The Lost Gods
Gods and Deities. The waking gods have tales and stories aplenty. Books and sermons dedicated to their prayers and beliefs fill many halls of many religious centers and the devout. Continued tales of their deeds abound fill those trying to fill the followers of their gods to the correct path of life. But what of the gods thought lost or who have died over the eons? Are they dead or just sleeping, staying out of sight from the eyes and prayers of man? Only the true dreams know the real answer.
Before you get started please be aware that this is a Hewdamia submission. In order to completely understand some of the content that is within this scroll you would need to read the History of Hewdamia, at least the 1st Era.
Some scholars and religious historians believe that nothing in this world, and universe, can be utterly destroyed. Burn wood with fire and it turns to heat and ash. Allow water to dry, evaporate and it turns to clouds and rain. Bury a body in the ground, only for it to be consumed by smaller creatures to keep the circle of life continuing. In a basic sense this is true. In the divine sense, it takes on much larger proportions.
The thought is, how can you kill something that is so vast, so powerful, and so infinite as a god? You can’t. Some claim that as wood turns to ash when burned, so does the essence of the fallen god. Except with something so vastly more powerful than ash is left behind. It is said that the gods who have died or who are lost are no longer in their true form but as near to their basic form as possible.
What that means is that the gods thought lost or who have died in the divine battles is not gone. Although they do not answer prayers in the same fashion as before, they are still alive, only changed. They are walking among the mortals of the world in guises no mortal could comprehend. While they still retain a portion of their memories and a small amount of their abilities and powers, they are still mortal. They do not age as fits their divine birth but they can be killed. All know this and usually stay from harms way as often as possible.
The living gods have little knowledge of their former companions as they are assumed dead or gone completely. They put them from their mind and ignored the signs of their passing. If the truth was determined they would simply ignore them as insignificant mortals like the rest, not knowing that the small bug that bites can cause a house to fall if not checked.
The gods listed below are though gone and lost. Dead to the world and their followers. Unable to answer their pleas of prayer. Either declared dead during the Contention of Aborior or lost to the ages, they are no longer a viable deific figure. When the two newest gods were raised the surviving gods assumed to took all of the essence of those who had fallen to give them divine status. It is claimed that when Aduivo and Sceleris were raised to godhood they took the essence and powers of the fallen gods. This is true to a small degree, as nothing can be destroyed only a small amount was needed to raise these two to their position of power, the rest is still there waiting.
Bharat
Much to the pleasure of the twin brother gods Perteum and Gotruis, Bharat fell during the Contention of Aboiror. Or he was removed by the brother-gods, no one knows and those who do are not speaking of it. He brought the knowledge of warmth and fire to mortals, which is what alienated him from the twin sun gods.
He now travels the lands helping those in need to rebuild their lives. If he comes to a home or a village on rough times, he stays for a while to help rebuild homes, help plow fields, or tend the injured. He never stays for long, a few months at most, but when he leaves the people and happiness he leaves behind is lasting. Few remember his name but they remember the stranger who helped rebuild their lives.
Caedmon
Much to the pleasure of most of the gods, he fell during the war of the gods. Or Sethalis murdered him or so it is thought. Few of the gods held him in contempt for his actions as nothing but chaos followed in Caedmon's wake. He brought murder and war to the mortals and reveled in the agony of his gift.
Because of he is more of an alter ego for the four faced god Ishchali, it is not known what really happened to Caedmon. He is malicious and cruel. He tries to supplant most other gods when he arrives to a new world. His goal is to create as much chaos and mayhem as he can traveling from kingdom to kingdom causing as many problems as he can. It is even rumored that he has gathered what few true demons are on the world and is pushing them for conquest.
Dubaku
The father of dragons, he brought his children to the world when the others fled here. He led them to the crust below and bade them to hide for he knew that trouble would brew quickly with so many different gods vying for authority. While his followers were few they were devote, the fabled Dragon Priests who were able to tame the mighty dragons were the stuff of legends and tales.
When Dubaku died, he transferred his essence into that of a mighty dragon. He fled to where his children rested and taught them of what he had learned of the world. He set them out of their hiding to feed and to mate, calling them back shortly after not wishing to destroy the lands as his children were still young and weak minded. Dragons are large, but the dragon that Dubaku has taken as his form is massive even beyond scale. He resides in a series of impassably mountains that few mortals could survive passing.
Gutxi
The mother of the Olwynn and the creator of mental magic, Gutxi tried to flee her death during the war of the gods but she was swept up in its wake and unable to escape the inevitable. While she fled her physical essence, she led her mind travel the world and the skies learning. She traveled to her children and entered their rulers one after another, passing her knowledge to the next decade after decade.
The rulers of the Olwynn are always female and they must undergo a ritual of acceptance in order to take the mantle of power. Those who are deemed worthy to take this test are gathered before the current Mother Ruler, Gutxi then travels from one mind to the next choosing her next worthy host. Once she chooses the previous ruler falls to the floor unconscious, few seldom live for more than a few months after she leaves their mind. She does this in order to keep her followers strong to her cause, knowing they worship the living gods per her instructions but to pray to her as well for when she returns she will reward her faithful.
Horatius
He was the harbinger of seasons and harvest. He brought farming to mortals to be able to survive off the land instead of needing to murder animals for food. He was the quietest of the gods, keeping to himself carving out a piece of the world that he cared for.
He of the fallen gods has fallen closest to the tree of fate. When he was thrust into his mortal coil he did what he knew best, he started farming. He has a large estate in the fertile plains to the south where few people bother him. Their shamans fear him as being bad magic. All around him the land is plagued with hordes of the corrupted, yet they leave him to his peace. He slowly toils away the centuries working the land doing amazing things with his remaining abilities. His land is difficult to get to, as the hordes keep everyone out by killing anything that comes to near them, which fits his secluded lifestyle perfectly.
All of his crops hold special properties that are coveted by the few who have found their way to him. He never angers at their approach or the taking of a small portion of his harvest and will gladly sit and tell and listen to tales of old. His crops heal the injured, refresh the body and repair the mind. He silently waits the time when he is needed again.
Kiamana
The father of the sea. He filled the ocean with life while the others were filling the lands with souls. He taught mortal men to navigate and respect the sea, all the while showing how to get life from it. He was often found watching the crashing and swells of the breakers for years before his death, marveling at their beauty he would often be found saying.
After his death, he traveled to the ocean of his desire and relived his memories in the storms and waves. When his anger at his death surpassed he turned to mortal form to spend his eons. He took the guise of a sea captain and is well known to travel to the deepest parts of the water to bring back the rarest of beauties to be seen and worshiped by everyone. He always takes a new crew and those who leave never remember who he was exactly, his face, his name, his speech is always different. But his demeanor and manner is always the same, he is gruff and respectful of the open water and those who are not pay with his wrath.
Odhran
The creator of the green world. Odhran, with the help of Horatius, created the world of green. The vegetation that sprouted upon the world was at his behest. He filled it with wondrous foliage that he wanted the mortals to appreciate and love. Much to his displeasure they tore it down to build their homes and their weapons. He was angered most of all at this during the war of the gods, that the mortals below held no respect for the natural world. His death was swift as he argued his case to the others who wouldn't listen.
Upon his death he traveled to the deepest jungles to gather his strength. While he was there he found that the sin of mortals would not stop at simply tearing a tree down for warmth and wood, but to clear land for games and entertainment. Caring little for what happened to those that lived there, whether it was insect, animal, or plant. He gathered his fleeting powers and slowly began to corrupt that he once loved. The end outweighs the evil in his eyes but he twists the lands around him to fight back against the onslaught of mortal men. Giving life to plants and trees to seek out the murderers of the woods and pay them back ten fold for their actions.
Throughout the centuries tales of entire forests uprooting and marching down onto a sleeping village is told with distain and horror. The once docile god has now turned twisted in his anger at other mortals contempt and he wishes to pay them back for it.
Innana
As the fabled tower of Babel, when Innana came to the world she brought the knowledge of language so the mortals could communicate. Not only with each other but with the gods in prayer. She also brought with her the feeling of art and the concept of beauty. After her death during the Contention of Aboiror she was thrust to the world in a mortal shell to walk among the children as equals.
In her travels she became aware of a need for beauty, with all of the corruption and wars between mortals and the gods she set out to try and stop as much as she could. She now travels the lands as a mediator between warring factions to halt their aggression. All who sit her council come away refreshed and calm wanting little to do with war. Most of the conflicts she stops are halted for decades or at least until a new party gets involved to stir up relations again.
Shehrevar
He was the creator of real magic, true and powerful. He handed a gift to the mortals that they could not control. The other gods hated him for this gift, telling him that only the divine should have power to control the forces of the weave. It is not known if it was a single god or if more than one caused his death, but it is claimed that the brother gods agreed that he should be removed.
With the loss of the god of magic the living gods could not completely remove it they could only alter it. After the living gods changed how magic could work, in the hopes that mortals could not figure how to use magic again they forgot about the death of the god of magic. When the living gods were changing magic and placing it into the world itself Shehrevar fused himself with it. While throughout the world deposits of the now crystallized magic were scattered, he forced most of the weave into his own body. He now rests deep below the surface cocooned in a huge crystal prison of his own making. He hordes the key to magic and keeps it close. If he was found and his prison shattered magic could be restored to his ancient glory.
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? Responses (5)
I love a good pantheon! And this is a good pantheon. I would pose this question though...Since this is for your home campaign, Hewdamia, why not go the extra step and rename Ptah? Horatius is yet another 'gods name' that kinda makes you go 'ummmm'. But that is nit-picking is all :D
I do like the intriguing 'background of the gods'. Nice work!
The actuallity of it all is that the gods who 'died' were taken from folklore with a bit of a fantasy twist, some were anyway. Caedmon, I think is the only one I created and he is making his return. The gods who lived were of my own creation. The dead gods only make it to a mention on up to but no more than two pages in my material and thats it. I placed them here to get some ideas out and in the ready for putting up my Hewdamian Gods to have an all encompassing idea.
But I do appreciate the comments and your not knit-picking.
On a side note I do have plans to bring back a few of the gods. It will alter the reality a bit and they will not return with their old names but new identities. Personality changes but having similar abilities that they did in the past.
I have to say I agree with him... I understand that the Lost Gods are taken from mythology, but I don't understand why you need to keep the same old names (Ptah, who was a male god in the original Egyptian, by the way, and the name Horatius I would throw right out).
Whatever, it's your deal. Good post anyway. :)
This is a good piece. Serious, solid, and useful.
Good points and nice elements of mythology and manna energy physics all around.
Most people don't follow up with the free-text or related links, so the 'warning' at the top is a good thing to do. Especially since this is so world dependent.
A good selections of fallen godlings. I like this idea of the 'ash' of dead gods being beings of power.