The Joker, The Watchful Protector, The Priceless Gem, The Sparkling Wit
Greater Deity
Symbol: A nugget of gold
Home Plane: Bytopia
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Gnomes, humour, wit, illusion, gem-cutting, jewellery-making
Worshippers: Gnomes, illusionists, jewellers, practical jokers
Cleric Alignments: LG, NG, CG
Domains: Community, Creation, Good, Protection, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: “Arumdina” (Battleaxe)
Relics: Gem of the glitterdepth, hooked hammer of the hearthfire
The deity of gnomes, Garl Glittergold (garl gliht-er-gold), appears as a handsome, golden-skinned gnome with glittering gemstones for eyes. He is well dressed, usually in a silk jacket with long tails and silk hose. He always wears lots of gold jewellery and accoutrements.
Garl Glittergold discovered the gnomes and led them into the world. Since then, he has been their protector. He is renowned for the jokes and pranks he pulls on other deities, though not all his victims laugh off his jests. Garl once collapsed the cavern of Kurtulmak, the deity of the kobolds. Since then, the two deities have been sworn enemies.
Garl promotes a doctrine of practicality tempered with humour. Ignorance and complacency are dangerous, warns Garl, and he urges his people to explore not only the world around them but new ways of doing things. Garl also emphasizes brains over brawn, and he teaches that befuddling or embarrassing a foe can be just as complete a victory as slaying or capturing that foe.
Garl’s clerics serve as guardians and teachers in gnome communities. They maintain careful vigilance against hostile races (particularly kobolds), and they instruct the young using a mixture of earthy practicality spiced with humor. This approach, they say, keeps the young entertained and makes their learning all the better.
Garl’s clerics also keep extensive archives of illusion spells (usually in the form of spellbooks and scrolls), practical jokes, trap designs and stories. The longer and more outlandish the tale, the better, say the clerics, though not everyone agrees. Like their patron, Garl’s clerics favour gold jewellery.
Garl’s clerics build few temples, preferring instead to place modest shrines and chapels wherever gnome dwell or congregate. These sanctuaries are always built so they are easy to secure against hostile forces, and the clerics fill them with beautiful things. The shrines also usually include at least one trap designed to plague unwelcome visitors. These devices are seldom fatal and often whimsical.
Most of Garl Glittergold’s rituals involve the whole community, so his clerics have plenty of opportunities to recruit those who show a particular combination of duty to community and mischievous humour. An older cleric typically teaches three or four students by example, explaining Garl Glittergold’s ways as he attends to the needs of the gnomes in his care.
Followers of Garl Glittergold find themselves guarding the welfare of gnome communities, delving deep for gems, and fighting the goblinoid enemies of the race. Typical quests include battling a tribe of kobold raiders, pulling a good-natured prank on an arrogant human king, and seeking the long-lost Ebondark Gem Mine on the Elemental Plane of Earth.
Many of Garl Glittergold’s prayers are performed call-and-response style, with the leader posing a riddle and everyone answering it in unison. “Glittergold asks: What is our joy?/To delve for treasures and guard our hearth”.
Garl Glittergold’s temples take the form of unassuming, often magically hidden shrines and chapels. Many are underground. The temple clergy are usually eager to help a travelling gnome any way they can.
The ceremonies of Garl Glittergold are flashy affairs full of illusion and mystery, often attracting curious gnomes from miles around. Most rites extol the gnome virtues of cleverness and craftsmanship — blessing a masterwork item, a new gem mine or the top students in a school are common.
The heralds of Garl Glittergold are 20th-level celestial gnome bards. Allies are bralani eladrins, leonal guardinals and elder xorns.
Source: Deities and Demigods (Page 69), Complete Divine (Page 112)