Clergy: Clerics, specialty priests, wizards, bards, psionicists
Clergy's Align: LG, NG, CG, N
Turn Undead: C: Yes, SP: No, W: No, B: No, Psi: No
Cmnd. Undead: C: No, SP: No, W: No, B: No, Psi: No

All clergy of Celestian receive astronomy and religion (Flanaess and Wildspace) as bonus nonweapon proficiencies. All clergy are required to learn how to find their ways about the Multiverse and must learn either the navigation (whether traditional high seas navigation or Wildspace navigation) or planar direction sense nonweapon proficiency. (All of the above mentioned nonweapon proficiencies are fully detailed in one or more of the following sources: Player's Handbook, Player's Option: Skills & Powers, The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook, and The Planewalker's Handbook.)

Like all intermediate powers on the World of Greyhawk, Celestian is unable to grant quest level spells (as detailed in Tome of Magic) to his priests. However, the Star Wanderer is able to do so in the voids of Wildspace and the Astral Plane. Favored quest spells include highway, imago interrogation, mindnet, planar quest, revelation, shooting stars, and transformation. If true dweomers (as detailed in Dungeon Master Option: High-Level Campaigns) are permitted in the campaign, the same rules apply to a priest's access to these spells.

Spelljamming priests of Celestian can recover their spells in the wildspace of any crystal sphere. Moreover, priests of Celestian who pray for spells before passing into the Phlogiston (also known as the Flow), frequently receive one additional spell of the highest level they are capable of casting (at the DM's discretion). This spell is lost if the priest changes his or her mind and does not leave the crystal sphere after all. In the Flow, priests of Celestian can cast the spells they already possess, but, like the clergy of all faiths, cannot regain new spells of 4th or higher level. Moreover, priests of Celestian cannot recover their spells on the surface of a world in a sphere where Celestian is not worshipped. Even some large asteroids are too large to allow the priest to recover his or her spells (again, at the DM's discretion). However, once the priests of Celestian have established a focus within the crystal sphere (see Chapter 8 of The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook), they have the same access to spells as the priests of any other deity.

In addition, once priests of Celestian have left the atmosphere of Oerth for Wildspace, they find that certain spells - those associated with movement and travel (including all of the "walk" spells of the elemental sphere and all the spells of the astral and travelers spheres, among others) - work as though the priest were one level higher than their actual level.

Planewalking clergy suffer no effective spell-casting level loss when traveling any of the Prime's crystal spheres or any of the Outer Planes, since Celestian makes his home wandering the Astral Plane. Moreover, priests only suffer the loss of one level on the Ethereal Plane and two levels on the Inner Planes. In addition, they cast all spells on the Astral Plane as if they were one level higher than their actual level.

At 9th level, priests of Celestian may build a stronghold (though it must be portable, e.g. flying castles, spelljamming ships, a personalized Daern's Instant Fortress, etc.) and attract followers as do standard clerics. These followers generally consist of 1 5th level bard, 1 5th level mage, 1 5th level ranger, 1 7th level specialty priest or cleric, and 3 5th level specialty priests or clerics - most or all of whom will have spelljamming or planewalking experience.

Any human, demihuman, or nonhuman may join Celestian's clergy, although the membership is predominately human and half-elven. Most dwarves, halflings, and gnomes tend to appreciate their communities too much to view wandering as desirable, although there is a small, but growing, contingent of kender among the clergy's ranks. The plane-touched races - aasimar, genasi, and tieflings - also represent a growing segment of the faithful. Of the nonhumans, the hadozee and the xixchil are the most likely to join the church, but there are very few nonhuman priests or lay worshipers, of any race, dedicated to Celestian. Nevertheless, considering the god's spheres of influence, even demihumans and some humanoids with their own racial deities worship Celestian alongside their normal pantheon. Clerics in the service of Celestian are allowed to multi-class if their race is normally allowed to do so. In addition, if the Invisible Art (psionics) is permitted in the campaign and the race can normally become psionicists, priests of Celestian are allowed to multi-class as cleric/psionicists, even if this multi-class option is not usually available.

The Star Wanderer has only a small following among the Flanaess of Oerth, made up of navigators, astronomers, astrologers, savants, sages, philosophers, dreamers, and like souls involved with the cosmos or sky. These faithful tend to be detached, more concerned with the stars than Oerthly affairs. They most often worship him privately or through travel to unknown lands and the acquisition of knowledge.

Most of Celestian's followers instead seek to emulate their deity through spelljamming and planewalking. As the patron god of wanderers, explorers, and travelers, even if he is only an intermediate power from a single crystal sphere, Celestian is perfectly suited to those who earn their living as they go. Moreover, even those who shy away from the powers altogether often make a special exception for Celestian. The general opinion among these travelers is that his blessings cannot hurt when you need to get someplace in a hurry.

Many spelljamming groups consider the faithful of Celestian useful, if a bit strange. Since they seek to wander the many spheres, Celestian's clergy are always willing to pilot long journeys through the Flow. Thus, the good-aligned trading companies and mercenary companies see Celestian's faithful as a convenient resource, and the sight of their starry black robes is a welcome one. However, Celestian's priests will not pilot warships or slaveships. They do not seek conquest and will not aid an unjust conqueror to invade Wildspace. They will pilot mercenary ships, but only to transport defenders and never into a direct conflict. The clergy of Celestian and the Seekers of Wildspace are on good terms. Many of the Star Wanderer's followers are also Seekers, as the two organizations hold similar goals. Many of the Star Wanderer's clergy who are not Seekers will still report their discoveries to that organization. In return, the Seekers act as a communications network for the widely scattered priesthood. A sender can leave a message for a priest of Celestian at any Seeker office, and it will be transferred through the information network and presented to the recipient the next time he checks in at any other Seeker office.

The Tenth Pit and the Chainmen, also of Wildspace, are hostile to the clergy of Celestian because they refuse to transport Tenth Pit troops or pilot Chainmen slaveships. As expected, the Xenos are as hostile to the worshipers of Celestian as they are to any group that accepts nonhumans, but since the faithful are few, they receive little attention from the Xenos.

The followers of Ptah dislike the disciples of the Far Wanderer, and they try to discredit and challenge them on theological grounds whenever possible. For their part, Celestian's clergy generally ignore the followers of Ptah.

Celestian has made great strides recently by picking up many planewalking worshipers. This is simply because those priests who revere Celestian, who dwells upon the Astral, do not suffer a loss of spellcasting ability as they travel around the Great Ring, the Outer Planes. Moreover, magical weapons forged on the Astral are equally powerful throughout the Outer Planes. A prime might consider it tacky to praise a god just to get his spells, but planewalkers are more canny and realistic - they do what they can to stay alive. Consequently, among planewalkers, the Far Wanderer is remarkably well venerated and rapidly becoming a religion of choice. And as a result, Celestian's power grows by leaps and bounds due to the devotion brought by an increasing number of practical-minded planewalkers. Celestian's faithful have yet to develop any particular relationships with any of the factions or sects of the Outer Planes, with the exception of the Athar, whom the Far Wanderer's priests view as foolish and potentially dangerous. Several of Celestian's planewalking faithful are, however, affiliated with the Planewalker's Guild (see the Planescape adventure anthology Tales from the Infinite Staircase).

Shrines to Celestian upon Prime worlds are located in the country, away from city lights, and are built on mountain peaks or hilltops with a clear view of the night sky. However, most shrines to the Far Wanderer are found in Wildspace and the Astral Plane. While there is no standard construction for these shrines, most are, for practical purposes, akin to inns, complete with kitchens, boarding rooms, and the like - though their size may vary from that of a large one-room shack to an inn of the largest and finest caliber.

The clergy of Celestian are known as celestians, as are its specialty priests. This is a point of confusion for many outside of the faith, who find themselves shaking their heads in frustration. This distinction is further confused by the Celestians, the name by which the church is known among spelljammers. For their part, celestians either see no need to clear up the confusion or do not care. Most celestians are specialty priests (67%) or itinerant, though primarily planet-bound, clerics (15%), with a handful of wizard (7%), bards (7%), and psionicists (2%). In addition, most are humans (70%), half-elves (15%), or one of growing number of the plane-touched races (5%) - the aasimar, genasi, and tieflings - with a smattering of other races, primarily elves, halflings, and the other demihuman races (8%). Slightly more than half of all celestians are male (52%).

Due to their itinerant nature, the church maintains a very loose hierarchy. In fact, unlike many other faiths, the celestians do not use specific titles to identify their status, per se. Instead, the celestians are organized by and identify themselves by one of seven orders: 1st Order (1st-2nd level), 2nd Order (3rd-4th level), 3rd Order (5th-6th level), 4th Order (7th-8th level), 5th Order (9th-10th level), 6th Order (11th-15th level), and 7th Order (16th and higher levels).

Dogma: Celestians believe in travel. Until the day they die, priests of Celestian must keep traveling to new places. To return to a previously visited site is considered at least slightly taboo by what religious hierarchy Celestian has. (They rarely settle in one place, preferring to visit as many spheres and planes as possible. Nevertheless, the celestians are wise enough to understand that through all of this traveling, lay folk, and even the occasional clergy member, sometimes find their place in the Multiverse and settle down permanently - though this is still frowned upon.)

Lay members of Celestian's church have few obligations, except the general admonition to travel and help others. They must provide aid to any person in need (Celestian's tenets do not forbid charging for such aid, however). Clergy of Celestian must pledge the same oaths as lay members. However, their oaths are taken more seriously. Spelljamming clergy must travel from one sphere to another at least once each year, and must visit a sphere new to the priest at least once every five years. Planewalking clergy have similar requirements and are required to travel from plane to plane at least once a year, and must visit a planar layer new to them at least once very five years. However, as Sigil is the City of Doors, planewalkers are allowed to visit that city as often as they like, though they are not to stay for long. (Nevertheless, many celestians maintain apartments or keep safety deposits in the city). Planet-bound worshipers of Celestian are not under these obligations, although they are encouraged to make similar journeys, especially through astral travel.

Day-to-Day Activities: Celestian's small priesthood is very studious and meditative, and also somewhat secretive and detached from everyday life. The study of astronomy and navigation and the acquisition of arcane lore and magical items that aid travel are considered important goals by the faithful. They keep secret records of their voyages into the cosmos. They also try to keep track of gates, especially those that are activated by astronomical conditions.

Priests of Celestian spend most of their time wandering about emulating their deity, whenever possible, by traveling the depths of space or the planes, seeking to visit as much of the Known Spheres or planes as they can in their lifetime.

Celestians also act to aid good-aligned travelers who are or are not members of the church, but who have, nevertheless, fallen on hard times. They assist newcomers to a sphere with advice about the local customs and laws, and will even help them find work should the need arise. It is customary to leave a donation (or if destitute, to provide one when one is more wealthy) for these services, but there is no set fee schedule. Celestian hospices in poorly traveled areas may appreciate tales of travel more than a token donation of gold.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The clergy of Celestian have few holy days. Services to Celestian are held, when at all possible, outdoors under a starry sky, in the wildspace of the various crystal spheres, or in the silver void.

Joining the celestians is easy, especially for nonpriests. A supplicant must convert to worship of Celestian, pledge to wander the stars or planes as Celestian himself does, and vow to aid any person in need. These oaths are not always taken too seriously, however. A "wandering" lay worshiper of Celestian can stop for 20 or 30 years in one place without receiving more than a gentle chiding from the priesthood.

Major Centers of Worship: The wandering clergy of Celestian have little in the way of organization or permanent places of worship. Nevertheless, a home temple can be found hidden among the Griff Mountains on the world of Oerth in Greyspace.

Another prominent sight of the faith on Oerth is the Grey College Observatory just south of the Duke's Gate of the City of Greyhawk. This domed building is owned by the Grey College of Greyhawk and is used by sages, astrologers, students, nobles, and others with an interest in the heavens. A small fee is charged for using the observatory, which features several small telescopes with finely ground lenses mounted on rotating stands. The observatory grounds are used by the faithful on various holy days throughout the year to conduct rituals. The Observatory Tutor is Karol Zagan (N hf P2 - Celestian; hp 7; Int 17), a talkative middle-aged woman who got the job when her predecessor retired and moved away. She also keeps records of the faith's voyages into the cosmos in a secret room below the Observatory.

(As might be expected, the nearby cities of Greyhawk and, to a lesser extent, Dyvers serve as the primary regions for the landing and/or docking of spelljamming vessels, with most spelljamming ships touching down in the Nyr Dyv or Wooly Bay and then sailing along the Selintan to Greyhawk. Despite the fact that natives of Greyspace like to think of their planetbound fellows as knowledgeable of spelljamming, the truth is that the natives are much more provincial and insular. While most people have the idea that Celestian's congregation is supposed to travel the stars, few know that some followers of Celestian actually do voyage into Wildspace and fewer still take such tales seriously. Moreover, the fact that most spelljamming ships that have ever landed in the area strongly resemble normal sailing ships, makes convincing commoners otherwise difficult)

The faithful also maintain hospices in many Wildspace settlements and way homes scattered among the silver void - places a traveler can go for shelter and safety - that frequently double as shrines. While the hospices are often run by lay folk who have decided to settle for a time (and appreciate donations though they are not required), no one ever stays in the way homes long. These safe havens have saved many a wanderer with a bit of food and protection from the elements. Most of the clergy's shrines, however, are found in Wildspace, outside of planetary influence. Affiliated Orders: Celestian sponsors no knightly orders. However, his clergy, especially those in Wildspace, are looked upon as a tightly knit and organized group of wanderers and called the Celestians, a slight and accepted corruption of what celestians call themselves. In addition, a number of planar rangers look to Celestian for guidance, though they are not organized in any fashion.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Celestian wear different gem-covered robes for their holy rites, depending upon their order: priests of the 1st Order wear light blue robes with rubies; 2nd Order, light gray robes with jacinths; 3rd Order, violet robes with topazes; 4th Order, blue-gray robes with emeralds; 5th Order, dark blue robes with sapphires; 6th Order, deep purple robes with amethysts; and 7th Order, black robes with diamonds. The robes all give an onlooker the impression of a field of stars.

Priests often carry their holy symbol, an array of seven "stars" (a diamond, amethyst, sapphire, emerald, topaz, jacinth, and ruby) as a silver brooch. The silver "array" is shaped much like a full circle bisected by the (right-sided) curve of a waning moon with another smaller waning moon attached to the bisecting curve within the larger waning moon. The "stars" follow the bisecting curve to the exterior (left-sided) curve of the smaller waning moon back to the bisecting curve, in "C" shape with an extended serif, in the following top-to-bottom order: jacinth, ruby, amethyst, diamond, sapphire, topaz, emerald. The "stars" of the brooch are often real gems for high-level clergy, while lay worshipers and low-level clergy often use colored-glass or cheaper gem stones, such as quartz.

Adventuring Garb: The adventuring garb of the priests of Celestian is usually black robes and/or cloaks, though some wear black leather armor under their robes and cloaks. When expecting danger, celestians prefer to arm themselves with the weaponry of their god.

(The Opener of the Way, the Seeker of Hidden Ways, the Supreme Artisan, Creator of the Universe, He From Whom All Life Emerged)

Lesser (formerly Greater) Power of the Ethereal, LN
Portfolio: Afterlife, ARTS, CRAFTS, creation, creativity, designs, destiny, illumination, insight, inspiration, light, metalworking, space, spelljamming, TRAVEL, WILDSPACE Artists, artisans, craftsmen, illumination, travelers, Wildspace
Aliases: Seker
Domain Name: Ethereal/wanders
Superiors: Re/Ra (dead)
Allies: Sekhmet (unknown in the Realms), Nefertum (unknown in the Realms), Seker (dead), Osiris, Thoth, Bast/Sharess
Foes: None
Symbol: A mummified hand held high, palm forward with all but the middle two fingers spread; an Apis (a type of ancient and sacred bull - older, mostly used by groundling clergy, and never used in the Realms); a hawk-headed mummy with an ankh in his right hand (Seker)
Wor. Align: Any

Ptah (TAUH) is one of the most ancient of the powers. He predates even Re, but stepped down for the more vital, active power. According to legend, Ptah formed the Prime Material Plane, and the multiverse for that matter, out of the Ethereal and Elemental Planes, and created the Egyptian (Mulhorandi) pantheon of gods. Now, however, now he makes his own way as he wanders the Ethereal.

Where Thoth is the god of knowledge and science, Ptah is often viewed as the god of artists and designers. While the two gods have much in common, there are important differences. An architect planning a pyramid depends on Thoth for the mathematics to build it and calls upon Ptah for the inspiration that will make it a work of art. In any case, Ptah is the source of inspiration and creativity, and as such, lovers of art and beauty call upon Ptah. In addition, just as Thoth's priests claim that he created the universe (or instructed Ptah to do so to his specifications), so, too, do Ptah's priests exert their claim to the founding waters. However, regardless of the claims of Thoth's clergy, it is Ptah that is most commonly called Creator of the Universe.

The powers of Mulhorand and the fallen deities of Unther are ancient in origin and Ptah played a crucial role in bringing them to the Realms. Millennia ago, at the height of the Imaskari Empire, the wizards of that land wielded immense powers and in their pride refused to bow down to any divine entity. When the population of their lands collapsed in a calamitous plague, the godless sorcerers of the empire opened a pair of gates to another world. In a series of lightning raids, they captured countless slaves, brought them back to Abeir-Toril, and then permanently closed all connections between those lands and the Realms. Despite harsh repression from the wizards, the Mulan maintained their faith in the deities of their home world and offered up countless prayers for their salvation and emancipation.

Ao heard their prayers, and summoned the god Ptah, an ancient deity of Wildspace whose faith had originated in the home world of the enslaved peoples, the Mulan, and whose followers had recently discovered Realmspace, the crystal sphere containing Abeir-Toril. At Ao's request, Ptah returned to his home world and assembled the two relevant pantheons of that sphere. He explained what had happened to their faithful and conveyed the Mulan's prayers for salvation. Ptah then relayed Ao's invitation to the two pantheons to extend their sphere of influence into the Realms. Since the Imaskari sorcerers had created an unbreachable magical barrier between the two worlds that denied the entrance of the gods of the Mulan into Realmspace (in a process similar to that employed by the Scepter of the Sorcerer-Kings [described in the ENCYCLOPEDIA MAGICA Volume 3 and the Book of Artifacts]), the only way the pantheons could enter Abeir-Toril was to send avatars through Wildspace accompanied by Ptah. Ptah explained that their avatars would be cut off from their divine essences in the Outer Planes for the foreseeable future, and hence needed to be as powerful as possible if they were to battle the Imaskari wizards.

Both Ra, the head of the family of deities who would become the Mulhorandi pantheon, and Enlil, the patriarch of what would become the Untheric pantheon, agreed to Ao's offer, as did many of their divine offspring. (Notably, Enki and his wife Nin-Hursag of the Sumerian pantheon did not enter the Realms, nor did Anubis, Nut, Shu, or Tefnut of the Egyptian pantheon.) Ptah led the gods' manifestations through the darkness of Wildspace with a powerful artifact known as the Beacon of Light (described in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical).

The two divine families landed on the highest peaks of a range of mountains on the northeastern edge of the Imaskari Empire known today as the Teyla Shan (Godswatch Mountains). There they further divided their remaining divine essences and created lesser, mortal forms of avatars, known incarnations. These incarnations descended into the fertile plain below and went amongst their long-forsaken peoples. The most talented they made priests, and the truly faithful were transformed into divine minion. (Ptah created no manifestation, incarnations, or divine minions, and hence was never worshipped by the Mulan. Nevertheless, the Mulan remember him as the founder of the Mulhorandi pantheon and the constructor of the oldest artifacts of great magic still in active use in Mulhorand, the three Chariots of Re.)

Before the overly complacent wizards realized what was occurring, their Mulan slaves rose in open rebellion. Having already expended much of their magic, the godless wizards and the Imaskari Empire quickly collapsed in a conflagration that devastated the land and created much of the Raurin Desert. The manifestations led the shattered remnants of the Mulan westward, into more fertile lands occupied by a people known as the Turami. The Mulan whose ancestors had primarily venerated Re settled with Re and his children on the eastern shore of the Alamber Se where they interbred with the Turami and founded the nation of Mulhorand. Enlil, his family, and their worshipers continued on to the western shores of the Alamber Sea where they founded the nation of Unther.

During the Orcgate War that came centuries after the destruction of the Imaskari, the manifestation of Seker the Lightbringer, a neutral-good lesser power of the afterlife, as well as the god of light, was slain in a mutually destructive battle with the avatar of Yurtrus, the orc god of death and disease. However, before leaving the Realms, Seker passed his power on to his ally, Ptah, and as a result, Ptah added the afterlife, illumination, and light to his portfolio. (In fact, on some worlds, Ptah is seen as an aspect of the tripartite-being - much like the elven deity Angharradh - Ptah-Seker-Osiris, a composite deity of creation, death, and afterlife.) However, Ptah's commitment to and interest in the Lightbringer's small church was less than what it should have been, and he allowed Seker's temples, mostly located among the eroding plains of Raurin, to become covered over by the sands of time and the Raurin Desert. The church eventually devolved into a cult (with most of the faithful turning to Osiris) and then largely disappeared from Abeir-Toril with the church of Ptah taking in many stragglers with the truth of Seker's demise. Today, there are only a handful of cultists (all clerics) who still call upon Seker. In addition to Ptah's absorption of Seker's portfolio, his faithful also include destiny among the lesser aspects of his portfolio. Aside from Thoth, Ptah remains somewhat aloof from his fellow Egyptian gods, except for his wife, Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of vengeance and punishment and the protectress of the righteous; and his son Nefertum, the god of the lotus and unguents, as well as medicine in general. (Much like Nut, Shu, and Tefnut, Sekhmet and Nefertum did not enter Realmspace as most of their fellow powers did.)

Ptah wanders the Ethereal Plane, his faithful believe, due to the Misty Shore's relative proximity to the Elemental Planes - which are often considered the ultimate sources of creation. This status as a creator god and a traveler god have made Ptah a popular name to invoke for aid and guidance among Ethereal and inner-planar travelers, as well as Wildspace travelers. He is known and worshipped in nearly every known sphere of existence. Moreover, unlike almost all other powers, Ptah is even said to be approachable by mortals. (Though mortals had best tread carefully around the god - Ptah seems to feed off the Ethereal, and he can send a mortal literally anywhere in the planes. It has even been suggested that Ptah can drop a being in another god's realm without that power's permission.)

(Mage 25, Cleric 25, Fighter 15)

When Ptah sends his avatar into the world, it normally takes the shape of a powerfully built shaven-headed man with a beard and jet-black skin. However, his avatar's form may resemble either a human or dwarf in stature. His eyes reflect the universe and contain the fire of creativity that is the inspiration of all artists. Moreover, Ptah exudes a feeling of strength and power. He is most often portrayed wearing a black skull cap and white skirt.

Ptah is a clever and dynamic god with a great love of art and beauty. He smiles upon craftsmen who produce works of great quality and will sometimes (5%) send his avatar to assure that such persons receive the recognition they deserve.

Ptah can call upon any sphere or schools for his spells.

AC -5; MV 15; HP 199; THAC0 4; #AT 2/1
Dmg 3-60 or special
MR 70%, SZ M (4-7 feet)
STR 15, DEX 20, CON 25, INT 25, WIS 25, CHA 18
Spells P: 13/12/12/12/12/11/5, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4
Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Ptah is a master of planar travel. His avatar can plane shift any individual to any other plane of existence with but a touch of his hand. While he must make an attack roll (with targets only receiving the magical bonuses of armor and shields to their armor class) to strike his target, the victim is not entitled to a saving throw. He can teleport without error anywhere in the Multiverse with accuracy, and there is no limit to the speed with which he can travel through any medium. In combat, Ptah fights with the phoenix-headed Scepter of the Gods. This weapon tells its user of the strong points of any enemy faced, is able to nullify one of any type of spell or magical device used against it per melee round, and also hits for 3-60 points of damage per strike. Ptah's avatar is immune to all damage not caused by spells or magical weapons of +2 or better.
Other Manifestations

Ptah enjoys new ideas and devices. When a being creates a device that is highly useful there is a 5% chance that the god will reward that being with a thet. This chance goes up by 5% if that being is a worshiper of the Ptah and 10% if that being is a priest of Ptah. The thet is an amulet geared to do one of two things: it can project an anti-magic shell around the user which does not effect the user's ability to cast spells, or it enables the wearer to become ethereal once a week. In either form, a thet has 2-12 charges.

Ptah is often served by non-chaotic dragons of all sorts, especially blue, green, emerald, sapphire, bronze, silver, and steel. He also sometimes sends shedu to do his bidding and uses hawks (especially sparrowhawks) as messengers. In addition, many of Ptah's followers see bulls as the holy creation of their god.

On many worlds Ptah is also served by a race of subterranean dwarf-like creatures seemingly made of obsidian often known as "Ptah's seekers." They have no head or body hair, but sometimes have wiry, black beards that are greased so that they shine like the rest of their body. They twine these beards up in black wire so that they stick out like extended chins. Even their eyes have no whites in them, but are merely the same shiny black that covers the rest of them. These dwarves have not been seen on Faern, though rumors of a tribe of them living on an island to the far southwest of Nimbral have been rumored among some Spelljammers. (More information can be found on these creatures in an article in the February 1994 issue of DRAGON Magazine, "Mythic Races of Africa," by Michael John Wybo II.)
The Church

Clergy: Clerics, specialty priests, monks
Clergy's Align: Any
Turn Undead: C: Yes, SP: No, Mon: No
Cmnd. Undead: C: No, SP: No, Mon: No

All clergy of Ptah receive religion (Egyptian/Mulhorandi and Wildspace) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. In addition, all of Ptah's priests are granted major access to the astral and travelers spheres regardless of subclass. Ptah's clerics and monks also benefit from the same spell-casting and level effectiveness within the crystal spheres and among the Planes, as do Ptah's specialty priests (see below).

In crystal spheres where the Egyptian (Mulhorandi) pantheon is worshipped, Ptah is revered as the god of artisans. However, most spelljamming priests of Ptah are spaceborn and look down on their groundling cousins as having lost sight of Ptah's true glory as the creator of the universe. (In addition, it may be that this lack of Ptah's worship by the "groundlings" of Toril, assisted the Mulhorandi god-kings in keeping their nation, more or less, isolated in the wake of empire until the recent Godswar.) It is because of this aspect of the Ptah's portfolio, that of creator-god, that he has become a popular name to invoke among Ethereal and inner-planar travelers.

Ptah is seen as the source of inspiration, creativity, and creation, and as such, lovers of art and beauty call upon Ptah, as do many healers. Moreover, priests of Ptah are expected to be artists, artisans, and scholars themselves.

Ptah's priests tend to equate Ptah with whatever ruling god they happen to encounter to show that Ptah is the true ruler of the pantheon. In Realmspace, for example, the priests of Ptah proclaim Ao, the overgod of the pantheon of the Realms, as an avatar of their god. Similarly, so to are Odin, Zeus, and Paladine. These proclamations are usually disturbing news to the followers of these gods within their spheres. Thus, while the worshippers of Ptah are pandemic, they are not popular with the established local churches in any of the spheres.

To become an avowed follower of Ptah is extremely easy. Nearly every sphere contains a flock of priests eager to help convert those seeking Ptah. There is a traditionally a small donation (10-20 gp.) for the conversion, although the petitioner may substitute a small handcrafted item made by his own hands.

The Temple of Ptah is open to beings of any race, although Ptah's worshippers are predominately human. Most members of other races who join, especially planewalkers or spelljammers, are viewed as pragmatists taking advantage of the special magical benefits that accrue to the followers of so wide-ranging a god. So long as they make regular donations, however, they are treated as well as any human member.

Ptah's priesthood is made up primarily of specialty priests (75%), with the bulk of its clerics (20%) existing on Prime worlds where the Egyptian pantheon is worshipped (though a few make it to Wildspace). Ptah also sponsors a small order of itinerant monks (5%) who primarily travel through Wildspace and the Inner Planes, never setting foot on the Prime. Ptah's clergy are known as ptahians. His specialty priests are known as wayfarers due in large part to their extensive traveling throughout the Inner Planes and Wildspace. The itinerant priesthood has a small number of known clerical ranks. In ascending order they are: supplicant, inerrantist, missionary, ingressor, theofarer, demiurge.

The faith of Ptah has few steady allies. Outside of Wildspace, the church tends to get along with the clergies of the other established faiths of the Egyptian (Mulhorandi) pantheon, though they have no love for the clergy of Set. In addition, the faith has also developed a relationship with the Planewalker's Guild (see Planescape adventure anthology Tales from the Infinite Staircase). The clergy tend to have very little opinion about most of the major factions of Sigil and the multitude of sects from the Outer Planes. Nevertheless, the faithful generally believe the Athar are dangerously blasphemous, and the Sign of One are almost so, while the Doomguard and Dustmen are simply demented. The ptahians see the Ethereal-based Believers of the Source as rather likable, though the Godsmen don't seem to quite get that Ptah is the ultimate source of the divine they purport to believe in.

While Ptah's clergy has developed few allies outside of those of their god's native pantheon, within Wildspace, they have developed a more complex set of relationships with the other prominent spacefaring organizations (see The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook and other Spelljammer sources for more details on these organizations). The Seekers, a group dedicated to knowledge, are in frequent contact with Ptah's priests as their wide access to many spheres makes them a prime source of general knowledge, but the Seekers are justifiably suspicious of the priests' information when it turns to theological matters. The Shapers, a spacefaring organization that represents the wizard school of invokers, have supported the priests of Ptah in the past, and there are a number of spaceports where a Shaper monopoly on wizardry is paralleled by a Ptah monopoly on priestly magic. Both groups see themselves as bring order to the cosmos, and taking the "wild" out of Wildspace. When the priests of Ptah turn to force as a way of converting recalcitrant peoples, they often employ the Trading Company, a potent mercenary force, as its businesslike attitudes mitigate any conflict with the priests.

On the other hand, while many spacefaring people find the priests of Ptah irritating, few truly hate them. The Pragmatic Order of Thought, a group founded on the ideas that all people deserve liberty of thought and freedom, finds the monochromatic theology of the priests of Ptah stifling, and this has caused some friction over the years, even spilling over into the Order's relationship with the Trading Company. The Xenos, an entirely human organization with a rabid hatred of other races, hate the priests of Ptah (of course, they hate just about anyone) because Ptah accepts demihumans into his priesthood. While the priests of Ptah have verbally attacked the Celestians, worshipers of the Greyspace-based deity Celestian, on theological grounds, the Celestians have only ignored these protestations.

Dogma: The clergy of Ptah are instructed as follows: "Ptah gave life to the other gods by means of his heart and his tongue. The conception of thought in the heart and the speech of the tongue determine the action of every limb. Ptah's presence is universal in the heart and mouths of all beings. By pronouncing the identity of everything, the authority of his utterance was such that all creation came into being. Whatever the eyes see, the ears hear and the nose breathes goes straight to the heart and the conclusion reached by the heart is spoken by the tongue. This is how Ptah commanded all the gods into existence and how he became He From Whom All Life Emerged. Ptah is the complete synthesis of mind and the material world. He is the intellectual principle of creation amalgamated with the physical image of life itself. As such, he is superior to all other gods." As a result of this theology, the faithful must honor their god by visiting that which he has created, traveling the Prime, or better yet among Wildspace and the Inner Planes that make up all that is.

There is little in the way of what most would consider morality, good or bad, in the teachings of Ptah. At best, his doctrine could be described as supporting a general benign indifference in regards to such issues.

In addition to the above teachings, one doctrine that remains from the days when Seker's clergy joined Ptah's is a hatred of the undead as unnatural monsters to be destroyed by the light. (Interestingly, Ptah does not grant his specialty priests power over the undead, leading some sages to speculate that Ptah has no true feelings concerning the undead one wayor the other).

Day-to-Day Activities: The priests of Ptah are among the most forceful proponents of religion in the Known Spheres and the Planes. They are found throughout the Spelljammer universes, and to a lesser degree among the Inner Planes, preaching the superiority of their god. They are fanatical in their zeal to convert people to the way to Ptah, and use the fact that they can receive their clerical spells in all the spheres to prove the superiority of Ptah over other gods. Followers of Ptah are expected to assist one another, especially those who travel the planes and crystal spheres. Priests, and even lay members, are also encouraged to find others who wish to join the temple. (Very often, these members establish themselves as intermediaries between new converts and the priests. They collect the temple donations from the members they introduced, and keep 10 percent of the new members' donations for themselves. Nonmembers, mindful of Ptah's origins, refer to this as a pyramid scheme.)

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Ptah's holy days take place on the new moon every month, during which precious stones are propitiated, especially jade.

For all their dogmatism, the priests of Ptah are surprisingly easy to get along with once you have converted. Members of the temple must donate a small work of art (purchased for 5-10 gp., although works made by the member's own hand are preferred) to the temple upon leaving or entering a crystal sphere or plane. This is usually done during brief ceremonies in which the member says good-bye to his old priest and introduces himself to the new ones. Further donations of 1-2 gp. per standard month are also required, but these may be waived if the member is not able to pay.

Major Centers of Worship: The priests of Ptah claim their god created all of the crystal spheres, therefore they have chosen no one spot as a supreme center of worship or headquarters. Affiliated Orders: Ptah has no official knightly orders. However many planewalkers and spelljammers are dedicated to his name and the spread of his worship. Ptah does sponsor an itinerant order of monks, the Order of the Hidden Ways. This order is in constant motion, traveling alone or in small groups, and almost never sets foot on a major Prime world, preferring instead to travel among the spheres and the Inner Planes discovering new inspirations to spark their creativity.

Priestly Vestments: Ptah's priests don gray robes trimmed with scarlet. Males shave their heads upon attaining the fourth or higher levels, while the females wear long hair at all times. Land-bound faithful often wear white robes trimmed with black and silver. They also adorn themselves with ornaments of jade. The standard holy symbol of the faith is the ankh (which Ptah is credited with creating).

Adventuring Garb: When expecting battle, priests of Ptah will don armor and black helms, arming themselves as they see appropriate. The most common weapon the faithful train in is the scepter (treat as footman's mace). However, the versatile and unassuming quarterstaff is also a very popular weapon among the followers of Ptah.

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