| Game background | |
|---|---|
| Title(s) | The Maid of Misfortune, Lady Doom |
| Home plane | Abyss (layer 13), Blood Tor (D&D); Barrens of Doom and Despair (3e FR) |
| Power level | Intermediate |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| Portfolio | Random mischief, misfortune, bad luck, accidents |
| Design details | |
Beshaba (Beh-SHAH-ba),[1] also called The Maid of the Misfortune, is a fictional deity of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Within the game, she is the Faerûnian deity of bad luck, misfortune, random mischief, and accidents.
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Ed Greenwood created Beshaba for his home Dungeons & Dragons game set in the Forgotten Realms.[2]
Beshaba first appeared within Dungeons & Dragons as one of the deities featured in Ed Greenwood's article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981). Beshaba is introduced as the Maid of Misfortune, Black Bess, and Lady Doom; she is the goddess of mischief, misfortune, ill luck, accidents, (treachery, betrayal), a chaotic evil lesser goddess from the Abyss. She is described as "a beautiful white-haired face, laughing hysterically. Ill fortune ... falls on those who behold her. Often, sure fire plans go awry, stout weapons or walls suddenly give way, and freak accidents occur to man and beast where Beshaba has been."[2]
Beshaba later officially appeared as one of the major deities for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set's "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987).[1]
Beshaba was described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990),[3] the revised Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet,[4] and Faiths & Avatars (1996).[5]
Her role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).[6]
Beshaba appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001),[7] and is further detailed in Faiths and Pantheons (2002).[8]
Lady Doom, as she is also known, demands worship to keep her bad luck at bay. She is a Chaotic Evil Intermediate Power, whose symbol is black antlers on a red field, divine realm is Blood Tor on the 13th layer of the Abyss or in the Barrens of Doom and Despair in the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms cosmology, and Third Edition domains are Chaos, Evil, Fate, Luck, and Trickery. Her weapon is a "barbed" scourge, aptly named "Ill Fortune".
Beshaba is revered more out of fear, than out of religious faith. Beshaba's doctrine states that bad luck befalls everybody, and the only way to avoid it is by worshipping her. She is renowned for being spiteful and malevolent, and her priests manipulate common folk into revering and providing for them by acting mysteriously and playing on morbid fears. Their favored weapon are scourges.
Her clergy also make sacrifices: Clerics must offer an entreaty for their spells, and make sacrifices of alcoholic beverages such as burning brandy or wine. There are two festivals in the calendar of Beshaba followers, "Midsummer" and "Shieldmeet". Both are celebrated by revelry and indulgence in food and drink.
Some male clerics and evil thieves and fighters of Beshaba can join a secret order called the Black Fingers. They act as assassins dedicated to their goddess's name. Only by Beshaba's likings can a member join this order.
Beshaba is the twin of Tymora, are sworn enemies as well as 'sisters', much like Selûne and Shar.
Beshaba came into being when the deity Tyche split during the Dawn Cataclysm (a separate disaster relating to the machinations of Lathander). Tyche was infected with a taint of the dark god Moander, and was forced to split into two parts by her friend Selûne. Those two parts, Tymora and Beshaba, sprang out fully formed and immediately fought.
Beshaba, who is said to have gotten Tyche's looks where Tymora got her love, is considered to be attractive to many male deities, and some have been devoured with her lustful passions. She has rejected advances from Talos, and other hopefuls. Mortals who perceive the Maid of Misfortune are often destroyed by their lust or driven to maddened loyalty.
Beshaba's aim in life, is to desiccate and disintegrate her antithesis, "Lady Luck". She also delights in cursing others; for example, she causes seafarers to lose their navigational instincts. She has no allies. Agathos Daimon, who was Tyche's mate, fears and abhors Beshaba, but has roused himself to seek the reunification of her with Tymora.
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