Religion for my new campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Religion for my new campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Alyss
08-29-07, 11:07 AM I've taken a bit of a different approach to religion with my new campaign (still in the planning), but I've written the creation story and all that stuff, so I thought you guys would like to take a look:

HISTORY
There were, in the beginning, many more gods and goddesses, created by the Mechanus. The Mechanus was the creator of all the planes, creatures and forces within the universe. The last two goddesses to be created, Narcissa and Fae-Lin, were also the first to be married, mere days after they came into existence.

While creating the last of the planes, the Inferno, the Mechanus was driven insane by the extremity of the evil that was required to create such a place. In his madness he began to rip apart all that he had created, threatening the fabric of the universe itself. Narcissa through herself in his path and was instantly slain, falling to the very bottom of the universe.

The Mechanus was overcome with grief by her death, but regained his sanity. While he wept, he was attacked by an army of evil heroes, who sought to take his power and rule the universe. The attack cost the Mechanus his life, and washed insanity across the universe in a time now called the Frenzy. Just before his death, the Mechanus bequeathed his powers to the dead Narcissa, who was raised from the dead as a result.

The Frenzy caused all but five of the gods to succumb to the madness that the Mechanus’ death imparted. At the time of his death, these five gods were involved in the recovery of Narcissa’s body, and were far enough from the body of the Mechanus to avoid absorbing the immensely negative emotions that were released across the universe at his death. These five deities were Fae-Lin, Narcissa’s wife, Ithinteer, Fae-Lin’s brother, Enowy, Fae-Lin’s sister, Hevonna, Narcissa’s sister, and Cul, Narcissa’s brother.

The Frenzy affected all of the other gods, and every creature on the planes. Terrible bloodletting, civil war, murder, torture, rape and madness ensued. Father turned on son and brother upon brother, and the planes ran red and wet with blood and tears. In the chaos, the races that failed to organise themselves and shake off the Frenzy were destroyed, and the result was the extinction of elves, half-elves, halflings, gnomes, rilkans, and many others. The dwarves also suffered heavy losses, and departed the surface in fear and suspicion. To this day they remain underground, and have next to no dealings with the outside world.

The gods were worst affected by the Frenzy, and tore into one another with no regard for family, friends or personal safety. Both Hevonna and Cul were slain by Tharn, one of the strongest of the gods, but were held in stasis by Narcissa, who was still unused to her new-found powers and lacked the control to stop the Frenzy. Enowy, who was betrothed to Cul, grew bitter and spiteful after his death, and soon left the plain of shadow, where Narcissa had made her home. Seeking to understand the nature of the madness that caused the death of her beloved, she travelled to the Inferno to observe evil in its purest form.

Here, the Frenzy was also prevalent, though both the demons and the devils were strong enough not to destroy the other. Enowy was tutored by a powerful erinyes called Sinthalia, and the two of them eventually returned to the plane of shadow and demanded that Narcissa give some of her power, still largely untapped, to Enowy. The weak and inexperienced Narcissa was in no position to argue against another, almost as powerful goddess and a far more powerful devil, and she reluctantly agreed. However, she also gave another portion of her power to Ithinteer, making Enowy the goddess of painful birth and Ithinteer her opposite, the god of painless birth. Neither was actually able to affect the world yet however, as there was no deity managing birth itself.

By this time, after one hundred years of chaos, the Frenzy had abated, leaving the Glacier a desolate, blood-soaked wasteland, inhabited only by the few celestials that had managed to survive. The central plane was little better, and much of its former glory was lost forever. In particular, the True Archives had been burned to the ground, leaving the truenamers of the universe incapable of continuing their craft. Gradually they died out, many committing suicide.

The souls of those killed during the Frenzy, mortal and immortal alike, had nowhere to go, as matters of both life and death had previously been handled by the Mechanus and no-one had assumed his responsibilities since his death. The swarm of souls flooded into the plane of shadow and surrounded Narcissa in a screaming, moaning crowd, afraid and angry at the chaos that had engulfed their lives for the past hundred years. Narcissa still lacked the experience to manage these souls, and, panicking, she fled the plane of shadow with Fae-Lin, the former carrying Hevonna and the latter carrying Cul. Ithinteer also fled, moving to the Glacier where he settled and helped reconstruct. Enowy attempted to bind the souls within her, seeking greater power, but was rendered unconscious in the attempt, her mind dragged from her body and into the midst of the souls.

Narcissa and her companions moved to the ethereal plane, though Narcissa’s mind soon caved in on itself from the burden the Mechanus had thrust upon her one hundred years ago. Fae-Lin had to nurse Narcissa back to health alone, and the long treatment took some one thousand years, and Fae-Lin wept with grief and loneliness. On the central plane, this was a time of ignorance and darkness. No-one was born because there was no god to manage birth, and no-one died because there was no god to manage death. During the Frenzy, the systems that the Mechanus had put in place managed both, but they had lost their power during the Frenzy and were now broken and useless. This level of craftsmanship, the ability to create systems that can do the work of gods, disappeared from Narsopath forever with the Mechanus’ death.

The fiends of the Inferno did not lie idle during Narcissa’s recovery, and a host of them, headed by Sinthalia, set up camp on the borders of the plane of shadow. From here they would ensnare souls and force them into the bodies of dead creatures. This method of forcibly binding souls would eventually come to be known as necromancy, though it was crude and largely ineffective to begin with. The monsters created were the first undead beings, the only unnatural type of creature to contain a soul. Necromancy twisted ensnared soul, so that undead creatures grew to hate every living thing and became as evil as their fiendish creators. Pleased, Sinthalia ordered vast hordes of undead to be created and scattered across the planes.

The celestials of the Glacier were similarly industrious, and with the help of Ithinteer they rebuilt their broken home. Seeing what the fiends had created, they built a new creature of their own: the golems. Golems did not require a soul at all, but where fashioned from metal, flesh, clay, stone, and many other materials before being imbued with incarnum. They too were created in great numbers and scattered across the planes.

When Narcissa recovered, Fae-Lin’s tears became tears of joy. During her insanity, Narcissa had gained insight into her power, and instantly restored Hevonna and Cul to life. Learning that Enowy had been robbed of her mind by the souls of the Frenzy, she travelled to the plane of shadow, banishing the encamped fiends back to the Inferno on the way. When she grew close to the souls of the Frenzy, Narcissa hurled a large part of the Mechanus’ power into their midst. The souls were flung away from Enowy’s mind, which returned to her body and restored her to consciousness.

However the damage to her mind from the negative energy of the souls was severe. Cul bound the energy into himself, his love for Enowy not having been diminished by their time apart. In a flash, he was exposed to all the evil, dark secrets that Enowy had learned from Sinthalia, and became as bitter and spiteful as Enowy. Though Narcissa cast out the negative energy from Cul and hurled it, like the Mechanus’ power, at the souls of the Frenzy, where it was absorbed, and mingled with the power it had already received. Unfortunately, the damage to Cul had been done, and he remained as evil as Enowy. In retribution, he and Enowy killed Sinthalia and claimed rulership of the Inferno as their own.

The souls of the Frenzy, given sentience, power, and knowledge of life and death, became a single entity called the Veil, the god of the eternal soul. He became responsible for managing the souls of the dead, who was to go where, and how they were to get there. As his form, the Veil took the shape of a wraith, the last undead to be created by Sinthalia.

Narcissa finally understood how Narsopath could be ordered, and made Cul the god of painful, violent death. She then made Hevonna the goddess of painless, peaceful death, and Ithinteer, who had loved her for many years in silence, asked for her hand in marriage. The two were married on the same day as Enowy and Cul, though the ceremonies were held on the Glacier and in the Inferno respectively.

Finally, Narcissa made Fae-Lin the goddess of life and birth, and herself the goddess of death. The couple made their home on the ethereal plane, giving the plane of shadow to the Veil. With the cycle of existence stabilised at last, the Veil declared all of the planes collectively to be known as Narsopath, Narcissa’s path.

THE NARSOPATH PANTHEON
Fae’Lin: Neutral goddess of life and birth.
Ithinteer: Neutral good god of painless births, fertility, and healthy children.
Enowy: Neutral evil goddess of painful or fatal births, miscarriage, and deformed children.

Narcissa: Neutral goddess of death.
Hevonna: Neutral good goddess of painless, peaceful deaths.
Cul: Neutral evil god of painful, violent deaths.

The Veil: Neutral god of the eternal soul.
Alyss
08-29-07, 11:09 AM I'll stick up how the afterlife works when it's done.
PerennialRook
08-30-07, 03:32 PM Question: Do none of your deities tend towards order or lawlessness?
Alyss
09-03-07, 01:48 PM No, I'm not putting that bit of the alignment system directly into the pantheon. Some of the gods sway a little more towards one or the other, but none hold particularly strong beliefs about it.
TheFrohmen
09-03-07, 02:52 PM You could start the Church of the Fonz. :dancin: :dancin: :dancin: :) :)
GoriceXII
09-04-07, 04:53 PM Very interesting Alyss. I like the idea of a rather dark pantheon--have you gotten ideas on the worship and qualifications for clerics and so on?

It strikes me that at best according to this faith you can have a sort of graceful serene acceptance of almost inevitable chaos and pain, and at worst a horrific sense of suffering. Does this seem like an accurate depiction?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alyss 08-29-07, 11:07 AM	I've taken a bit of a different approach to religion with my new campaign (still in the planning), but I've written the creation story and all that stuff, so I thought you guys would like to take a look: HISTORY There were, in the beginning, many more gods and goddesses, created by the Mechanus. The Mechanus was the creator of all the planes, creatures and forces within the universe. The last two goddesses to be created, Narcissa and Fae-Lin, were also the first to be married, mere days after they came into existence. While creating the last of the planes, the Inferno, the Mechanus was driven insane by the extremity of the evil that was required to create such a place. In his madness he began to rip apart all that he had created, threatening the fabric of the universe itself. Narcissa through herself in his path and was instantly slain, falling to the very bottom of the universe. The Mechanus was overcome with grief by her death, but regained his sanity. While he wept, he was attacked by an army of evil heroes, who sought to take his power and rule the universe. The attack cost the Mechanus his life, and washed insanity across the universe in a time now called the Frenzy. Just before his death, the Mechanus bequeathed his powers to the dead Narcissa, who was raised from the dead as a result. The Frenzy caused all but five of the gods to succumb to the madness that the Mechanus’ death imparted. At the time of his death, these five gods were involved in the recovery of Narcissa’s body, and were far enough from the body of the Mechanus to avoid absorbing the immensely negative emotions that were released across the universe at his death. These five deities were Fae-Lin, Narcissa’s wife, Ithinteer, Fae-Lin’s brother, Enowy, Fae-Lin’s sister, Hevonna, Narcissa’s sister, and Cul, Narcissa’s brother. The Frenzy affected all of the other gods, and every creature on the planes. Terrible bloodletting, civil war, murder, torture, rape and madness ensued. Father turned on son and brother upon brother, and the planes ran red and wet with blood and tears. In the chaos, the races that failed to organise themselves and shake off the Frenzy were destroyed, and the result was the extinction of elves, half-elves, halflings, gnomes, rilkans, and many others. The dwarves also suffered heavy losses, and departed the surface in fear and suspicion. To this day they remain underground, and have next to no dealings with the outside world. The gods were worst affected by the Frenzy, and tore into one another with no regard for family, friends or personal safety. Both Hevonna and Cul were slain by Tharn, one of the strongest of the gods, but were held in stasis by Narcissa, who was still unused to her new-found powers and lacked the control to stop the Frenzy. Enowy, who was betrothed to Cul, grew bitter and spiteful after his death, and soon left the plain of shadow, where Narcissa had made her home. Seeking to understand the nature of the madness that caused the death of her beloved, she travelled to the Inferno to observe evil in its purest form. Here, the Frenzy was also prevalent, though both the demons and the devils were strong enough not to destroy the other. Enowy was tutored by a powerful erinyes called Sinthalia, and the two of them eventually returned to the plane of shadow and demanded that Narcissa give some of her power, still largely untapped, to Enowy. The weak and inexperienced Narcissa was in no position to argue against another, almost as powerful goddess and a far more powerful devil, and she reluctantly agreed. However, she also gave another portion of her power to Ithinteer, making Enowy the goddess of painful birth and Ithinteer her opposite, the god of painless birth. Neither was actually able to affect the world yet however, as there was no deity managing birth itself. By this time, after one hundred years of chaos, the Frenzy had abated, leaving the Glacier a desolate, blood-soaked wasteland, inhabited only by the few celestials that had managed to survive. The central plane was little better, and much of its former glory was lost forever. In particular, the True Archives had been burned to the ground, leaving the truenamers of the universe incapable of continuing their craft. Gradually they died out, many committing suicide. The souls of those killed during the Frenzy, mortal and immortal alike, had nowhere to go, as matters of both life and death had previously been handled by the Mechanus and no-one had assumed his responsibilities since his death. The swarm of souls flooded into the plane of shadow and surrounded Narcissa in a screaming, moaning crowd, afraid and angry at the chaos that had engulfed their lives for the past hundred years. Narcissa still lacked the experience to manage these souls, and, panicking, she fled the plane of shadow with Fae-Lin, the former carrying Hevonna and the latter carrying Cul. Ithinteer also fled, moving to the Glacier where he settled and helped reconstruct. Enowy attempted to bind the souls within her, seeking greater power, but was rendered unconscious in the attempt, her mind dragged from her body and into the midst of the souls. Narcissa and her companions moved to the ethereal plane, though Narcissa’s mind soon caved in on itself from the burden the Mechanus had thrust upon her one hundred years ago. Fae-Lin had to nurse Narcissa back to health alone, and the long treatment took some one thousand years, and Fae-Lin wept with grief and loneliness. On the central plane, this was a time of ignorance and darkness. No-one was born because there was no god to manage birth, and no-one died because there was no god to manage death. During the Frenzy, the systems that the Mechanus had put in place managed both, but they had lost their power during the Frenzy and were now broken and useless. This level of craftsmanship, the ability to create systems that can do the work of gods, disappeared from Narsopath forever with the Mechanus’ death. The fiends of the Inferno did not lie idle during Narcissa’s recovery, and a host of them, headed by Sinthalia, set up camp on the borders of the plane of shadow. From here they would ensnare souls and force them into the bodies of dead creatures. This method of forcibly binding souls would eventually come to be known as necromancy, though it was crude and largely ineffective to begin with. The monsters created were the first undead beings, the only unnatural type of creature to contain a soul. Necromancy twisted ensnared soul, so that undead creatures grew to hate every living thing and became as evil as their fiendish creators. Pleased, Sinthalia ordered vast hordes of undead to be created and scattered across the planes. The celestials of the Glacier were similarly industrious, and with the help of Ithinteer they rebuilt their broken home. Seeing what the fiends had created, they built a new creature of their own: the golems. Golems did not require a soul at all, but where fashioned from metal, flesh, clay, stone, and many other materials before being imbued with incarnum. They too were created in great numbers and scattered across the planes. When Narcissa recovered, Fae-Lin’s tears became tears of joy. During her insanity, Narcissa had gained insight into her power, and instantly restored Hevonna and Cul to life. Learning that Enowy had been robbed of her mind by the souls of the Frenzy, she travelled to the plane of shadow, banishing the encamped fiends back to the Inferno on the way. When she grew close to the souls of the Frenzy, Narcissa hurled a large part of the Mechanus’ power into their midst. The souls were flung away from Enowy’s mind, which returned to her body and restored her to consciousness. However the damage to her mind from the negative energy of the souls was severe. Cul bound the energy into himself, his love for Enowy not having been diminished by their time apart. In a flash, he was exposed to all the evil, dark secrets that Enowy had learned from Sinthalia, and became as bitter and spiteful as Enowy. Though Narcissa cast out the negative energy from Cul and hurled it, like the Mechanus’ power, at the souls of the Frenzy, where it was absorbed, and mingled with the power it had already received. Unfortunately, the damage to Cul had been done, and he remained as evil as Enowy. In retribution, he and Enowy killed Sinthalia and claimed rulership of the Inferno as their own. The souls of the Frenzy, given sentience, power, and knowledge of life and death, became a single entity called the Veil, the god of the eternal soul. He became responsible for managing the souls of the dead, who was to go where, and how they were to get there. As his form, the Veil took the shape of a wraith, the last undead to be created by Sinthalia. Narcissa finally understood how Narsopath could be ordered, and made Cul the god of painful, violent death. She then made Hevonna the goddess of painless, peaceful death, and Ithinteer, who had loved her for many years in silence, asked for her hand in marriage. The two were married on the same day as Enowy and Cul, though the ceremonies were held on the Glacier and in the Inferno respectively. Finally, Narcissa made Fae-Lin the goddess of life and birth, and herself the goddess of death. The couple made their home on the ethereal plane, giving the plane of shadow to the Veil. With the cycle of existence stabilised at last, the Veil declared all of the planes collectively to be known as Narsopath, Narcissa’s path. THE NARSOPATH PANTHEON Fae’Lin: Neutral goddess of life and birth. Ithinteer: Neutral good god of painless births, fertility, and healthy children. Enowy: Neutral evil goddess of painful or fatal births, miscarriage, and deformed children. Narcissa: Neutral goddess of death. Hevonna: Neutral good goddess of painless, peaceful deaths. Cul: Neutral evil god of painful, violent deaths. The Veil: Neutral god of the eternal soul.
Alyss 08-29-07, 11:09 AM	I'll stick up how the afterlife works when it's done.
PerennialRook 08-30-07, 03:32 PM	Question: Do none of your deities tend towards order or lawlessness?
Alyss 09-03-07, 01:48 PM	No, I'm not putting that bit of the alignment system directly into the pantheon. Some of the gods sway a little more towards one or the other, but none hold particularly strong beliefs about it.
TheFrohmen 09-03-07, 02:52 PM	You could start the Church of the Fonz. :dancin: :dancin: :dancin: :) :)
GoriceXII 09-04-07, 04:53 PM	Very interesting Alyss. I like the idea of a rather dark pantheon--have you gotten ideas on the worship and qualifications for clerics and so on? It strikes me that at best according to this faith you can have a sort of graceful serene acceptance of almost inevitable chaos and pain, and at worst a horrific sense of suffering. Does this seem like an accurate depiction?