Pantheon

Mitra, god of Law, Justice and the Sun

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection, War
Symbol: Scales bearing twin flames
Garb: White and copper robes trimmed with gold
Favored Weapons: Longsword
Form of Worship and Holidays: Last day of every week, families gather to feast and commune.
Typical Worshippers: Paladins, fighters, monks, farmers

Mitra is the god of the sun, as well as law and justice. Mitra gained the domains of Muir and Thyr in the ages of their decline, and has maintained prominence with the common folk. His clergy is widespread, and temples and shrine may be found in all lands. Mitra requires just and fair treatment of all good beings from his followers, as well as piety and charity. He is often depicted as a noble, strong man of middle years, wearing a pale copper robe and wielding a longsword. Warriors and knights venerate Mitra through great deeds and heroic quests in his name. Commoners show kindness to strangers and help their fellows in times of need. His symbol of a sunburst behind the scales of justice notes his former domain incorporated with his new influences. The noble lion is his sacred creature.

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Thyr, god of Law and Justice

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Knowledge, Protection
Symbol: Silver cross on a white field
Garb: White robes trimmed with silver, purple or gold — the colors of kingship
Favored Weapons: Light or Heavy Mace
Form of Worship and Holidays: Last day of every month, on the last holy day of every year is set-aside for non-royalty to have their grievances heard.
Typical Worshippers: Humans, Royalty

Thyr is the god of wise and just rule. He is normally depicted as a wizened king seated on a great throne holding a rod of kingship in one hand and a chalice of peace in the other. His principles are justice, order and peace. He represents proper and traditional rule and as such was once worshiped (at least in name) by all human royalty. He is the embodiment of the enlightened human caste system where each person has a fairly-determined role in a lawful society intended to create the greatest good for the greatest number.

His symbol is a silver cross on a white field, symbolizing the upturned cross-haft of his sister’s sword, which he thrust into the earth to end the gods’ war. Upon seeing the blood of so many gods shed, Thyr foreswore the use of swords and his priests, for this reason, may not use bladed weapons. Many favor reinforced rods, similar to light maces, modeled after Thyr’s own rod of kingship. The noble eagle and lion are his sacred creatures.

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Muir, goddess of Virtue and Paladins

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Law, Good, Protection, War
Symbol: Blood-red upraised sword on a white background
Garb: White wool robes with an upraised sword and hand in red.
Favored Weapon: Longsword or bastard sword
Form of Worship and Holidays: Regular worship and fasting on the eve before known battle or before confirmation or promotion of the ranks of the faithful.
Typical Worshippers: Humans and paladins

Muir is the sister of Thyr. While he represents law and peace, she represents the martial valor necessary to make that peace a reality. As such, she is the goddess of paladins. She is often depicted as a dark-tressed maiden warrior in shining mail with an upraised (often bloodstained) sword. She is noble and single-minded of purpose. The tenets of her worship include honor, truth, and courage. A great order of paladins known as the Justicars are sworn to her service. Muir expects self-sacrifice, humility, and charity as well as unswerving loyalty. Her standards are extreme and she quickly turns her back on any who fail to live up to them. Those who maintain her standards, however, may become Justicars, an order of paladins imbued with even greater holiness.

Her symbol is a blood-red uplifted sword on a white background, symbolizing her endless fight against evil. Her worshipers must be lawful good. The falcon is her sacred animal. She is the tireless foe of all evil creatures and undead, demons, and devils in particular are her sworn enemy.

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Freya, goddess of Love and Fertility

Alignment: Neutral Good
Domains: Animal, Good, Healing, War
Symbol: Falcon
Garb: Robes and cloaks of white, trimmed with white fur
Favored Weapon: Longsword, longbow
Form of Worship and Holidays: Harvest moon feast and before large hunts
Typical Worshippers: Human females

Freya is a lesser goddess of love and fertility. She is also the leader of a great band of women warriors known on some planes of existence as Valkyries. Freya represents fertility in all its forms. On this plane, Freya represents the cycle of death and rebirth. She is a goddess of the coming harvest as well as a goddess of sexuality and procreation. Her beast is the falcon, though she is fond of the winter wolf and the stag. She appears most frequently to her worshipers as a beautiful human woman dressed in robes and a cloak of winter wolf fur, though she occasionally appears as a huntress in leather armor with a sword and bow, or as a warrior in shining mail with glowing sword. She can take the form of a falcon—or any other bird—at will, as well as the form of a huge winter wolf.

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Arden, god of the Sun

Alignment: Neutral Good
Domains: Air, Good, Sun, War
Symbol: Sun staff (staff with a bronze sphere containing an ankh)
Garb: Ivory tunics and tabards, emblazoned with sun shaped embroidered gold
Favored Weapons: Sun staff, short sword
Form of Worship and Holidays: The holiest of celebrations occur during lunar eclipses, followed by high noon on the summer solstice. High noon marks a regular prayer time for most followers.
Typical Worshippers: Of old he was worshiped by humans, though Arden is not currently worshipped on this plane.

Arden is a lesser avatar of the sun god Ra. He is depicted as a hawk-headed, muscular man wearing a short kilt of precious metals and jewels. His eyes have the power to shoot searing beams of sunlight. He carries a staff tipped on one end with a bronze sphere representing the sun containing an ankh and on the other end with a bronze hawk head. This staff is known as a sun staff and is carried by his worshipers. They are treated as quarterstaves. He also wields a bronze short sword. His worshipers who select the War domain are proficient with the short sword in addition to their normal proficiencies. Arden was long ago destroyed by evil deities, including Tsathogga, the frog-demon. His remains were gathered and treasured by his worshipers as relics.

However, it has been ages since Arden has been worshiped on this plane by any save beggars and the slightly mad who still speak prophecies of his rebirth.

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Kel, goddess of Self-Sacrifice, Lady of Protection

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection
Symbol: Kite shield of purest white
Garb: White robes trimmed in blood red
Favored Weapon: Shields of all types for shield bash
Form of Worship and Holidays: Evening prayers for protection and health at vespers. Special holy days on the eve of the solstices and equinoxes for the coming season.
Typical Worshippers: Humans, Guardians, Paladins, though not currently worshipped.

Kel is the sister of Thyr and Muir, triplet siblings known as the Three Gods. She was popular among humans until around 10,000 years ago when she gave up her life to prevent Orcus from conquering the Material Plane. She was normally depicted as an armored woman holding a kite shield with a benevolent but sad expression on her face. It was said she carried the sorrows of the world on her shoulders and later stated that she must have seen the fate that would befall her. Her principles were the protection and safety of civilized societies where individuals could grow and achieve their destinies without fear of sudden calamity or destruction. When she sacrificed herself, her siblings assumed her spheres of influence and incorporated her goals into their own. It is rumored, however, that a portion of her essence was released upon her death and became twisted with hate and vengeance for the end that she met and coalesced into a new deity that was the very antithesis of all she had stood for — Hel, Lady of Death and Pestilence. If Kel’s church were somehow revived, it is certain that they would make eradication of that apostate faith as one of its top priorities. Her sacred animal is the lowly hedgehog for his innate protective abilities, and her faithful often repeat the ancient axiom, “The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog one good one.”

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Telophus, Lord of Crops and the Seasons

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water
Symbol: Raining cloud partially obscuring a radiant sun
Garb: Green and earth tone woolen robes and vestments
Favored Weapon: Sickle
Form of Worship and Holidays: Telophus is worshiped by harvest and planting celebrations as well as the first frost and first thaw.
Typical Worshippers: Farmers and halflings, some druids revering his natural cycle aspect.

This god is the embodiment of the uncaring changing seasons. He is prayed to not so much to bring good crops, but to be convinced to hold off the early frost or bring the spring thaw. He requires appeasement and devoted following, being known to test his followers’ faithfulness and resolve when it suits him.

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Bowbe

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: War, Chaos, Strength, Vengeance
Symbol: Crossed Sword and Hammer of Bowbe
Garb: Furs, skins and pelts over battle armor
Favored Weapons: Greatsword, warhammer
Form of Worship and Holidays: Great feasts and blood sacrifice precede battles. After battle, the treasures, arms and armor of defeated foes are offered to the god. Those that he doesn’t keep belong to the victors. His priests specialize in wild cursing and imaginative insults.
Typical Worshippers: Barbarians, raiders, reavers and plunderers.

Bowbe is the embodiment of barbarian wrath and frenzy. He appears as a mighty barbarian dressed in the pelt of Urson the Great Bear, whom he can summon to his side by tossing the pelt to the ground and calling its name. Bowbe carries the greatsword Bm’fob in one hand and warhammer Wytch-Killer in the other. Bowbe revels in war and the slaughter of his foes. His battles against giants are legendary, as is his hatred for the undead, arcanists, lawyers, guardsmen, and most other civilized authority figures.

Unlike other gods, Bowbe aids only those who take his name in vain. Thus it is not uncommon to hear berserkers cursing their god for his indifference as readily as they curse their foes. Bowbe only grants the raising of one of his followers if that follower immediately seeks blood vengeance against his killers. Bowbe grants no healing spells higher than 4th level.

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Vanitthu, god of the Steadfast guard

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Law, Protection, War, Healing
Symbol: A gray shield emblazoned with a stylized black fortress tower
Garb: A gray tabard with a black tower sigil
Favored Weapons: Spear
Form of Worship and Holidays: Prayers are often said to Vanitthu at the start of sieges or by guardsmen prior to heading out on the beat.
Typical Worshippers: Barristers, judges, guards, professional soldiers, military officers and nobles.

Some claim that Vanitthu is the son of the great god Anumon; others go so far as to say that Vanitthu is yet another aspect of the great god (this schism has caused considerable conflict within the faith). In either case, Vanitthu is the embodiment of martial perfection, law, the strength of the state, and the punishment of the guilty. A grim and resolute deity, Vanitthu is always shown bearing a spear made of lightning, and a polished mithral shield. He often appears to his followers on the field of battle, especially to those engaged in or defending against sieges.

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Dwerfater

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Earth, Good, Strength, Creation
Symbol: Hammer and anvil
Garb: Armor of mithral or steel
Favored Weapons: Warhammer
Form of Worship and Holidays: Priests worship at the forge, crafting items of steel and mithral. The most sacred steel is tempered in virgin snow on Orenday, the first full moon after midwinter.
Typical Worshippers: Dwarves

Dwerfater (or Dwurfater) appears as an ancient dwarf, whose beard is the color of mithral and touches the ground at his feet. He always wears a blackened leather apron over a coat of mithral mail and always carries his mighty warhammer Noolhamr.

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Darach-Albith, High god of Elves

Alignment: Chaotic Good
Domains: Plant, Animal, Magic, War
Symbol: A bow and sword hanging from the eternal oak
Garb: Shades of grey, green, hazel, chestnut and sable
Favored Weapons: Longbow, longsword
Form of Worship and Holidays: Eve of every midmonth during the summer
Typical Worshippers: High and wood elves, warriors, wizards and rangers of the elven race.

The father of all elves and firstborn of the race, Darach-Abith is portrayed as a handsome elven man draped in a cloak of forest leaves. His skin may appear as gleaming white as birch bark, or any of the varying shades of brown and green found in primeval woodlands. Darach has keen golden eyes like those of an owl. His sword Tian Tu Lan and his bow Fayar Nocht are said to never miss a target and slay those of evil intent instantly.

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Grotaag, god of Orcs

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domains: Death, Destruction, War, Evil
Symbol: Rotting severed head
Garb: Usually skins, hides and crude metal armor
Favored Weapons: Greataxe
Form of Worship and Holidays: Blood sacrifice of captured foes or ceremonial victims from the priest’s own tribes, performed under the waxing and waning crescent moon.
Typical Worshippers: Orcs, half-orcs, some goblins

Grotaag is the personification of orcish might and brutality. Appearing as a huge, powerful orc, Grotaag towers over battlefields, crushing friend and foe alike beneath his black hobnailed boots. He often responds to blood sacrifice by sending evil creatures, or even personally manifesting himself. His howls of barbaric rage rumble like thunder across the battlefield causing the earth to shake. In battle, Grotaag disdains the use of missile weapons, calling them the weapons of weaklings or — worse — elves.

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Snuurge, Father of goblins

Alignment: Neutral Evil
Domains: Evil, Magic, Trickery, Earth
Symbol: A crooked-hafted war pick
Garb: Greasy leather clothing with golden necklaces.
Favored Weapons: Pick
Form of Worship and Holidays: Snuurge’s followers revel in blood sacrifice, and also fling gold into forge fires as a tribute to their god. His rites are held on the Night of Goblins (Midsummer), and on moonless nights. Feasts and overeating are also common forms of worship.
Typical Worshippers: Goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears

Completely hairless, this god manifests as a grossly fat, horned goblin. He wields a great double-handed warpick, and is also known for his stealth and deceptiveness. A master of disguise, it is said that Snuurge once lay down and impersonated a mountain in order to avoid the wrath of Bowbe, whom he had defeated in a drinking match. Snuurge is also said to have fathered the goblin pantheon and is held first above all other goblin gods. Even the hobgoblins who hold his son Kakobovia as most revered still offer sacrifices to Snuurge for fear of his wicked wrath. Snuurge is mortal enemy of all dwarves and gnomes. He wears a necklace made from the skulls of dwarven kings, and earrings crafted from the skeletons of gnomes. In battle, Snuurge dresses in a filthy coat of scale mail in battle which barely covers his immense gut.

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Orcus, Demon-Lord of the Undead

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Death, Destruction
Symbol: Wand of Orcus
Garb: Black cowl and robe ensemble
Favored Weapons: Ornamental Heavy Mace (spiked or skull-tipped)
Form of Worship and Holidays: Day of the Dead (Late Fall), Nights of blood red and horned moons. Worship usually involves grave robbery and the animation and conscription of the newly dead to the forces of evil.
Typical Worshippers: Monsters, Undead and Evil Humanoids

Orcus is a demon prince with — surprisingly enough — many human worshipers. He has a strange fascination with humans and their desire for power, possibly because it is this very flaw that causes them so frequently to seek that which he controls: power over death. Orcus is the lord of all undead and he resides in the Abyss in his Palace of Bones surrounded by a legion of vampires and liches.

Evil, ruination and wanton destruction are his only goals. He is most often depicted as a bloated ram-headed, bat-winged monstrosity with cloven-hoofed goat legs. He wields the “Wand of Orcus,” a legendary skull-tipped obsidian rod that is rumored to slay any living thing it touches. Though mostly worshiped by the monstrous races, the ranks of Orcus’ human worshipers are swelling, as Orcus grants his followers power in large, liberal doses. It is not uncommon for Orcus to give relatively low-level priests command of vast numbers of undead to do his bidding. His symbol is either a demonic ram-headed skull (the most common), a representation of himself seated on his throne, or a depiction of his skull-tipped wand. His priests favor heavy, dark hooded robes and ornamental maces stylized to represent his skull-tipped wand.

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Tsathogga, Demon Frog god

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Water
Symbol: Likeness of the Frog God, carved in soapstone
Garb: Green and violet robes, if any
Favored Weapon: Any that slash, cut, and are wickedly curved, as well as, ropes or nets
Form of Worship and Holidays: Too gruesome and perverse to describe even by Our standards!
Typical Worshippers: Aberrations, tsathar, sentient frogs, evil water monsters, The Violet Brotherhood

This foul frog-demon cares less about the machinations of men and power than he does about obliterating light and life with slow, oozing sickness and decay. He is the vicious dark evil bubbling up from beneath the surface, the foul corruption at the heart of the earth. Making his home on the plane of Tarterus at the mouth of the vast swamp of filth deposited by the River Styx as it flows out of the Abyss, Tsathogga’s main form is a colossally bloated humanoid frog with spindly, elongated limbs and fingers. His corpulent body exudes all manner of foul humors and fluids that leak into the vile swamp in which he lies. He has positioned himself so that all of the slime and filth from the River Styx feeds into his gaping, toothy maw. He never moves and rarely speaks other than to emit an unintelligible shrieking. Tsathogga commands a host of evil creatures — notably evil aberrations and his own vile frog race, the tsathar. Thousands of fawning tsathar servants continuously bathe his body in fetid slime from the evil swamp, awaiting the divine bliss of being randomly devoured by him. His hatred of light and lack of human worshippers (though there are a few notable exceptions) mean that he is little known to surface races. He has had few organized centers of worship and no standardized holy symbol — each worshipper choosing its own way to best depict his deific vileness. Occasionally, tsathar priests of Tsathogga on Tarterus sculpt a small likeness of him out of foul chunks of solid waste from the Styx that harden into a vile green substance similar to soapstone when taken from that plane. Such items are prized as holy relics.

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Hecate, goddess of Evil Magic

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Law, Evil, Magic, Knowledge
Symbol: A half silver disk representing the setting full moon
Garb: Fashionable togas of the most expensive cut and material, generally in black.
Favored Weapons: None
Form of Worship and Holidays: Priests and Wizards  who venerate Hecate do so beneath the full moon  with sacrifices of blood and magical items as the  moon sets.
Typical Worshippers: Wizards, Women, Wali Hecate Assassins, Lawful evil hags, witches, and crones.

Hecate is the goddess of evil magic. She appears as a beautiful woman flanked by numerous hell hounds, her favored creature. The setting moon is her symbol. She requires sacrifices on the full moon. Her priests are normally accompanied by hell hounds sent by their goddess to guard her temples. Clerics of Hecate have a special rapport with the beasts, allowing a chance to control them as they would undead. Hecate is a jealous goddess, capricious and quick to anger. Hecate resides in a floating castle in the Nine Hells.

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Set, god of Evil And the Night

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Law, Evil, Knowledge, Death
Symbol: Black Ankh of Set
Garb: Kilt, sandals, and ceremonial head-dress (beast mask), Black Ankh of Set
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff, spear, poisoned weapons
Typical Worshippers: Evil power-seeking humanoids, evil monks, assassins

Set is a greater god, worshiped on many planes in many forms. He most often appears as a scaled humanoid with the head of a jackal. He is utterly dedicated to the orderly spread of evil and oppression. His symbol is the coiled cobra, though any snake can be used to represent his power. His temples are filled with enormous serpents, always poisonous. His skin is poisonous to the touch. He makes his home in the Nine Hells.

Organized groups of assassins are known to be dedicated to his worship. His priests carry staves worked on one end into the head of a cobra. The cobra head is often tipped with steel fangs coated with poison. His clerics often carry a stylized black spear, representing the Spear of Darkness he carries. Many of his worshippers tattoo themselves with serpents or cobras.

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Hel, goddess of Death, Lady of Pestilence

Alignment: Neutral Evil
Domains: Air, Animal, Death, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water
Symbol: A face, black on one side and white on the other
Garb: Druidic garb of a midnight black and snow white
Favored Weapon: poisoned dagger or sword
Form of Worship and Holidays: Rites to Hel are practiced by her worshipers during blights and plagues, likewise sacrifices are made to her by fearful non-worshipers to stave off plagues and illness.
Typical Worshippers: Diseased and disease-causing creatures, evil humanoids, evil druids, women, bards.

Hel is known to spread disease, pestilence and plague with the wave of her hand. Any living thing in her presence withers and dies. She appears as a strange gaunt woman of both jet black and blankest white. Diseased creatures worship her. It is said a strange cult of druidic ghouls and mummies worships her in a secret temple hidden from the knowledge of mortals, spreading their foul diseases in secrecy. Several sects of evil druids dedicated to Hel plague the land, summoning swarms of vermin and causing disease in living things. She cares for nothing other than the spread of death. Oddly, some evil bards worship her. She resides on a plague-ridden plane in Hades.

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Kal’Ay-Mah, The Black One, The Black Mother

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Death, Destruction, Law, Knowledge
Symbol: A blood-covered woman with four arms wearing a necklace of skulls
Garb: Blood-stained robes adorned with skulls and the severed limbs of enemies
Favored Weapon: Longsword
Typical Worshippers: Assassins, religious scholars

The goddess Kal’Ay-Mah, the Black Mother, is the bringer of destruction and preserver of order. She is called patron to both assassins and those seeking greater understanding, an often-confusing set of extremes to those who fail to truly grasp Kal’Ay-Mah’s divine role. The Black Mother is described as a truly fearsome creature by those who have claimed contact with her avatar — a black face wetted with blood, the heads of those she has slain hanging about her neck and their severed arms as a girdle about her waist. Four great arms stretch from her body, a bloody sword gripped in her upper left hand and the head of a demon gripped by the lower left. If these grotesque features alone had failed to capture attention, the eyes surely would — dark, ruinous and raging.