| BEREI (Hearth Mother), Lesser Power, female, NG Attributes: Home, Family, Agriculture Domains: Good, Harvest, Plant, Protection Symbol: Sheaf of Wheat Stalks Typical Worshippers: Peasants, farmers Raiment: Preferred Weapon: Sickle Holy Days: Allies: Beory Enemies: |
Berei (BEAR-ay) is possibly a splinter cult of Beory that has taken on an anthropomorphic persona. Berei is that Power of the life-giving soil and the strong stone that is the foundation of a safe home. She is usually shown as a strong-backed women of brown skin and kind demeanor, and her holy symbol is a sheaf of wheat stalks. As the Power of the home and family, she blesses weddings, gives fertility, protects the household and its members, guides the hands of those who till the soil, and teaches ways to care for the land.
The family is the strongest tie between individuals, and one must learn to support and depend upon one's family to survive. A community is a form of large family, and when another family is in need it is the duty of the community to provide for them. The birth of a new child in a time of plenty is a great blessing and an opportunity to resolve differences and restore frayed connections within the family. Care must be taken with every planting so that life can begin there again next year.
Clerics of Berei tend to stay close to their families, serve as advisors and protectors, advise farmers on crops, and restore barren land. Some of her clerics choose to wander, planting seeds, looking for exotic crops, and carrying news between communities. They often adopt their traveling companions as family members, and consider these bonds as sacred as those of blood relatives.