Bes

Bes
Dwarf wearing a panther skin and tail
Aliases	Short Father
Alignment	2E: Neutral 3E/5E:Chaotic neutral
Divine Rank	Unknown
Pantheon	Egyptian
Portfolio	Guardian of the dead gods, judgement, death, Furries
Domains	3E: Law, Magic, Repose 5E: Death, Grave, Order
Home Plane	Astral Plane
Worshippers	Rogues, gamblers, gnomes, halflings, bards, illusionists
Favoured Weapon	Khopesh

"Run out, thou who comest in darkness, who enterest in stealth, his nose behind him, his face turned backward, who loses that for which he came.

Run out, thou who comest in darkness, who enterest in stealth, her nose behind her, her face turned backward, who loses that for which she came.

Comest thou to kiss this child? I will not let thee kiss him.

Comest thou to soothe him? I will not let thee soothe him.

Comest thou to harm him? I will not let thee harm him.

Comest thou to take him away? I will not let thee take him away from me.

I have made his protection against thee out of Efet-herb, it makes pain; out of onions, which harm thee; out of honey which is sweet to living men and bitter to those who are yonder; out of the evil parts of the Ebdu-fish out of the jaw of the meret; out of the backbone of the perch. "

– An Ancient Egyptian magical lullaby, commonly thought to be invoking Bes

Bes, along with his feminine alternative, Beset, are the Ancient Egyptian Dwarven God, seen as the protector of children, mothers, childbirth and the home. Typically he was depicted as a warrior who would drive off evil spirits, bad omens, demons, ghosts, dark magic, and snakes. He eventually also became associated with the pleasures of life: namely, sex, music, and dance. In fact, by the Roman Era, it was not uncommon to drink wine from cups with Bes carved into the side prior to battle, or to carve the symbol of Bes onto your shield or tattoo it onto yourself for protection, with everyone from children to dancers using it to protect themselves and their families.

Bes was often depicted along the more prominent Taweret, the Egyptian Goddess of childbirth and female fertility known for looking like a Giant Hippopotamus, and had the job of opening the womb so the baby would be born, and then protecting the child to be raised through adulthood. Bes also was associated with certain traits of male lions, such as their virility, protector status, and majesty. In this way he's similar to the Goddess Sekhmet, but less temperamental and more chill.

Like the rest of the pantheon, his worship was exported as far west as Pompeii and as far East as Susa in Persia.

Differences from the rest of the pantheon

Unlike most Egyptian Art, Bes was shown in frontal view, and was almost always perpetually naked with a prominently erect penis. He has only one temple in the Bahariya Oasis protecting the local vineyard which is dated to be around the time of Alexander the Great, and was more generally worshiped in local homes.

The reasoning given for why he is so distinct from other Egyptian Gods is that rather than being a deity that originated within Egypt or the Levant, his worship was likely to have come from the south towards Nubia or Somalia, as not only did he not appear until the Middle Kingdom, but he did not gain prominence until the New Kingdom, and even then worship seemed to have distinctive differences from the other major Gods of Egypt.

"If you tell anyone about this, it's going in the Book."

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Warhammer Fantasy

Bes, unlike most of the Egyptian pantheon, does not have a Warhammer fantasy counterpart.

This is weird because not only has a Dwarven Tomb King appeared in a Gotrek & Felix novel, but because Nehekhara borders the World's Edge Mountains, meaning it's wasted opportunity.