Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts

Monday, December 24, 2007

Gods-alphabetically

Here is a list of gods present (in one way or another) in the Aversill campaign

Alobel Lorfiril (Chaotic Good)- Elvish demigod of hedonism, mirth, magic, and revelry
Altua (Lawful Good)- human goddess of honor and nobility
Avoreen (Lawful Good)- Halfling god of defence, war, vigilance, Halfling warriors, duty
Blibdoolpoolp (chaotic evil)- chief god of Kua Toa
Boccob (Neutral)- Human god of magic
Brandobaris (Neutral) Halfling god of stealth, thievery, adventuring, Halfling rogues
Callarduran Smoothhands (Neutral)- Gnome god of Svirfneblin, Secrecy
Carl Glittergood (Neutral Good)- Gnome god of gnomes, humor, wit, illusion, gemcutting, jewelry making. Carl Glittergood is the quintessential Gnome god.
Corellon Larethian (Chaotic Good)- Elvish god of elves, magic, music and arts
Cyrollalee (Lawful Good) Halfling goddess of friendship, trust, the hearth, hospitality, crafts.
Deep Sashelas (Chaotic Good)- Elvish god of oceans, aquatic elves, creation, and knowledge
Eadro (Neutral good)- chief god of Locathah and merfolk
Ehlonna (Neutral Good)- human goddess of nature
Elbrin Liothiel (Chaotic Good)- Elvish god of orchards, nature, gardens, and harvest
Erythnal (chaotic eivl)- Gnoll god of slaughter
Erythnul (chaotic evil)- human god of slaughter
Fharlanghn (neutral)- human god of roads and travel
Gelf Darkhearth (Chaotic Neutral)- Gnome god of entropy and revenge
Gruumsh (chaotic evil)- chief god of the orcs
Halmyr (Lawful neutral) human god of strategy and skill
Hanali Celanil (Chaotic Good)- Elvish god of love, romance, beauty, enchantments, magic item artistry, fine arts, and artists
Hanseath (Chaotic Neutral)- Dwarven god of war, carousing, and alcohol.
Heironeous (Lawful good)- human god of valor
Hextor (Lawful evil)- human god of tyranny, war, conflict, and destruction
Hinggek (Chaotic evil)- Bugbear chief god
Konkresh (chaotic neutral) human god of brute force
Kord (Chaotic Good)- human god of glorious combat
Kurtulmak (Lawful Evil)- Kobold god of kobolds, trapmaking, mining, and war
Laduguer (Lawful Evil)- Dwarven god (Duergar) of magic weapons, artisans, magic, duergar
Lolth (Chaotic evil)- Elvish goddess of Drow, spiders, darkness
Lyris (neutral)- human goddess of victory and fate
Merrshaulk (Lawful evil)- chief god of the Yuan Ti
Moglubiyet (neutral evil)- chief god of goblins and golinoids
Moradin (Lawful Good)- Dwarven god of creation, smithing, engineering, and war. Moradin is the dwarf all purpose God and is sometimes worshipped by humans.
Mya (Neutral Good)- Dwarven goddess of clan, family, and wisdom
Nadirech (chaotic evil)- human god of cowardice and trickery
Nerull (Neutral Evil)- human god of death
Obad Hai (neutral)- human god of nature
Olidammara (chaotic netural)- human god of thieves, beggars, and wine
Pelor (neutral good)- human god of the sun, good, and justice
Rill Cleverthrush (Lawful Neutral)- Gnome god invention, creation, and the sky.
Rocknar (Neutral Evil)- Dwarven god of greed, intrigue, lies and earth
Sehanine Moonbow (Chaotic Good)- Elvish goddess of mysticism, dreams, death, journeys, transcendence, the moon, the stars, the heavens
Sekolah (chaotic evil) chief shark god of the Sanhuagin
Shella Peryroyl (Neutral)- Halfling goddess of nature, agriculture, weather, song, dance, beauty, romantic love
Sheyanna Flaxenstrand (Chaotic Good)- Gnome goddess of love, beauty and passion
Skerrit (Chaotic good)- Centaur chief god
Smemwanya (Neutral)- chief god (goddess?) of lizardfolk
St. Cuthbert (Lawful Neutral)- human god of revenge and just punishment
Sulerain (neutral evil)- human goddess of slaughter
Syreth (Neutral Good)- human god of protection and community
Tharmekhul (Neutral)- Dwarf demi-god who tends the forge for Moradin
Thautum (Netural)- Dwarf god of magic and darkness
The Glutton (Chaotic Evil)- Gnome god of disaster and greed.
Typhos (Lawful Evil) human god of Tyranny
Urbanos (Neutral Good)- God of cities
Urogalan (Lawful Neutral)- Halfling god of the Earth, death, and protection of the dead
Valkar (Chaotic Good)- human god of courage
Valkauna (Lawful Neutral)- Dwarf god of oaths, death, and birth
Vandria Gilmadrith (Lawful Neutral)- Elvish god of war, guardianship, justice, grief, vigilience, and decision
Vecna (neutral evil)- human god of secrets, magic, undead
Wee Jas (Lawful Neutral)- human goddess of magic and death
Yondolla (Lawful Good)- Halfling goddess of Halflings and explorers
Zarus (Lawful Evil)- God of human superiority

Friday, December 21, 2007

Streckhorn and Sprituality

Streckhorn is a city of superstition and for good reason. The magical ties that exist behind closed doors in other cities are plain for all to see in Streckhorn In battles against past enemies, the city has received aid from numerous sources without need of summons. A flight of Griffons, calling the wild Tiers above the city their home, routinely comes to the city in times of crisis as have, at different points in the city’s history, a flight of silver dragons, a Shedhu, and numerous other creatures both Earthly and other worldly. Tehr are routine sightings of glowing figures walking the streets of Streckhorn (not to mention the occasional report of a Fade sighting). Explorers of both Ysgard and Acheron have told tales of persistent portals that lead directly to Streckhonr.
Whenever possible, the leadership of Steckhorn has attempted to discover the nature of the responsibilities that these creatures feel towards keeping the city safte. Their success or failure in this endeavor is a secret to the public. The rumor about these pacts are that they originate with the fade and that humans were not meant to keep them. Some feel that these alliances represent a sign of corruption within the arcane and divine community of Streckhorn. Many whisper of dire consequences. Others make it their purpose to seek out the divine creatures and forces that occasionally materialize in Streckhorn.
Actual superstitions vary from person to person and Tier to Tier, many of which concern phantom passages and similar features. A phantom passage is a doorway that is only open at certain times or under certain conditions. These passages are said to open onto parts of the city that only exist in the world of spirits. Some say that phantom passages lead to different time. The commonality between all such legends is that those who make it into a phantom passage are almost never heard from again.
Similar to phantom passages, Streckhorn superstition includes “Haint Halls” which are buildings that are not always there. Strictly speaking, a Haint Hall is the ghost of a Fade building that has suffered ruin. Priscients, ghosts of the Fade, represent a similar kind of local legend. Often buildings will be abandoned due to rumor of prescient activity. There is little verification, however, of these phantom’s actual existence.
Some of the legends and superstitions common in Streckhorn are:
Never climb a spire alone: After all, you never know whether the passage you are in is real or phantom. Many legends concerning phantom passages hold that you cannot be spirited away unless you are alone. Others claim that the passages only show themselves to lone travelers.
Whistle a song as you climb a spire: This is a variation on the standard legend that if others can hear your song then you can’t be spirited away. Other versions of this superstition hold that if you hear someone whistling the same song, it’s you coming from the other direction and you must head back or meet yourself coming (a disaster in all cases). The simplest version of this superstition holds that whistling lets everyone know that someone else is in the spire.
The double jointed and contortionists are possessed by Priscients: Circus contortionists and all manner of tumblers and acrobats are frowned upon in Streckhorn.
Diseases that twist the bodies are considered curses of the Fade.
Anyone who enters a house left foot first is a Prescient. There are a wide variety of these kinds of superstitions. This is simply the most common. There are literally hundreds of ways to spot a Fade
Touching the statue of Codphetumos insures fertility.
One must conduct business with a bare head. This legend probably revolves around the number of tales where a Streckhorn citizen finds himself inside a bazaar of devils.
Codphetumos hears prayers for justice in Streckhorn. Though no one openly admits to worshipping the Fade gods and goddesses, there’s a lot of crossover in the pantheons of Streckhorn. The large statue of St. Cuthbert in front of his temple, for instance, has him posed in such a fashion as to hint at contortion. Art critics see in the statue a strong Fade influence. Stronger critics see the statue as a suggestion of heresy. In any case, quite a few words have crept into common parlance as far as oaths are concerned that are clearly drawn from the Fade. “Codsys,” for instance, is untranslatable, generally is used like “Wow,” and obviously sounds a lot like Cod sees (as in Codphetumos seees). The temple of St. Cuthbert is in a building that was clearly some kind of Fade temple before the catastrophe.
Cod’s Tribute: On the great lifts of the Tevermine Gate (the four giant lifts that run from the base of the mountain up to the Middle tier of Streckhonr), one is supposed to drop a coin to Codphetumos as an offer that the lift will not break.
“The gods are worshipped on one Tier; they live on another.” Less a superstition than a saying. Nonetheless, this phrase is indicative of Streckhorn religion. Worshippers are praying to and honoring beings that they feel are physically close and which may be met through phantom gates and such, during the lifetime of the faithful.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Macabre Boccob

Here's what you guys would all basically know about Boccob and his church, The Eternal Library.

Among the Pantheon, Boccob serves as the god of magic, but his nature seems to place him outside the realm of the other deities. Where Moradin or St. Cuthbert are active in the lives and affairs of mortals, Boccob's main selling point is that he simply doesn't care. He seems to be above the struggles of the world, and thus magic is a force that is a cast off of his own power. This has a number of effects in the legends of Stumgort and Aversill. As the argument goes, if Boccob was more responsible with magic then human power wouldn't continually have to be reigned in by the gods. If this is, in fact, the case, it wouldn't matter much. Boccob seems to care very little about who gets power or who doesn't. He is worshipped less as an attempt to gain favor and more as an exercise in the discipline that his followers see as necessary to use the powers that they uncover. As the myths go, if Boccob does actually notice you, his power is so great as to wipe you out of existence.

From a political standpoint, there are a number of organizations that deal with arcane secrets and lore, as well as numerous groups dedicated to the policing of magic use. The Eternal Library (church of Boccob) is generally at the forefront of the politics of magic in any civilized human area (Elves prefer Corellen Larethion). Wizard advisers to political authority are almost always appointed by The Eternal Library, and organizations for monitoring or policing magic use either begin as offshoots of the Eternal Library or are given authority by that group.

For this reason, figuring prominently in each major city is an Eternal Library. It's appearance depends on the city (Seacourt's is garish and polished; in Streckhorn it is a dark place uninviting and Gothic), but its general upkeep is pretty much the same. Most of the Library is off limits to non-church members (and even these areas are divided by one's status in the church), but it provides services such as the sale of magic items, instruction in magical skill and spells, numerous commercial casting services, professional services such as sages and scribes(though not Wayfairers), incarceration for magical beings, as well as the bureaucratic upkeep of magical licensing (it's as RMVish as it sounds).

Outside the city, the Eternal Library often operates temples for the collection of arcane secrets from the wilds and from prelapsarian ruins. In like manner, most of the Libraries less metropolitan plans are carried out in rural temples, such as magical laboratories, observatories, and academies.

Other major organizations that perform similar services to the Eternal Library are The Wayfairers Guild, The Pragnastic Assembly, The Hall of Secrets, and The Order. There are any number of smaller guilds, colleges, and schools for wizards, but none have the kind of political power wielded by the organizations listed above.