Bofgan Magnusson

Bofgan Magnusson is the a deity of the Dwarven Pantheon, creation and son of Magnus Allfather. Dwarves, especially those of the Clans of Magnus, revere him as the Son-of-the-Anvil, who mastered traditional dwarven craftsmanship and industry under direct apprenticeship to Magnus. His descendants and creations form Clan Bofgansson, one of the Twelve Clans of Magnus, though he has some scattered followers in most other clanholds, married in from his clan or inspired by their work in the trade he created. Many strongholds boast modest gatherings of his followers, either and he is honoured in the halls of metalworking, stoneworking, and leatherworking guilds (in particular).

Yurir is a neutral good deity whose followers are granted access to the Artifice, Earth, Protection, and Strength domains. His holy symbol is a hammer engraved with the first-rune Whur, meaning Iron.

History

Bofgan Magnusson was created early in the history of the dwarves by Magnus Allfather, who forged him to be an assistant in the defense of his creations. He served directly under Magnus for a time in Khaz Urheim before he took a collection of his own followers and apprentices to found the city of Khaz Belgirn. There he founded his first foundry, the centerpiece of which is a divine artifact known simply as the Belgirn High Anvil, which was forged by Bofgan and Magnus together.

Bofgan is credited with having created the techniques by which both Mithril and Adamantium are worked, as well as other metals which no mortal has learned from him the secrets of. Bofgan's hagiography states that he gave up his life in an event known as the Reforging of the Anvil in order to allow the High Anvil to be repaired. Like most dwarves, Bofgan lives on in Khaz Urheim.

Relationships

Bofgan Magnusson is on good terms with mortal dwarves and lives on in Khaz Urheim with the rest of his pantheon. His role in the city is as the chief of all of its works and overseer of the processes by which the Secondborn are duplicated and repaired. He gets on extremely well with his brothers and sisters, and keeps himself busy whenever it isn't time for feasting.

He has some grudging respect for other gods of craft, like San Heather. He has been known to appear in her workshop at odd times to make sarcastic observations.

Appearance

Bofgan is a gargantuan being alike in proportion and visage to the dwarves, albeit on a much grander scale. He is somewhat pale and has along mane of white hair and similar beard, both of which he keeps meticulously braided. He wears a leather apron and common clothes and is usually smeared in coal dust and soot.

Realm

His divine realm is in Khaz Urheim, a fortified city in the Atlas Mountains which bridges Ahren and the Bardo. While the location of this city is said to be embedded in the soul of every dwarf, as a practical matter only the dead seem to remember it, and the location is lost to both living dwarves and some of the best scholars in all Wisteria. It is possible that the material portion of the stronghold does not have a static position, but appears only as needed.

Providence

Bofgan takes little intervention in the affairs of mortal dwarves despite his position in their worship. The surest sign of his providence is the sudden progress in the use of a technique that is new to the user - the moment where the nuance of the hammer makes its way into your elbow, or the subtleties of the glow of the iron in the fire make themselves clear.

Servants

Bofgan serves Magnus Allfather in his fortress, and is served by those dwarves who have earned their divine rest with him in Khaz Urheim, along with the Secondborn, dwarf-like stone golems of giant size.

The Dwarven Church

Bofgan's church is a supplementary worship alongside that of Magnus Allfather, and a common one, given his involvement in smithing and masonry. Just as most settlements have a guild that registers such craftsmen, most such guild halls also have chapels to the patron god of common craftsmanship.

Worshippers

All Atlassian Dwarves worship Magnus Allfather, and some of those worship Bofgan in addition. Rank within the clergy is highly structured and determined by status and promotion from above, up to and including the primate of his cult, the King of Iron. Every guild to arcane practice or artifice will have at least a small chapel dedicated to him.

Clergy

Priests of the Son of the Anvil wear plain robes that features protective clothing appropriate to their trade - often a leather apron. They adopt particular manners of the decoration and braiding of their hair and beards that makes them stand apart from other folk, including other clergy. His clergy have specialized roles, administering his ceremonies to the small communities that follow him. In areas where the population of worshippers can support non-pastoral clergy, his clerics serve as artificers, sometimes leading whole guilds of professional practice.

Such priests of Bofgan are married to their work and pursuit of romantic relationships outside of marriage are discouraged, if not outright forbidden in some more dedicated orders. Still, they are craftsmen sans-pariel and the works of Bofganite Priests are some of the most sought after enchanted goods available in Ahren.

Temples & Shrines

Like much the rest of dwarven architecture, temples and shrines to the Rune-Giver are often masterworks of masonry or stonework, which in wealthy communities are often further embellished with precious metals or gem-mosiacs, depicting proofs of craft principles relevant to those who worship him. Such structures are usually subdivided internally, with an area for public ceremony and worship (which is rare) and an area for the sole use of the clergy and those who serve the clergy in liturgical preparation, and full temple complexes almost always include an outbuilding or suite of rooms known as the rectory, where the priests serving a particular temple have residence.

Such full temples often house laboratories or are attendant to consecrated foundries as is the case at his principle temple in Khaz Belgirn.

Holy Texts

The Litany of Makers is a lengthy and dense text of the secrets of crafstamship, which deal with foundational knowledge in the crafts of smithing and masonry and are supplemented by countless volumes of additional commentary and further research through the ages. It is a large volume, some 150 pages when written on velum. These copies are dear and expensive to produce according to the dwarves, as well as being considered secret knowledge and jealously guarded, therefore found exceptionally rarely outside of the dwarven holds. Duplicating these documents and providing them to non-dwarves is absolutely haraam.

Church History

Among the Clans, the church waxes and wanes in power over the centuries, as the focus of dwarven life shifts between isolationism amongst the clans (when worship of the children of the Allfather is more prevelent) to those times of great crisis when the clans stand united and Magnus is more widely pronounced. The church does not lament these shifts in its influence, but stands ever-ready to prove themselves as the true paragons of dwarven ingenuity.