Gods of Lingusia in the Age of Strife
The
eponymous “Keepers of Lingusia” are the gods of the world, caretakers of
creation and also perhaps its destroyers. The Middle Kingdoms is dominated by a
strong pantheon that is ancient and merged with the northern, southern and
eastern faiths of the land such that it is all regarded as connected. In the
world of Lingusia few men doubt the beliefs of others; they’ve all seen plenty
of evidence to suggest that no one god is the “true” god and all gods have
influence on the world of men. So for most men of the land, they leave the
theology of it all to the priests and clerics.
The priests
of the Middle Kingdoms see the divine hierarchy as divided among the three
great forces: Order, Chaos and Oblivion (more commonly defined as Death in this
context). The gods of order strive to keep peace and law within the world,
while the gods of chaos seek to sew discord and destroy. The gods of oblivion
are the gatekeepers to a realm of judgment and passing, and reflect the
ultimate fate of all beings in the Afterworld.
There is
sometimes a hinted fourth pantheon of gods called the Shadow Pantheon, but
these beings are not discussed in polite society and appear to be at odds with
the other three pantheons. They are seen as celestial beings, sometimes gods,
who have broken away from the ancient trinity of power and seek their own way.
It is because of the gods that strange and unnatural things occur, such as
might be found in the planes of shadow, among the undead, and in the uneasy
disorder that the world experiences which has nothing to do with the gods of
chaos.
The legacy
of these pantheons is buried in a series of tomes, 29 strong, called the Idean
Codices. A codex is an ancient form of book which opens, accordion-like, to
reveal folded pages. Each Idean Codex is filled with hundreds of such pages
filled with tiny, ancient script in a language now abandoned by all save
priests and wizards called the Old Tongue. The Idean Codices are spread out
throughout the Middle Kingdoms and kept in many regions of the world, but a
complete set of all 29 known tomes are held in the Grand Temple of Niras at
Hyrkan’ien, and a second set of copies is in the hands of the Grand Librarium.
The history
of the gods and man are detailed in these sacred tomes, which extends back
100,000 years and further. The oldest stories speak of a time before humans,
and of an ancient, cosmic war between the gods and an older race of chaos lords
called the Skaeddrath. The oldest Idean Codex is found only in fragments but
hints that this war was won at great cost.
The gods
created a first race, sentient beings called the Prehunates in the ancient
translations (Old Tongue for “those who came before”). Much of the early tomes
speak of the vast power these ancients acquired, and how they rose to challenge
the very gods themselves. The gods destroyed the Prehunates, wiping out their
civilization in a cataclysm that left the earth ruptured and explains the
anomalous regions of the world, such as the sunken basin the Amech Jungles and
the shattered isles of Karaktu. This cataclysm was the way that paved the path
to the modern world, and according to the Idean Codices the event happened
roughly 12,000 years ago. In this era mankind, elves and other races were but
simple beings who had been in thrall to the Prehunates; afterwards, they were the
lords of a shattered but plentiful realm.
With the
rise of the human and demihuman races came an era of tribalism, agrarian
development and sedentism. Most of the lore of this age is lost to time, but
some bits and pieces of the Idean Codices detail snippets of rulers, events and
ceremonies of these lost ages. It is within these pages that the earliest rise
of the first dynasty of the old Hyrkanian kings is found, for example.
The Idean
Codices become increasingly detailed and comprehensive as they close in on the
era of more modern human empires, and a single great tome is dedicated to
transcribing in exacting detail the events of the year in which the “War of the
Gods” wracked the Middle Kingdoms and shattered the physical presence of the
divine beings upon the mortal plane. An entire second book was written just to
record the locations, ceremonies and events surrounding the burial of hundreds
of seraphs, demons and gods in the Mountains of the Gods, which would later be
redubbed the Mountains of Madness by later generations as the creeping
influence of chaos seeped into the valleys and peaks of the immense mountain
range, driving out all but the hardiest or most monstrous from habitation in
the region.
The “War of
the Gods” is a curious event in the theological timeline of man’s study of the
gods, for up to that point gods of all pantheons were described as walking the
earth, granting divine power to their mortals directly, and often influencing
the affairs of man directly. Behind the scenes, according to the Sacred Codex
of Lineage, the Idean Codex which takes great pains to outline the familial
relationships of the gods, it was apparent that these immortals were stricken
with a great power play spiraling out of a large number of interpersonal
conflicts that had been building up over centuries or even eons, and the war
was the culmination of this buildup. In the end, it was the possession and use
of the three cosmic Orbs which fueled the fire that led to the conflict, and
over these orbs a terrible battle was brought down upon the mortal plane.
Ostensibly
the war was what created a fragmented trinity of pantheons…..the gods were
indelibly separated into three distinct groups when it was all over, each one
aligned with one of the sacred Orbs of Divine Power which fueled the universe.
These Orbs were very real objects, and posed a problem for the mortals left
standing in the wake of the year-long battle between the gods, the seraph and
the demons of their celestial and abyssal armies.
As it
happened, not all gods were slain in their physical forms; the deity Aurumurvox
remained in the ruined city of the gods called Corti’Zahn and declared he would
remain the keeper of the Orb of Oblivion, and it was through him that the
mortals of the world were informed that the gods had survived, in spirit, for
this battle was not about the murder of the divine but instead about the
removal of the divine from the mortal plane.
The other
two Orbs, however, were a problem to contend with: the Orb of Life and Order
and the Orb of Chaos both rested unguarded in the ruins of Corti’Zahn, and it
was decided by the priests of the era that these orbs would be taken away by
chosen agents, and placed in remote regions of the world where they would never
again pose a threat to the world or call down upon the wrath of the gods in a
cosmic war.
To do this,
two were chosen: a young man who had studied magic and mysticism named Warenis,
and a soldier of the south named Xauraun who had fought with the troops who
served in the name of the god Dalroth. Each was tasked with taking the orbs
away, that they never be a threat to mankind or the Empire again.
The stories
of where these orbs went are varied, but some details and speculation are known
even today. Among these tales is the fact that both men who spirited the orbs
away were possessed of their power and made immortal reincarnates; they were
forever barred from death, and some say with each reincarnation would remain
empowered by the orbs, no matter where the cosmic artifacts rested.
Warenis is
believed to have carried his orb far to the north, and to have forged a link
with it in a sacred emblem of gold in the form of Naril’s Ankh, which he later
bestowed as a gift upon the Grand Temple of the sun god in Hyrkan’ien. With the
gift of the orb he also made his wizard’s staff a powerful artifact, one which
was imbued with his memories and knowledge to aid him in future reincarnations.
Xauraun, meanwhile,
is said to have journeyed to the westernmost coast of the world and still
didn’t feel it was far enough to conceal the Orb of Chaos, so he took a ship
across the Endless Ocean where he discovered a lost land, and bequeathed upon
this realm the Orb of Chaos for safe-keeping. Like Warenis he linked the
essence of the Orb into a codex, the Malleus Malificarum, which he returned to
the Middle Kingdoms with and kept close at his side. In time he learned a great
deal about magic from the tome, and is believed to have used his wizardrly to
imbue his armor and blade with great magic.
While the
two immortal champions would not be worshipped as gods, their influence on how
the gods were worshipped was felt over many generations when they would
reincarnate into the world. Such was it that the notion of a pantheon of order,
a pantheon of chaos, and a discreet third pantheon of oblivion came to be
cemented in modern theological thought.
Over the
last two thousand years the development of the cults of the Middle Kingdoms has
been one of strife, warfare, persecution and occasional moments of tolerance.
The question of which gods exist has never been in dispute; rather, the
strength of a god is known by his or her worshippers, and the spirit of that
god is believed to be strengthened and magnified to affect the world around
those followers through sheer faith, creating miracles. Single personalities of
great devotion are rewarded with divine magic….it is ultimately unquestionable
that the gods exist, and through belief gain power.
Rather, the
question of the gods has been one of dominance. In 2,090 there are several
deities of greater prominence and power than any others, with the lion’s share
of worshippers. These include:
Naril, the sun god and patron deity of
the empire
Selene, the goddess of the elves and
moon
Death the Nameless One, who stalks the
gray road to the Afterworld, and is one of the Gods of Death
Zingar, god of the hunt and lord of the
land
Nistur, the lord of secrets and
knowledge
Mitra, goddess of the lands of Octzel
Set, the god of deceit and malice, who
is revered by all serpentkin and lizardmen
Ashturak, the forger god and creator of
dwarves
Phonatas, the goddess of fertility and
love
Elisin, the goddess of music and
culture
On the other
side of the fence there is an impressive cult following known sometimes as the
Divinate and at other times as the nameless rabble that seek out the Chaos Gods
to attain raw and unfettered power. The Chaos gods do indeed seem to be very
generous with rewarding their followers, and include:
Dalroth, the lord of the courts of
chaos and embodiment of cruel power
Slithotep, rewawakened lord of madness
and destruction
Hargameth, the god of war, and the only
lord of chaos to be revered among soldiers of the empire
Baragnagor, the beast god and creator
of orcs
Orcus, the demon god of the undead
There are
many gods of lesser power who nonetheless are important figure in modern
religious thought, culture and politics. These gods of more obscure but still
important nature include:
Haro, lord of assassins and patron of
the Fire Knives
Etah, the golden traveler
Huuarl, the lord of time
Very nice! Even a few actionable adventure hooks.
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