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I was wondering if anyone had any good resources online that I could read about Talona, Our Website says Lovitar is a ally where another says she is a enemy and such. I would just like some research to make my RP that much more convincing, I have just not found very much on her and any help would be appreciated.

Well, I found a few basic things that might possibly be of some interest, though you more than likely have seen it already.

In R.A Salvatore's series the Cleric Quintet, Talona appeared to an evil human wizard named Aballister, gifted him with the recipe for the powerful Chaos Curse, and bade him to found a trifold order of wizards, priest, and warriors in the so-called mountain fort of Castle Trinity.

Talona is depisted as an old crone who walks bringing misfortune and death. Talona is the goddess of plague and disease, her followers are expected to go about quietly and seek out new diseases. Talona allies with Loviatar and despises Chauntea, Mielikki, Kelemvor, and Tyr.

And I am not positive on this one, but Talona and Loviatar do share one thing that I know of,

Followers of Talona take pain as if it were pleasure.

Which I believe is in the help file, and help files are always worth sticking too. Though I do not think a follower of Talona and a follower of Loviatar would become best friends, but if it is evil vs. good situation, I think they would pair up. They might be tolerable to each other if in the same room, but if something were to spark a dislike, I do not think it would be a shocking thing.

Hope that helped somewhat.



Edited because I cannot spell.
Edited by Kelemvor because the Avatar trilogy is about Mystra, Cyric, Adon and me and what you actually meant was the Cleric Quintet

I'm at home right now, so I only have access to my Faiths and Pantheons, and not my Faiths and Avatars, so my info is 3rd ed. In the book, it says,

Talona is one of the dark deities, having served Bhaal alongside Loviatar, whom she hates for her cruel teasing.

Although like I said, that is 3rd ed. I don't have my 2nd ed source on hand, but unless I'm mistaken(Which if I am, please correct me) it says that Talona serves under Loviatar and their relationship is one of dominance, fear, and hatred as an oppressed servant hates their master.

Hope that helped, but unless someone backs me up on that 2nd ed don't take it as truth.

This article on Shar by Sean Reynolds

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fr/20010221b

seems to indicate that Talona is oppressed by Loviatar and allies herself with Shar, perhaps will eventually serve her, in order to retain her independence.

Faiths and Pantheons notes that both Loviatar and Talona served Bhaal before his demise so that might be the source of their rivalry.




{edited several times to get the link to work}

I'm still depressed that they killed Bhaal

Anyhow, IIRC in F&A it mentions that servants of Talona make good extortionists, demanding respect and tribute in order to keep her from setting loose a plague or somesuch.

I also remember a discussion on another board pointing out that there were possibilities for non-evil servants of Talona. i.e. healers and whatnot who would encourage their patients to pray to Talona to prevent infections/disease etc.

Jadom wrote:I also remember a discussion on another board pointing out that there were possibilities for non-evil servants of Talona. i.e. healers and whatnot who would encourage their patients to pray to Talona to prevent infections/disease etc.

Talona's clerics are basically Faerun's foremost experts in pathology and poison. They often play both sides of the table, spreading diseases on those that refuse their extortion demands one day, healing those that are willing to pay the next. They may even do both simultaneously, causing a disease and then providing the only solution.

That's the business aspect of Talona's faith. The more dogmatic aspect revolves around the idea that what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. This is what

Nearraba wrote:Followers of Talona take pain as if it were pleasure.

comes from, the faithful's never ending search for greater strength through wounding.

I'm not sure if Talona has good clerics, but her followers do encourage ordinary people to pray to her to spare them from her diseases. Sort of like how Shar's followers encourage people to pray to her to overcome and forget grief, loss and suffering.

Jayson

All of these help a lot, Thanks so much. And since I was so bent on finding the answer yesterday I went out and bought Lady of Poison a book in the Priest Series, and read the entire thing and just finished it today. Talona's High Priest (Talontyr) is her most closest follower, handpicking a few select priests (Blightbringer's) to serve under him to maintain the faith. And I had a pretty good idea of my roleplay and Ellian I couldn't agree more with what does not kill you makes you stronger, for many servants of Talona feeled that if they obtain a skin disease they are only being spared from the more harsher disease or poison that would have made them unable to serve further. But one thing I cannot really grasp is how Death is more powerful but equal to life in balance. And that Death is what a Talonian must preach is the more power out of the two. Again Thanks for all the info on everything.

Gregal wrote:for many servants of Talona feeled that if they obtain a skin disease they are only being spared from the more harsher disease or poison that would have made them unable to serve further.

I've always pictured it more along the lines of modern day immunizations. You are injected with a dead or severely weakened virus or bacteria, your immune system responds and permanently stores antibodies to that disease for protection from the real thing. Talona's faithful purposefully infect themselves with diseases, then study, use magic, and supplicate to their deity for the strength to overcome whatever they are afflicted with.

From Faiths & Pantheons:
"Thus protected, they treat the diseased, take employment as food tasters for paranoid rulers, wealthy merchants, and nobles, and bury those who have died from diseases."

And of course it's always good to be immune to Iocaine powder on the off chance that you might go up against a Sicilian in a battle of wits.

Gregal wrote:But one thing I cannot really grasp is how Death is more powerful but equal to life in balance. And that Death is what a Talonian must preach is the more power out of the two.

To be honest I don't really understand this part of her dogma either. There was a brief mention of it in Faiths & Pantheons but it sounds like the idea wasn't thoroughly thought out.

In summary, Talona's faithful rival in healing ability to Ilmater's, but rather than out of charity, their motives are very greedy. However, they are much more greedy for the respect they feel they are due than for the money they extort and seize.

Jayson

Very Cool, Thanks so much Ellian your input has put some enlightnment into my thoughts. Believe it or not at work I think of diffrent ways to help my rp and at school I think of diffrent things I can do, and many of the things you have said is exactly what I have thought of doing. Rp wise and everything. So I cannot say thanks enough.

Gregal wrote:But one thing I cannot really grasp is how Death is more powerful but equal to life in balance. And that Death is what a Talonian must preach is the more power out of the two.

Hmm.. I'm not very sure about the "balance" part, but I think this kinda helps with your second part about how Death is more powerful.

The Ethos: Life and death are in balance, say Tallin priests, but death is the more powerful, and should be paid proper homage and respect. Death is a lesson to be learned by all, and if it falls to the followers of Talona to drive home the point, so be it.

But then again, I think you knew that.

So.. IMO, Death is more powerful in the sense that it simply ends everything, and more people are afraid of death than of life.. I mean, imagine threatening an enemy with life if he refuses to reveal an important secret. Sounds pretty silly.

About the balance, I can't be sure, but I've a nagging feeling that if you ask the druids and druidesses, they'll tell you. They keep going on and on about balance.. Perhaps it means that without life, there won't be death, and vice versa. (I know the vice versa part doesn't make sense, but think about it! It does!) And thus, there must be a balance!

Its from: http://www.underhome.com/library/refere ... tml#talona

Just in case you wanted to know. Its a pretty useful site.

Sorry for the ramblings! I hope it made sense.. Kinda just woke up.

-gissy

P.S. Happy new year, people!

Ah, sorry to spam.. Found this! Pretty interesting..

http://toril.info/archive/talona.htm

I'm a little confused by this:

The cult of Talona is a cult of life, as disease is part of every living thing. Here life is equted with movement ; as some speculate that the dead suffer disease. (The ‘savages of Chult oft refer to ‘sick’ spirits, a concept unconceived by the ‘civilized’.)

And about Talona having good clerics.. I don't think so.

The sacred of the goddess actively oppose apocetharies, wisewomen, ‘doctors’ (a Calishite term, methinks) : anyone who has the power to heal the sick. Therefore, they actively suppress the knowledge of Herbalism, the Kara-Tura medicine, acupuncture, the powers known as Psychogenic Healing. Priests who actively work to heal the damage done by a plague would be wise to guard their backs, the faithful will not tolerate the obstruction of the will of their goddess.

Good clerics for healing? A definite no-no.

Good clerics to encourage people to pray to her simply to not get diseased, poisoned, or whatever it is that she can do? Perhaps, but I simply cannot imagine a cleric of hers doing that. Thanks to my lack of imagination.

-gissy

The reason that Tallonians might shun healers is because they are disrupting the natural cycle of becoming stronger from the diseases. From what I have gathered it is strongly believed that diseases should be openly inflicted to increase your strength. They may be good healers because they keep people alive so they will be afflicted with diseases later on, now healing a illness I am not sure about. They would try to destroy medicines because in essence this destroys what they believe in, what they thrive on and what they live for.

If you look at the big picture they live to spread disease, if they can save one man from mortal wounds so he can still be afflicted by diseases I don't see why they wouldn't save him. Of course I might be wrong here.

Respect has been brought up as well. By helping people they show them the power of what they can do, they can control life and they hold dominance over this minion that they have saved. They can easily kill this victim or just as easily heal them.

Now on the subject of Loviatar and Talona being allies: Loviatar dominates Talona. Talona may hate Loviatar but this doesn't mean that they're enemies, it's a weak alliance and I'm sure if Talona had a opportunity to rise to power and break the chains that she would.

Levine wrote:About the balance, I can't be sure, but I've a nagging feeling that if you ask the druids and druidesses, they'll tell you. They keep going on and on about balance.. Perhaps it means that without life, there won't be death, and vice versa. (I know the vice versa part doesn't make sense, but think about it! It does!) And thus, there must be a balance!

As far as the vice versa; in death, there is life, for in death the balance is preserved between the predator and prey, between harvester and harvest. In death, the lion feeds the scavengers, and fertilizes the ground which grows food for the creatures that forrage. In death, all are equalized, from lowest form of life to the highest; from the richest noble to the poorest beggar; from the strongest bear to the meekest fawn.

There's a druidic take on it for ya

In 2nd edition Faiths and Avatars Talona and Loviatar both list the other as foes.

From Loviatar's entry:

While he lived, Loviatar served Bhaal along with Talona, though the two goddesses are heated rivals. Loviatar loves to torment and tease Talona and has more than once expressed the opinion that by all rights Talona ought to and eventually will serve her.

From Talona's entry:

While he lived, Talona served Bhaal along with Loviatar, though Loviatar and Talona are fierce rivals. Loviatar loves to torment and tease Talona over her ugly appearance, her scanty number of followers, her cowardly and ineffectual attaks, and her puny portfolio (in Loviatar's words). Needless to say, Talona openly delights in any setbacks Loviatar experiences, and sometimes even aids good adventurers if she thinks they will damage Loviatar's reputation.

In 3rd edition Faiths and Avatars

Loviatar's entry:

Loviatar is one of the Dark Deities, having served Bhaal alongside Talona, whom she loves to torment and tease.

Talona's entry:

Talona is one of the Dark Deities, having served Bhaal alongside Loviatar, whom she hates for her cruel teasing.

Kregor wrote:As far as the vice versa; in death, there is life, for in death the balance is preserved between the predator and prey, between harvester and harvest. In death, the lion feeds the scavengers, and fertilizes the ground which grows food for the creatures that forrage. In death, all are equalized, from lowest form of life to the highest; from the richest noble to the poorest beggar; from the strongest bear to the meekest fawn.

Yes, Simba, but let me explain. When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connnected in the great Circle of Life.