Religion in Shide

## Elven Religion

Due to their domination of the continent the Elven religion which in Elven is known as Ilycism and in common as Celestial Will is the most common however it comes in many variants and no determined practices are layed out by the priests in Shide. While this is true there are traditions adhered to both given out by priests and developed by local populations.

### Common Gods

There are 5 gods that are general agreed upon within Celestial Will. Each embodying they tenants of Morality. These gods hold no form but instead act passively through mortals and actively through their avatars. As what the Eleven priest refer to as Original Celestial (which is explained as those born from the celestial plane itself and not one of the beings created or raised to it independently) they do not require mortal worship to maintain themselves and are therefore sometimes referred to by Elves as the constants. This however also means they are uninterested in the lives and mortals and while their passive presence effect everyday lives they rarely interfere directly with the lives of mortals.

#### Esis

Esis is the embodiment good and is commonly referred to as female in Ilycism. Her avatars often take the form of strong creatures like lions and pegasuses. In folklore her humanoid avatars take the forms of beautiful women who are said to be able to stop wars with single words.

#### Emus

Emus is the embodiment of law and is commonly referred to as male in Ilycism. His avatars take take the form of loyal creatures like griffons and dogs. In folklore his humanoid avatars take forms of Stern Judges and Wardens who cannot be lied to

#### Irasil

Irasil is the embodiment of evil and is commonly referred to as male in Ilycism. His avatars take the form of predatory hunters like spiders and tigers. In folklore his humanoid avatars take forms of hunters and theives who you never hear coming.

#### Irezna

Irezna is the embodiment of chaos and is commonly referred to as female in Ilycism. Her avatars the the form of strong will creatures like hyenas and hippos. In folklore her humanoid avatars take forms of parksters and tricketers who can send a city into chaos with a single well thought out prank.

#### Olene

Olene is the embodiment of neutrality and is seen as hermaphroditic in Ilycism. Her avatars take the form of calm observant animals Like giraffes and owls. Many stories of humanoid avators of Olene exist and none of them are the same except for the fact that they all seek balance of some kind.

### Variants

#### Sea Elves

Sea elves worship two religions at the same time and as neither of these lay out a need to only worship them this is not met with any taboo from other elves. They follow both Ilycism and Nefshi. Nefeshi is a common relgion held by aquatic races and has a pantheon of three gods. These gods are also recognised by Ilycist Priests as Original Celestials although they do not encourage worship or provide services on the land of the continent.

The three gods of Nefeshi are as follows:

#### Ishi

Known as The Artist in common is the creator of the oceans, the sea bed is the canvas and the water is his ink. A slave to his own inspiration Ishi is constantly creating more sea as the creatures created by Reyki light a fire inside him to see more. Ishi's demeanour is that of a toddler in conrtol. He must be pleased to keep the sea alive but please him and he does so with pleasure.

#### Reyki

Reyki is known in common as the Lady of the Water. She is one of the two gods who maintain Ishi's creation. Every creature in the ocean is made by her for a purpose of maintaining the Ocean and with out them there would be nothing to inspire Ishi to keep the sea topped up. However Reyki is a slave to her creativity. At all time she can see new creatures to create and she feels pain when bottling her ideas up inside her. Her constant desire to create burdens her and from this burden her true son was born

#### Aki

Aki is Reykis true son and almost all creatures and occupants of the sea meet him at some point for he is present in every storm, Aki is the anger, and the destruction of the sea and he is always looking for an oppurtunity to move that destruction form the sea to the land. Aki destroys so that his mothers creatures don't overrun the sea and is seen by aquatic races as the underwater grim reaper.

#### Elardin

Elardin as Fey elves acknoledge Ilycism but chose instead to worship the Archfey. The Archfey are Fey beings who obtained god-like abilities and positions of preeminence among the Fey. Most rules areas of the Feywild including all the Elardin courts.

Some of them were powerful fey of many races, others were the awakened spirits of natural places such as forests or rivers, others the sentient incarnations of different types of animals, and others were noble Eladrin so old and powerful they transcended the bounds of mortality.

Some archfey were regarded as deities and granted divine abilities to their worshipers. Archfey could be contacted by a willing warlock to form a fey pact.

Just Some of the many Arch Fey included

* Aurilandür, the Frost Sprite Queen
* Baba Yaga, Mother of All Witches
* Hyrsam, the Prince of Fools
* Lurue the Unicorn Queen
* Neifion, the Lord of Bats
* Oberon, the Green Lord
* The Prince of Frost
* Queen of Air and Darkness
* Relkath of the Infinite Branches
* Sarula Iliene the Nixie Queen
* Titania, the Queen of the Summer Court
* Verenestra the Oak Princess
* Kannoth, the Vampire Lord of Cendriane

#### Shadar Kai

Several Deities are known to occupy Shadowfell but only one matters to the Shadar Kai and that is the Raven Queen.

The Raven Queen is said to never appear to physical form, instead appearing as a miscellany of symbols, perceptions, and images.

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, 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. It was believed that her true intentions were only known to the Lady of Pain, Shar, Another curious deity of Shadowfell.

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 Raven Queen also claimed domain of the souls of all shadar-kai, which always returned to her after their deaths.

She was said to have forged the first weapons infused with shadow magic. These sentient blades, such as the *Blackrazor*, were found in many locations throughout the multiverse and were capable of binding with their wielders. For that reason, the Raven Queen was a popular hexblade patron among warlocks

#### Star Elves

Star Elves are rare and reclusive and many are unaware of their beliefs in Shide. However, Star Elves are often taught in the small groups they are brought up in to worship one god named Cosmos. While they accept the existence of other Celestial beings of immense power they believes Cosmos to be the only true deity. Too them Cosmos is the god of the stars and he guides the lives of all beings however as star Elves they are the only ones chosen to see him. They interpret his messages from the skies and live their lives by them. They are fanatics in the belief to the extent that if his message tell them someone must die they will do all they can to achieve this. However due to the isolation of Star elves and the different teachings of their Kellashari or Star readers" different groups of Star elves often interpret messages differently in terms of actions. This makes their Religion less a unified Organised belief and more a group of cults who use messages in the sky to guide their lives.

#### Wild Elves

Wild elves belief practices vary dramatically from individual to individual but one thing stays constant. Wild elves as a central tenant believe Olene is the only true God and the others are simply corrupting her perfect world of balance. The choose not to believe in gods and instead worship heroes of Olene some of which are mortal elves they believe to have been ascended by Olene and some of which they believe are her showing them her support of their belief.

The most famous of these stories is of an Elf named Pilasia who is he first Elf to leave elven society and live the wild like of the Wild elves. After her legs were badly damaged in a viscous attack by some less than savory kinsmen to stop her escaping Pilasila was left beaten bruised and violated within the forest near her home. an Avatar of Olene in the shape of an Owl came to her and formed wooden legs over her now mangled legs. As they bore into hers she felt them become one with her. As she stood the owl stared at her. The world around her faded away and before her stood a being of both genders. It said everything must be balanced and they have unbalanced it. You are free to do as you will but know if they leave the forest you will have no business balancing this injustice. She flashed back to the forest and knew what she had to do and soon later at the edge of the forest 3 bodies lay with bloddied fingers as their attempts to escape the forest lay as a permanent mark to cruelty of balance.

## Gnomish Religion

All gnomes wehter in Shide, Thea or Ikari hold a simple pantheon of four gods whith intertwined with some pantheons of the others. These were less the Etheral conceptual gods of the Elves or the Symic priests of Thea but were tangible god who could not only be worshiped but seen and talked to if the conditions were right. The three good gods lived in the Golden hills. An Area of the Celestial plane that was by all means still difficult to get to but much easier compared to ares like the Empty where Kaleb the Symic major god was said to reside.

### Garl Glittergold

Garl Glittergold, also known as The Watchful Protector, was a Lawful good Greater deity. He was said to have discovered the first gnomes while exploring a cavern before telling them a joke and leading them into the world. Garl led the Gnomish pantheon as the deity of luck, protection and trickery.

Garl was the most popular of the gnomish deities, and honored, in one way or another, by nearly all gnomes. His clerics, known as Glitterbrights, wore war helms and gold belts. On the 13th day of each month, the Forgotten Folk held the Communion of Laughter in his honour. It consisted of joke telling contests, communal meals, dancing, prayers, and storytelling, and donations of gold, which Garl's Church used to the benefit of the entire community.

His main companion was his intelligent battleaxe, Arumdina the Justifier.

Garl's tendency to jest with the various deities worshiped by the creatures and monsters of the Underdark resulted in him garnering many enemies, but chief among them was the kobold god, Kurtulmak.

### Baervan Wildwanderer

Baervan Wildwanderer also known as The Forest Gnome, was the neutral good gnome deity of forests, travel and nature. He lived in the gnomish realm of the Golden Hills. His sacred animal was the raccoon and his holy days were on the full moon.

Baervan's clerics wore wood-brown cloths and green caps. They worshiped Baervan in forest clearings while sacrificing treasure items to him monthly.

Baervan's closest friend was Chiktikka Fastpaws, a sentient giant raccoon. He had a particular hatered for Urlden and would try to hunt and kill him when Garl was not paying attention to his actions.

Baervan was an avid prank puller and amoung some of the cults he inspired worship practices could sometimes be to pull practical jokes on unsuspecting others.

### Gaerdal Ironhand

Gaerdal Ironhand , was a lawful good deity of the gnome pantheon, led by the greater deity Garl Glittergold. The sternest and most serious of gnome deities, Gaerdal was the patron of warriors and protectors of gnomish communities. As such, he was honored in some manner by nearly all good-aligned gnomes, and one or two crusaders would be found in most sizable settlements.

His symbol was an iron band, usually worn on the upper left arm, and his preferred weapon was the warhammer Hammersong. He resided in the Golden Hills.

Gaerdal's church was organized as a strict military hierarchy. Although temples of Gaerdal Ironhand were rare clerics built statues of Gaerdal at the entrance of gnomish settlements. Priests of Gaerdal prayed at dawn. Every tenth day was considered a holy day known as a Great Clang and believers would assemble to sing hymns and chants.

Gaerdal Ironhand had good relations with most of the other gnomish gods with the exception of Urdlen. He disliked Baervan Wildwanderer because of his tendency to pull pranks.

Gaerdal had a particular distaste for Kobolds and Goblins and encourage his supporters to attack them when and where they could.

### Urlden

Urdlen also known as the Crawler Below, was a chaotic evil gnome deity. It took the form of a white mole, blind, hairless, sexless, but with claws of steel. A mindless force of evil and destruction, Urdlen was the only evil gnome deity. It was allowed to remain part of that pantheon by its leader Garl Glittergold as a reminder to all gnomes of the dangers of greed and bloodlust.

Worship of Urdlen was limited to either secretive cults or a lurking threat on the margins of society. Its clerics waged war on the clergy of other gnome deities, or spent their time stealing works of art and other objects of great value and destroying or defacing them.

Urdlen hated all the other gnomish deities, and they had no particular love for him as well. Its actions also earned the wrath of the gods of halflings, dwarves, and kobolds.

## Kalashtar Faith

The Kalashtar follow the Path of Light. This is a faith that believes in no dieties but beleives in a universal force of good that they call Il-Yannah or the Great Light. Through meditation and communion with this force, the kalashtar seek to strengthen their bodies and minds for the struggle against the forces of darkness that threaten all life.

Being made of literally spirits from the Dream plane and humans Kalashtar live very spiritual lives and those who are good look to provide support to the Great light simply by doing the best they can do to help where they can. Evil Kalashtar either by corrupting the spirits within them or allowing the spirits within them to corrupt them look to undermine Il-Yannah by causeing destruction and despair.

All Kalashtar beleive Il-Yannah needs humans to promote good to survive and that if it falls the planes will fall into chaos as Il-Yannah transcends through all the planes connecting them.

## Firbolg Religion

Firbolgs as Fey touched giants have left most of the Giant Pantheon behind. While they do understand the power of the Archfey they do not worship them instead the vast majority follow Iallanis**.**

Iallanis was the giant goddess of love and mercy who sought to reunite all giants and giant kin under one banner with the hopes that they could live in harmony together.

Iallanis is fey touched just like the firbolgs and roamed the fey wild nude. Her hair was green as was her skin and she could only be consulted if you held eye contact with her. This was something firbolgs usually didn't find difficult as they were taught from a young age to see her as a mother figure and a taboo to look at her with anything other than respect and so shaman among the firbolgs who lived near or around and entrance to the Fey wild could regularly consult with her but other races would feel her wrath enacted through her followers if the could not keep their urges in check.