My campaign setting in the works, need input as I go. For now, heres the deities
Looking for input on the following pantheon (note, the first two have a lot more info on them, as I have been doing them in alphabetical order, with these two being the only ones I have been able to completely finish writing the stuff down for. Domains in parenthesis are non core, found in spell compendium)
[spoiler]Aiagob[spoiler]Alignment: Neutral
Power: Intermediate
Portfolio: Orcs, agriculture, community
Domains: Plant, Animal, Protection (Orc, Community)
Favored Weapon: Scythe
Appearance: Aiagob appears as an kindly old orcish woman. She wears the garb of a farmer, and
carries a scythe, around which grows a single green vine.
Teachings: Aiagob is a gentler deity than Ukogob, the other orc deity. While he is bloodthirsty and
impulsive, she is more contemplative and compassionate. She cares for the well being of the community, but
can be a bit isolationist at times. She is also the primary deity of farming and livestock, and as such teaches
the proper way to tend the soil so that it may produce more food and better support the livestock, not only
for the current year but for the future as well.
Followers: Most of Aiagobâ,¬,,¢s worshippers are those in the field of agriculture. Orcs who have rejected
the fierce brutality of Ukugob also make up a large portion of her followers.
Places of Worship: Large temple to Aiagob are virtually nonexistent, as a formal templeâ,¬,,¢s construction
drains a communities resources that could better be used elsewhere. Instead, farmers will often have a small
shrine to her in the center of their fields. A town in which a large segment of the population worships
Aiagob may have a central house of worship, little more than a converted dwelling where the faithful
members of the community come for meetings and ceremonies.[/spoiler]
Antheral[spoiler]Alignment: Neutral
Power: Intermediate
Portfolio: Death, afterlife, fate
Domains: Protection, Knowledge, Travel, Healing (Renewal, Glory, Fate)
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Appearance: Antheral appears as a ghostly pale skinned woman of indeterminate age and race,
wearing a thick blue-gray cloak. She levitates slightly such that her bear feet do not touch the ground.
Teachings: Antheral teaches that deaths is a necessary part of life, and that all things must die in the
end. Because of this, she and her clerics are sworn enemies to those who would unnaturally extend their
lives, such as liches, and unholy mockeries of life, such as zombies and wraiths. She feels pity, however, on
those souls unable to reach the afterlife, such as ghosts. Antheral generally does not have a problem with
the use of spells like raise dead or reincarnation, those who have dies by the means allowed resurrection
by those spells went before their time, and thus are allowed the chance to live their lives once more.
Antheral is said to lead the souls of the dead to their deities after they have passed. Antheralâ,¬,,¢s Clerics
always Turn or Destroy undead and spontaneously cast cure spells, regardless of their alignment.
Followers: Few worship Antheral as their primary deity, but most pay their respects to her in some
way. Those who have recently lost a loved one will evoke her name in prayer, asking for the safe guidance
of the deceased to the afterlife.
Places of Worship: Temples to Antheral are generally sparsely decorated and solemn slate gray
constructions. They often double as funeral parlors, and have graveyards behind the building for the dead
not claimed by their families.[/spoiler]
Haernak[spoiler]Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Power: Demi
Portfolio: Gnolls, madness, anger, betrayal
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Destruction (Madness)
Favored Weapon: Flail
Appearance: Haernak has not appeared in actual form since his fall from power, but ancient depictions
of him survive, showing him to be a gnoll of great strength. He is shown wearing a black crown of obsidian,
and carrying a massive flail in one hand and a sinister whip in the other.
Teachings: Haernak used to profess to his gnoll followers that the world was theirs, and that all
others in their way should be crushed under foot. Since his fall from power, he has taught those few who
still follow him to watch their backs for the hidden dagger, and maintains that his worshippers should
destroy those who oppose them, though he is no longer picky about them having to be gnolls, though most
still are.
Followers: Haernaks followers where almost universally gnolls, which were the race he created, and
the same still holds mostly true to this day, though the diversity has increased with the lack of total support
from his creations. A relatively large portion of his followers are ancient beings old enough to remember the
god from before his fall, still clinging to the past glory of their patron.
Places of Worship: Haernak now has no official places of worship, though individuals may have
hidden shrines in their dwellings, and certain underground cults exist to serve the Broken God.[/spoiler]
Hideron[spoiler]Alignment: Lawful Good
Power: Greater
Portfolio: The sun, nobility, holy crusades, and good kingdoms.
Domains: Law, Good, War, Protection, Sun, Nobility
Favored Weapon: Longsword
Appearance: Hideron appears as a tall human clad in brilliant gilded full plate, carrying a silver shield
emblazoned with the image of the rising sun, and a fiery longsword with a golden hit. His entire being glows
with a shining yellow aura of power.
Teachings: Hideron is a god of the rightful nobility, but teaches that they should not abuse their
power, but should use it to aid the less fortunate, and to root out the evil of the world. He is an fierce enemy
of evil, urging his followers to seek it out and destroy it, though not to the point where they endanger
themselves.
Followers: Hideron has one of the most diverse lots of followers of any of the gods, ranging from the
common peasant to the King of Perigan, with a church that knows no racial bounds. almost any kind of
person may worship Hideron, provided they not be of malicious nature. The esteemed Academy of the
Burning Sun is based around the teachings of Hideron.
Places of Worship: Hiderons temples varry depending on the wealth of the community. While a small
village may have only an average sized house converted to worship, a arge city may have an opulent
cathedral with gilded cielings and marble floors. The largest temple of Hideron is the massive Cathedral of
the Sun in Monim city.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
Kadriden: Kadriden was once two seperate gods, Kadris and Dredendor, gods of Dwarves and Gnomes, respectively. During a divine war that occured ten thousand years after Haernaks fall, the orc god Ukogob had nearly annihalated the gnomes. as their race faced almost total destruction at the hands of the barbaric horde, Dredendor struck a deal with Kadris, who was worried that the dwarves would be Ukogobs next target, and the two gods fused into one. The newly formed Kadriden took on the element of diplomacy for his portfolio, and succesfuly bargaining for the end of the war.
LG, Law, Good, Protection, (Craft, Dwarf, Gnome)
Mariten: God of the high seas, Mariten governs both lawful commerce and pirating alike. He is a funloving god, fond of tricks and jokes. He teaches that it is best to be able to think on your feet, and to always have an open mind
CN, Chaos, Trickery, Luck, Travel (Commerce, Ocean)
Riagnik: Not much is known of this elusive deity, for it is the keeper of the worlds secrets. What is known is that nearly all kobolds follow it, whether or not it is actually their creator god, which not a living being knows for sure save the Silent Keeper itself. Its followers often go on quests for some hidden knowledge or lost artifact.
LN, Law, Trickery, Knowledge
Slarengk: Slarengk is the creator of the lizardfolk, and god of fortified defenses and empires. He is a proud god, who preaches the virtue of enforcing a strict societal heirarchy. He is the sworn enemy of Haernak, whom he fought in the great war of Gararnrash two ages past.
LN, Law, Protection, War (Inquisition, Pride)
Tae-Nar: A dark, sinister deity of death and decay, Tae-Nar presides over such portfolio elements as death, despair, and the unknowable and uninhabitable depths of the world. He is also highly vengeful; woe to the one who wrongs a high level cleric of Tae-Nar. It cares nothing for life, and as such most of its followers are either undead, or completely mad. Notably exptable from this are the goblins, who were originally orcs twisted to the Deep Dread's dark purposes.
NE, Evil, Death, Water (Decay, Retribution)
Tiaorlia: A fickle goddess, Tiaorlia embodies the artistic spirit. She created the fey, as well as the nortal races of elves and halflings. She encourages her followers to incorporate art into every aspect of their lives, and to be free with their emotions. She is also as much a nature goddess as she is of the art, and indead teaches that nature and art are one in the same, sharing the same captivating magic.
CG, Chaos, Good, Magic, Plant, Animal (Elf, Creation, Halfling)
Ukogob: A selfish and bloodthirsty god, Ukogob is the creator of orcs, giants, and other similarly brutal races. This has only invcreased over the ages, as Ukogob now bears some grudge against most every other member of the pantheon. Tae-Nar stole some of his orcs and made them goblins, Aiagob actually took a measure of his divine power and a sizable group of his followers with it. Kadriden converted many giants away from their evil god. All of these grudges have led to Ukogob being a very angry and warlike god, frequently demanding attacks on the creations of others.
Ven-Tae: The deity of balance and of the elements, Ven-Tae is worshipped mostly by druids. All of its teaching focus on maintaining the ultimate battles between the elemental planes and between the forces of good and evil, law and chaos.
N, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, (Balance)
Xen-Ri: Deity of Dragons and power, Xen-Ri advocates power for powers sake, but does not condone its destructive use, nor does he call for those with power to flaunt it heedlessly. Letting your enemy live knowing that he has been beaten is preferable to killing them outright, and the unknown is always more frightening than that which can be measured. Sadly, not all of his draconic creations share this feeling, due to a grweat schism that occured within the dragon race in ages past.
N, Strength, Magic, Protection (Dragon)
Comments, questions, death threats?
Here is what I have so far for deities.
Haernak and Hideron now have full entries, enjoy
I haven't made it through more than the first few gods, but I like what I see. A peaceful orc God and a neutral death god are nice ways to break the norm. I've debated crafting a "balancer of souls and enforcer of death" type of god before, but you have executed it quite well.
Kudos to you, and I'll be back to read more.
[spoiler=Editing details]Only the first four gods are in the spoiler block, and you may want to further subdivide the pantheons for ease-of-reading. Also, the last chunk of Hideron's description is in bold. Just so you know.[/spoiler]
Antheral seems to me like a mix of Greyhawk's Wee Jas and FR's Kelemvor. Nothing bad about that, definitively! ;)
Yeah, the inspiration for Antheral was the folklore story about death giving a man who respected it the power toheal the sick as long as it was not their time to go, and being impartial to good and evil. I have a feeling that that was Wee Jas's source as well, which would explain the similarities. I dont know anything about FR though, so I cant comment on that.
Ill fix the bold part of Hiderons entry, I meant for only the four that have full entries so far to be in the spoiler, they will be added in once I have full entries typed up for them
In the FR, Kelemvor is the LN god of death. In stark contrast to the previous keepers of that title, he uses his power to make the transition into afterlife as easy as possible. He is a strong opponent of undead of all sorts, and his clergy are advised to destroy these whereever they find them. His dogma includes providing aid and support to the dying, and taking away the bad stigma death has and spread acceptance of it as part of the natural order.