Concordance

[SA]

ЭЮ
The Divines
Dh Adjani

There are many Gods.  Some say they are as many as the stars in the sky (ironically, the stars, too, are gods).  Others claim there are more divinities throughout the cosmos than there are mortals to worship them; that every zephyr, stone or whispered promise is the purview of some petty microcosmic deity.  Whatever the truth of the matter, the Pale Empire recognises thirteen divine beings as the True Gods of Creation.  Known collectively as the GodHead, these grand and terrible beings lord over the Empireâ,¬,,¢s innumerable worlds with a bloody iron hand, from the magnificent heavenly world of Nessar.

The Trinity
Adjanisura

Also known as the Highest Lords, the August Kings or, less reverently, the Merciless Ones, these three indomitable figures hold their seat in the Palace of Multitudes.  Together they are in command of what are enigmatically called the â,¬Å"three essences of mortalityâ,¬Â: Agony, Irony and Transience.  Through their mastery of these essences, and unified under one divine cause, the August Kings hold total sway over the fates and actions of mortalkind.

The Trinity are the oldest gods counted among the GodHead, and, with the possible exception of Temeris, it is unknown from whence they came.

[ic=The Terror Beside the Mountain, Excerpt]â,¬Â¦When I came down from the summit, there beside the mountainâ,¬,,¢s foot was a great tree, many miles from base to canopy, and it was all of bronze aglow with a fire many times hotter than any hell.  Its leaves were knives, its bark festooned with iron nails innumerable, and across its face were strung countless sinners who wailed as they roasted and lamented as the blades cleaved their flesh.

And seated before that tree there was a man, black as obsidian with eyes veiled like the gibbous moon.  All across his flesh, wounds wept a dark substance that crept across the earth like rivers, and as he looked upon me, he smiled.

â,¬Å"Behold, for I am Agony.â,¬Â[/ic]
Agony
Maenachus
A Waxing Gibbous Moon
The Terrible One, The Blood Fiend, Lord of Agonies

The oldest and most feared member of the Trinity, but also the one seemingly least concerned with the governance of the Empire, Maenachus dwells in the horrific Palace of Temperance, a great fortress of ivory and onyx, slick with the blood of the billions slain in his name, and standing on foundations wrought from the anguished memories of his conquered foes.  He is a creature notorious for his phenomenal cruelty (could the embodiment of agony be anything but?), and innumerable worlds have fallen to hellish ruin by his decree, often over slights other gods might deem trivial.

Ironically, he is a creature of unassuming appearance, appearing most often as a handsome man with jet black skin and bright pale eyes.  But he is covered all over in terrible unhealing wounds from a time not even his kindred can recall, and his indigo blood (which flows constantly) is said to have a murderous mind of its own.

The Terrible One commands a host of eighty-eight thousand sechuddra (aspects of pain), though none have been sighted since the Alabaster War, and they are assumed to lie dormant in the catacombs beneath the Sanguine Halls, awaiting his dark summons.  His mortal servants are often counted among the Arbiters, where their vicious brand of justice serves to strike fear into the people of the Pale Empire.

Irony
Elokhavastra
A Snow-White Raven on a Pale Branch
The Contrary Queen, Lady of Expectations

Generally regarded as the leader of the Trinity (though many speculate that Maenachus is more powerful), it is Elokhavastraâ,¬,,¢s radiant image that most often adorns imagery of the GodHead.  She appears as an albino raven with golden-edged wings.

She revels in deception, and even among her fellow gods there are none who know her true form, or indeed her name (Elokhavastra means, literally, â,¬Å"the one whose name is Trickeryâ,¬Â).  A single world from her is enough to convince any mortal man that his entire life was ill spent, that all he understands is false; and if not outright liars or frauds, her followers are all at least invariably something other than they seem.

The Contrary Queen has no fixed dwelling.  It is said that she spends her days in the skies above the golden city of Xamsara, or navigates the dark celestial currents that run between worlds.  When the GodHead holds court, she alights on the shoulder of Zaphot, whom many believe to be her consort.

Transience
Temeris
A Starry Sky, Split Asunder
The Impermanent One, The Dancing Lady, Lady Ephemera

When Amsaris, First among the Divines, was slain by Koliseht during the Alabaster War, Maenachus worked an insidious magic that none knew to exist anywhere in the Cosmos: he seized her fading form from Beyond the Veil and brought the goddess back to life.  However, such a powerful magic was not without its flaws, and the being restored in the Resurrection was not Amsaris as the Empire had known her.  Her memory was fragmented, her powers muted, and her form altered.

Now named Temeris, this new goddess dwells in the Sun-Realm of Illael, once the palace of the treacherous sun god who had slain her.  She most commonly has the appearance of a young child, with auburn hair and cobalt eyes, and she is incapable of speech: only the GodHead can comprehend her will.

Temeris is lady of all things fleeting, and her form shifts from moment to moment: she might change from beast to bird to veil of shimmering starlight all in the blink of an eye.  Her followers are never of single mind, and it is said that if ever a god came dangerously close to Chaos, it is she.  But none dare question her intent, for her first death partially anchored Temeris in Time, and this allows her to sense the profane disturbances of Chaos like lesions on her own flesh, something the Godhead deems invaluable.

[SA]

[ooc]

The Trinity is complete.  Tell me what y'all think:
Are they okay deities? (They are essentially the overdeities of the Pale Empire)

[/ooc]

[SA]

The Ten
Sephirot

Beneath the Highest Lords, the Ten Emanations or Divinities comprise the Heavenly Court of the GodHead.  It is by their ruling (enforced by the bloody-handed Arbiters) that the Pale Empire is guided, and decisions are determined by majority vote, with ties resolved through the ruling of the Trinity.  Though unified in their pursuit of the Perfect Order, the Divinities are notoriously conflicted in their approach to that end.  This flaw, above all else, may prove the Empireâ,¬,,¢s undoing in the Chaos War.

[ic=Memories in the Stars]When the woman ceased her dancing, and the chaos in the skies had quietened, she raised her hands to the heavens.

There, scattered across the firmament: ten new stars in perfect orbit about the sign of the Broken Song; a new constellation.

And she spoke:

â,¬Å"Know their names, for they are the Lords of this Earth, and of all others.â,¬Â[/ic]
Regality
Eylon
A White Crown
The Alabaster King, The White-Handed Lord

Highest among the Ten Emanations, Eylon is called King of Kings, for he embodies the power and pride of those who sit on the thrones of nations and worlds.  He is a glorious figure: a bald man with a featureless face, well over three metres tall but slender and sinuous.  His skin is pure white, and slightly translucent, and his voice (which emanates from the very air around him) can slay armies or stir whole worlds to action.

Eylon is considered by many the leader of the Divines, though in truth he has no more explicit power than any of his peers; rather, he sways the votes of his fellow Divinities through his phenomenal tact and persuasive power.  In such a manner, it was by his insistence that the GodHead waged the millennium-long war against the Sun Gods, and for that reason it was called the Alabaster War.  It is a strange thing, then, that the White Handed Lord was once a Sun God himself.

Violence
Hod
A Broken Wing
The Black Lord, Father Venom

When the Demon Kings of Imnaroketh (the Thirty-sixth Hell) amassed their armies against the Pale Empire early in the First Aeon, the GodHead forged a tenuous pact with the Foul Legion of Hastur, the Emperor of Samkaris (the Fourth Hell), ensuring their allegiance in the coming conflict.  In return, Hastur was granted a seat on the Empireâ,¬,,¢s council, albeit with great reluctance.  When Hastur eventually succumbed to old age (even gods die, given time, and the Black Lord was older even than Maenachus), he was succeeded by his â,¬Å"sonâ,¬Â Hod.

Hod is a brute of astonishing size, rippling with muscle and sinew, and covered in horns and the accumulated trophies of millennia of hellish conquest.  His voice sounds like the cries of all the wretched souls in all the hells, and he is accompanied by the bitter stink of blood.

Ignorance
Zaphot
A Closed Eye
The Sightless One, Lady Blind

Zaphot is unique among the gods, for, even by divine standards, she could hardly be called alive.  When she was but an infant, sleeping within a young star, Chokhmah, prophesying some dark future for her, seized her from her manger and killed her.  Then, for reasons he never revealed, he breathed a false-life into her flesh.  Thus Zaphot is a deathly spirit-creature, residing halfway between this bright Cosmos and the Whispering Void of the next.

The Sightless One appears as a young woman with black hair and emerald eyes, a pair of black feathered wings extending from her back.  She is sightless, and many call her naïve to the affairs of the Empire, but she remembers clearly the nature of the Divine Afterlife, something even Temeris cannot boast.

Sorrow
Chasod
A Red Teardrop
Lord of Tears, The Weeping One

No-one truly knows from whence Chasod came, nor can it be clearly stated at what point he entered the GodHead.  Most commonly, he is said to have been born in the tears of the traitor-goddess Lehoset when her homeworld was condemned to ruin by Maenachus, and indeed Chasod endorses this, though not even the other Divinities appear to recall this.

The Lord of Tears is a frail, aging man with a wiry grey beard and long white hair.  He is constantly weeping red tears, and his faint, rasping voice inspires lethal sorrow in all mortals who hear it; for this reason he does not speak, even amongst his fellow Divinities.  What great sorrow inspires such grief in Chasod is a mystery to all, but it is whispered that he truly laments the inevitable fate of all sentient beingsâ,¬Â¦

Knowledge
Chokhmah
A Serpent Encircling a Moon
The Serpent Prince, The Many-Eyed

Certain conspiracy theorists claim that the Netherine Court lurks unseen behind the actions of the GodHead.  While this is undoubtedly false, the Naga Lords do have a voice upon the Council: Chokhmah, the Serpent Prince, whose five progeny rule the many brackish realms of Tconsoor.  He, in turn, is the progeny of Mezacoatl, the father of all serpentkind.

The Serpent Prince is, as his name suggests, a snake of great size: his silver body is as thick as a manâ,¬,,¢s torso and fifty feet in length.  Like his brethren, he does not slither upon the ground; rather, he glides through the air as an eel might swim through the water.  Disturbingly, Chokhmah has no eyes; they were plucked from his head by his own father as penance for an ancient slight against his kin.

Thus, he, like Zaphot, is blind, but he is far from ignorant.  It is said that no secret within a mortal mind may be kept from him.

[ooc]

More to comeâ,¬Â¦

[/ooc]

[SA]

[ooc]

I'll finish the GodHead later (there are five more to detail).
For now, I think it's time for a little more on the world itself...

[/ooc]

[Lmns Crn]

A brief comment, before I head off to work.

Your deities are frighteningly evocative-- would that I could weave such compelling images in so few words. More noteworthy, the Godhead represents an interesting mix of clashing principles. I've seen many pantheons illustrated, but none so deliciously opaque as one presided over by Irony perched on the shoulder of Ignorance.

I'll be keeping an eye on this, certainly. It's fascinating.  Longer comment later.

[So-Keher]

I read somewhere in the core books about a world with two plates (planes if you will) facing each other. One is ordered society (law) and the other is awildernes of beats and disorder (chaos).

It seems to fit your philosophy, maybe you could use it.

i think it is in the DMG

[SA]

A brief comment, before I head off to work.

Your deities are frighteningly evocative-- would that I could weave such compelling images in so few words. More noteworthy, the Godhead represents an interesting mix of clashing principles. I've seen many pantheons illustrated, but none so deliciously opaque as one presided over by Irony perched on the shoulder of Ignorance.

I'll be keeping an eye on this, certainly. It's fascinating.  Longer comment later.

[ooc]With the GodHead I wanted the pantheon to be something other than a bunch of complementary deities whose portfolios serve to accentuate and contrast each other.  In Concordance, gods have come and gone over the ages, introducing concepts that might be at fundamental odds with, unusually juxtaposed with, of simply out-of-place in the pantheon at large. The original Ten Emanations all made sense together, but these ones do not.

Also as a side note: the idea for the "Ten Emanations" is based on the ten enumerations or sephirot of the Talmud.[/ooc]

I read somewhere in the core books about a world with two plates (planes if you will) facing each other. One is ordered society (law) and the other is awildernes of beats and disorder (chaos).

It seems to fit your philosophy, maybe you could use it.

i think it is in the DMG

Ah, yes.  The Twin Paradises of Bytopia.  I've always been a fan of that particular imagery, and I plan to use it, although not in order to express the Law/Chaos opposition.  Rather, that's the orientation of many of the Infernal Realms (i.e. the Hells).[/ooc]

[Hibou]

That is Bytopia, I believe. It kind of fits the philosophy and it's one of the trippiest of the Outer Planes (in my opinion), but I don't know if Salacious is one to use core material :)

[SA]

[ooc]You're right, there, Mezerous.  When I use core material I feel kinda... dirty.  Not to say that Core's a bad thing or anything - far from it - but... y'know... kinda dirty.[/ooc]

[Hibou]

Yeah, Core is kind of like the sandbox of the D&D game - it's great fun the first few hundred times you jump in, but after a while of transporting ever-valuable sand and rocks across the box while never venturing out, you start to get sick of getting covered in dirt for the same result.

:)

[Tybalt]

I like how you are using the Tree from the Talmud to name and describe these deities, in part. There is a unique flavour to your campaign world because of them. I'm looking forward to reading more.

[SA]

[ic=Confrontations]Robilarâ,¬,,¢s hand smoked, and he laughed sardonically as the man stumbled, gasping, blood frothing from his mouth.  Ã¢,¬Å"You picked the wrong time to look to the stars, old man.â,¬Â

With a clatter, the astronomer crashed into a stack of books and instruments, falling flat on his arse.  He stared blindly, shocked, mouthing silent words.

â,¬Å"Understand: this isnâ,¬,,¢t personal.  The Archivists got wind of your little discovery, and they sent me toâ,¬Â¦ sort things out.â,¬Â  Absently spinning the face of a nearby astrolabe, he continued.  Ã¢,¬Å"You canâ,¬,,¢t be permitted to know what you know.  There are certain orders that must not be disturbed.  I donâ,¬,,¢t know what it is you saw, and I donâ,¬,,¢t care.  Iâ,¬,,¢m just here to make you forget.â,¬Â

The old manâ,¬,,¢s chest rose and fell softly, weakly, then, raising a bloody finger, he pointed.  Robilar turned, following the astronomerâ,¬,,¢s gaze.

â,¬Å"Oh fuck.â,¬Â[/ic]

ЭЮ
History
Queiut

In the torchlit halls of Collmeteane, a thousand levels deep into the bowels of a nameless Apocalypse-world, the lifeless Archivists labour as they have laboured for millennia upon millennia, recording the history of the Pale Empire.  Before Amsaris crushed Lord Roâ,¬,,¢Sat and set his worlds aflame, the Archivists were undying artists gifted with an expressiveness not seen anywhere else in all the mortal worlds of the Cosmos.  But the Divine Motherâ,¬,,¢s burning scourge stripped them of all individuality and emotiveness, and now they are but fleshy automatons, forever aflame and tormented, consigned to fill unceasingly the annals of an empire they despise.

[ic=History]

Years prior to the Unification are marked D.E. (Disparate Era)
Years after the Unification are marked U.E (Unified Era)

The Dark Aeon (beyond time)
Cjybeld, Murseig and Fyrn shape unspeakable wonders in the featureless Void on the very verges of the Cosmos.  Cjybeld delves into the Eldritch River, discovering magic, and in doing so comes upon the Chaos Gate.  Peering inside, she is horrified by what she sees, and warns her siblings against the Arcane.

The First Aeon (c. 12â,¬,,¢532â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E and prior)
Neberus and Mtarta, the Dark Demiurges, awaken in the darkness of Nimliggeid.  Neberus creates the Scmota, beings forged from pure shadow in his own likeness.  He shelters them in Sceltaime, the first Dark City.  Mtarta takes umbrage at his creation, and seeks a way in which to undermine it.  She wanders for a long while, eventually happening upon the first star, Ulisheth, and raises him to maturity.  At Mtartaâ,¬,,¢s behest, Ulisheth assaults Sceltaime, destroying it with his radiance.  Neberus, in his rage, kills Ulisheth and rapes Mtarta, impregnating her with Omillion, the Prince of Ten Thousand Shades.  Mtarta dies soon after her sonâ,¬,,¢s birth.

Omillion, under his fatherâ,¬,,¢s tutelage, learns the secrets of shadow and reforges the Scmota in such a manner that they are now impervious to light.  In an act of treachery, he commands his creations against his father, and Neberus is overwhelmed and slain.  From the Demiurgeâ,¬,,¢s corpse, Omillion crafts Hirsyne, the First Sword of Darkness.  He then wanders Hisseln, the Path of Aspirations, and there discovers the Starlit Void and the thousands of sleeping star-children therein.  Using Hirsyne to cow the newly awakened godlings into submission, he then commands the Scmota to build a temple to his dark glory at the Heart of the Universe.  This Umbral Hall spans a million upon a thousand leagues.

Omillion makes one law for the star gods and the shadow folk:

Never shall there be a union
Of shadow and light

For millennia uncountable, Omillion sleepsâ,¬Â¦

The star godlings mature, and, in Omillionâ,¬,,¢s absence, begin breeding with the Scmota, flouting their lordâ,¬,,¢s sole decree.  From such unions are born the Mellhywne, the Spectral Gods.  The Mellhywne create the first worlds, and lord over them with the Sun Gods watching above.  The Scmota retire to their palaces in vast caverns carved into the very face of the Cosmos itself.

(c. 8â,¬,,¢040â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
Omillion awakens in his Umbral Hall, and, seeing the unity of dark and light that has proliferated in his absence, is angered.  He seizes the Scmota and scatters them in their trillions across the Void, so that all is dark, and binds the Sun Gods to their respective worlds so that they may not travel the Void.  The Mellhywne, in his eyes bastard spawn not fit for living, are interred deep beneath the earth, where their parents cannot find them.  He also strips the Scmota of language, and forever removes comprehension of their words from all who would ever hear them.  He then wanders the Path of Aspirations once more, returning to Nimliggeid and leaving Hirsyne behind at the bottom of the Eternity Vault.

For millennia, there is silence.

(c. 7â,¬,,¢385â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
From deep in the heart of his world, the brooding Mellhywne, Ferhatut, begins to shape the face of the earth, eventually creating Nimlis, the First Life.  Ceparte, the Sun God, spies Nimlis from the skies and nurtures her.  Nimlis divides and multiplies for countless generations.

(c. 7â,¬,,¢621â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Abrogha tear through the Veil of Souls, disrupting the Cosmic Equilibrium.  The Scmota defend the Cosmos against the onslaught, and after a million years of warfare the Dead Ones are repelled.

(c. 7â,¬,,¢618â,¬,,¢400â,¬,,¢000D.E)
Uchthassalsed, highest among the Scmota, creates the first wyrms, Rodhei and Iubeld, from his own blood.  He commands them and their progeny (not yet born) to watch over the Sun Gods, the Starlings and the Mellhywne.  The wyrms nest in Ymsut, the Place of Fears.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢387â,¬,,¢000â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Nimliad, descendents of Nimlis, establish a world-spanning empire.  Ceparte inspires them to create the Starry Road, which delves deep into the Void.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢331â,¬,,¢550â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Nimliad reach another world and colonise it.  Through the Nimliad, Ceparte communicates with the Sun God of the new world.  Once more, the Nimliad set out across the Void.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢298â,¬,,¢362â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Nimliad have colonised 3â,¬,,¢828 worlds and reunited 2â,¬,,¢655 Sun Gods.  Through communion, the Sun Gods discover a means by which to contact their siblings who have not yet been encountered by the Nimliad.  Thus, the Ephemeral Star is forged on the Nimliad homeworld, Ferhatut.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢298â,¬,,¢129â,¬,,¢000D.E)
3â,¬,,¢389â,¬,,¢103â,¬,,¢475 Sun Gods are united by the light of the Ephemeral Star.  Construction of the Wayward Road begins.  Shaped by the individual whims of various Mellhywne, and altered by the different lights of the Sun Gods, countless new beasts are sired from Nimliad stock.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢101â,¬,,¢357â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Wayward Road connects more than a trillion worlds, with millions upon billions of disparate races within them.  Communication between worlds becomes lax, and for the first time there is dissent amongst the Gods.  War is imminent.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢101â,¬,,¢342â,¬,,¢000D.E)
The Astral War begins.  Untold numbers of worlds are destroyed, consumed first by fiery fury and then bathed in impossible chill as their lords are slain by their rivals and the light that warms them dims.

(c. 5â,¬,,¢100â,¬,,¢216â,¬,,¢000D.E)
Finally, the Astral War ends.  The Wayward Roads lie sundered, and the Sun Gods are embittered and distrustful of their siblings.  The Ephemeral Star dims, severing contact, and the Mellhywne go once more to sleep.  Eons pass, nations rise and fall in brutal succession across millions of worlds.[/ic]

[Hibou]

Mmmm... what did he see? :O

[SA]

[ooc]That is the question.[/ooc]

[SA]

[ooc]

Nothing to see here.

[/ooc]