For The Clerics And The Inanely Curious

[Tamerlaine]

Religion and the Gods

Old and New Gods: Anganach and Futurus in The Principality of Brine
The Ancient Ones, called the Anganach in The Northern Reaches, represent the elder gods. Some believe they preexisted in the forests, swamps, and streams of the land – like Silvanus (Green Man), Cromm, Herne the Hunter, Valdghar, Malachai, Nergal, and Impurax. Others believe the first elves, or perhaps the first nomadic humans brought their gods with them. No one knows for certain. With the founding and growth of the population of Threshold, new religions expanded into the Northern Reaches. These faiths are called the New Gods or the Futurus. The church of St. Ygg has been the most aggressive in establishing itself in Threshold and The Prelacy of Middenmark.

The church has been less successful in more peripheral, and more traditional, regions like The Principality of Brine and The Duchy of Aerik. The clerics of St. Ygg are dismissive of the Ancient Ones and position them as backward, primitive, and descendent. The folk of The Principality of Brine still consider it a good omen to wander across the face of the Green Man carved into a great tree or rockface in the wilderness. Beyond the Anganach and the Futurus, there are stories of “foreign” religions including Athena the Goddess of Military Strategy or Thor the God of Thunder and Lightning.

Deities in The Principality of Brine
Arcantryl (Magus)
Goddess of Magic
Lawful Neutral
Symbol: A star within a star
derives her power from knowledge of the universe and existence. She believes in understanding the structure of the cosmos and harnessing (and bending) that knowledge to express magical energy. Instead of branching out immediately to the smaller villages of the Northern Reaches, the clerics of Arcantryl focused on developing followers at larger centers in select districts of the Reaches. These include the city of Threshold, Eastdale in The Prelacy of Middenmark, Thatchum in The Principality of Brine, and Ironguard Motte in The Duchy of Aerik. One might see a humble, or impromptu, shrine for prayer located in other villages.

Baracus (Irratus)
Demi-God of Wrestling and Athletics
Chaotic Good
Symbol: Two tattooed arms wrestling
Baracus appears as a large, very muscular athletic warrior with a jolly smile. He is the demi-god of warrior-athletes, especially wrestlers. Warriors of all types and those who wish to hone their bodies through personal discipline and exercise worship Baracus. He is a gregarious and boisterous figure who lives large, drinks hard, and laughs harder. Baracus is primarily worshipped in the northernmost expanses of the Northern Reaches where feats of strength are common and wrestling is the sport of choice. He is closely associated with Crom.

Bormanus (Salus)
Demi-God of Salt and Minerals
Neutral
Symbol: The symbol of earth inside the symbol of salt
Bormanus appears as a roughhewn golem made of salt with expressionless blue glowing eyes. His worshippers include prospectors, miners, diggers, panhandlers, and those in related mining industries. Often his followers will carve small effigies from salt and leave them at his shrines and places of worship. The common people in Thatchum and Woodvale hold festivals of salt in his name.

Crom (Cromm Cruach)
God of Strength and Battle
Chaotic Good
Symbol: A silver crown over a mountain
Crom, or Cromm Cruach, is worshipped largely by warriors, mercenaries, and frontiersmen. Crom is considered grim and gloomy. He prizes feats of strength, valour, and daring in battle. He rarely answers prayers. Instead, he prefers to watch resilient and resourceful warriors blaze their own path to glory. His followers use his name as a blessing, a curse, or in astonishment. Crom’s symbol is a crown atop a great mountain. The crown represents his position as the greatest of warriors. His followers, upon death, must climb Crom’s great mountain and stand in judgment before him. If they have been cowardly, or fled in the face of battle, Crom will laugh at them and cast them out. However, if a warrior has been stout of heart and died bravely he will be welcomed into the afterlife. Crom is often depicted as a barbarian with black hair and piercing blue eyes.

Denara (Pecuna)
Demi-Goddess of Wealth, Bureaucracy, Trade
Lawful Neutral
Symbol: Unbalanced scales of trade Denara’s sphere includes the areas of trade, wealth, and administration. Her followers include entrepreneurs, traders, merchants, bureaucrats, and the wealthy. Denara is not as fickle as Fortuna. She believes in judicious treatment of wealth, the hierarchical distribution of capital, and lawful organization of trade and trade agreements.

Dogma (Illuminatus)
God of Knowledge, Scholars, Learning
Lawful Neutral
Symbol: A sunrise within a book
Dogma appears as an old, thin, grey-bearded man in a monk’s habit carrying a great book under his arm. The Learned One is the patron of those who seek knowledge and those who create new knowledge, such as scholars, inventors, alchemists, and mages. Dogma embodies the notion of enlightenment through higher education.

Syldina (Timereach)
Demi-God (Heroine) of the Northern Wilderness
Neutral Good
Symbol: Spear with severed head of a man
Syldina appears as a tall, redheaded shield-maiden armed with a spear and a stoic gaze. Like Herne the Hunter, Syldina was a worshipper and the chosen of Silvanus in life. Upon sacrificing herself in a great battle against overwhelming odds, she was called upon to serve the Green Man in the afterlife. She champions the Northern Wilderness and its peoples. Archers, and those who hunt and range across the far forests of the Northern Reaches, also worship Syldina. Her symbol is a spear with feathers or the severed head of a man attached at the base.

Valdghar (Sangdro-Libidus)
Demi-God of the Valdghardt, Nomadic barbarians, Bloodlust
Chaotic Neutral
Symbol: A woolly mammoth
Sages are unclear as to whether Valdghar is a distinct demi-god, or an aspect of Crom acclimatized to northern warrior tribes and barbarians. Valdghar appears as a brawny barbarian with black hair and cold blue eyes. He wields a broadbladed battle-axe and rides a woolly mammoth into combat. He values strength, courage, and feats of arms. Sages believe he instills his bravest and most loyal warriors with an inspiring bloodlust. The barbarian tribes of the Northern Reaches worship him, and his totems, exclusively. The Valdghardt barbarians consist of a number of small distinct tribes, such as Cougar Claw, Black Wolf, Green Griffon, Three-Eyed Raven, Horned Stag, Great Moose, Blood Moon, and others. They have their own dialect, totems, worldviews, and spiritual beliefs. The tribes are fiercely independent and will occasionally ally themselves with neighbouring clans for security or war.

Vol (Draco Frigidus)
God of Evil Dragons, Dracoliches, Dragon Cults, and Dragonmen
Lawful Evil
Symbol: A rampant dragon
Vol is the god of evil dragons and their followers. He appears either as a draconianlooking humanoid or as great white dragon. Followers of Vol, called the Volsectum Draconis, are humans who support the machinations of evil dragons and their transition into undeath as dracoliches. Vol blesses his closest and most devout followers with transmutation into dragonmen, although very little is known about this process. Vol is dedicated to the destruction of human civilization in the Northern Reaches and, specifically, the Free City of Threshold