Treaties on the Gods

It is in my humble opinion that we should start off with the allfather. He is a god unlike most in the multiverse in which he sacrificed himself so that all may live. He formed the Gods with pieces of himself called shards. After forming the world and the gods, he realized that it was still yet so empty and there could be so much more. So, instructing his son Botor of his vision of the races,  he shattered himself into millions if not billions of pieces.

The next eight or so gods I will be talking about are the divine, the mainstay gods in Khaldred. They were not corrupted by Morathai or Hadar as some circles put it. They are classically seen as “good”.

Botor- Botor is the head of the divine. Ruling over them all he is the God of Strength, Valor, Nobility and Fury. His form is that of a platinum dragon. He is the second ‘born’ of the allfather only younger than Asmodeus the arch traitor. In spite of his stance, he was also considered one of the most compassionate beings in the multiverse. He had limitless empathy for the downtrodden, the dispossessed, and the helpless. He usually preferred to polymorph those who had offended him instead of killing them, although it was also said that Botor loathed to sully himself with the blood of evil creatures.

By draconic standards, Botor was neither vain nor desirous of treasure. He valued wisdom, knowledge, prophecies, and songs instead. He used the great wealth he had amassed over the ages to help those in need, while using the magic items he had gathered to further his goals. However, he also pursued viciously (usually sending his champions and followers) those who tried to steal the hoard from his palace as, after all, he was a god of fury.

Alarielle- The everqueen, as the common folk call her, is the goddess of Life, Fertility, Love and Nature. Alarielle was a pacifist who avoided hostile action, even if threatened. Although shy, quiet and enigmatic, the Green Goddess was possessed of unknown depths of character and unexpressed resolve that could not be broken. Alarielle protected rivers, streams, and druids' groves; her dogma was pacifistic, and her followers only resorted to violence in defense of themselves, of their friends and loved ones, and of pools and groves.

Vardhall- Better known as the reveler or in some circles as the drunk he is the god of Festivals, Music, Mischief, Good fortune and Luck. Commonly consisting of adventurers and others who relied on a mixture of luck and skill to achieve their goals, the Vardhallan clergy encouraged folk to pursue their dreams. They were also duty-bound to aid the daring by providing healing and even some minor magic items.  This made his temples wealthy and bountiful.  But Vardhall doesn’t care for money, just fine wine, women and a good song please him.

Crados- The master of the forge, crados is the god of Craftsmen, the Forge, earth, fire and Invention. Crados is the god of the forge, the restless earth, and fire. He rules the raw creative force of heat and energy that fills the souls of sentient beings. His energy emerges as chaos, something to be harnessed and shaped by labor and passion. For this reason, Crados is also the god of artisans, of obsession, and of the cycle of creation and destruction.

Followers of Crados, the god of the forge, brought the secret of metalsmithing to Khaldred, leading to stronger objects and armaments than any created previously. But it's not only smiths who worship him. Artists, human and satyr especially, seek his aid, ascending to altars on volcanic slopes to breathe deeply of the creative vapors. Warriors give him homage when lighting a bonfire. Potters inscribe their works with markings meant to honor him.  Even Dwarves celebrate the Truehammer.

Typhine- The tempest goddess or as mainly sailors call her the bitch queen. Typhine rules over the Sea, fishermen and Storms. She is the only classically evil deity of the divine, mainly because she sided with Botor out of jealousy of Morathi. A Goddess with a loving heart yet quick to anger.  Those that she watches over have good harvests and bountiful fishing trips.  Though she looks down lovingly, the slightest insult can unleash a deadly storm that not only affect her target, but those around them as well.  She shows the most emotion of all the gods.  Most often worshiped by sailors or people traveling by sea, out of fear of her destructive powers. She was known as a particularly malicious, petty, greedy, and vain deity who controlled the harshness of the sea while reveling in her own power and was not hesitant to drown people if she so pleased.

The Church of Typhine’s doctrine was fear; all were to tremble before the Queen's power, as her waves and winds were all-reaching. The mercy of the Great Queen of the Sea was to be bought with generous offerings, as they brought fair winds. All who dared to travel through her domain were to know that Typhine controlled the monsters of the deep, the drowned dead. The priests and priestesses were to spread the holy word of the Bitch Queen and spread the fear of her rage and perform no service in her name without collecting high tithe. They were to promote the fear of Typhine’s waves and winds unless the travelers were accompanied by her clergy.

Teclis- The diviner a god of Magic, the Arcane and Worldy Mysteries. Teclis was said to be a manifestation of the Cosmic Balance—maintaining order in the world of magic by correcting great inequalities if things went askew.  It is said that all magic is drawn from Teclis himself, and it was Teclis that taught magic to the first races. Teclis often came across as crotchety and cantankerous, even to other gods and was somewhat misunderstood. His dry wit and unending devotion to the pursuit of the arcane rubbed others the wrong way.

The clergy of Teclis were collectively known as the Magistrati and included wizards, monks, and clerics within their ranks. They preferred to maintain their temples within large cities, align themselves with powerful magical guilds, and act as a sort of magical administration to facilitate communication between spellcasters and enforce the Magebond.  These heralds of magical development furthered the channeling of the Weave by formulating arcane processes, a process viewed as the apex of magical science among the faithful.  The church of Teclis were widely viewed as archaic in their tradition, pedantic in their debates, and oblivious to the real-world problems within the Realms. They often possessed a moral neutrality that garnered an unfavorable opinion by the average.

Lorien. The judge is the god of Justice, Law and Civilization. Lórien presides over matters of family honor, questions of morality and virtue, speeches, marriages, acts of protective bravery, dawn meals, and self-sacrifice. Lórien name is often part of legal proceedings, and sacrifices to him are made in times when the greatest aid — or the strictest justice — is needed.

Lórien instructs worshipers to "Know the truth. Observe the law. When in doubt, seek wisdom from the wise." Lórien is often worshipped by court attendants, lawmakers, and scholars alike.  His temples are called Schools. They don't really worship Lórien at His temples, but since He is the God of Wisdom, they run the temples more like academies. That's why they call them Schools, not temples. The School of Lórien  is one of the top research institutions in Khaldred. There's a lot of rivalry between the Mages of Teclis and the scholars of Lórien, actually.

The School of Lórien  is no mere temple, dedicated to mindless obseisance to a distant and hazy God figure. Lórien is a God, to be sure, but foremost he is a symbol of learning, logic, philosophy, and wisdom. We espouse no moral philosophy other than the goodness of knowledge. As the great Scholar once said, the power of ignorance can truly shatter mithril like glass. That is our enemy. Scholarship is a long and difficult journey, and Lórien  does not tolerate those who wish to shorten it. While we advocate literacy and education for all Khaldredians, our policy for those who wish to join the School itself is very stringent. We have little time to waste training the slow and the lazy.

Eaneas- Better known as the Ravenqueen, she presided over death and secrets. The Raven Queen was obsessed with collecting and observing mementos and fragments of memories and essences. Many sages speculated that she was in fact insane, believing her methods and behavior little more than aimless curiosity or a desperate attempt to prevent her fragile existence from fading into oblivion. Others maintained that there was a cosmological function that was performed by the Queen's actions, as she purified souls by forcing mortals to deal with their fears and pains.

She believes that death is sometimes a sweet release.  An end to the pain for the dying, a final rest for the warrior, a chance for loved ones to be reunited in the heavens.  The whole existence of the Raven Queen was focused on collecting memories and strong emotions, typically associated with loss and tragedy. To that end, she dispatched shadar-kai to the far confines of the multiverse to wait for such an event to unfold, as scouted by her ravens. Then they collected mementos, such as trinkets, memories from the living and sometimes the souls of the dead, and brought them back to her.

The Emperor- A man that obtained godhood, the emperor currently resides in the city of Thedas. He is thousands of years old and has no domain over one thing. The sheer numbers of people that are members of the ecclesiarchy, or the church of the Emperor, is massive and the emperor constantly tells his people that he is the sole wall between them and certain death by the skaven and the other maligned forces. No one quite knows how this man obtained his godhood, what little they do know is he became much more powerful after his crusade against the southern Orcish horde. Regardless the emperor allows his followers to worship the divine but any worship of the malign is heresy.

Now these are the mainstay gods that are worshipped in Khaldred, but it is worth mentioning the Malign, those evil gods who rose up in rebellion against Botor and the divine.

Asmodeus- The archtraitor and firstborn of the allfather. Ruler of the Nine Hells and leader of the Malign against the Divine in the War of the Heavens. Asmodeus is a greater deity. However, he was older than the concept of faith and the power of deities like him neither waxed nor waned with the number of worshipers.  He is the patron of oppression and power, the greatest devil, and the Lord of the Ninth and overlord of the Nine Hells as a whole.

He went against Botor because of Morathi’s lies. She poisoned him against Botor to get herself in a better court position. She made Asmodeus jealous of Botor because Botor was the allfather’s architect and in charge of all the mortal races. He and the rest of the malign were banished and cast into the Hells.

Rakkatta- The plaguebearer is a god of pestilence and decay. Though not originally created by the Allfather, the Horned Rat is almost certainly a distant relative of the Malign: those foul, nebulous beings. It is said that Rakkatta was created when a simple field rat absorbed a great shard of the Allfather.  He represents all things the Skaven are, or wish to be. Undying and eternally scheming, this cunning deity patiently awaits the day of the Great Ascendancy, when his children will swarm across the face of the world, devouring it from within. Entropy is his mantra; decay is his stock in trade.

All things must rot, figuratively or literally, and the Horned Rat and his offspring are the worldly reality of this simple truth. The Horned Rat is infinitely patient, an insidious evil that gnaws on the edges of reality since the earliest times.

All Skaven revere the Horned Rat. None question his existence. Such respect is a product of fear, for the Horned Rat’s eternal hunger does not discriminate between his vermin children and the dwellers of the surface world. A devout Skaven utters small prayers to the Horned God throughout the day, each prayer being a verbal slice of hate, envy, or malice. These prayers are answered often enough to give the Horned Rat validity in the minds of his adherents, even in cases when divine intervention is obviously not involved. Blood sacrifice is common in the day to day worship of the Horned Rat. The Skaven fear that if the Horned Rat’s appetite is not satisfied, he will devour his children instead. The form of the sacrifice - a slave, Skaven or otherwise - is not as important as the sacrifice itself. There is no specific doctrine that governs who or what must be sacrificed. The sacrifice itself is enough to sate the Lord of Decay for a brief time. Young victims are considered to be the most potent sacrifices for the Horned Rat, while the blood of the aged and infirm is less desirable.

Morathi- The dark prince is the goddess of deceit and excess. It was Morathi who was the first to be corrupted by the void, and the first to whisper words of betrayal and jealousy into the ears of Asmodeus.  She is the lawful evil goddess of greed, queen of evil dragons and, for a time, a servant Asmodeus.  Morathi was also the eternal rival of her brother Botor, ruler of the good metallic dragons.

Morathi was arrogant, greedy, hateful, spiteful and vain. She never forgave any kind of slightand was focused on obtaining more power and wealth. She disdained mortals, regarding them as mere disposable tools in her schemes. When needed, she was charming and fey, but her self-serving and greedy personality betrayed her sooner or later.  She had an insatiable greed for treasures, but preferred that her followers brought it to her in the form of gifts instead of searching for riches on her own.

Greed is however not her only trait. She is known to be dedicated to the pursuit of earthly gratification and the overthrow of all decent behaviour, as well as hedonism and pleasure for its own sake. It is the god of obsession, the Master of Excess in All Things, from gluttony to lust to megalomania.  Wherever mortals are ruled by their own unquenchable desires, the mistress of excess is there in the shadows, whispering, tempting, and feasting on a banquet of souls.

But this is true in all things, not just carnal pleasures. Those who desire to indulge in the finest culinary delights, the most beautiful artworks, even the most sensual clothing, could all be amongst Morathi’s disciples.  Just as importantly, Morathi is also the god of perfection. The singer striving for the most beautiful song or the warrior who seeks the perfect fighting techniques, both could be devotees of Morathi.

Phelob- The cronemother is the goddess of evil omens, the undead, and curses. She is commonly depicted as a half woman half spider. Her portfolio included vengeance and the undead. Phelob was a cruel, twisted and vengeful deity. The Cronemother became insane ages ago; however, she managed to keep her cunning and she could still clearly remember every slight or insult towards her, whether it was real or imagined. Phelob was swift to anger, powerful, and against all who have wronged her she plotted a dark revenge. The Cronemother preferred company from the mindless undead she could manipulate at will, over sentient beings that are possessed of independent thought. She rarely trusted anyone else to do justice to her vision and thus preferred to settle her problems herself.

She has long been dormant however.  She served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness.

Koros- The Fellhammer is the god of war, murder, tyranny and Terror. Known across Khaldred as the face of pure evil through malevolent despotism. From his dread plane of Fellhold, the Red Fist acted indirectly through worshipers and other agents to achieve his ultimate plan to achieve total domination of all Khaldred.

Valkek- The sanguine prince is the god of the night though he once was the god of the Sun.  He was not actually the sun itself but the keeper of it.  He would watch over it, stoking its fires so that it never got cold.  One day he decided he would not stoke its fires any longer and a great night fell over the land.  This great night brought about Valkspawn or better known as vampires.  For this, he was cast down to the hells and cursed to never feel the suns warmth unless on a black sun or solar eclipse.  His ‘children’ were all he had.

Valkek is the father of vampirism, the family structure which most vampire houses follow today are based off Valkeks original design. He is an excellent planner and a terrible opponent to have.

His dogma is this- Always act in the families interest, and they will act in yours. Two fangs can drink deep of a land, twenty fangs can tap it dry. If your family lives on, so shall you, even in the face of the dawn.

Hadar- There is not much known on Hadar, some scholars state that it never existed while others state that it was he that first corrupted Morathi. There are even those that hypothesize that Hadar is the end of the world, the entropy that is to come.

Apocolothoth- Best put, the dread priest is the god of madness. I dare not to even research this deity for it I came close to the dreadpriests truth, I would surely go mad.

Malar- The beast lord is the god of the hunt, evil lycanthropes, bestial savagery and bloodlust. His dogma concerned savage hunts, the spreading of the curse of lycanthropy, and general contempt for civilization.  Malarites believed that it was an honor to Malar to make one's killing bloody and long. His followers sometimes formed in bands, called "Hunts". While forbidden to slay the young or the pregnant, Hunts typically followed his dogma and evoked wanton slaughter in Malar's name. Malarites were generally frowned upon by civilization, as they tended to wreak havoc in their wake.