The God Finagle

I was reading some of my archives of this list, and I noticed the
reference to an asteroid of this name. You might like to know
that there is a god called Finagle, who has been used in UK
roleplaying since the late 1970s. In general, it's a god you
want to steer clear of... Unfortunately, that can attract his
attention...

I found it interesting that this was an asteroid, and wondered if
this was a nod to science fiction author Larry Niven's 'Belter'
culture, which is believed to be the origin of the god.

This is a reasonably recent write-up of him:


The God Finagle - ROM, 30/Nov/04

Finagle is also called Murphy, Sodd (Sod), Cooke, and many other
names, and tends to be more cursed than worshipped, but seeing as
he is the God of Perversity (not Perversion, more the perversity
of reality), that is good enough!

Finagle is usually represented as a stocky Irishman, of generally
varying appearance, though he is often seen wearing bright yellow
winged wellington boots, and with a pig under one arm (tail to
the front). He is noted for doing things that most gods don't,
like hanging around in bars frequented by adventurers, drinking
Guinness (one of his holy drinks). It is claimed that the Pink
Panther (see cartoon character) is the sacred beast of Finagle,
but there seems little evidence to back this up.

((If you want to know more about Finagle's Pig, which is
generally smarter than most adventurers, ask me! ))

In the universe of Tim Deacon's "Gods" campaign, the strangely
humourous paladinic horse (of the paladin of Krishna, Damien
Hellbane), "Trickster", is alleged to have become Finagle, just
as almost all the other gods were made from adventurers, or their
companions. This is a circumstance unique to this universe, and
may be the reason that the term "Horse Laugh" can cause people
native to this universe to look worried.

Other things holy to Finagle are the drink Heiniken (there were a
long series of perverse UK adverts for this, frequently involving
the "refreshing of pirates (i.e. parts) other drinks don't
reach"), and the sort of holy fool who can walk through totally
deadly situations and survive without a scratch. Then there is at
least one Welly Tree, on which grow strangely perverse magical
wellington boots, the least of which just leave smoking foot-
prints (Smoking Wellies) - for details of this see John Dallman,
and possibly John Drake.

No guarantees are made about the effect of introducing this god
into your campaign on your sanity!

Note: "Finagle's Law" exists in real life ("Anything that can go
wrong, will", and, "The perversity of the universe tends towards
a maximum"), and the science fiction author Larry Niven mentioned
him in some of his Known Space books, along with his prophet,
Murphy.

--
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/