Battleguard (Specialty Priest) of Tempus

Tempus and his Allies
Tempus mighty and profoundly honorable in battle, he answers to his own warrior’s code. Quiet and solitary in relationship to other Faerûnian deities, pursuing no long-lasting alliances or brief flirtations. He is known to love food, drink, and the hunt, though he loves battle best. In recent years, he has sponsored the Red Knight into godhood. His relation- ship with her is one of a fond and protective father to a brilliant daughter who works hard and successfully at the family business—war. Other deities that Tempus is aligned with are Valkur the Mighty, Nobanion, Gond, Clangeddin Silverbeard, Beshaba and Uthgar. 

Enemies of Tempus
Garagos, god of war, skill-at-arms, destruction, and plunder, is one of Tempus’ oldest rivals if not the oldest, with the history of their rivalry going as far back as when Tempus was a relatively young demigod. Ilneval, the orc pantheon’s god of war, combat, and overwhelming numbers, is one of the most dedicated enemies of Tempus, if not the most deadly. Sune, goddess of love and beauty, is more of an annoying pest to Tempus than an actual enemy. Rather than meeting the Foehammer in battle, the Princess of Passion exchanges barbs with Tempus during meetings of the gods, and lectures him about the negative consequences of excessive warfare. Urdlen, the gnomish god of greed, bloodlust, evil, hatred, uncontrolled impulse, and spriggans, caught the ire of Tempus during the Second Sundering.

His diametric opposite in portfolio, Eldath, he considers naive and weak. However, out of respect for her convictions, he punishes those of his faithful who abuse her priests, shrines, or temples. Perhaps he feels that war has little meaning without peace to define and highlight it. Sune, who considers him a foe, he regards as irrelevant and flighty, and therefore unworthy of being his foe.

Military ranks and titles
Titles typical in many temples of Tempus are Warpriest, Swung Sword, Terrible Sword, Lance of the Lord, Shield of the God Battlelady/Battlelord, and Lady/Lord of the Field—but these are often superseded by Ranks that go with a position, such as Battle Chaplain (Arahar) of a shrine or Trusted Sword (Direhar) of a temple. Ranks are assigned by those in authority in the church in light of service, needs, and situation, and brevet (temporary) commands are common in desperate situations. Special leaders of a temple or crusade are entitled to wear the heavy battle gauntlet of rank.

Ranks in the Temple of Tempus
Acolyte: The lowest in the hierarchy, they wear leather jackets and baldrics.
Stalwart: Priests, who wear chainmail.
Hardhar: Warrior-priests, who wear breastplates and bracers.
Arahar: Battle-chaplains, who wear splint mail.
Rauthat: Swordmasters, who wear plate mail with shoulder spikes.
Direhar: Guardian priests, who wear full plate.
Warlyon: High priests, who wear gilded magic plate mail that enables flight.

Day-to-Day Activities
Priests of the war god are charged to keep warfare a thing of rules, respected reputation, and professional behavior, minimizing uncontrolled bloodshed and working to eradicate feuding that extends beyond a single dispute or bet of foes. At the same time, training and readiness for battle must be promoted if civilized human holdings are to survive in Faerûn in the face of monster raids and orc hordes-and the power of Tempus to aid those he favors in battle must also be promoted. Warriors— especially mercenaries—who employ poison or taint wells, sow fields with salt, kill noncombatants, indulge in torture or the wanton slaughter of innocent folk when they are not at war, or commit similar sins against fair battle are to be denied the favor of the god, their crimes are to be publicized far and wide, and they are to be made to atone for their deeds or perish.War priests must preserve the names of the honored battle-fallen, both on grave stones and other such memorials, in their prayers to Tempus, and in an annual chant at the March of the Dead, wherein priests of the war god go through the streets to call all folk, worshipers and nonbelievers alike, to the local Feast of the Moon boated by their temple. Priests are also charged to collect and venerate the weapons and armor of famous and respected warriors, even if these are broken or have deteriorated, for they retain something of the battlelust and energy associated with the deeds they participated in.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies
The ritual performed by most of the faithful is a prayer for valiant performance and survival in the fray ahead, made to the war god over the weapon the praying being most often fights with. If a new weapon comes into the believer’s possession before a battle- particularly in the form of hard-won booty-it is taken as a sign of Tempus’s favor, and this weapon is the one used in worship.The eves and anniversaries of great battles are the holy days of the church of Tempus, and as such vary from place to place. The Feast of the Moon, honoring the dead, is the most important fixed date in the religious calendar. It is also expected that at least once a tenday worshipers of Tempus spill a few drops of blood (preferably their own or a worthy foe’s) and sing the Song of the Sword in Tempus’s honor. Regardless of battle anniversaries, clergy perform at least two ceremonies each day: the Feast of Heroe at high- sun and the Song for the Fallen at sunset. In most temples, a senior priest also conducts a Song of the Sword ceremony after dark for all lay worshipers desiring to attend.

Affiliated Orders
The Tempuran church has many affiliated orders. Two of note are the Order of the Broken Blade and the Order of the Steel Fang. The Order of the Broken Blade honors those warriors and clergy who are injured in Tempus’s service and can no longer fight in the front lines. Broken Blades often serve in support functions at temples and shrines & take a personal oath upon joining the order to defend the holy site where they reside to the death as a final line of defense. The Order of the Steel Fang is an elite fighting order within the church whose members are often assigned to the most hazardous duties. Steel Fang units are led by battle- hardened members of the clergy. Many mercenary companies and knightly fighting orders of crusaders also avail themselves of a connection to the church. One badge of the god seen among his affiliated mercenaries is a rusty brown dagger, shown diagonally with its point to the upper right, dripping four drops of blood.

Priestly Vestments
When not in battered armor, clergy of the war god wear helms or steel skullcaps, though they are careful never to cover their faces, for such close emulation of Tempus is thought to be an affront to the Lord of Battles. Some of the fanatical wanderlng priests never remove all of their armor at any time, but in the temples of the big cities clergy are rarely seen in armor except at ceremonies held before whelmed armies leave or a siege begins. The robes of a priest of Tempus always sport trim the crimson hue of fresh blood, but vary in overall color from place to place and rank to rank. Darker- colored robes are worn by those of lower ranks. Most war priests wear ceremonial garments of brown or purple. Red or amber is worn by senior clergy, and yellow or white by those of the most exalted rank.

Specialty priests of Tempus
Particularly those of high rank, wear a spiked gauntlet as a symbol of office. The gauntlet costs 10 gp, though more elaborate, expensive and even ones with magical properties may be found in more important churches. This gauntlet is, a piercing weapon, and inflicts 1d6 points of damage to creatures of any size. The gauntlet is usually worn only by specialty priests with some sort of authority—those in charge of temples, leading crusades or performed special deeds in the name of Tempus.

Adventuring Garb
Adventuring garb is the same for both cleric and specialty priests of Tempus. Most wear the best armor they can obtain, though it is battle-worn and battered as it is for use, not show. They prefer full plate armor or plate mail. A full helm is usual, but it is worn with either an open face plate or no face plate.

Tempus Domain
Tempus's favor might be randomly distributed, but over the centuries his priests have made an effort to spread and enforce a common code of warfare-to make war a thing of rules, respect for reputations, and professional behavior. This code, called Tempus's Honor, has the purpose of making conflicts brief, decisive, and as safe as possible for those not directly involved.

Tempus's honor
The rules in the code include the following: arm anyone who has need of a weapon; disparage no foe; acquit oneself with bravery; train all for battle; and don't engage in feuds. Those who poison wells, taint fields , kill noncombatants, or engage in torture in the name of war are all considered sinners.