The world is yours for the taking, if you have the courage and creativity to accomplish the feat.
Bakharos is the god of ambition and cunning, of creative drive and yearning, of joy and pleasure and accomplishment. They are the patron of those who seek to accomplish great deeds, build fortunes, make art, and love one another. They are the voice whispering in your mind “Do it, just to prove that you can.” They are the hand on your shoulder, joyfully celebrating in your achievements, and comforting you when your dreams are broken. They are the purpose that drives you, and the joy you take in living.
The Laughing God teaches that a life well-lived is one where you strive for things, rather than doing what you’ve always done or accepting how things are. They believe that there is worth in the attempt, regardless of success, and that joy can be taken in living your life to the fullest regardless of how you choose to do so — though they also teach that you should try to understand the consequences of your actions before attempting a great feat, for not all accomplishments are without cost to yourself or those around you.
The Bakharan virtues are these: live passionately, strive courageously, and overcome the obstacles you face creatively. They are simple to say, but require dedication and devotion to embody fully. A true follower of Bakharos is one who knows what they want, believes in that cause whole-heartedly, is never afraid to pursue their goals, and always finds a way to achieve them, no matter how creative they have to get to do so.
To achieve great things requires great emotion. Let your heart burn with passion, and let that fire drive you on towards greatness. Do not hold back when you feel strongly about something. Even if it isn’t possible to pursue something in the moment, learn from those passions, taking note so that you might better know yourself and what your true goals are. Never let the fire of your passion die completely; find ways to stoke it, remind yourself of why you are pursuing your goals, so that you do not falter before you succeed.
To achieve great things, you must be brave enough to continue striding forward, even in uncertainty. Cowards flinch when faced with the chance of failure; you must accept the possibility that you may not succeed if you wish to accomplish something truly worthwhile, and stride forwards despite the fear. Courage is not the same as foolishness, however — it is important to assess the risks and take the best course you can. The critical part, in the Bakharan faith, is that you make your assessment, choose the best path, and then take your shot no matter how afraid you are, secure in the knowledge that you are still trying.
Whatever your goals, if you wish to accomplish your ambition you must be able to find solutions to problems that others would find insurmountable. You must be able to see what does not exist, and then find ways to bring it into reality as you envision it. Creativity is a core tenet of the Bakharan faith; the Bakharan faithful view creative insights as a gift from their deity, a gentle nudge or spark of imagination leading to a cascade of insight and ideas that will guide them forwards on the path to greatness.
The sins of the Bakharan faith are thus: to believe that you do not need to strive towards something, to believe that you are not capable of accomplishing your ambitions, and to fail to think about the consequences of working towards your goals. Apathy, mediocrity, myopia; these are what Bakharos will not tolerate in their followers. Never cease your striving, never give up or accept that you cannot do something or become something. At the same time, do not rush into something without understanding the steps you must take to achieve it and what you must not do if you wish to succeed.
To accept the way things are is anathema to Bakharos. Never give up on your ambitions, never accept that the world and your station within it cannot be changed. The followers of Bakharos hold deeply in their hearts that it is not only possible to accomplish great things but their responsibility to do so to bring about a greater future; apathy is a poison to them, and must be rooted out whenever and wherever it is found.
To fail because of weakness or not being good enough is not a sin; the true failure is to not attempt to become better. The Bakharan faithful scorn any kind of acceptance of mediocrity. Those who believe that they will never be more capable than they are right now, that their greatest days are behind them, earn a tongue-lashing from Bakharan Mystics when they are overheard speaking such things. So long as you are learning, practicing, working towards your ambitions, you can still become more than you are right now. Accepting that your limitations will forever prevent you from achieving your goals is anathema to devoted Bakharans, and they will do their utmost to show someone all of the ways that they can improve, and help them train and continue to work towards achieving their aim.
To act without thinking of the consequences, and thus let those consequences stymie your ambitions, is to end your journey before it even begins. If you would pursue something, spend the time to think through the ways in which the world will react to your striving, and to your success or failure. Find the path to your ambition that will not leave your success a hollow one, to collapse soon after you achieve it. Study, and learn, and understand the thing that you wish to accomplish, so that you know what you must do and what missteps you must avoid to reach that goal. Understand the world around you and the factors that will influence your path forward, so that when the trail inevitably shifts due to unforeseen events you might still be able to find the path forwards once more.
Lumia, the Rose, patron Saint of Love and Revelry, who seeks to bring people together in joy and passion, blessing those who treasure their connections with others and who seek to live fully in the present.
Kavahn, the Sly, patron Saint of Rogues and Assassins, whose blessings and tricks help his followers steal lives and fortunes alike.
O-Del, the Shaper, patron Saint of Craft and Construction, whose gifts of focus and dedication help craftsfolk and laborers create works both wondrous and mundane.
Eravae, the Muse, patron Saint of Art and Performance, who inspires creativity and passion in those who seek to create artistic masterworks, whatever their chosen medium.
Tekatli, the Gilded, patron Saint of Trade and Merchants, who rejoices in the exchange of coin, goods, and services, and who constantly works to foster prosperity throughout the mortal world.
Most of the artistic depictions of Bakharos are of a smiling ethereal spirit, always behind the shoulders of one of their followers, whispering words of encouragement and inspiration into their ear. The exact nature of their spirit-depiction varies widely, but they are always denoted as being Bakharos by the silver crown studded with black onyx cabochons that they wear.
When Bakharos is depicted as a mortal rather than a spirit, they appear as a smiling androgynous human, their expression ranging from a determined smirk to a delighted grin to a gentle smile of reassurance, with the details of their face (except for their smile) always cast in shadow and hard to make out. Their clothing varies tremendously, but black and silver are the dominant colors in their accoutrements, and their garb is always of very fine quality and in the most modern fashion of the time. Their crown is usually depicted somewhere on their person, either as a broach or icon or hanging from a finger or belt loop, but never on their head — Bakharos does not seek to rule the mortal world, only to encourage mortals to rise up and pursue their passions and ambitions.
Think of a friend or relative who loves to live vicariously through you and the other people around them. The kind of person who will sit enraptured as you tell them stories about the last year or decade of your life, asking questions like “so then what did you do?” or “so did it work?” or “what are you going to do now?” The kind of person who knows just what to say to sympathize with you when you tell them something bad happened, or encourage you to take the first step of doing something that you’re nervous about starting. The kind of person who is your biggest fan, just because you’re you and they believe in what you can do if you give it your all.
That is Bakharos, in a nutshell.
While they are fairly distant in their dealings with mortals due to the constraints on projecting their divine presence in the mortal world, Bakharos is very fond of their followers, and likes to encourage them in small and subtle ways. Their most favored method of communication is via dream visions, though such visitations are inherently unreliable given how few mortals can reliably remember their dreams. Many Bakharan faithful (both Mystics and layfolk) place considerable importance on any scraps of dream that someone might be able to recall, and the most gifted are able to tease divine meaning out of even the most fragmented of dream visions that have been granted by Bakharos.
Bakharos’ goals are very focused on their followers and the mortals of the Continent as a whole. They don’t have a vision of a perfect nation they wish to create, or an end state that they wish for the Continent to reach — all they want is for mortals to keep living fulfilling lives, and to not let anything hold them back from pursuing that fulfillment. They will work to further the ambitions of particularly favored followers, but since such things often clash with the desires of other followers, they tend to take a hands-off approach to meddling in the world outside of granting power to their Mystics and offering the gift of courage or creativity to those who pray for it.