Bast .

Lesser Deity
Symbol: Cat
Home Plane: The Solar Barge (Mount Bakhau)
Alignment: Chaotic good
Portfolio: Cats, vengeance, protection, punishment
Worshipers:Mothers, defenders, fighters, barbarians, rangers, elves
Cleric Alignments: NG, CG, CN
Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Protection, Strength, War
Favored Weapon: Tiger claws

Bast is a cat-headed deity whose portfolio includes protection (as a mother protects her children), punishment of wrongdoers, and cats. She appears as a dark-skinned human woman with the head of a cat, though she can use her Shift Form ability to appear as any feline of any size. Bast is a wild deity. To those she favors she gives great blessings, but when she is angry her wrath knows no bounds. She is a fierce enemy of Apep and Set.

Though Bast’s home plane is listed as the Solar Barge, in fact she resides on Mount Bakhau at the far eastern edge of the world. This mythical mountain lies along the Solar Barge’s course through the sky, above the cavern where the Barge exits the Twelve Hours of Night each dawn. Every morning, Bast descends from her palace to fight Apep, securing the Barge’s passage out of the Twelve Hours. Bast is one of the daughters of Re-Horakhty and is married to Ptah.

Dogma
To speak of dogma in connection with Bast is almost contradictory. Bast is a chaotic, often whimsical deity who demands no rigid adherence to principles of faith. In general, she promotes life and liberty, asserting the value of mortal life, things of beauty, and freedom from oppressive regulation. Bast hates evil, particularly Apep and his followers, and people who worship Bast generally share that enmity.

Clergy and Temples
Bast ’s clerics, like most clerics of the Pharaonic deities, wear white robes and shave their heads if they are male. Clerics of Bast are charged to remain constantly vigilant against the forces of evil, as a cat watches for vermin invading the home. They often serve as the voice of the common people among the Pharaonic clergy, who are so often obsessed with royalty and the orderly function of government they they may forget those they serve. Most of Bast’s clerics are female.

Bast’s temples follow the general layout of most Pharaonic temples. Bast is also revered at countless small shrines and household altars. Due to her influence, cats hold a special revered place in Pharaonic culture, and mistreating a cat invites the wrath of Bast on the perpetrator.