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Oghma

Realmspace Spelljammer

"An idea has no heft but it can move mountains. An idea has no authority but it can dominate people.

"An idea has no heft but it can move mountains. An idea has no authority but it can dominate people. An idea has no strength but it can push aside empires. Knowledge is the greatest tool of the mortal mind, outweighing anything made by mortal hands. Before anything else can exist, the idea must exist."
- An aphorism and common prayer of Oghma's faithful

Overview

Oghma is the god of inspiration, invention, and knowledge. Above all else, Oghma represents knowledge in its most supreme, raw form - the idea. He is also a god of eloquence and language, and his words carry great weight with his listeners; he is often depicted as having gold chains between his tongue and the ears of his listeners. He has the ability to communicate his ideas accurately and quickly, swaying any number who hear him to his cause. Oghma invented a beautiful script, known as Ogham, which can easily be carved into stone or wood, especially at places devoted to his worship. Oghma serves as a champion, both as a warrior and as a patron of ideas.

Description

Oghma appears as an old man, with grey (or white) hair and dark, wrinkled skin. He carries a bow and a club, and wears a lion’s skin.

In Realmspace, Oghma usually appears as a handsome man with dark skin, wearing bright stylish clothes, which usually include a tabard with projecting, ornamental shoulder plates; a cumberbund with an exquisitely painted miniature scene included in its medallion-shaped buckle, and open-meshwork, pointy-toed boots whose uppers end in dangling crystal teardrops that almost touch the raised toes. He usually carries a yarting (type of guitar) made of white snowwood. Very rarely, Oghma appears as a gigantic, spell-hurling old man, whose entire body is cloaked by his long, streaming hair and beard.

Holy symbol

Oghma's symbol is a blank unfurled scroll, or a Celtic chalice.

Favored weapon

Because Oghma can charm anyone with the sound of his voice, he rarely has to resort to violence. As the divine champion of the Celtic pantheon, Oghma challenges opponents to a wrestling match; otherwise, he wields a club in battle. His priests must be proficient with the club and the bow.

In Realmspace, Oghma prefers to rely on magic in battle, but if necessary, he wields a longsword known as Mortal Strike. His priests can select the longsword as their favored weapon.

Realm

World Tree cosmology

In the World Tree cosmology of Realmspace, Oghma resides within the planar realm known as the Library of All Knowledge, which is located on the outer plane known as the House of Knowledge, which he shares with his subordinate deities, Milil, Deneir and Gond. Contrary to its name, the House of Knowledge is a wilderness of ancient oaks and clear blue pools. At night, constellations of burning stars fill the sky, and the sound of harps echoes through the lonely woods. The Library of All Knowledge itself is housed in various buildings scattered throughout the woods. Together, these buildings house examples of every known spell, magical item, song, and piece of knowledge about the entire universe. While each of the deities of knowledge favor a particular section of the Library above all others, Ogma maintains three springs which are scattered throughout the woods, and change location at his whim. Any creature that drinks water fresh from these springs receives the benefits of a heal spell. Each spring also boasts a unique power: the Spring of Knowledge will answer one question as if the imbiber had cast a commune spell; the Pool of Music boosts the drinkers ability to perform for one performance only in the next ten days after drinking from it; and the Spring of Poetry grants the imbiber the benefits of a tongues spell for the next 48 hours.

Great Wheel cosmology

In the Great Wheel cosmology, Oghma resides within his realm, known as the House of Knowledge, which is part of Tir na Og (the Land of Youth), the shared planar realm of the Tuatha De Danann (the Celtic pantheon), which is located on the Concordant Domain of the Outlands. Contrary to its name, the House of Knowledge is a land of ancient oaks and clear blue pools. At night, dancing constellations of burning stars fill the sky and the sound of harps echo through the lonely woods. Oghma maintains three springs throughout his realm, which change location at his whim; rumor suggests that all three have the power to heal and to leach all poison from those who drink from them. What's more, each spring grants a unique boon: the Spring of Knowledge allows a mage to learn two additional spells while all others gain an answer to their most pressing question; the Pool of Music allows a bard to cast a suggestion spell the next time they play in front of an audience; and the Spring of Poetry grants anyone drinking from it the gift of tongues for two days.

Worship

Oghma's faithful spread knowledge and literacy as widely as possible, believing that minds ought never to be shackled by ignorance and thus not be able to bequeath the benefit they might otherwise provide their fellows. Not surprisingly, those who follow Oghma oppose those who foster deceit, trickery, and ignorance. Folk of many professions favor him, including wizards, cartographers, artists, bards, clerks, inventors, sages, scribes, and all manner of others who uncover, preserve, and create knowledge and learning.

In Spelljammer

Oghma is a member of the Faerûnian pantheon and is considered a native deity of Realmspace. Priests of Oghma love to explore the unknown within Realmspace, the phlogiston and beyond. They are not limited in any way within wildspace, and have full access to their spells within the Flow. However, they can only replenish their spells once they've reached a crystal sphere.

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