Animal Pantheon

## The Animal Deities

### Armela, the Bear

Armela is the goddess of winter, earth, architecture, teaching and the hearth. She is the eternal enemy of Iku-Turso, as she protects her followers from the harshness of summer by taking power from the sun and freezing the oceans.

Her followers are the foremost experts when preparing for the winter years, and are the closest Castores has to a widespread educational system. Her followers believe that through education people will become wise enough to realize the need to prepare for winter.

Armela’s popularity dwindles in the summer, quite possibly due to most common folk having no idea what a bear is. During the later years of spring, the followers of Iku-Turso often make holy war against establishments of Armela, driving them to be an underground cult in many regions.

Armela’s symbol is a bear in a frozen cave. The Bear gets no tribute from the Fey Courts, not even the Winter Court.

#### Armelic Sages

Priests of Armela tends to be warrior scholars who enjoy teaching others. They typically wear heavy bear hides and wield a pair of large claw-weapons that often double as light shields. Their spells tend to center around the winter cold, as well as protections from it. Other spells include spells that reveal knowledge, or comprehend foreign and ancient languages.

### El Rabee, the Black Ox

El Rabee is the god of spring, partying, procreation, and the harvest. El Rabee is the most easy going and passive of the deities, finding the conflict of the other deities boring and wasteful. He helps end the winter of Armela purely to help shake things up, and because spring is the time he enjoys most. By the time summer rolls along, El Rabee is typically tired and hungover from his festivities in the spring, and lets the other gods have their turn.

Despite being called the Black Ox, El Rabee’s symbol is an albino ox on a grassy field. When someone asks why a white ox is called black, his priest’s merely reply “A god can be called anything he wants.”

#### Ox Monks

Everyone tends to enjoy the presence of a priest of El-Rabee. Despite the common conception that priests are frigid individuals, the Ox Monks tend to be the life of the party. They typically wear little beyond simple clothes, favoring Skirmisher or Knave as other Disciplines. Instead they rely on spells that heal and help others, or enhance their own ability to fight unarmored and minimally armed. They also possess calming spells. His priests prefer to merely defeat enemies rather than kill them.

### Guaros, the Wolf

Guaros is the patron of the roving armies of conquest, raiders, and hunters. While a common deity amongst human warlords, Guaros’ largest following is amongst the Kyn, who claim he is their originator.

Known as the Deity with No Home, he is said to travel the world in great sandstorms when he is not traveling across the heavens.  Guaros is always looking for new followers or prey, and an army attacked by a sandstorm is said to have lost his favor. His season is fall, as it is the season of change and revolution.

Guaros favors no race specifically, one must prove themselves to be worthy of his favor, and thus receives worship from a great variety of races and people. His priests and most pious followers are often of mixed race, for bloodline matters little compared to one’s own merits. Mongrels of various mixes are also drawn to him as common folk dislike them.

Guaros’ symbol is a great dire wolf marching across the sand. While many view him as a positive and strong deity, the Fey Courts see him as their great enemy…likely adding to his popularity amongst the wasteland people.

#### Windseers of Guaros

Guaros’ priests are known as Wind Seers, as they judge much by feeling and listening to the wind. They preach a very alpha-dog mentality, with bigamy being very common. Guaros’ priests are usually Warriors or Skirmishers themselves, often having large families they refer to as “Packs”. Their spells tend to focus on control of the wind and divinations directed at directions and war. All Wind Seers tend to have a Singing Spear, a long spear specially notched to catch the wind as it moves.

### Iku-Turso, the Kraken

Iku-Turso is the god of the seas, the stars, the sun, and summer. It is only during his season when the oceans are traversable, and the sun heats the land. He is not a kind deity and is supposedly responsible for the blazing sun that scorches the desert. He is in some ways a fertility god as he encourages big families to ensure survival of one’s bloodline. Story has it the stars are his children and brothers, and that he came to power after the invasion of the Invaders, as his predecessor was struck down.

Iku-Turso is sworn enemies with the gods of rain and winter, as they steal his water to pepper the earth or freeze it, rendering him weak or powerless. Acid rain and rain storms are often attributed to him getting back at those who enjoy their stolen water.  Storms at sea are however his, a sign of his disfavor towards sailors. Iku-Turso’s priests are often sailors, though there are sects that actually prey in the deep deserts for rain.

Iku-Turso is unique in having two symbols. The first symbol is a kraken crossed with a sun, surrounded by eight stars that represent his most treasured sons, brothers, or promises of vengeance depending on who you ask.  The second is known only in Xhalander and is two bright stars surrounded by eight smaller ones. This is known to the rest of Castores as the Siren constellation, which guides sailors at sea. The Fey Courts know him as “The Jailer” for he keeps the desert people busy and sweaty and angry, and away from their treasured lands.

#### Enkindlers of Iku-Turso

Iku-Turso’s priests are known as Enkindlers. They are typically sea captains or navigators, and even used to help break ice during the winters. They tend to possess a natural heat, not on par with Kresnite but enough not to need to bundle up. They favor Skirmisher, Knave, or Socialite as other Disciplines. Their favored weapons are whips and spiked chains. Their spells, as one can guess, tend to be oriented towards lashing streams of fire, enkindling anger and rage, and navigation.

### Khapri-Amun, the Scarab

Khapri-Amun is the insect god of time, order, death, darkness, and the chief deity of the Amukreen. His cults, primarily Amukreen though there are others, claim that Khapri-Amun was the first god and that all the other gods are children of him (or invaders from outside, depending on the teller) who warped the world against his wishes. When he fought them to make them stop, his blood became the Amukreen. Khapri-Amun is a greatly disliked deity, often being the Castores equivalent of Satan in most cultures.

Khapri-Amun is often known as the Wounded God for his supposed loss in the divine battle between him and the other deities. He did however, stop or greatly slow down their meddling with his ‘perfect’ universe. He is also often blamed for the world not being a perfect place, many often claiming the Invaders were sent by him. He is also known as the God of Many Forms, as while most commonly depicted as a scarab, his form is often different depending on the teller, and the Amukreen range in various different species of insect. His followers believe he will one day return to unmake the world and restore it to its proper way.

Khapri-Amun, as the God of Many Forms, is also the “God of Many Holy Symbols”. Because of his unpopularity, his believers instead wear insect-styled jewelry, something that isn’t uncommon to find on people. The Amukreen have many different symbols, often reflecting whatever insect they themselves most resemble, though their great cities show him as a wounded abominable mish-mash of just about any insect you could imagine.

He is, unknown to most, one of the principle deities of the Fey, known as Deborah. Their chief deity, Thelion is Deborah’s eldest son, and stole a fragment of his power to give Fey their longevity. Deborah is also their god of magic. They depict him as a tall pale-skinned Elf with four arms which hold a symbol for each seasonal court. Older depictions show the sleeves of his robe are not sleeves, but rather are slings to hold his broken arms.

#### Netjer of Khapri-Amun

The priests of Khapri-Amun outside the walls of Amukreen are a secretive bunch, skilled in deceit and subtlty. Amongst the Amukreen one will find a wide variety of priests from sages to warriors, to those who mix faith and the arcane. Netjer prefer long, wavy daggers they use to ‘bend’ the forces of fate and chance. Amukreen ones sometimes favor the “Triple-Bladed Sword” a bizarre weapon of three blades that can fold into one, only able to be properly wielded by one with more than two limbs.

Their spells tend to center on the manipulation of fate, chance, and even time to a small degree. They also employ curses and afflictions. However, while potent, the importance of their targets’ destinies must be considered…

### Phanez, the Dragon God

Phanez is the patron deity of Dragons and those who serve them. She is a great four-headed dragon, one head correlating to each type of dragon for each season. Phanez is generally considered outside of the animal Pantheon, largely due to overlap, yet still retains stories of its interactions with the other animal deities.

Like Khapri-Amun, she is considered a deity of time, of the natural flow of seasons. Unlike the insect god, she favors life over death, and the two deities are considered eternal enemies. Likewise, Amukreen and Dragonkind do not get along. It is said she is the one who breathed life into the first creatures of the world, and that Dragons are merely her favored kin. Priests of Phanez believe the other four major animal deities are merely aspects of her heads.

Phanez is sometimes known as the ‘Mad God’ as she seems to let the world flourish with life in spring, merely to grind it into the dust over the following three seasons.

Spring = Earth Dragons, the Genesis of Life

Summer = Sea Dragons, the First Trial: Reaction

Fall = Fire Dragons, the Second Trial: Preparation

Winter = Sky Dragons, the Third Trial: Endurance

#### The Colored Priests of Phanez

The priests of Phanez are typically Vedranaz Warriors. Somewhat similarly to the seasonal deities, priests tend to divide into ones of each part of the Phanezian Cycle.

Spring = Green Priest, healing, nature

Summer = Blue Priest, the water and light

Fall = Red Priest, fire and withering

Winter = White Priest, sky, wind, snow

They tend to get along with the the priesthood of the other seasonal deities, provided they don’t openly share their opinion that those gods are merely aspects of their own.

## Lesser Animal Deities

### Belasko, the Crow

Belasko is the god of the moon, commerce, and trickery since in Castores one can usually not exist without the other. Legends state that it was his love of money that swayed his hand and gave the Invaders entrance to the world. Due to this he has very few open flowers and the flocks that openly worship him are not welcome in civilized areas for very long. The only exception is the merchants, who hold him in reverence for his power over commerce and offer small tributes to him every year. There is a saying among his followers, that if you don’t want to be a murder of crows avoid the lands that worship Nascha. His symbol is a Raven with a gold beak and talons clutching two silver coins, which are said to be the moons and during the time of arrest is when he has once again caught his favorite treasures and for the moment no longer covets another’s.

#### Crows of Belasko

Priests of Belasko are rare, but when they do appear they are typically bankers or conmen (or both). They tend to favor Knave or Socialite as other disciplines. Their spells center around illusion and trickery, especially in creating fake currency. They tend to be pragmatic and use whichever weapon, but tend to like ones they can conceal.

### Nascha the Owl

Nascha is the goddess of forests, she is known as the waning god since her domain shrinks with each passing season. The mortal races believe that she has abandoned them for the Fey and that is the true reason why land has turned to wastes. As such her worship among them has all but ceased. Her priests tell the tale that it was Belasko’s treachery that led to the arrival of the Invaders and their destruction of the world. They have made it their mission to wipe out every worshipper of Belasko, to compensate for the destruction Belasko has bestowed upon the world. Her symbol is a small owl grasping an arrow between its beak standing in a big shadow surrounded by trees and sand, to represent her diminished strength.

#### Wardens of Nascha

Nascha’s priests are few, found most commonly amongst Fallen Elves. They tend to favor Skirmisher as a secondary discipline, wear light armor, and use bows. Their spells tend to include perception and the restoration and accelerated growing of plants.