Lesser Deities of Avlis, Volume 2

Dra’Nar (Heroes, Orphans)

Dra'Nar is a god of dualities. Heroes seek to emulate him. Orphans seek his aide. Dra'Nar coordinates the helpers with the helpless in the world. "Every orphan has their hero." is their famous saying.

Because of his naturally heroic mystique, Dra'Nar is a favorite patron god of adventurers. Even those who do not revere him first and foremost will often pay a side tribute to him on occasion. Still others will use his name in expressions as an acknowledgment. "If Dra'Nar is with us this day." "Let it be Dra'Nar's plan." "For the love of Dra'Nar's orphans!"

Dra'Nar's church is made up of clerics and other philanthropists who seek to help the unfortunate. Some will go out of their way to help people whether needed or not, but many clerics, i.e. the neutral ones, will often wait until the help is needed before offering. Though many of the clerics in the church prize themselves as minor heroes, many of them are themselves orphans. It is not uncommon for the church to take them in and raise them in the ways of Dra'Nar. They are often very greatful for this because it gives them a home.

That is Dra'Nar's place in the world: to make sure that all have what they need and no one is left uncared for. They are against those who seek to cause strife and bloodshed for chaotic or evil purposes, because that makes more work for them.

Dre'Ana (Warrior Maidens) Dre'Ana is the prime goddess venerated in the female dominant nation of Jechran. In this harsh environment, she reigns supreme as the main deity worshipped.

Dre'Ana supports the belief that women can be capable warriors that are able to survive on their own and prosper. She favors the women in the world who are oppressed and in need of a rescue, often from themselves.

The teachings of Dre'Ana state that women must come to their own independence through hard work and unity. Through helping other women in need, a woman will come to know herself. Learning the warrior ways is a major stepping block towards achieving independence, for a woman who knows how to fight will be more able to assert herself and put forth her wishes.

The Church of Dre'Ana is a fairly loose organization of clerics of all rankings. Their most common purpose is that of aiding oppressed women. They go as far as to take in troubled ladies and teach them the ways of Dre'Ana's warriors. Once she is trained, she is expected to spread the knowledge to other women in need. Through this cycle, a greater good is achieved and the state of womanhood is preserved.

Each Church often functions with a small hierarchy. A leading priestess will govern the day to day affairs of the church and guide the training schedule for the "recruits". Once a warrior maiden is trained, they are given the option of serving the church either as a warrior or a priestess, or they are set free to train others as they see fit.

Fegall (Craftsmen, Gnomes) Around two thousand years ago, when the Great War was just ending, a dwarven hero by the name of Fegall arose. He was an instrumental figure in ending the war through the use of his craft and prowess in battle. Fegall's talent was for inventing, as he called his craft. Aside from being able to come up with new ideas, Fegall was extremely studious and handy with a hammer and anvil. By all accounts, he was a "Rennaissance Dwarf"... a master of all trades both manual and academic.

His role in the Great War won him many followers, many of whom desired to learn some of his more interesting trades from him. So once the war ended, Fegall set himself up in the southern portion of Galdos and begun to teach many new disciples.... for disciples are what they became. Fegall's works were legendary, and many were magical. Over time Fegall's talent became somewhat exaggerated in tales, but this served only to increase his following.

In the southern portion of Galdos there were two major groups of Dwarves.... one group that followed him religiously, and another who acknowledged his great talent, but declined to take part in the hype. This state of affairs grew in proportion until one day Fegall ascended to immortality and eventually godhood. His followers on the Prime Material Plane continued on his tradition as they do to this day.

Over time, the followers of Fegall began to change. They were getting a little shorter, with more bulbous noses and a skinnier build in some cases. The change took a little over 1000 years, but eventually the dwarves of Fegall were no longer dwarven, but gnomish. Thus, the dominant race in southern Galdos was the gnome, although there were still a great many dwarves around who acknowledged Fegall but didn't follow him. These dwarves and gnomes were influenced by their new god in subtle ways. They became more outgoing, and industrious.

The Church of Fegall and its dogma are not often in tandem with other philosophies and tenets of other gods. Fegall is the creator of the gnomes; however he also one of the gods of craftsmenship, but with a twist. Those who follow the other gods of crafting, like Gorethar, are of the mind that in a person's lifetime they are to excel at one single craft, and maybe a secondary one. Perfection is the key for them. Fegall's tenets do not include perfection, because it is the very imperfections of the world that they love to accentuate. A craftsman who follows Fegall is interested in learning as many crafts as he or she can in order to master the way of the entire world, rather than one single thing. That is the ideal anyway.

Another oddity of Fegall's followers is that their pursuit of crafting often extends to the more "academic" arts as well, such as alchemy, scribing, or even enchanting and magic. This has bred some very apparently orderly and methodical followers of Fegall who may sometimes even pursue the ways of science, and sometimes technology in addition to the more traditional academics.

Aside from his craftsmenship, Fegall is revered by all gnomes, or at least acknowledged by them as their creator. His center of worship is located in the nation of Deglos, however the Church of Fegall does not form any strict cohesive unit to speak of.

Clerics of Fegall are often great craftsmen or academics in their own right, and although they see it as being very important to pass down their knowledge as Fegall did, there is no one Church-sanctioned way to do this. What often happens is that followers interested in learning a craft will flock to a cleric of Fegall who is regarded as an expert in that area. The cleric will collect these "disciples" around himself or herself and they will organize into a "Guild". In this case, the word "Guild" has the connotation of a crafting guild. This crafting guild may or may not be part of an official city's craft guild if there is one, and they often have no official connection to the headquarters of the Church. However, the Church does not mind at all, because they merely regard it as a normal function of their religion to form groups for passing knowledge.