Pantheon of Fools

## Common Knowledge

The denizens of K’Vesten would tell any outsider that theirs is a godless land. In the quietude of their homes they know this is a lie, but fear the consequences of invoking such beings.

## Further Description

The Pantheon of Fools is a group of deities created by the Elder Goddess of Possibility. Each represents a balance between two antithetical ideas, and seeks to bring balance between the two in their interactions with mortals. When a mortal beseeches them for a blessing, they will very often grant it. There is always some great sacrifice for such a boon, whether immediate or later in time. Since their worship leads to such dire consequences, believers do not speak of them and hide any idols or iconography featuring them.

Though not explicitly bound to the region of K’Vesten, most of their activities center on that region of Orelisle, and the taboo surrounding them keeps their worship centralized around that area.

## Members

### Ch’vel, the Towerkeeper

A god of health and atrophy, Ch’vel grants longevity but often maims or deforms those who pray for it. He is depicted as both a young man in his prime and a decrepit elder on the cusp of death, and his symbol is a rook chess piece.

### Y’th, the Bull

A god of strength and fragility, Y’th grants strength but at the cost of mental fortitude. Soldiers not afraid to lose themselves in a coming battle sometimes pray to Y’th. He is depicted as a mighty bull or minotaur with one gilded horn and one cracked horn, and his symbol is a bull head.

### A’coba, the Chained Maiden

A goddess of oath and abandon, A’coba grants willpower to uphold or escape from an oath. The consequences of this willpower often come naturally, and she needs to do very little to ensure them. Because of this, A’coba is one of the most-worshipped Fools. She is depicted as a maiden adorned in shackles and chains, and her symbol is a length of chain.

### H’nse, the Veiled Widow

A goddess of pain and pleasure, H’nse grants or removes pain or pleasure to her followers or those near them, but always grants or takes away the other in return. She is prayed to by those seeking strength in transformation, among others. She is depicted as an older woman wearing black robes and a black veil covering her face. Supposedly, the face beneath the veil is covered in scratches and scars but smiles nonetheless. H’ne’s symbol is a thorned rose.

### T’qarr, the Sculptor

A god of fire and ice, T’qarr would sometimes grant survival through harsh summer droughts or winter blights. In exchange, something would be lost next season. He rarely intervenes, and is rarely invoked. T’qarr is depicted as a man sculpting the world as his own body erodes away, and his symbol is a chisel. Some people believe he had a hand in shaping the world itself.

### Ci’lona, the Lorn Mother

A goddess of loss and longing, Ci’lona is prayed to by those who had lost and are willing to sacrifice one life for another. She is also prayed to by those who longed, and are willing to lose something in exchange. She is depicted as a stern but kind woman who acts as mother to all and overseer to the Pantheon, and her symbol is a human heart. She is also often referred to simply as “Mother”.

### L’umra, the Lantern Bearer

A god of light and darkness, Lum’ra is prayed to by those who wish to overcome the darkness within themselves, or by those looking to hide from the light. She is also prayed to by those literally trying to hide or literally illuminate their path. The light or darkness she grants usually stays longer than is beneficial, and her reach is often vague and undefined, so L’umra is rarely invoked. She is depicted as a genderfluid person with glowing skin obscured by a sweeping cloak, carrying a lantern used to guide those to the next life, and her symbol is an unlit lantern.

### Z’tre

A god of chance and fortune. The act of gambling is a tribute to its power. Its symbol is a coin.

## History

### Creation

When Temporis was still young, the Elder Goddess of Possibility created many deities to expand what would be possible for mortals and other creatures. These deities would grant a boon if asked, but would exact a penalty in exchange. This opened many options for what could transpire in dire circumstances, at a hefty toll some time in the future which restricted new options. In the eons following their creation, and their apparent distancing from their creator Goddess these deities would be called members of the “Pantheon of Fools”, for only a fool would pray for their aid.

### Bargains

The Pantheon of Fools has made bargains with mortals for a long time. The earliest known instance is in 31,149 B.B., when Y’th helped Daugon soldiers turn the tide against clans Faidor and Argider. There may have been bargains struck before this, even.

### K’Vesten Magisters’ “Divine Dynasties” (8,593 A.B. - 8,743 A.B.)

To secure the powerful positions they held and their descendents would hopefully hold, the thirteen Magisters of K’Vesten decided that they would steal the power of deities and instill it into their bloodlines. Through foul magics, members of the Pantheon of Fools were summoned and bound, and fractions of their power siphoned away into these dark mages. Though only seven truly succeeded in their efforts to attain godly power and live unscathed, it weakened and diminished some members of the Pantheon.

As retribution for what was taken, the Pantheon conspired to destroy the divine dynasties their stolen powers spawned. By their influence, danger sought out the unscrupulous mages and their families, misfortune befell their houses and affairs, droughts and plagues stifled their lands, the list goes on. By 8,743, the Pantheon seemed satisfied that the Magisters’ penance had been exacted.

### Legacy of the Bethlems (8,593 A.B. - Present)

The only surviving “divine” lineage was that of Avo Bethlem. Rather than stealing the power of L’umra, whom he had chosen as the ideal candidate to steal from, Avo and L’umra simply spoke a great deal about themselves and their work. L’umra departed peacefully, neither power stolen nor bargain struck. Months later, Avo summoned L’umra again, with much greater ease. Again, they simply spoke to each other about themselves. L’umra began appearing to Avo by their own will, Avo gave up his desire to bargain for their blood. The two fell in love, and eventually conceived a child. This child inherited both her father’s magical aptitudes, and her mother’s photomancy (once activated by a small ritual circle marked on her skin, patterned after the ritual circle Avo first used to summon L’umra).

Once Avo passed, his daughter rapidly rose the ranks of the Bethlem family to become the new Magister in his stead. With the powers of L’umra freely given, she and her lineage would befall no misfortunes as their divine colleagues would. Though the first child of Avo wielded powers over light and shadow, all subsequent offspring who inherited L’umra’s gift would alternate which half of photomancy they received. One child would be blessed with the power of shadows, then their child with the power of light, then the next child of light’s child with the power of shadow again, and so on ad infinitum.

The Bethlems became masters of K’Vesten, the power behind the Magisters (who were behind the throne, making the Bethlems the power behind the power behind the throne). Eventually, the power would pass to Magister Balthazar Vozar Bethlem, who decided it was time to rebuild K’Vesten to its former glory. His power over shadows let him manipulate people with offerings of dark power, and in turn they would do his bidding. Through these pacts, he would manipulate Daugon to wage war with Taphran in 9,764 A.B., and then many Aetorg tribes to do the same in 9,814 A.B..

Balthazar’s greatest scheme, which very nearly panned out, involved a massive ritual to enshroud a region of Orelisle in shadow. He anticipated that such a ritual might be too much of a drain on him and his powers, and that his soul might be consumed by the ritual. To ensure his lineage continued, and to acquire the power needed for this ritual, Balthazar set out on his most complicated, long-shot scheme yet: creating a Binturian. Binturians -- that is, members of the Binturian Party -- were known to have the power to return from death. Bethlem theorized that something about their souls could fuel a ritual more than once, or perhaps without limit. If he could somehow produce offspring who, by the nature of their upbringing and the culture surrounding it, would become outcasts and turn to lives of adventuring, then those offspring would have a high chance of becoming members of the Binturian Party and therefore have those powerful souls he had need of.

Balthazar travelled Orelisle for years, fathering children and then vanishing in the dead of night under cover of shadow. One of those children he fathered with Angela Am’alucelle, Madame of House Ostinato in the Underdark who was still mourning the loss of her husband. Their child, one Bolvar Ostinato, would be adopted as a full member of the Ostinato clan, despite his status as a bastard. Bolvar would later become known as Niccolaux, “Champion of the People”, who departed the Confederacy to a life of adventure after receiving death threats for advocating equal rights for all dark elves. Niccolaux Ostinato, later *just* Niccolaux, would go on to join the Binturian Party in 10,017 A.B., exactly as Balthazar had intended.

Unfortunately, Balthazar had been long dead by then. By 9,824 A.B. he had grown impatient waiting for his Binturian protege to appear, and out of hubris he decided to continue with his ritual despite the danger. Though it succeeded in casting K’Vesten into darkness, it did cost Balthazar his life. By chance Balthazar’s soul was torn from the afterlife by a rogue Reaper on All Hallows’ Eve, to torment the Binturian Party. Coming face to face with his long-sought Binturian Child, Balthazar stalled for time as he used his remaining shadow powers to latch onto Niccolaux. Though an unseen force of darkness stronger than he could imagine blocked him from acting on anything, Balthazar reconstituted himself with a soul of pure shadows and found a blank homunculus body to inhabit in 10,018 A.B..

Now in a new body, he inscribed the ritual mark into Niccolaux and awakened his powers of light, and attempted to cast Zondros into darkness using his son as the battery. Niccolaux, opposed to the ritual both on principle and as First Lord of Zondros, successfully rebuffed his father and stopped the ritual. Balthazar retreated in his new body, and has not been seen since. Niccolaux, though no longer a member of House Ostinato, is still First Lord of Zondros, and continues to experiment with his new powers.

### Dungeonopolis (8,593 A.B. - Present)

Z’tre, the god of chance and fortune, was significantly weakened by the efforts of the Magisters. In order to recuperate, he created a tribute to his power that would draw in powerful gamblers. This “adventurer’s casino” was an ever-shifting labyrinth that presented randomized tasks to potential challengers, in exchange for more and better loot. In doing so, however, Z’tre bound himself to this tribute, granting the labyrinth some level of sentience. Its monsters acted as an immune system, magically conjured from nowhere to fend off intruders. Its loot became waste of the system, becoming more refined the closer to the heart of the maze it was found.

Z’tre’s position was untenable, though. The waste of the loot still drained his power, and if too many adventurer’s partook in his gambling then it would completely waste him away. Using the last reserves of his power, Z’tre entombed his dungeon beneath a mountain of rubble, where he remained for centuries.

In 10,019 A.B., a small earthquake in northern Etton revealed the entrance to the dungeon once more, and it naturally drew the attention of adventuring parties and many world powers. A tent town popped up just outside its mouth, becoming Dungeonopolis. Through the timely intervention of the Binturian Party, and specifically the battle-medic Rigby, Z’tre was saved from his fate. The Descent (the name for Z’tre’s labyrinth) is now open for only a few days each season, keeping Z’tre alive but not completely draining his powers.

## Further Information

* The Binturian Party
* Etton
* K’Vesten
* Malovazen
* Possibility
* Sym’fadè Confederacy
* Zondros