The Urdinian Pantheon

### The Ten Great Deities

The Ten Great Deities are the main gods of the Urdinian faith, and each espouses a different philosophy or aspect of life. The main distinction between the gods are those that follow Manwe, and those that do not. Some scholars suggest that instead, one could divide the gods into three good gods, three evil gods, and four impartial gods, though this sort of division is truly a matter of perspective. Either way, each of the Ten Great Deities can be defined as presiding over and championing different philosophies of life and the material plane. Many people will choose one of the gods as their patron god, or will even go into a life of service towards them.

The Divine Relics

## Manwe

### Alignment

Righteousness (Conformity, tradition, benevolence)

### Servants

Angels and Archons

**Notes:** Manwe is the King of the gods, except for his four enemies.

## Yavanna

### Allies

Vaire (Sister), Mandos (Brother-in-Law), Manwe, Nienna

### Domains

Nature, life, agriculture, land animals, plants

### Servants

Guardinals and Fey

**Notes:** Antagonistic towards Tulkas, but doesn’t war with him due to marriage between Vaire and Mandos.

## Nienna

### Alignment

Transcendent (Universalism, self-direction)

### Domains

Liberty, freedom, independence, the sky, birds

### Servants

Eladrin

**Notes:**

## Aule

### Alignment

Harmonious (Security, conformity, tradition)

### Domains

Order, stability, infrastructure, smithing

**Notes:**

## Mandos

### Allies

Vaire (Wife), Tulkas (Brother), Yavanna (Sister-in-Law)

### Domains

Judgement of the dead, the moon, writing

**Notes:** Married Vaire to create a peace between his brother and Yavanna.

## Vaire

### Allies

Mandos (Husband), Yavanna (Sister), Tulkas (Brother-in-Law)

### Domains

Reincarnation of the judged dead, the sun, weaving

**Notes:** Married Mandos to create a peace between his brother and Yavanna.

## Ulmo

### Domains

Chaos, change, oceans, sea animals

**Notes:** Refuses to kneel to Manwe because of a long standing conflict between him and Aule.

## Varda

### Servants

Devils

**Notes:** Although some may say both Lorien and Varda are evil, Varda is a goddess of order, while Lorien is a god of chaos, leading to intense and nearly constant conflict between the two.

## Tulkas

### Domains

War, destruction, fire, natural disasters

### Servants

Yugoloths

**Notes:** Antagonistic towards Yavanna, but doesn’t war with her due to marriage between Vaire and Mandos.

## Lorien

### Domains

Debauchery, greed, lust, wealth, hedonism

### Servants

Demons

**Notes:** Although some may say both Lorien and Varda are evil, Varda is a goddess of order, while Lorien is a god of chaos, leading to intense and nearly constant conflict between the two.

#### Of Tulkas and Yavanna; or The Marriage of Mandos and Vaire

Save for sea life and birds (those are the realm of Ulmo and Nienna, respectively), every animal and every plant was created lovingly by Yavanna - including all the races native to the material plane. Early in the days of creation, Tulkas brought about fires, and natural disasters that destroyed the forests and killed Yavanna’s creations. In a blind fury she declared war with him and the two battled across the planes. It was during this conflict that Yavanna created the Fey to help her Guardinals fight against the raging hordes of Yugoloths Tulkas sent. Saddened by this war, Yavanna’s sister Vaire hatched a plan. She went to Mandos, Tuklas’ brother and the god of death, and seduced him. Mandos fell in love and Vaire announced her idea to him, she would take the souls Mandos had collected and weave new lives for them. Being infatuated with the goddess, Mandos agreed. Vaire revealed what she did to Yavanna and Tulkas, who could now stop fighting as Yavanna’s creations could be reborn. To solidify the piece, Mandos and Vaire married and have become inseparable since.

#### Of Manwe’s Kingship

Following the war between Yavanna and Tulkas, Manwe looked upon the war torn outer planes and realized that a rule of law needed to be established. He went around to the different gods and asked them to submit to him as the King of the Gods. Aule was the first to swear himself to Manwe, appreciating the order and stability united gods would bring. Yavanna was next, wanting more protection from those that would harm her plane. Nienna had some reservations, but under the condition that the laws wouldn’t restrict the freedoms of civilians she bowed to Manwe as well. Mandos and Vaire decided to bow to Manwe as well, not wanting their careful work to be interrupted by warring gods. Varda was insulted by the request to pledge fealty, believing that she was the one who deserved to rule. Tulkas merely laughed at Manwe, refusing to pledge loyalty to someone who wanted to stop war. Finally, Manwe didn’t even attempt to get Lorien to follow him, as his very way of life was against the laws that he wanted to set forth.

#### Of Manwe, Aule, and Ulmo

When Manwe set to work trying to become king of the gods, the last one that had to pledge fealty was Ulmo. Ulmo was a reasonable man, but he was quite clear that he wanted nothing to do with Manwe’s kingdom, due to previously being offended by Aule’s presence. Aule sought to put everything in order and keep everything steady and stable, but Ulmo wanted change and chaos to breathe fresh life into the world. When Ulmo created the ever changing oceans, Aule tried to bring some order to it by introducing the regular ebb and flow of the tides. Ulmo was furious, and since that day the two have been rivals. Manwe tried to attempt to create a peace, but it only served to further enrage Ulmo, who claimed that his trying to create order in the outer planes was just siding with Aule.

#### Of Lorien and Varda

Since early in the days of creation up until now, Lorien and Varda have been warring with each other. Their demons and devils fight in the outer planes, and they each try to win influence subtley in the material plane over each other. This war has deep and ideological roots. Varda tried to help create early kingdoms and empires of humanoids, who would gain power and rule over their dominion. Lorien would then come and make the rulers decadent, leading her creations to decay away. Varda created devils to make pacts with mortals to spread her influence and grant them more power. Lorien insulted her by making demons in response, whose goal was to spread chaos, unravelling the order Varda wanted to create. One particular instance that made Varda hate Lorien happened early in the days of creation. Lorien was bragging among his friends, lower deities of the outer planes, that though his succubi were impressive, there was no greater seducer than himself. One of the most powerful succubi, and a genuine lover of Lorien, was offended and challenged him to seduce a goddess. Lorien accepted the challenge with glee and went to Varda. Lorien did research about what just what type of appearances and personalities drew the attention of Varda, and appeared before her as a lower deity in such an appearance. He managed to seduce her, but when they kissed Varda could tell he was a god and became furious at someone having the audacity to try and be in a position of power greater than her own.

#### Of the Creation of the Birds and the Fish

While Yavanna had created forests and prairies, and all sorts of creature to scamper and slither and run through the world, as well as plenty of humanoids to start creating some civilizations, the great skies that Nienna created and the vast oceans that Ulmo made were empty of all that life. Nienna and Yavanna had long been friends with each other, so when Yavanna saw that she was sad about the skies being empty, Yavanna wanted to help. She gave her a lump of clay, the same used to create the other life of the world, and told her that whatever she made would be brought to life, but it had to live in the sky. Yavanna agreed, and so she made the birds, and her own humanoids too, the Aarakocra - though these lived in the elemental plane of air. Ulmo saw the birds and felt that his oceans should have some life too. Though he was reluctant to work with an ally of Aule, he swallowed his pride and asked for the same claw that Yavanna had given Nienna. Yavanna, being ever compassionate, agreed. Ulmo then created the fish and many other types of life in the seas.

### The Celestials, Fey, and Fiends

#### Celestials

Celestials are a category of beings that include angels, archons, and guardinals. They are the enemy of fiends and the servants of Manwe, Yavanna, and Nienna. Angels, also known as aasimon, and the archons are both very similar creations of Manwe. Both have a lot of variations within them, but in general the angels are more of direct servants of Manwe, while the archons were soldiers sworn to fight fiends. Guardinals are the celestials created by Yavanna to guard her plane. They’re humanoid with animalistic characteristics and are generally peaceful and enjoyable when not fighting fiends.

#### Fey

The fey are natives to another plane, the feywilds. The feywilds are an echo of the material plane, where magic and nature are more prevalent, and reality is distorted from the one humanoids are used to. Elves native to the feywilds are the Eladrin, and many leave the feywilds to serve Nienna directly. Many other fey will offer their services to Yavanna. The majority though do not serve any of the great deities.

#### Fiends

Fiends are typically considered to be evil creatures from the outer planes. The major groups of fiends can be broken down into the demons, devils, and yugoloths. There is often confusion over the difference between demons and devils, but to these fiends they are very different creatures. Devils were originally created by Varda, and have rigid hierarchies. They’ll often make pacts with mortals and gain power subversively. Demons, on the other hand, were created by Lorien and are very diverse, with few governing systems. They are more destructive than devils. Yugoloths, the last group of fiends, are creatures created by Tulkas for no purpose other than war. They will serve whatever master gives them the best offer, and make cruel and dangerous soldiers.

### The Planes

* **The Material Plane:** The realm where most humanoids live. The elements are in balance and the world is a physical one.
* **Feywilds:** A mirror of the Material Plane, where nature and magic are more prevalent and reality is changed. This realm is home to the fey, hence the name.
* **Shadowfell:** A reflection of the Material Plane, similar to the Feywilds, but dark and prone to drive visitors mad and insane.
* **The Elemental Planes:** The elemental planes of water, air, fire, and earth are realms predominantly composed of their respective elements. The inner regions of the planes are similar to the Material Plane, while the outer regions become increasingly more abstract and spiritual.
* **The Inferno:** Not to be confused with the Elemental Plane of Fire, the Inferno is a plane filled with fires, tornadoes, storms, and earthquakes. Though it is Tulkas’ plane, not even the yugoloths are permanent residents. The only place in the Inferno that is considered hospitable is Tulkas’ obsidian fortress, where the souls of great and savage warriors that have been allowed to live with Tulkas in the afterlife reside. Even in death, these souls form a small army and continue to train and hone their skills.
* **The Nine Hells:** Although most souls are reincarnated by Vaire, sometimes she and her husband judge a soul too evil to be allowed immediate reincarnation. These souls are given to Varda, who enslaves them in the Nine Hells until their spirit breaks and truly have a change of heart. Other creatures living in the Nine Hells include souls that had been sold to devils, and devils themselves. There is a strict hierarchy of devils in the Nine Hells, with Varda being the Empress above them all. Despite being “Empress of Hell”, Varda isn’t considered to be wholly evil for this, as she punishes those that have been evil themselves.
* **Arvandor:** Arvandor is the realm of Aule, and is a place of supreme consistency. It is said that a cataclysm in Arvandor is a single boulder falling down a hill. The most magnificent part of this plane is the Ethereal Forge. This forge has only been visited by mortals a few times, but it is said to be able to create magical items that grant their owners as much power as one of the lower deities.
* **The Supreme Throne:** Unlike the other planes, this one is the permanent home of three of the greater deities: Manwe, Vaire, and Mandos. Manwe rules as King of the Gods from the Supreme Throne, where his great castle is. The Halls of Mandos are here too, where Mandos and Vaire work together to collect, judge, and resurrect, punish, or reward the dead.
* **Greenfields:** Many would claim that Greenfields is the Outer Realms version of the Feywilds. It is filled with nature and is the home of Yavanna and many fey, but Greenfields is more tranquil and peaceful. Yavanna tends to Greenfields like a garden, and she also makes the clay here that she uses to create new souls and life to replenish the Material Plane when a soul is banished or ascended to the Outer Realms.
* **Celestia:** Known as a true paradise, Celestia is a plane of peace, tranquility, and freedom. To be granted the ability to visit, let alone live in, the plane by Nienna is considered a great honor. There is no hierarchy in Celestia aside from Nienna herself, and each being living there is treated as an equal.
* **Pelagia:** Pelagia is also known as the Eternal Storm, as the entire plane is in constant turmoil. There is no accurate way to describe Pelagia besides it being the realm of Ulmo, as he changes the conditions, landscape, and very inhabitants of his plane regularly.
* **Nishrek:** The home of demons and Lorien, where various groups of demons and lesser deities vie for power. Lorien interferes very little with the affairs of his plane, preferring to instead enjoy himself in his Great Hall in the clouds, surrounded by his favorite fiends and ascended followers.