8/8/8/8/8/8/8/7/7* Saves PPDM 4, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4
*Numbers assume one extra illusion spell per spell level.
Special Att/Def: Leira was never known to attack hand-to-hand, al- though she certainly could if she so desired. Leira cast all illusion/phantasm spells as if she were double her level. She automatically, unconsciously, and constantly negated all immunity to illusions and other spells caused by high Intelligence or Wisdom ability scores within a 360-foot-radius of her (even the immunities of other deities, although they still received their magic re- sistance and any applicable saving throws). In addition to casting two spells in a round if she made no physical attacks, she had the ability to cast any il- lusion/phantasm spell; she could use this ability to continue to cast an illu- sion/phantasm spell once a round even after she ran out of her normal num- ber of spells (given above). The illusions she cast were always perfect, as if she had studied her subjects all her life (which she had).
Leira was never fooled by any illusion or any sort of magic that deceived the senses, masked one form with another, or attempted to render something undetectable (unseeable, unhearable, etc.) or invisible. She could shape change into any form for as long as she wished and use both the complete ca- pabilities of that shape and her own abilities (without being affected by the natural tendencies of the form she took in alignment, for instance). She could fly in any form at MV 24, and she could also assume the form of a cloud of mist that flew or drifted as she wished at up to MV 24.
Leira was totally immune to all illusion/phantasms, even those created by other deities. She was also immune to all charm and howl effects of any sort. All attacks against her were made as if she were wearing a cloak of displacement.
Other Manifestations
Leira usually manifested as gray, smokelike mists, often accompanied by two piercing black eyes or simply the sensation of being intensely watched, and by a chiming, unearthly, apparently random music that came out of nowhere and seemed unconcerned with anything (such as forming a tune, or even a rhythm). In mists or smoke, Leira could be heard as a disembodied voice, sometimes perceived only by those who worship her and not by other beings who were present.
Leira also acted through the appearance or presence of marids, dopple- gangers, mimics, will-o-wisps, invisible stalkers, cloud dragons, mist dragons, displacer beasts, galeb duhr, blink dogs, and intelligent undead creatures who were former illusionists. More commonly she sent something that superficially looked like something else, talking sheep, outrageously col- ored cats and dogs (pink, green, blue, orange, purple), talking or flying pigs, giant talking rabbits or ponies who were invisible to anyone but those they were sent to help, giant lynxes, forget-me-nots, pyrites, sarbossas, irtioses, zioses, beljurils, tourmalines, talking owls, and eblis to show her favor and as a sign to inspire her faithful.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, illusionists CLERGYS ALIGN.: CG, LN, N, CN, CE
TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, I: No CMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, I: No
All clerics and specialty priests of Leira receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
The church of Leira has clerics, specialty priests, and illusionists in its orga- nization. Exact numbers of each kind of clergy and the total number-of Leiran clergy members are unknown because members of the faith cheerfully lie about its tenets, organization, numbers, and powers. An extremely loose estimation places the ratio of clerics, specialty priests, and illusionists at 20/45/35. Relations between the various members of the clergy are good, mainly because no one knows fully what is going on.
Leiran clergy members (of all kinds) are called whatever they choose to
be called, and official titles vary from day to day and from person to person.
Day-to-Day Activities: Clergy of Leira spread false rumorsand if they can, create illusionsin return for fees. They are charged with the task of making folk everywhere doubt truth by encouraging (and then revealing) false beliefs, setting up hoaxes, and the like. Leirans are masters of disguise and rent or sell costumes and (for stiff fees) apply makeup for everyone who desires it (usually folk in some trouble). They also aid others in deceptions by acting as actors-for-hire, often pretending to be wives, husbands, collec- tion agents, brigands, paramours, escorts, thieves, or even clergy members of rival faiths as they assist some less-than-honest person in working a deceit on others. When not bent on such dark purposes, most Leiran clergy mem- bers work on alternative personas or roles they can adopt out of mask to work swindles on others, enriching and entertaining themselves (though it is a tenet of the church that someone they rob must later be aided by Leiran hands to make up for the loss).
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Leirans lie face-down on the ground and pray to the Lady every morning and on every moonlit night. They go walking whenever they encounter fogs or mists to chant praises to Leira and speak with the Lady (who is said to sometimes answer as an echo- ing whisper out of the surrounding mists). They also hold brief ceremonies at altars of Leira (when assigned to a temple) on a daily basis to allow nonbe- lievers who wish to appease Leiras caprices to make offerings and to hear and guide the prayers of lay worshipers. In all cases, formal worship of Leira
consists of kneeling prayers and standing hymns and chants made while fac- ing her horned altars whose upswept arms frame only empty air.
The most holy rituals of Leira are the Unmasking, and the Invocation. The Unmasking is performed as purification by novices entering the priest- hood, priests rising in rank, or priests doing penance for slighting their faith (telling the truth too often, for example). In this ritual, the bare-faced sup- plicant walks down ranks of priests holding tall lit candles between reflect- ing pools of water and mirrors. The Invocation is held when the Lady is called upon directly for guidance, and during this ceremony chanting priests swing censers to make thick smoke so that She may appear in the heart of its concealment and speak to them.
Leirans gather for six Conclaves every year at different places and slightly different times; word of where and when spreads quietly throughout the priesthood, but it is not revealed to outsiders. It is believed that by holy writ only truth is spoken at such gatherings and that the clergy members use such occasions to share information, to allow members to transfer from temple to temple, and to permit church elders to vote on the most important missions the faith should undertake.
Major Centers of Worship: The most influential temple in the
chaotic, unorganized, rank-ignoring priesthood of Leira is the Mistkeep in Presper, which is presided over by Illusionmaster Duldinbold Alarkyn. This holy house is marked by its Pillars of Smoke (a slang name for it among Leirans is “the Pipepillars”), and it houses one of the largest and most valuable collections of magical items in Faerûn—all hidden away and guarded in various ingenious ways, of course. The Mistkeep’s temple priests use these things of power in careful, subtle ways to sway political events in the lands around and in expeditions in search of yet more magi- cal items. They also make and sell masks and vestments to other Leirans, and the gruff, aging gnome illusionist (now priest) Duldinbold is rumored to have been personally taught the ways of making enchanted tabards and masks that can emit powerful battle magic by the Mother of illusionists herself. Rumor also has it that the state religion of legendary Nimbral is that of the Lady of the Mists.
Affiliated Orders: The church of Leira has no known affiliated knightly
orders, although on successive tendays it claims to have many (making up all sorts of grand names for them), to have none, and to control them all. It is impossible to tell what or who the church of Leira may be allied with through their barrage of lies, and whether it has any actual (as opposed to made-up) honorary orders is likewise impossible to discern.
Priestly Vestments: Leiran clergy members all dress alike: in long,
cowled, bottom-fringed robes of russet to ochre, lined and streaked with green, tied with sashes of the same material, and worn with gloves and dis- tinctive smooth, silvered glass masks. These masks entirely cover the face, projecting out below the chin to allow normal breathing, and their wearers can see normally (if dimly) through them. These silver masks reflect gaze at- tacks, and although their wearers may still gaze through them and so still may meet something’s gaze, they give their wearers a +3 bonus to their sav- ing throws against gaze attacks (or effects. Vampires, who hate mirrors, seek to slay Leiran priests whenever possible.
Leiran silver masks are tinted: Red is worn in the morning, blue after highsun, rust at dusk, and gray after the full darkness of night comes. The most holy rituals call for a mask of the same green hue as the robes.
All clergy are taught to make the silvered masks (a difficult task requiring much dexterity and patience), and they tend to have several sets (hidden in well-padded traveling cases) in addition to their everyday set. A wealthy Leiran cleric will often hire a wizard to cast glassteel spells on his or her masks just to be rid of worries about breakage.
A priest caught without a silver mask will wear a gauze headsack. Every robe has one sewn into the cowl and another in a concealed inner pocket to he sure that a supply is always near at hand. Although it is no sin to go barefaced, Leiran clergy members are usually paranoid about showing their faces in public when their robes or residency make nonbelievers aware of their faith and profession: Many a priest of Leira has bathed or entertained private company while stubbornly still wearing (only) his or her mask!
Adventuring Garb: When traveling, Leiran sometimes adopt alternate
identities and dress as these types of people would, but most often they wear their ceremonial robes and silver mask. The robes are covered by russet cloaks with green gemstone-adorned clasps. These cloaks are cloaks of dis- placement and the “gemstones” are tinted glass shapes that can be slid aside to reveal a small hiding place in the locket-clasp where priests typically store gems, magical rings, or vials of sleep gas. This gas is a favorite weapon of Leiran clergy. It fills a roughly 20-foot-cubic volume in about five rounds if the stopper is left off the vial, or it can be poured onto a cloth and applied to a victim’s nose and mouth. In either case, victims exposed to it must make a
successful saving throw vs. poison or fall asleep (as in a sleep spell) every round they are exposed to it. It disperses or evaporates in 10 minutes after filling the cubic area of effect or being poured onto the cloth.