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.
Priests of Finagle tend to be strange people, and it has been noticed that they tend to mix outragously good, and bad, luck, that never quite makes their life perfect, or kills them. It is not clear why someone would want to become a priest of Finagle, in the first place, but some people have very strange senses of humour, and can be fascinated by the perverse. Some priests claim that worship of Finagle is about being ready for the strange situations that life puts people in, and not believing that there is anything quite certain. They claim that they aim to help people. Some even hand-out free food and healing. Others are almost certainly in it for the darkly humourous laughs. It is said that a few did not set out to worship Finagle, but, somehow, ended up doing it.
Being a priest of Finagle means that you know for certain that the statement, "Things cannot get any worse than this!", is false, but you also know that, "We're Doomed!", and, "There's No Hope!", are almost certainly wrong as well. You know there is going to be trouble when the High Priest of Finagle is grinning. Or, if he starts whistling and looking innocent. Some people think that just being around such a priest is almost certain trouble.
It is claimed that priests of Finagle have the advantage of being better able to avoid the extreme perversity of life, but evidence shows that things seem to get more "interesting" around them. Strangely enough, very few seem to go insane, or if they do, no one notices. Of course, most people consider such priests to be insane in the first place!
No guarantees are made about the effect of introducing this god into your campaign on your sanity! Or, the effect on anyone else's, either!
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.
(c) Rory O. McLean, 1980 - Dec. 2004
Permission granted to use for non-profit making purposes