Intermediate Gods

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Revision as of 03:52, 25 January 2006 by Mortzestus (talk | contribs) (→‎Dagath)
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At the dawn of the Age of Immortals, also referred to as the Age of Peace, tranquility settled once again across the planet's surface.

The Fairy War had ended when the Orcs attacked the two warring Fairy Races, this ended the Fairy War and caused the Great War. As the Great War worsened, the dragons of Avlis came into the fray and almost immediately produced a standstill. Some say it was Mikon that brought the evil dragons to combat the good ones so that evil would not be eliminated. But whatever the truth may be, the standstill lasted up to the very point when the Orcish mages unleashed their massive invocation spell that destroyed every Orc mage on the planet, and countless members of all other races.

This explosion was like a wakeup call. The stunned silence in its wake lasted almost 1000 years. This period of time is what is known as the Age of Immortals.

Having no wars to fight on the planet gave the gods times for... other things. Thus, with the help of many of the powerful figures who arose as Immortals from the Great War, the gods multiplied. These unions brought about many gods of all levels of power and areas of control.

Andrinor

Alignment: CN

Worshipper's Alignment: Any

Domain: Arcane Mortal Magic

Clerical Domains: Air, Magic, Knowledge, Water


Andrinor solely distributes and allocates the magic drawn from the Mortal Magic Vortex. Whenever a wizard, bard, or sorcerer casts a spell, they are drawing energy from the Mortal Magic Vortex according to his permission. The only exceptions to this rule are wizards, bards, or sorcerers who are of Immortal status and up. They have access to the God Magic Vortex, which Andrinor has no control over.

Andrinor is often disorganized and unpredictable in his methods, however people of all races and alignments worship him out of necessity. Many enjoy it, while others feel grudgingly at his mercy. Either way, they are careful, as they should be. Magic is a delicate art and needs to be respected. Andrinor supports this notion and he will take great steps to secure it.

Andrinor has clerics who perform devotions to him, but his church is very informal and not organized very heavily. Often his clerics are doubling as wizards or sorcerers, and seek to gain extra power from him by devoting themselves totally to his service. These individuals are granted cleric spells from Andrinor in the usual way, i.e. filtered through the God Magic Vortex.

Angadar

Alignment: LE

Worshipper's Alignment: Any non-chaotic

Domain: Drangonari Elves, Arcane Knowledge, Deceit, Trickery

Clerical Domains: Evil, Knowledge, Magic, Knowledge


Angadar was originally the god of Arcane Knowledge only. Arcane knowledge is defined as any facts pertaining to magic spells, artifacts, items, people, places, deities, and other things. Casual followers of Angadar seek his knowledge for a number of reasons ranging from helpful to odious. However, the more serious followers of Angadar know that Arcane Knowledge, as Angadar sees it, is to be used as a weapon. "He who dies with the most knowledge... does not die." That's the general motto of Angadar's faithful.

A little more than fifty years ago, Angadar was involved with the death of the goddess Tianna, lover of Valok and former goddess of Deceit and Trickery. He was able to assume her mantle as a product of her death circumstances, and although Tianna's followers did not believe it at first (must be another one of her tricks), they eventually warmed up to Angadar. Consequently, it is not uncommon to hear his name uttered on the lips of a crafty cove, or bonafide liar.

Angadar has a diverse population worshipping him. He created the race of Drangonari Elves as his own, and many associate him with them. However, he also has a great following among non-elven users of magic. Elven mages are often loathe to follow him. The union of Arcane Knowledge with Deceit and Trickery has enhanced Angadar's power and made him very dangerous. Knowledge is power, but Knowledge put to manipulative and deceitful use is just downright nasty. Devout followers of Angadar recognize the reason why Angadar is the god of Arcane Knowledge: obtaining power.

Angadar is the patron of all those who seek power through gaining knowledge of magic and other arcane facts. As a mortal, Angadar worked very hard to amass as much power and magic as he could in order to advance himself. Becoming the most powerful spellcaster in history was always his goal, since his oppressive youth.

On a personal level, Angadar was always extremely subtle and elegant in his dealings. Those who made deals with Angadar often found themselves fullfilling something they never meant to fullfil earlier. He always had ways of twisting the truth to his advantage. Thus, the mantle of deceit and trickery became something he eventually coveted from Tianna as a means to gain more power. Now that he is both lord of arcane knowledge, and deceit and trickery he is constantly finding new means to extend his influence among gods and mortals, be they wizards or not.

Angadar's most popular followers tend to be greedy spellcasters and rogue's who are interested in serving him in return for a chance to sharpen their skills to gain power. However, Angadar only accepts those who are subtle and indirect in their methods. Chaos is not tolerated.

The Web of Angadar is an Holy Order for followers of Angadar.

Dagath

Alignment: TN

Worshippers' Alignment: Any

Domain: Life, Death, Rebirth

Clerical Domains:
Order of Life: Good, Healing, Protection, Sun
Order of Death: Death, Destruction, Evil, Strength
Order of Rebirth: Select one from each of Life and Death


Dagath was born of a union of Mikon and one of his mortal followers. Because of the unusual nature of his parentage, he was born a god but had to watch his mother grow old and die eventually. However, he realized that when this happened, her soul went somewhere else and that she was in fact not obliterated, she was just changed and living somewhere else. All mortals shared this fate, and he soon became aware that all mortals are actually immortal and capable of rebirth.

Thus he took on the mantle of Life, Death, and Rebirth. Political matters of nations and cities do not concern him as much as actual life and death itself. He oversees changes in life such as the birth of a baby, marriage, retirement, death, and even the afterlife. Sometimes his job is pleasant, and sometimes not.

Because of the wide nature of his ethos, Dagath has all kinds of worshippers ranging from saintly to vile. He is one of the only gods who's worshipers can be of any alignment. His priesthood is divided into three orders that deal with his charge: The Order of Life, The Order of Death, and The Order of Rebirth.

By and large, the Life clerics are good aligned, the death clerics are evil aligned, and the rebirth clerics are neutral aligned. They all have different ways of dealing with things, and sometimes they work together. For instance, if the Order of Life feels that a living being has been wrongfully killed, they will often enlist the Order of Death to take revenge for the killing. The Order of Rebirth is usually there to clean up the mess.

Ingoren

Alignment: N

Worshippers' Alignment: Any

Domain: Sailors, Ocean

There is no further information on Ingoren as of this writing.

Mishlekh

Alignment: CG

Worshippers' Alignment: CG

Domain: Wine

Originally, it was thought that Mishlekh was a famous elven wine-maker who lived nearly two thousand years ago, and ascended to godhood through the grace of Dru'El for her service to elvenkind. However, it is now generally accepted as fact that Mishlekh was a Romini woman, whose fame grew among her own kind first, and then later spread to the elves.

Mishlekh is still highly regarded by the Romini as the goddess who perfected the secrets of wine-making, and is now charged with the task of being the guardian of vineyards and the bringer of the grape harvest. Both the Romini and Elven followers of Mishlekh have carried her worship to all surface areas of Avlis, where she is now generally thought of as the goddess of Wine and all of the aspects of wine-making.

In warmer parts of the continent, her worship is rigorous. There is a new grape crop every season, made up of different grape sub-species. Almost any vineyard or winery acts as a temple to Mishlekh, where her priests are charged with the task of producing the wine for all who would buy it. Some of these priests are travelling wine merchants, though they are often not openly introduced as holy men or women. More often than not, they do not flaunt their worship, and are simply happy to peddle wine to the far corners of the continent. Generally the organization of the church follows the structure of a winery, where the newly recruited initiates are pickers and growers. Working up the loose ranks, there are managers, administrators, and on the side, merchants. The hierarchy is not strict. It is just enough to efficiently grow and distribute wine, and to spread the appreciation of it wherever they can.

The elven followers of Mishlekh often have very different fermentation techniques than their Romini counterparts, or any other later races who have taken up the manufacturing of wine under Mishlekh's guidance. These differences are celebrated, not belittled, however. Mishlekh is considered to be very tolerant of anything that is not ale.