Pantheon

[Carthrat]

So, like, I was reading roguelikes and came across this Pantheon. Shamelessly stolen from http://www.incursion-roguelike.net/, a roguelike loosely based on 3.5e.

And I think it's pretty cool. While I'm not sure about every single god getting a kick out of sacrifice (and the daily devotions are a bit nuts for actual people to execute), I'm putting that down to the game engine requiring it. An actual campaign using this pantheon could probably come up with somewhat more sensible devotions. It gives anyone following these religions a somewhat-clear code to follow and concrete actions they should be constantly taking.

And that brings me to something I like a lot. I like how it's explicitly shown what gains and loses the favour of the gods and what sort of benefits can be had. There's a method to their ways, whilst they clearly retain a sense of inscrutability. I think the religion section (elsewhere in the manual for the game) details why they can't intervene directly so much.

I also feel most of these gods are a character in themselves,  and that there's a sense of ambiguity around some of them, in-universe- Erich being the shining example there (he's the god of fascism, dolled up in a 'knightly, chivalric' package.) It actually makes the explicitly good/evil/lawful/chaotic axis work for me in a way other pantheons fail. I'm not sure why!

This has got me thinking a bit about religion and deities in games in general, but I'm at work so a dissertation is even more impossible than usual. In the meantime, I think it's just a cool read in general.

Spoiler'd for size.

Edit: I knew I liked this pantheon when I realised I'd enjoy playing priests of *several* of these gods. The rest is figuring out why. <_<
Edit2: holy shitballs someone fix the 'we can't post huge posts unless you edit them later' bug. I will pay you with food

Spoiler: ShowHide

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= THE THEYRAN PANTHEON = {PA}
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  There are many gods and spirits worshipped across the different lands of Therya. The thirteen true gods listed here form the primary pantheon which was first worshipped by the Vanyir, the human subrace that first settled in the Kinlands and has since spread to every corner of the land. Other pantheons exist, governing the far-off lands of Angla Maua, Arasaki, Kinsith Raegil and Koryama. There are alien powers of ooze, terror and darkness worshipped by the terrors of the Underdark, and the forever warring demon lords, archdevils and high celestial lords. But it is these 15 deities -- along with Maeve, the Queen of Faerie, and the foul spirits of the Demon Ghost Horde -- that are commonly known and worshipped in the Kinlands area.


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= DIETY DESCRIPTIONS =
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AISWIN {AI}
God of Secrets, Vengeance and Shadows
  Fate, Knowledge, Night, Planning, Retribution, Trickery. The Short Sword. Weapons of Balance.
  Aiswin the Whisperer lurks in the hearts of all men and women. Filled with venom and hurt, he offers succor to those who have been wounded by the wrongful acts of others, but his edict demands an eye for an eye, and a life for a life. A born manipulator, Aiswin teaches the weak to use treachery and poison (literal and metaphorical) to fell the strong, and believes that the greatest possible sin a thinking being can commit is to forgive an enemy who has genuinely and knowingly wronged her.
  Aiswin holds as his protectorate all who work at night, or work alone, and is revered by many thieves and assasins' guilds. Yet, his favor is a fickle thing for any guildmaster to try to hold, because he hates the oppression or degradation of the weak -- one who wishes to hold his favor had best not treat their underlings poorly or encourage victimization of the innocent. Aiswin has cults rather then a priesthood, forming loyal cliques from those who have been rejected by their peers or alienated from society. A common cliche states that Aiswin has dominion over everyone who has nobody else.
  Aiswin is the god of vengeance, not the god of all-consuming vengeance for imagined slights. His favor comes upon those who have been genuinely hurt, though he is lax in enforcing morality upon his clerics and many pursue very destructive, over-reaching schemes against their enemies. Some even end up going insane for having nurtured their bitterness for so long. When clerics of Aiswin are not pursuing their personal vendettas, they tend to find work as spies, assasins, political advisors and vigilantes.
  Aiswin is True Neutral, and his clerics may be of any alignment. Good clerics of Aiswin pursue just vengeance on behalf of those who cannot protect themselves, while evil ones blame groups for the acts of individuals and carry out vengeance upon entire family lines, nations, genders or races to sate their bigotry. The majority fall in between these two extremes, being bitter, self-absorbed and vengeful without becoming truly depraved. Aiswin's chosen weapon is the short sword, and his holy symbol is a crimson heart-shape with a blade driven through the center. He grants access to the domains of Fate, Knowledge, Night, Planning, Retribution and Trickery.
  Worship: Aiswin accepts sacrifice only of creatures killed as blood vengeance -- hostile creatures who wounded the petitioner before the petitioner killed them. Sapient creatures sacrificed in accord with blood vengeance are far more valued than others. He is angered when his followers attack creatures who are not hostile to them, or when they use magical effects with the [Light] descriptor. He also expects his followers to slay any creature who gravely wounds them before they move forward in their lives (in game terms, leveling up, or delving deeper into the dungeon). Conversely, however, he is exacting and gives his followers no allowance for such transgressions before he becomes angry.
  While Aiswin places few restrictions on his followers, other then expecting them not to betray or kill friendly creatures, and he offers a number of useful secrets and artifacts long thought lost, but is subject to a serious restriction: he can only offer direct divine aid to his followers between sunset and sunrise. When the sky is bright, Aiswin has no direct influence in the world. Areas deep underground are typically considered to be eternal night, but even there Aiswin cannot offer aid in areas of bright (magically produced) sunlight.
  Blessings: Aiswin is always willing to strike at the enemies of his followers, should they ask for his aid. He will also transport worshippers to safety when called upon, heal or ressurect them or identify their items. For more devoted petitioners, he may purify the body, clear the mind or even remove fatigue. However, Aiswin cannot offer any aid to followers when they are in areas of bright light. Aiswin does not take converts lightly, however, and it takes a great deal of effort on a petitioner's part to bring him to accept a new worshipper. He does not casually aid lay worshippers, but will ressurect even a comparatively unskilled loyalist.
  His more permanent blessings include an affinity for hiding in shadows, magic to conjure darkness or command the shadows, a preternatural insight into weaknesses and a silvered tongue.

ASHERATH {AS}
God of War, Scholarship, Time and History
  Knowledge, Planning, Strength, Time, Trickery, War. The Long Sword. Weapons of Accuracy.
  Asherath is a distant, callous diety, but many rulers claim to find wisdom in his words. His faith is ironically two-sided, for he is the divine protector and patron of both scholars and warriors. His actual clergy are not many in number, for his faith demands not only a strong will but strength of spirit. Still, all sages, generals, historians and knowledge seekers all propitiate him at one time or another. Civilizations rise and fall, he teaches; war is ultimately meaningless, and time rights all wrongs. Might does not make right, but a righteous cause demands might to serve it, for only war can truly change the world. A wise warrior is the supreme force because he understands history and has the force of arms to craft what comes ahead to his will. Only a being with the personal strength to shape the future though violence can be fulfilled; only one with the wisdom to discern where war can be used to truly meaningful effect is worthy of leading armies. Asherath advocates fighting to protect and provide for the worthy (those of strong spirit, even if they are physically weak), to increase personal power and to leave a mark on history. He also demands that his followers fight to defend all practical knowledge, and promote its accessability to the common man. To Asherath, the only knowledge that has real value is that which has utility; he has no patience for the abstract studies, prefering applicable wisdom and hard numbers.
  Asherath's clergy are an unusual lot. While thugs, bullies and murderers may pay homage to him, those who he sees fit to grant his blessings are neither sadistic nor compassionate, but simply scarred, resolute and unfeeling. Asherath's ethos demands a certain callousness, a complete acceptance of the inherant brutality of life; his clergy tend to be bitter and more than a little nihilistic. They are among the strongest supporters of Empire, valuing the impact it has on history, but also show respect for and sometimes even aid resistance movements in distant provinces out of admiration for their fortitude. Their services consist of battlefield blessings and recitations of ancient military sagas; while not scholarly per se, they are also incredible historians of both general and military history. Priests of Asherath tend to be older on average than other priests; the bitter experience and resolute callousness of the elderly veteran suit him far more than youthful exuberance and idealism. Many orcs are turning away from Khasrach in order to worship the more studied, tactical Asherath -- especially those who see themselves as a grand general in their own eyes.
  Asherath is the son of Abbadon and Erich. It is said he wrested the portfolio of time from Abbadon in a visceral, bloody duel at the edge of the Abyss; this fight also cost him his right eye. Asherath is said to have moved from the Outlands to the Grey Wastes and conquered a territory therein because he hated the moral indecision of the typical Outlander and favoured a harsher homeland. The other dieites often fear Asherath; he has a reputation for never losing, largely due to his proclivity for securing the outcome of any battle in his favor before he even enters it. Honor is something Asherites view as just delightful -- at least, as long as it is   something the enemy possesses that allows them to be easily manipulated. This outlook has led the churches of Asherath and Erich into a centuries-old tradition of military conflict.
  Asherath is True Neutral in alignment, but places no alignment restriction on his priests or followers. His holy symbol is an iron gauntlet clasping the planet of Therya, with an open book behind it, and his chosen weapon is the long sword. He offers his priests the Domains of Knowledge, Planning, Strength, Time, Trickery and War.
  Worship: Asherath is a pragmatic god who has little use for sacrifices. Worshippers gain favor with him when they triumph over their betters in combat, and as they improve their own inherant abilities (in the manner at which humans specifically excel). He is a lenient god, but obvious stupidity draws anger from him (for example, the use of unidentified items that turn out to be cursed). Followers of Asherath are sworn never to destroy knowledge, and a follower of Asherath allowing books to be damaged also angers this god. Finally, his followers are sworn to end every single day more experienced than they were when they awoke, and idleness in this regard offends Asherath. Since he does not desire sacrifices, his anger can be difficult to ease, but it does fade as a character's skill in their chosen calling increases.
  Blessings: Asherath does not normally intercede on behalf of his followers: he expects them to succeed on their own skill, and thus usually does not answer prayers for aid, nor will he ressurect the fallen. While he is easy for most competant adventurers to stay in favor with, he is much less willing to offer aid or intervention to his followers, given his distinctly Darwinist approach to life. However, for very loyal followers he has been known to smite enemies, heal wounds or purify the body; asking these favors of him costs a follower greatly, however. He is very distant from lay worshippers.
  He does not grant supernatural powers as permanent blessings as the other gods do; however, his theology places followers on a relentless path of self- testing and disciplined improvement, that allows them to gain certain subtle mundane benefits as favor with him rises. This philosophy allows a follower to develop an insight toward causing damage, increased strength and intellect, skill at finding others' weaknesses and greater proficiency with the magical schools of Divination and Evocation.

EKLIAZEH {EK}
God of Stone and Strength
  Craft, Community, Earth, Law, Strength, Protection. The Warhammer. Lawful Weapons.
  Ekliazeh, the patron diety of the dwarves, is a resolute and stubborn being who has endured unchanging for millenia. Devoted to preserving the dwarven race and heritage, Ekliazeh is often seen as a harsh and unfeeling god. Defensive to the point of being xenophobic, the dogma of Ekliazeh demands that the dwarven people endure whatever hardships the world throws at them -- Ekliazeh is a firm believer in growth through ordeal. Ekliazeh is prayed to by members of all the goodly races who want strength and endurance (mental or physical) in a coming trial, but his favor is won only by those who have lived truly in accord with the ways of their people and honored all who have come before them. Ekliazeh is not a bigoted god, and has shown his favor to humans, halflings, gnomes and even rare elves in the past, but the standards he holds people to are exacting and unforgiving.
  In dwarven mythology, it is Ekliazeh who hammers the soul of every newborn child from the primal energies of creation at his great forge beneath the earth, tempering it to endure whatever hardships the world will throw at it, and it is the chosen warriors of Ekliazeh who hold the line against the primordial forces of chaos that dwell deep below even the citadels of the dwarves, striving to tear their way up to the surface world. Unsurprisingly, clerics of Ekliazeh tend to have something of a martyr complex, and hold surface peoples in a degree of contempt -- they are fighting an ageless war against the darkness below so that the 'soft' surface folk could live in decadance, after all!
  Ekliazeh takes obligations to family very seriously -- a son is expected to obey his father in all things, and to follow the same career path as his father did before him; individuality is not a virtue that Ekliazeh rates highly. Ekliazeh is also highly patriarchal; while he has a very healthty respect for the physical and spiritual strength that women may possess, he does expect them to defer to men wherever there is not a good reason to do otherwise. Ekliazeh is prayed to by all who must delve beneath the earth, and miners, spelunkers and demihuman underdwellers all propitiate him, regardless of their patron diety. There is a distinct mystical branch to Ekliazeh's priesthood that focuses on mystical kinship to stone, dealing frequently with pech and learning to sing the great Earthsong. Clerics of this tradition tend to be more liberal then most Ekliazites, and many become geomancers at some point in their career.
  Ekliazeh's holy symbol is a tiny adamant anvil, and he offers his clerics the domains of Craft, Community, Earth, Law, Strength and Protection. His chosen weapon is the warhammer. Ekliazeh accepts the sacrifice of rare gemstones gladly, and also favors the blood of evil creatures of the deep Underdark -- both the monsterous aberrations and more recognizable races like drow, goblins and mind flayers. He is Lawful Neutral in alignment, and his priests may be of any non-Chaotic alignment.
  Worship: All dwarves have the option to worship Ekliazeh, even if they do not follow a normally religious path. Ekliazeh delights in the sacrifce of drow, goblinoids and giants -- the traditional enemies of the dwarven people -- but also accepts the sacrifce of any evil creatures (other than dwarves). He is angered when his followers commit unlawful acts or attack non-hostile creatures that are not traditional enemies of the dwarves. He is also gravely angered when a follower kills a dwarf or a member of their family, for any reason. Any character (other than goblinoids, elves, drow or lizardfolk) can worship Ekliazeh, but dwarves recieve the greatest favor in his eyes.
  Blessings: Ekliazeh will heal his followers, purify their bodies, cure blindness or maiming quite casually and lift curses or smite enemies with only a little more devotion. For more deeply favored followers, he can identify weapons, armor and shields. It requires a great deal of both personal accomplishment and favor with Ekliazeh for him to raise a fallen hero.
  His more permanent blessings bring a follower closer to the earth: increased health and endurance, skill with craftwork and even a kind of natural resistance to harm wrought by hardening of the skin.

ERICH {ER}
God of Chivalry, Honor and Social Hierarchy
  Domination, Guardian, Law, Nobility, Protection, War. The Light Lance. Adamant Items.
  Erich is a deceptively honest diety, for though he stands proudly amidst the ranks of the Pantheon of Light, he is at his core as evil as any horror spawned by the Sorcery Wars. Erich's most commonly preached teachings include moral rigor and honesty in war -- he is the patron of knights, and demands support of one's nation unto death, absolute obedience to one's liege, the defense of the innocent from creatures of darkness and the exposure of any and all hidden sins to the light of day. Yet, his theology also demands unquestioning obedience to authority, the willingness to commit the blackest acts in service to a higher power and the advancement of nobility, militarism and commerce at the expense of the common man -- essentially, Erich is the god of fascism.
  All men are not born equal in Erich's eyes -- one's social station is determined at birth, and attempting to question that order is among the greatest crime one can commit. Peasants exist to perform manual labour and die on the fields of war, and any attempt to transcend that station must be punished with a painful death. For a priest of Erich to even speak to a commoner, let alone support them, is viewed by the church as a sin. Erich's theology calls the Good-Evil alignment axis the 'peasant morals', and is based almost entirely upon the Law-Chaos axis. A disturbing number of paladins revere Erich, at least until their theology comes into conflict with their alignment requirement and they must choose between Erich and Good.
  Erich's holy symbol is a stylized iron scepter. He is Lawful Evil, though neither he nor his priests fully comprehend this fact. His clerics may be of any Lawful alignment -- many are Good, emphasizing the honesty, chivalry and nobility aspects of his portfolio. His weapon of choice is the light lance, and his Domains are Domination, Guardian, Law, Nobility, Protection and War. He appreuciates the offerings of the bodies of ignoble enemies (chaotic thinking beings or unnatural beasts) slain in fair combat. Followers of Erich can always claim the right of hospitality, sleeping in a castle or lordly manor, resting the night without cost. Erich is a demanding and inflexible god, but has been known to reward his most honorable followers lavishly, even lending out powerful magical weapons and armor.
  Worship: Erich accepts the sacrifice of dragons, beasts, chaotic demihumans and evil outsiders (which must be live-sacrified, since they do not leave corpses). He is gravely offended by the sacrifice of goblinoids, since he considers them to be vermin; their extermination is a chore, not an accomplishment worthy of chivalrous accord. Cowing enemies earns favor with him, however; he considers it part of the enforcement of the natural order of the world.
  He places a very strict code of conduct upon his followers: they must not be craven (by being afraid, or by skulking in the shadows), nor may they use poison, utilize base trickery such as distractions or fast-talking or surrender -- especially not to base creatures. They may not enlist the aid of non-demihumans, especially not goblinoids, chaotics or evil outsiders, nor may they attempt to resolve their differences peacefully with such creatures. Finally, unlawful acts in general offend Erich, and his followers must always follow the code of chivalry, even when unmounted and unarmored.
  Goblinoids are not considered people in Erich's theology, and thus certain strictures are lifted when fighting them: they may be attacked while fleeing, poisoned or defeated with base trickery. In Erich's cosmology, the ideals of chivalry and law apply only to humans, demihumans and similarly refined creatures. Note that Erich's worldview does not influence a worshipper's objective alignment, only their standing with Erich.
  Blessings: Erich will heal, ease hunger or smite enemies for any follower. More loyal servants find that he will (in order of increasing favor) purify the body, remove fatigue, identify weapons, armor and shields, lift curses, replace lost spellbooks, replenish mana and even raise the dead.
  Erich's more permanent blessings include courage and protection from treacherous attacks, skill at horsemanship, landkeeping and cowing the peasantry, the ability to conjure a phantom steed and a fearsome warcry.

ESSIAH {ES}
Goddess of Life, Journeys, Joy and Erotic Love
  Beauty, Good, Liberation, Luck, Passion, Travel. The Scourge. Warning Weapons.
  Portrayed as a jovial and nurturing (albiet carnally-minded and crass-mouthed) older woman, Essiah is the goddess who governs all the parts of life which are most worth treasuring. Existance is too short and too valuable, she teaches, to squander it upon banalities like status games, provincial tunnel-vision or complacent obedience. She favors those who choose to take risks in pursuit of a dream or desire, as long as those risks aren't foolhardy enough to show a lack of respect for life. She is the patron goddess of gnomes (along with Xavias) and adventurers -- especially those who choose to adventure simply for the joy of seeing wonderous things rather then more mercenary souls. Her clerics are free spirits that cannot be tied down to any one locale, seeing a new adventure on every horizon and having a man (or woman) waiting in every port.
  Essiah is Mara's older sister, and her counterpoint in all things. The two goddesses, extreme extrovert and extreme introvert, have very different viewpoints on love, and on what is valuable in life, but support each other loyally none the less. Essiah is also a staunch ally of Semirath, and frequently defends him against the harsh accusations of Erich in Immotian's grand celestial palace. Maeve favors Essiah, but Essiah does not return that friendship -- Essiah's brood take responsibility for their actions, while Maeve's could care less. Her priesthood has no formal temples or ranks, gathering together in the wilderness on nights of a full moon for wild baccanals where stories of exotic lands are shared and priests drive themselves into an ecstatic state in the hopes of recieving a vision from their goddess.
  Essiah asks that her clerics constantly seek out new experiences, always yearning for the land that can be seen on the horizon. The greatest sin in Essiah's theology is the betrayal of a true friend, and the greatest virtue is embracing (and, equally importantly, understanding) one's own passions. Essiah does not deny the darker passions like hate, grief, hurt or anger, nor does she sugar-coat them. She encourages her followers to embrace their feelings, dark or light, and to act on and through them (within the bounds of moral conduct), provided that the darker passions are never allowed to overwhelm or extinguish joy or delight. Sometimes even the nicest people have to do something ugly, after all.
  Essiah's holy symbol is a tiny statue of two humanoid figures (of any combination of genders) intertwined in an erotic embrace. Her chosen weapon is the scourge -- her clerics do not do violence lightly, but when they do they aim to hurt! She grants access to the domains of Beauty, Good, Liberation, Luck, Passion and Travel. She is Chaotic Good, and accepts followers of any Good alignment.
  Worship: Essiah accepts as sacrifices anything evil that is killed in accordance with the strictures of a Good alignment, though she especially glories in the offering of the bodies of creatures who degrade sexuality or represent sexual predation, such as vampires, succubi and incubi, evil nymphs or satyrs and so forth. She is pleased when her followers engage in activities that push them to their personal limits and leave them hot and sweaty, even in the unusual case where they don't take place in the bedroom. She is also pleased by exploration and discovery; the very act of traversing a lost city or ancient ruins pleases her. (Characters can monitor what percent of an area they've explored by checking their Journal). Finally, simple acts of goodness also please Essiah, as does resolving conflicts without violence.
  Essiah is angered by evil acts, especially attacking non-hostile creatures. She also dislikes her followers remaining in one place for too long -- in game terms, her favor can be lost if a character levels up more then twice in the same geographic area. (This clause is not implemented in Halls of the Goblin King, for obvious reasons.)
  Blessings: Essiah cheerfully aids her followers after only a nominal sacrifice, healing their wounds, purifying their bodies, lifting curses, transporting them to safety, easing hunger, removing fatigue, replenishing the spirit, curing blindness and permanent wounds and deflecting especially lethal blows. She will also ressurrect the rare follower who has served her ethos with exceptional devotion.
  Essiah grants her followers tutelage in alchemy and the physician's arts (that they might manufacture herbal contraceptives and abortifacients to gain control over their own bodies), and the ability to understand other people, making them better able to give and recieve consent and be empathetic lovers. She gifts more experienced followers with magically swift movement and freedom of action, preventing them from being restrained or paralyzed. (Since she has already given this gift as a racial blessing to the gnomish race, gnomes recieve bonus feats instead.) She is also known to grant beauty, wisdom and influence over dreams.

HESANI {HE}
God of Light, Balance and Cycles
  Fate, Healing, Magic, Succor, Sun, Weather. Positive Energy.
  Everything, Hesani argues, is a cycle. Life, magic, seasons, sunrise and sunset -- all must have balance. Hesani is a compassionate god, perhaps the one diety most truly empathic to the sufferings of mortal beings. He seeks to preserve life at all costs, though undead are anathema to him. Hesani's power waxes an sunrise and sunset, when the cycle of the day comes to its natural zeniths. Clerics of Hesani often preside over childbirth, seeing it as the ultimate expression of the cyclic nature of human life.
  Hesani was the patron of midwives in the years past, but his relation with the Midwives Guild and their politics has soured in recent years. He protects and provides for any who seek to preserve life, whether physician or midwife, though his clerics do not discuss this policy overly vocally. Hesani has a close relationship with Mara, and teaches his clergy that death is a necessary element of life -- to simply be accepted rather then feared or sought out. Her practice of creating undead is highly distasteful to the god of life, however. Hesani's pacifistic morals, combined with his clerics' vocal opposition to the use of mindless undead in industry and civic maintenance, tends to cause his church to be seen as a fringe faith with ideals far out of touch with reality.
  Hesani's holy symbol is a topaz carved with the image of a moebius strip. He has no chosen weapon, but offers his priests the Domains of Fate, Healing, Magic, Succor, Sun and Weather. Hesani is Neutral Good in alignment, and accepts clerics of any Good alignment.
  Worship: Hesani does not accept the sacrifice of any living things, but treasures offerings of gold based on their symbolic similarity to the sun. Unlike most gods, repeated sacrifices of gold increasingly please Hesani. He is also pleased when his followers destroy undead (in a manner not contradicting a good alignment) or peacefully resolve conflicts with other living things.
  Hesani expects his followers to move in harmony with the natural flows of the world rather than fighting against them in dissonance. Violence against any living things increases this dissonance so Hesani's worshippers are very reluctant to engage in it. Certain kinds of magic are more harmonious than others as well. Divination, Abjuration and Theurgy are naturally balanced arts and do not create disharmony. Enchantment, Thaumaturgy and Arcana are reasonably easy to perform in a manner harmonious with the interconnectedness of all things, assuming that the practicioner has taken time to gain knowledge of the natural world and its balances. Evocation, Weavecraft and Illusion are more difficult to perform in a balanced manner, but a very knowledgable mage can use them safely. Necromancy and spells with the Force descriptor, however, will always increase disharmony.
  Hesani does not become angry over the creation of minor disharmony; a worshipper will feel increasing tension around him as he slips out of balance with the world, until finally the situation becomes serious enough that Hesani is angered. Growing tension dissipates as the follower spends days contemplating his place in the world and realigning himself with the harmonious flow of vital energies.
  Hesani also expects his followers not to be reckless by moving forward to quickly and challenging tasks beyond their level of skill. Patience and knowledge of limitations is highly valued by Hesani's clergy.
  Though some very careful warriors can find favor with Hesani, he would never patronize those whose lives are ruled by rage and barbarity. Blind anger offends Hesani greatly.
  Blessings: Hesani is quick to intervene on any petitioner's behalf, and will heal the injured, purify the body, carry followers away from harm, amelorate hunger, deflect especially deadly blows, clear the mind and replenish mana for any follower. After relatively minor sacrifices in his name, he will also remove curses, restore spent fatigue and cure blindness or permanent wounds, and slightly later replace lost spellbooks as well. His veteran followers can expect him to replenish the spirit and even ressurect them should they die. Hesani gives aid very casually in contrast with other gods; asking aid costs a petitioner comparatively very little favor. Being raised from the dead is far more costly, however, given the extent to which it disrupts the natural cycle.
  Loyal followers of Hesani find that their lifestyle of natural harmony greatly increases the volume of mystical energy they can channel through their bodies. All Hesani worshippers also are exposed to his teachings concerning nature, interacting peacefully with other poeple, meditation and healing living things. Moving in harmony with the world also leads to the world upraising you in kind, and those who follow Hesani's path well find benefit from many lucky coincidences and general good fortune. More experienced followers defend themselves through intuition, study alchemy and magical devices, learn spells to end conflict without violence and find themselves in increasing harmony with the natural world.

IMMOTIAN {IM}
God of Purity and Community Cleanliness
  Community, Fire, Knowledge, Law, Protection, Succor. The Heavy Mace. Flaming Weapons.
  An austere and distant deity, Immotian is the head of the Kinlands pantheon, and his (or, on alternating occasions, her) worship has grown beyond a simple priesthood to become an integral part of the existance of every Kinlander. All good peoples must pay homage to the immaculate purity and correctness of Immotian -- to do otherwise is heresy, and Immotian's church has enough political power to force even the clergy of other gods to toe the line, at least on the surface. Demanding and judgemental, the core theology of Immotian's worship is a set of rigorous codes governing hygene, dietary restrictions, sexual practices and agricultural standards. Immotian's theology places him above all other gods not only in terms of power, but in the sense of being a qualitatively different being -- most gods are fallible servants of true divinity, but Immotian itself is perfect, having been generated by the union of fire and light, never having been tainted by the touch of matter (or, metaphorically, worldly desires of any kind).
  Immotian has no humanoid form, and his church is strictly aniconic, viewing any attempt to anthropomorphize their diety as blasphemy. He is metaphorically represented by the consuming power of flame, and fire plays a central part in his worship, from the vast bonfire that burns eternally at the heart of every one of his temples to the red-hot irons his clergy use to burn impurities bothh from themselves and from any sinners they can convince to undergo this 'purification'. More then anything, Immotian hates Maeve, who represents deviance from the Law, selfish desires and chaos. While the church officially condemns such acts, individual clerics of Immotian have been known to commit hate crimes against elves, and to openly advocate the genocide of all the darkling races (drow, orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc). Clerics of Immotian adventure in the hopes of scouring (whatever they percieve as) evil from the planet utterly and relentlessly.
  The church of Immotian is centered around the ideal of community, and attempts to involve everyone nearby in its services and rituals. The strength (and homogenity) of a community is very important to Immotian, and his clerics are always expected to think in terms of doing what is best for the group, rather then the individual. Filial piety is very important to Immotites; the purpose of a child is to serve the agenda of his parents to the best of his ability, without quention. It is the duty of every member of the community to excise any impure elements from the body of the community as a whole, before they can lead the whole group into sin. The most famous aspect of this is the church's continual attempt to force cities to bring about a prohibition on mead and ales.
  Immotian's holy symbol is a ruby (or red glass globe, for peasants) encased in a thick band of cold-wrought iron. Immotian is (barely) Lawful Neutral, though his church frequently veers to the darker side of the alignment scale in its politics. His chosen weapon is the heavy mace, and his Domains are Community, Fire, Knowledge, Law, Protection and Succor.
  Worship: As a being of perfect purity, Immotian does not accept the sacrifice of living things on his altars. Instead, he encourages his clerics to sacrifice arcane spellbooks, wands, staves and other instruments of sorcery or profane magic. He is also pleased when his followers destroy undead, fiends and aberrations, though even these are not to be given as sacrifices. His clerics must adhere to a very strict code -- they must remain chaste, free of diseases, never cast arcane spells, avoid gambling or drinking and preferably enforce these values on anyone else around them. Creatures with ties to elemental fire (other than dragons and fiends) are sacred to Immotian, and worshippers should also avoid destroying them under any circumstances. Finally, disease is deeply anathema to Immotian, and his followers must never become diseased.
  Blessings: Immotian will purify the body of anyone who prays to him, provided they haven't angered him by violating his ethos. He will heal and cure blindness or permanent wounds for a casual follower, and replenish the spirit or restore fatigue for a mire loyal one. True devotees can expect him to, in order, lift curses, raise them should they die, protect them from deadly blows and smite their enemies.
  Immotian grants a loyal follower kinship to flame, allowing them to resist injury from it and wield flame magic more skillfully. Devoted worshippers also gain healing powers, allowing them to heal wounds as paladins do, as well as curing disease and poison. Curing the disease of a neutral creatures pleases Immotian, though using magic or weapons which cause disease conversely angers him greatly.

KHASRACH {KH}
Goddess of the Blood
  Destruction, Hatred, Mysticism, Strength, Pain, War. The Longspear. Weapons of Terror.
  Patron of the orcs and goblinoids, most civilized people view Khasrach as a scourge upon the land -- a bloodthirsty barbarian bitch who seeks only the downfall of the demihuman races. There is some truth to this -- Khasrach is a harsh diety who demands constant sacrifice in her name, but she is also nurturing and supportive to those who are strong enough to be worthy, regardless of their race or creed. At her basest, Khasrach is the patron diety of anyone who is willing to bleed for what they believe in. She demands that her followers never surrender their independance or their dignity, even upon pain of death. (Of course, what humans call dignity can be very different from the similar concept for orcs.) Her rites of worship are primitive and ecstatic, featuring frenzied blood-letting, wild tribal dances and even ritualistic combat. Khasrach demands that her followers 'stare down the world', shaping it to their desires through sheer force of will.
  There is a strong dichotomy between Khasrach as she once was, and Khasrach as she is now. Some goblinoid shamans believe Khasrach has become somehow debased, aspects of her godhead having been worn away and lost over time in reflection of the degeneration of her patron peoples. There is evidence that the ancient Khasrach had a more mystical side to her spirituality, an element of nature worship and a much greater emphasis on cycles, prophecy and personal transformation. In the modern world, however, Khasrach is falling into the thrall of Abbadon, being slowly consumed from within by blind hatred and fits of insanity. Some even fear (or hope) that the goddess of the orcs is slowly dying from a kind of metaphysical decay.
  Khasrach has an ancient and bloody emnity with Ekliazeh, the patron god of the dwarves, and their followers rarely miss a chance to make war upon each other. Essiah, however, has a guarded respect for Khasrach in her saner moments, and the two goddesses of primal passions share a kind of kinship. The rest of the Theryan pantheon just quietly wishes she would quit trying to tear down civilization and go finish dying in a corner somewhere.
  Khasrach's theology would purport that she tries to be Chaotic Neutral, but in the depths of her insanity her actions place her more in line with being Chaotic Evil. She accepts followers of any alignment. Her chosen weapon is the longspear, and her clerics gain access to the domains of Destruction, Hatred, Mysticism, Strength, Pain and War. Her holy symbol is an iron hoop wrapped with tanned leather, with a splatter of the follower's own blood in the center.
  Worship: Khasrach accepts the sacrifice of any being of equal or greater personal power than the worshipper. The only exception is her own people, goblinoids and especially orcs; such sacrifices infuriate her. She is also pleased when her clerics manage to intimidate their enemies, but highly displeased when they surrender or are overtaken with fear on the battlefield. Khasrach accepts that orcs and goblinoids war among themselves, so does not become angered when her followers kill the rank and file of such. However, she demands that priests loyal to her not kill non-hostile orcs who have attained an exceptional level of prowess, as a deferance to racial unity.
  Khasrach will not accept elves, dwarves or human mages as followers, since those groups have traditionally exploited her people. Humans who become mages after pledging to her are not rejected, however.
  Blessings: Khasrach is, in her own violent way, a maternal goddess, and will aid her people in several ways. Casual followers can expect her to heal them in combat or purify their bodies, while slightly more loyal followers can expect that she will smite their enemies, remove fatigue, ease hunger and deflect especially deadly blows. For a truly exceptional follower, she will (in order) replenish the spirit, remove curses and raise the follower should he die, though the latter carries great cost in favor.
  Khasrach's gifts increase a follower's strength of will, teach him to develop personal fearsomeness and give him a canny insight into other people. She teaches her petitioners to channel fearsome force into war-cries, gifts them with sacred strength and teaches them magic to vindictively curse (and later sense the presence of) enemies.
  Khasrach is known to metaphysically birth hordes of orcs, and often sends clutches to aid loyal followers in combat, or punish those who stray from her way. She also favors trial by ordeal when followers offend her, casting them into situations out of their depth.

KYSUL {KY}
The Watcher Beneath the Waves
  Fate, Good, Mysticism, Planning, Slime, Water. The Trident. Sleep Weapons.
  Unspeakably strange, Kysul is a god from a world long since forgotten, a truly timeless being. It has travelled the skies for millenia untold, and watched the whole universe it once knew be destroyed around it. Now, it is determined not to allow the same thing to happen to this new world that is has adopted as its own. Kysul is the progenitor of many aberration races such as the beholders, mind flayers and avolakia, and has abandoned each as they fell into the grasp of wickedness and destructive, selfish impulses. Kysul is also revered by (and intricately involved in the history of) the lizardmen, though he did not create them and the majority of their race worship nature in the abstract (as druids) rather then any one specific god. Immotian hates and fears Kysul, considering it a great impurity and blemish upon the perfection of the world.
  Kysul is nothing if not a long-term planner. Patient beyond human imagining, it has spent the last six milennia subtly nudging forward its eldritch master plan to save Therya from a metaphysical armageddon that most humans would not even percieve, let alone understand. Often, the actions and objectives of this plan are not comprehensible to Kysul's followers, let alone casual observers, but they are none the less necessary. The Watcher has access to a font of gnosis from its old world, a source of secret knowledge that, if conveyed directly, will shatter the mind of any human-like being. Indeed, Kysul's mere presence, and the rituals and ceremonies of its clergy, have been known to cause madness in the uninitiated. For this reason, its clerics form tiny, secretive cults, dwelling in the shadows outside of mundane sight, in order to recieve Kysul's revelations at whatever rate their minds can withstand the strain. There is an extremely strict ethical code among followers of Kysul concerning exposing mundanes to the many things its followers deal with that could damage minds.
  Kysul itself appears as a vast, tentacled horror with many eyes, vaguely resembling a cephalopod. It dwells, as its moniker suggests, deep beneath the sea somewhere on the prime material plane; Kysul has no ties to the Outer Planes or any other aspects of the human afterlife. He is stringently hostile to demons and devils, and his relations with celestials, surprisingly, are not that much better. The reason for its extreme mistrust of the Higher Planes is unknown. Sailors and seamen often use scraps of old chants and arcane gestures to propitiate Kysul, in the hopes of recieving smooth weather for a journey. When it percieves these, it obliges as best it can, but Kysul is a very alien, primordial being, and any interaction it has with humanity is severely limited by the radical differences in perspective.
  Kysul is Lawful Good, and accepts worshippers of any non-evil alignment. Many evil creatures, especially aberrations, still practice ancient rituals and sacrifices in Kysul's name, harkening back to the ancient history of their race, even though Kysul no longer responds to such entreaties. It offers to its clerics the domains of Fate, Good, Mysticism, Planning, Slime and Water. Its holy symbol is a wide, lidless eye surronded by a corona of tentacles, and its chosen weapon is the trident. It frequently grants its chosen followers access to a wide variety of ancient artifacts long forgotten by history.
  Worship: Kysul accepts any evil creature as a sacrifice, but is most moved by the offering of evil aberrations and any hostile outsiders as sacrifices. The latter do not leave corpses, and thus must be live-sacrificed. The sacrifice of non-evil aberrations offends Kysul greatly. Damaging the sanity (mental attributes) of sapient creatures that are not evil angers Kysul, as does any evil act. Killing evil aberrations pleases Kysul; killing non-evil aberrations, hostile or otherwise, angers it.
  Blessings: Kysul will clear any follower's mind, and will heal, purify the body, lift curses, teleport to safety or cure blindness and permanent wounds for followers after a nominal show of loyalty. For more devout followers, it will replenish mana, replace lost spellbooks, identify items and even raise an especially loyal follower from the dead. Kysul penalizes intervention very strongly, however, because it weakens the fabrics of reality when it reaches directly into the prime material plane to help a worshipper.
  Kysul grants many gifts to a loyal cultist. First, students are taught to discipline their mind, the better to withstand contact with such an alien god. Shortly after, they learn about the nature of magic, the planes of existance and many long-dead languages of arcane power. Their bodies transform into something ever so slightly inhuman, granting them the ability to breathe water. They also gain a preternatural awareness, allowing them to avoid blows through uncanny intuition. A truly devout follower of Kysul might gain the ability to melt space and time, unearthy senses and command over dreams and aberrations.

MAEVE {MA}
Queen of the Faeries
  Beauty, Chaos, Domination, Magic, Moon, Nobility. The Short Bow. Chaotic Bows.
  Maeve, beautiful and terrible, holds dominion over all the realms of faerie. Her portfolio encompasses dreams, magic, awe, beauty, creativity, elvenkind... and utter, amoral chaos. She is the patron diety of all elves, and though most sincerely wish she wasn't, very few elves willingly pray to another diety for fear of evoking her wrath. Her aegis rests over the hearts and souls of the elven people like a shadow; a silent, private burden that all elves must bear in silence. The elven courts do not discuss their fealty to Maeve in modern society, and no formal records exist of the things done to pacify Maeve. Yet a few human souls dwell in insane asylums across Therya, screaming of how they were seduced by elves and stolen away to a realm where years pass in a day, taken as the playthings of the Shining Lady...
  Maeve is not a true power, or at least not a true member of Therya's divine pantheon. Older than the world itself, she dwells on the fringes of the plane of Pandemonium, in a perfectly sculpted domain of bright colors, beautiful flowers, cheerful music and inhuman grandeur. To mortals, her motives are inscrutable and her hungers insatiable, and she might as well be a real god for all that it matters. Her temples are always richly decorated, elegantly beautiful and utterly deserted, for no one wishes to draw her eyes onto them. Her clerics are elves chosen against their will by the high elven council and groomed for this station, along with the rare members of other races -- artists, playwrights, dreamers and musicians -- who are for whatever reason willing to make a quite literal Devil's Deal and surrender their soul and their sanity in exchange for an inhuman, mind-searing muse, a channel of pure dreams and creativity quite unlike anything else a mortal could ever know.
  Maeve's symbol is a stylized rose. Her alignment is Chaotic Evil, with the evil aspect representing not so much true malevolance as an utter disregard for anything other then her own desires. Her Domains are Beauty, Chaos, Magic, Moon, Nobility and Trickery, and her chosen weapon is the short bow. Her clerics must be Chaotic and cannot be Good.
  Worship: Maeve appreuciates the sacrifice of art, gemstones, jewelry and cloaks, finely crafted adornments and anything else that is beautiful, especially if the sacrifice is still screaming as it is being given (i.e., the charismatic creature is killed while standing directly on top of Maeve's altar). Drow are also especially pleasing to her as sacrifices, since they have turned their backs on her patronage. She is pleased when her children kill drow, displeased if the make peace with them or surrender to them, and gravely displeased if they try to enlist their aid. She is also angered by her followers committing unchaotic acts.
  Blessings: For any follower, Maeve will replace lost spellbooks, replenish mana and use the Wyrdways to carry them to safety should they be in mortal danger. For the slightly more favored, she will remove fatigue, imbuing the subject with a kind of feverish creativity so much coveted by artists. For those more loyal still, she will identify items of beauty (cloaks, rings and amulets), as well as bows. For truly favored followers, she can replenish the spirit, and she has even been known to raise truly treasured playthings from the dead.
  More permanent blessings from Maeve imclude increased grace and beauty, talent as a performer, magic being more difficult to resist, friendship from the Fair Folk and inherant magic for sowing discord, conjuring beautiful (but destructive) music and similat abilities. Some of her most treasured followers are said to be able to use any magic items regardless of restrictions, just as rogues do.
  Maeve is mercurial and wild, however, and when she intervenes in a follower's life, the result may be either lavish blessings or terrible fury, regardless of how much of her favor a worshipper possesses or whether she is offended -- though of course negative interventions are more likely when she is angry, and positive ones when she is pleased.

MARA
Goddess of Death, Stillness and Romantic Love
  Beauty, Death, Good, Healing, Night, Succor. The Scythe. Keen Weapons.
  As the goddess of death and emotional closure, Mara is responsible for maintaining the Twilight Realm and ushering souls of the dead on to the afterlife. Mara teaches that life exists so that we may care about those around us, develop attachments, undertake quests and experience joy; ultimately, however, unending life has no meaning without death. Every goal must eventually be reached or failed, every relationship must come to an end and every life must pass on to make room for the new. It is cruical that one's goals and emotional affairs be resolved peaceably by the time of death; to die unfillfilled is a great tragedy. A compassionate soul will therefore help others accept their feelings, achieve their goals and go into the next cycle peacefully. It is not immoral acts that bind one's soul to the hells as much as bitterness and unfinished affairs. War and violence end many lives before they have the chance to fulfill themselves; therefore these things are great horrors and a good man will strive for the peace that allows people to reach spiritual and emotional resolution. To fear death is to expend energy against yourself, preventing closure; treasure life but understand that death is the natural peace and relaxation that is just reward - and it is a reward - for a life well lived.
  Along with death, Mara has been given dominion over romantic love. Her ethos aspects her to the rituals and ceremonies of romance more then the more carnal or familial aspects -- many epic paens have been written of comparitively chaste lovers making tremendous sacrifices in each other's names. Mara treasures all things of beauty, though as one might expect of a death-goddess her beauty is a pale and wan image of the world rather then the more vibrant tones on her sister Essiah. Clerics of Mara often nurse great, unrequited crushes on others that are never so much as vocalized; indeed, Mara teaches, unconsummated love can be the purest form, longing and loyalty untainted by the banalities of a real relationship. Unsurprisingly, critics accuse the faith of fetishizing the idea of love until it is out of touch with the real human condition -- often, clerics of Mara claim as their lover a figure who was dead centuries before they were born, or even an abstract ideal that does not exist in the corporeal world. Yet, the central point is that they accept perfect romance, just like immortality, as being unattainable, and are at peace with striving for the sake of striving.
  Mara's clerics are not all the black-shrouded mourners that stereotype paints them - they treasure life and enjoy revelry and gaity as much as anyone around them, despite their serene anticipation of their own end. They serve as diplomats, counsellors, confessors and advisors to nobles and commoners alike, striving to teach people the acceptance that will allow them to find closure by the time they die. Her clerics intentionally expose themselves and any others who are willing to the physical aspects of death - not to shock or disturb, but in the hopes that by acclimating others to death they will learn not to fear it and even to welcome it when its time has come. Because of this practice, many of her clergy earn wages as gravediggers, embalmers, plague healers and vivisectionists. Finally, clerics of Mara bring peaceful, painless death to those who have resolved all of their ties to life - in the case of good-aligned members of her clergy, this is always done with the subject's consent; with others, it depends on the priest in question.
  Mara is Lawful Good, and her clerics may be of any non-evil alignment. Her holy symbol is a tiny bag of dust worn around one's neck, drawn from the powdered bones on an ancestor; her chosen weapon is the scythe. She grants her clerics access to the Domains of Beauty, Death, Good, Healing, Night, and Succor.
  Worship: Mara would never stain her altars with the blood of creatures killed by her clergy, but if an adventuring follower should discover the corpse on an innocent creature killed in a desolate locale far from its home (such as a dungeon), this corpse might be offered on one of her altars so that she might give it a proper burial in her Celestial Graveyard and escort the soul on to its proper afterlife, as is Her metaphysical duty. Respecting the dead in this manner pleases Mara greatly.
  Mara is deeply offended by her clerics killing any friendly creatures; however, she is pleased when her clerics put to rest the tormented souls of inherantly evil undead (and gravely displeased if her clerics create such beings, though she has no objection to undead in general). Evil acts in general also offend Mara, while good acts grant favor with her. Leading incorporeal undead to peaceful rest pleases Mara; this can be achieved by slaying them in a graveyard area, or by using special Marite training and the Diplomacy skill to Quell them. She likes her followers to be able to understand the natures of other thinking beings, but does not want them to cause fear, either mundanely or with magic.
  Mara is a very exacting and unforgiving god -- she knows that the powers of death and necromancy can easily lead to tragedy, and as a result she sets an unwaveringly high moral standard for her followers to adhere to. Only the most responsible and ethical beings can be allowed to handle the powers of her domain!
  Blessings: Mara will heal any follower or transport them to safety, and will ressurect, grant mental clarity to or lift curses on the behalf of followers with even minimal favor. For more favored followers, she will remove fatigue and restore the spirit, or even purify the body. Of all the gods in Incursion, Mara is the freest in ressurecting her followers (followed by Aiswin), as her entire ethos revolves around the opportunity to resolve issues left unresolved at one's time of death.
  Her more permanent blessings include resistance to fear, the ability to understand other thinking creatures, resistance to necromantic and death magics, increased potency when using necromancy effects and the ability to calm others' feelings and animate the dead. Her greatest champions are said to be able to befriend the dead, and to call upon the aid of powerful, intelligent undead called Mourners.

SABINE {SA}
God of Storms, Athletics, Prophecy and Transformations
  Air, Chaos, Destruction, Luck, Time, Weather. The Javelin. Returning Weapons.
  Furious, capricious and destructive, Sabine blows away the old in order to make room for the new. Representing renewal and regeneration, Sabine's clerics tear apart their own lives and those of others in order to reinvent themselves continually. Sabine appreciates upheaval, revolution and schisms, but also grants those with foresight the luck they need to survive in such chaotic times. He is a capricious god, but unlike Maeve he at least has compassion for those souls his acts destroy. Still, Sabine's fury cannot be restrained or limited, only guided and channelled. Sabine is much hated by his younger brother Immotian, who never could control him, and the official doctrine of Immotian's church is that Sabine is a dangerous terrorist and his clergy should be purged whenever they are discovered. However noble their reasons might be, there is more truth in this then most Stormbringers would care to admit.
  Sabine appears as an effeminate young man of pale skin, dark hair and great beauty, and he carries with him a crook that gives him absolute authority over the weather on Therya, both good and bad. His priests call themselves Stormbringers, and are most frequently either sailors or athletes of some kind. Sabine will grant visions of the future to those who are willing, but recieving these revelations from him requires great ordeal and physical exertion, driving one's body to its limits in order to induce a fugue state. In Theryan mythology, Sabine plays the role of Cassandra: he is predestined to destroy the world at the end of time, so that a new one may be born, but no one will heed his warnings of the end times until it is too late and his grimmest duty is upon him.
  Sabine's holy symbol is a forking bolt of lightning, representing choice and the metaphorical 'road not taken'. He is Chaotic Neutral, and his clerics may be of any alignment. His chosen weapon is the javelin, and his priests may choose from the domains of Air, Chaos, Destruction, Luck, Time and Weather.
  Worship: Sabine appreuciates the sacrifice of creatures killed in a state of shock (i.e., when flat-footed), creatures killed by lightning, previously uninjured creatures killed with a single attack and creatures killed by a worshipper when the worshipper is in an altered state of consciousness (such as berserk rage, confusion or a trance). The more of these factors can be met in a single kill, the more pleasing the kill is to Sabine. He is pleased when his followers develop and use their athletic abilities -- running, jumping, climbing, swimming and tumbling -- and when they perform challenging feats of metamagic to increase the raw power output of their magic in times when they are in genuine danger.
  Sabine expects his followers to be risk-takers, and is angered when they act overly cautiously. He is also angered when they perform unchaotic acts or rely on aid from allies -- followers of Sabine are expected to be independant and solitary.
  Blessings: For a follower who has gained a minimal degree of favor, Sabine will strike at enemies with lightning, remove fatigue, replenish the spirit, clear the mind and offer ressurection in case of death -- if the follower is sufficiently skilled, Sabine will raise her with even minimal favor. For more favored worshippers, Sabine will (in order of increasing favor) remove curses, refill mana and purify the body.
  Sabine's more permanent blessings include athletic aptitude, the ability to use wands -- the most elementally destructive of magical devices -- more effectively, the ability to see clearly though fog and for the more experienced follower, the ability to change one's own shape. Sabine's most famous granted power, however, is the ability to throw bolts of lightning, which increase in power as the follower increases in favor with the god. The most treasured followers of Sabine find that if they push themselves to their limits, they can exceed what they would have previously thought possible.

SEMIRATH {SE}
God of Justice, Laughter and Freedom
  Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, Retribution, Trickery. The Chakram. Weapons of Distance.
  Much maligned by the more solemn dieties, Semirath is the patron deity of jesters, guards and anyone who appreuciates the joyful absurdity of life. He entreats his followers to protect the individual rights and freedoms of thinking creatures of every sort, irregardless of race, social station or outlook. Semirath is an incorrigable trickster, but his games always target those who have done something deserving, whether they take the form of gentle chastisement or brutal guerilla warfare. Beneath his casual demeanor, Semirath harbors a deep devotion to equal justice, and a desire to punish those who have wrongfully taken joy or freedom from others. His clergy work tirelessly to bring down corrupt autocracies, punish domination and liberate the oppressed, and their schismatic touch has collapsed more than one evil empire.
  Optimism is a central virtue to the clergy of Semirath -- his notion of freedom emcompasses not only the removal of external restrictions, but freedom from the limits that despair, pragmatism and cynicism place upon a soul. A very few paladins serve Semirath, though many find it difficult to reconcile the paladin's devotion to law with a god to whom dirty tricks are just a way of life.
  Semirath's holy symbol is a crystalline chakram, and that is also his chosen weapon. He offers his clerics the powers and spells from the Domains of Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, Retribution and Trickery. He is Chaotic Good, though he cheerfully accepts clerics of any Good alignment.
  Worship: Semirath will accept any evil creature as a sacrifice, though he especially appreuciates the sacrifice of creatures who embody tyrrany (such as illithids or beholders and their creations) as well as common bandits, outlaws and brigands that lurk in the shadows in cities, bringing fear to honest folk. He also accepts the sacrifice of magical items used to mentally enslave or control others.
  Semirath is a tolerant and forgiving god, but can be angered if his followers commit evil acts repeatedly. He is also gravely angered if his followers kill a good member of a normally evil species, seeing this as essentially a hate crime. Killing any non-evil sapient creature is also to be avoided, though less serious -- Semirath prefers his followers to trick and finangle rather than slay when not dealing with evil. Outsiders (including elementals) are exempt from this restriction, because they can be exceptionally alien and difficult to communicate with, and do not truly 'die' when slain on the Prime Material Plane, instead returning to their natural homes.
  Semirath approves of risk-takers and dislikes caution in the same sense that Sabine does.
  It's said that a silver tongue and skill as an entertainer amplify favor with Semirath; in a more general sense, competance and skillfully larcenous solutions to problems please him.
  Blessings: Semirath is more willing to come to the aid of his followers more frequently than most gods. He will heal, purify the body, teleport to safety, ease hunger or fatigue or replace spellbooks for followers with only minimal favor. For those who have followed him longer and done more in his name, he will cure blindness and permanent wounds, lift curses and grant incredible luck and grace in combat. He has also been known to ressurect those that have served him more loyally still.
  His permanent blessings include the ability to develop certain larcenous skills, inherant magic suited to trickery and pranks and augmented agility and intellect.

THE MULTITUDE {TH}
Gods of Darkness, Blood, Cruelty, Power, Atrocity, Murder, etc.
  Evil, and 8 random Domains.
  The Multitude, also called the Demon Ghost Horde or the Thousand Voices, is not a single diety but a vast congregation of evil spirits once human -- incorporeal undead -- that have been imbued with the power to give out clerical magics by the demon Demogorgon, and have since swelled their ranks to become a plague upon the world. Hardly true divine beings, a single demon ghost is well within the capability of powerful mortals to slay, and the adventurers of legend could have decimated their ranks just as a master warrior might tear through a swarm of goblins. Worse, their priests live up to all the worst stereotypes of demon worshippers -- slovenly social outcasts with selfish and petty vendettas, unhealthily obsessive tendances and emotional insecurities that make them easy prey for any experienced demon hunter.
  None of this matters.
  The Multitude is just that, and for all their lack of concrete superenatural power or the incompetance of their average servitors, their influence is constantly growing. There's just so damned many of them, dwelling in vast cities in the Negative Energy Plane and roaming the howling void beyond, and there's always stupid, selfish demihumans willing to take them up on their offers of power, wealth and petty vengeance. When a cultist of the Multitude dies, he becomes a demon ghost himself, bound to decieve and cow the living into worshipping him or wither away in starvation in the depths of the Negative Plane. The Multitude has worshippers in a suprising number of places, and if they had any degree of organization (or even sanity) in their ranks, they would easily be a political power on the level of the High Guilds.
  The holy symbols used by demon ghosts are twisted runes with a strange, alien shape to them; each ghost has a unique rune all to itself. The demon ghosts are utterly and inherantly Chaotic Evil, and unlike those true gods of Therya, they don't hide or whitewash that fact in any way. An aspiring cultist has better be ready to stomach what their worship entails. The demon ghosts to not have enough of an established priesthood to have chosen weapons. Most demon ghosts have only one altar, reward their followers with potent, blasphemous gifts and appreuciate the sacrifice of good, friendly creatures who are significantly weaker then the worshipper.
  Every demon ghost grants the Evil domain and two other domains. The two additional domains are chosen from a list of eight domains that are sacred to that demon ghost (and are, effectively, drawn at random from the complete list of domains).
  Worship: The spirits of the Multitude will accept as sacrifices the corpse of any creature killed specifically to be a sacrifice -- in other words, a creature that was once friendly -- or any good creature. However, what the most glory in is the sacrifice of incorporeal undead -- the specific demon ghost can tear apart and consume the essence of other spirits, thereby increasing its own power. This can be difficult to achieve, since incorporeal undead do not leave corpses. They can be sacrificed by being killed while standing directly on an altar, however.
  Good acts anger the Multitude, while evil acts please them. They expect their cultists to not use magical healing, since the same channeling of positive energy which heals living creatures injures the demon ghosts through the sympathetic link between worshipper and diety. Cultists may use magical healing on creatures other than themselves, and may benefit from psionic or natural healing, or vampiric effects such as vampiric touch or regenerative effects such as a ring of regeneration.
  Blessings: The demon ghosts offer several forms of aid to anyone who so much as pledges himself to them: healing, purifying the body and smiting enemies. More loyal followers can also gain the following types of aid, in order of increasing favor: replenishment of mana, replacement of lost spellbooks, deflection of especially lethal blows, identification of any items and even ressurection for a truly favored follower.
  The demon ghosts are truly diverse beings, no two alike. As such, the more permanent blessings they grant to followers are very diverse. These usually take the form of inherant magical abilities similar to spells, chosen randomly based on the areas a specific evil ghost has influence over. The more loyal the worshipper, however, the more powerful the granted abilities have the potential of becoming.

XAVIAS {XA}
God of Science and the Mysteries
  Craft, Fate, Knowledge, Magic, Mysticism, Planning. The Arbalest. Quick-Loading Bows.
  If Erich is Immotian's mailed right fist of enforcement, then Xavias serves as his open left hand of revelation. Embodying the holiness in things which are unknowable as well as humanity's quest to understand all that can be known, Xavias is the patron of scientists, rationalists, architects and mystics -- and he sees no contradiction in this. While Xavias is strictly loyal to Immotian, he's certainly more open-minded and liberal then his superior, viewing arcane magic as a natural part of the world, albiet one that must be handled cautiously and patiently to avoid corruption. Xavias is rumored to have been involved in the founding of the guilds, especially the stonecrafters' guild, but of course there are many secret and archaic legends surronding him, since his priesthood is essentially a large-scale mystery cult.
  Outsiders accuse clergy of Xavias of using high ritual and mysticism to cow the masses into accepting Immotian's power and authority, and perhaps there is some truth in this. But Xavias wants nothing more then for his followers to examine, scrutinize and face the world with eyes wide open. Ineffibility certainly does play a part in his teachings, but only in the sense that some secrets cannot be told, only experienced. Xavias' priesthood is wealthy and influential, connected to the guilds far more closely then Immotian's is, and being possessed of a much more politically adept mindset. There is much ceremony for the sake of ceremony within Xavias' ranks, with great importance placed upon titles, initiation rites and concealed mysteries.
  The holy symbol of Xavias is a pyramid overlaid with an eye-like glyph, and his chosen weapon is the arbalest. His Domains are Craft, Fate, Knowledge, Magic, Mysticism and Planning. Xavias is Neutral Good.
  Worship: Xavias accepts the sacrifice of any evil creatures, though what he truly delights in is the offering of blood from any creature who embodies destructive ignorance, such as trolls or ogres. He is also pleased when his followers perform alchemy or craftwork, evoke magical devices, translate old script or successfully gain insight into the true nature of other creatures. Xavias values knowledge very highly. He dislikes his priests destroying enchanted items or other works of great craft, such as art or masterwork weapons. He is also, predictably, angered when his children commit evil acts, though he is also tolerant of occasional mistakes.
  Xavias' church is an esoteric faith, and his worshippers must possess a certain minimum level of intellect and spiritual insight in order to be initiated into the higher mysteries. His priests sometimes try to altar their state of consciousness or enter an ecstatic trance to become closer to him.
  Blessings: Xavias is quite free with aid, being willing to intercede with reasonable frequency and not holding pleas against followers for long provided they continue to progress in their lives. He will ease hunger, clear the mind, replace spellbooks and remove fatigue from anyone who petitions him. For a casual follower, he will identify magical items; for a moderately devoted disciple, he will purify the body; for a devoted student of his path he will uncurse items, replenish mana or grant ressurection. He has been known to offer instantaneous transport away from danger for his followers; the more loyal the follower, the less severe the danger must be to warrant his aid.
  Xavias' more permanent blessings include the ability to develop skill with craftwork, language and magical artifice, an occult veil to conceal his followers' mysteries from magical perceptions, augmented intellect and perception and the ability to see clearly past obscurements literal as well as metaphorical. His most loyal followers are said to be able to craft magical arms and armor in much the same way dwarves do, and to have access to occult hideaways outside the bounds of normal reality.

XEL {XE}
God of the Harvest
  Community, Death, Evil, Pain, Plant, Trickery. The Sickle. Vampiric Weapons.
  Xel is an old, old thing that has been the patron diety of farmers and peasant families for as long as there have been farmers and peasant families. Predating the rest of the Theryan pantheon by about four millenia, Xel's formal holy scriptures are a compliation of folklore, elder rituals, wives' tales and even children's nursery rhymes whose history often equals that of the languages they were first written in. Much beloved by the peasantry, the clergy of Xel bring with them the tidings of good harvest, plentiful grain and merry celebration. While the majority of priests have a distinct bias toward nobility -- that's where the majority of the affluence is to be had, after all -- Xel's priests have always been the champions of the everyman, the poor and the downtrodden. Even lepers recieve the favor of this diety -- indeed, Xel's followers have a very special place in their hearts for the diseased. Yet, in spite of all of this, there is a sinister meaning hidden within Xel's playful children's songs that does not escape the more educated scholar.
  Xel is hungry, slavering with an insatiable need for the life force of sentient beings. While most of Theyra's gods, good and evil alike, accept the offering of a foe's body who needed to be slain for reasons in accord with the god's ethos and alignment, that is a very different thing from randomly dragging innocent people to an altar to be slain for the purpose of human sacrifice alone. Yet, the lot of a peasant remains harsh, and few heros are willing to stand up for the lower classes. Xel has become so much a staple of hearth wisdom that most villages see no wrong in the favors its clergy ask, and in return its clerics take very seriously their roles as village defenders, protectors of the downtrodden and the political muscle of rural communities. The arrival of a travelling priest of 'the Old Goat in the Woods', as Xel is known, in a village is a cause for a festival and night of revelry not unlike Mardi Gras, and in truth everybody knows that the allegations of blood sacrifice are propaganda cooked up by manipulative nobles anyway -- at least, it's never been proven! Still, the fact remains that many villages have a crude basalt stone caked with blood in a shadowed valley a few miles outside their boundry, and so long as the blood flows the crops will not fail.
  Xel is nothing if not dependable, after all.
  Xel's alignment is Lawful Evil; its followers can be of any non-Good alignment. Its holy symbol is a sheaf of wheat, though the symbols that Xel is most known for are the ancient stone circles its clerics congregate at, and its chosen weapon is the sickle. Xel itself is a weary diety, sleeping peacefully through the millenia, and does not keep a careful eye on its priests, as long as the blood flows. The clergy as an organization, however, expects every priest to always honor two central precepts: always help a peasant or peasant community in need, and never reveal the darker practices of the sect to those who cannot be trusted. In return for this, Xel grants its priests access to the Domains of Community, Death, Evil, Plant, Pain and Trickery.
  Worship: In order to perform a proper sacrifice to Xel, a priest must kill a monster while that monster is standing directly over one of Xel's altars. While Xel is content with one sacrifice every new moon from its pedestrian rural followers, powerful adventurers who serve it must offer it fresh blood every night. Xel desires the blood of sapient creatures most of all, but will accept lesser beasts if need be. However, woe be to the worshipper who fails to offer Xel tribute for three nights, for at that point it will begin to consume the follower's life in place of thte tribute, until the lives of thinking, bleeding beings are offered in atonement. As long as the blood flows, however, Xel has absolutely no concern for anything else its followers do.
  Blessings: Xel will heal, ease hunger, restore mana, dispel fatigue and replenish the spirit for any follower that gives it tribute as tradition demands. Followers who have sacrificed creatures with more powerful life force find that Xel will replace lost spellbooks, transport them to safety in times of need and purify their bodies. Xel has even been known to raise those offering truly impressive sacrifices from the dead!
  Xel's cult offers rich supernatural rewards to those who sate the elder thing's thirst: the first lesson the cult teaches is social elegance and deception. Next the initiate is taught how to raise altars to Xel magically. More experienced cultists learn to paralyze their foes, drain their life energy to heal themselves and strike with deadly precision in combat. Those closest to Xel also find that the god's aegis prevents plants from harming them.

ZURVASH {ZU}
God of Animals and the Hunt
  Animal, Night, Domination, Passion, Pain, Strength. Vicious Weapons.
  Zurvash has been given dominion over all things that crawl upon the earth and fly through the skies -- and to him, man is just another animal, albiet a particulairly clever one. Zurvash's dogma denies the very existance of morality; his faith is one of indulgence, brutality and instinctive response. Zurvash is the patron diety of hunters, stalkers and evil rangers; his temples are located in distant wilderness areas secreted away from the public eye. His priesthood is charactized by license, but maintains a strict chain of dominance and submission, not unlike a wolf pack. The strong rule the weak until they no longer are able to assert dominance, at which time they are killed and devoured.
  Zurvash's faith resembles that of the Multitude in many ways, but it is better organized and more philosophically grounded -- while the followers of the Multitude cheerfully embrace the idea that they are 'evil', Zurvash's children see good and evil only as concepts created by Immotian to cheat people out of the things that are worth having in life. The clergy is very active in the slave trade, and often acts as bounty hunters for hire, given their skill in forestcraft and hunting. They are also responsible for breeding many dangerous and predatory creatures (such as bulettes, panthers or otyughs), most of which they breed and torture to increase their feral rage, then release upon the world for their own amusement or for sport hunting.
  Zurvash is revered by different names by many barbarian tribes, while others shun him. His touch has a socially destructive impact on a barbarian tribe, leading to increasingly bloodthirsty raids and acts of depravity on nearby communities, until the tribe is either destroyed or, at minimum, has alienated many of it's former allies. Priests of Zurvash don't care, being creatures that live in the present and rarely consider long-term consequences; all that matters to them is satiation of their most immediate desires. In this, they are acting exactly as Zurvash desires, becoming more and more like the savage beasts he believes all men to be.
  Zurvash's holy symbol is a trophy necklace made of bones and teeth taken from all of the follower's greatest kills. He is Chaotic Evil in alignment, and his followers can be Chaotic or Neutral Evil. He offers his clerics the Domains of Animal, Destruction, Domination, Pain, Passion and Strength, and is militant in his intervention on their behalf. His chosen weapon is a set of bolas, usually with razor-wire binding them together.
  Worship: Zurvash most favors the sacrifice of wild, predatory beasts on his altars, and also the remains of other sapient beings bested in fair combat. He is angered when his followers spare their fallen enemies, or when they show self-restraint in any situation that it is not in their immediate benefit to do so. He expects his followers to depend on their own personal might, and is angered when they rely on allies or summoned creatures (though illusions, as manifestation of magic, are fine). Animals are the only acceptable allies to Zurvash. Surrendering rather than fighting to the death angers Zurvash greatly, whereas cowing enemies grants favor in his eyes.
  Blessings: Zurvash will clear any follower's mind, as well as imbuing them with a kind of berzerk anger, both when they prey and when the whim strikes him; this quality makes him a difficult god for conventional mages. For a more favored follower, he will purify the body, deflect deadly blows, remove fatigue, replenish the spirit, lift curses, heal injuries and raise the dead, in the order of increasing favor required.
  His more permanent blessings include increasing a folllower's toughness and agility, granting a preternaturally sharp sense of smell, mystical authority to command animals and a complete lack of scent. His most treasured servants are said to be blessed with constant regeneration of all injuries. Followers with claws and teeth are also said to be able to enchant them to bite deeper. Slashing wounds inflicted by the favored of Zurvash are also said to bleed more profusely than normal.

[Anastasia]

Edit2: holy shitballs someone fix the 'we can't post huge posts unless you edit them later' bug. I will pay you with food

It's not a bug, it's working as designed. It's to prevent random spammers or troublemakers from making abusively huge posts.

I'll comment on the rest later. A little too tired to read something big tonight.

[Carthrat]

Well, don't I feel silly.
_{trustedusersystemnowplox}

[Dracos]

No, no, it totally is a bug.  Forum software as far as I can tell :(  I do really have it set to let anyone who can post post as big as they want.  It's not like it makes it harder to delete spam posts and users from the admin console.

[Anastasia]

No, no, it totally is a bug.  Forum software as far as I can tell :(  I do really have it set to let anyone who can post post as big as they want.  It's not like it makes it harder to delete spam posts and users from the admin console.

Oh wow, I must've made that up wholesale mentally at some point. I feel silly.