Bloat

Intermediate Deity

Symbol: A Black Egg

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Portfolio: Frogs, small bodies of water, fertility

Worshipers: Swamp dwellers, farmers, the barren

Cleric Alignments: CG, CN, CE

Domains: Chaos, Fertility, Water

Favored Weapon: Sickle

Description:

Bloat is an Elder God, a generation behind the Eldest but still two past the Gods of Men. His sway is that of toads and frogs, of small bodies of water (Streams, ponds, even tiny lakes, but never rivers or large lakes, let alone the sea or ocean) but, most importantly, was his status as God of Fertility. His children would spawn in any body of water, transforming from tadpoles to frogs, showcasing life as it thrived. Bloat himself is immensely fat but astonishingly fertile, able to both lay eggs and fertilize them himself, but having an unhealthy appetite for humanoid lovers as well. These pairings *always* result in pregnant partners, who go on to give birth to numerous spawn, often at the cost of their own life. There are those who say that the Bullywugs are from Bloats encounters with human women, but this has never been proven. Bloat is a glutton, an unthinking brute driven by the twin carnal pleasures of fornication and feasting (Tho rarely mixing the two). Nothing is more important to him than this.

Some cults to Bloat still exist, most commonly in the Bullywug communities, but also several small human villages near the marshes still traffic with him. In desperate times, even more sedate humanoids will visit a temple of Bloat, leaving a tender maiden to his pleasure, in exchange for a fertile harvest where the lands are barren, or a more personal virility for nobles whose wives will not, or cannot, bear them a son. Bloat cares not if his boon is used for the good of a starving community or the wreckless arrogance of a noble's want of an heir ... as long as he is well-fed and well-bed, he serves those who service him. It is said that when a farmer wishes to dig a well, he should dig where he first spies a frog or toad ... this is a sign that Bloat has left water down below.