Divinus: The Gods of Entar

[Librarian]

Maedhros, the Fallen One

Spheres: Evil, Shadow, Control (formerly Death)

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Gender: Male

Symbols: A black dagger pointing downward, a black, balanced scale, an eclipsed sun

Colors: Jet black

Avatar: After the Dark One's undoing, many temples to Maedhros were destroyed, along with the relics they contained. Also, it should be noted that Maedhros' faithful have been traditionally leery of portraying their shadowy, unseen lord in art or icon. As a result, very few images of Maedhros exist today. Those that remain are incredibly incongruent. Sometimes he's depicted as a beautiful, dark elven lord. Sometimes he's an ethereal, vaguely humanoid figure. Sometimes he's just a pair of glimmering eyes, adrift in a sea of black... the only common aspect of Maedhros, it seems, is his connection to darkness and shadow, and his mysterious and unsettling aura.

Persona: Maedhros is a very ambitious god, an all-powerful creature of shadow with a "might makes right" philosophy tempered with a calculating intellect. Maedhros was at the height of his power during an event known as The Sundering, where he commanded a massive army of darkness and challenged the good gods for dominion over Entar. Entar was torn asunder during the conflict, and the mortal races were almost wiped from existence.

Prior to The Sundering, Maedhros had been the God of Death. He was more aggressive than his passive usurper, Hirin, but he was still feared and respected by mortals, and honored like any other god. But Maedhros was not satisfied, and in an ambitious attempt to take over the realm of the gods, he unbalanced the forces of good and evil and waged war against Aldaron.

Maedhros influenced several orcish warlords, and sicced them on Loriath, the ancestral home of the elves. Thousands died in the conflict, and even the landscape of Entar was left scarred.  Maedhros' victory seemed assured until Aldaron himself arose to challenge the Dark One. They fought an epic battle, but Aldaron eventually emerged as the victor. In the aftermath, Maedhros was disconnected from the mortal plane, Loriath was destroyed, and the Dark One became the
Fallen One.

The mortal races, who had been taxed heavily by the Fallen One's brutal tactics, immediately turned their backs on Maedhros. Thousands of priests of Maedhros were executed, and those few that survived either fled or denounced their faith. The ancient religion was all but extinguished.

Or so the mortals thought.

Maedhros was disconnected from his station as the God of Death, but still alive, living in the Abyss. The Abyss is a realm of void and shadow, a desolate and ancient place that even the gods fear. Maedhros languished there for a century, until, utilizing the strange powers of the Abyss, he escaped sometime during the Second Age.

Finding followers among the dejected dark elves of Shar'oloth, Maedhros consolidated his power for several centuries. Unlike the good gods, he offered his followers tangible rewards: power in life, and if he succeeded in reclaiming his throne, glory in death. As a result, about five hundred years ago, Maedhros re-emerged as the God of Shadow. No longer the same brutish warmonger he was during The Sundering, Maedhros had grown wiser, more manipulative, and far more insidious during his banishment. Many (especially his followers) now believe he is stronger than ever.

Maedhros is still the eternal nemesis of Aldaron. The God of Darkness represents personal ambition, and man's desire for conquest, whereas the God of Light represents charity and humility. Their conflict symbolizes the conflict inherit in all men, that of desire versus conscience. Unsurprisingly, the battle between Maedhros and Aldaron is a popular subject in Entar's literature and art, and the event holds great spiritual significance for the followers of both gods.

Maedhros' Favor: Maedhros favors the ambitious- like-minded mortals that share his same desire for conquest and control. He is notoriously difficult to please, but in general, Maedhros seems to help those that help themselves. Because of this, he is often revered by particularly abominable thieves and criminals.

Maedhros is also a highly vindictive god, constantly seeking revenge against Aldaron, Kailthis, Faelyn, Hirin, and the other gods that challenged him during The Sundering. Due to this, his priests and priestesses often perform ritual sacrifices in an attempt to curry the favor of their dark god. Those that have turned their backs on Maedhros, as well as priests from opposing sects, are frequently captured and sacrificed. The preferred tools for the ceremony are an obsidian dagger and a basalt altar, implements that even the humblest shrine to Maedhros are generally equipped with. Killing a priest of Aldaron is said to be particularly pleasing to the Fallen One.

Maedhros is also a creature of darkness. If one wants to commune with him, or otherwise gain his attention, they should spend some time meditating in a place shrouded in shadow. It is rumored that some of the elders of the priesthood of Maedhros have never seen the sun their entire lives, spending all their days submerged in the essence of their god.

In return for their allegiance to the Fallen One, followers of Maedhros receive great power. Sometimes this power is spiritual, a special connection with Maedhros, or the ability to utilize the Fallen One's faith magic. More often, however, this power is political or financial. Maedhros' priesthood is a ancient, well-connected organization, and those that please them can find an endless underworld of potential (albeit ill-gotten) power unlocked.

Maedhros' Disfavor: Maedhros despises the weak and considers them useless. This, of course, is in sharp contrast to Aldaron, who is generally depicted as the defender of the destitute and downtrodden. Due to Maedhros' hatred for the feeble and meek, his priesthood is rife with backstabbing and secret murders. This is not seen as a negative thing, however- it is simply the Fallen One's will to weed out the weak elements, and therefore encourage strength.

Just as the priesthood of Maedhros can bring great prosperity, so can they bring grave misfortune. Centuries of careful plotting and scheming have given the servants of the Fallen One vast political and economic resources, and they are famous for the skilled assassins they have among their ranks. Those that seek to battle, expose, or otherwise challenge the priesthood of Maedhros often find themselves robbed of their reputation, their livelihood, and perhaps even their lives.

And, finally, Maedhros may choose to blind mortals that he finds particularly interesting. Blindness can be considered either a great blessing or a great curse, depending on the context. When an elder of the priesthood of Maedhros loses his eyesight, it is generally assumed to be a reward for his piety- he now gets to spend his entire life in darkness and shadow, steeped in the essence of his chosen deity.

But when some one outside the priesthood is struck blind, it is widely believed to be a mark of Maedhros' contempt. This includes individuals blinded due to injury, a birth defect, or even just old age. Sometimes, however, the elders carry out the will of Maedhros themselves- ritual blinding is a common punishment for heretics. It should be noted here that, since blindness is generally considered a mark of Maedhros' wrath, the blind are particularly honored by priests of Aldaron. They assume that the individual must've done something to offend or oppose Maedhros, which makes them hero to Aldaron's devout. Blind men are always welcome in temples to Aldaron, and blind clerics are not uncommon among the clergy.

Maedhros' Faithful: After Maedhros' banishment, the priesthood of Maedhros was severely fragmented. Most of the temples in Entar were completely destroyed, while others were forced into hiding. Those that remained faithful to the Fallen One formed secretive, tight-knit groups called Cabals. The only widely-known Cabal in Entar exists in Elenion, in the last remaining temple to Maedhros. This Cabal, known as the Cabal Nolidesti ("nolidesti" is mandrastimune for "facade" or "false") is just a front organization, a pretty picture depicting the priesthood of Maedhros as non-violent and passive. This, of course, is designed to conceal the priesthood's true nature from the general public. The most powerful Cabal is actually centered around Shar'oloth and is called the Cabal Veridesti (mandrastimune for "true").

Other powerful Cabals include the Cabal Sanguirune ("blood", honored for the high number of ritual murders they've committed over the years), and the Cabal Kolnoretti ("deep", named after the subterranean fortress they maintain deep beneath Entar's crust). They occupy bases in Tarsis and Xak Tsirioth, respectively. Many smaller Cabals are scattered throughout Entar, hidden away in natural cave formations or abandoned tombs.

The Cabals operate autonomously, pursuing their own goals in an opportunistic, cut-throat fashion befitting followers of Maedhros. Sometimes they coordinate their efforts by sending letters written in mandrastimune. Mandrastimune is an ancient elven language that predates even Loriath. Much of its spoken form was lost over the centuries. It exists only in the names of the various Cabals, and in its highly complicated and esoteric written form. It is said that only followers of Maedhros can read it.

Followers of Maedhros are divided by those who have taken the vow of silence, and those who have not. Those who have are called "servants". They are the official priests of Maedhros, spending their entire lives in silence and communicating only through letters and notes written in mandrastimune. They often wield powerful faith magic specific to their chosen god. Particularly powerful servants can sometimes become "elders". The term "elder" is something of a misnomer- they are not chosen based on their age, but instead on their devotion, power, experience, and individual merit. In order to become an elder, the applicant must undergo a ceremony where his or her tongue is cut out, in order to make sure his or her vow will never be broken. Whether servants or elders, all priests and priestess wear heavy black robes and veils of black lace, silk or leather. Their preferred weapon is an obsidian dagger, which they use for prayer, ritual sacrifice, and self-defense.

Taking the vow of silence into consideration, it should not be particularly surprising that the followers of Maedhros practice silent worship. Temples to Maedhros, in fact, are usually deathly still, unnaturally quiet, and (of course) very, very dark. Almost always located below ground level, there is generally no more light than is necessary to navigate the temple. The temples are always built of dark, heavy, light-absorbing stone, such as dark granite, basalt, diorite and obsidian.
Aside from the priesthood itself, each Cabal is supported by a number of followers who have not taken the vow of silence. They are often able to wield faith magic themselves (though it is typically not as powerful as that of the servants or elders), and generally dress in dark clothing while visiting temples. Dark elf followers are referred to as nightblades, and are ranked according to their individual "usefulness". Followers of other races are known as duskblades, and are a little less respected.

Most nightblades and duskblades follow Maedhros in order to further their own ambitions and goals. They still help the Cabal, however- "freeloaders" do not exist within the priesthood. This is for two reasons. Firstly, anything that will help the Cabal, generally speaking, will help the individual. If a nightblade or duskblade is asked to perform some specific duty, they will usually be handsomely compensated for it. The second reason for the nightblades' devotion is fear- anyone not actively contributing to the Cabal will be viewed as weak, and quickly eliminated.

The average nightblade or duskblade's most important duty is to serve as liaison between the secluded Cabal and the outside world. Whether they spend most of their time on the surface, or safe within the temple, all of Maedhros' followers serve this function in some capacity. Common duties involve bringing news from the outside world, delivering letters, or spying on the Cabal's enemies. Occasionally, more capable nightblades or duskblades are tapped to perform assassinations or to bribe officials. The followers of Maedhros fulfill their orders quickly and efficiently, for they know that failure will result in their excommunication and death.

Maedhros' Powers: The faith magic Maedhros grants his followers is primarily focused on the element of shadow. It should be noted that shadow, in terms of magic, encompasses far more than the simple absence of light. It represents cold, loneliness, and fear- it is the absence of other elements, and a powerful symbol for evil.

Many of Maedhros' followers, especially those that have not taken the vow of silence, use their connection to shadow to augment their natural stealthiness. Also, any weapon blessed by an elder of the priesthood will become imbued with a magical poison, making even the smallest wound deadly. Due to this, wielders of Maedhros' magic often become adept burglars, thieves, and especially assassins.

The truly devout are able to delve deeper into the Fallen One's mysterious essence, and actually command and create shadow, rather than simply utilize it. These individuals may be able to blind their enemies, hide themselves from view, or cover large areas in darkness, among other things. And yet others dive into Maedhros' controlling, manipulative aspect, granting them powers akin to mentalism. They may be able to charm weak-willed individual into doing their bidding, or even manipulate the souls and minds of living beings.

Clearly, Maedhros offers great power for those willing to pay the price.

Sacred Objects: Obsidian is a favored material among the servants of Maehdros. It is dark, extremely sharp, and ideal for making daggers, the preferred weapon of many nightblades and duskblades. Sometimes other objects are carved from it, usually religious icons that can be used to channel powerful faith magic. The mandrastimune tongue is also considered sacred to Maehdros' followers. They protect the language zealously, killing non-believers that learn it without hesitation. Many priests of Maehdros use incantations or scrolls written in mandrastimune for their prayers, allowing them to commune with the Dark One and summon his might more effectively.

Sacred Texts: Any sacred books dedicated to Maehdros that may have existed before The Sundering have since been destroyed. And although the elders of Maehdros are prolific writers, they are usually too involved in secular affairs to write anything of deep religious significance. The closest thing the Cabals have to a sacred book is a strange collection of scrolls written by the Elder Lonitaril. Lonitaril came into Maehdros' service shortly after the Dark One escaped the clutches of the Abyss. Elder Lonitaril claims to have spoken with the god in person, and recorded their conversations in what has become known as The Lonitaril Papers.

Many modern-day followers of Maehdros doubt Lonitaril's claims of direct communication with the Dark One. His work is still appreciated, however, as a succinct, clear look at Maehdros' mind, and serves as a guide for how the Dark One's servants should conduct themselves. The Lonitaril Papers were originally written on one hundred separate scrolls. They were later compiled into larger tomes, but scribes made sure to denote where one scroll ended and the other began. As a result, The Lonitaril Papers are now divided into one hundred different "canons".
Very few copies of The Lonitaril Papers exist, and those that do are written in mandrastimune- it is considered heretical to translate them into any other language.

Prominence: After The Sundering, Maedhros was demonized throughout all of Entar. All of his temples, with the exception of  the Cabal Nolidesti in Elenion, were either destroyed or forced underground. The priesthood of Maedhros has effectively been in hiding for the last several centuries, and it is easily the smallest religious group in Entar, even though they have a considerable following among the dark elves. They are still powerful, however, and survive through stealth, subterfuge, and coercion.

Quote: "It came to pass that a certain servant of a Maehdros had committed a fairly serious indiscretion. He had fallen and suffered some injury, breaking his vow in his cries of pain. He was rescued and tended to, and I spent one day and one night in communion with our Dark Lord. I sought His advice on how the young servant should atone for his mistakes.

"Surely," I asked, "the magnitude of his crimes against You can be overlooked in favor of his usefulness to the Cabal? In favor of his youth? In favor of the seriousness of his injury?"

The Dark Lord was most displeased at my impertinence, and answered: "His injuries were of bone and flesh, and are of no great interest to Me. I suffered the pain of the Abyss, and emerged stronger for't; none shall ever serve Me that succumb to lesser pains."

And with this I understood, and exited the divine darkness.

The next day I cut out the heretic's tongue, and opened his flesh upon the altar. Maehdros had spoken: He would not accept the weak into His service."
-Excerpt from The Lonitaril Papers, Canon 86

Credit to Two-Moons

[Librarian]

Aldaron, the Defender

Sphere: Strength, Benevolence, Truth, Justice

Alignment: Lawful Good

Gender: Male

Symbols: A balanced white scale, a shield with a sword emblazoned on it

Colors: Pristine white and pale blue

Avatar: In religious artwork, Aldaron is usually depicted as a strong, unusually muscular high elven male. This is the legendary form he took during The Sundering to defend the elves of Loriath, and exemplifies his role as Defender of Entar. He is dressed in full platemail with long, flowing blond hair spilling out from beneath his helm. He wields a sword and shield, and glows with a glorious white aura of strength and righteousness. On his face he wears a stern, serious, yet somehow benevolent expression.

Persona: Aldaron is one of the most popular gods in Entar's pantheon, known to bolster the strong and defend the weak. He is famous for his numerous clashes with Maedhros, his nemesis, and the eternal conflict between the God of Light and the God of Shadow has become a major fixture in Entar's literature, religion and art.

Aldaron is primarily seen as a protective entity, defending his worshippers from the forces of darkness either passively (through his unseen, divine machinations) or actively, through his earthly representatives in the Priesthood of Aldaron. Aldaron is more than a defender of the light, however- he is also the destroyer of darkness, and his priesthood frequently engages in crusades designed to purge evil elements (monsters, undead creatures, criminal bands, and evil cults) from Entar.

And although physical strength is highly prized by Aldaron, he is also very wise. Aldaron is a god of justice and truth, and he hands these ideals down to his followers. Typically, it is believed that in order to please Aldaron one should follow the laws of man, unless those laws happen to be unjust. If a law is unjust, it is better to change the law in question than it is to wantonly break it.
Mercy and benevolence are important aspects of Aldaron, and something he looks for and rewards in his followers. Basically, Aldaron expects the strong to protect the weak, and the weak to support the strong. The God of Light became an extremely popular figure in Entar after he stopped Maedhros during The Sundering, and much of what the people of Entar know about him today comes from his actions during that momentous event. He is particularly known for his final battle with Maedhros, and for subsequently casting him into the Abyss.

Aldaron could've destroyed Maedhros utterly, but he instead chose to simply imprison him. Followers of Aldaron refer to this decision as Aldaron's Mercy- a noble refusal to take the life of even one's greatest enemy. Those outside the Priesthood of Aldaron sometimes view the event differently, however. They point out that, had Aldaron simply slain Maedhros, he could've prevented the Fallen One's return. Also, the Gate created for Maedhros' banishment was the primary cause of the destruction of Loriath and the creation of the Wastes. Critics, therefore, sometimes refer to Aldaron's Mercy as Aldaron's Folly.

It is clear, then, that while a well-meaning and benevolent force, Aldaron can occasionally be blinded by his own ideals. It is in this way that the otherwise-perfect god reflects the frailties of the people that serve him. Some may despise Aldaron for his actions during The Sundering, but the majority of Entar loves him for it.

Aldaron's Favor: According to the teachings of Aldaron, the strong should defend the weak, and the weak should support the strong. This means that many people are capable of earning the God of Light's esteem, from the lowly, law-abiding peasant to the just, crusading knight. For your average denizen of Entar, living honestly and decently is more than enough to please Aldaron.
The Defender's expectations vary from person to person, however. Those with more individual power (whether it be physical, magical, financial, or political) are expected to do more to benefit their fellow man (or dwarf, or elf, or what-have-you). So, while a blind, feeble beggar may please Aldaron by simply being a good, law-abiding person, a powerful sorcerer or a mighty emperor is going to have to do more in order to earn the God of Light's esteem.

Basically, each person is expected to do all they can for Aldaron and the good of society. Therefore, a particularly strong individual should consider becoming a soldier or a paladin, in order to better defend his fellows. A particularly intelligent individual should consider becoming a mage for the same reason. A particularly creative individual should consider becoming a writer, creating poems and singing the praises of Aldaron, and so on.

Daily prayer is also a good way to please the God of Light. Prayer to Aldaron is never silent, or even quiet. Boisterous songs and hymnals are popular, but the Priesthood of Aldaron prefers something they call "moving meditation". The tradition of moving meditation began back in ancient times, prior to The Sundering, when the priesthood was better known as the Arm of Aldaron. The Arm had a strictly martial bent, and spent most of their time training the body and purifying the soul, preparing to do battle with Maedhros' looming army.

And although the Priesthood of Aldaron has changed immensely since then, the extremely physical method of their training and prayers has remained. Moving meditation is always extremely physical. Exact techniques differ from one region to the next, but usually include jumps, dances, dizzying twirls, or sword-fighting techniques repeated ad nauseum and set to a grueling pace. The whole ordeal is designed to train the worshipper's body while simultaneously inflicting a sort of exhaustion-induced delirium believed to make prayer more effective.

No matter how they gain it, those who attract the favor of The Defender can walk boldly into even the deepest darkness. Courage, success in combat, and general good fortune are considered to be sure signs of Aldaron's protection, as well.

Aldaron's Disfavor: Aldaron cannot tolerate those who exploit weaker individuals. He is the bane of tyrants, bullies and warmongers, and those that abuse the weak should not expect to enjoy his protection. The God of Light has no love for the self-serving or the greedy, and unless they somehow reform their ways, they will some day meet his wrath.

It should also be noted that Aldaron, being a very humble and selfless god, absolutely detests the vain and the arrogant. It is possible, then, for some one to be punished by Aldaron not because of his or her actions, but because of the content of his or her heart.

On the other hand, Aldaron also hates the lazy and the slothful- those who do nothing to support themselves or their betters. It should also be noted that the God of Light shies away from rebellion and wanton criminal activity. In general, he seems to believe that it is best if the commoners know their place.

Aldaron's followers also believe in duality- in ultimate good and pure evil. If you're not with them, you're against them, and the Priesthood of Aldaron is extremely intolerant of followers of the dark gods. Worshipping Maedhros, or even recognizing his status as a god, is considered heresy by the Priesthood of Aldaron, and they actively seek out and attempt to destroy Maedhros' servants.
Due to Aldaron's considerable influence over the mortal races, it should come as no surprise that anyone suspected of displeasing the God of Light will become an instant pariah. They will also lose the benefits of his divine protection, and become vulnerable to the wiles of the darker gods and their servants.

Aldaron's Faithful: The Priesthood of Aldaron began as the Arm of Aldaron, a predominantly-elvish religious order created to combat the orcs during The Sundering. Aldaron galvanized the religious movement, however, when he appeared before his devout as an elvish lord and challenged Maedhros to a duel. The result, of course, was Aldaron's victory, which made him the savior of Entar and greatly expanded the Arm's appeal.

Membership exploded in the Arm of Aldaron, but since the orcs were severely disorganized without their dark leader, the group no longer seemed necessary. As a result, the Arm of Aldaron switched its focus from warfare to charity and sermon, and changed its name to the more benign Priesthood of Aldaron. Some still refer to them as the Arm, however, and they have maintained many of their martial traditions, especially the constant, ever-vigilant crusade against evil.

Official priests of Aldaron are divided into two major groups: the clerics, and the regular priests. They are equally important within the priesthood's hierarchy, and the one real difference between the two is the clerics' focus on combat. The priests are in charge of giving sermons and performing ceremonies and the like, while the clerics are expected to work with local law enforcement on defending the populous. No matter which order they belong to, the official priests and clerics of Aldaron all spend their days performing their priestly duties, and their nights reading, writing, and meditating on their lord.

Each temple is headed by an "archpriest", who may come from either the priests or the clerics. Archpriests serve for life, and when one expires, the next is selected based on age, seniority, and personal merit. Every year, the archpriests of every region convene to select a representative to represent them in the Council of Light. The Council of Light then meets in Elenion to discuss major matters in the priesthood.

The clergymen of the Priesthood of Aldaron (whether they be priests, clerics or archpriests), all wear clean, white robes with pale blue trim around the hem, sleeves and collar. Archpriests are differentiated from their subordinates with the large, blue and white epaulettes they wear.
All clergymen in the priesthood carry a sword and shield, no matter their age or even their capacity to use them properly. The swords are crafted within the priesthood, and are made by specialized clerics. The weapons are made of the finest steel, and blessed, causing them to inflict more damage on undead creatures and other denizens of the dark. Naturally, such weapons fetch a high price outside of the priesthood, and the Arm has sometimes resorted to selling off their excess weaponry when their coffers were low. The shield is a small kite shield with a thick, sky-blue band tracing its edges. In the center of the shield, a large, white sword is painted. The swords are ordinary-looking shortswords with small blue shields engraved on the hilt.

Official priests and clerics also speak a language called Loresti, which translates to "lore-tongue". It is the official language of the church, and many of its sacred texts have never been translated into any other language. In fact, a priest or cleric's training consists mainly of learning this language, and their training is considered complete once they are able to demonstrate fluency in Loresti.

Individuals who are faithful to Aldaron and can even wield some of his faith magic have the option of becoming paladins. Paladins are not taught Loresti, but are instead put through a rigorous, two-year training course which teaches them the finer points of combating Aldaron's enemies. Most paladins wield the traditional sword and shield of Aldaron, but they substitute the cleric's robes for heavier armor. The paladins are the priesthood's main fighting force, and when they are not busy actively battling the forces of darkness, they usually serve as temple guards.

And finally there are the crusaders. The term "crusader" was originally used to denote soldiers and warriors for the Arm who, unlike paladins, did not use faith magic to augment their fighting ability for one reason or another. And while a number of these old-style crusaders still exist, the term has broadened in recent years to include humble book-keepers, temple custodians, and even the average worshipper. As the clergy sees it, anyone who actively worships Aldaron is, in at least some small way, a crusader for the light.

Due to the priesthood's ardent belief in constant vigilance against evil, the average temple to Aldaron resembles a busy barracks more than a solemn place of worship. Temples to Aldaron are usually quite busy and loud, their white stone halls bustling with activity. The typical temple is divided into three main sections. First, there is the entrance, and beyond it, pews, an altar, and a podium. It is here that sermons are usually held- how often they are held depends on how busy the temple is (in large cities, sermons are sometimes held two or three times a day). Attached to the altar room are the private offices of the clerics and priests, where worshippers can go to seek spiritual advice or to request aid.

And there is, finally, the meditation hall, where the paladins, priests, clerics, and common worshippers can go to practice moving meditation. Moving meditation is the most popular vehicle for prayer to The Defender, and while different temples may suggest different motions, the basic idea is to enlighten the mind by exhausting the body. The worshippers repeat a series of simple sword exercises, or sometimes basic dances involving a great deal of jumping and twirling. As the faithful lose themselves in the motions of their body, it is believed that they enter a surreal state of being, allowing them to better comprehend Aldaron's tireless efforts to defend Entar.

Aldaron's Power: Faith magic stemming from Aldaron is famously bright and brilliant. It is as if Aldaron's followers temporarily take on their god's likeness, inspiring either awe or terror (dependent, of course, upon the content of the individual spectator's heart). Despite all their flash, however, the magics are still primarily concerned with defending the caster and their allies. Aldaron's devout can create magical weapons, shields and wards to defend themselves, or summon light capable of piercing even the most vile darkness.

Due to the priesthood's tendency to diligently seek out and destroy evil, Aldaron sometimes grants his followers offensive abilities as well. Clerics and paladins of Aldaron can sometimes smite their enemies with a blast of holy energy, or blind them with the radiance of the The Defender.

If it is your goal to devastate the forces of darkness, you simply cannot have a better ally than the God of Light.

Sacred Objects: The traditional swords and shields produced by the Priesthood of Aldaron are easily the most commonly-used religious objects. If a paladin, cleric or priest should break or lose his shield or sword, he will immediately request a new one. Any old sword won't do- they must be officially blessed by the priesthood, and without these items, a clergyman of Aldaron will not be permitted to perform his priestly duties.

All temples to Aldaron house an altar, and on it, a small statue of Aldaron made out of silver, gold, steel, or some other lustrous metal. This statue is usually regarded as the holiest object in the temple... unless that particular temple is lucky enough to hold a fragment of Luin?r. Luin?r was the divine blade Aldaron used in his battle with Maedhros. It was destroyed during The Sundering, but the elves diligently collected all the pieces, and kept them as a war trophy. Over the years, a few fragments have left the Elent?ri. One piece sits in the Temple to Aldaron in Elenion, while another rests on an altar in M?riel. The fragments of Luin?r are said to hold exceptional powers, enough to save an entire city from destruction. They are very rarely used, however, both out of respect for the God of Light, and because of their propensity for creating martyrs.

Sacred Texts: Literally hundreds of books have been written about Aldaron since The Sundering. Aldaron's priests and clerics are prolific writers,  and they have produced many philosophical, artistic and religious works over the centuries. The Loriathian Chronicle, however, is by far the oldest book in their collective library, not to mention the most sacred. The Loriathian Chronicle was written during The Sundering, supposedly by three individuals who witnessed the events first-hand. The Chronicle is divided into three different "books", one for each author.
The first book was written by an unknown elven commoner who describes the early stages of the war, and the elven people's desperation in the face of the orcish hordes. Book two was written by an And?n? Calvary-commander named Atros Tilrin. It deals with Aldaron's appearance, his battle with Maedhros, the creation of the Gate, and several other important events that eventually turned the tide of the war. It is by far the most famous and celebrated book. The final book was written by a soldier who served under Tilrin, and is primarily concerned with Aldaron's departure and the aftermath of The Sundering. It is generally regarded as the darkest book of the three.
For centuries, The Loriathian Chronicle was only written in Loresti. But over the course of the past two hundred years or so more and more copies are being written in Common or Elvish, languages the average worshiper finds much more accessible.

Prominence: After The Sundering, Aldaron became an incredibly popular god. He is worshipped in virtually every land, especially in the Elentari and And?n?. Consequently, the Priesthood of Aldaron has become one of the largest and most powerful organizations in all of Entar. This can be a mixed blessing at times, however- as the priesthood grows, sometimes less scrupulous clergymen slip through the cracks, and the Priesthood of Aldaron has had some major problems with corruption and scandal in recent history. Despite this, Aldaron is a widely-accepted god, and a comforting presence in Entar. Even the most vile and self-serving king would allow the Priesthood of Aldaron to operate within his borders. After all, the priesthood usually encourages the peasantry to support the laws of their ruler, making Aldaron's faithful quite useful for keeping the peace.

Quote: "And with the challenge so issued, the earth was split and sundered,
and from the dark bowels of the world erupted the Dark One Incarnate.
And the God of Darkness did make battle with the God of Light,
Battle most fierce- the heavens themselves twisted in the heat
of the Defender's radiance. Stars fell from the sky with a sweep of His arm,
Mountains cracked and trembled at His words of power,
Rivers stood still, so heavy were they with the Dark One's blood.
Finally, Aldaron pronounced a Great Benediction, and plunged
Luin?r, the blade of the Divine Defender, into the skin of Entar.
And through Aldaron's Mercy the rocks and sky forged a magnificent Gate;
Maedhros was thrown into it, and Sealed, and the Dark One
became the Fallen One, and the fragments of shattered Luin?r
pierced the night with Aldaron's Benevolence."
-Excerpt from Book II of The Loriathian Chronicle

Credit to Two-Moons

[Librarian]

Jherad, the Destroyer

Sphere: Disaster, Destruction, Vengeance

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Gender: Male

Symbols: A lightning bolt, a yellow circlet

Color: Dark rusty-brown and yellow

Avatar: Jherad is generally depicted as a severe-looking youth, with a shock of black, grey or white hair streaming from his head. He is always depicted in motion, with arms flailing as he summons some form of natural disaster. The type of disaster depends on the region the image is created in. On the coast of Andune, he's standing in front of the backdrop of a massive tidal wave, but further inland, he's wreathed in white-hot fire. In the Haldarac desert, where Jherad is a very popular deity and many graven images of him are found, he's usually depicted riding a massive sandstorm as if it were his personal steed.

Persona: Jherad seeks to destroy, as many evil gods do. But the distinction that has earned him the title of "The Destroyer" is the sheer magnitude of his apocalyptic ambitions. He does not hate only the good, as Maedhros does, or the living, as Gormion does. Jherad hates everything that exists in Eldanar, and seeks to wipe the cosmic slate clean. Everything man or elf has made, every scrap of nature and life, even the skies and the sea and the earth, and perhaps even the other gods are all enemies of Jherad.

Why he feels such an urge to destroy is uncertain. His followers seem to believe that he wants to destroy the world so he can recreate it as he sees fits. Those who oppose Jherad claim he has no aspirations for re-creation, and simply wants to drown out the sounds of existence, and spend eternity adrift in the resultant void. Others simply call him the Mad God, and see him less as a deity and more as a primal force of entropy, seeking to undo everything the other gods have done. Jherad, in short, is the embodiment of chaos.

And while his motives may be shrouded in mystery, his methods are most certainly not in question. Jherad may be more direct in his tactics than any othe god in Entar's pantheon, and he is generally believed to be behind every single natural disaster in Entar's history. Jherad is especially known for his massive thunderstorms, earning him the nickname the God of Thunder.
Despite Jherad's brutal, even bestial nature, he has another side to him that has earned him many followers. Jherad is also the God of Vengeance, and is the patron of anyone who utters an oath of revenge. This has earned him remarkable esteem in tribal societies. While most "civilized" people would likely attribute this to the average tribal person's relative "primitiveness", this is in fact a product of their culture. The concepts of blood feud and revenge are about the closest things these societies have to a justice system. It is in this light that Jherad is often seen as a just god, akin to Aldaron; he is the mighty provider of retribution.

The most famous example of Jherad in a heroic light occurred during the Steppe Wars, where the human and katta tribes squared off against the advancing orcish threat. From the chaos of battle, one particularly skilled warrior arose. His name was Mushoika Tsirioth, and he was a powerful and charismatic leader who vowed he would not rest until the orcs were pushed out of the Haldarac. His oath gained Jherad's attention, and infused with the might of The Destroyer, Mushoika eventually gathered a force large enough to defeat the orcish scourge.

In the process Mushoika's tribe absorbed several others, spreading his native tongue Apprecorultio. For a short time, Apprecorultio was the common tongue of the Haldarac, until it later fragmented, spawning several other languages. Mushoika is even rumored to have founded the city of Xak Tsirioth- understandable, when you consider that "Xak Tsirioth" means "Tsirioth's Castle" in Apprecorultio.

So while city-dwellers might view Jherad-worship as "primitive", one should remember that even the most noble princes have occasionally taken up the sword and claimed revenge, and felt perfectly just in doing so.

Due to Jherad's highly chaotic and unpredictable nature, he is not clearly aligned with or specifically opposed to any other god. His compulsion to destroy everything is sometimes likened to Gormion' urge to change and corrupt everything, and they are similarly aloof. In tribal societies, he is often seen as a counter to Livana. Livana represents nature's ability to protect, nurture, and nourish, while Jherad represents its harshness and indifference towards the lives of men.

Jherad's Favor: Jherad sides with those who seek revenge, and has little interest in anyone else. The larger the scheme for revenge, the more involved Jherad is likely to become. As a result, Jherad may support a personal blood oath to avenge a slain family member, but he'd also support the genocide of an entire tribe. The Mad God seeks only to destroy, and he will aid any mortal that will help him further that end.

Jherad does tend to favor those that take matters into their own hands, however, meaning those that simply wish and pray for Jherad's aid are less likely to get it than those that pick up the dagger themselves. Jherad is not very partial to prayer. He prefers burnt offerings where something is being destroyed, arousing at least faint interest from the Mad God. The only prayers he listens to, it is said, are those recited in Apprecorultio.

Sometimes worshipers of Jherad try to appeal to his chaotic, unpredictable side, committing acts of vandalism or random violence in homage to him. This doesn't happen often, but you can bet that any major city usually begins its arson investigations by interviewing the nearest cult to Jherad.

Those that please Jherad can expect to obtain his sometimes startlingly direct help in achieving his or her goals for revenge. There have been many reports of people temporarily having access to Jherad's faith magic only long enough to strike down their most hated enemy. Once the quest for revenge is complete, however, Jherad's interest will quickly fade, and his divine wrath will no longer be accessible.

Jherad's Disfavor: Merely existing seems to be enough to attract Jherad's ire. Unless you are actively trying to exterminate some one or something, you are meaningless to The Destroyer, and considered expendable. Jherad spawns countless natural disasters, remember- terrible tragedies like tornadoes, typhoons and sandstorms that often claim perfectly innocent lives.
Jherad is known to have a particular hatred for cowards, however, and enjoys taking his time to destroy those few individuals unfortunate enough to be cursed by the God of Thunder. Those who have earned the special scorn of the Mad God will have destruction follow in their wake- they will be forced to watch as everyone and everything they hold dear is brutally ripped away from them, losing their sanity before they, too, are cut down by The Destroyer's hand.

Another danger of Jherad, and the concept of revenge in general, is the possibility of becoming too involved. If a person allows their desire for revenge to consume them completely, the consequences can be disastrous. Sometimes the individual involved becomes insane, goaded by Jherad and expanding their hit-list until they become nothing more than homicidal maniacs. Other times Jherad grants his followers the ability to wield faith magic more powerful than any mortal should ever have. There have been a few occasions throughout history where Jherad allowed his followers to destroy entire tribes and buildings with a single spell- inevitably destroying themselves in the process.

Jherad's Faithful: Jherad does not have a highly organized religion or priesthood. He tends to favor individuals over groups, and even then, only so long as they are actively seeking revenge against something. Most of Jherad's followers hail from the tribal societies of the Southlands or the Haldarac, where revenge, bitter blood feuds, and natural disasters are a common part of life. Most of the people in Entar who can wield Jherad's faith magic with any amount of reliability or regularity are, in fact, tribal shaman or warlords.

Jherad does have some esteem in the north, however. It is usually restricted to small, secretive cults, and is seen as a "fringe" religion, barely legal and certainly not socially acceptable. Despite this, a temple to Jherad was built in Elenion, and it is probably the largest monument to him in all of Entar. It is not the only, of course- small shrines and altars dot the northern countryside, some of which are tended to by local cults. And although Jherad may not be openly accepted in Valgard, he is the lord of natural disasters (including city fires), so the people of Elenion thought it best to please him in any way possible.

Of course, the very concept of a temple to Jherad is counter-intuitive- Jherad hates all existence, and would rather burn down the temples to all the other gods than have his own erected. In order to counter-act this, the Temple to Jherad was designed to be a sort of anti-temple. It is really nothing more than a large, unadorned, open-air colonnade. Inside, the floor is simply bare earth, heavily and purposefully salted to prevent anything from growing there. It is here that burnt offerings are made daily, usually some form of livestock.

At the center of the "temple" is a small stone roof, supported by a ring of columns. The columns are painted yellow, forming a large circle, a commonly-used symbol for Jherad. Inside the shrine is a life-sized statue of a cowled, enrobed Jherad wielding a lightning bolt in each hand. This famous image is known as the Face of Chaos, and is largely how the "civilized" world views Jherad- brutish, primal, powerful and terrifying.

The priests of Jherad, whether they be the caretakers of the Temple of Jherad in Elenion or members of the isolated cults scattered throughout the northern regions, all dress in simple, heavy brown robes. The brown is said to be similar to the color of dried blood, but it is trimmed with yellow. They wear circlets of bronze or brass, twisted into jagged angles and painted yellow. Amazingly, despite vast geographical and cultural distances, the shaman of Jherad-worshiping tribes often wear very similar attire, sometimes substituting local thorn plants for bronze and brass, or actual blood for brown dye. These startling similarities may be Jherad's doing, or they may simply be because northern cultists draw their inspiration from southern tribes.

Tribal influence is so great, in fact, that Apprecorultio (a traditionally "savage" tongue) has become the sacred language among Jherad cultists, even in the north. Not many in the north can speak it fluently, and truly, it is quickly becoming a dead tongue even among the southern tribes. For the most part, Apprecorultio exists only in a handful of memorized war chants and incantations that serve as the order's canon of prayers. The language's written form (if, in fact, it ever had one) has long since been lost.

In tribal settings, priests and priestesses of Jherad basically act as war mages, devoting their lives to battling and eradicating rival tribes. In the north, things get a little fuzzy, and the picture of the "average" worshiper of Jherad is harder to piece together. Some groups attempt to mimic tribal concepts of righteous revenge and blood feud, encouraging followers to take the law into their own hands and strike down those that besmirch their honor. Other cults have a more political bent, viewing Jherad's wild, chaotic nature as an acceptance of and justification for anarchy. The priesthood in the Temple of Jherad in Elenion seem to believe that the destruction and decomposition of the world is simply the natural order of things, and worship Jherad as the destroyer of the weak, obsolete, useless and unjust.

There are also the rare individuals in Entar's history that are so empowered by Jherad that they can create natural disasters at will. These are known as the apotheoses of Jherad, and generally live short, brutal, history-effecting lives. They can wield massive power in Jherad's name, but always lose their own lives in the process, like a firecracker shot into the night. The last confirmed apotheosis was Mushoika Tsirioth, who is said to have turned into a blinding sandstorm at the final battle of the Steppe War.

Most followers of Jherad in the north, however, remain as lone vigilantes, trying to enact their own type of revenge-driven justice on the world. Those who live their lives for nothing but vengeance, retribution and vindication are servants of Jherad, whether they know it or not.

Jherad's Power: Jherad's faith magic is almost entirely focused on battle and destruction. Sometimes he will defend his followers with magical shields or wards, but this is only so they can live long enough to create more death and havoc and later on. In action, Jherad's powers look more like conventional, elemental sorcery than faith magic- his followers can set the air ablaze, create numbing frost and even summon minor earthquakes. The God of Thunder is best known for his lightning, however, and servants of Jherad can command the power of the skies with startling ease.

Those who have devoted their entire lives to revenge can employ more subtle, insidious methods of destruction. They may be able to paralyze their enemies with an electric shock, leaving them at their mercy, or summon a localized thunderclap to deafen anyone nearby. It should be noted, however, that Jherad is never willing to heal even his most devout worshipers. Jherad is focused on destroying as much of Entar as possible- he is not particularly concerned about preservation, even of the lives of those he finds useful.

Jherad offers great power, but those who take it must remember- eventually, everyone and everything will fall before The Destroyer... even those that wear the circlet.

Sacred Objects: The circlets that priests and priestesses of Jherad wear are considered sacred, and believed to be the source of their divine powers. The metals of bronze and copper are also holy to worshipers of Jherad. Copper is elevated because it is highly conductive, reminding those who wear it of the God of Thunder. Bronze is considered holy because it was one of the first metals used by man to make axes, swords and other weapons of war. Bronze and copper weapons, as a result, are a favorite among followers of Jherad.

Natural glass formed by lightning striking sand is also considered sacred by some tribal societies, and by extension, northern cults of Jherad. They call such glass "xuriulto corultio" which is Apprecorultio for: "That Which Has Touched Thunder." These rare bits of fragile, low-quality glass are, ironically, some of the most revered objects in the cult of Jherad. Fragments of natural glass are highly sought after as religious foci, and tribe-folk often use them for decorating their weapons or creating fetishes honoring the God of Thunder.

Sacred Texts: The followers of Jherad do not have any sacred texts to speak of. Apprecorultio is the only language considered holy enough for addressing Jherad, and since the written form has been lost for centuries, it is highly unlikely that any new sacred books will ever emerge.

Followers of Jherad must rely on oral tradition, passing down through word of mouth the various hymns, incantations and war chants that serve as their holiest prayers.

Prominence: Jherad cultists are highly suspect in the north, and even in Elenion, the City of the Gods, the priesthood is a marginalized and barely trusted group. Jherad is phenomenally popular among tribal societies, however. Tribesmen see him both as an avenue for claiming the limited resources of their homelands, and as a constant reminder of the dangers of the natural world around them. Due to his prominence in the south, Jherad may very well be the most popular of the evil gods, rivaling even Valdriel.

Quote: "I am flint, lightning flows from me,
I am the root, the earth breaks for me,
I am the wind, trees bow to me,
I am Jherad, I am Jherad, I am Jherad."
-War chant from an unknown tribe, translated from Apprecorultio

Credit to Two-Moons

[Librarian]

Daidlin, the Dreamer

Sphere: Art, Dreams, Inspiration, Revelry

Alignment: True Neutral

Gender: Male

Symbols: Emeralds, masks, an eye

Color: Creamy white and pastel green

Avatar: Daidlin is generally depicted as a richly-dressed, slightly androgynous man. He is normally dressed in light green and cream tones, and usually wears a vest, pantaloons, and a fine shirt. He is often depicted with a mask and a cane with a large emerald for a handle, granting him a mysterious and patrician air. Sometimes the figure is shown with tools of various trades, depending on who produced the image. A portrait of Daidlin produced at a Monastery of Painting, for example, would probably show Daidlin with a brush, but an icon of him produced at a Monastery of Metalworking would likely portray him holding a hammer or standing beside an anvil.

Persona: Prior to The Sundering, Daidlin was often considered a minor god. He did not have a highly organized priesthood, and was generally believed to be a god of parties and high times. He was to be honored at harvest time and during gregarious parties, but beyond that, had little effect on the day-to-day lives of mortals. Although Daidlin’s sphere of spiritual influence has since expanded, he is still (especially among the lower classes) thought of as the Wine God. To this day, the highest compliment a host can receive is to hear one of his guests proclaim: “We dine with Daidlin tonight!”

But after The Sundering and the fall of Maedhros, a great spiritual vacuum appeared in Entar. People began to seek solace in previously overlooked gods, Daidlin among them. Daidlin began to be seen as the god of not just revelry, but of all things joyous, refined, and pleasurable. Daidlin quickly became associated with art and inspiration, and gained enormous influence in the upper and middle classes.

It wasn’t long before people began to discover Daidlin’s preternatural ability to inspire untrained artists and allow them to produce masterwork-quality art. A rather impromptu Priesthood of Daidlin appeared, sprouting up in various locations around Entar. Priests began to congregate in secluded monasteries, each congregation focusing on one specific art form or trade. Soon thereafter, Entar’s aristocracy developed a taste for artwork produced in these monasteries. Suddenly, the disorganized, fledgling Priesthood of Daidlin rivaled the ancient, secular Guilds.

The priesthood’s rivalry with the Guilds extends beyond mere economic competition. The Priesthood of Daidlin seems to stand in direct contrast to the time-honored practices of the Guilds. Whereas the Guilds preach uniformity, adherence to technique and obedience to one’s master, the priesthood creates art through spontaneity and personal inspiration. The Priesthood of Daidlin gives only minimal training to initiates in their chosen art form- after that, they use their faith in Daidlin and their own creative energies to create masterpieces. The Priesthood of Daidlin seems to be diametrically opposed to everything the Guilds believe in, and relations between the two groups are frosty at best.

Daidlin himself is often seen as a highly mysterious, aloof individual. He is something of a trickster-god, often harassing and toying with his own followers (though he ultimately protects and nurtures them in the end). He has retained much of the jocularity and good-nature of his image as the Wine God of yore, and is often depicted laughing, drinking, playing tricks, and generally having a good time.

Beneath Daidlin’s benevolent, even clownish outer image, however, lies true godly power. Daidlin is also the god of dreams, illusions and nightmares, the master of all that is ethereal and unseen. It is due to this that he is sometimes called the Lord of the Fae, and is thought to perhaps keep the Fae Realm as his kingdom. No Fae-Kithain has ever confirmed or denied this- although they will admit that Daidlin is a particularly likable god.

Daidlin’s Favor: Daidlin loves art, and those who dedicate their lives to creating art. Even secular artists and guild-masters are favored by Daidlin- although they do not use the priesthood’s preferred methods, their goal is perfectly admirable.

Daidlin will also protect those who appreciate fine art. Nobles wishing to earn Daidlin’s favor will become patron to several artists, and commoners suffering from insomnia or bad dreams have been known to trek miles to the nearest art gallery in order to ease their minds.

Those who do earn Daidlin’s favor can expect success in their artistic endeavors, sudden bursts of divine creativity, and pleasant dreams.

Daidlin’s Disfavor: Daidlin is a particularly good-hearted god and remarkably slow to anger. One way to surely get on his bad side, however, is to destroy or vandalize a work of art. The Priesthood of Daidlin considers all artwork sacred, even pieces devoted to other gods, and smashing a portrait or statue is akin to spitting in Daidlin’s face.

Thieves, counterfeiters, and plagiarizers will also earn Daidlin’s scorn. Art should be produced through hard work or divine inspiration, never forgery. Mages who delve too deep into Daidlin’s mysteries can also cross him. In the past, sorcerers have often attempted to exploit the Fae-Kithain, the Fae Realm, or the human subconscious as power sources for their magic. Most of these sorcerers meet terrible fates, perhaps due to Daidlin’s subtle influence.

Those who earn Daidlin’s wrath can expect to fail miserably at any artistic endeavor they ever attempt, feeling completely sapped of creativity and inspiration. Daidlin or his priests may also curse a heretic with terrible nightmares or chronic insomnia, sometimes driving the poor soul mad. Daidlin reserves his ultimate curse, however, for those truly deserving. Those who offend Daidlin terribly and irreparably can be cursed with Eternal Wakefulness, doomed to never enter the realm of dreams again, exhausted and anguished until their miserable death.

Daidlin’s Faithful: The priests of Daidlin look rather like ordinary artists. Priests from a Monastery of Painting will wear pigment-smeared smocks, while priests from a Monastery of Metalworking will likely be caked with soot, ash and sweat. On the rare occasions that the priests of Daidlin endeavor to look “priestly”, they will don some simple vestments consisting of light green robes and shoes.

The day to day life of one priest of Daidlin to the next will differ greatly, depending on which type of monastery they inhabit. Each monastery, and indeed, each individual priest, has what is known as an affinity craft. Each monastery will be devoted to one particular type of artwork, with some art forms being more common in one region than another. One will find many Monasteries of Metalworking in Valgard, for example, but one will probably only find a Monastery of Calligraphy in Nijon. There is a monastery for almost every single art-form imaginable somewhere in Entar, however, including Monasteries of Carpentry, Monasteries of Poetry, and Monasteries of Dance. Even the smallest places of worship to Daidlin will have an affinity craft, even if nothing is really practiced or created there. The Temple to Daidlin in Elenion, for example, is said to be devoted to the 'art' of diplomacy and rhetoric.

The priests of Daidlin are a secluded bunch, their days spent either honing their craft or practicing dream interpretation. Dream interpretation is an important practice for the priesthood; they believe that dreams are divine images sent by Daidlin, and understanding their nature can allow one to foretell the future and know things otherwise unknowable. Priests of Daidlin are usually more than happy to interpret the dreams of travelers for a small donation.

The Priesthood of Daidlin is divided into three simple ranks. Initiates to the Priesthood are known as Apprentices, and they are taught the basics of the affinity trade which will eventually allow them to produce works of divine inspiration. After an Apprentice produces his or her first divinely-inspired artwork, they become full-fledged Priests. Priests form the bulk of the Priesthood, but above them are the High Priests. The High Priests are not necessarily more skilled or more important than ordinary priests, but they do have extra duties, including overseeing individual monasteries, dealing with clients interested in buying artwork or donating to the monastery, or staffing the Temple of Daidlin in Elenion.

Daidlin's Power: Most of Daidlin’s faith magic bears a remarkable resemblance to sorcery, especially the school of illusion. Priests of Daidlin are very concerned with beauty and imagery, and even regard their magic as a sort of art. Daidlin’s priests are capable of summoning up remarkably complex illusions, whether they be for self-defense or simple aesthetic pleasure.

Particularly powerful priests of Daidlin can sculpt more dangerous illusions, allowing them to better defend their beliefs and colleagues. They can curse their enemies with terrible, mind-shattering nightmares, blind them with an illusionary haze, or simply misdirect and distract them. Some priests are able to tap into Daidlin’s infinite understanding of the mortal subconscious, granting them abilities akin to mind-reading.

Priests of Daidlin, however, are particularly well-known for their ability to channel “divine inspiration”. Once every three years or so, even the humblest priests of Daidlin can invite The Dreamer into their minds, allowing them to produce masterwork-quality objects no matter what their level of training might be. This can only be accomplished after months of meditation, and only in the priest’s “affinity” trade. But the rarity and remarkable quality of these “divine” pieces make them extremely valuable.

It should also be noted that the Fae-Kithain are particularly fond of Daidlin. Some even refer to the Wine God as the Lord of the Fae. Because of this, Fae-folk are much more likely to help a priest of Daidlin than any random mortal, and there have been reports of sprites, slaugh, and other 'evil' Fae-Kithain aiding mortal followers of Daidlin. This ability is not precisely magical in nature, (the Fae in question is in no way coerced or compelled to help the endangered mortal), but it is a noteworthy strength all the same.

Though not precisely combat-oriented, it is clear that Daidlin will not abandon those that follow him. A priest of Daidlin is not some one you would want as an enemy.

Sacred Objects: The Priesthood of Daidlin considers all works of art sacred, and it is possible for a priest of Daidlin to draw energy from a particularly beautiful statue, painting or other item. There is one artifact, however, one piece of art that transcends all others, making it the holiest object on Entar among The Dreamer’s faithful.

It is known as The Eye of Daidlin- a bejeweled statue depicting nothing more than a human eye. The eye is about six feet in diameter, with an eyelid and frame of solid gold. The white of the eye is represented by a sea of pearl-inlaid gold, and the iris is made of dozens of flawlessly-cut emeralds. The pupil is made of a lustrous, unidentified black material. Its official value, according to the government bookkeepers of Elenion, is listed as “inestimable”.

The Eye of Daidlin has existed since the First Age, and according to legend, was crafted by The Dreamer himself as a gift to his disciples. It currently resides in the Temple to Daidlin in Elenion. The Priesthood of Daidlin appreciates The Eye not only because of its beauty and its supposedly divine origins, but also because the strange powers it possesses. It is said that those who are truly faithful to Daidlin, upon gazing into The Eye, will immediately be struck with powerful, prophetic visions. The Eye has become a major symbol for Daidlin, and naturally, thousands of pilgrims flock to see it each year, hoping to have their fates revealed to them. Most see nothing, but those who are blessed with visions have predicted assassinations and cosmic events. Some have even had their own deaths revealed to them.

Sacred Texts: The Priesthood of Daidlin has no official sacred texts. They consider all art sacred, and include great works of literature and poetry in their definition of art. Due to the subjective nature of art, no one piece has ever been universally agreed upon as the “greatest” or “purest”, and each individual monastery is likely to have its own libraries and preferred books.

Prominence: The Priesthood of Daidlin is very popular among the upper and middle class, and monasteries can be found near all of the major cities, dotting much of the surrounding countryside. Other religious organizations, even those devoted to Jherad, Valdriel, and other dark gods, tend to tolerate the Priesthood of Daidlin. They defend all art, after all, including the religious icons of other priesthoods. Although the Priesthood of Daidlin has no real political or spiritual obstacles, they often face a very strong economic enemy. The secular Guilds have long been at odds with the Priesthood of Daidlin, and a monastery will never coexist with a guild’s headquarters. One will be hard-pressed to find a Monastery of Metalworking in the ancient forges of Khalar, for example. Sometimes the competition between the Priesthood of Daidlin and the Guilds escalates to the point of violence and espionage, but only very rarely.

Quote: "When mortals on a pillow lay
and forgive the rigors of the day,
the rings and kings and sordid things
of this world do melt and fade away.
For when we mortals succumb to sleep,
we are transported to Lord Daidlin's keep
and in this tranquil quietus reap
the treasure of idle thoughts long-steeped."
-Excerpt from the poet Alve's "Songs of Gods, Beasts and Men"

Credit to Two-Moons

[Librarian]

Gormion, the Corrupter

Sphere: Corruption, Disease, Undeath.

Alignment: Chaotic Evil.

Gender: Male.

Symbols: A Black Vulture, a Cracked Skull, a Withering Rose.

Colours: Yellow Green, Olive, and Dark Slate Gray.

Avatar: There are several depictions of the Corrupter found across the lands of Entar, each with its own significance and relevance. Occasionally, Gormion is depicted as an ancient, Lich-like king, wearing an old rusty crown and dressed in ragged, yet sumptuous robes; skin pealing from his bony limbs and his skeletal face, and a pair of maddening green, ever-shining orbs looking down at the decaying world in front of them. He’s often shown standing in the middle of an endless field, usually filled with rotting corpses, if not a dead or withering forest, under a brown-clouded sky and an eclipsed solar disc. This is not the most common representation of ‘The Undying King’, as he is generally referred to by his Priests, who revere him as one. Most often he’s depicted by farmers and men of the countryside as a gloomy figure with barely any form at all, usually more like a cloud of corrupting mist that spreads over the crops, rotting the land and killing every plant that grows from it, and every creature that dares step on such tainted soil.

Persona: Gormion, the God of all things vile, putrid and foul. One too many times it has been said that his power comes close to rivalling that of Jherad, that Faelyn’s domain is the one that he covets the most, that Hirin’s reach over death he wishes to destroy, and that even Maedhros and his Infinite Darkness find him repugnant. There is no fouler entity amongst those who reign in the Divine than he whose power spreads like a plague that corrupts all things living; he whose twisting touch defiles even the purest of essences and turns sublime beauty into unfathomable madness. Some say that Gormion is as merciless as Jherad and that he seeks to bring decay to all living things much like the Destroyer wishes to annihilate all things that are; however, specially amongst the God’s secretive Priesthood, it is widely believed that the motivation behind his deeds is not as simple as that of the Bringer of Chaos, who seeks to destroy all things as it is within his very nature to do so, and on the contrary, it carries a far darker meaning.

Gormion is a greedy God; his actions are driven by an ambition not unlike that of Maedhros, who once dreamt of spreading his Shadow to the farthest corners of the world and ruling within its everlasting Darkness until the end of time, however his means are rather subtler than those of the Fallen One. In the oldest of myths, that which dates back to a time that the world does no longer remember, it is said that, when Eldanar was being first given a shape and life had barely begun blooming from the entrails of the earth, Gormion was the architect of the ephemerity that all things within mortal existence seem to be imbued with, most commonly seen in the act of passing of the seasons. He guided life through the paths of the world, from the Gate of Dawn, of Faelyn and the gift of birth, to the Gate of Dusk, of Maedhros and the fate of Death. He watched life as it came and went over and over in an endless cycle; however, deep within the roots of his heart, a dark pain began to take shape.

At first the God was a merciful one; so merciful, in fact, that he could not bear to watch life wither away as it seemed to do so by his own hand. He wished for it to remain eternally and never fade. Thus, in the midst of his suffering, he went before all his brethren Deities and demanded of them to be given absolute power of life, to deny Maedhros’ Death, and Faelyn’s birth, and to make all things eternal and everlasting. Upon hearing his words, both Maedhros and Faelyn stood from their hallowed thrones and accused Gormion of speaking blasphemies; they spoke of life as a fleeting aspect of existence, as something that was meant to pass and never remain. Such was the order of things, they said, yet Gormion refused to listen and demanded again with more vehemence to be granted all power over life. When they denied his plea once more, this time more enraged, he tried to unleash his divine power upon them and take what he wanted by force, but then the remaining Gods rose and stopped his attack, accused him of madness and stripped him of his powers over the fleeting life. He was thrown from the Divine and sent to the world to dwell on his actions.

For a thousand centuries Gormion dwelled in the dark, unexplored reaches of the world. He wept in silence, drowned in his pain, and little by little his suffering began taking a hold of his once lucid mind and twisted his thoughts, making him vengeful and wroth. And then, driven by his new corrupted inner self, he rose from the darkness and reached for a power yet untapped; one that no God had dared claim as his own for it was most unnatural. He fed off of such power and strengthened what was left of his own; however, his essence became corrupted, absurdly foul and unnatural. Then he walked to the first garden that the Gods had created, took the first rose that was born in Eldanar and with his new power he drained it of life and had it wither. Then, as he viciously murdered the rest of the garden, his voice rose towards the skies as a thunder and reached the high thrones of the Gods, and before them it carried Gormion’s malevolent oath to twist all life, to make it shrivel and turn it foul, and to vanquish death and deny its power. From them on, Gormion would be known most widely as ‘The Corrupter’, ‘The Defiler’, and the ‘Twisted God’.   

Gormion’s Favour: In truth, Gormion cares for almost nothing and no one; at least not until they become part of his realm of eternal decay. His corruption and undying hatred towards all things living knows no limits, and his touch will cause everything alive and sane to rot without discretion. Nevertheless there will always be some that sympathise with his deviant cause and seek to use his malicious power to suit their own purposes. Those that Gormion often seems to bless are mostly individuals often poisoned by an undying hatred towards life, a despicable disgust for the natural order of things, and an urging ambition to disrupt and even destroy said order. Amongst mortals, those who practice the forsaken art of Necromancy, the ancient practice of the manipulation of the forces of undeath and decay, are most often favoured by the Corrupter, and are seldom seen as anything other than agents of his foul will; however, these are not the only ones seen with favourable eyes by the Twisted God.

Not only the ones that are virtuous in the magical arts of defying death and spreading corruption are blessed by Gormion, but also every individual that is haunted by thoughts of murderous intent and craving for blood is found by his touch; all those whose minds have been as twisted by life as Gormion’s once was have the God on their side, and he usually procures to pave the way for their deviant deeds long before these occur. Assassins, Psychopaths, Maddened Wizards and even the Low-Lives and beggars that are often forced to murder in order to survive are part of the vast compound of beings that receive favours from the Undying King, even though they may be less than grateful for them. Gormion also has a special predilection for the vile creatures of the world; all the crawlers, the creepers, the slithering and the venomous. From the smallest of the disease-carrying vermin to the seemingly endless carrion swarms, all the creatures that mortals detest, the Twisted God appears to have embraced. However, there are some that are most exalted by his powers and truly blessed by his account: the Undead.

Although Gormion has always had power over all forms of Undeath, it was only acknowledged until the event now known as The Sundering; it was only then when the full extent of his foulness was finally grasped by the rest of the Pantheon. The Dark Lord Maedhros, now turned completely evil, wished for a force that would drive the servants of his now arch-enemy Aldaron away from the path of Light and into the Infinite Darkness, but he knew that within his realm of shadows not such thing could be concocted; thus, he went before Gormion and asked from him the creation of a foul creature that would turn his nightmarish dream into a dreadful reality. The Lord of Undeath, seeing this as an opportunity to corrupt the Dark One himself, agreed in exchange of being granted absolute power over these new beings, and thus, he went to edges of the world and claimed the lives of many a mortal, and from them he raised the Forsaken breed of the Vamphyr, the fathers of all Vampires. From then on, Gormion’s power over all things undying became widely acknowledged by both mortals and Gods. Today, the Vampires are but an abysmal portion of the vast collection of abominations that Gormion has a rule over.

Gormion’s Disfavour: As mentioned previously, Gormion’s hatred towards all things living and sane knows no limits. Everything that is born and remains pure, untainted and natural, to him is repulsive and highly sickening; with his touch, the Corrupter seeks to spread his everlasting blight and twist it all, making it poisonous, even deadly, and, of course, maddening. It is said that Gormion’s glare of despise is more than enough to drive the sanest of men to the very fringe of psychotic insanity; and it is here where lays the true power of Gormion’s corruption, for he knows quite well that all things physical are all but fleeting and undeniably feeble, whereas the tortures of the mind and the scars it leaves are so deeply rooted that they’re capable of surviving even death and polluting the immortal soul of the living. Unlike Jherad, who seeks to destroy, and Maedhros who acts to dominate, Gormion seeks to convert all things into his realm of everlasting decay. It is for this reason that many of his Priests share the view -- albeit twisted -- that Gormion is in fact the most merciful amongst the Gods, for even though his hatred towards life is as strong as a cyclonic storm, in the end all things are ‘purified’ and welcomed into his house. And once something is his, he never lets it go.

There is, however, a special hatred from Gormion towards two particular kinds of beings: the newly born and the nearly departed. Every time a new form of life is brought into the world, Gormion feels it; he feels its beauty, its purity, and his heart is filled with rage for a moment, for the ‘curse’ that he seeks to destroy remains despite his best efforts. The same goes for the agonizing ones, for they are leaving the world untainted; he looks at them all with ravenous hunger, for it was only right that they were allowed to remain eternally in the Twisted Paradise that Gormion seeks to create when the world is completely his. And it is almost needless to say that the hatred towards these beings quite easily transcends towards those who seem to control their destinies; Faelyn and Hirin. Of all the Gods these are the ones he hates the most, and their Priesthoods are not safe from this corruptive contempt. The Healers, the Midwives, the Druids that bless nature, and all those who seek to undo what he has done are thoroughly despised by the Corrupter.   

Continues in the Next Post

[Librarian]

Gormion’s Faithful: To the general population of Entar in the Northlands, the Priesthood of Gormion is barely existent at all. They see it as no more than a small group of lunatic sorcerers with little or not organization at all; a fragile cult, if not the most fragile of them all. However, to the Priesthood of Gormion this is the greatest of their victories, for they are in fact the most secretive organization that ever existed in the lands of Entar, and the oldest church in the whole continent. The story of the church of Gormion dates back to the time that most men and Elves have chosen to forget, when Entar and its green lands and snowy valleys were but a dream of the ancient sailors of the East. Gormion the Corrupter was a despised God from the very beginning. Most mortals feared his dreadful powers and believed him to be a force that no man was meant to meddle with. All those who spoke highly of the Deity were ostracized even by those who worshipped beings of no less darker power. However, Gormion, being a God of great cunning, saw treasures where mortals saw waste, and took it all for himself. Thus is how he became known as the Patron of the lunatic, the most misfortunate and the mortally plagued. Then, he took advantage of the darkest fear in the hearts of mortals, one which no man has ever escaped from: the undying fear of death.

The Twisted God searched for those who feared death the most and bestowed upon them a promise of everlasting life, if only they would render their souls and their wills before his plaguing power. Deals were made, oaths were taken, and the priesthood of Gormion rose in secret in the East, and thus it remained until the time of the Divine War, when they first stood along with the aberrations of their Unholy Master and those of the Evil Deities that swore to conquer and destroy the lands of the living. In the end the East was destroyed and all the peoples were forced to travel westward across the sea. Gormion, being the vengeful and greedy God that he was, would not let any mortal escape his curse, and thus he sent his followers to travel in secret and pollute the lands that would one day be known as Entar as well. As ambitious and wroth as he might be, Gormion remains nonetheless a patient God, and thus, patience is a virtue highly valued amongst his servants; as such, they waited in silence for four hundred years, spreading their cult and their teachings in the darkness until The Sundering came to pass and the Corrupter emerged once more with a new host of foul beings to aid Maedhros in his deviant campaign.

When the High Gods first laid eyes on the abominations that Gormion had sired, they cursed the God for his terrible sin and perversion of life and, as a prelude to the great battle that would end the First Age, Aldaron the Defender sent Kailthis, King of all Knights of Honour, to fight the Corrupter. Their battle lasted almost as long as that of the God of Light and the Fallen One and there’s no doubt that it would’ve had the same grim outcome, had it not ended in a draw. Even though in the end there was no real victor, it is believed that the Twisted God was severely injured; some dare say that he even perished, or became Half-a-God. It is for this reason that Gormion is occasionally referred to as ‘The Dead God’, ‘The Wounded God’ or ‘The Changed One’.

When The Sundering came to an end, Maedhros was stripped of his powers over Death and these were instead given to the newly-ascended Hirin. Most of the mortal peoples accepted and welcomed the shift in the Divine Spectrum; however, a few remained apprehensive. Whilst the civilized races of the realm moved on, the primal, brutal Greenskin warriors that once bowed before Maedhros out of fear, refused to bind themselves to such an entity as judicious and detached as Hirin, and instead they turned towards Gormion, Lord of all things Corrupted, Rotten, and Decayed. Being rather pragmatic and empirical thinkers, the Orcs and the Goblins of the Southlands were unable to separate the physical aspect of death from its more metaphysical highlights; as a result, Gormion became the true and only God of Death in the south, and a new branch of his faith was born. Each particular group, however, had its own way of perception of Gormion and its autochthonous methods of worship.

Amongst the tribes in the Southlands that know very little of Gormion’s past, there is no one common priestly garb, one unifying symbol to their faith, or one common practice aside from the most primary of rituals known as ‘The Sky Burial’. This practice was born from the belief that cremation and earth burials were direct affronts to the Corrupter since it is not within his nature to hide his work; for this reason the tribes dispose of their dead by placing their remains atop small, squat towers, exposing them to the harshness of the elements and allowing them to rot. It didn't take long for worshipers to take notice of the vultures that descended to feed on the corpses and quicken the decaying process; for this reason, the vulture has become a quasi-universal symbol of Gormion's power, and southern worshipers of Corrupter consider them sacred as well as carriers of his will.

Back in the north, as previously stated, the Priesthood is barely acknowledged by the civilized people of the great cities. However, the faith does exist and it has a wide number of followers. The Northern Branch of the Faith of Gormion is perhaps the oldest religious order in all of Entar. They exist since before Entar itself was even discovered, and they come from the forgotten lands of the East. To the few outside their order they are known as The Corrupt, and it is not without reason that they carry such a title. The Corrupt work as an underground movement divided into sects, each with its own specific practices and beliefs; however, there are larger elements of unity amongst them than amongst the cults in the south.

The first of these practices are ‘The Rituals of Rot’, which every initiate must take before entering the sect; it consists of corrupting the person’s body with a specific disease that will later on be used as the identifying mark that separates the members of one sect from the others. If the person is killed by the disease, then it will mean that his or her loyalty towards the Corrupter wasn’t pure. However, if the person survives, it is a sign of the blessing of Gormion that guarantees total acceptance into the brotherhood; nonetheless, it must be noted that the disease becomes a part of the organism of the initiated and it can never be cured, and, although it shall never cause any hindrance to its bearer, it is, however, a transmissible plague that can be passed on to his or her enemies. Another practice that is most common amongst the Priesthood of Gormion is the Art of Necromancy, which, as stated earlier, is favoured by the God and usually bestowed by him to his followers as a form of Faith-Magic.

When it comes to praying, the most devoted worshippers use a method known as ‘The Consecration of Madness’. The practice consists of preparing a special brew known as Essence of Blight that is later poured into a consecrated Chalice; the Priest then takes this Chalice and drinks from it, and the effect draws the person into a self-induced state of lunacy during which, it is believed, they commune directly with the decaying presence of Gormion. The Hierarchy of the Priesthood revolves directly around these practices. The initiates that have been accepted into the sects are known as Acolytes and they are meant to assist the Necromancers, the official Clerics, in their rites; and it is said that amongst the oldest Necromancers there are some that give up their minds to the Corrupted as a final act of faith. These are known as ‘The Voices of Gormion’, and only a handful of them are believed to exist across Entar; it is said that Gormion himself manifests through these maddened individuals and, although their minds are virtually shattered in the process, he grants them immense powers of Necromancy in return for their devotion, and sometimes he even walks them through the paths of Lichdom and Avatarhood.

As a direct result of their devotion towards delusion and madness, the sects have taken over tasks such as the care of the mentally ill as it is seem in the Temple of Gormion in Elenion, which doubles as Entar’s premier Insane Asylum. There, the Priests tend to the patients as reverently as though they were saints. Because they believe that rot and decay honour Gormion, the members of the Clergy never clean their temple, and as a consequence it has fallen into a crypt-like state of disrepair. Graffiti, usually etched in place by the maddened patients themselves, covers every inch of the place and it is perceived by the Priests of Gormion as part of his most Sacred Teachings.

Gormion’s Power: Gormion is patron over all things Impure, Putrid and most Unnatural; and as such, the greatest gift he confers upon his faithful is the malignant art of Necromancy. The power to command dead flesh and dry bones, to conjure plagues of all kinds of evil upon the hosts of the living, to call forth endless swarms of vermin and carrion, to agitate the darkest forms of maddened souls, spirits, wraiths and ghost; such is the might Gormion’s Necromancers. Nevertheless, Necromancy is not the only force that spawns from the acts of devotion to the Twisted God. As a direct effect of the Rituals of Rot, All Clerics of Gormion in the Northlands, the true children of his covenant, carry within them one deadly evil, one lethal disease that signals their passion for their God. This plague does not claim the bearer’s life as long as their pact with Gormion is not broken; however, it becomes a weapon for these individuals, since, subdued by their will, this plague can turn their blood a deadly poison, and their touch into a dreaded curse.

Most followers of Gormion are also masters in the art of twisting the minds of men, of turning the calm and lucid into wroth and vehement monsters. It is said that within the shadows of every throne of every bellicose Warlord lurks a Cleric of Gormion swiftly whispering to his ear. And, of course, albeit unable to cure their own aches, servants of Gormion are virtually immune to all plagues found in nature, and the ones that are most devoted to the cause of the Twisted God are sometimes gifted by him with unnatural and everlasting life.

And last but not least, all Undead Children of Gormion are blessed with the power to wield his Necromantic Gifts. The Wights and Vampires, to whom the Gods despise like no other creature of creation, Gormion has embraced and bestowed upon them control over his decaying realm. This even extends to the foulest and mightiest forms of Undead, the Liches, who are said to have the most devastating powers over all things Corrupt, Poisoned and Forsaken. 

Sacred Objects: Almost every single object implemented during the rituals by the Clerics and Priests of Gormion is believed to sacred in some way or another. From the poisoned daggers sometimes used during the Rituals of Rot to the Unhallowed Chalices from which the Essence of Blight is drank for the Consecration of Madness, all these artefacts are considered to the blessed by Gormion, and in fact, most of them have passages of the Corrupter’s teachings carved into them as a form of sanctification. Other possessions that are known to be sacred to the Necromancers of the Twisted God are the feathers of Vultures that seldom fall when they take off after having fed from a corpse. They usually pick them up after the ‘Sky Burial’ ceremonies and sow them into their clothing, if not make them into necklaces or other forms of ‘jewellery’. And in the Southlands, tribal totems made of Vulture bones, wings and feathers are not uncommon.

Another object that stems from the Clergy’s ancient beliefs is The Skull of Necromancy. It is said that when one of Gormion’s Necromancers suffers an untimely death, his soul does not cross over and his powers do not vanish, but instead they remain trapped inside his decaying remains for all eternity unless the body is properly rendered to the Corrupter through the ceremony of Sky Burial; when this happens, the Acolyte of Gormion is given the choice to either perform the funerary ceremony for his late master, or decapitate the body and take the head. If he chooses the later, he then must remove all skin, hair and organs until only the skull remains; then he must write his master’s name in N’ergalin (the tongue of the rotten) on the skull using his blood as ink, and by doing so, it is said, the powers of the Necromancer shall remain bound to the bones and serve as a medium for Gormion’s decay.

There is one object that stands above all others, however; one that is the stuff of legend for many a servant of Gormion: the rose of the first garden, the first thing ‘blessed’ in this world by the God’s powers of Corruption. The Priesthood refers to it as ‘The Bloom of the Everliving’, for, as old and tainted as it may be, the rose remains almost untouched by anything other that the power that was first poured into it. It is said that there is no greater Magic conferred by The Undying King than that of the rose, and that it rests hidden by the Voices of Gormion in a place called “The Cradle of Rot’, whose location is, conveniently, unknown. Whether there’s any truth to this information is a matter of discussion, even amongst the Clergy.

Sacred Texts: Since most of Gormion’s teachings come from the states of insanity that his Priests are usually put through during the Consecrations of Madness the only written forms found of the Corrupter’s word are known as ‘The Scrolls of Twisting’. The Scrolls of Twisting are compilations made of the many graffiti etched by the mad patients in Gormion’s temples by the Acolytes and Necromancers of the sects. They are believed to be the only true teachings of the God of Decay, and they’re all written in the ancient language of N’ergalin, tongue of the rotten and the insane. N’ergalin is an arcane form of written and spoken word that is said to have been created by Gormion himself as way of keeping the mysteries of his faith shrouded in secrecy; in written form it seems like nothing but unintelligible scribbles with no structure at all, and it’s not less dreadful when spoken, for it sounds much like the roars of wrath of a dying madman.       

Prominence: Back in the Southlands, Gormion is openly revered as the God of Death by most Greenskin tribes; in the North, however, the matter of his worship is slightly more complicated. Historically, the vast majority of northerners have been repulsed by Gormion's spectrum of influence and liturgical practices; nevertheless, scholarly interest in the faith has begun to take shape gradually, particularly among scholars of magic. Sorcerous Necromancers are greatly interested in Gormion's Faith-Magic, and Alchemists have recently leaned towards the notion that his powers of transformation and corruption might eventually lead to a formula for the Philosopher's Stone. Slowly, but surely, people have begun to worship Gormion; and now many are starting to see him a as representation of the physical side of death, whereas Hirin represents the metaphysical. Nonetheless, Gormion’s faith is still considered a ‘fringe’ religion.

Quote: "I am the broken unbreakable. I am the dead immortal. I am the saint, immoral. I am the serpent, uncoiled.
ALCHEMIST SORCERER KING
I AM THE FIRST TRUE COUNTERFEIT
I AM THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT OF DARKNESS
I AM THE LOUDEST SONG OF SILENCE
Tremble, for I am Gormion!"
-Fragment of the Scroll LXXVIII of Sect Carbunculus, Keepers of Gormion's Temple of Elenion.

Credit to Malygos ~ Original Concept by Two-Moons.

[Librarian]

Talos, The Warlord

Sphere: Battle, Skill-at-Arms, Luck

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Gender: Male

Symbols: Rubies, a bloody axe, a red dragon
 
Color: Blood red and black

Avatar: Talos is always depicted as a hybrid of some sort. He is shown as a katta, a dracon, a half-orc, or (more commonly in the north) a half-elf. The mixed ancestry of his avatar is supposed to represent the dual nature of Talos- his savagery and salvation unified. Beyond that, he is usually shown holding a bloody axe in one hand, and a ruby in the other. This represents the dual nature of war, its ability to destroy (with the axe) but also reward, cleanse and glorify (the ruby). He is usually depicted fighting, running, or engaging in some other physically demanding activity.

Persona: Talos is an odd, highly unpredictable god. He is the horror of war, the glory of triumph and the thrill of battle synthesized. He is free and random with his blessings, granting a warrior victory one day, and defeat and death the next.

It is not that Talos is uncaring, exactly. It is simply that he is incapable of understanding man’s fear of death. Talos, and by extension, his followers, consider Entar to be transitory, chaotic, impermanent, and in the grand scheme of things, generally inconsequential. Rather than despair over this fact, however, Talos encourages his followers to throw themselves into the midst of maelstrom, as it were. The only life worth living, according to Talos, is a short one full of risk, pleasure and adventure. Faith in Talos, therefore, requires a sort of happy nihilism... a general lack of common sense, if not outright insanity, seems to help, too.

Despite his barbaric tendencies, Talos is generally seen as a 'good' god. Many religious groups devoted to Talos aided the forces of Aldaron during The Sundering, where they proved themselves to be phenomenally effective and fearless warriors against Maedhros' dark forces. Talos is also quite popular among the lower class; his simple philosophy is easy to grasp, and his ethical tenants quite easy to satisfy, making him a good deal more 'approachable' than the stoic Kailthis, the pacifistic Faelyn, or the all-too-perfect Aldaron.

Talos’ Favor: When Talos is pleased, he favors his followers with incredible luck. This could be luck in games of chance, but far more likely, it is luck in battle. Even the most cynical and secular warriors utter a short prayer to Talos the night before a battle, hoping to ensure at least their survival, if not their victory.

Talos favors those who lead reckless (or even suicidal) lives. Gamblers, explorers, gladiators, con men, thieves, fire-breathers, tight-rope walkers and other stuntmen, as well as random, crusading adventurers are all honored by Talos. The Warrior’s favorites, however, are those that follow in his footsteps. Soldiers of fortune, living as they do in the heat of near-constant battle, are the most likely to reap Talos’ rewards.

Those who Talos finds particularly amusing are blessed with incredible skill and luck in any endeavor they choose, but doubly so if they live by the sword. Any soldier or mercenary interested in their self-preservation would do well to curry Talos’ favor.

Talos’ Disfavor: Talos absolutely detests the cowardly or complacent. Those who do not take risks will never earn Talos’ favor, and those who run from danger may well receive his ire instead.

Despite his highly chaotic and unpredictable nature, Talos does acknowledge a certain sense of honor. Those who betray their comrades, or use cowardly tactics such as striking down unarmed or unaware foes will earn Talos’ wrath. In general, Talos prefers those who fight face-to-face, risking their lives in the front lines instead of safe atop an archer’s tower or skulking in the shadows.

Talos also carries a strong dislike for anyone who doesn’t live a life full of danger and risk. A famous tale, repeated often by his templars, involves Talos throwing an entire village of halflings into the Abyss for being “too boring.” Though there is no record of this actually happening, it does serve illustrate Talos’ highly unpredictable nature.

Those who displease Talos are doomed to suffer some misfortune. For mild infractions, this could be general bad luck, but the truly deserving can expect to be struck down in battle as punishment for their cowardice.

Talos’ Faithful: The priests of Talos are famous for conducting themselves in a highly "unpriestly" fashion. They drink, they gamble, they fight, they cuss. They originate mainly from the poor working class, the young, and the amoral. Many of them aren’t even of a "civilized" race- Talos is enormously popular among orcs, goblins, minotaurs and dracons. The followers of Talos call themselves templars, or collectively, the Templarate of Talos.

In most orcish and tribal societies, a developed priesthood (or in this case, the Templarate) does not exist. Worshippers of Talos are expected to find their own personal path to The Warlord, resulting in very few true templars in the Southlands. This is a good thing in the eyes of the civilized nations; an organized army of orcish templars, bent on fighting for the mere sake of fighting, is too terrifying a thought for most to even contemplate.

Elsewhere in the world, the Templarate is divided into separate Orders. The individual Orders are incredibly diverse, their only commonalties being their faith in Talos and their violent lifestyles. Some groups, like the largely elven Order of Cutting Leaves, are legitimate mercenary groups, often serving alongside soldiers and knights. Others, like the Haldarac-based Order of the Stinging Sands, are brutal, lawless raiders largely shunned by the outside world.

The largest, oldest, and most famous Order by far, however, is the highly-respected Order of the Obsidian Fist. The Obsidian Fist came to power during The Sundering when they joined forces with the Arm of Aldaron. Together, the Arm and the Fist saved countless souls from the Fallen One’s forces, and the two groups have remained allies ever since. Today, the wide-spread Order of the Obsidian Fist spends time securing trade routes throughout Andune, the Elentari, and parts of the Haldarac, in addition to maintaining the Temple to Talos in Elenion. They spend their time hunting criminals, evil cults, and monsters. Travelers and caravans can imbed themselves with Obsidian Fist war-parties (for a considerably fee, of course), allowing unparalleled protection as they traverse Entar’s dangerous trade-routes.

Temples to Talos more closely resemble war-camps or barracks than actual temples, and their appearance and layout vary greatly from region to region and Order to Order. Even the Temple to Talos in Elenion resembles a miniature castle, filled with glorious bronze and gold statues of Talos in his various forms, and crested by forbidding-looking minarets.

Talos’ Power:   Talos’ faith magic is focused squarely on the battle field. Healing spells, defensive wards, and subtle enchantments are not impossible, but the vast majority of Talos’ power is manifested through the brilliant and explosive element of flame.

Followers of Talos wield ‘Holy Fire’ with incredible efficacy. While perfectly adept at turning their enemies into smoldering heaps of ash, as one may expect, more experienced templars can use The Warrior’s might with a bit more finesse. There are reports of Talos’ flame being fashioned into magical weapons and armor, blinding others with its brilliance, and even being used to cauterize wounds.

It should be noted that since the templars summon their flame from a divine source, the fire is actually a magical construct consisting of holy energy mixed with intense heat. Due to this, it is an incredibly effective weapon against vampires and other undead (who are vulnerable to both fire and holy energy). Templars of Talos, therefore, make for some of the most powerful vampire hunters in all of Entar, rivaling even priests of Aldaron and Hirin.

Sacred Objects: The Templarate of Talos prizes rubies. Not only are they quite valuable (the Templarate does, after all, live primarily off the spoils of war), but rubies also represent Talos’ bounty. The Templarate often decorates their armor and weaponry with rubies, and they have been known to use the stones as foci for powerful faith magic.

Some Orders consider dragons, especially fire dragons, to be holy, and will fight mercilessly to defend one. They will also confiscate any dragon remains or artifacts they find (scales, teeth, bones), and treat them with the utmost respect.

Sacred Texts: The majority of Talos’ templars are illiterate, so no sacred text has ever been codified. Even if some warrior-poet did manage to compose one, it probably would not catch on- reading, writing and meditation simply do not have a place among the Templarate of Talos. Most templars express their faith through war chants or silent prayer the night before a battle.

There is one book, however, that does an adequate job of summarizing the beliefs of the Templarate of Talos. The book was originally a journal, the private writings of one Kartuk Kassix, the Grand Templar of the Order of the Obsidian Fist. His writings contain private thoughts, ideas on battle strategy, and a fair bit of philosophizing on the nature of Talos. It is known today as The Kassix Codex. Though it's only about two hundred pages long, the Codex is read by scholars all across Entar who are interested in learning more about Talos and his worshippers.

Prominence: Belief in Talos is widespread, and can be found anywhere where there is martial conflict (that is to say, unfortunately, everywhere). The Order of the Obsidian Fist is by far the most wide-spread, and due to its long history of battling evil, is very highly regarded. The Obsidian Fist has close ties to the Arm of Aldaron and other good priesthoods. Smaller, more reckless Orders may find themselves aligned with evil cults for various reasons. The only religious group known to always oppose Talos’ Templars is the Sisterhood of Faelyn; the Templarate’s violent lifestyle completely contradicts the Sisterhood’s belief in non-violence and altruism.

Quote: "Only by facing our mortality do we cease to be mortal."
-Excerpt from The Kassix Codex, written by Kartuk Kassix, Grand Templar of the Order of Obsidian Fist

Credit to Two-Moons

[Librarian]

Livana, Lady of the Wood

Sphere: Nature, Water, Life

Alignment: True Neutral

Gender: Female

Symbols: A wooden staff with ivy swirling around it, a cresting wave, an oak tree, a leaf

Color: Earthy brown and forest green

Avatar: Livana is invariably portrayed as an elven female, usually a wood elf. She is beautiful but refined, and her twig-and-leaf riddled clothing grants her an otherworldly, somewhat nymph-like appearance. Sometimes she is depicted as a much older woman, not unlike Faelyn, to enhance her wisdom and her role as Mother of the Wilds. Occasionally she’s depicted as a supernatural creature, such as an elven woman roots in place of legs. Near the coastline, she’s associated more strongly with the ocean than the forests. In these areas, she is known as the Mistress of the Waves, and is often depicted against the backdrop of a massive, cresting wave.

Persona: Livana is the personification of the Land; occasionally cold and uncaring toward the trials of man, but undeniably the source of all life. She is both stoic and unpredictable, representing both the timeless mountains and the ever-shifting dunes. Prior to the Sundering, she was easily the most popular deity in existence, while others (such as Daidlin and Aldaron) were little more than footnotes in Entar’s pantheon.

The Sundering, however, seemed to have a way of equalizing all the gods; previously marginalized deities, such as Daidlin, rose to significant status, while ancient and powerful ones like Livana diminished noticeably. The Sundering shook the faith of all mortals, and many deserted the apparently indifferent Livana, flocking under the banner of Aldaron, Kailthis, Faelyn, and other more active ‘protectors.’

Livana, for her part, did not aid Maedhros during The Sundering. His ambitions were an affront against nature, and many druidic circles moved to oppose him. Others, however, viewed The Sundering like a particularly harsh winter; unfortunate and tragic, yes, but a necessary part of the natural order. Those who survived it would emerge stronger for it, and it was not up to the druids to decide who lived and who died. The druids were later berated for their perceived apathy and inaction, and have never truly recovered from the blow to their membership.

Faith in Livana has survived, however, because of her obvious effects on the world of Entar. She is the bringer of crops, the mighty, mysterious power that changes the seasons. Hunters, fishermen, explorers and farmers live and die by her whims, and consider paying respects to her tantamount to their survival.

Livana’s Favor: Livana smiles upon those who live off the land and interact with nature in an intimate, but non-destructive, fashion. Farmers, hunters and rangers are favored by Livana, provided they do not take more from the land than they truly need.

Most hunters and peasants will never truly be close to Livana, however, because they are ultimately motivated by greed, by the feeble and secular goal of ‘making a living.’ They only make brief forays into the wilds; those who wish for Livana’s real favor must abandon the trappings of civilization entirely. Hermits and full-time druids earn Livana’s esteem by living entirely off the land. They never harm it, but instead integrate themselves into natural ecosystem as easily as an extra bear or deer.

This includes even the high elves and wood elves, who must remove themselves from their respective societies in order to enjoy the full extent of Livana's bounty. While humans and other races generally perceive the elves of the Elentari as "closer to nature" (and while certain elves may boast that they are), the fact is that being elven does not in and of itself arouse Livana's interest. Elves, especially high elves, are known to manipulate nature to better suit them. While not inherently destructive, this is not much different from dwarves digging mines or humans building walls. Livana, therefore, does not devote the elven races any special attention; a city is a city, as far as she is concerned.

Those who please Livana can expect to walk the wilds in relative safety. She will not coddle men who walk into the domain of beasts, but those who have earn Livana’s trust can often walk past dangerous predators without fear. Nature will slowly reveal its wonders to those blessed by Livana, allowing them to discover rare fruits and glimpse elusive animals in unlikely places.

Livana’s Disfavor: The only way to truly anger Livana is to destroy or corrupt nature. This is a difficult feat for one person to accomplish through mundane means, but not impossible. Careless butchers who spoil a river with offal, or greedy lumberjacks who take more wood than they need quickly earn her scorn.

Livana truly detests mages or dark priests who twist nature to their purposes. Powerful dark mages may be capable of poisoning an entire forest, or drawing energy for their spells by squelching the living creatures around them. Few actually go this far, however, for fear of Livana’s wrath. Anyone foolish enough to corrupt the land for the purposes of magic will be hunted relentlessly by druids everywhere, or else put down by Livana’s subtler machinations.

Those who earn Livana’s ire will suffer grave misfortune any time they step into the wilds. They may contract rare diseases, suffer clouds of stinging insects and dangerous parasites, become the meal of some jungle-dwelling beast, or simply lose their way and die slowly of dehydration. Angering Livana is not advised for those who travel, even only on occasion.

Livana’s Faithful: True worshippers of Livana call themselves druids, and divide themselves into small, tight-knit groups known as covens or circles. The laws and beliefs of druids differ greatly from circle to circle; some forbid the use of wood, animal bones, or other ‘natural’ materials. Others forbid the use of metal or other ‘unnatural’ materials. Some refuse to eat meat, while others relish eating animals they’ve stalked and killed themselves, like wild beasts. Some covens are steeped in complicated rituals and sacred oaths, while others are remarkably laid-back and informal.

While one might expect such diversity to cause great friction between the separate circles, it’s actually quite the opposite. The druids consider themselves to be as wide and varied as landscape of Entar itself. Their differences are not a cause for violence and strife, then, but should be taken as separate but equally valid viewpoints. An ancient Druidic saying goes: “The wolf sees what the rabbit does not. The rabbit sees what the wolf does not.”

Druidic places of worship are often hidden in plain sight; a peaceful clearing in the woods can be a temple; a humble pile of stacked stones, an altar. Druids keep their meeting places hidden not out of paranoia, but in order to reinforce the idea that all of Entar is an altar to the Lady of the Wood. Every twig, leaf, or puddle is a possible place of worship. Even the Temple to Livana in Elenion is just a copse of towering redwoods and evergreens, coaxed by powerful magic to grow amongst the buildings of the city.

The only places unfit for worship, according to the druids, are cities, villages, and other centers of civilization. City-dwelling druids, rare though they may be, are known to make pilgrimages away from their homes in order to commune with Livana in the wilderness. Most ‘civilized’ folk consider such behavior highly suspicious, and in some areas, druids face considerable persecution. Due to this, most eventually move away from major population centers, choosing to live with their coven in the wilderness full-time.

Druidic circles and covens are almost exclusively non-violent, but are often feared or distrusted by other, more ‘civilized’ religious sects. Their aloof, sometimes secretive nature, and the fact that the Arm of Aldaron has long held them to be a ‘savage’ religion, mean the number of true druids in Entar is quickly diminishing. Livana and her remaining followers, however, couldn’t care less. Proof of the Land and her power exists everywhere; in every wave, in every tree, every bird and insect. Cities may fall, but forests re-grow, and Livana will always be there for her followers.

Livana’s Power: Livana’s faith magic usually manifests as water or earth energy, the two elements that make up the majority’s of Entar’s natural landscape. It is not unheard of for a coven in Valgard to summon ice through Livana, for example, or for a circle in the Haldarac to utilize fire and heat. It depends on the individual druid’s talents as well as their individual relationship with nature.

Followers of Livana are also excellent healers, second only to the priestesses of Faelyn. Whereas a priestess of Faelyn might erase a wound in a flash a light, a druid may instead speed up the afflicted person’s natural healing processes, quickening their recovery. Livana’s worshippers are also renowned for their abilities with non-magical healing, due to their familiarity with medicinal plants and other herbs.

More powerful druids may be able to call the plants and animals of the land to their aide, entangling opponents in a forest of vines or sending a pack of wolves after them. The conscientious druid must use these powers frugally, however, and be careful that in manipulating the natural order they do not corrupt it.

Due to their considerable sway over natural forces, one can simply not have a better traveling companion in the wilds of Entar than a druid of Livana.

Sacred Objects: Druids consider all nature sacred. Some, depending on their particular ideology, may choose to carve totems or icons of Livana out of bone, wood, or stone, but this is by no means a universal practice. Others may select a particular animal, plant, or natural phenomenon to elevate as a powerful symbol of Livana.

Sacred Texts: Each coven will have its own preferred libraries (and some may have none it all). One of the most popular books, however, is The Golden Songbook, an ancient book of hymnals to Livana first compiled by The Circle of the Golden Leaves, a now-extinct coven of wood elves from the Elentari. Many circles own a copy or two, but not all consider it entirely ‘sacred.’ Most covens rely on passing down their beliefs and stories verbally.

Prominence: Worship of Livana declined sharply after The Sundering. While she almost certainly opposed Maedhros, the fact remains that Aldaron was the great savior of Entar, not her. Most people today consider Livana-worship to be a ‘savage’ and out-dated religion. She still holds great esteem among the tribes of the Haldarac and Southlands, however, and is well-loved by the wood elves, centaurs, satyrs, and other forest-dwelling folk. Poor villages still pray to her to aid their crops, and sailors still hold the Mistress of the Waves dear to their hearts. The more provincial the setting, the more likely worshippers of Livana will be found.

Quote: “Know Livana? You wish to know Her? Do you know every leaf of the redwood? Do you know every pebble of the mountain? Do you know every drop of the river? You cannot know Livana, city-dweller. Even I do not know Livana. We merely sleep in Her endless fecundity. We are children, dozing in Her lap."
-Elder Druid Ardith Fer, Head of the Circle of Moss and Stone, care-takers of the Temple of Livana in Elenion

Credit to Two-Moons

[Librarian]

The Elemental Lords

The Nature of the Elemental Lords:

The four Elemental Lords are NOT gods or deities.  They do not have clerics, followings, or zealots.  They are, in all simplicity, the element itself.  They do not have a physical form but are often portrayed in art as specific characters.  They are the spirit of the element and they control their respected element.  So even though they control their element they cannot override an actual Deity, for instance Livana and Jherad have fluent control over all the elements.  Aside from elements, they are also associated with a physical mass, an emotion, and an idea.  Basically, the four lords command every aspect of life, divided evenly among the four.  There is always something to look to them for; for either luck, aid, fortune, guidance, or grievance.  Despite the amount of control they have, it is very limited and easily manipulated; they are the most basic of the fundamental beings that make up Eldanar.

The Four Lords:

Baldor: Water, Seas, Wisdom, and Perseverance
The Water Lord, Baldor is most commonly associated with the great expanse of the sea.  He is the governor of wisdom, truth, and the mind; and master of persistence, endurance, and diligence.  Many look to him for guidance in complicated times, to clear their mind, or for self enlightenment.  He is also a central figure in the lore and myths of many societies and races.  He has infinite knowledge and is often looked to when one doesn’t know an answer in the hope that Baldor would guide them in their search.  On a more material standpoint, he is the embodiment of water.  Water or ice mages often refer to Baldor in times of trouble or even fortune.  Sailors look to Baldor to grant them safe passage or a calm sea.  Baldor is the keeper of Knowledge and is usually portrayed as a wise and weathered old man carrying books or scrolls who stands tall with pride.

Caarel: Fire, Sun, Temper, and Passion
The Tyrant among Fire, Caarel represents passion and temper. He is young, vibrant, and strong.  He commands pure passion, challenge, desire, vigor, and devotion, but at the same time ignorance, stubbornness, rage, hate, and vengeance.  His charm is both a blessing and a curse.  He is looked to for immediate action and assurance in irrational and even chaotic deeds.  As the tyrant among fire he is commonly looked to by fire mages or just those who seek power.  He is the commander of sheer power and youth.  Caarel is portrayed as a dashing and strapping young man dressed in armor and wielding a flaming sword with expressions of arrogance, confidence, even superiority.

Khain: Earth, Mountains, Valor, and Fortitude
King of Earth and Father of the Land, Khain rumbles far beneath dwarven mines, deep within the vast forest, and below the world’s surface.  He is the embodiment of courage, bravery, might, honor, and discipline.  He is the selfless warrior of the people who weathers all disasters and dark times.  Khain is the most noble of all the Elemental Lords.  Most think of him as the Father of the Earth, the Giver of Life, and the Guardian of Balance.  People look to him for inner strength, courage, or overcoming temptation.  As the King of Earth he is actively looked to for prosperity in new beginnings, latter life, and self honor.  He is portrayed, most commonly as a principled and sturdy dwarf in rugged travel clothes carrying a staff.  He is a depiction of solidarity, respect, and self-discipline.

Veral: Air, Skies, Tranquility, and Vitality
Queen of Air and Wind, Veral keeps a constant, watchful eye on Eldanar. She is the Bringer of Peace the Mother of Grace.  She brings the morning breeze, upon which, the scent of flowers float, and she lifts the wings of birds and dragons. She is as elegant as she is beautiful.  She comforts the people during hard times and lifts them up, gives them hope.  She guides the weary and heals the sick.  She truly is the Mother of the Land, and the people are always grateful for her fortune.  She is often looked to as someone who the people can lean on in times of strife.  She is portrayed as a beautiful, lively, and serene elf in an elegant dress wafting in the breeze.  She is a passionate lover and a loyal friend.

Credit to Ephedel and Zyrphath

[Librarian]

Faelyn: The Merciful

Spheres: Dawn, Birth, Mercy, Renewal
Alignment: Neutral Good.
Gender: Female.
Symbols: Mistletoe. Water.
Colors: Pink in varying shades.
Avatar/Iconography: Faelyn is generally pictured as a mature woman (not a young girl), with her brown hair braided in a circle atop her head. She wears long, soft pink robes and is barefoot. In some images, she has four arms, with two hands folded as if in prayer and the other two spread out palm-up. One of these hands is pouring water and the other holds a globe of light. They are reminders of the solace and wisdom that Faelyn offers to all who seek her in devotion.

Persona: Despite being popular among women, Faelyn enjoys a following among both sexes. It is worth noting that Faelyn is much more popular among marginalized or oppressed populations, for reasons that should be relatively obvious. Whereas Aldaron is the champion of order and social duty, Faelyn sees to those that the social order may not always favor. Every culture has its untouchables and in the eyes of Faelyn every untouchable is still a worthy living being.

This makes her relationship with Aldaron a complicated one from time to time. When Aldaron goes to war protecting the righteous and the innocent, Faelyn offers her full support and cares for those trodden underfoot during the battle to free Aldaron for his task. His dedication to justice and mercy form the common bond between them, and it was cemented when he chose not to destroy Maedhros before casting him down. In this act perhaps beyond any other Aldaron served the ideals that Faelyn embodies.

Even considering this historic alliance, Faelyn is not blind to the suffering caused by even the best-intentioned of the other gods. The ideals that Aldaron fights for are not always shared by the goddess Faelyn, and on rare occasions she makes it clear. Faelyn is not by nature an aggressive goddess, but she can be an assertive one. She never truly denounces an allied deity such as Aldaron or Selune, but when she feels they are not upholding the ideals of mercy and compassion, she will work to curtail the damage she feels they are doing. Generally she stops just short of actually undermining them, but among the lower classes in some regions the most popular tales of Faelyn are tales of her intercession (and even interference) with the other gods on their behalf. Like all myths it is impossible to say whether these are true accounts or narratives that have survived only to give hope to devotees, but in light of their importance it may not even be relevant what really happened.

While it is no mystery to the goddess or her devotees that many people hurt one another intentionally, it is the intentional mistreatment of other beings that arouses the rare anger and offense of this peaceful goddess. Treating another person as a means to an end, manipulating and betraying other sentient creatures... these are the acts that Faelyn objects to, and there are more ways to mistreat another than with physical violence.

Faelyn's patronage of the oppressed stems from this ideological stance. If direct violence is not the only form oppression takes, then the other forms of oppression deserve to be staved off as well. It is in this area that she and Aldaron occasionally diverge. Whereas Aldaron believes that the weak must support the strong, Faelyn does not believe that the weak are always destined to be weak. She does not believe that one's worth can be determined by the station of one's birth, or the qualities of one's personality. Although Aldaron loathes tyrants, bullies, and others who misuse their power, it is Faelyn who has the least tolerance for it, and Faelyn who takes issue with inequity and oppression even before Aldaron. She diverges from Selune occasionally as well, since love can be terribly cruel even as it fosters personal growth. Faelyn occasionally offers her sympathies to those learning a hard lesson at Selune's hands.

Faelyn's Favor: According to Faelyn, it is the obligation of thinking beings to care for one another. Midwives and healers of all sorts are close to her heart. Midwives sacrifice an enormous amount of time and energy for the sake of women whose lives are changing in sometimes-frightening ways. Their care of children is also important to Faelyn, since they are the least able to defend themselves and most in need of nurturing and support.

Those who go to great personal risk for Faelyn's ideals (combat medics, for example) are often held in Faelyn's highest esteem. People who are vegetarian for moral reasons, accepting all the sacrifices and difficulties that come with the choice, also earn her favor. For most devotees this is an individual choice, though priestesses are strongly encouraged to abstain from eating animal products.

Everyday devotion does not need to be a showy affair, since time spent displaying one's faith to the world might better be spent exercising it. Action is devotion, and the finest form of prayer is to do Faelyn's work with joy and gratitude for the opportunity to serve one's goddess and fellow man.

Theologians are split quite vehemently on the issue of just violence. The majority of Faelynites feel that their goddess looks on the intentions of these righteous warriors favorably, but that bloodshed is never a real solution. There is, however, a notable minority of worshippers and theologians who argue that pacifism, while a superior option, is not always the wisest one. Then there are the others who are fully ready to choose violence if it seems the most expedient and efficient way to alleviate suffering for a particular group. What is to be done for people who cannot continue to endure oppression while they wait for those in power to come around? What is to be done for people in captivity who need assistance more than sympathy? Debates over the extent to which nonviolence should be applied in everyday life are more frequent among Faelyn's followers than within any other sect.

What does Faelyn herself advocate? That is for the goddess herself to say, but those who claim to speak for her still disagree.

Faelyn's Disfavor: Faelyn is hardly a wrathful goddess, and her devotees take great pride in the message of Faelyn to seek solutions instead of vengeance. She rarely punishes mortals for letting her down, but occasionally Faelyn has been known to offer some hard lessons of her own. Faelyn is occasionally credited when a hard-hearted man or woman goes through some life experience that teaches them the value of compassion.

Faelyn's Faithful: The most glaring difference between an initiate of Faelyn and a layperson is a vow of nonviolence. This, depending on the rank of the cleric involved, can mean anything from only striking in self-defense to complete pacifism. Faelyn's body of clergy is overwhelmingly female, but men are not an unusual sight among her initiates. Many will wear red robes as a more masculine alternative to the pink ones favored by priestesses, but not all bother to reassert their masculinity in the face of threatening pinkness. To many it simply doesn't matter.

There is, however, a female-only arm of the church of Faelyn. The Sisterhood of Faelyn is an order of healers and diplomats often sent to strife-torn areas to act as neutral and respectful mediators between hostile parties while relief efforts help sustain the affected civilians until an accord can be reached. They are dedicated to the peaceful resolution of conflicts large and small, and are revered for their compassion and empathy toward both sides of any conflict. This combined with their humanitarian efforts during peace talks make them a common recipient of charity from philanthropists who either wish to see their selfless works continue, or simply wish to seem dedicated to peace.

The Sisterhood also strongly encourages members to be vegetarian partly in keeping with their teachings of non-violence, but also partly to ensure that they are always viewed as separate parties to any negotiation. They wear different clothing than the combatants involved, they wear different ornaments, and they eat different food. It sets them apart. In imitation of the Sisterhood, many other clergy and devotees also practice vegetarianism, though it's obviously not required of them.

Faelyn's Powers: Faelyn does not lend her power to mortals for the purposes of violence. The last thing she wants is to assist in bloodshed and suffering, so Faelyn's faith magic is almost exclusively protective or nurturing in nature. No blasting people with righteous holy fire, for example. Physical healing spells are the most common and perhaps most practically useful variety, since many of the Sisterhood are called upon to do relief work during large-scale conflicts. However, abjuration and warding spells to protect the defenseless and the weak are also popular as they provide a nonviolent way to stop the suffering of the victims they feel may go unnoticed by other sects or bodies. The more socially- or empathically-inclined devotees occasionally make use of faith magic aimed at bolstering the emotional fortitude and outlook of the downtrodden, offering them the strength and determination to carry on until a real solution can be reached. What exactly the caster needs in order to further Faelyn's cause is between him/her and the goddess herself.

Sacred Objects: Most temples to Faelyn are modest affairs, as her followers often cannot afford great ornamentation and decadent enhancements. Out of respect for Faelyn temples even in poor, rough areas are kept clean and well-lit even when they are not heavily decorated.

The most notable exception to this is the temple to Faelyn in Elenion. The city's reputation spurred wealthier donors to enhance Faelyn's temple to an extraordinary degree. The floors are polished rose-hued granite with a pattern of mistletoe leaves and berries inlaid on the wall along the floor in semi-precious stones. The temple entrance is on the east side, the wide open doors letting in the light of the dawn. The walls in most places are white marble or alabaster to allow the sunlight to catch in the building itself, seeming to light it from within as the mistletoe inlay shines in the sun. The center of the temple is a wide courtyard for devotees to gather, and in the middle of it is a low fountain of drinkable water. This courtyard is almost always full of people milling about, occasionally standing or seated in huge groups together.

The lower level of the temple, away from the lively and social atmosphere of the upper courtyard, is more dimly lit and private. During the day shafts of sunlight penetrate through openings above the outer walls to light the carved stone subterranean worship areas. Here small candles are offered to devotees at cost so that they may place them before a larger-than-life bronze likeness of Faelyn. A typical four-armed rendition of Faelyn, two hands are joined under her chin, while the other two are spread out to her followers. One of these hands typically has a red candle in it, while the other holds a bowl of water from the fountain. The statue is often dressed in real cloth robes donated to the shrine by wealthy devotees in the city. This statue, more than the beautiful upper level, makes this temple a pilgrimage site for believers.

Temples to Faelyn are often used as places for devotees to commune with one another as a way to get closer to their goddess. After all, if it is in Faelyn's nature to be primarily concerned with the welfare of mortals, it's only fitting that they be primarily concerned with one another in their devotions. Council from clergy and other lay devotees is as much a reason to seek out a formal temple as direct prayer to the goddess herself.

Another important note is that temples to Faelyn occasionally serve as political sanctuary, sheltering repentant criminals or the unjustly accused. This is occasionally to the annoyance and discomfort of local law enforcement, but it serves as a valuable protection for those who are marginalized or persecuted because of their race or class. Such guests are expected to hold to the highest standards of behavior and penitents are often asked to participate actively in temple life to express their gratitude to Faelyn through action.

In private Faelynite residences, there is often a small tabletop or wallmounted shrine to Faelyn to bless their comings and goings. Formal temples are often placed on long, lonely roads. Her blessing on a long journey is considered highly auspicious, and while urban temples are common in depressed areas, they also feature prominently in rural areas where communal living and cooperation are economic mainstays. The rural poor often feel a deep rift between themselves and the urban dwellers, and as a result have less investment in the social order and political establishments of the cities. This sometimes leads rural peasants to worship Faelyn rather than the oft-politicized Aldaron or the cosmopolitan Selune.

Sacred Texts: The worship of Faelyn is grounded on sparing truly sacred texts, the main body of orthodox teaching being located in more secular philosophical texts.

Prominence: Priests and priestesses of Faelyn commonly state that even if other deities are not obligated to seek counsel from Faelyn for every action, the fact that a good god acts with mercy and compassion (while an evil god is callous and often deliberately hurtful) suggests to one with a keen eye that even in her apparent modesty and passiveness, it is Faelyn that the other gods serve. It is she who symbolizes the aims they seek and perpetuate, and however they may act on this (through combat, proselytizing, or humanitarian efforts) it is Faelyn that an evil god betrays and a merciful god glorifies. She rules not by command or might, but by example. Her followers have called her "the conscience of the gods." Followers of other gods may understandably disagree with this, but few of Faelyn's hardliners will assert otherwise.

As the patron of beginnings, it's considered highly auspicious to obtain her blessing before doing anything. Even the faithful devotees of other gods will often offer a prayer to Faelyn at the start of a new venture, or even at the start of a prayer to another god. At the start of a journey those who have mistletoe will often burn half a sprig at the outset, finishing the rest when they are done. It is a reminder to them of Faelyn's watchful presence and serves as an active prayer to request such guidance before any important travel.

As a common patron of the poor and forgotten classes, Faelyn does not ask for material offerings of her followers. Devotees will frequently bring food, cloth, herbs, or whatever they have to offer their goddess, and the priesthood returns these offerings to the devotees with the blessing of their goddess. For example, travelling merchants will occasionally offer their shoes on the altar of Faelyn, and after the priest or priestess has led prayer the shoes are returned so that the merchant may carry that blessing on the road.

Quote:

"Behind the justice of Aldaron and the passion of Selune, behind the balance of Hirin and her sister Livana, behind even the curiosity of Xanthe... is the compassion of Faelyn and her care for mortals. She is the conscience of the gods, and her example binds even the immortals to their duty. Even when she does not act, the goddess of mercy gives the others their reason for action. Without her, they would be without direction, without heart, and without unity."
-Bhanupriya Adani, Adjunct Negotiator to the Sisterhood

Credit to Myrnal Shalienza

[Librarian]

Selune, The Beauty

Sphere: Love, Beauty, Passion

Gender: Female

Symbols: A dove in flight, and falling rose petals.

Colours: A light pink and deep, crimson red.

Avatar: Selune is generally depicted as a stunningly beautiful female, though her race varies greatly depending upon who is worshiping her. Most of the time, however, it is in the form of a high elf. She has ringlets of cascading and luxurious red hair dropping to her waist, held back with a crimson ribbon in her hair. Clothed in flowing robes of light pink and red, she is almost always depicted as having a calm expression on her face, with arms outstretched towards the viewers. Many pictures depict her in an alluring pose, as if summoning the viewer to come and sample the delights of the goddess of love. However, there are many in which she holds a mischievous, even vengeful look. She is almost never holding a weapon, and if she does, it’s a long, bladed spear, and it is usually accompanied by a more vengeful picture of Selune, one depicting something like a scorned lover.

Persona: Selune is a very popular goddess in Entar’s pantheon, but also fairly controversial. Anyone wanting to enter into a long term marriage would contact one of Selune’s priests or priestesses to perform the service, but there are rumours of more extreme ‘pagan’ worshippers, who often perform orgies as a form of worship. However, despite this, Selune is worshipped by artists and sculptors as well, due to her love of beauty. These artists also worship Daidlin, due to his direct patronage of art.

Selune is supposedly a kind goddess, a lover of romance and art, but she is often seen as vain, an idol that none could ever possibly compare too. Despite this, her priesthood often sets out on missions to ‘beautify’ the area around their temples, and many gardens in major cities are funded entirely by her priests. Also, in a weird support of her love of romance, many temples offer a matchmaking service that is very popular across Entar.

Selune is also the goddess of passion, however, and as many know, passion can turn the kindest man or woman into a vengeful or obsessed being. There are tales of seduced men, and woman destroyed over protesting Selune’s nights with their husbands. None have been confirmed, but many are careful to never insult Selune’s right to any sentient being on the planet. However, she also supports other’s passion. The thin line between passion and love is walked by her, and it is sometimes hard to know whether she would interfere with a raping, or watch the passion of one of the parties demurely.

It is believed by many that Selune approves of beauty in everything, and to worship her, one must make an attempt to create beauty in everything they do. Therefore, many people who serve her make an attempt to beautify their homes and the places around them as well. Her patronage of love is best typified by many pagan cults of hers that engage in ceremonial orgies as a form of worship.

So, while Selune is best typified as a kind and loving goddess, Selune is also known to be harsh on those who stamp out on beauty, and the cults and priests that support her are often violent and aggressive against those who do. Also, her love of passion can warp that image of her into a matriarchal dominator, controlling the lives of those under her, which would be every loving being on the planet.

Selune’s Favour: Selune supports those who create beauty, such as artists and sculptors. Builders and architects are also supposed to be favoured if they work hard to create beauty in what they do. Favour also rests upon those who protect beauty in all its ways, but those who use Selune’s name as a purpose for defending something walk a very fine line. After all, Selune above all understands that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Love is the world’s greatest treasure… at least to Selune. Those who cherish it, protect it, and exemplify the values of a loving, kind relationship with the world are most likely to fall under Selune’s favour.

However vain she may be on occasion, Selune is known to love beauty in people as well as art. However, what is beautiful to her may be hard to say. In the end, those who are beautiful on the outside are of less interest to her than those who are beautiful on the inside, though many clerics propose that this is actually not true, as many are chosen based on their looks.

The benefit of her favour most often lies in inspiration at critical moments, and also in the little things. The artist who suddenly decides to be bold and create something new, the housewife who decides to buy a new dress and the dancer who does a perfect routine are all things that would result from her favour.

After that there is the more ignored side of her favour, the side of her passion. There are cults who perform fertility and love rites sometimes almost every night, in worship of the goddess of passion, the goddess who will look down upon their wild orgies with satisfaction and favour.

As many know, though, it is hard to typify Selune into a form. She is always changing and adapting, one day supporting one ideal, other days discarding it entirely for something else, the way that she views love should be. Love should never be static to her, more filled with passion all the time. The old love of a couple that has been together for ages might bring a smile to her face, but it will never bring out the laughter of watching two young humans kissing for the first time. This also means, however, that her favour can rest upon those who commit rape out of passion just as easily as her disfavour. Again, those who worship Selune with passion walk a very fine line.

Selune’s Disfavour: Selune absolutely despises those who destroy beauty or love in any form. That is what creates the contorted tenants of her religion. So while one might cut down a tree to make a beautiful chair, instead of praising you, Selune might curse you for having cut down the tree and defiled its beauty. Those who do will often find themselves cursed, and people will look upon them and see the true soul of that person clearly displayed on their face. Selune can tear apart those who have torn apart other’s love and lives, and will do so without mercy.

Selune is the goddess of love, and she takes pity upon those who are rejected in their obsession, but will not take retribution on those who reject it, as it is still not true love to her. However, one-sided love, where one party is merely taking advantage of the love of the other; causes her great ire, and that is one of the things that incurs her greatest wrath.

Strangely enough, passion can destroy love, and many say that Selune contradicts herself with her every footstep. But it never appears to bother Selune, and her take seems to be one of taking the middle road. Yes, passion may destroy love, but it can also create it. Those who outright destroy passion or love with no new passion or love created from the destruction, however, receive no mercy from her.

Finally, while she looks with pity upon those with no love in their life who seek it desperately, she despises those who regard it as foolish, and those who reject an offer of ‘true love’ have become scum in her eyes, destroyers of love. Many have regarded Selune as a relatively peaceful and vain goddess, but those people more often than not find themselves at the wrong end of her wrath.

Selune’s Faithful: Selune is worshipped by many different groups of people. Lovers praying for chances to meet, artists and architects, and even some dancers and fighters worship her. However, she has a very split base of worship among the artists and architects, as they also worship Daidlin, as Art is his domain. First, and most prominent of the groups that worship her, is the Church of Selune. An Entar spanning institution, they hold weekly services in their temples. The temples themselves are works of art, mosaics and statues line the walls and the floor, and some of the largest are architectural wonders. In the back of each is a garden with decorations depending on the location. In the far northern communities, rock gardens and hardy flowers make up the display, but in the more southern communities shrubbery mazes and flower beds are common. The church, however, can be at times power-hungry and in their quest to beautify Entar they have developed several money gaining plans. The most popular… and controversial… is a matchmaking service. The church will take applications from many different people, and then match them up with people who are ‘compatible’. True clerics of Selune are generally fairly good at the job, and many happy couples have resulted from the service. However, corrupt clerics have been known to take bribes to match up people with others who they aren’t necessarily ‘compatible’ with.

The next service that the church provides is the marriage of couples. A usually fairly expensive affair, the church will do it can to make your wedding the show of the year. However, due to scorn from the masses who often point out that they should also respect the love of the common people, they also offer small services for a small price, often run by low level clerics in the church.

It is important to note that the Church of Selune generally ignores the fact that Selune also supports Passion, and many suspect that the only reason Selune allows them to exist is that their matchmaking service generally creates enough passion and love to offset their refusal to accept that particular aspect of her nature.

But, there are many who regard the church as a cover for a group whose only interest is money. While there are quite a few legitimate clerics in the church, many still see them as a corrupt institution. The Bladewarriors of Selune are a private organization, and they exemplify the other side of beauty, the beauty of combat and whirring steel. Warriors in this group wield the long bladed spears that Selune is pictured as carrying, and use a distinctive twirling style of fighting, putting momentum behind their every blow. However, they are known to tie dark red ribbons onto their shoulders arms and spears, exemplifying the values of beauty in combat. Many say they are like a ‘deadly red whirlwind’. Their agenda, however, is just as hidden as the Church of Selune’s. However, in most recorded incidents, the Bladewarriors are seen to protect beauty in all its forms. Good or evil does not seem to matter to them. A Bladewarrior has been seen to prevent the removal of a beautiful drawing in blood on the wall, and then turn around and destroy the creator because he destroyed the murdered woman’s dress in the process. Their rules are a lot more complex than can be described, but it is generally understood that they also support Selune’s patronage of love. It is generally advised to be very careful around members of this organization, as some are more or less tolerant than others. This group also tends to tone down the tenants of passion that Selune supports, but they do encourage passion in the defense of beauty and in the Bladewarrior’s private lives..

Beyond that, cults who declare that they stand for the ‘primal’ Selune are common in Entar. They present a problem for the Church of Selune, because they are inherently more popular than the services in the temples. The reason is simple. Most radical cults practice orgies as a form of worship to Selune, a direct contradiction to the Church, which proclaims a more ‘traditional’ love. Cults are also popular among artists and architects, who, while leaving out the orgies, will still create works of art to present in worship to Selune. The cults of artists also worship Daidlin, and they are near indistinguishable from Daidlin's worshippers. The everyday cults of Selune mainly focus on the passion and love that Selune endorses, while the artists cults focus more on the beauty.

Selune’s Power: Selune’s magic is immensely powerful, as she can draw on anything beautiful to fulfill her bidding. Her faith magic is mainly passive, though aggressive users of it are not unheard of.

The main focus of her magic is transformation. Why destroy something when you can make it beautiful instead? This is a philosophy observed by most users of her magic, and to go against it with her faith magic is equal to treachery.

Therefore, while the exact specifics of the magic vary, many who have seen Selune’s followers have declared that the combat they witnessed was the most beautiful release of targeted wrath that they have ever seen. With effort, a powerful warrior of Selune could raise their hand and turn an arrow flying at them into a harmless quartz pebble, which they would then hurl back at the aggressor as a beautiful carved dagger.

However, rumours of another, much more dangerous type of magic exist. This ‘Magic of Passion’ is best described as being a direct outlet for the user’s emotions. Those who claim to have seen this in use describe it as being attacked by waves of emotion. They claim that the caster’s aura increased a thousand fold until it was visible with the naked eye. The magic is supposed to get weaker when the caster is in pain, and most powerful when the caster is aroused, physically or mentally.

Sacred Objects: Flowers are very special to Selune, and many followers of Selune carry flowers or engravings or embroidery of flowers on their person. Roses are most popular, as they are a symbol of love to many people, and carvings and rose bushes adorn many of Selune’s temples. Also, most art is sacred to her followers, and good art is regarded in the highest esteem.

Sacred Texts: Sacred Texts of Selune are almost non-existent, and her rules exist as a set of ideals rather than written laws in a tome. However, the Church of Selune puts forth several tomes which they claim are real. The most prominent of these is the Book of Xerianes, actually a creation of the Bladewarriors and adapted by the Church to properly fit the ideals of Selune. The popularized version is short and succinct, mainly stating the ideals of Selune rather than in depth philosophy.

Real copies of the tome are rarer, and filled with inherent contradictions and many illegible passages where it seems the writer was taken with a religious fervor. They are, when they are found, hidden by the Church of Selune, who do not wish to anger Selune by destroying them, but would rather that the censored copy was released to the masses. Any cult owning a copy of the real tome is very popular, and there have been instances where a cult has totally taken control of an area away from the Church.

Prominence: Selune is a very popular goddess, and worship of her is widespread, especially in artist communities. She is also often seen as a pagan goddess, however, and many people shun worship of her for that reason. The Church of Selune has done it’s very best to bring people into the worship of her, but she still remains more popular in the Northern kingdoms than the south, though she has seen a revival in the Southlands.

Quote:
“Beauty is inherent in everything. You just have to look, and you’ll see it, and like a wave cresting on the shoreline, you will be exposed to the wonders of the world for a moment before you fade back into the dull simplicity of life.” – Uncensored version of the Book of Xerianes.

Credit to Elphinstone

[Librarian]

Xanthe, The Mage-God

Spheres: Magic, Knowledge, the Arcane.

Alignment: Lawful Neutral.

Gender: Male.

Symbols: A twelve points star enclosed in a crescent moon, and a circle of runes.

Colors: Sapphire blue, violet and silvery grey.

Avatar: There is no telling what form the great King of Wizards may take, for he can take all shapes and sizes with the skill of the greatest illusionists, matching even the powers of the spheres of Daidlin and Valdriel. His most commonly embraced form is the one of the great Wizard King, old with a great silver beard, crowned in gold and sapphire and dressed in royal blue robes; this is the form that the common Entarian peasant associates Xanthe With; however, many a Sage consider it rather dim-witted. As for the great Wizards, Sorcerers, Sages and Scholars who serve Xanthe, they believe him to take on the shape of a great dragon king of ocean blue scales, horns of ivory and dressed in golden armour and blue silk. A few believe him to take on the form of a child on occasion; others believe him to look like a woman. In the end, there is no telling.

Persona: The Mage-God Xanthe is believed to be by many a peasant the most aloof of the gods in the Pantheon. As of this day and throughout the whole of not only Entar but Eldanar’s history there has not been even a single account that records the ascension of an avatar loyal to Xanthe, and his priesthood is virtually nonexistent to the eyes of the people of Entar. No prayers are said to exist that can call on his favours, and there are no records of any blessing or miracle from his part ever taking place. For these reasons the common men believe him to be a distant and uncaring god. There is, however, more to Xanthe than it meets the eye.

Xanthe, much like Hirin, is a guardian god; he’s guardian of the power of the Arcane, the magic that flows in and out of Entar and Eldanar from the Grand Arcanum, the source of all magical forces that exist, and as such, he is not the kind of god to grant favours or blessings, although he does on occasion but in much subtler ways than the rest of the deities. He is, however, an implacable judge, empowered with omniscience and wisdom beyond all mortals’ reach.

The origins of the Mage-God are unknown to mortals, and they are stuff of legend and myth. Some say that he was the very first god to come to existence, since, according to the ancient myths, magic is a primordial force that predates the universe itself along with divinity and pure life. Others, while believing that magic is a primordial force, also claim that Xanthe was not its creator but its offspring. The Grand Arcanum itself gave Xanthe shape and made him divine. And a few believe that Xanthe was not born a god, but a mortal, and that he was the very first Ancient to ever exist, and thus the father of all Magi.

To determine who’s right and who’s wrong has been a matter of discussion for more than a few millennia now, the arguments dating back to the times of the lost kingdoms of the East, and although Xanthe has rarely shown himself since the beginning, the reasons for and against those arguments are as diverse as the drops that form the ocean.

As a Guardian god, Xanthe only shows himself before those who share his burden of guarding the magic and the knowledge of the universe, and before those who endanger his task. He’s just and wise when it comes to rewarding, and relentless when it comes to punishing, but most of all, he makes no distinction between the judgements of men. Good and evil are to his eyes small-minded views produced by mortality. The only canon that he holds as true is that of absolute harmony, and those who break it, whether by well or ill-intentioned means, are condemned to face his judgement.

Xanthe’s Favour: It is said that Xanthe favours everyone and no one at the same time; amongst the main races there is no man or woman who is deprived of learning the gift of arcane magic; from the great noblemen and women of the Elentári to the beggars that wander the streets of Míriel. Only the races some men refer to as “lesser” seem to be constricted and impeached when it comes to practicing the arcane arts.

For many centuries it was believed that the Fae, whose bodies are boasting with magic, were the blessed children of the Mage-God, but it was eventually discovered by Mages of Anfalas that they are in fact children of Daidlin the Dreamer, although it has not yet been determined whether glamour may have originated from the Grand Arcanum or the Dreaming. Now, some Wizards believe the Cei to be the blessed children of Xanthe since there are no greater spell-casters in Entar, other than the odd Elf and, of course, the Ancients.

Xanthe’s Disfavour: Since it is believed that Xanthe favours all beings, it could also be assumed that he disfavours none. However, there are some races physically incapable of performing feats of sorcery, and for this reason there is a generalized belief that these peoples are amongst Xanthe’s forsaken ones.

The Dwarves of Khalar were once believed to be part of this group since they were incapable of learning the crafts of the Human and Elven Wizards of Andúnë, Elentári and Valgard; however, this belief has been long debunked after having witnessed the Dwarves’ great skill at crafting and weaving runes from raw magic and using them to imbue artefacts and weapons with arcane properties. The Greenskins were also part of these forsaken races once, but there have been accounts, albeit rare, of Orcish Sorcerers and other types of Arcanists, and Goblin Alchemists and Necromancers.

Other races like the Selics, the Klithiks, the Minotaurs and the Dracons are still believed to be the target of some kind of punishment from Xanthe as retaliation for some ancient affront made by these peoples against the Mage-God.

Xanthe’s Faithful: Although there is no official church of the Mage-God, many scholars believe his faith to be one of the most widespread if not the largest cult in all of Entar. Every single Sorcerer, Wizard, Runemaster, Arcanist, Alchemist and all kinds of Arcane Mages are followers of Xanthe, even if a considerable portion of them claim not to profess any kind of religious belief.

It was once said that all that it takes to become a devout servant of the Wizard King is to weave a spell, to chant an incantation or write a rune, and seeing as the Sorcerers’ magic is barely ever withdrawn from any Wizard’s body and instead it seems to grow through experience and practice, this phrase has been slowly but surely becoming a widely accepted truth. All that is required to keep one’s faith is to dive in the practice of the Arcane arts. Under such terms the more practice the Wizard gets, the closer he’ll be to the Mage-God and the greater his magic will become; conversely, if the Wizard leaves the practice, his powers will grow dull and eventually wane into oblivion.

Although this phenomenon could easily be attributed to lack of practice and an eventual deterioration of one’s magical prowess, many a Sorcerer, especially those who have been ordained by the orders of Anfalas, believe that this occurrence is not intrinsic and it is instead an ancient canon of the Mage-God.

There is no official hierarchy in Xanthe’s faith; nonetheless, it is commonly accepted as the hierarchy established by the Arcane orders. Those that are first introduced into the arcane arts are usually referred to as Apprentices and they are the Wizardry’s equivalent to the religious Acolytes. Those who are ordained are usually known as Mages, and those who acquire an apprentice of their own are called Wizards; the elders of the orders are called High Magi, and the grand sorcerers whose powers are commonly the stuff of legend are called Archmagi.

Xanthe’s Powers: Every single kind of spell, ritual and summoning that has a magical nature and derives from an arcane source is part of Xanthe’s spectrum of influence. All the sorceries ever weaved by mortals and Ancients and captured in a Grimoire, and all the ancient runes carved in stone and drawn on sand are subdued by Xanthe; although the most ancient beliefs are that Xanthe is merely the guardian of this knowledge and not its crafter.

Ancient legends say that the world was shaped by nature and chaos and that magic brought balance to it; as such, it has been argued that the world is ruled by three forces; Livana, the mother of all nature, Jherad, lord of ruin and chaos, and Xanthe, great guardian of all magic. While chaos brings destruction, and through it, cleansing, and nature brings life, magic brings balance into the world, flowing through everything and everyone and when mortals acknowledge and connect with this balance they are capable of bending it to cause the elements to change and act according to their wills. That is one of the great fundamental truths of the world of the arcane arts.

And finally, as guardian of all knowledge, Xanthe is also capable of bestowing enlightenment to mortals, thus showing some degree of influence over the matters of the minds of men. Although not entirely proven and/or accepted, many a scholar still worships Xanthe as the source of all knowledge.

Sacred Objects: By principle, all objects that have been imbued with magical power through arcane means are sacred objects of the Mage-God Xanthe; however, it is usually the artefacts that have been either crafted or empowered by the great Wizards of old the ones that are more commonly accepted as sacred. In the ancient vaults of Anfalas there are countless artefacts that meet this description, but not all of them are thought of as sacred due to the nature of their creation.

Magical rings of power and ancient Wizardry Staffs are considered sacred by many a Wizard and Mage, and arcane necklaces and gemstones are also kept as relics by many sorcerers; old stones carved with runes and ancient incantations and weapons used by High Magi to perform great feats of magic are often used by nowadays Wizards are channelling devices for the powers of the Mage-God.

Among the greatest sacred artefacts of Xanthe’s faith there are the ones that hold the greatest magical powers. The crystal that crowns the Tower of Sorcery is among these objects for its magic is believed to be capable of obliterating all of Valgard should its power be unleashed. Another sacred object of immense power that was until recently under possession of the royal family of Andúnë, is a gemstone known as The Eye of the Storms, an ancient jewel that is said to have the power to control weather and even create and dissipate great storms and cyclones.

But the most incredible artefact is The Key of S’shammash. S’shammash, according the ancient lore of the East, is the great city of the Ancients, created by Xanthe himself in the forgotten eras as a safe haven for the children of the Great Magic; a place that is said to be hidden from the eyes of mortals, and to be more beautiful than greatest capital of the most magnificent of civilizations that will ever be born in Eldanar.

According to the legends, it is said that he who holds the key will be capable of entering S’shammash while still a mortal and become a bearer to all the knowledge of the Grand Arcanum; for this reason the key is highly coveted by Wizards, nobles and scholars alike, but its existence has been so far impossible to prove, and thus many believe it to be just another myth.   

Sacred Texts: Being Xanthe the God of Magic and Knowledge, it is quite easy to assume that all books written by Mages and Scholars are sacred texts; the books written by Mages are known as Grimoires, and they hold all kinds of magical knowledge, of rituals, spells and ancient stories of great feats of magic. The books written by Scholars are called Codices and they are records of knowledge of all kinds, from history and science to politics and art. Usually the eldest of these two kinds of books, as well as those written by Legendary Wizards and Sages, are considered of utmost sanctity.

Prominence: Since there is no official and established church of Xanthe, the common man believes this to be little more than a fringe religion, with no customs or practices to speak of; however, to those who know the nature of magic, it is most likely the greatest of all Entarian faiths, and the most widespread religion with the largest following in the continent. However, it is hard to determine which assessment is the right one.

Quote: “I call on the knowledge of the ancient stars, of the moon and the sun as it rests through the vastness of the night. By the power of the King of Wizards and all those that followed his word in the ages past, I call onto my self the light of the Mage-God. By his power shall my mind never yield and my magic never grow dull!”
-Fragment of the ritual of the sky’s wisdom, extracted from The Grimoire of the Light

Credit to Malygos

[Librarian]

Hirin, the Gatekeeper

Sphere: Death, the Unknown, and the Future

Alignment: True Neutral

Gender: Male

Symbols: A crow, a skull set in stone, an iron staff

Color: Gray and black

Avatar: Hirin is almost always depicted as a human. Perhaps this is because of his status as a ‘new’ god, mirroring humanity’s short lifespan and their status as a ‘young’ race. Or perhaps it is simply because his religion first blossomed as a cult on predominantly-human Tarsis. Either way, Hirin is generally shown to be a grim, judicial, pale and square-faced human figure, dressed in a voluminous gray robe and wearing little in the way of ornamentation. Graven images of Hirin are quite popular in the priesthood, probably because cold, coarse granite suits the Gatekeeper so very well.

Occasionally, Hirin is depicted as a more macabre skeletal figure in a hooded robe, though it is rare to see him in this form by any officially sanctioned icon of the priesthood. This is more a direct personification Death itself, and is generally only used by those who understand Hirin poorly or incompletely.

Persona: Hirin is cold and unswerving, like death itself. He is not in the least malicious, however, unlike his predecessor, Maehdros. Hirin is not interested in spreading death or inflicting it on mortal creatures. Instead, he is interested in preserving death as irreversible, final, and inevitable. When a mortal creature meets its doom, it is the solemn duty of Hirin and his priests to dispose of its corpse, bid farewell to its soul, and make certain that it never returns to Entar in any shape or form.

Hirin inhabits a plane known alternately as the Celestial Staircase, the Eternal Staircase, the Eternal Gate, the Infinite Staircase, the Gate of Death, or as any combination thereof. This plane is understood to be another state of existence, similar to the unknowable realms that the gods inhabit, or to the eternal darkness of the Abyss. Hirin guards this place, making sure mortal souls (never mortal bodies) pass through it, and that absolutely no one returns. It is presumed by magical scholars that the reason inter-dimensional travel is so difficult on Entar is because of Hirin; he strongly prefers that mortals be dead in order to achieve it.

Why does Hirin do this? According to his priesthood, it is because Hirin is a god of law. Specifically, he is a god of what his priesthood call Astral Law, the binding rules of the universe that even the gods must submit to (although they do seem to bend it a fair bit). Part of Hirin’s concern regarding the sanctity of death is that it appears to be an important pillar of Astral Law. A world in which nothing dies, or worse yet, a world in which beings die and come back at their leisure, would be considered a disaster of apocalyptic proportions, and Hirin and his priesthood work tirelessly to prevent this.

Hirin’s Favor: Hirin is generally disinterested in the living, at least up until the moment of their death. The only people who earn his favor are those who work to uphold the Astral Law. People who fight to protect, preserve and respectfully dispose of their loved one’s remains attract Hirin’s favor.

Hirin is also particularly pleased by those who seek to right wrongs according to Astral Law. Usually, this means preventing someone or something from circumventing death. This could include a daring vampire-hunter, a politician who actively lobbies against dark necromancy, or a healer who warns her students against attempting to resurrect the dead; all earn Hirin’s favor.

Those who earn Hirin’s favor will be protected from the undead and the corrupt, even in death. Necromancers have reported that even humble peasants who worshipped Hirin in life often refused to rise as undead servants after death, their spells simply fizzling out mysteriously.

Hirin’s Disfavor: Hirin holds Astral Law sacred, and believes that all dead things should stay dead. Vampires, liches and all other forms of undead earn his eternal scorn and disgust. The same holds true for other beings that attempt to avoid inevitable death, such as mages that attempt to grant themselves immortality through their magics. Due to this view, it should be noted that the priesthood of Hirin would slay even a successfully resurrected person, a person complete in both body and soul who somehow survived the trauma of death, without hesitation. Many consider them cruel for this, but thankfully, since full resurrection seems all but impossible on Entar, the issue hasn’t really come up. It is unknown how the Gatekeeper feels toward creatures who are naturally immortal, such as the Fae-Kithain, and this is a subject of great debate within Hirin’s priesthood.

Hirin also believes that the dead should be respected. He frowns upon grave-robbers and callous field commandeers who are willing to let bodies lie rotten on the battlefield. Burial is a sacred pact to the priesthood of Hirin, one that should never be disturbed, dismissed or defiled.

Those who earn Hirin’s disfavor place themselves in grave danger, for they are vulnerable to the wiles of evil necromancers and prone to the temptations of false immortality. And although it is not the official stance of the priesthood, many also fear that if they die without paying proper respect to Hirin, he may assign them some grim fate once they reach the Celestial Staircase. Many suspect that the Abyss is the final destination for those who displease Hirin.

Hirin’s Faithful: The Priesthood of Hirin was created in a single instant, a divine event that coincided with the Sundering and is called ‘The Incarnation’ by those within the priesthood. Those who remain skeptical as to whether or not the event in question was truly divinely inspired refer to it somewhat ambiguously as ‘The Tarsis Event.’

While Aldaron was battling Maedhros in Loriath, Hirin appeared many miles away over the skies of Tarsis. Tarsis, at this time, was a fledgling village, composed mainly of sugar-cane farmers and their overseers. Hirin manifested in the night sky and issued a simple, direct statement in the common tongue, which historians agree went something like: “Maehdros has fallen. In his defeat, I, Hirin, assume the station of the God of Death. Worship me and know me.” The manifestation disappeared as quickly as it came, although it is said that the skies were dark gray over Tarsis for seven days afterward.

Most of the residents of Tarsis were understandably confused and frightened by The Incarnation, but once word finally reached the tiny island-state that Maedhros had in fact fallen, many embraced what they saw as a true miracle. The Priesthood of Hirin was founded almost overnight, and several things happened in quick succession.

First, a local duke of Tarsis was so moved by the event that he renounced his wealth, offering his manor to the new cult of Hirin. The stones of his manor house were recycled to build the Grand Mausoleum, which still stands to this day, housing the bodies of the elite and the poor alike. The duke’s family catacombs were opened, consecrated by the new cult of Hirin, and used to defend and protect the remains of the deceased. These ancient tombs, shrines and ossuaries still stand to this day, and have expanded greatly, creating a labyrinth of tunnel-works beneath Tarsis which the priesthood still vigorously defends.

At roughly the same time, a woman by the name of Halona Brosh became the unofficial head of the new cult of Hirin. She had viewed The Incarnation herself, and accepted Hirin on blind faith. She immediately began work on the Practicus section of the Book of the Dead. Prior to The Incarnation, Halona Brosh had been a simple homemaker. It is highly unlikely that she had any previous experience with dark magic or the undead, and yet the Practicus section of the Book of the Dead is agreed even among non-believers to be a highly accurate manual on how to combat dark forces. Halona Brosh seemed to be summoning the information from nowhere, leading many to the conclusion that the Book of the Dead was divinely inspired. This earned her many followers, and immediately after work on Practicus was finished, she and six of her closest advisors began work on the second part, Spiritus, which proved even more popular (though decidedly less factual).

From these rather sudden beginnings, the cult of Hirin gradually expanded to a full-fledged religion. While at first restricted to its island of origin, the priesthood’s willingness to consecrate and guard the remains of even the very poor made them popular in other regions, and the faith spread beyond Tarsis quickly. Today Hirin is worshipped in almost every region of Northern Entar. He has yet to gain a firm following amongst the tribal peoples of the South, however, where Gormion has become the preferred personification of death.

Temples to Hirin mimic his first temple, the Grand Mausoleum of Tarsis, and the Temple of Hirin in Elenion is said to be an exact replica, with limestone blocks imported from Tarsis itself. White or gray stone is the preferred building material, and rectangular rooms with columned facades are popular. Temples vary greatly in size and shape, but most can be found near catacombs, graveyards or sepulchers, allowing the priesthood to keep close watch over those they’re sworn to protect. Inside, lengths of black and gray silk blot out most light, and the air is thick with incense. In order to better understand their god, Hirin’s faithful attempt to make their temple interiors as ‘death-like’ as possible, which usually takes the form of darkness, sensory deprivation, and clouds of cloying incense.

The official priesthood of Hirin has, overtime, organized itself into two main groups, the sages and the exorcists. The sages are the leaders and visionaries of the order, while the exorcists serve as witch-hunters, temple guards and enforcers.

Due to the humble origins of priesthood of Hirin, the original exorcists often had nothing more to fight with than the sickles and scythes plucked from their sugar-cane farms. Over time, however, they grew adept with these weapons, focusing the simple tools into a truly unique and devastating fighting technique colloquially called ‘The Path of the Crow’. Each temple teaches its own variants, but it tends to focus on quick strikes to the head and heart, allowing them to dispatch zombies, vampires and similar undead creatures quickly and efficiently. Aside from their iconic sickles and scythes, each exorcist is unique. Some wear heavy armor emblazoned with quotes from the Book of the Dead, while others favor lighter protection, and some wear nothing more than sheer robes. Some fight with brutal hand-to-hand fury, while others employ ranged weapons or faith magic in order to outwit their dark foes. A single squadron of exorcists may contain fighters with dramatically different styles and preferences, allowing the unit as a whole to be prepared for almost anything.

The sages usually carry little in the way of weaponry or ornamentation, and instead simply wear ascetic gray or black robes. Sages spend a good deal of time within their temples, and are usually less fit and robust than their brother exorcists. While the exorcists are out hunting for vampires and other abominations, the sages tend to the temple and the community, conducting funerals and burials, or otherwise spending hours in meditation, divining the will of Hirin. Since their duties are less physically demanding, it is not uncommon for injured, old, or ailing exorcists to become sages, and in fact, the lines between the two groups have grown increasingly blurry over the years.

Hirin’s Power: Somewhat ironically, many of Hirin’s powers mimic conventional necromancy (what is typically called ‘good necromancy’ or ‘divination necromancy’ by non-practitioners), although they of course fall just short of creating undead automatons for his faithful.

Hirin awards separate powers to the separate wings of his priesthood. The exorcists receive battle-oriented magic, designed to protect them against the undead and the dark mages who may wish to inhibit their work. Their sickles are often enchanted to deal extra damage to the undead, seeming to burn with a cold, holy fire. They can also set up potent wards against dark magic, keeping their enemies at bay. Some are able to cloud the minds of their foes, shrouding their location or filling their opponents with a sense of doom and acceptance. Many of the stronger exorcists even possess the power to turn the undead away with only a few words from their holy book; lesser undead creatures have been known to turn to ash upon hearing their benedictions, while vampires and stronger undead often flee in terror.

The sage’s power is more subtle, but equally awe-inspiring, seeming quite similar to mentalism or divination-focused necromancy. Common abilities among sages include the ability to sense undead creatures in a very wide radius, the power to scry on and pry into the minds of dark mages, and the ability to even gain brief glimpses into the future. Sages, due to their less battle-focused nature, often spearhead the usual tasks of the priesthood, namely the conduction of funerals. Due to this, most possess the ability to cleanse a body of impure magic, or to ward a sepulcher against undead incursion. Master sages, it is said in hushed whispers, are able to astrally project themselves to anywhere within Entar and even, some say, to places beyond.

Facing an exorcist or sage of Hirin is combat, it is said, is like facing death itself. As cold, unswerving, and unbendable as iron, your doom will inevitably come.

Sacred Objects: It could be said that the carcass of every intelligent person is a holy icon of Hirin, and that every tomb and sepulcher is his temple. At the very least, the priesthood of Hirin believes they should be treated as such.

Besides that, any of the implements that the sages and exorcists use in their holy quest are often considered blessed and sacred. The exorcist’s scythes and sickles and the sage’s smoking censors are treated with as much dignity and care as a cleric of Aldaron would treat his sword and shield. All agree, however, that the Book of the Dead is by far the priesthood’s holiest object, and even its copies resonate with mystic portent.

Sacred Texts: Central to the priesthood of Hirin is the Book of the Dead, their holy book. Directly after The Incarnation, several of those who witnessed the event went into seclusion. Working furiously, at least half a dozen authors compiled the original Book of the Dead in less than three days. Many consider it to be a divinely inspired work; it was as if Hirin himself wrote it through their collective pens. Due to the divinely-inspired nature of the Book of the Dead, many undead creatures find its presence intolerable. It is often said that no undead being can bear to touch one, and the priesthood freely distributes copies as a totem against harm. The original copy of the Book of the Dead is on display in the Grand Mausoleum, where it is said to be amongst the holiest artifacts in Entar, comparable to the fragments of Lunair that the Arm of Aldaron so zealously protects, or to the Eye of Daidlin in Elenion.

The Book of the Dead is divided into two main sections, Practicus and Spiritus, or simply Practice and Spirit. The first section, Practice, is a rather dry explanation of the ways to properly dispose of a corpse, suggestions on how to hold a funeral service or construct a tomb, rules for the priesthood to live by, and finally a rather useful encyclopedia on various undead creatures and how to defeat them. The second section, Spirit, is written with rather fiery and poetic language, and discusses the nature of Hirin and the Astral Law that he upholds. It is the more popular of the two books, particularly among the exorcists, who often read prayers from the Spiritus chapters aloud as a method for bolstering their faith magic.

Prominence: Though Hirin’s faithful still maintain a strong presence in Tarsis where their religion was founded, they have had immense success in expanding onto the continent proper. Currently, Hirin’s church is present in almost every region of Entar, though his influence certainly varies from one area to another. As far as politics go, the Priesthood of Hirin and the Arm of Aldaron share a common enemy in the undead, and as a result, the two groups have a long history of crusading together, making them fairly steadfast allies. Though most commoners find them unnerving, Hirin’s devout are freely accepted virtually everywhere in Northern Entar, primarily because they provide a very useful service with their cheap funerals and their relentless eradication of the undead. Still, some feel that the Priesthood of Hirin is rather overzealous, as they have been known to include even law-abiding, state-sponsored necromancers in their campaigns. They are also notorious for viewing all forms of sorcery with skepticism, fearing that even simple cantrips may one day lead to a violation of Astral Law. They would slaughter even an innocent victim of necromantic magic, such as a sentient wight, without a second thought, and due to this, many consider the cult of Hirin to be a dangerous one. Obviously, the Priesthood of Hirin has very poor relations with any who would use the undead for their own purposes, putting them at odds with most evil religions. This is especially true with worshippers of Gormion, whom they consider their sworn enemies.

Quote:
“A body that moves without spirit is an abomination, and a soul that lingers without body is an abomination, and bones that move without ligaments are an abomination, and a voice that speaks without lips or tongue is an abomination, and an eye that stares, yet sees not, is an abomination, and a mouth that feasts, yet tastes not, is an abomination, and all the abominations of this world shall wither and tremble before the might of Our God, and shall be sealed in tombs of unyielding stone, for Our God is a Just God, He Who Knows the Darkness and Holds It Back, He Who is Warden Even Unto the Gods, for his name is Hirin! Hirin is the name of Eternal Gatekeeper, and none shall fear abominations who know His name! Speak the name of Hirin, and be not afraid!”
-Excerpt from Chapter XII: Spiritus of the Book of the Dead, as read by a priest of Hirin performing an exorcism.

Credit to Two-Moons