Pantheon

## What Is Known

It is important to understand that Vakasiya does not have a unified "pantheon" as typically defined. Many beings defy clear description, and there is no real parity between their power and authority. Here is a sample of the most commonly known.

### Vakasi

She is the god of life, creation, and nature itself. In fact, "Vakasiya" is a degradation of the world's true name. Sages will tell you that the planet is called "The Vakasi-Ya," literally meaning "Vakasi's Body."

### Makel

The Shaper and Forge-Keeper god Makel counts many craftsman -- smiths, in particular -- among his devotees. But Makel's provenance extends to the conscious shaping of all things.

### Adwar

God of Breaking, but also credited by many healers as the god of mending that which was broken. A bone is stronger where it has broken and healed, and his adherents believe this is proof of Its will.

### The Veil

God, or phenomenon? The Veil is hard to define, even among the most devoted theologians. It is the border between life and death, a curtain of inconceivable width and height that ripples along the Hallows, a haunted plane where souls make their final journey toward whatever lies on the other side. No one knows what lies on the other side, only that it draws spirits detached from their mortal flesh to pass through.

### Dandelu

Fate is not static in Vakasiya, and it is best understood by the observation of Dandelu the Ever-Weaving. It is said that every fate is expertly laced beneath her careful hand, and that she plucks and strums at them should their design displease her. Does she create the paths of prophecy, or merely exist amongst them? She is the subject of vast debate and superstition. Few worship her, yet her name is the subject of countless daily blessings -- and curses.

### Old Yarn

The keeper of small and forgotten things. She is invoked when someone loses a coin or a trinket, but also asked to bless orphans or other societal castoffs.

### Murder of Innocence

Pure malevolence; the personification of the senseless destruction of the undeserving. She is the shadow that both provokes and follows behind atrocity.

### The Endless Slumber

The Endless Slumber, the Captor of Dreams, a being that haunts the hours between slumber and waking. It is said that a yawn is the omen of his presence, a forcible call of his name.

### Godsbane

Godsbane is a supernatural concept that defies direct identity. No one could even tell you with certainty whether it's an entity or an object, though plenty of people think they know. The only surviving writings that reference Godsbane describe it as a great evil. Most people revile it the same way Christians might think of "the devil." Whatever it is, it is antithetical to the gods themselves.

## Pantheology

What makes one god "greater," and another "lesser?" It will not surprise you to know the answer is a matter of interpretation, and subject to endless debate. Here is simply a set of the predominant definitions for Greater, Lesser, and the Daemon.

Are the gods birthed in the minds of the Kind, or merely drawn to them? Every member of the kind breathes on two planes; the physical, and the ethereal. In that other plane, experience and knowledge is inhaled, while faith and belief are exhaled. Thus each person both consumes and emanates the stuff of gods.

A broader concept represents a "Greater" god, but also a diffuse one. Things like "wealth" or "sacrifice" or "craftsmanship" mean different things to everyone everywhere. If there is a singular god, it is vast but unknowable. It is, essentially, a concept given literal life.

A narrower concept (small things lost, for instance) is smaller, but more concentrated. These "Lesser" gods are vivid, and easier to define.

It is important to note that these classifications are a creation of the human-Kind. It is a system of calculating the incalculable, and at its core a subjective interpretation.

## Daemon

The Daemon (a word both singular and plural, like deer or moose) are below gods, representative of the mind's dark recesses. They are petty creatures with singular focus, and theoretically occur in every conceivable shape. What separates them from the Lesser? Most would say "malice," but who has ever conversed with such a creature and plumbed the depths of its motivation? Are they motivated at all, or are they merely the broken shards of dark thought?

This has been a primer on the essentials of Vakasiyan pantheology. The most important takeaways are that these views are hotly contested and inconsistent from place to place and faith to faith, and the idea that a conscious mind "breathes" psychic energy.