Rethiln Pantheon

The pantheon of Rethiln is a collection of the deities and other major entities making up the region's religious identity. The main leading figures of the pantheon are the Allfather, believed to be their interpretation of Lothos, Deliah the Goddess of Beauty, and their trickster God-King Taelek the Fox. Other gods fill somewhat lesser ranks of the pantheon, including many from the much more popularly considered Deorum of the Regnum Caelorum.

## History

The Pantheon of Rethiln is ancient, believed to predate human habitation of the Vireth landmass. Though they immigrated into the Kinblade Peninsula from the Tawir Valley of Naran millenia ago, the people of Rethiln source their origins to the lost homeland of the Titans, as slave laborers for the lesser giant kin. Much of their folklore and legends derive from this story, giving origins to their cultural identity and historical struggles.

According to the legends, the Allfather allied with Valeos during the Genesis War, taking Valeos' sister Deliah as his bride in exchange. When the Shattered God was defeated, the Allfather pieced the shards of the god's corpse together to recreate the world for his chosen people, humanity. With the Shattered God defeated and stagnation at an end, the Allfather's dominion of Time took precedent, and his focus was split. The constant maintenance of reality took a toll upon the Allfather, who longed to watch his creation grow and thrive with the change of the seasons, yet he was trapped maintaining the intricate details. It was his wife, Deliah, who offered a reprieve. With her creation of the Tapestry of Fate woven around the Moon, she both eased the burden of her husband and protected the world from the harshness of the ever-burning sun. With her place as the Guardian of Fate, Deliah could no longer maintain her title as the God of Mortals, and passed this on to the Allfather, whose greatest joy was found in their care.

Another consequence of the end of stagnation was the arrival of new life, even among the gods. Kaupfar, known as Salux in the Imperial tongue, was born to Deliah and the Allfather, the first of many children for the couple. Second came the twin gods Lifir (Vitai) and Dauthera (Morala). Also among their children are Elyra and in some tales even Taelek the Fox. The two gods welcomed their children in a loving embrace, and popular folklore holds many examples of their doting parenting.

With the Allfather's constant maintenance on the fabric of reality, helpers were required. The vast majority of these helpers were the dwarves, but greater power was needed too. Logadh, Primordial of the Median, was the Allfather's greatest servant and trusted pupil, who was entrusted with the deepest secrets and intricacies of the Real, and with them an understanding of the Currents of Magic. Though being of great power and ability, with a breadth of knowledge unattainable by even his closest kinsmen, Logadh craved ever increasing position, and schemed to win the Allfather's throne for himself. Whispering the secrets he'd been gifted to a lone mortal, the powers of the Arcane were unlocked within the material world. The birth of the god Rahkovar begat an age of chaos and an unyielding thirst for the power of the gods in the hearts of mortals.

With the new chaos sewn upon the mortal psyche, Logadh waited until the Allfather was fully distracted in its repair before he struck. Seating himself upon the Allfather's throne, Logadh used the Allfather's powers against him and jailed him within the sky as the Evermoon. Trapped within the sky and by consequence sealing Deliah beyond, the Allfather could only watch as his most trusted servant assumed his own identity and seized power over the world. Logadh would craft a new form for himself and those who aided him in his betrayal of the Allfather, naming their kind Titans.

The Titans would hold unfathomable power within the material world, conduits of the Currents of Magic within the Real. From the Source of Creation to the Maw of the Void, the Titans could not be resisted. Yet even with the power of the Allfather neither Logadh nor his Titan allies could be everywhere at once, and saw the same needs for servants. The titans begat the first giants, immense creatures made in mockery of the Allfather's chosen, humanity. These giants would act as the titans' enforcers upon the world, marching in vast armies and maintaining Logadh's dominion.

It was during the enslavement of humanity to the titans that Kaupfar came to his position as most esteemed of his siblings. With the invention of sailing and its revelation to humanity, the slaves of the titans were now capable of escape and the trading of information. With long ages spent laboring under titan rule, Kaupfar was the spark that saw the end of the Titan Age. Humanity and the other mortal races rebelled against their giant masters, and in time brought the least of the titans to heel. In a desperate bid to reassert his dominion Logadh wove the magics of the Shadow together, and sealed his own unmaking. The First Titan Logadh's false resurrection into undeath would claim the wills of his kin as his own, and the Kingdom of Logadh would be stolen away, anchored forever within the Shadow.

It is not known whether the Allfather remained as the Evermoon due to the misery of betrayal, the shame of defeat, or as a self-imposed exile in penance for the suffering his servant had wrought upon humanity. Still, the Allfather remained. Yet his children would not see their father hold his watch alone, and the twin lovers Lifir and Dauthera joined the Evermoon as the moons of the Day and the Night, sacrificing their constant companionship to stand beside their father in his eternal watch.

With humanity's newfound love of sailing Storahf Primordial of the Ocean, known as Urupa to the Regnum Caelorum, was incensed with the constant invasions of his realm and allied with Ayvir Primordial of Air to cast the intruders out. It was only with the appeals of Kaupfar, whose dominion of the art of sail was paramount to his place of esteem, and Deliah, whose stars guided humanity across the vast oceans, that began to calm the raging primordial. In time, and with education in the proper rites, Storahf would be appeased and allow humanity permission to cross his borders. Despite this permission, Storahf and Ayvir's new familiarity would create its own complications for the burgeoning sailors. With the rapid and violent mixing of the two domains, thunderstorms were seen by many as the lovemaking of the two vast and powerful primordials, and simply another test in the struggle to maintain the respect of the god of the oceans.

## Major Deities

### Allfather

* Primordial and God of Time, Creator, Reigning God of Mortals
* Exarch of the Hourglass
* A half-filled hourglass flanked by a waxing and a waning moon, an owl
* Intercalary New Years Day

The Allfather is known as the Primordial of Time the world over, encompassing the transitions between life and death, and the balance of natural laws. Within Rethiln, he is also considered the Creator God of the material world, piecing the shards together from the corpse of the Shattered God, and recreating the world for his chosen people in humanity. The Allfather was allied to Valeos during the Genesis War, taking Valeos' sister Deliah as his bride in exchange for his assistance. It was through the marriage of Deliah that the Allfather came to the mantle of the Reigning God of Mortals, taking the title when his wife wove together the tapestry of fate, and took her place amongst the stars.

The Allfather had many assistants in his recreation of the world, chief among them the First Titan, Logadh. The Allfather put all his trust in Logadh, and was betrayed when the Titan usurped the power of the Arcane from the Gods, and sealed the Allfather within the skies as the Evermoon. Accounts differ one whether the Allfather maintains his position as the Evermoon by choice, or by force of the curse of Logadh, but it is agreed that he uses this position to maintain a constant watch over his favored peoples, so the mistakes of his past may not haunt the present.

It was the Allfather's son, Kaupfar, who brought about the end of the traitor Logadh, and for this Kaupfar would be raised in esteem among the Allfather's children.

### Deliah

* Goddess of Love and Beauty, Guardian of Fate
* Exarch of the Rose
* A rose enveloped by ribbon, butterflies
* 14th of Tutevis, Lover's Festival