"The distant stars are an inspiration to travel; be encouraged to wander far from home, just as the stars do. The stars are eternal and are pleased to be a guide for both legs of a journey. The stars may reveal their secrets if you study them."
- Doctrine of the Far Wanderer.
Overview
Celestian the Star Wanderer is one of the more popular deities among spacefarers. Originally from Oerth in Greyspace, Celestian's faith spread into wildspace about 300 years ago and now spans a half dozen spheres. As a god of the stars, his worship has flourished in wildspace and is now one of the main religions of the Known Spheres. He is revered by astronomers, astrologers, navigators, and poets, and many spacefarers of all descriptions honor the Star Wanderer.
Activities
The Celestians seek to emulate their deity by traveling through the endless reaches of space. They rarely settle in one place, prefering to visit as many of the Known Spheres as they can in their lifetimes. They are aided in this by the fact that they can recover their spells in the wildspace of any crystal sphere they enter (but not, of course, in the phlogiston). Some theologists speculate that this is because Celestian makes his home in the Astral plane, whereas others contend that space is his natural sphere of influence. In any case, priests of Celestian cannot recover their spells on the surface of a world in a sphere where Celestian is not worshipped. Even some large asteroids are too big to allow the priest to recover their spells. Of course, once a priest of Celestian has established a focus in the sphere, they will have the same access to spells as the priests of any other deity.
Driven by their wanderlust, Celestian's worshippers (both priests and mages alike) are always willing to sign up as helmsmen on long voyages through the Flow. This makes them incredibly popular with the various trading and mercenary companies, who consider the Celestials something of a valuable resource, and the sight of their starry black robes is always a welcome one. However, the priests of Celestian will not serve onboard warships, or slave ships. They are willing to helm mercenary vessels, but only to transport garrison troops and never into an active warzone.
Aside from being a congenial society of wanderers, the Celestians have established hospices in many spacefaring settlements. These are run by members of the organization who have decided to settle for a time, and provide food and lodging to Celestians {donations are appreciated but not required). The Celestians also provide aid to good-aligned travelers who are not members of the sect, but who have fallen on hard times. They assist newcomers to a sphere, providing advice about the local customs and laws, and will even help them find work should the need arise. Although it is customary to leave a donation for these services, there is no set schedule of fees. Celestian hospices in poorly traveled areas may appreciate tales of travel more than a token donation of gold.
Base of Operations
The Celestians are a loosely knit organization of wanderers, and have little in the way of a centralized hierarchy, though they have been known to establish shrines throughout Known Space. That being said, the "home temple" of the faith is situated somewhere in the Griff Mountains on the world of Oerth in Greyspace. The Pantheistic College of Celestian is the oldest building on the Rock of Bral, having been established by a wandering priest of Celestial in the early days of piracy. Even now, many captains stop here before setting sail, seeking the Far Wanderer's blessing.
Dogma
Priests of Celestian affect a total lack of concern for worldly matters, instead focusing entirely on travelling and learning. They spend much of their time away from their home temples, and are in fact expected to travel extensively in wildspace. Most priests are skilled navigators and astronomers and are highly sought after as crew on spelljamming vessels set to explore new regions in the void. Some believe that Celestian ranks his followers by the number of spheres they visited when they were alive, though this is not considered official doctrine by the Church.
Relationships
Allies
The priests of Celestian are on very good terms with the Seekers and often cooperate closely with them. In fact, many of Celestian's followers join the Seekers, as the two organizations hold similar goals. Even Celestians who are not Seekers will still report their discoveries to that organization. In return, the Seekers act as a communications network for the widely scattered priesthood. A sender could leave a message for a priest of Celestian at any Seeker office, and it will be transferred throughout the information network and will be handed to the recipient the next time they check in at any Seeker office.
Enemies
The priests of Celestian tout their god as one of the main patrons of spelljamming and as such enjoy a bitter rivalry with the Temple of Ptah. The followers of Ptah try to discredit the Celestians whenever possible, and since Ptah's faith is far more widespread, Celestian's followers often end up on the wrong side of any altercations.
The Tenth Pit and the Chainmen are both actively hostile towards the Celestians because their members have refused time and again to transport Tenth Pit troops or pilot Chainmen slave-ships.
The Xenos, as usual, are as hostile to the Celestians as they are to any group that accepts non-humans into their ranks, but since the Celestians are few in number, they receive little attention from the Xenos.
Members
Celestian is a wandering deity who is drawn to the stars and the astral plane, roaming the wondrous depths of space. The Star Wanderer is revered by astronomers, astrologers, philosophers, navigators, dreamers and poets. Joining the Celestians is relatively straight forward. A supplicant must convert to the faith of the Far Wanderer, pledging to wander the stars as Celestian himself does, and vow to aid any person in need (The faith's tenets do not forbid charging for such aid, however.)
Among the laity, these oaths aren't taken too seriously, and a "wandering" worshipper of Celestian can settle in one place for 20 or 30 years without receiving more than a gentle chiding from a passing priest. Priests of Celestian, however, take their oaths fare more seriously. A spacefaring priest must travel from one sphere to another at least once a year, and must visit an unfamiliar sphere at least once every five years. Planetbound worshippers of Celestian do not suffer the same obligations, though they are encouraged to make similar journeys via planar travel.
Anyone may join the Celestians, though their membership is predominately human and half-elven. Dwarves, halflings, and gnomes are rarely willing to abandon their communities to take up wandering full time, though there is a small but growing contingent of kender in the faiths' ranks.
Appendix
External Links
- Celestian article at Greyhawkonline.com, a wiki for the Greyhawk campaign setting.
- Celestian article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.