Razmir
The Living God
God of law, luxury, obedience, and Razmiran
Alignment: LE Domains: none Favored Weapon: none Centers of Worship: Razmiran Nationality: Taldan
Razmir is believed to be a living god, a mortal man transformed into a deity by the power of the Starstone, who carved out a country for himself in the River Kingdoms and established himself as its god-king. Razmir is cautious about interactions with established deities, his only divine ally and mentor being the goddess Sivanah. He claims to be the god of law, luxury, obedience, and the land of Razmiran itself.
Razmir's faith claims that their god is stingier with his spells than most deities, and in this way assures that only the worthiest mortals may become his priests. Even then, only those worshipers who undergo an initiation period and a pilgrimage to the holy city of Thronestep to present themselves to the god-king in person may call themselves priests. Most of his active followers are missionaries, mercenaries, and spies who serve the god's church. Razmir's priests tend to set up temples in poor neighborhoods, making him relatively well known for a minor deity among the desperate and opportunistic. A typical temple of Razmir houses a large worship chamber arranged around a great set of stone steps that lead up to a gold or silver mask.
Many faith-inclined magic-users serve Razmir, favoring his practical ways over Nethys's erratic behavior. The faith draws many bards as well, profiting in terms of coin and reputation for spreading the word of Razmir. Even nonspellcasters in the cult tend to be adept at using magic items, especially wands, masks, and healing items. The use of masks among Razmir's followers raises the suspicions of many non-worshipers. The faithful argue that Razmir's true face is too awe-inspiring for mortals to bear, and they wear similar masks to show their devotion to him.
They consider it blasphemy for these masks to fall into the hands of nonbelievers, and are not above murdering thieves and looters to reclaim them.
In truth, Razmir's religion is built around a phenomenal lie: Razmir is an extremely powerful arcane spellcaster, not a god. His cult relies on obscure arcane spells, secret magic items, folk medicine, and the hired services of actual divine spellcasters. The nation of Razmiran is remote enough that most people along the Inner Sea have no compelling reason to question whether Razmir is truly one of the Ascended.