Loviatar (Forgotten Realms)


 * ''For the Finnish Goddess see Loviatar (mythology)

Loviatar is an evil goddess of agony and pain in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and a member of the Finnish pantheon within the larger D&D multiverse. She is a cold-hearted bully, calculating and despotic; she is the master of inflicting physical and psychological pain and torture. Bringing pain and suffering is the aim of all Loviatans, either through physical torture or sometimes more subtly and psychologically. Beauty, intelligence and acting are useful attributes of a Loviatan, but the ability to fully understand someone is the best skill a Loviatan can acquire, as knowing someone fully can help a Loviatan inflict maximum pain, one way or another.

Ed Greenwood used Loviatar as a deity in his home Dungeons & Dragons game, loosely inspired by the deity of the same name from Finnish myth. Within the D&D cosmology as a whole, Loviatar is explicitely the Loviatar of Finnish mythology, and while worshipped across a multitude of prime material worlds, she is considered an interloper deity within the Faerunian pantheon (especially in light of its revised 3rd edition cosmology). The deity Scahrossar from the Greyhawk setting is also very similar.

As a Deity
In the Forgotten Realms, Loviatar is commonly known by the name Maiden of Pain, and her portfolio includes Pain, Hurt and Torture. Her symbol is a nine-stranded whip, with barbed strands. Her portfolio conflicts most with that of Ilmater, because Loviatar despises those who help others. Her followers are encouraged to wipe out his followers from the face of the Kingdoms. Loviatar, once a follower of Bhaal, is affiliated with Malar and Talona and has fallen under the sway of Shar.

Church of Loviatar
Loviatans often engage in self-flagellation, often in the morning when praying for spells. They celebrate each season with the Rite of Pain and Purity, a ritual that involves followers dancing on glass, thorns or barbed-wire while being whipped by higher-level Loviatans. A smaller ritual occurring every twelve days involves followers passing their bodies through the flames of candles.

Orders
Monks of the faith of Loviatar all belong to the Disciples of the White Rod, named in honor of the token granted to their founder by Loviatar and held in the home abbey near Calimport as a relic. Pain is the simple name given to a high level Loviatan Cleric.
 * Disciples of the White Rod
 * Pain

Dogma
The world is filled with pain and torment, and the best that one can do is to suffer those blows that cannot be avoided and deal as much pain back to those who offend. Kindnesses are the best companions to hurts, and increase the intensity of suffering. Let mercy of sudden abstinence from causing pain and of providing unlooked-for healing come over you seldom, but at whim, so as to make folk hope and increase the Mystery of Loviatar's Mercy. Unswerving cruelty will turn all folk against you. Act alluring, and give pain and torment to those who enjoy it as well as to those who deserve it most or would be most hurt by it. The lash, fire, and cold are the three pains that never fail the devout. Spread Loviatar's teachings whenever punishment is meted out. Pain tests all, but gives strength of spirit and true pleasure to the hardy and the true. There is no true punishment if the punisher knows no discipline. Wherever a whip is, there is Loviatar. Fear her—and yet long for her.

Literature

 * Maiden of Pain (2005), by Kameron M Franklin is the third book in the Forgotten Realms series, The Priests. It is about the worshippers of Loviatar.