The Thebian Congregation

## Overview

The Thebian faith originated almost a thousand years ago, when a mage of great power and compassion was killed by the Namorians. Her ghost haunted the place where she had died, and her followers began to revere and then to worship her. Eventually, some of those who worshipped her found themselves filled with spiritual power. Ever since then, she has been venerated as a god. Her ghost has not been seen since the first divine acts done in her name, but the place it haunted is now a vast temple. Fired with enthusiasm, the followers that had known her travelled far and wide (though this was long before the days of portals), preaching her creed of compassion and unity. Local gods, through their priests, started to join with Thebe in a sort of mutual support network of niche gods - usually the confident gods with many followers ignored them, or occasionally persecuted them. But as time went on, the gods who had joined what came to be known as the Thebian Congregation grew in popularity, and those who had not began to wither, until many of them disappeared entirely for lack of followers. Some still cling on, worshipped in a few places and granting their followers less and less power.

Nearly everyone who lives where the gods have joined the Thebian congregation has some faith. The communities of the Thebian congregation help one another. Nearly every god who joins the congregation has a new temple built, or their old one enlarged and glorified. Priests of Thebe wander around occasionally, suggesting ways to spread the word of the local god, and ways to glorify them. They do always stress that the gods are a community with Thebe as the founder, but most are gentle about it. They also stress that polyworship is a good thing - praying to the god appropriate to the circumstances is fine, even for priests of another god - as long as the god is within the congregation. For example, praying to Ulya for a safe childbirth, even though as a carpenter you usually follow Nazar, or have grown up in an area protected by Lanton. This has led to some gods having shrines far from the places they originated. Shrines to Thebe abound. There are even shrines to other gods within temples - often a local god within the temple of one with wider appeal, such as the gods of healing or weather.

Thebe’s creed is one of compassion, but many of the gods in the congregation do not hold similar views. In a warlike nation, or one troubled by invasion, gods of battle still hold sway.

Thebe herself is a god of magic and communication. It is partly her priests’ learning that impresses people (especially priests), and their skill in persuasion gives them influence. They are often the voice of reason, even between people who are not of the congregation, and thus tend to be respected.

They don’t seem to attack gods who do not become part of the congregation, and any advice is always just a suggestion. However, gods who do not join seem to lose followers to those that do. Whether it is the increase in splendour that gods of the congregation have, or whether it is the message that the Thebian priests preach, or even if it just looks like the path of least resistance is to join, is not known.

In some places, powerful gods with large followings have declined to join, sometimes even attacking those who do. Slowly, over a few centuries, smaller gods in their areas who had joined the congregation gained power and followers at their expense. Some did eventually join, and remain worshipped today, but none have regained their former dominance.

There is an enormous pantheon - the congregation spans a huge area, and the habit of worshipping at many shrines means that even a small area can have many deities. The gods being supplanted have less power. All of the Thebian congregation can grant prayers, even the most obscure seeming to take strength in numbers.