Ilmater

Ilmater
Pair of hands bound at the wrist with red cord
Aliases	Ayuruk, Itishikopak, the Broken God, the Crying God, the Lord on the Rack, the One Who Endures, the Rack-Broken Lord
Alignment	Lawful Good
Divine Rank	Intermediate God
Pantheon	Faerûn
Portfolio	Endurance, Suffering, Martyrdom, Perseverance
Domains	3E: Good, Healing, Law, Strength, Suffering 4E: Freedom, Hope 5E: Life, Twilight
Home Plane	Great Wheel: Martyrdomain (Bytopia) World Tree: Martyrdom (House of the Triad) World Axis: Martyrdom (Celestia)
Worshippers	The crippled, enslaved, oppressed, and poor. Also Monks, Paladins and Serfs.
Favoured Weapon	Unarmed Strike

He suffered for your characters sins.

Ilmater - also called the "Crying God" or the "Broken God" is the deity of martyrdom, endurance and suffering in the Forgotten Realms pantheon of gods. Ilmater offers relief to those who are suffering by taking their pain onto himself, and forgiving those who trespass against him.

Basically, he exists to die for your sins.

History

Starting out as a relatively obscure deity, Ilmater didn't have much going for him. In a world filled to the brim with gods vying for attention and taking all they can get, a deity specifically dedicated to giving and shouldering the burdens of others wasn't going to get very far.

Then something happened that no-one could have predicted: the Vikings invaded... specifically: Tyr from the Norse pantheon came crashing through the planar barriers and decided to impose his version of goodness and law on Toril. Ilmater saw a kindred spirit with the new god on the block and allied with Tyr to catapult himself into celebrity status. Enjoying a massive boost in power and popularity.

Torm would later join the alliance and create the Triad, essentially a standing arrangement where their priesthoods overlap and assist one other.

The Triad did falter briefly when Tyr killed Helm, causing Ilmater to have his doubts and move his divine realm into Sune's region of Brightwater, but he later moved back in again when Tyr abdicated his power to Torm and retired from the Realms. So the "Triad" strictly no longer exists, although the close alliance between the remaining gods still stands.

Ilmater is perhaps dangerously misunderstood. Many believe that as the god of willing suffering he is a pushover, worthy only of pity. But he has a fantastic wrath when faced with atrocity, and he commands a particularly large and pious following, meaning that he has the divine power to back himself up if he needs to.

Worshippers

The followers of Ilmater, called Ilmatari, form what one might consider to be an ideal charitable institution even in real life. Their duties are almost entirely humanitarian: they feed and shelter the homeless, perform burials, respond to crises, treat the diseased and heal the wounded. All without expecting payment in return. They fund themselves based almost entirely on donations. There is no centrally commanding body of the church, although monasteries of Monks usually tie themselves to specific temples of Clerics, forming an informal hierarchy at the local level.

Despite being a mostly peaceful and compassionate religion, Ilmater sponsors LOADS of orders of Paladins, including the "Companions of the Noble Heart" whose duty is to seek out those who enjoy bringing suffering to others, and the "Order of the Golden Cup" who are more like travelling healers who take up quests to protect the innocent. Other orders include the "Holy Warriors of Suffering", and the "Order of the Lambent Rose". There are also many orders of Monks such as the "Disciples of St Sollars the Twice-Martyred", the "Disciples of St.Morgan the Taciturn" and the "Sisters of St Jasper of the Rocks".

Ilmater is a popular deity for those who oppose Kelemvor over the whole "stick the souls of atheists in a wall to suffer for eternity" thing. How Ilmater himself views the matter is unknown, though he approves enough that these rebels aren't considered false and can even get epic level spellcasting from him.

Broken Ones

The Broken Ones are an order of Monks that are slightly more militarised than the rest of Ilmater's clergy. They dedicated to the protection of Ilmaters temples, and also act as roving agents of justice against those who perform acts of cruelty. Mechanically this translates as Monks who can perform Lay-on-Hands like a Paladin, and have the tracking abilities like a Ranger.

Triadic Knights

Are an order of Knights (most often Paladins, but not necessarily) who revere the Triad as a whole, and believe that to truly embody the virtues of Paladin-hood they must draw on the strengths of all three gods. Represented uniquely as a seven-level Prestige class that gains abilities relevant to each individual faith; including the Hands of Ilmater meaning they can no longer be sickened; the Eyes of Tyr where they can no longer be blinded or dazzled; and the Heart of Torm becoming immune to fear. As well as continuing to gain/improve the Paladin mount, spellcasting, and Smite Evil abilities.

Cult of Shared Suffering

A heretical sect of the church of Ilmater, they believe that everyone must take a part of the Crying Gods burden. To accomplish this, they conducted kidnappings, incited riots, indulged in self-flagellation, and just generally went around spreading suffering. The clerics of the heresy have access to Healing, Retribution, Strength, and Suffering domains, and had to be True Neutral. Of course the church believes that it isn't Ilmater giving them their spells, but some other god, with the likely suspects being Cyric, Loviatar, and Beshaba.

Trivia

Spelling is important, because in 2e Planescape there is another separate deity called Ilmatar, who is the Finnish god of mothers who travels the material plane, alleviating the pains of childbirth.

In real life Finnish, Ilmatar translates literally as Female Air Spirit. Where she was a virgin entity who got impregnated by the seas and gave birth to Väinämöinen, the demigod hero of Finnish folklore.