Baaldra

Sovereign of Hall and Hearth.

Baaldra is venerated at the cook-fire as much as at any Sovereign altar. Where other Sovereigns are served with rites, she is served with a meal.

Her followers know which herb closes a wound and which draws a poison out. They can raise a healing draught from a pound of weeds and a pot hung over a fire. Her dwarven priests can brew marvelous concoctions, and whatever food or drink any of her acolytes serve you will warm your soul as it nourishes your body.

Her spells are the spells of a house made safe: rest that mends, the wound closed, the poison drawn out, the rune cut into the doorpost, the circle that heals all who stand within it, and a ward laid over a whole home.

Traditions that teach her: the Dwarven Forgepriest, the Gnomish Iconologist, and the Antiquarian — each asking more of her followers than the last.

Her worship day is Sar the week’s end, and is shared with Kaarak. When the week’s work is done, we gather at the hearth, and remember those who came before.

Strictures

Baaldra’s traditions ask different measures of their followers, though they share many strictures. Find your tradition below.

Dwarven Forgepriest

• A follower of Baaldra must always display a holy symbol of Baaldra (the hearthfire) somewhere on her person when in public.
• A follower of Baaldra must tend a hearth each day, cooking for at least one person other than herself. Where she has no companion, she must set aside a portion for the next traveler to come. Preparing, praying over, and sharing this meal takes at least one hour (6 turns). On Sar, Baaldra’s holy day, she prepares a larger supper and sets one place more, in memory of those who came before. Preparing and sharing this Sar-supper takes at least two hours (12 turns).
• A follower of Baaldra must never refuse food or shelter to one who asks it in need, so long as she has any to give.
• A follower of Baaldra must never do violence to a guest at her hearth-meal, nor beneath a roof where she herself is a guest, save to defend a life.

Gnomish Iconologist

An iconologist of Baaldra abides every stricture listed for the Dwarven Forgepriest above, and further:

• A follower of Baaldra must obey the highest-ranking keeper of her hall in all matters of the tradition.
• A follower of Baaldra must grant guest-right to any who ask it of her, and welcome them beneath her roof. For three days she must provide a guest food, shelter, and care as she would her own household, and she must do him no harm, nor by her inaction allow harm to come to him.

Antiquarian

An antiquarian of Baaldra abides every stricture listed for the Gnomish Iconologist above, and further:

• A follower of Baaldra’s guest-right has no end. She may not set her guest out, withhold her provision, nor raise her hand against him, until he departs the hall.

Breaking the guest-right

The guest-right binds the guest as well as the host, and a guest who breaks it releases his host from every obligation.

A guest breaks the guest-right if he does violence to his host, to her hall, or to another guest within the same premises; if he steals from the hall; or if he betrays the hall or its people to their enemies.

Guest-right ends by default when a character chooses to leave or remain outside the hall. Judges will need to exercise some discretion about what counts as a “hall”; in general a follower of Baaldra who rules a domain should be held to some account for preventable misfortunes that befall guests within.

A guest who has broken it may be cast out, denied, or answered in kind. If they make appropriate restitution, they may ask for guest-right to be restored.

Guest-right is not owed to trespassers or thieves. One who enters unbidden or unseen can claim no obligation from the hall.