zeek0
2015-12-19, 03:41 AM
More than 1,000 years ago the Old Gods, who had created the 4th world and destroyed more than one world in pursuit of Perfection, were defeated by both cadres of the Urudian Poet-Sorcerers. These mortals used the leftover powers of the Old Gods to become deities themselves, and made themselves known to the mortal races. And after some periods of turmoil, they became accepted as a new Pantheon.
Here is the pantheon I created for my homebrew setting, Skenth. I ask for general critique, but some pointed questions are at the end of the post.
Name
Gender
Suggested Domains
Alignment
Symbol
Hashoa
Male
Light, Knowledge
N
An illuminated tome
Kiera
Female
Knowledge, Trickery
CN
A keyhole and dagger
Gearne
Male/Female
Trickery, Nature
CN
The silhouette of a bluejay
Kravinon
Male
Nature/Tempest
CN
A chisel and granite stone
Phariel
Female
Tempest/War
N
A lightning wreathed spear
Pern
Male
War, Death
LN
A dark gauntlet
Sans
Naught
Death, Life
LN
A quill and shroud
Rhelia
Female
Life, Light
LN
A single radiant star
The gods of Skenth are not all-powerful beings. Most know that they were once mortal themselves. All deities have four divine powers: immortality, mutability of form, the power to grant cleric abilities, and access to their own demiplane. If killed, each of the gods has the ability to be reincarnated in their own personal demiplane - for the price of decreased influence on the world for a time. As such, they have gained a large amount of worldly experience and power over the many years of their existence. They are individuals of immense power, but are not lords or creators of the universe.
In order to expand influence, the gods present themselves to all humanoids of the world in various guises. It is for this reason that amongst the Gnomish courts Kiera is a gnome with a penchant for political intrigue, amongst the dwarves she is a sly dwarf merchant with deep pockets, and amongst the nomadic peoples of the Golden Plains she is a hidden panther.
The religions of Skarth are part organizations and part religious institutions. This is because the deities do not hold any kind of absolute power, but instead guide these organizations that further their philosophies.
The gods do not garner universal popularity amongst each race – half-orcs favor Pern while the elves favor Rhelia. Some cultures choose not to worship the gods at all. But they are all known to each of the cultures across the Material Plane.
The gods of Skenth are all considered to be ethically neutral. While some might be said to have tendencies, as with any mortal, they are not truly aligned to Good or Evil – this is left to celestials or fiends.
While the gods grant powers to those that devote themselves to their service, they are rarely seen on the Material Plane, and time between visitations by a god may be 10 years or more. Most of the time the gods travel and pursue their projects in the greater planes, both known and unknown.
Hashoa, the god of Light and Knowledge, concerns himself with the power that can be gained from knowledge. He travels the planes searching for powerful artifacts or studying strange phenomena. He seeks out the strange, the powerful, and the dangerous. To a large extent, Hashoa is an exemplar of the incessant need for humanoids to gain power in order to wrest control over their world. He is often depicted with a book in hand in the presence of great power – produced by himself or by others.
Athenaeums to Hashoa are places of research and discovery. Their purpose in society is for the gathering of knowledge about the universe, and the application of that knowledge. In the community, the Athenaeums act as schools for the young and old. They also provide a limited amount of magical services.
In relatively recent events, Hashoa learned during his experimentation that there existed a disease-weapon that had started to spread from the strangest and most dangerous places in the Astral Plane - places in the Astral Plane that even the gods fear to go. The purpose of the disease was to create a trail of magical energies that would both weaken the surrounding planes and provide a method for the strange creatures that live in the Astral Plane access to the Material Plane.
In order to combat this threat Hashoa travelled the planes. He consulted mystics on his findings. Then he vanished into the depths of the Astral Plane for decades. When he emerged he had learned much, enough to eliminate the threat. But by this time the forces had already reached and invaded the Material Plane, and the southern portion of Madneska had been destroyed. Hashoa and certain other deities were able to use his newfound knowledge to combat and destroy the threat, leaving overtaken city-states and nations in ruins. The ruins are still known to harbor both disease and remnants of the invading force, but Hashoa left this matter to the mortals on that continent.
Some of the knowledge he learned to defeat the invading force was added to the great Athenaeums. But it is whispered that he kept the larger portion of this knowledge to himself and that the knowledge he kept is too strange and powerful to be trusted to scholars.
A cleric of Hashoa values the search, whether this be for knowledge, power, or a boon for a people. They detest any destruction of collected knowledge, or weakness on the part of those that have great power at their fingertips.
Humanoids pray to Hashoa for true knowledge of the world. Whether it is to determine the solution to a scholarly pursuit or the faithfulness of a spouse, Hashoa is believed to be able to assist in the discovery of truth. Hashoa is also prayed to for inspiration to the solution of a problem.
Kiera, the goddess of Knowledge and Trickery, believes in the power of words and the keeping of a secret. Over ages she has seen how a death can spark conflict and a piece of paper can end it. Things such as peace, war, stature, and ideas are so fragile – and can be altered if one has the knowledge and the will. For Kiera, truth is mutable and individual belief has much greater power. She is reputed for a quick tongue and an eye for finding weaknesses. She is often depicted as a well-dressed courtier.
Kiera is usually known for her interactions amongst great courts. But Nina, an elderly halfling, tells that she encountered Kiera in her youth at an all-girls finishing school near the Whelm River. In the courtyard of the school grew eight pilas trees, a rare tree transplanted from Tarn. A pilas tree grows few leaves, and when the leaves mature and fall to the ground they are a beautiful golden green. At first the students gave them as gifts, but over the course of years they became a currency. Students exchanged the pilas leaves for favors both great and small - from imported Arinthian chocolates to the answers for an upcoming exam.
The way that Nina tells it, Kiera attended the school in disguise for a number of years - dealing in pilas leaves, favors, and secrets in equal measure. It is a testament to the complexity of the economy of pilas leaves that it took until the last semester before graduation for Kiera to come into a position of true power at the school. After graduation, she consecrated the grounds of the school and while the pilas trees were no more fruitful, those who became most influential in the pilas leaves economy were also rather successful after their years of education.
Shrines to Kiera are not places where services of worship are held. Instead, they are small buildings hosting a small depiction of the goddess. In the community, they act as central places of information distribution. Advertisements might be drawn up, notices are posted, and town criers tell the edicts of their lords.
An oddity among their kind, a cleric of Kiera rarely reveals their devotion to the world. They may masquerade as a cleric to a different god, a different caster, or even a martial fighter in order to throw others off balance. There is great care made on what effect an appearance brings. Only those closest to the cleric know their true devotion and purpose. Clerics to Kiera are called upon by their god to change the world, often through subtle and unseen ways.
Mortals come to a Shrine to trade information, to pray that secrets will be revealed to them, or that they will have success in matters of persuasion.
Gearne, the god/ess of Trickery and Nature, Gearne is defined by iers puckish grin and blithe attitude. Ey values the untimely and the obscene; he devalues the usual and the common. Sometimes ey uses tricks to punish those who do wrong, and sometimes to criticize the world - other times there seems to be no purpose but his own enjoyment. He enjoys sex, good wine, and raucous jokes. He is patron to jesters, gamblers, madmen, and fools. Gearne is known to enjoy the company of fey courts and the quiet business of the forest. Ey is sometimes depicted as an unclothed male satyr, a bluebird, or sometimes as a lithe female oni – but most know that ey is comfortable with no form for long.
The nomadic orcs of the Golden Plains tell that Gearne appeared in the guise of a Coyote. Ey saw that the frog people of the hills were holding all of the water, and used cunning dams and magical contrivances to use it all for themselves, so that the Great River was only a trickle when it reached the center of the Golden Plains. Seeing that it was not right that one people should have all of the water, Gearne travelled to the kingdom of the frog people. Ey spoke to the king of the frog people, who was known for his great greed, telling him that he had been fishing in his great lake created by the dams. Unfortunately, he had dropped his best fishing lures - a bag of great rubies - in the lake. But Gearne told the frog king that he had urgent business to attend to far away, and would reward the king if he might return the rubies if they happened to wash ashore. At this Gearne left.
In his greed, the frog king drained the great lake and destroyed his dams. He expended many slaves and much of his wealth searching for the great rubies, but never found them. Some say that there never were any rubies, but treasure hunters with a gleam in their eyes sometimes tell that is was a true story that Gearne told to the frog king. But that is how Gearne tricked the frog king into destroying his dams and gave water back to the people of the Great Plains.
Sanctuaries of Gearne are frequently located on the outskirts of cities or slightly removed from a crossroads. They act as hostels for travellers, as well as the marginalized and estranged. They also are centers for the exchange of novel ideas and philosophical discussion. In the community, these places act as places of refuge odd ideas and the obscene. Devotees pride themselves in their criticism, trickery, and strange (yet wild) celebrations. They also seek to reflect Gearne’s attitude of levity towards the world.
Festivities occasionally take place in Sanctuaries of Gearne, but are not annual events. They seem to only follow the dictates of whim and circumstance. They are most often elaborate Masquerades, where the illusory and the real are mysteriously intertwined. Clowns are a feature of these Masquerades, who alternately pull tricks on and entertain their audience.
A cleric of Gearne recognizes that the world is inherently absurd, and that it is the duty of the individual to call attention to it. They do not adhere to any strict doctrine, but they do honor their god by performing tricks on those who deserve it, or recognizing what is truly valuable in the midst of the common.
Humanoids pray to Gearne if they wish for change. They pray to Gearne when reality is too oppressive and only humor and absurdity can create levity. They pray to Gearne for safety in travel and the success of novel pursuits.
Kravinon, the god of Nature and the Tempest, concerns himself very little with the trappings of civilization. He interests himself in the beauty made from nature and the wild abandon of the hunt. He is known to call the forces of nature to his command in order to protect himself – or to protect nature unduly threatened by civilization. The other side to his dual nature is that of creator. He uses natural objects such as wood, earth, stone, and metal to create objects of functional beauty. He is often depicted as a wild man, an aproned artisan, or in the form of a savage direwolf.
It once came to pass that on a fall equinox Kravinon called for a grand exhibition of craft. Artisans and craftsman were to create all manner of items, and showcase them in the forest valley of Illindrau eight years hence. Those that showed particular skill would be rewarded with artisan tools appropriate to their craft made by Kravinon himself. In the years leading up to the exhibition, creators from across the Kraken’s Nest gathered. They used their skills to create expertly wrought swords, gardens and grand showcases of architecture. And on that day Kravinon saw all manner of beautiful crafts, and rewarded particularly inspired works with those special artisan tools. The exhibition then ended. But after those eight years of preparation for the event a small settlement had grown in the valley. That is why, at present day, artisans of all kinds take pilgrimages to the artisan town of Illindrau, nestled deep in the Dardrekr Mountains.
Communes to Kravinon, even in the largest cities, contain gardens or parks. However, most are somewhat secluded in the wilderness. They pride themselves in living off the land and the items that they create. In these communes are artisans and crafts of all types. In these communes the elderly teach the young their trades, and hunters can stop here between seasons.
Communes host seasonal celebrations at the solstices and equinoxes of each year. The greatest of these is at the winter solstice, when feelings of warmth and familial connections are encouraged in light of the darkest night of the year being complete. Handmade gifts are given during this time, many of which are made by devotees to Karvinon. The least celebration is at the summer solstice, when devotees are encouraged to cast away or destroy those things that are unnecessary to them in preparation for shorter days.
Clerics of Kravinon prefer to interact with the world in a direct fashion, and consider themselves to be protectors of the natural order. They value the honest creation of things, the respectful consumption of the natural world, and the casting away of destructive or unwanted things.
Humanoids pray to Kravinon prior to laying the foundation for a new home or throwing an urn on a wheel. Many druids venerate Kravinon and pray to him for the sanctity of the wilds. And workers of the land pray to Kravinon at the turn of the season for lighter winters and prosperous harvests.
Phariel, goddess of Tempest and War, smiles most upon open display of intent. Chivalry, valor, oaths, honor, honesty, just cause, greater good, zeal, vengeance, and revenge. These all drive the humanoid races to extremes of action. Phariel is considered lawful because she loves action with purpose and chaotic because she values little else. There is no greater purpose than one’s chosen ideal – no mortal laws, modes of custom, or matters of power stand above the pursuit. For Phariel, action is an inevitability – no more to blame or turn aside than an oncoming storm. She is often depicted in chain mail, with a shortspear in one hand and crackling lightning in the other.
The gnomes tell that many years ago there was a terrible criminal in the towns of Arinthia named Volnin. He was known to sneak into villages and cities at night, steal items from a residence, and then light the residence on fire as he left. He had been arrested and sentenced many times during his life, but always used his cunning and violence to escape. The gnomish justice system was strict, and did not allow for punishment to be meted out without the order of law, so Volnin continued to destroy homes, be captured, and escape. It remained in this way for a number of years, until Phariel came to know of the injustices done to the gnomes of Arinthia. She travelled to the island, and pursued the criminal. Against the wishes of the Arinthians, Phariel cornered Volnin in a cave in the mountains and killed him without the benefit of judge or jury. And so it was that Phariel protected Arinthia from a terrible arsonist and defied their ancient laws.
Confluences to Phariel act as community gathering places. The community gathers in these places in order to plan their future, commemorate past events, or a converse on chosen topics Those who visit a confluence are looking for direction and focus in their lives and hope that priests to Phariel will be able to provide them with guidance.
A cleric of Phariel believes firmly in a set of ideals, and seeks to enact those values upon the world. These ideals include justice, the greater good, earnestness of action, and order.
Humanoids pray to Phariel at any moment when they take a vow or promise. While Rhelia is thought to encourage lovers in their pursuits, it is at Confluences to Phariel that they are bound in marriage. Individuals pray to Phariel when they vow revenge, and knights frequently take their oaths in the presence of a priest of Phariel. Also, leaders of communities pray to Phariel when they wish for their community to reach greater heights or to grow in a special direction. They pray to her for stability, order, and the retention of values despite circumstance.
Pern, god of War and Death, believes that honest existence lies in the moment that action is taken – be this speaking out against tyranny or crushing a skull with a warhammer. He believes that forcible action and is the only way to truly cause change and express oneself in this universe. He appreciates that the difference between life and death as only a measure of contrasts, and that under some circumstances enemies must die. It is whispered that in rare circumstances he might raise his enemies in battle as undead so that they continue to fight - but for him. Curiously enough, Pern is not immortal. Instead, the individual that kills Pern on the field of battle becomes the next incarnation of the god of War and Death. Pern is most commonly depicted wearing plate mail, as a heavily armored soldier destroying the life of a foe.
Pern is known to appear on battlefields throughout the centuries, in order to turn the tide of battle. While his motives are rarely known, the battles that he appears in usually end in favor of the side for which he fights. The only exception to this was the Battle of Yormata Heights, the final battle of a bloody war between elven warlords that had lasted more than three centuries. Pern appeared on the battlefield and cleaved his way through combatants of both sides. When the battle was over both sides were massacred, and the ruling warlords of both clans were dead. Only Thormas, who later became a great monk known as Thormas the Enlightened and founded the Way of the Open Hand, survived to tell this tale.
Bastions to Pern are always heavily fortified buildings, seemingly built to withstand an army. They are places where the dead are interred into great crypts built below the bastion. While they may be buried as requested in a family portion of the crypt, all are buried in equal stature below the ground. Additionally, many battles have chaplains on either side of the conflict to guide the souls of the soldiers.
Clerics of Pern believe that one sure method of expressing oneself to the world - to protect it or to destroy it - is to destroy one’s enemies. They believe in the power of violence as a catalyst for change. This violence takes many forms - from a hammer blow to a firebolt to a rousing speech before a mob.
Humanoids pray to Pern to guide the souls of the dead to Dol and before conflict both great and small.
Sans, the deity of Death and Life, appreciates the journeys between birth and death. Ey enjoys the joys of living and knows this existence as it relates to its conclusion. Sans sees life as a story that is not yet to be told and death as the conclusion of that story. Sometimes death is tragedy, and sometimes life is comedy – but it is always a story. Ey is known to attend the births, rites of passage, and funerals of a variety of individuals - be they noblemen, priests, or commoners. Sans records certain events that take place in the world for the sake of enjoyment and posterity. Some say that ey pays special attention to prophecies, or perhaps creates them. Ey is often depicted as a darkly cloaked figure standing in the rain, or a sexless observant figure.
The second recorded story in any Haunt is a story about Sans. It tells how, before eirs existence as a deity, Sans lived at the center of a great civilization. The civilization had many things - a land to live on, families, and many materials to make their lives easier. But they did not hold any stories. They had songs about the moment and about ideas. They had rules that they wrote down, and knowledge that was passed on by oral tradition. But none of these things were told by means of story. In fact, the notion of a story was abhorred because it was akin to lies.
Sans became the first bard of that civilization. This came to pass when at the death of eirs brother Garilon, a great warrior, ey recited an epic at the funeral. It was the nature of those funerals that the deeds of the deceased were recited - but as a record, and as fact. Instead, the grief that Sans felt at his brother’s death drove eim to tell the tale of his brother’s life through extended metaphors and striking comparisons. Ey skipped over portions of his brother’s life that were factually important, and focused in on the progression of his brother from one moment in his life to the next. The epic was not even true because it took liberties with things like causation and the inner thoughts of his brother. It was a story; it was akin to lies.
And while this obscene act at his brother’s funeral was frowned upon, the story spread. It was told on moonlit nights to courtesans, between sailors as they played dice, and whispered among good friends. And such was the strength of Sans’ tale that it remained intact through the tellings. The story became well known, even if it was akin to lies. And by the end of the decade, there was not a child in the civilization that did not know the epic of Garilon - the first story that is recorded in any Haunt.
Haunts are great library-temples. They contain the stories written by the greatest bards, and the personal diaries of slaves. Where Bastions to Pern honor death, Haunts to Sans celebrate the life that preceded it. These places of devotion hold not only the literature written by Sans, but many others. They are the purveyors of story and the establishers of the heroic.
Clerics of Sans appreciate a good story, and they honor him not only by collecting stories, but by striving to make their own lives as worthy of the great tales as possible. As lovers of stories, they enjoy extended metaphors and elaborate conceits.
Humanoids pray to Sans upon the death of a loved one in order to assuage their grief and to honor the life of the living. He is called upon at funerals to guide proceedings, which start in a Haunt and end at a Bastion. He is also patron to adventurers and sailors.
Rhelia, the goddess of Life and Light, is enamored with the humanoid experience. She believes in the power of one to change the world through individual action and the power of the whole to subjugate the individual. She delights in those parts of experience that inspire people - including music, dance, and love. However, she also embraces the power of betrayal, fear, jealousy, and greed as parts of the humanoid experience that drive us. Rhelia travels the Material Plane searching to understand those parts of humanoid experience that drive us to depths, extremes, and heights. She is most often depicted as a glowing young maiden, but sometimes as a dark shadow wreathed in flame.
Rhelia is the deity that is most often seen in the Material Plane. One tale tells of when Rhelia fell in love with the lovely human maiden Laina. Laina was daughter and next in line to a great Madenskan king, and Laina ran away with Rhelia in order to avoid the matter with her family and people. During this time Rhelia brought Laina to see the wonders in the planes of existence, and they fell deeply in love with each other. However, when travelling to the Great Trillan Falls in Madenska, Laina heard news of her father’s death and felt overwhelmed with responsibility to her kingdom and its people. Fearing that she could not steel her resolve against Rhelia, she rushed home without telling her lover.
Never thinking that Laina would have gone home, Rhelia spent a time searching in the other planes before discovering that she was at her kingdom on Madenska. When Rhelia came to the kingdom after a year of searching, she found Laina ruling the kingdom, married to a nearby archduke, and carrying his child. At this moment Rhelia flew into a rage of jealousy, and used her powers to lay waste to the castle that Laina lived in, and all of the inhabitants. She only left a single survivor at the center of the burning ruins of Laina’s castle - Laina herself.
Amphitheaters to Rhelia are places of great beauty and the grotesque. By virtue of their architecture, they are filled with both great spiraling lights from overhead and dark corners rarely touched by light. They hold great artwork, and music is usually heard coming from their walls. The public goes to these Amphitheaters to hear great music or to see two of their friends joined in marriage. The manual workers at Amphitheaters are the deformed and abnormal.
Amphitheaters host the Festival of Lights, an event that combines raucous gambling, horrid showcases, sensual dances, and wondrous art exhibitions. In the community, these Amphitheaters are places where the mundane is transformed and recognized as the beautiful or the horrible.
Clerics of Rhelia seek to give their lives meaning by engaging themselves in situations that require them to love, laugh, cry, and despair. They believe that the best way to engage in life is through personal involvement, and that by using the powers given to them by Rhelia they can engage themselves in the wider world.
Humanoids pray to Rhelia when they seek another’s affections or wish passionate harm upon another. Musicians and other performers pray to Rhelia prior to an act so that she might guide their passions to improve their music. And a group of friends about to have a night on the town frequently start their evenings in Amphitheaters so that they might be inspired to drink deep, live well, and love passionately.
And now for my pointed questions:
1) Which deity would you not like making a cleric for? Why?
2) Which deity is the most boring? Most interesting? Why?
3) Does something not make much sense? Is something weird? Am I missing something?
Other feedback is, of course, welcome. Thanks y'all!
Here is the pantheon I created for my homebrew setting, Skenth. I ask for general critique, but some pointed questions are at the end of the post.
Name
Gender
Suggested Domains
Alignment
Symbol
Hashoa
Male
Light, Knowledge
N
An illuminated tome
Kiera
Female
Knowledge, Trickery
CN
A keyhole and dagger
Gearne
Male/Female
Trickery, Nature
CN
The silhouette of a bluejay
Kravinon
Male
Nature/Tempest
CN
A chisel and granite stone
Phariel
Female
Tempest/War
N
A lightning wreathed spear
Pern
Male
War, Death
LN
A dark gauntlet
Sans
Naught
Death, Life
LN
A quill and shroud
Rhelia
Female
Life, Light
LN
A single radiant star
The gods of Skenth are not all-powerful beings. Most know that they were once mortal themselves. All deities have four divine powers: immortality, mutability of form, the power to grant cleric abilities, and access to their own demiplane. If killed, each of the gods has the ability to be reincarnated in their own personal demiplane - for the price of decreased influence on the world for a time. As such, they have gained a large amount of worldly experience and power over the many years of their existence. They are individuals of immense power, but are not lords or creators of the universe.
In order to expand influence, the gods present themselves to all humanoids of the world in various guises. It is for this reason that amongst the Gnomish courts Kiera is a gnome with a penchant for political intrigue, amongst the dwarves she is a sly dwarf merchant with deep pockets, and amongst the nomadic peoples of the Golden Plains she is a hidden panther.
The religions of Skarth are part organizations and part religious institutions. This is because the deities do not hold any kind of absolute power, but instead guide these organizations that further their philosophies.
The gods do not garner universal popularity amongst each race – half-orcs favor Pern while the elves favor Rhelia. Some cultures choose not to worship the gods at all. But they are all known to each of the cultures across the Material Plane.
The gods of Skenth are all considered to be ethically neutral. While some might be said to have tendencies, as with any mortal, they are not truly aligned to Good or Evil – this is left to celestials or fiends.
While the gods grant powers to those that devote themselves to their service, they are rarely seen on the Material Plane, and time between visitations by a god may be 10 years or more. Most of the time the gods travel and pursue their projects in the greater planes, both known and unknown.
Hashoa, the god of Light and Knowledge, concerns himself with the power that can be gained from knowledge. He travels the planes searching for powerful artifacts or studying strange phenomena. He seeks out the strange, the powerful, and the dangerous. To a large extent, Hashoa is an exemplar of the incessant need for humanoids to gain power in order to wrest control over their world. He is often depicted with a book in hand in the presence of great power – produced by himself or by others.
Athenaeums to Hashoa are places of research and discovery. Their purpose in society is for the gathering of knowledge about the universe, and the application of that knowledge. In the community, the Athenaeums act as schools for the young and old. They also provide a limited amount of magical services.
In relatively recent events, Hashoa learned during his experimentation that there existed a disease-weapon that had started to spread from the strangest and most dangerous places in the Astral Plane - places in the Astral Plane that even the gods fear to go. The purpose of the disease was to create a trail of magical energies that would both weaken the surrounding planes and provide a method for the strange creatures that live in the Astral Plane access to the Material Plane.
In order to combat this threat Hashoa travelled the planes. He consulted mystics on his findings. Then he vanished into the depths of the Astral Plane for decades. When he emerged he had learned much, enough to eliminate the threat. But by this time the forces had already reached and invaded the Material Plane, and the southern portion of Madneska had been destroyed. Hashoa and certain other deities were able to use his newfound knowledge to combat and destroy the threat, leaving overtaken city-states and nations in ruins. The ruins are still known to harbor both disease and remnants of the invading force, but Hashoa left this matter to the mortals on that continent.
Some of the knowledge he learned to defeat the invading force was added to the great Athenaeums. But it is whispered that he kept the larger portion of this knowledge to himself and that the knowledge he kept is too strange and powerful to be trusted to scholars.
A cleric of Hashoa values the search, whether this be for knowledge, power, or a boon for a people. They detest any destruction of collected knowledge, or weakness on the part of those that have great power at their fingertips.
Humanoids pray to Hashoa for true knowledge of the world. Whether it is to determine the solution to a scholarly pursuit or the faithfulness of a spouse, Hashoa is believed to be able to assist in the discovery of truth. Hashoa is also prayed to for inspiration to the solution of a problem.
Kiera, the goddess of Knowledge and Trickery, believes in the power of words and the keeping of a secret. Over ages she has seen how a death can spark conflict and a piece of paper can end it. Things such as peace, war, stature, and ideas are so fragile – and can be altered if one has the knowledge and the will. For Kiera, truth is mutable and individual belief has much greater power. She is reputed for a quick tongue and an eye for finding weaknesses. She is often depicted as a well-dressed courtier.
Kiera is usually known for her interactions amongst great courts. But Nina, an elderly halfling, tells that she encountered Kiera in her youth at an all-girls finishing school near the Whelm River. In the courtyard of the school grew eight pilas trees, a rare tree transplanted from Tarn. A pilas tree grows few leaves, and when the leaves mature and fall to the ground they are a beautiful golden green. At first the students gave them as gifts, but over the course of years they became a currency. Students exchanged the pilas leaves for favors both great and small - from imported Arinthian chocolates to the answers for an upcoming exam.
The way that Nina tells it, Kiera attended the school in disguise for a number of years - dealing in pilas leaves, favors, and secrets in equal measure. It is a testament to the complexity of the economy of pilas leaves that it took until the last semester before graduation for Kiera to come into a position of true power at the school. After graduation, she consecrated the grounds of the school and while the pilas trees were no more fruitful, those who became most influential in the pilas leaves economy were also rather successful after their years of education.
Shrines to Kiera are not places where services of worship are held. Instead, they are small buildings hosting a small depiction of the goddess. In the community, they act as central places of information distribution. Advertisements might be drawn up, notices are posted, and town criers tell the edicts of their lords.
An oddity among their kind, a cleric of Kiera rarely reveals their devotion to the world. They may masquerade as a cleric to a different god, a different caster, or even a martial fighter in order to throw others off balance. There is great care made on what effect an appearance brings. Only those closest to the cleric know their true devotion and purpose. Clerics to Kiera are called upon by their god to change the world, often through subtle and unseen ways.
Mortals come to a Shrine to trade information, to pray that secrets will be revealed to them, or that they will have success in matters of persuasion.
Gearne, the god/ess of Trickery and Nature, Gearne is defined by iers puckish grin and blithe attitude. Ey values the untimely and the obscene; he devalues the usual and the common. Sometimes ey uses tricks to punish those who do wrong, and sometimes to criticize the world - other times there seems to be no purpose but his own enjoyment. He enjoys sex, good wine, and raucous jokes. He is patron to jesters, gamblers, madmen, and fools. Gearne is known to enjoy the company of fey courts and the quiet business of the forest. Ey is sometimes depicted as an unclothed male satyr, a bluebird, or sometimes as a lithe female oni – but most know that ey is comfortable with no form for long.
The nomadic orcs of the Golden Plains tell that Gearne appeared in the guise of a Coyote. Ey saw that the frog people of the hills were holding all of the water, and used cunning dams and magical contrivances to use it all for themselves, so that the Great River was only a trickle when it reached the center of the Golden Plains. Seeing that it was not right that one people should have all of the water, Gearne travelled to the kingdom of the frog people. Ey spoke to the king of the frog people, who was known for his great greed, telling him that he had been fishing in his great lake created by the dams. Unfortunately, he had dropped his best fishing lures - a bag of great rubies - in the lake. But Gearne told the frog king that he had urgent business to attend to far away, and would reward the king if he might return the rubies if they happened to wash ashore. At this Gearne left.
In his greed, the frog king drained the great lake and destroyed his dams. He expended many slaves and much of his wealth searching for the great rubies, but never found them. Some say that there never were any rubies, but treasure hunters with a gleam in their eyes sometimes tell that is was a true story that Gearne told to the frog king. But that is how Gearne tricked the frog king into destroying his dams and gave water back to the people of the Great Plains.
Sanctuaries of Gearne are frequently located on the outskirts of cities or slightly removed from a crossroads. They act as hostels for travellers, as well as the marginalized and estranged. They also are centers for the exchange of novel ideas and philosophical discussion. In the community, these places act as places of refuge odd ideas and the obscene. Devotees pride themselves in their criticism, trickery, and strange (yet wild) celebrations. They also seek to reflect Gearne’s attitude of levity towards the world.
Festivities occasionally take place in Sanctuaries of Gearne, but are not annual events. They seem to only follow the dictates of whim and circumstance. They are most often elaborate Masquerades, where the illusory and the real are mysteriously intertwined. Clowns are a feature of these Masquerades, who alternately pull tricks on and entertain their audience.
A cleric of Gearne recognizes that the world is inherently absurd, and that it is the duty of the individual to call attention to it. They do not adhere to any strict doctrine, but they do honor their god by performing tricks on those who deserve it, or recognizing what is truly valuable in the midst of the common.
Humanoids pray to Gearne if they wish for change. They pray to Gearne when reality is too oppressive and only humor and absurdity can create levity. They pray to Gearne for safety in travel and the success of novel pursuits.
Kravinon, the god of Nature and the Tempest, concerns himself very little with the trappings of civilization. He interests himself in the beauty made from nature and the wild abandon of the hunt. He is known to call the forces of nature to his command in order to protect himself – or to protect nature unduly threatened by civilization. The other side to his dual nature is that of creator. He uses natural objects such as wood, earth, stone, and metal to create objects of functional beauty. He is often depicted as a wild man, an aproned artisan, or in the form of a savage direwolf.
It once came to pass that on a fall equinox Kravinon called for a grand exhibition of craft. Artisans and craftsman were to create all manner of items, and showcase them in the forest valley of Illindrau eight years hence. Those that showed particular skill would be rewarded with artisan tools appropriate to their craft made by Kravinon himself. In the years leading up to the exhibition, creators from across the Kraken’s Nest gathered. They used their skills to create expertly wrought swords, gardens and grand showcases of architecture. And on that day Kravinon saw all manner of beautiful crafts, and rewarded particularly inspired works with those special artisan tools. The exhibition then ended. But after those eight years of preparation for the event a small settlement had grown in the valley. That is why, at present day, artisans of all kinds take pilgrimages to the artisan town of Illindrau, nestled deep in the Dardrekr Mountains.
Communes to Kravinon, even in the largest cities, contain gardens or parks. However, most are somewhat secluded in the wilderness. They pride themselves in living off the land and the items that they create. In these communes are artisans and crafts of all types. In these communes the elderly teach the young their trades, and hunters can stop here between seasons.
Communes host seasonal celebrations at the solstices and equinoxes of each year. The greatest of these is at the winter solstice, when feelings of warmth and familial connections are encouraged in light of the darkest night of the year being complete. Handmade gifts are given during this time, many of which are made by devotees to Karvinon. The least celebration is at the summer solstice, when devotees are encouraged to cast away or destroy those things that are unnecessary to them in preparation for shorter days.
Clerics of Kravinon prefer to interact with the world in a direct fashion, and consider themselves to be protectors of the natural order. They value the honest creation of things, the respectful consumption of the natural world, and the casting away of destructive or unwanted things.
Humanoids pray to Kravinon prior to laying the foundation for a new home or throwing an urn on a wheel. Many druids venerate Kravinon and pray to him for the sanctity of the wilds. And workers of the land pray to Kravinon at the turn of the season for lighter winters and prosperous harvests.
Phariel, goddess of Tempest and War, smiles most upon open display of intent. Chivalry, valor, oaths, honor, honesty, just cause, greater good, zeal, vengeance, and revenge. These all drive the humanoid races to extremes of action. Phariel is considered lawful because she loves action with purpose and chaotic because she values little else. There is no greater purpose than one’s chosen ideal – no mortal laws, modes of custom, or matters of power stand above the pursuit. For Phariel, action is an inevitability – no more to blame or turn aside than an oncoming storm. She is often depicted in chain mail, with a shortspear in one hand and crackling lightning in the other.
The gnomes tell that many years ago there was a terrible criminal in the towns of Arinthia named Volnin. He was known to sneak into villages and cities at night, steal items from a residence, and then light the residence on fire as he left. He had been arrested and sentenced many times during his life, but always used his cunning and violence to escape. The gnomish justice system was strict, and did not allow for punishment to be meted out without the order of law, so Volnin continued to destroy homes, be captured, and escape. It remained in this way for a number of years, until Phariel came to know of the injustices done to the gnomes of Arinthia. She travelled to the island, and pursued the criminal. Against the wishes of the Arinthians, Phariel cornered Volnin in a cave in the mountains and killed him without the benefit of judge or jury. And so it was that Phariel protected Arinthia from a terrible arsonist and defied their ancient laws.
Confluences to Phariel act as community gathering places. The community gathers in these places in order to plan their future, commemorate past events, or a converse on chosen topics Those who visit a confluence are looking for direction and focus in their lives and hope that priests to Phariel will be able to provide them with guidance.
A cleric of Phariel believes firmly in a set of ideals, and seeks to enact those values upon the world. These ideals include justice, the greater good, earnestness of action, and order.
Humanoids pray to Phariel at any moment when they take a vow or promise. While Rhelia is thought to encourage lovers in their pursuits, it is at Confluences to Phariel that they are bound in marriage. Individuals pray to Phariel when they vow revenge, and knights frequently take their oaths in the presence of a priest of Phariel. Also, leaders of communities pray to Phariel when they wish for their community to reach greater heights or to grow in a special direction. They pray to her for stability, order, and the retention of values despite circumstance.
Pern, god of War and Death, believes that honest existence lies in the moment that action is taken – be this speaking out against tyranny or crushing a skull with a warhammer. He believes that forcible action and is the only way to truly cause change and express oneself in this universe. He appreciates that the difference between life and death as only a measure of contrasts, and that under some circumstances enemies must die. It is whispered that in rare circumstances he might raise his enemies in battle as undead so that they continue to fight - but for him. Curiously enough, Pern is not immortal. Instead, the individual that kills Pern on the field of battle becomes the next incarnation of the god of War and Death. Pern is most commonly depicted wearing plate mail, as a heavily armored soldier destroying the life of a foe.
Pern is known to appear on battlefields throughout the centuries, in order to turn the tide of battle. While his motives are rarely known, the battles that he appears in usually end in favor of the side for which he fights. The only exception to this was the Battle of Yormata Heights, the final battle of a bloody war between elven warlords that had lasted more than three centuries. Pern appeared on the battlefield and cleaved his way through combatants of both sides. When the battle was over both sides were massacred, and the ruling warlords of both clans were dead. Only Thormas, who later became a great monk known as Thormas the Enlightened and founded the Way of the Open Hand, survived to tell this tale.
Bastions to Pern are always heavily fortified buildings, seemingly built to withstand an army. They are places where the dead are interred into great crypts built below the bastion. While they may be buried as requested in a family portion of the crypt, all are buried in equal stature below the ground. Additionally, many battles have chaplains on either side of the conflict to guide the souls of the soldiers.
Clerics of Pern believe that one sure method of expressing oneself to the world - to protect it or to destroy it - is to destroy one’s enemies. They believe in the power of violence as a catalyst for change. This violence takes many forms - from a hammer blow to a firebolt to a rousing speech before a mob.
Humanoids pray to Pern to guide the souls of the dead to Dol and before conflict both great and small.
Sans, the deity of Death and Life, appreciates the journeys between birth and death. Ey enjoys the joys of living and knows this existence as it relates to its conclusion. Sans sees life as a story that is not yet to be told and death as the conclusion of that story. Sometimes death is tragedy, and sometimes life is comedy – but it is always a story. Ey is known to attend the births, rites of passage, and funerals of a variety of individuals - be they noblemen, priests, or commoners. Sans records certain events that take place in the world for the sake of enjoyment and posterity. Some say that ey pays special attention to prophecies, or perhaps creates them. Ey is often depicted as a darkly cloaked figure standing in the rain, or a sexless observant figure.
The second recorded story in any Haunt is a story about Sans. It tells how, before eirs existence as a deity, Sans lived at the center of a great civilization. The civilization had many things - a land to live on, families, and many materials to make their lives easier. But they did not hold any stories. They had songs about the moment and about ideas. They had rules that they wrote down, and knowledge that was passed on by oral tradition. But none of these things were told by means of story. In fact, the notion of a story was abhorred because it was akin to lies.
Sans became the first bard of that civilization. This came to pass when at the death of eirs brother Garilon, a great warrior, ey recited an epic at the funeral. It was the nature of those funerals that the deeds of the deceased were recited - but as a record, and as fact. Instead, the grief that Sans felt at his brother’s death drove eim to tell the tale of his brother’s life through extended metaphors and striking comparisons. Ey skipped over portions of his brother’s life that were factually important, and focused in on the progression of his brother from one moment in his life to the next. The epic was not even true because it took liberties with things like causation and the inner thoughts of his brother. It was a story; it was akin to lies.
And while this obscene act at his brother’s funeral was frowned upon, the story spread. It was told on moonlit nights to courtesans, between sailors as they played dice, and whispered among good friends. And such was the strength of Sans’ tale that it remained intact through the tellings. The story became well known, even if it was akin to lies. And by the end of the decade, there was not a child in the civilization that did not know the epic of Garilon - the first story that is recorded in any Haunt.
Haunts are great library-temples. They contain the stories written by the greatest bards, and the personal diaries of slaves. Where Bastions to Pern honor death, Haunts to Sans celebrate the life that preceded it. These places of devotion hold not only the literature written by Sans, but many others. They are the purveyors of story and the establishers of the heroic.
Clerics of Sans appreciate a good story, and they honor him not only by collecting stories, but by striving to make their own lives as worthy of the great tales as possible. As lovers of stories, they enjoy extended metaphors and elaborate conceits.
Humanoids pray to Sans upon the death of a loved one in order to assuage their grief and to honor the life of the living. He is called upon at funerals to guide proceedings, which start in a Haunt and end at a Bastion. He is also patron to adventurers and sailors.
Rhelia, the goddess of Life and Light, is enamored with the humanoid experience. She believes in the power of one to change the world through individual action and the power of the whole to subjugate the individual. She delights in those parts of experience that inspire people - including music, dance, and love. However, she also embraces the power of betrayal, fear, jealousy, and greed as parts of the humanoid experience that drive us. Rhelia travels the Material Plane searching to understand those parts of humanoid experience that drive us to depths, extremes, and heights. She is most often depicted as a glowing young maiden, but sometimes as a dark shadow wreathed in flame.
Rhelia is the deity that is most often seen in the Material Plane. One tale tells of when Rhelia fell in love with the lovely human maiden Laina. Laina was daughter and next in line to a great Madenskan king, and Laina ran away with Rhelia in order to avoid the matter with her family and people. During this time Rhelia brought Laina to see the wonders in the planes of existence, and they fell deeply in love with each other. However, when travelling to the Great Trillan Falls in Madenska, Laina heard news of her father’s death and felt overwhelmed with responsibility to her kingdom and its people. Fearing that she could not steel her resolve against Rhelia, she rushed home without telling her lover.
Never thinking that Laina would have gone home, Rhelia spent a time searching in the other planes before discovering that she was at her kingdom on Madenska. When Rhelia came to the kingdom after a year of searching, she found Laina ruling the kingdom, married to a nearby archduke, and carrying his child. At this moment Rhelia flew into a rage of jealousy, and used her powers to lay waste to the castle that Laina lived in, and all of the inhabitants. She only left a single survivor at the center of the burning ruins of Laina’s castle - Laina herself.
Amphitheaters to Rhelia are places of great beauty and the grotesque. By virtue of their architecture, they are filled with both great spiraling lights from overhead and dark corners rarely touched by light. They hold great artwork, and music is usually heard coming from their walls. The public goes to these Amphitheaters to hear great music or to see two of their friends joined in marriage. The manual workers at Amphitheaters are the deformed and abnormal.
Amphitheaters host the Festival of Lights, an event that combines raucous gambling, horrid showcases, sensual dances, and wondrous art exhibitions. In the community, these Amphitheaters are places where the mundane is transformed and recognized as the beautiful or the horrible.
Clerics of Rhelia seek to give their lives meaning by engaging themselves in situations that require them to love, laugh, cry, and despair. They believe that the best way to engage in life is through personal involvement, and that by using the powers given to them by Rhelia they can engage themselves in the wider world.
Humanoids pray to Rhelia when they seek another’s affections or wish passionate harm upon another. Musicians and other performers pray to Rhelia prior to an act so that she might guide their passions to improve their music. And a group of friends about to have a night on the town frequently start their evenings in Amphitheaters so that they might be inspired to drink deep, live well, and love passionately.
And now for my pointed questions:
1) Which deity would you not like making a cleric for? Why?
2) Which deity is the most boring? Most interesting? Why?
3) Does something not make much sense? Is something weird? Am I missing something?
Other feedback is, of course, welcome. Thanks y'all!