Tasothilos, the Second World (New, Updated, D20-less version)

[Kalos Mer]

Note - no discussion thread for Tasothilos, go right ahead and post comments here... once there's something to comment on.  I'll be hosting my stuff in a more organized fashion on this server as it gets developed.

If you are new to the setting, feel free to skip this initial post.  The second post in the thread gives an overview of what I'm trying to accomplish, and the third post gives a few 'back-cover' style selling points - the sort of blurb you'd read on the back of the dead-tree edition of Tasothilos in the bookstore, if there were to be a dead-tree edition.  Those two posts will give you a better idea whether Tasothilos is a setting you want to read more about.

Now, though, let me just make a [ic=Note to my Long Time Readers:]
Some few of you who are old-timers may remember the Tasothilos setting, either from the Wizards boards or from here.  Consider this to be Tasothilos version 3.0.  I did not have the heart to trash the old setting, but reading over my own material accumulated over the course of the past three years, I've been disatisfied with several features, the sorts of things that minor revisions were not going to be able to undo.  I'm not starting over, per se - the nations from Old Tasothilos will still be represented, the same NPCs and everything will be around - but a number of fundamental changes will be made:
 

The many-islands format is being partially scrapped in favor of an inner sea-type set up.  (Some nations will still be insular.)  While the islands were fun and I want to keep a sea-oriented feel to the setting as a whole, the naval setting was causing some logical problems (most importantly the migration of peoples).

*Although influence will still be deliberately noticeable, I'm moving further away from readily identifiable "this is pseudo-France, this is pseudo-Greece, this is pseudo-Russia..." towards something more individual.  The sound of the languages will still be the most easy hint to the cultural origins of the countries
*A (very) slight magic-level increase, coupled with a slight power-level decrease for many NPCs.
*Perhaps most significantly, I'm changing the base system.  Tasothilos 1.0 used D&D, slightly modifying the magic system and the class structure but leaving most everything else intact.  Tasothilos 2.0, the brief intermediary stage, was still a d20 system with classes and levels and all that jazz.  Tasothilos 3.0 has dumped everything from d20 but the basic idea behind the core resolution mechanic: roll d20 (in Tasothilos, 2d10 instead) and check either versus a static Difficulty Class or an opposed roll.  This thread is primarily devoted to setting, not system, but system will come up where it's necessary[/list] [/ic]

While the revision is in progress, all of the old material can still be found here.

Next up: An updated overview!

[Kalos Mer]

Tasothilos

[/size][/color]

Tasothilos (literally "The Central World" - a reference to the fundamental doctrine of the Ekeusian (major human) faith that the world has been destroyed and recreated once, and will be destroyed and recreated once more), colloquially sometimes called Algarlin by it's inhabitants, is by far my most detailed attempt at a campaign setting, and is being pieced together from notes taken in various journals and on scraps of paper.  (And adjusted, of course, in reaction to your earnest criticism!) Work on the project has been officially taking place since about July of 2004, but the oldest ideas presently incorporated can be traced back to as early as 1998.  (In fact, one minor NPC currently included in my setting notes is based on the recently-rediscovered character sheet of a PC I created for my first 2e D&D game in 1995.)

As mentioned above, Tasothilos has been in development on the Wizards of the Coast boards for about three years now.  However, I am starting semi-over, rebuilding Tasothilos using my improved body of knowledge on matters of lingusitics, economics, history, mythography &c, as well as correcting a few flaws in my design and a large number of inconsistencies that creeped in over the years.  Also, I'm using my own classless, level-less system to build the game.  However, as the setting dabbles only rarely in mechanics and is largely 'fluff', it should be fairly easy to adapt for 3.x Dungeons and Dragons or any number of other systems.  (Only a few things, like the magic system, will present some trouble.)

[spoiler=A Little History...]The fourteen deities of the Ekeusian religion (the major human faith of this world) were once mortal heroes (in fact, PCs in a previous campaign of mine) whose world was destroyed in their final, epic battle against their mortal enemy. That world was also a homebrew of mine, called Algorlund (named late one night while watching coverage of the 2000 Democratic Party primaries. Surprisingly, none of the PCs ever caught on until I revealed it to them). However, it was a schizophrenic, badly organized world with a lot of elements lifted directly from other settings (Netheril, for instance, appeared in my history and in one time-travelling adventure - lifted from Faerun without so much as a name-change).  It was also terribly high-magic without much logical thought devoted to it. Therefore, after that campaign ended, I decided to trash it and start anew, and honor the old PCs (who remain the longest-running group I've ever run for, at just over 4 years) as gods of the new world.  (various other people, items, places, divinities, locations and names have also managed to survive the transition from Algorlund to Tasothilos.[/spoiler]

My ultimate goal in this project is the creation of an interesting and distinctive world which is still largely a Western-European Fantasy style game. Also, I am very much working towards consistent internal logic. (I find the term 'consistency' fits with the idea of a fantasy world better than the term "realism".  Roleplaying doesn't necessarily have to be realistic, but it should make sense and be consistent within its own set of 'laws of nature'.)  The main thing which distinguishes this setting from other Western-European S&S settings out there, I feel, is the level of detail I've invested - the world is being built to be playable, but a large part of the process has simply been for the joy of building something using my scholastic background.

To borrow some parlance from the Guild, I see my world as having both Ethocentric and Divset features- there are several themes which bind together a lot of my design, but they are not absolutes and my hope is that they operate on a fairly subtle level.  In this, I'm aiming to imitate Earth history - while I find in my studies that certain trends and themes are repeated over and over, it's always on a subtle level.

[spoiler=Themes]
One of the themes of significance in this world is the concept of highly formal social classes - many of the cultures to be detailed later have rigid caste systems, for instance.  But this theme is often underscored by it's opposite - as I've been developing the setting, I find that stories of people transcending their native social class are abundant.  How does a world quite accustomed to judging people based on birth deal with adventurers and others who rise above their lowly origins?
Another theme is the importance of language, literature, history and myth - the peoples of Tasothilos have a fascination with this subjects bordering in some cases on obsession.  As a classicist and philologist with an interest in pre-modern literature generally, I find this is an area in which I can be most creative.  I have gone to work generating vocabularies and grammars of a number of the languages in the setting, particularly for the purpose of consistent naming/  The mythography I've indulged in so far is among my proudest work on the setting, even if it has no actual crunch value.  

Those two themes have been in Tasothilos since the beginning.  New themes I'm trying to highlight in the revision include:

The

importance of numbers and numerology - in Old Tasothilos, I largely accomplished this by the introduction of Arithromancers - mages who cast spells based on precise mathematical calculations.  While the Arithromancers still exist, I intend to bring this theme out more artfully and universally in the revision, as the occurence of certain numbers will mean certain things.
*Discovery: Much though the elites cling to the status quo (see theme one), Tasothilos is a world that is changing.  The gradual rediscovery of the ancient cultural legacies has given a stagnating society a breath of fresh air, and the finding of new lands in the South and East has created opportunities for daring explorers of all backgrounds to strike it rich - if they can deal with the native populations, both human and monstrous.[/list]
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Some Design Principles]

Rarer Magic: In order to build a sense of wonder and some semblance of internal consistency, I am limiting the occurence of magic. (Nothing affecting the actual class mechanics, which are balanced, just reducing the percentages of NPC spellcasters, enforcing expensive material components, making magic items rarer but augmenting their power etc.)
*Medium-High Power: For the most part, the movers and shakers in Tasothilos are persons of highly trained skill, and are much more capable than normal men.  They are not, however, demigods.
*Powerful Churches: Though deities will not make appearances in the world personally (indeed, there is doubt whether they exist at all), and priests for the most part are religious/political figures, not spellcasters, the churches will have a great deal of temporal power.

[/spoiler]

[Kalos Mer]

Reserved for 'selling points' - coming real soon

[Túrin]

Here's at least one Long Time Reader (yay caps!) still interested. Don't hesitate to PM or email me when new material is posted. I'm not on very often anymore and I might miss it.

Anyway, go ahead and post. I can't wait to see what's been brewing in Rhode Island.

Túrin

[Kalos Mer]

The Tasothilos System
An Overview

When I first started the Tasothilos: the Second World project back in 2004, I designed it for the only (current) game that I knew very well at the time - the Dungeons and Dragons 3.x system.  It is my hope that interested parties should be able to run the game in that system if they choose to.  However, while designing I often times felt like I had to betray some parts of my 'vision' in order to make the game conform to the rules that I knew.  

When I brought the setting back to the CBG in spring of 2007, I had moved beyond D&D and tried to create Tasothilos using my own homebrewed d20 variant, which I called Axis Mundi.  Since that time, I have since taken things one step further.  The Tasothilos System is now a different monster altogether: It brings in elements from d20, Storyteller, Ars Magica, HERO, and the D6 system, in addition to several elements created wholesale.  The aim is to create not a generic system, but a system particularly suited to the kinds of stories I want to tell in the world of Tasothilos.

This thread is primarily concerned with the Tasothilos *setting*, not the Tasothilos *System*.  However, I will use this post to give a general taste of how the system functions, so if I ever post NPCs with stats, you will not be at a loss.

*coming soon*

[Túrin]

I wasn't talking about the next 24 hours. I'm having this week off so I won't miss much. But if you keep it up as I'm hoping, I'll occasionally miss some of the new stuff as I'm busy with the next semester.

On another note, I didn't know you had your own d20 variant. What's that all about?

Túrin

[Kalos Mer]

Glossary
A collection of frequently-encountered terms

Preface: A note on Timekeeping

There are several systems of note for numbering the years of Algarlin's History, but the one used by scholars and nobles in Salabria, which is most widespread and easiest to handle, is centered around the rise, height and decline of the Ekeusian Empire.  It divides history into 3 great eras:

Mar Parthikone (MP) - literally 'Before the Empire', refers to all time before the defeat of Messara by Ekeusion and the coronation of the first Emperor.
Yrmos Partikos (YP) - literally 'The Living Empire', refers to the 491-year long reign of the emperors of Ekeusion
Athil Partikone (AP)- literally 'After the Empire', refers to the 1497-year (so far) period after the fall of the Empire.

I. Geography

Algarlin: Algarlin is the geographical name by which natives of the Salabrian region call the entire world which they inhabit.  It encompasses two known super-continents (one but recently discovered) and large tracts of unexplored oceans.  The name comes from Algaril, a king of somewhat Adamic status in the Ekeusian mythology.  

Salabria: Salabria is the name given to the region of land which immediately surrounds the Salabrian Sea (q.v.) and to the nations located in that land.  It also extends to the islands within the Sea.  Thus, Philstaros, Andozia and Sanceline are all examples of nations which would be termed Salabrian, while Ferrund or Sakrtskaya would not, strictly.  (The former is sometimes lumped in with Salabria proper, the latter never is.)

Salabrian Sea:  The Salabrian is a vast inner sea located in the north-eastern portion of the continent of Ephos, the main continent of the Tasothilos campaign setting.  It is a deep, famously calm body of saltwater with an ancient history - civilization in some form or other has existed on the shores of the Sea for more than five thousand years.  The Sea is very rich in all manner of fish and (in certain places) pearl-producing oysters.  It is also dotted with islands - many are small and rocky, but a few of the great ones are large and fertile in their own right.  The point where the Salabrian connects with the greater Ocean beyond is called the Gate of Ephos, after ancient custom.

Tasothilos:  While 'Algarlin' is the name that the natives give to their planet in a geographical sense, Tasothilos is the name they choose to describe the world in a more metaphysical sense.  It translates as "The Central World", and the word sums up in brief the central notion of Second World religion.  Tasothilos and it's derivate pronunciations in other langauges obviously only occur in countries where Second World Doctrine has taken root.

II. History

Ekeusion: Ekeusion was the name of an ancient city which first flourished more than 2500 years ago.  In the century or so preceeding the YP era, it gradually assimilated a number of the surrounding cities and eventually developed into the capital of an empire which had influence all around the Salabrian Sea.  While the line of the Emperors terminated abruptly in 1 AP, the city of Ekeusion itself stood for several centuries longer as a vibrant (if turbulent) monument to the grand history of humankind before it was captured by goblins around AP 500.  These goblins and other unsavory creatures held the great city until very recently - in 1493 AP, the city was recaptured by a band of adventurers and for the past four years the slow process of rebuilding and restoration has been making the city grand again.  Ekeusion is the nominal form of the name, the adjectival form (used to describe the Empire, the language, etc) is Ekeusian.

[Kalos Mer]

This post was supposed to contain races.  Darn post limit - apparently 14,000 words is too much for one post.

I'll figure out something else to put here later - maybe a finalized map and some basic geography, or something.

[Numinous]

Hey Kalos, stopping by for two quick thoughts.  #1, I want to see some of this mythology you've worked so hard on.  I'm a big fan of artificial religions, and I want to see what you can make with your fancy education. :P  If I missed it already, that's because I only got to the third post or so of this thread before posting.

Thought 2

Sacred Geometries[/url] for inspiration here, as I have found it to be full of delicious flavor which is versatile enough for most worlds which seek to use a more subtle level of magic than standard d20.

[Kalos Mer]

OOC: Some History of Tasothilos

What follows is a summary overview of the processes that went into creating Tasothilos.  It's posted more as an aside  than anything else, and people who are interested in the setting itself rather than the history of the project can skip it.
[spoiler=Click Here]
Warning, this is REALLY long, and it will likely only appeal to two groups of people:
1: Long-time Tasothilos readers who want to know a little more of the history of the setting
2: Guildmembers who know me and want to know a bit more of my gaming history.

That said, let's go!

[ooc]
In the Beginning
or, Kalos Merâ,¬,,¢s first World-building Project
     In September of 2000, I was a freshman in high school.  Iâ,¬,,¢d been playing around in second edition AD&D for five or six years (getting my start after reading about it in a Fox Trot comic strip and thinking it sounded cool), and on the advice of a fellow gamer I had finally updated to the 3rd Edition game rules.  (At this point, I still scoffed at the d20 resolution mechanic as being too simple-minded, but I liked the loosening of racially based class restrictions and the new system for multiclassing.)
      Around this time, I also began to want to run a campaign of my own.  Iâ,¬,,¢d done so before in the past, but they were usually short affairs (a middle-schooler has a short attention span) and usually set in Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk, rather than my own settings.  This time around, I wanted to build my own setting, using the new ruleset Iâ,¬,,¢d just acquired.
     Algorlund took me only about a month to build, and half of that was spent on the gods.  Previously having played mostly in FR, I was a huge-pantheon enthusiast.  I no longer have the complete list of gods, but the human pantheon had over 100 deities and most demi-human pantheons had upwards of 20.  I was *proud* of this.  (About 40 of these deities had actually been developed into something detailed, the rest were lists of names, portfolios, symbols, domains and favored weapons.)   Some deities were lifted entirely from other souces.  (Tharizdun, for instance, was imported from Greyhawk, though I recharacterized him a little bit.)
     Designing the nations and drawing a map took me one weekend.  The map too is lost, but as I recall it had four big continents arranged roughly in a circle around a central island.  Most of the action took place on the north continent, which was standard medieval european.  The west continent was marked with a big question-mark, the south continent had some asian influences but also some more european, and the east continent was a bunch of genie-run kingdoms roughly divided in four parts along elemental lines.  The central island was dominated by dragons.
     The history of the world took me one day to sketch out, though a year later I went back and did some revisions.  Again, I no longer have the details but I know that, for instance, I imported Netheril almost unmodified from Forgotten Realms, and several other souces gave me additional â,¬Ëinspirationâ,¬,,¢ of that kind.  (Henry V of England appeared in the history of one nation, renamed as Hanri V.  His crucial battle took place at a field called Arjincur.)   Algorlund appealed to what I thought was â,¬Ëcoolâ,¬,,¢ at the time, but there was a lot in there that wasnâ,¬,,¢t â,¬Ëmy ownâ,¬,,¢.

Chronicles of the Fated
     One day, I may write up parts of Chronicles of the Fated â,¬' the only campaign ever run in Algorlund - for the Crossroads.  Both in-character and out-of-character, there are plenty of yarns that could be spun about the players and the characters, and their exploits.  For now, summary should suffice.
     After I had devised Algorlund, I immediately searched for a group to run it with.  The group that I pulled together consisted of about 8 people at the outset, though only 5 or so would show to any given game session.  (This percentage would be true throughout the long life of CotF.)  The only RPG most of them were familiar with was the Final Fantasy line, though a couple had played Baldurâ,¬,,¢s Gate and two had played SOME D&D before.
     The day that we were scheduled to begin the game, I was out sick from school, and the group elected to have someone else guest-DM the very first session.  From later reports, I learned that he had started them off in a bar, where theyâ,¬,,¢d gotten into a fight with some lumberjacks.  The PCs had escaped with the help of a halfling slave who got them some horses.  One of the PCs then killed the slave.
     When I got back, I improvised my way into getting them back on the plot outline I had set up.  The first adventure involved an attempt to investigate the disappearance of children in a small town.  I donâ,¬,,¢t remember how the plot was supposed to end up, because halfway through, I got tired of it and had them teleported away to the city of Sigil.  (The frequent inability of the party to fully complete quests would become a running gag for the group â,¬' they would either get distracted by their own problems or Iâ,¬,,¢d get a new idea I wanted to test out.
     The general idea of the campaign was that a raving mad, evil halfling superwizard was attempting to perform a magical ritual that would unleash a supreme primordial god of destruction on the world.  The key to his ritual?  He had to find the descendants of thirteen powerful heroes/monsters/demigods and sacrifice them.  It just so happened that the PCs were some of those descendants.  (Many more than 13 PCs participated in CotF â,¬' the total number is more than 25, in fact â,¬' but no more than 13 were ever active at one time, so there were some who had â,¬Ëduplicateâ,¬,,¢ bloodlines.)
     The game ran more or less for the entirety of our high school careers, with occasional breaks of a month or two when people got busy.  There was lots of drama inside the game and out â,¬' several romantic relationships were created between players, some of which are still surviving and some of which crashed and burned.  When it ended, the players had never actually managed to defeat the superwizard â,¬' they  were martialling armies and preparing to make a strike, though.  They were around level 16-17, all had magical items appropriate to someone several levels higher and, in fact, they had all become divine-rank 0 quasigods.  The game had in some ways become a bit of a self-parody:  Oniwalu always made stupid one-liners, Bimpnottin always collected curious souvenirs, and despite my own general preference for low-power games, I handed out spell-like abilities and magic items like they were candy.

Tasothilos: A New Beginning
     When high school ended, I got the sense that CotF was never going to actually be completed.  In my mind, therefore, I created a conclusion to the story where they had all rallied together to destroy the superwizard, but in the process they had destroyed all of existence, absorbing it into their beings.  When the battle was over, they became the gods of a brand-new world.  It was originally supposed to be just a conclusion in my mind rather than actual 'canon'.
In summer 2004, however, after I'd already gone away to college, I began to plan to build a new campaign world.  For six months, I simply sat on a bunch of concepts (naval theme, heavy politics, distant gods) and wrote up a few conlangs.  It wasn't until mid-fall 2004, during my first semester of college, that the ideas began to really crystalize, largely in conversations with a friend of mine, the young woman who played the character of Emiome. Together, we worked out a bunch of ideas that we thought would be cool, and she deserves a good deal of credit for providing various inspirations and criticism along the way, although the vast majority of the actual construction has been mine.
The setting was first posted on the Wizards boards in October of 2004, where I acquired my second great critic and idea-man, Turin, as well as helpful insight from several other regulars.  For the first six months or so I posted a great deal of material fairly regularly.  After that, my posting got more infrequent, though I continued to work heavily on the setting.  Ironically enough, actual concentrated effort on the setting probably ended some time around the time that our guild began, as schoolwork and real-life issues became too much to handle while giving so much time and energy to this creative endeavor.
In summer 2006, I spent about a week re-reading the entire Tasothilos thread on the wizards boards, and realizing how much my tone had changed and knowledge of things like religion and myth had improved (I've studied the subjects heavily in college.)  I planned to do a major update and revise the setting, but the plan faltered when the fall 2006 semester began, and I returned to disorganized brainstorming as my primary means of thinking about the setting
Now, however, I've got some more resolve.  I'm energized by a new map that seems more logical, several new theme ideas, a new take on several races, and perhaps most importantly, a new d20 system to work with.  I'm excited about the project in a way I haven't been since those early days on the Wizards boards.  
My pace may be a little slower than it was back then - my classes have gotten much harder and I'm balancing a girlfriend and an honors thesis project with this, but make no mistake, Tasothilos is a creative priority.  Expect to see good things in the future, gang.
[/ooc]
(Accolades to anyone who actually chose to read all that, by the way.)
[/spoiler]

Next up, Crit gets his wish as I post an overview of the major human pantheon.

[Numinous]

Are you kidding, that was light reading ;)  I can't wait for the pantheon.

[Túrin]

As Crit said, it really wasn't all that much to read. While the third paragraph was mostly a rehash of what I already knew, the first and second paragraph contained some interesting bits. Surely, Chronicles of the Fated must have been a fascinating campaign, and I can only hope I'll ever create and run such a longstanding campaign.

Let's take a look at Tasothilos d20. Most of the stuff you mention is hard to criticize without more information. In particular, I'd like to hear more about the dueling rules. That could be really cool, if done well.

Good calls on dropping multiclass penalties and alignment. Villainy Points sound like a good idea, though I'm not quite as sure whether crunchifying virtues and vices was such a good idea.

I imagine the basics of the pantheon will be largely as I know them? I suppose that's a good thing to start with, considering its importance in your setting, though I can't wait to see some new material. :)

Túrin

PS Thanks for the badge! You didn't say where to link it to, so I linked it here. I suppose that's alright?
Edit: I see you've done that too, so nvm.

[Kalos Mer]

Chronicles of the Fated was a whirlwind campaign, probably as much fascinating from a psychological perspective on the players themselves as it was in terms of plot.  By all accounts, it should have been a 'bad' campaign - several of the players were simultaneously trying to be the 'main protagonist', there were several interpersonal feuds and stuff, a couple munchkinny players, and I was an uncharacteristically Monty-Haul DM as well as very disorganized.  And yet, it remains the best-loved game I ever ran, both on my own account and for many of my players.

Dueling rules resulted from an impromptu thing in one of the playtest sessions for the magic system, and I've been trying to expand it and streamline it - it's still very rough and in need of (a) completion and (b) testing.  As soon as (a) gets accomplished, I'll host them on the site for anybody who's willing to give them a shot.  The goals are as follows: Keep the mechanics simple, allow resolution quickly, allow variety in fighting styles / tactics to have a mechanical effect on the results, and keep the mechanics simple (that one bears repeating.)  I'm putting in some serious time on that next weekend - you guys can be the judge of how well I succeed at those goals.

The 'Crunchification' of Virtues and Vices extends far less than the crunchification of Alignment did - it really is intended to be more of a flavory, fluffy element.  So far, the only 'crunchy' aspect of it is that spells/Abilities that would previously analyze alignment instead give the caster some indication of the 'nature' of the target, as reflected by virtues and vices that the character has been playing.  The idea is to create a much more subjective view on morality while still allowing (through Villainy points) that there are certain evils which ARE objective.

I *think* it should be fairly hassle-free, but I'm not averse to changing it or removine Virtue and Vice if playtesting indicates otherwise.

The Pantheon will be largely as you know them, but the write-up I'm doing now also features new material I don't think you've seen before.  As a preview, here's one of the 'stat blocks' that I'm working on:

[spoiler=Format Guide]
Name <-- The name of the god in the Old Ekeusian tongue.  Local pronunciations and spellings may vary.
Title <-- A two or three word description of the god.  These are not actual religious titles of the deities, but they help the reader to remember the godsâ,¬,,¢ identities.  Where multiple titles are given, it is because the god has multiple important aspects to remember
Physical Description:  <-- The manner in which the god is most frequently portrayed in artwork.
Symbology: <-- Symbols frequently associated with the god
Portfolio: <-- The domains with which the god is concerned, as well as common worshippers
Mythology: <-- The role that the god played in Old Mythology
Current Teaching:  <-- Current teaching about this god according to Second World doctrine
Vievnan Animal Form: <-- The people of Vievna have a curious practice whereby each deity has the appearance of a somewhat anthropomorphized animal in the Egyptian style.  That is discussed for each deity here.
OOC: <-- My own notes about the godâ,¬,,¢s earlier, PC incarnation.
 [/spoiler]

I've got six deities finished already, and I'm progressing at a rate of about two deities per hour.  The post will also include a never-before-scene list of the half-dozen or so most important 'secondary' deities.

[Kalos Mer]

[ooc]This IS really long, no doubt about it.  I can promise you there won't be another post this long for a good, long time.[/ooc]

The Ekeusian Pantheon: An Overview

Intoduction

    The Ekeusian pantheon is the major set of deities for the human race, consisting of fourteen principal deities.  As the name implies, it was originally the religion of the Ekeusians, an ancient people who lived on the coast, but worship of these gods was spread both by military conquest and (later) by peaceful missionaries.  Nowadays, all of the nations around the Salabrian Sea worship these gods, and several more distant nations worship deities that seem to derive from the Ekeusian faith  Aspects of this same pantheon are also shared with the gnomes, the dwarves and the halflings. (Elves and Orcs have no share in the human pantheon, instead sticking with their ancestral deities.)
     In addition to the fourteen central gods, there are a number of lesser deities.  About a half-dozen of these are fairly universal, the most noted of which is Lia, the wife of Oniwalu Ardalor.  The rest of them are more local divinities, perhaps remnants of earlier pagan faiths that partially survived the â,¬Ëconversionâ,¬,,¢ of their followers.  While these deities are worshipped by the common man, they only rarely have temples and have almost no clergy to call their own.
     It is important to note right up front that Tasothilos is a â,¬Ëdistant godsâ,¬,,¢ setting.  Ã¢,¬ËMiraculousâ,¬,,¢ manifestations may happen on occasion, and persons who pray to the gods receive spells from SOMEWHERE â,¬' but the gods never manifest themselves to mortals, and in fact there is no absolutely concrete proof that the gods even exist.  (Atheism is much rarer among the intellectuals of Tasothilos than it is among the intellectuals of Earth, however.  This is both because science has not yet progressed far enough to answer basic questions about the universe and the â,¬Ëhumanâ,¬,,¢ condition, and because people of Tasothilos are much more attached to their old ways and ancestral traditions than we are.

A note on Old versus New Religion

    The Ekeusian faith can be historically divided fairly neatly into two halves.  The gods began as a number of different pagan spirits in the earliest days of the Ekeusian people, but about 2800 years ago, they were formally codified by the poets Otho and Simo into a divine family/council, with the King of the Gods, Onaleus Ardalir, at itâ,¬,,¢s head.  This was the great era of pagan mythology akin to the Greek model, with countless tales of the exploits of the gods and men being written, sung, and performed in plays, and most of my mythology as Iâ,¬,,¢ve conceived it so far was â,¬Ëwrittenâ,¬,,¢ in this period â,¬' it is the Old Religion, very earthy and sensual and very exciting.
     Roughly 1600 years prior to the current date, however, a prophet/author re-imagined the gods in a new light â,¬' instead of a divine family who had been born of primeval nothingness, the author imagined that the gods had once been mortal heroes in a world *before* this one.  They had fought against the ultimate evil in the great battle at the End of that world, and as a result of their heroism, they became the new gods in the next incarnation of the world.  This doctrine teaches that the days are coming when a second Great Battle will occur, and at the end of it a third and final World will be created, one which lasts forever.  In this religion, some of the old myths have been re-interpreted as exploits of the mortal heroes prior to their becoming Gods, while other myths have been dropped from religious teaching altogether.  (It still survives in great works of art from the past, in addition to the occasional song or tale by an accomplished bard.)
    Although this mythology is a little less satisfying to the scholar or the romantic, it has succeeded because it provides both the elites and the downtrodden with something that they want.  The elites are told that they have their exalted positions in this life because of the glorious exploits their previous incarnations performed in the First World.  Therefore, they are entirely morally justified in enjoying their current existence.  Meanwhile, the peasants are promised that if they are virtuous, they will be able to become something better in the next incarnation of the World.  This religion has therefore proven quite stable and long-lived.

The Ur-Gods

The Ur-Gods (an OOC name, their IC name is not yet determined) are, according to Old Mythology, the three generations of divinity who preceded the gods of the Ekeusian pantheon in much the way that the Titans preceded the Greek gods.  Their ranks are much smaller, however.  The full creation myth cycle will come later, but in summary, hereâ,¬,,¢s how it works:  The world begins with a primordial, monstrous wolf, Ortha.  She gives birth to Magir and Magi, the Creators of the Universe. (<*mag- â,¬Å"to make, createâ,¬Â)  Magir and Magi create a world, but Orthal devours it.  Magir slays Ortha, and then he and Magi create the world anew.  Magi gives birth to three daughters and two sons.  The daughters are Namri, Tithalia and Anarina, the sons are Durzir and Saros.  Magir gives Namri to Durzir and Tithalia to Saros in marriage.
Namri bears Durzir Lia, Myria and Suphi; Tithalia bears Saros Maxinir.  Angered that Namri failed to produce a son, Durzir kills her.  He then attempts to seduce Anarina â,¬' she scoffs at him, and Durzir puts out her eye in vengeance.  
At last he seduces Tithalia, and by her he sires Onaleus and Rholerex.   Saros confronts the two in the act of lovemaking, but he is killed. (Interestingly, Otho and Simo disagree as to which of the primordial adulterers killed Saros â,¬' Otho says Durzir did it, Simo says Tithalia was guilty.)  This draws the wrath of Magir and Magi, and the two couples wage a war in Heaven.  Tithalia is slain by Magir, but Durzir then kills his father Magir and commits the ultimate sin in violating his own mother.  The result of this twisted union is Alamir, though the birth proves fatal to Magi.
Durzir is now the Lord of Creation, and he rules over Heaven and Earth like a tyrant.  The gods, (all but Maxinir his own children) strive against him, but they still squabble amongst themselves, too â,¬' the children of Namri and the children of Tithalia cannot get along. At last, however, Anarina councils Onaleus to unite the two parties, and also to win over Maxinir.  Together, the six gods overpower Durzir and kill him.  Onaleus, who lands the killing blow, then becomes the new king of the Gods.  He adopts the one surviving member of the old order, Anarina, into his own family, calling her â,¬Ësisterâ,¬,,¢.

The rest of my mythology will come later, but I wanted to give you the current version of the creation myth in outline to give you a framework for what comes below.

The Fourteen Gods

What follows is a brief overview of the fourteen principal deities.

Alamir
The Mad Tempter
Physical Description:  Alamir does not appear evil at the first glance.  He is portrayed as a handsome, tall man in the height of youth.  Beardless, he has medium-length silver hair and usually dresses in a simple but elegant grey robe.  Sometimes, he is portrayed flying on silvery dragon-wings, though unlike Onaleus he is just as often portrayed wingless.
Symbology: Alamir has no clergy, so he has no official symbol of the faith.  In religious art, however, shades of grey are closely associated with Alamir.  Ice and flies are also frequently symbolic of him.
Portfolio:  Alamir is the dark tempter, the secret corrupter of men.  He is the god of lies and betrayal.  Traitors are said to have â,¬Ëwalked with Alamir a stepâ,¬,,¢.  Insanity, dark secrets, unnatural deaths and diseases are also lain at his feet.  He occasionally is called the god of blight and the god of winter, though these titles were not used until the Imperial period.  He alone among the 14 Gods has no temples within civilization, and while many people plead with the gods to protect them from Alamir, he receives no open worship himself in human society.  Secret cults of madmen who worship the Tempter are occasionaly spoken of, howeverâ,¬Â¦
Mythology:  According to Old Myth, Alamir was the result of the wicked ur-god Durzirâ,¬,,¢s seduction of his own mother Magi.  When the other early gods banded together to destroy Durzir, Alamir sided with his father.  After Durzirâ,¬,,¢s imprisonment, Alamir went into hiding on the Earth.  There, he mated with mortal women (and animals), bearing all sorts of monstrous young.  After he had raised an army of his own children, he made war on heaven in what Otho and Simo called the Serpent War.  He was defeated by the armed alliance of the other gods and went back into hiding, but not before ravaging Suphi â,¬' the result of this violent union were Olkhir and Antios.  He frequently appears as an antagonist to the great mortal heroes of myth, though he is always defeated with the help of one of the gods.  Unlike most of the other gods, he does not dwell in some supernatural realm above or below, but is said to wander the earth.
Current Teaching:  The divinity of Alamir was a problem for early theologians of Second World doctrine.  They claimed that the gods became gods because of great virtue in their mortal lives, but Alamir seemed to flatly contradict this.  The only possible explanation that they could come up with was that Alamir was in some way corrupted AFTER having become a god.  The usual explanation is that some element of the Great Enemy of the First World had successfully embedded itself in Alamir, and that this happened in the fulfillment of prophecy: The Great Enemy cannot truly be destroyed until the Last Battle of the Second World, right before the advent of Paradise.
Vievnan Animal Form:  To the Vievnans, Alamir is the black rat, and emphasis is on his plague-bearing side rather than moral corruption.  (Vievnans tend to see moral corruption has being solely the fault of the corrupt mortal, rather than a supernatural agent.)
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Alamir Galanodel was a half-dragon.  He joined the party late â,¬' his player was a friend of Eldonâ,¬,,¢s player who got brought in.  He was a very high-power gamer, which was alright in Chronicles of the Fated - since it was a high-power game.  He was not exceptionally clever â,¬' at one point, he actually blew an attempted bluff by the party by asking aloud, in full view of the dragon they were conning, why they were lying to him.  The Current Teaching section about him is actually pretty accurate â,¬' one day during meditation he found something very dark within himself.  He probed too deep, and found a certain madness.  Ever after that,  he had occasional bouts of insanity, though whenever he found one he usually came back with a certain amount of insight.  It WAS a fragment of the Great Enemy, as it turns out. [/ooc][/spoiler]

Ali
The Tyrant Warlord, the Sun Queen
Physical Description:  Ali appears as a warrior-lady in resplendent red armor wearing a red, four-horned helmet, or as a noble queen in a red dress wearing a black crown.  Like her sister Emiome, she is portrayed as being quite young â,¬' probably no more than 20.  In either embodiment, she is seen carrying a flaming sword of great size.
Symbology: The Sun Disk is Aliâ,¬,,¢s primary symbol, though her four-horned helmet and her flaming sword are equally prominent in art.
Portfolio:  Ali is primarily the sun goddess and the goddess of the summer season. Like her father Onaleus, Ali is also a political goddess.  According to the faithful of Ali, she is the goddess in charge of maintaining the political order, of punishing criminals, and of raising armies and conducting proper warfare.  Even in ancient times, however, charges were sometimes raised that the faithful of Ali had become more interested in the oppression of the underclass and maintaining the status quo than in â,¬Ëjusticeâ,¬,,¢.
Mythology:  After Oniwalu and his siblings had thrown down Durzir, he wedded Lia, his half-sister.  By her, he had two daughters, Ali and Emiome, the Sun and the Moon.  They were the first of the â,¬Ësecond generationâ,¬,,¢ of divinities (those not born of Durzir and the other ur-gods).  Throughout the mythology, she is a very stern, grim goddess, though brave and loyal.  When some of the other gods feared during the Serpents War, she and her father Onaleus and her uncle Maxinir rallied them to victory.  She is very concerned with the proper order of things â,¬' were she not, the sun would not rise and set in the careful pattern that it does.  She infrequently appears in the myths, though she plays a large part in the great war epics and other songs of large battles and the martialling of armies.
Current Teaching: Aliâ,¬,,¢s church teaches that she was a lieutenant in one of the great armies that rallied to defeat the Enemy at the end of the First World.  When her subordinates and even her commander cowered in fear and would not advance, she charged ahead bearing the standard and urged them to follow.  They teach that she alone of the 14 was actually killed by the Enemy prior to his downfall, but because of the intensity of her loyalty and valor, her spirit nonetheless survived to become one of the fourteen great deities.  The Church of Ali these days is best described as an extreme right-wing, pro-Aristocratic political faction, though of couse they represent a religious (Divine Right of Kings) rather than a strictly political view on these kinds of matters.  She is also much-worshipped by soldiers, who value her sense of loyalty and duty and the promise of great rewards for mortals who share those qualities.
Vievnan Animal Form: Vievnan faith teaches that the Sun and the Moon are great Cats â,¬' Ali the Sun is the mountain-lion goddess.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Ali is one of the most changed of the gods from her actual depiction as a PC, but I have good reason for her turn towards the despotic â,¬' her â,¬Ëbloodline ancestorâ,¬,,¢ was none other than the duke of the Nine Hells, Asmodeus himself.  In actual play, she WAS a lieutenant in a great army, and she did have a firm belief in order â,¬' she was simply a little â,¬Ësofterâ,¬,,¢ than her divine incarnation has become.  The player was the girlfriend of Rholerexâ,¬,,¢s player, and she joined somewhat late â,¬' she went to a different high school than most of us.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Anarina
The Lofty Prophetess
Physical Description:Anarina is portrayed as a severe, ageless woman with what we would call Egyptian features, dressed in a fine and modest white robe. Her left eye is missing, though her long black hair is usually hung in such a way as to obscure the socket.  She usually is shown carrying a tome in each hand: the one in her left is the Kuros Phaldes, the Book of History which shows every event which has ever happened; the one in her right is the Kuros Osomonturon, the Book of Things Which Will Be. As time progresses, the one gets longer, and the other shorter.  Other times, she carries a great scythe.
Symbology:A single eye is the primary symbol of Anarina â,¬' open books, serpents, scythes and caves are also closely associated with her.
Portfolio: Anarina is the goddess whose dominion is history, prophecy and fate.  It is important to note (as Anarinans and Emiomeans frequently point out) that she has dominion over the couse of events IN Time, but she is not herself the goddess OF Time â,¬' this is Emiomeâ,¬,,¢s domain.  (The specificity of this distinction is an invention of recent, highly precise theology and not contained in the early myths.)  She is also the goddess of secrets and hidden knowledge â,¬' many of the early Ekeusian natural scientists as well as more â,¬Ëmodernâ,¬,,¢ researchers pray to her.  She is worshipped by all people, but her priesthood is fairly small and confined to the prophets and a small network of non-prophetic clergy who support them.  Their prophecies are often cryptic but (so far) have never been wrong.
Mythology: Anarinaâ,¬,,¢s frequent title is Tonanda, â,¬Å"Eldest Oneâ,¬Â.  The title is an appropriate one, for she is unique in that she technically belongs to the generation of the ur-gods, being a sister of Durzir and a daughter of Magir and Magi.  The story goes that after Durzir killed his own wife Namri for bearing him only girls (Lia, Myria and Suphi), he tried to seduce Anarina.  The aloof goddess laughed at his clumsy advances, and in anger he put out Anarinaâ,¬,,¢s left eye.  The goddess had her revenge, however â,¬' it was she that gave council to Onaleus and his siblings when they plotted against and overthrew Durzir.  In thanks, Onaleus â,¬Ëadoptedâ,¬,,¢ Anarina into the family of the Gods.  She does not appear usually appear â,¬Ëpersonallyâ,¬,,¢ in the myths, acting instead through her various mortal prophets who quite frequently advise the heroes.  The one exception is that she is always a vocal counsellor in any â,¬Å"Council of the Godsâ,¬Â scenes in the epics or the myths, and she always advocates for the â,¬Ëcorrectâ,¬,,¢ course of action.
Current Teaching:  Anarina is said to have been a prophetess who gave advice to the hero Onaleus and his companions when he quested and foresaw both the doom of the Enemy and the accession of the hero, his companions, and herself to godhood.  Later, as the assault on the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s stronghold began, she appeared leading an army of great serpents and giant birds to join the battle.  Her eye, the new stories tell, was put out by one of the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s chiefest lieutenants, whom she then cut to ribbons with her sickle.  A story is told that while the rest of her peers created the world, she had no part in it.  Haughty Anarina said â,¬Å"Since the End of this World is entirely in my control, it is only fair I let you control the Beginning.â,¬Â
Vievnan Animal Form:  The Vievnans portray Anarina as a raven-goddess.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Anarina Tonandeâ,¬,,¢s player was a friend of Emiomeâ,¬,,¢s player â,¬' the three of us used to do MSTs of really bad fanfiction together over AIM on occasion.  For whatever reason, he never got asked to join the game until very late. (A theme for most of the A-names, it seems!)  When he did, he played a cleric who was a Song of Sakrata, a medium-ranking priestess of the god of prophecies with something of an Egyptian aesthetic. Oftentime, I would tell her cryptic clues that came to her in her sleep and it served as a good way of foreshadowing future events â,¬' I thoroughly enjoyed this use of the character.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Antios
The Joyless Shade
Physical Description: Antios appears as a grim-faced man with pitch-black eyes and hair, almost purely white skin, and dressed in drab clothing, usually including a cloak. He is almost always brandishing a dagger, and frequently he seems to be in a crouched position as though he is attempting to hide.  Among the faithful, it is considered one of the highest blasphemies by the faithful to portray him smiling.
Symbology:  The primary symbol of Antios is the outstretched palm â,¬' ready to take what is his, adherents say.  He is also associated with the color black, smoke, and daggers.
Portfolio:  Antios had a fairly sharp divide between the Old and the New mythologies in terms of his portfolio.  He began as a fairly straightforward god of thievery and murder who after his birth joined his father in the ranks of the â,¬Ëevilâ,¬,,¢ deities.  At an early date, however, a Church of Antios was set up â,¬' more of a philosophical school, really, but they adopted Antios as their mascot.  They championed a philosophy of self-interest and indifference to the suffering inherent in this world, and they believed Antios was their forefather.  So successful were they that the reforms of the Second World doctrine legitimized him as a hero, albeit a dispassionate one.  Nowadays, legitimate temples of Antios exist in several nations.  (There are plenty of thieves who still pray to this god under his older mantle, however).
Mythology:  According to Old Myth, Antios was born shortly after Alamir ravaged Suphi during the Serpentâ,¬,,¢s War.  He and his brother Olkhir were initially welcomed into the family of the gods, but Antios was exiled when he attempted to steal Onaleusâ,¬,,¢s sword.  Cast down onto the earth with his father, he too lurked like an evil spirit.  He eventually is said to have taken refuge in the mountains, where he taught the first brigands, thieves, highwaymen and murderers their trade.  The half-dozen or so references to assassins in the classical corpus refer to them as Sons of Antios.  He is also seen as an antagonist in the epic cycle.
Current Teaching: As mentioned previously, Antiosâ,¬,,¢s image was completely altered prior to the Second World Doctrine becoming accepted.  As such, when the gods were reinvented during this time, Antios was portrayed as a hero, a cunning rogue who remained stoic in the face of all the suffering that the Enemy created.  It is said that by force of will, he resisted a killing-spell that the Enemy cast at him, then proceeded to distract the Enemy long enough for Emiome and Onaleus to land the fatal blow that ended the First World.
Vievnan Animal Form:  Antios is portrayed as the wolf-god amongst the Vievnans, who put more emphasis on his violent than on his â,¬Ësneakyâ,¬,,¢ or â,¬Ëmoroseâ,¬,,¢ aspects.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Finally, one of the A-names who WAS a long-time member.  Antiod Emberinâ,¬,,¢s was one of the two players who first took interest in joining â,¬' he, Rholerexâ,¬,,¢s player and I were in a Health class together every morning and we talked about the idea.  When after the first six months the campaign moved to an online AIM format, he became fairly inactive â,¬' he was the kind of player who would participate in all the battles, and answered any questions posed to him directly, but otherwise didnâ,¬,,¢t say much.  When the game began, he was in a relationship with Suphiâ,¬,,¢s player.  When the game ended, he was with Olkhirâ,¬,,¢s player instead.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Bimpnos
The Grinning Trickster
Physical Description:  In early art, Bimpnos is ambiguously portrayed as either a short man or a child (itâ,¬,,¢s hard to know which).  In later art, he has become a gnome.  He is a jovial deity â,¬' in recent artwork, he is always portrayed in brightly-colored clothing, often standing in the middle of a halo of blue and yellow light.  He wears a cap flopped over to one side, always grins broadly, and sometimes leans over on a walking-stick.
Symbology:  Bimpnosâ,¬,,¢ primary symbol from antiquity has been a circle, though there is no explanation for the origin of this curious emblem.  He is also closely associated with his hat, wands, and gnomes generally.
Portfolio:  Bimpnos is a trickster god and the god of humor, and mirth.  He sharply contrasts with Ali, in that he represents the subversion of the normal social custom.  He is also seen as the special protector of children, and his more â,¬Ëseriousâ,¬,,¢ churches (there are few) actively champion the causes of the downtrodden.  He is something of a hero to the lower classes, though they also pray and tithe in order to avoid his pranks. Though not exactly worship, he also has received notoriety as a sort of trouble-making spirit among the peasants: heâ,¬,,¢s blamed for everything from splinters to the accidental burning of a loaf of bread.  (More serious catastrophes are the province of Alamir.)  Jokes are under his domain, as are curious collections.
Mythology:  Bimpnos is curious in the mythology.  Otho and Simo seem to have tried to omit him, not giving him any place in their elaborate and dignified creation myth.  Pressure from the populace seems to have forced them to â,¬Ëlet him inâ,¬,,¢ however, for he appears (albeit briefly) in the councils of the gods and other parts of their works.  Because of their reluctance, there is no written record of Bimpnosâ,¬,,¢s cosmic origins â,¬' he simply â,¬Ëappearedâ,¬,,¢ at some point after the downfall of Durzir and the crowning of Onaleus.  This mystery serves the Bimpnotians fine.  Outside of the two Great Poets, a number of â,¬Ëlesserâ,¬,,¢ poems about Bimpnos have sprung up â,¬' he became something of a monster-slayer in the mythology, always appearing to rescue the village of such-and-such from the hideous this-or-that.
Current Teaching:  The current line goes that Bimpnos was a gnome in the first world and a prankster.  He even went so far as to joke at the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s expense, laughing in the face of the ultimate peril and the most serious of circumstances.  His more philosophical churches therefore say that the lesson mortals should take from this is that a good attitude and a sense of humor are the most valuable things that any man can possess.
Vievnan Animal Form: Curiously enough, Bimpnos appears as the otter-god to the Vievnans.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]I first met Bimpnosâ,¬,,¢s player when we were both three years old in pre-school â,¬' we became good friends there.  We then went to separate elementary schools and middle schools, but we reunited freshman year of high school.  He was one of the original players, and also one of the ones with the most reliable attendance.  Bimpy was in some ways an extension of his own personality (most of these characters were pretty close to their players in terms of identity).  He spent a lot of time coming up with very elaborate pranks to play on some of the more â,¬Ëseriousâ,¬,,¢ members of the party, though he also engaged in his fair share of heroics.  Almost universally, he was one of the most beloved of the CotF characters.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Eldon
The Dread Judge
Physical Description: Eldon is an imposing figure.  His face, though flesh, is skeletally thin, and his eyes are dark.  He dresses in the style of the finest royalty, but all of the colors of his clothes are grey and black.  He is often portrayed with either four arms â,¬' two are flesh, but two are ethereal â,¬' or six arms (adding a skeletal pair.)  Frequently, he is seen sitting upon a throne of onyx, from which he issues his judgements to the dead.
Symbology: A silver coin is the primary symbol of Eldon â,¬' they represent the customary fee for passage to the underworld.  His throne, skulls and other â,¬Ëdeadâ,¬,,¢ things are frequently associated with him, as is the urn.
Portfolio: Eldon is the god of law, contractual obligations, and agreements.  He is also the god of judges and judiciary officials.  But more importantly than any of that, he is the god of the dead.  He sits apart from the gods in Heaven in the black netherworld below the surface of the earth below even the tunnels that the dwarves dig. (though unlike Hades, say, he has a seat in Heaven and does participate in some councils of the gods as well.)  There, he personally judges each soul.  The deceased must make a plea for himself, account the course of his entire life, and call to witness the mourning and sacrifices of his family and friends who still live.  After hearing all this, Eldon sends the soul on to one of the various afterlives (see below).  The clergy of Eldon take responsibility for the interment of physical remains, hear the grieving and the accounts of surviving family members, and accept sacrifices on the behalf of the deceased.
Mythology:Though Onaleusâ,¬,,¢s wedded wife was Lia, he was a philandering god, following in the footsteps of his father.  Shortly after his two legitimate daughters were born, in fact, he went and lay with Suphi, who bore him Xandos and Eldon, Youth and Death.  Angry, Lia demanded that they both be cast down into the darkest pits of the Earth.  Vivacious Xandos later won back a place in Heaven (see below) but grim Eldon came to like the dark.  (He later was readmitted to Heaven after he took Liaâ,¬,,¢s side in an argument with Onaleus.)   According to the Old Mythology, he sends souls on to one of four different afterlives â,¬' the very heroic go to be attendants at the feasts and banquets of the gods in Heaven, the virtuous live in a forest where they live comfortably and happily but not eternally blissful, the mildly wicked live in a city which is dreary but not torturous, and the very wicked are punished eternally with fire and other torments in the deepest bowels of the earth.  In the myths, Eldon is seen as somewhat of a sarcastic god â,¬' he sometimes interjects in the accounts of the lives of the deceased to offer pointed commentary on the foolishness of their actions.
Current Teaching: Eldon is said to have been a shade in the First World, a powerful spirit who raised from the dead to fight against the Enemy.  A wizard, he is said to have raised up all of the dead of the First World with him to join the battle.  According to Second World Doctrine, he will have a similar function at the end of the Second World.  This new vision of the afterlife divides souls into three different groups.  The very virtuous and heroic are sent to Heaven, where they prepare with the gods for the Last Battle.  Those neither virtuous nor wicked are kept around Eldon himself â,¬' they must choose before the final days whether they will stand with the armies of Good or not.  Wicked souls are still cast into a pit and tormentedâ,¬' they will escape during the Last Battle and rally around Alamir and the other forces of Darkness, only to be utterly obliterated.
Vievnan Animal Form:Vievnans see Eldon as the bat-god, for they have long thought bats to be agents of death sent to collect the souls of the fallen.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Eldonâ,¬,,¢s player was Rholerexâ,¬,,¢s playerâ,¬,,¢s cousin â,¬' he lived one town over, and went to the same high school as Alamirâ,¬,,¢s player.  He joined at a medium point in the game â,¬' before Alamir or Ali, after Emiome and Maxinir.  Eldon was his first character â,¬' a necromancer halfling â,¬' but he was the kind of fellow who could never make up his mind as to what character he wanted to play.  He got Eldon killed off, then played a gargoyle-type character, then played a monk (or something) with a giant dire-bear companion, and finally he asked if he could play Eldon again â,¬' this time as a ghostly character.  I agreed (it was late enough in the game that I could apply an ECL penalty for the ghost powers and still have a relatively balanced character).

Back when Tasothilos used alignments, I saw Eldon, Ali and Oniwalu as forming a triad.  Ali represented Lawful Evil government, Oniwalu Lawful Good government, and Eldon Lawful Neutral government.  Though Iâ,¬,,¢ve dropped official alignments from the system, I keep some vestiges of that triad in the way the gods are portrayed.
[/ooc][/spoiler]

Emiome
The Laughing Witch
Physical Description: Emiome is portrayed as a beautiful girl only recently entered into womanhood, perhaps 17 or 18 years old.  She has a slight frame and is always dressed elegantly, and in bright colors.  Her hands are often aflame with magical power.  Her hair is long and brown, her eyes wide, and her visage always smiling.  She is frequently portrayed with Amrulir, a small fae dragon creature who is her companion.
Symbology: Emiomeâ,¬,,¢s primary symbol is the crescent moon.  She is also associated with starlight, the night sky generally, fae creatures, and sapphires.  (Most other gemstones, save Myriaâ,¬,,¢s pearls, are associated with Suphi.)
Portfolio:  Emiome is the queen of night and the smiling goddess of the moon.  She created the stars to honor mortal heroes and to delight her father the Lord of Heaven.  She is also the major god of magic and spellcraft, though some casters honor Bimpnos or Olkhir.  As moon-goddess, she is also the protector of maidenhood, and she has rejected many suitors, including her uncle Rholerex.  She is the god of revelry, exultant poetry and wine, and has taken on an aspect as the goddess of freedom â,¬' several rebellious groups invoke her as their patron, though the â,¬Ëmainstreamâ,¬,,¢ church denies their goddess would be involved with active rebellion and argue that the freedom in question is more spiritual in nature.
Mythology: Emiome is the second-born of the younger divine generation, following shortly after her sister Ali.  While her sister is stern and methodical, Emiome is free and capricious â,¬' though no less loyal.  She invented magic, and she also invented joy.  After the Serpentâ,¬,,¢s War had cast down Alamir, Emiome was the first to break into jubilant dancing and convinced the other gods to have a great feat in honor of the victory.  She is serious when she needs to be, however â,¬' she fought alongside her sister with her newly developed magical spells during the war, just like the other gods. In the myths, she is frequently found helping out mortal heroes â,¬' she is second only to her aunt Myria when it comes to giving tokens and magical presents to help mortal heroes accomplish their goals.  Itâ,¬,,¢s worth noting that while Emiome is always joyful, she has an acidic wit and is just as capable, during many of the Council of the Gods scenes, of lashing out critically at those she disagrees with.
Current Teaching: Emiome was a beautiful witch in the First World, adherents say.  She was in control of a great guild of wizards (for magic was much more commonplace in the First World than in the Second).  As the final battle with the Enemy approached, she raised an army of her sorcerous followers to join in the fray.  It is even said that she helped Onaleus deal the final blow to the Enemy: while Antios distracted him, Emiome held the villain in place with a freezing cold magical ray, allowing Onaleus to land the killing sword-blow.
Vievnan Animal Form: The Sun and Moon are cats to the Vievnans â,¬' Emiome the Moon is the leopard-goddess.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Iâ,¬,,¢ve known Emiomeâ,¬,,¢s player since roughly the second grade.  She went off to go to a private high school, but we stayed in touch through instant messenger and when the Chronicles of the Fated campaign moved to an online format, she was one of the first to join up.  She was a time-traveling princess/sorceress who had been taken prisoner by a dragon and was rescued by the party.  Joining with her pseudo-dragon familiar, she proceeded to bring a much-needed sarcastic and clever foil to Oniwaluâ,¬,,¢s dopey and earnest.   Itâ,¬,,¢s worth noting that there was a lot more sarcasm

Iâ,¬,,¢ve lost touch with a lot of the Chronicles players, but Emiomeâ,¬,,¢s player has actually played an active role in helping to shape Tasothilos â,¬' a conservatory student, she inspired most of the musical stuff in the world so far.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Maxinir
The Warrior Poet
Physical Description: Even in human lands, Maxinir has almost always been portrayed as a dwarf.  His beard, frequently braided, is a rich brown color but almost always blackened at the edges with soot.  Usually, he is in war-gear (if not, he wears a blacksmithâ,¬,,¢s apron.  He carries a hammer and an axe and wears a great helm with three horns.  His hands are always covered in soot.
Symbology: The hammer is the primary symbol of Maxinir â,¬' it is the symbol of his creative as well as his destructive potential.  A horn of mead, the axe, and a well-cut gemstone are also symbols of his.
Portfolio:  Maxinar is a dwarf-god â,¬' the dwarves, in fact, believe that he is an embodiment of the dwarven father-god.  He has dominion over mountains and stone, and over masonry.  He is the smith-god, who forged most of the weapons used by the other gods.  He is also dedicated to more pleasant crafts, having forged fine jewels for his nieces Emiome and Ali.  He is the minerâ,¬,,¢s friend and has lordship over all precious metals.  He invented beer and ale and has dominion over all alcohols save wine, which is given over to his beloved niece Emiome.  He is one of the war-gods, embodying battles, personal valor and individual heroic feats as opposed to Ali, who is god of armies. Lastly, he is the god of epic poetry who taught Otho and Simo.
Mythology: Maxinir is the only child of the union of Saros and Tithalia before his mother was seduced by Durzir.  For a long time, he bore ill will towards Onaleus and Rholerex, blaming them for the sins of their father and he refused to join in their struggle against the tyranical king of heaven.   It was only after Onaleus, under Anarinaâ,¬,,¢s guidance, made peace with Maxinir that together they were able to slay him.  Maxinir, in an act of penance for his earlier rage, made a shining suit of armor for Onaleus and forged a sword of divine metal.  At several points in the epics, there are prolonged scenes of him forging a special magical weapon to give to a hero in battle.  He is also specifically invoked by both Otho and Simo at the beginning of their poems, as he is the father of their craft.
Current Teaching: Maxinir was a great dwarven warrior in the First World.  As Onaleus and the others joined together to fight the enemy, Maxinir made great weapons and armor to help them in the battle.  He also composed a poem, now known only to the divines, which recounted their various exploits.  In the final battle, Maxinir lead an army of dwarves and cut down many ranks of the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s twisted legions, preventing them from coming to their masterâ,¬,,¢s defense.
Vievnan Animal Form: Maxinir is the badger-god to the Vievnans.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Maxinirâ,¬,,¢s player has the longest gaming history with me â,¬' I met her when her parents and mine were at an annual conference around the time that I was in fifth grade, and we saw each other yearly for about four years.  She introduced me to Myriaâ,¬,,¢s player, and to a group that theyâ,¬,,¢d been running online with some friends of her family, run by Xandosâ,¬,,¢s player. Iâ,¬,,¢ve played several campaigns with that group over the years, though Iâ,¬,,¢ve almost completely lost touch with Maxinirâ,¬,,¢s player.
Maxinir joined some time around the time that Emiome did, though she was only with the group for a short time before participating in both my game and the other game became too much for her to handle.   Her character made a lasting impression, however, and I have brought him back to fill a much-needed spot in the pantheon.
 [/ooc][/spoiler]

Myria
The Wandering Hero, the Sailorâ,¬,,¢s Friend
Physical Description: Myria is variably portrayed.  When her oceanly aspect is being emphasized, she is portrayed as a great, queenly woman with blue skin and wild green hair, wearing royal regalia liberally covered in pearls.   Travelling, she is often pulled in a chariot driven by dolphins When her other aspects are being emphasized, she is a young, caucasian woman of perhaps 30 in light armor (formerly a breastplate, now usually mail).  Her eyes are an oceanic blue in either guise, however.
Symbology: Myriaâ,¬,,¢s primary symbol is the dolphin.  Other symbols include the horse, the sword and the pearl.
Portfolio:  Myria is the Queen of the Sea, and all rivers, lakes and streams owe fealty to her.  The magical philosophers named her the god of Elemental Water, for while Onaleus brings thunder and lightning, he must petition Myria to unleash Paluros, the Rainbringer, whom she keeps as an attendant.  Besides this, she is also the goddess of travellers, sailors, merchants, and commerce.  All pious persons make a prayer to her before they begin to undertake a journey expected to last longer than a single dayâ,¬,,¢s ride.  She rules over horses and horsemanship, as well as animal husbandry.  In recent times, she has become the goddess of luck and she is seen as the special patron deity of all those who call themselves adventurers.
Mythology:  Myria is one of the elder generation of gods, the middle daughter of Durzir and his lawful wife Namri.  She alone of her sisters initially attempted to overthrow her wicked father, and once the revolt was fully underway, she was one of the three who fought most vehemently against Durzir. (The others are Onaleus and Maxinir.)  In reward for her service, Onaleus gave her the choice of lordship over any aspect of creation she wished.  She was enchanted with the depths of the ocean, and made this her choice.  Though she has a seat in heaven, she attends to her brother and sister gods only when thereâ,¬,,¢s a particularly pressing matter which requires her attention â,¬' most of the rest of the time, she maintains her own court at the bottom of the sea, and spends most of her time on Earth.  She is the special patron of many of the great heroes, giving them favors and counsel.  She particularly opposes Antios, and is particularly close to her niece, Emiome.
Current Teaching:  Myria was a wandering knight and a princess in the First World, who brought a long-oppressed people out of obscurity and forged a naval empire.  In the final battle against the Enemy, she provided a fleet which blockaded his ports and prevented him from escaping by sea.  While her sailors took care of this, she rode her horse into battle and single-handedly routed an army of demons the Enemy had summoned to his aid.
Vievnan Animal Form:  Myria is the horse-goddess to the Vievnans, who place more emphasis on her role as the protector of that animal than on her role as the Sea-Queen.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]As I said before, Myriaâ,¬,,¢s player was introduced to me by Maxinirâ,¬,,¢s player around the time I was in seventh grade (sheâ,¬,,¢s a year older).  I only met her in person twice, but she was one of my closest â,¬Ëonline friendsâ,¬,,¢, especially through the ups and downs high school.  A bit of a crazy7 girl at times, but very sensible at others.  She was also very, very good at gaming, and at figuring out puzzles.
One night after a game, I was telling her all about some of the fun things that had happened in the last Chronicles session, and she asked if she could join.  She played a wandering knight type character, sort of a feminine alâ,¬,,¢Lan Mandragoran in that she was the last heir of an utterly destroyed kingdom.  She and Emiome bonded well, and she was also pretty close with Bimpnos.
[/ooc][/spoiler]

Olkhir
The Raging Sorcerer, The Peacecrafter
Physical Description: Olkhir is portrayed as a tall man of elven features.  His skin is a deep reddish color, and his eyes burn a bright orange or yellow color.  He is almost always drawn in a sorcererâ,¬,,¢s robes, clutching a magical staff.  His most distinctive feature, however, is his left hand, which has been stripped of flesh and is completely skeletal.  (In some of the more â,¬Ëpeaceableâ,¬,,¢ churches of Olkhir, the flaming eyes have been toned down, but the skeletal hand and the deep red skin remain.)
Symbology: The skeletal hand is the most common symbol of Olkhir.  Other symbols include staves, scrolls and dragons.
Portfolio: Like his brother Antios, Olkhir has a complicated portfolio.  According to old myth, he was the god of suffering, misery, and pain.  He is also a god of magic, ruling over dark powers rather than the gentle magic of Emiome or the chaotic magic of Bimpnos.  He created dragons and many arcane monsters, and may have created demons.  However, like Antios his church was seized early by a philosophical movement.  This movement claimed that pain, suffering and the like were forces for good in the world, because they helped to purify the soul.  Seeking to avoid sadness and pain was foolish, they argue.  Instead, these emotions should be embraced.  Volkir thus became the god of elegaic and mournful poetry as well.  This gentler, if no cheerier, version of Olkhir has gained some acceptance in several countries, though cults to his darker side still exist.
Mythology: Olkhir was the second son of the ravaging of Suphi by Alamir.  Unlike his brother, Olkhir was never cast down from Heaven, because he never committed any sin against the gods.  However, during the great wars of men, he frequently backed the â,¬Ëlosingâ,¬,,¢ side and argued unsuccessfully with his fellow deities. Therefore, he grew distant from them and withdrew into his own tower in Heaven, seldom coming to meet with his brethren.  He often appears in the mythology, sending various monsters and inconveniences to fight against mortal heroes.  He sometimes goes to fight with the heroes himself, although he is always bested through some trickery or because the hero receives the help of a kindly god.  He is very morose, and complains often.  More than many, he is a jealous god.
Current Teaching:The moderate Olkhirians teach that their god was a philosopher and a wizard in the First World.  While the other gods-to-be went about raising armies and fighting the Enemy directly, Olkhir took a more indirect route.  He roused the populace to action, preaching that the suffering they would endure in the process of resisting the Enemy would be a good thing because it would stifle complacency and force introspection.  Through his teachings, most of the world turned against the Enemy and he lost much of his support base.  The lesson of Olkhir is that not only those who fight evil with violence may be rewarded for their virtues.
Vievnan Animal Form: Olkhir is portrayed most commonly as the dragon-god, though really he may be portrayed as any type of lizard or snake as well.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Volkir Amnesti, who would become Olkhir, was originally named Miliardo Peacecraft.  The characterâ,¬,,¢s name was changed once the rest of the party discovered that his player (who was an avid anime fan and general japanophile) had taken the name from some anime show called Gundam or such-like.  (The Peacecrafter title remains as a nod to this development.)  He was a brooding sort, though many of his in-character philosophical contributions turned out to be lyrics from songs he was listening to.  He was part of the party from early times, though Volkir/Miliardo was not his first character â,¬' that was Aristarchus, a contemptible bastard (in the playerâ,¬,,¢s own words) that got killed off when the party turned on him (with the playerâ,¬,,¢s full consent.)  Volkir turned out to be not much better, but at least he didnâ,¬,,¢t kill NPCs outright.

Most of the time.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Onaleus
The Just Knight, The King
Physical Description: Even now that he has been formally stripped of his title of King of the Gods, Onaleus retains a royal aspect.  He is portrayed as a silver-haired man of a lean but powerful build, and he possesses a great pair of white feathery wings.  He carries in one hand a golden-colored sword and in the other hand a lightning bolt, and he wears full armor (earlier a breastplate, nowadays usually full flate armor â,¬' both gold in color.)
Symbology: Even though he has been â,¬Ëdethronedâ,¬,,¢ by the faiths, the primary symbol of Onaleus is still the crown, though the thunderbolt is arising as another powerful symbol.  He is also associated with eagles, falcons and all other manner of noble birds, in addition to clouds and a golden sword.
Portfolio:  Onaleus has had his domain change a little over time.  In an earlier time, he was the King of Heaven, with dominion over the other gods.  He was also the god of lightning and of kingship.  The magical philosophers associated him with the element of Air, as well.  After the fall of the Ekeusian empire, he was â,¬Ëdethronedâ,¬,,¢ by the other churches (who were riding an anti-royalist sentiment at the time) and he became instead the god of courtly love, chivalry, knighthood, honorable combat, noble music, and noble values.  He is in some way a counterbalance to Ali these days â,¬' while she represents pragmatic and oppressive politics, he represents more of an idealized mode of government.
Mythology: Onaleus is the second son of Durzirâ,¬,,¢s tainted union with his brotherâ,¬,,¢s wife Tithalia.  From the start, he hated his father for the illegitimate fashion in which he had been born, and when his father killed his grandfather and assumed lordship, Onaleus began at once to work against him.  Once he had unified the other deities, he overcame Durzir in a great battle and slew him personally, assuming lordship. He is the father by Lia of Ali and Emiome, and by Suphi of Xandos and Eldon.  He is a philandering deity with many other children as well â,¬' in addition to his wife Lia and her sister Suphi, he also courted a number of nymphs and other semi-divine beings.  Myria more than once had to intervene on behalf of one of her river spirits or lake nymphs who was receiving unwelcome attentions.  A great number of the mortal heroes of the myths can also trace their lineage back to Onaleus having taken a liking to a mortal woman.  At the end of the mythic cycles of Otho and Simo, however, Onaleus is tricked by Lia and is forced to swear a mighty oath that he will be faithful to her, one which the poets assure us he has ever after upheld.
Current Teaching:  Onaleus was a warrior in the First World, a member of a winged race which no longer exists and whose name is no longer rembered.  He was a pious knight and the guardian of a temple of one of the great gods.  He was wronged personally by the Enemy, and as a result he was the catalyst for the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s destruction.  He travelled throughout the First World, never flinching from his quest, gathering the necessary resouces and allies to fight against the enemy.  He led the assault on the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s stronghold, and raised a whole world to follow his banner.  It was he, with the help of Antios and Emiome, who dealt the final blow that brought down the Enemy and the First World with him.  The lesson that Onaleusâ,¬,,¢s church teaches is the tremendous power of perseverance and dedication.
Vievnan Animal Form: Oniwalu is the eagle-god, the king of the skies.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]It is wrong to speak of a protagonist for CotF, because I never saw it that way during the actual run of the game.  But reading over the session logs from the past, I think that if the game were to have been a CRPG, then Onaleus (or Oniwalu, as he was originally named) would have been the central character.  He began as a somewhat dopey Don Quixote knock-off but evolved into the pinnacle of the somewhat-slow-but-virtuous knight.  In the era before Jessica Simpsonâ,¬,,¢s chicken-of-the-sea extravaganza, he was famous for his hilariously dunce-like quotations (naming your favorite Oni-quote became a popular post-session event.)  He was one of the founding characters and, though my records are inexact, he certainly had one of the highest if not the-highest attendance rate of anyone in the group.  I believe that about a third of the PC dialogue was spoken by him, as well.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Rholerex
The Ward of Nature
Physical Description: Rholerex appears as a very tall man with wild brown hair blowing in all directions, interspersed with twigs and leaves.  He wears a crown of oak, and in his hands he often bears a cornucopia and a scimitar.  He has a distinctively fae or elven quality, and he is often accompanied by bears, wolves, and other large predatory animals.  Sometimes, he is portrayed having a pipe in his mouth.
Symbology: The wolfâ,¬,,¢s head is the primary symbol of Rholerex.  He also is represented by the pipe, and by all manner of plants, trees, and wild beasts.
Portfolio:  Rholerex is the god of the wild.  His are the swamps and the deserts, the mountains and valleys and all the terrain of the earth â,¬' but most of all, his are the forests.  It is said he wanders the forests still, in the guise of a spirit or in the guise of an animal, protecting his charges from human exploitation.  He has dominion over all trees and green plants that grow on the face of the earth, and also over wild animals; wolves and bears are particularly closely associated with him.  Though it may seem paradoxical for the Treefather, his too is Fire, natureâ,¬,,¢s most destructive secret.  So say the magical philosophers, anyway, and the clergy agrees with them.  Rholerex is venerated by woodsmen and placated by peasants forced to collect timber to build their homes and feed their fires.  He is also worshipped by the druid-cults, strange half-civilized men who spend half their lives in trances.
Mythology: When Onaleus slew Durzir, he half-expected that he would have to fight against his own older brother, Rholerex, in order to claim lordship of heaven.  It was a great surprise when Rholerex voluntarily gave control of the skies to his brother, instead requesting only that he be given control over the Earth.  It was Rholerex who nurtured the Earth and cleansed its wounds after the ravages of the Revolt of Onaleus, and did so again after the Serpentâ,¬,,¢s War cut even deeper.  He is an aloof god â,¬' although he is amorous and there are a few myths about him wooing a forest spirit or a mortal woman, he does not have many interactions with his brethren deities.  (One noteworthy exception is a myth found only briefly in Simo which declares that he once loved and courted Emiome, only to be rejected by the virgin goddess. He hardly appears in the epic war cycles at all, except to protest the great injuries which wars bear on his charges and to urge peace.
Current Teaching: Rholerex was a druid of the First World, who was sorely vexed when the Enemy wrought great destruction on the natural order of his World, and was driven to act when at last the Enemy even slew his own brethren, the fellow members of his order.  Rholerex lifted up the trees and the animals of the earth, turning them to fight against the Enemy.  When the very world itself was against him, how could the Enemy ever have prevailed?
Vievnan Animal Form: Rholerex is the bear-god, and the Vievnans emphasize his less welcoming, more destructive aspects.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Rowe, as he was usually called by the party, was played by one of the two players who first inspired me to throw together Chronicles of the Fated. (The other was Antios).   Originally, this player created a different elven druid called Neiden, but at some point after the campaign went online he decided he wanted to change to Rowe.  I canâ,¬,,¢t remember why, now â,¬' because the characters were largely identical.  It might have been a statistical redesign or something.  Heâ,¬,,¢s a good fellow who brought several of the other PCs into the group (including Eldonâ,¬,,¢s player and Aliâ,¬,,¢s.)[/ooc][/spoiler]

Suphi
The Great Mother Earth
Physical Description: Suphi is always portrayed as an exceptionally comely and curvaceous woman.   She is always portrayed naked â,¬' in modern art she has long dark locks which hang down to avoid offending the sensibilities of the viewer.  She always wears flowers in her hair, and she is frequently seen carrying corn and other crops in her hands.
Symbology: A stalk of corn is the primary symbol of Suphi.  She is also represented by any number of images considered obscene in this more â,¬Ësterileâ,¬,,¢ time, and by gemstones.
Portfolio: Suphi is the Great Mother Earth.  While Lia watches over marriage and Bimpnos over children, the actual miracle of birth is under the domain of the Mother.  She guards over the fertility of the earth, too, and she is one of the most-entreated of the gods among the rural peasantry, for she controls their lives and livelihoods.   From her original role as mother has arisen a second role, almost as important â,¬' she is the goddess with dominion over the sex act, over carnal passions and pleasures, and over love.  In this aspect, she is much-prayed to by young suitors who desperately pray to win over the affections of a desired spouse.  She is also associated with the element of Earth by magi.
Mythology:  Suphi is the oldest legitimate child of Durzir, the first daughter born to Namri.  She is thus the oldest of the gods besides Anarina.  She had an important part in the Revolt of the Gods â,¬' she lured Durzir into lowering his defenses with her seductive wiles while the remainder of the gods lay in wait to attack.  After the ascent of Onaleus, she bore him (illegitmately) Eldon and Xandos, and after being raped by Alamir during the Serpentâ,¬,,¢s War she bore Antios and Olkhir.  She also has a fair number of mortal lovers and is the parent of more demigods than any other divinity except for Onaleus.  Aside from her role as parent, she is not very prominent in the major mythology.  However, she was very, very important in a wide number of rituals performed by the ancients, and some of these spawned minor myths in order to explain the ritual actions.
Current Teaching:  By the time that Second World Doctrine was created, Suphi-worship had become focused entirely on her role as the matron of sexual delights and her earlier, more earthy and fertile, domains had been forgotten.  The architects of the new religion attempted to rescue her from what they considered to be a â,¬Ëlowâ,¬,,¢ use of such a venerable deity.  They explained that Suphi had indeed been a prostitute in the First World, but that she had repented of her base profession when she met Onaleus.  In one of the most blatantly mythological elements of Second World dogma, she is said to have spontaneously conceived and given birth to three great eagles which carried Onaleus and his companions into the heart of the Enemyâ,¬,,¢s country to confront him.  Her deification is held up as proof that the womanâ,¬,,¢s place as the bearer of children is godly and righteous.
Vievnan Animal Form: The Vievnans emphasize the fertility aspect of Suphi and downplay her role in romantic and sexual love.  To them, she is the great cow-goddess.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]I had known Suphiâ,¬,,¢s player since about the 4th grade, and I played a few highly improvised, barely-by-the-rules games of D&D with her in middle school before I found my regular online crew.  She was one of the first players in CotF, though her attendance was occasionally spotty she was there throughout.  She created Suphi (originaly Suvj, pronounced Soovdge) as a prostitute/rogue, though she never actually had any customers.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Xandos
The Spirited Youth
Physical Description: Xandos is always portrayed as a physically perfectly, well-muscled young man of twenty or so, with olive skin and medium-length black hair. He is sometimes portrayed with a short-trimmed black beard, sometimes with a clean-shaven face. He is dressed in huntsmanâ,¬,,¢s leather armor. He almost always is portrayed carrying a bow.
Symbology:  The bow is the major symbol of Xandos.  Flowers, the stag, and young men are all taken to be symbols of his.
Portfolio:  Xandos is the god of hunting and of archery.  He is also the god of male beauty, of youthfulness, and of the maturation into manhood.  In some cities, no man is considered to be an adult until he has been blessed by a priest Xandos.   Athletics are in his domain, (the many great athletic festivals of ancient and modern times are dedicated in his honor) and he also is in contrast to the several wargods in that he is the god of peace-time, self-reflection and self-improvement.  He is the god of the visual arts, particularly sculpture among them.  As such, he is much prayed-to by artists who seek his divine inspiration in their works.
Mythology:  When Xandos and Eldon were born, Lia in her jealousy cast both of them down into the lowest pits of the Earth.   While Eldon stayed there and forged a kingdom out of the souls of the dead, Xandos labored for seven years trying to return to heaven.  At last, he was granted pardon and a seat among the councils of the Gods when he wove an elaborate garland of flowers for Lia and sought repentance for his fatherâ,¬,,¢s sins.  After that, Xandos dwelt with equal frequency in Heaven and on Earth â,¬' during the springtime, in particular, he was thought to dwell on the earth and relish in the rebirth of the natural world, while fearing the power of Alamir he fled to Heaven during the winters.  In the myths, he often challenges heroes who seem to be too proud to great contests of strength.  Though he usually wins, occasionally he loses and heaps great accolades upon those who defeat him.
Current Teaching: Xandos was an orphan, a mere youth in the First World, and yet he was one of the first to rally to Onaleusâ,¬,,¢s cause, and fought alongside the winged knight with equal vigor.  The relationship between the two was very much like that of father and son, and Xandos protected his surrogate father from certain danger on more than one occasion.  He is said to have engaged in single combat with the Enemy, grappling with him before the rest of his companions arrived and the battle proper began.
Vievnan Animal Form:  In Vievnan theology, Xandos alone has a purely human form.  He is also seen as the creator of mankind in their eyes.
[spoiler=OOC]
[ooc]Xandos had been a long â,¬'running DM of mine from about sixth grade onwards. He didnâ,¬,,¢t join the Chronicles of the Fated until extremely late, however, and he only joined for three or four gaming sessions.  I kept the character as one of the fourteen gods, however, because his role as the archer god / god of youth fills an important vacancy and because it allows me to create a life-death-rebirth cycle, which my mythology had otherwise been lacking.[/ooc][/spoiler]

Important â,¬ËSecondaryâ,¬,,¢ Gods

Agria:Agria is the guardian of Heaven.  She appears as a warrior-maiden in the Myrian style, adorned in breastplate and carrying a shield and a spear.  

[Kalos Mer]

This is a rough conceptual version of the new map I'm designing for Tasothilos.  The basic relative layout will look like this, though the size, shape, etc of coastline is liable to change.



Color Key:
The area in red will be the home to MOST of the kingdoms that dedicated Tasothilos readers have been exploring so far- Andozia, Sanceline, Ferrund, Vievna, etc.  Most of these insular nations have been re-written as coastal continental kingdoms, though Miloa, Akmet and Philstaros (at least) are still insular.

The grey area are the great mountain ranges - smaller ranges (not pictured) exist in the red area.

The pink area is the domain of the great orc empire.  A few other small nations of the various other races exist here as well, but the orcs are the dominant power.

The big yellow area in the middle is a vast desert.  Ever since first seeing Star Wars, I've had a fascination with desert culture, so one of the crucial parts of the remapping plan was to get a desert in the picture.  Still no concrete idea what's gonna go here though.

The light green area is the domain of Sakrtskaya.  It's a LOT bigger now, but remember that Sakrtskaya is a convenient name for a number of feuding principalities with similar culture and religion, rather than an actual nation per se.

The white area is tundra or sea that is dominated by icebergs.

The remaining dark green areas are 'blank spots' on the map.  I'll fill them in a little later.

Edit: Taectenatl is located on a continent across the sea to the east.  I'm currently planning to design at least 1 other major nation on that continent to rival Taectenatl.