Pg:Lesser Gods

Balgar

Alignment: TN

Worshipped by: Any wemics

Domain: Wemics

Wemics are a centauroid race of lions that exist mainly in two different areas on Avlis. In the west, they roam the plains of the Kurathene Empire. In the east, they inhabit the jungles of Jechran and Drotid. Both lines draw their ancestry from the same roots, and have similar cultures, with minor differences.

Wemics are the creation of the god Balgar, and almost all the Wemic race worships him as "The Son". Balgar is the son of Mikon and a mortal woman whom he conceived with named Aryeh Gidol. Later, Aryeh's existence was preserved by Mikon, she came to be equally worshiped by the wemics as "The Mother". Both gods play important roles in the daily lives of the wemic.

All wemics trace their roots through their mothers, who are generally regarded as the elders of the family units or prides. Most prides will wander the plains or jungles where they are accustomed, rarely settling down. They are at one with the land, feeding off of game in the area until they feel it is time to move on to better grounds. Though this existence seems simple, the wemics are by no means primitive. Every pride is networked with all its neighboring units, and through this network, the wemics have a pretty good idea of what passes through their territory.

Wemics do not claim land as their own, and have no countries or nations. However, they will protect their chosen hunting grounds from anyone they see as a threat. They are very intelligent, and always aware that some other race may lay claim to their grounds as part of a nation of humans, elves, or others. This does not trouble them, and often they can find themselves in agreement with the nation in which they inhabit, so long as their lands are properly cared for. Often, male wemics will want to make their own way in the world apart from their matrilineal society, and they will offer their services to the nation where they live. This phenomena is seen many times in the plains of the Kurathene Empire, where goodly lords are common, though it is not often seen in places like Drotid where tyrants play.

Though the wemics live in a matrilineal society, the males are not oppressed in any way. They simply do not have the drive for organization and structure that the females have. So it is left to them to take it up. "The Mother" provides qualities of order and structure, whereas "The Son" preaches doing whatever seems prudent at the time. Both philosophies are regarded equally in the wemic society, and they both fill a role.

When hunting, the females will often take the lead, though males have been known to participate in their own hunts from time to time. Male wemics have different personalities. Some are sociable, and some are solitary. It varies. The solitary ones often find themselves living apart from the pride, but not out of contact. Sociable ones are often found among other races.

Berryn

Alignment: NG

Worshippers' Alignment: NG

Domain: Morning, Spring, & Halflings

Berryn was wrought of the union between Gorethar and a unique dwarven druidess named Kitanya Meygle. The druidess was not an average dwarf, yet her courage and prowess seen during the Great War impressed Gorethar greatly.

Berryn was born with a great love of nature, as taught by her mother, yet her father conveyed on her a strong importance in stability and comfort. These feelings governed her actions, and led to her adoption of the mantles of Morning and Spring... for both were the peak symbols of nature, yet their regularity held much stability in the face of much death and change.

When it came time for Berryn to create her own race, she chose to make halflings. Her father had related to her the nature of halflings whom he encountered on other worlds and Berryn liked their description. She wanted a race who was stalwart and stable, yet able to live in nature with a sense of comfort and style.... not stodginess. Halfings suited her well. Being of the mind that the universe is a balanced place of good and evil, but feeling that her good actions were an integral part of the balance, Berryn allowed her creatures to choose their path on their own for good or ill. Many of the halflings hold Berryn in high regard, although most of these reside in the halfling nation of Ferrell.

Dra'Nar

Alignment: NG

Worshippers' Alignment: Any good or Neutral

Domain: Heroes & Orphans

Favored Colors: Red and Gold

Dra'Nar is a god of dualities. Heroes seek to emulate him. Orphans seek his aid. 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

Alignment: NG

Worshippers Alignment: Any good or neutral female

Domain: 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.

Note: Dre'Ana is the daughter of the greater god O'ma

Fegall

Alignment: CN

Worshippers' Alignment Any Chaotic, or gnome

Area of Control: 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 themself 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.

Hurine

Alignment: LN

Worshippers' Alignment: Any

Domain: Merchants, Trade

Hurine is the patron goddess of merchants and business people. Often, those who deal in business matters will have a small statue of her somewhere in their shop or on their person when traveling. Though the majority of her worshippers are laymen who deal in some sort of mercantile trade, Hurine does have clerics and temples, though they are few.

Hurine's temples can be lavish, though they are often small and unassuming. Normally, they act as small centers where business folk can come to ask for success and financial rescue. The clerics of Hurine are often seen as great financial advisors and shrewd dealers in all sorts of business, and many consult them for advice on these matters.

Clerics of Hurine are easily recognized by their light colored robes with dark brown or golden trim. They are not quite as numerous as other clerics from the various churches, but it is generally easy to find at least one or two in any city. Larger cities tend to have greater numbers of them. In the southern part of Avlis, they are not as common as they are in the Seven Cities, and parts of The Kurathene Empire, though they can still be found.

Senath

Alignment: LN

Worshipper's Alignment: Any lawful

Area of Control: Strategy

"Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is *nothing* to do."

Senath is one of the more famous children of the god Toran, born during the Age of Peace after the Great War. As a coming-of-age gift, his father gave him domain over all that has to do with strategy. This was a very large undertaking for the young deity, and he took it very seriously, as his father knew he would.

Senath sees strategy as being divided into different aspects. There is political strategy. There is martial strategy. There is natural strategy. And there is everyday social strategy encompassed by games of skill and normal colloquial interaction.

Because of all of these areas, Senath claims a lot of followers from differing walks of life. He is thought to work through both inspiration and perseverance. A farmer gaining an idea about how to do better in his crop planting schedule, a politician working his way efficiently up the ranks, and a general who spots a flaw in his enemy's plan will all attribute thanks to Senath.

The church of Senath promotes the use of strategy in any way it can. It brings its teachings to the world through games and competitions, and the priests of Senath can often be found hosting events in various communities that promote the use of strategy. They aren't usually concerned with the betterment of a community through strategy so much as they are concerned with the adoption of strategy for its own sake, whatever the outcome or reason.

The church of Senath is not as geared towards war as that of Toran, however it does understand the need for it, and will often help with strategic matters when it can in these cases. Some of Senath's clerics are geared towards this career and take up instruction in matters of war. Others work only in political circles as advisors to nobles, though the priests rarely covet the power for themselves. Power is not the issue. Strategy is, after all. Senath uses the blue and silver colorings of his father, yet they are accompanied by black and white.

Skern

Alignment: N

Worshipers' Alignment: N or CG

Area of Control: Centaurs, Community, Natural Balances

The lesser god Skern was born during a great time of conflict. It is said that his existence came about during the Fairy War, when O'Ma and Titania were fighting in the skies. Legend holds that blood from their wounds fell down onto the ground of Avlis and mingled. The divine energies in the blood took on a life of their-own when spread upon the soil, and they became the god Skern.

The birth of Skern occurred in the middle of the fight between O'Ma and Titania. After his birth was complete, blood was still falling from the skies, and it was from this extra blood that Skern created his race of centaurs to roam Avlis.

Skern and his centaur followers embrace the precepts of nature with reference to strong community ties and balance. They have strong feelings about the futility of the conflict between Titania and O'Ma, since they attribute their existence to both deities. It is almost like a child watching their mother and father fighting constantly. Their unique perspective on the fairy conflict allows them to have a very balanced and open point of view. "If it seems like a good idea, do it..." is the saying of the followers of Skern. Common sense is their greatest asset.

Skern governs over clerical churches as well as druidic and monastic orders. These different organizations often interact favorably and they work to pursue balance in all communities, though especially in communities located in natural settings. The centaurs themselves can often be reclusive, however they are known to get concerned when balance is in jeopardy.

Verossa

Alignment: CE

Worshippers Alignment: Any Chaotic

Domain: Natural Destruction

Verossa is the evil goddess of natural destruction. Like the other minor gods and goddesses, she controls a smaller aspect of the world, rather than being a proponent of a large philosophy.

Wherever there is natural destruction of any kind, be it lightning, floods, storms, decay, fire, rain, snow, sleet, hail, there is the power of Verossa. It is this raw destructive power that she wields which attracts many evil power-hungry priests to her fold.

Verossa can make both clerics and druids. Clerics and druids of Verossa must be chaotic evil, but all chaotic characters can appreciate the awesome destructive power of nature. Those that do will often acknowledge Verossa in a prayer before travel, mainly for the purpose of warding her off. Some primitive commoners will even sacrifice small animals to "appease" her before a journey. Travel is very important on Avlis since it is largely done on foot. So the common folk take the dangers of weather on a journey very seriously.

Verossa is not exactly the goddess of weather because she doesn't have the ability to do NICE things with it. She only has limited control over the negative effects of it, in addition to any other kinds of non-weather related natural destructive effects. However, most of her abilities all lead back to bad weather.

The concept of "natural destruction" is up for semantic debate. Verossa seems to have a strict code followed by her "official" church. Un-natural destruction, i.e. murder and senseless harm is forbidden "officially", but like in any religion there are extremists who take the law a bit far. Oddly enough these extremists, often druids, still get spells granted to them even when they take their definition of "natural destruction" a bit too far.

Vorin

Alignment: N

Worshippers Alignment: Any

Area of Control: Knowledge and Information

Vorin is the god who governs the free and total exchange of information. His monks and priests collect information wherever they can find it, and they either place it into libraries of their own for public use, or they take the information back to well-known storage places, like the Great Library of Mikona.

Vorin governs knowledge and information in their truest sense, and he does not much care who gets his knowledge or information. When giving out information, his followers do not take into account personal dislike, or the danger of the information falling into the wrong hands. Their job is simply to make information available to whom-ever wants it.

Most libraries serve as a temple to Vorin. Public donations and governmental aide are used to keep their establishments running, so it generally works out well for them since they don't need to only rely on their worshippers to donate money. In large cities they benefit from this fact immensely because there is much more money available for them, and they often make huge information repositories.

The priests and monks who do not serve in libraries are usually out on journies to find items for study, or books for storage. They are seen by the church of Vorin to be a valuable asset because they increase Vorins knowledge base.

Wilsash

Alignment: NE

Worshipper's Alignment: Any evil

Domain: Moon, Nightmares

On Avlis, dreams are thought closely linked to the moon and its cycles. This is true of most races and cultures.

Wilsash is the governor of these cycles. He controls the moon and the application of dreams. The exact way in which he goes about doing this is a mystery. There seems to be no pattern to the moon and the dreams one can have. Sometimes they coincide well. Sometimes they don't.

Only the mind of the god himself understands how and why they are linked. The people of the world are only able to pray to him and hope. Often they find themselves at his mercy. The priests of Wilsash all have theories on how the god governs the moon and nightmares together, and often they fight about this, forming factions. Some declare that the moon is needed for anyone to have any dreams at all. Others disagree and say that dreams can exist without the moon, but nightmares are dependent on its phases. Whatever the case, Wilsash is silent on the matter... as silent as the moon on a windless night. Some believe that he secretly revels in his church's infighting.

All that is known for sure is that Wilsash does indeed control both nightmares and the moon. Whether they go together or not, or they are separate (much like Arcane Knowledge and Trickery), it is uncertain.

Wilsash is known to be good friends with Xenon, god of lycanthropes. The two are often seen together, and their churches seem to get along well also.

Yeraiah

Alignment: N

Worshippers Alignment: Any female

Domain: Earth, Healing, Strength

The lesser goddess Yeraiah was elevated to her position after her marriage to Mikon early in his godhood. Although she did not create a race for herself, Yeriaha took on some followers and helped them to survive in Jechran, the area they called home. Yeraiah serves a complementary role to the warrior goddess, Dre'Ana, emphasizing the balance of strength and femininity in women. She favors the women in the world who are self-sufficient and strong.

The teachings of Yeraiah state that the balance of the land is tied directly to the fertility of women and their role as lifegivers and caretakers. She taught the women of Jechran the art of sowing and ploughing so they could survive and is credited for many of the herbal secrets that supposedly increase the chances of female births. Her focus on women and her drive for balance come from the belief that men habitually ill-treat the earth yet she, like a patient cow, keeps on serving them and, thus, keeping them alive.

There is no official structure known as the Church of Yeraiah. Her worshippers tend toward the druidic or ranger callings, and devote themselves to maintaining the balance of the lush forests of Jechran and the world.