Tena'aven: The High Order

**The High Order**, sometimes referred to as **The High Table**, is the pantheon of all the major deities in Tena'aven. According to the theory of balance, sentient mortals exist as the counterweight to their immortal deities, and must engage in complex relationships and worship of all deities in the pantheon to maintain that balance. The exception is the God of Life, Qi'tena, who's worship is limited to the High Priestess and Grand High Priestesses of Aaven'tun.

## The Pantheon

* Qi’tena - God of Life, Chief Deity
* Aaven’tun - God the Sun and Justice, right hand to Qi'tena
* Heolin - God of Birds and Wisdom, communication with the spirits
* J’tulia - God of Lakes, Rivers, and Knowledge
* Gadota - God of the Sea and Abundance
* Kvenen - God of Storms and Violence
* Tir - God of the Greenstride (nature, love, sex) and Healing
* N’tunlin - God of the Swamps and Pestilence
* Yetsulun - God of the Blue Moon and Intuition. The large moon in the sky is named Yetsulun as well.
* Iptelan - God of the Yellow Moon and Mystery. The small moon in the sky is named Iptelan as well.
* Opalon - God of the Desert and Trickery
* Ipsun’tun - God of the Stars, Death, and Birth
* Yetin’tola - God of Mountains and Dragons

## Mythology

It is believed that when the ethereal immortality of Qi'tena was willed into existence, so too was the mortal, material world. Seeing existence before them as balanced, but empty, Qi'tena gave birth to the rest of the High Order by gifting pieces of his immortality to material parts of the world. As she did so, each of the sentient species also came to be in balance so that the universe would remain in existence.

First Qi'tena created Aaven'tun from the warmth of the sunlight, and at her feet woke the first human infants who were raised by the God of Light and Justice to be the carriers of her flame. Aaven'tun pledged themselves as a champion for Qi'tena, and was accepted as the most loyal of his order.

From a falling feather, Heolin opened his eyes and drifted along the wind, to soar like the birds. From their tears of joy at their new freedom, the High Elves woke up in groves of golden wheat with blackbirds singing from the trees. They spoke of wisdom, and taught mortals how to communicate with the Gods by whispering their messages to various birds.

Fascinated by the smoothest rock at on the banks near the Great Citadel, Qi'tena's only drop of immortal blood touched the waters of the clearest river when it was drawn by the sharpest rock that existed in the balance, J'tulia emerged from her watery womb with the Gnomes at her breast, and together they built cool homes in hilly burrows next to rivers and lakes while they became the keepers of the knowledge of life.

Gadota was created in both violence and creation, as heavy sea water crashed against the rocky shores of Tena'aven. With jewelled shells and precious sea glass, he built the first Halflings, who would always love the finer things and produce abundance where ever they settled.

The balance was disrupted, as the sea is not simply waves and salt water, but also the great storms that rage when the warm winds arrive. To quell the imbalance, Kvenen shouted his protests and raged against the land until Qi'tena allowed her creation, her words hitting deep into the stone where Dwarves would live and rage, just as she does on the surface.

Walking deep in his domain, Qi'tena came upon a dense wood. His journey within would forever been known as the Greenstride, for wherever he stepped, new mortal life grew beneath. This would become the domain of Tir, who's balance is maintained by the Wood Elves.

The balance was becoming a complex tapestry, and Qi'tena struggled to keep it. Yet, no matter where he journeyed and how he contemplated, it had not been reached. While sipping water from one of J'tulia's everclear springs, a small speck of dirt fell into the water in his hands, providing divine inspiration. With the clean and pure, must come the dirt and the sick. There are those that live in the light, and those in the dark. From that which lives in clear water, must come those that live in the swamp. From mud and water, N'tunlin was constructed. His great being brought forth the Mogogols of the great wetlands, who would always be free of his pestilence.

Yetsulun was the large Blue Moon, to reflect in the sky Tena'aven, and in its midnight light, the Mountain Orcs first stepped upon Tena'aven

Yet, the balance couldn't be complete without the small Yellow Moon, for the light from Yetsulun shone upon the land with no counterpart. Iptelan joined her sibling in the sky, and Desert Orcs settled in the dust and sand on the western frontier.

The honesty and majesty of the High Order, and their mortal counterparts, still needed balance. Though many protested, Qi'tena insisted that Opalon, God of trickery would be created on a puff of dust from the desert sands. Each grain that fell from his body became a Tiefling, with cunning minds and infectious laughs.

Life was blooming on Tena'ven, but mortality must come eventually. With the death of the first creature came Ipsun'tun, formed from a piece of it's spirit and that of Qi'tena. After death, must also come birth. Dark Elves crawled in the dark, the light on their eyes became the first spark of the second generation after death arrived.

While the land remained still, Qi'tena knew this wouldn't last, as stillness must eventually become motion, as one cannot exist without the other. Finally, the land trembled, and great mountains rose towards the sky. However, there was no living creature, nor immortal god, that could match the strength and size of the great stone spires in Tena'aven. So Qi'tena took the wings of a blackbird, at the insistence of Heolin, and connected them to the grandest mountain in the western range. In fire and smoke, rose Yetin'tola, a great stone dragon that can make the land shake when she lands and turn the sky to night during midday as she soars over the sky. From within her mountainous skeleton broke the Dragonborn, masters of elements, strength, and balance.

Still Qi'tena needed to maintain balance, smaller and smaller to the tiniest creature. As each spirit gained it's immortal existence, so too did a mortal creature bloom, or crawl, or fly on the wind. In their grand creation, Qi'tena has balanced all that is Tena'aven, and all sentient creatures have been charged with maintaining the balance that gifted us all with life.