Deep Space Subsector 2

More Traveller that has seen print before, but which I felt deserved a place in the blog. These linked worlds have no map; you can insert them into whatever sector you need a collection of odd worlds to explore. These are not specifically part of the Ad Astra setting, but they could be.

Deep Space Subsector 2
There are many remote worlds in the Penumbra Sector of space, stretching out along the edge of the known Commonwealth. What follows is a smattering of planets from this region, in Deep Space Subsector 2, ready for the referee to drop down in to any particular region he needs to populate with a handful of exotic, remote worlds.

Regeren
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Regeren is a wasteworld, a relic planet that suffered a terminal meltdown to do as yet unknown causes approximately 2,000 years ago. It was founded by human colonials, possibly from a STL sleeper ship, almost 4,000 years ago. The Regeren culture was prolific and expansive, but something led to its downfall. Warfare is clearly evident, and they even seem to have dropped asteroid payloads on their own cities as weapons.

There is no active starport at Regeren, but there is a small scientific research expedition headed bu the Utopia Prime Exoarchaelogical Institute. The leader of this expedition if Prof. Carol Dranir, who is workinghard to uncover the myster of what happened to this TL 12 society before it was eradicated, and whether they did it to themselves or it was from an outside group.

There is a hidden class D starport manned by the Sathar Consortium in the region, and used by friendlies to the Sathar normally labeled pirates in Penumbra space.

Recently, the four communications relay beacons and satellites in orbit went offline, and Prof. Dranir needs them repaired/replaced, as well as info on what happened to them. Moreover, visitors arriving will receive a brief, strange burst of data from groundside that seems to have come from a relic structure; the data is encrypted using techniques common to Regeren’s military.

Vortex
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Vortex is the appellation commonly used to describe what happens to crafts’ instrumentation when approaching this world….to most it’s like “slipping in to a vortex.” This anomalous amber-class world is presently being studied by the Starcom Science Institute out of Paridas for evidence of what is going on here, both on the planet and in the system. The head of the institute, Dr. Richard Chandler, is a congenial fellow who decries the corporate military presence to be found here in favor of the scientific endeavors. He believes that evidence of progenitor technology—the local phenomenon of the two-million year old species which affected so much of this sector and its neighbors so long ago—may be responsible for the anomalies, but so far the only direct evidence of progenitor presence is in the form of a vast dish-like object circling Vortex’s sun in its own trajectory near the Kuiper belt.

Recently, Dr. Chandler lost contact with his crew working on the alien artifact, and he needs someone to investigate.

Paridas
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Capitol of this subsector and central station of activity for the TSA, the PSS and The Scout Service. Paridas is as close to normal as you will get in Deep Space Subsector 2. The planet serves as a principal waystation for local authorities as well as Commonwealth ships, and is the central hub in the region for interstellar communications and news. With multiple outlying gas giants, the system provides ample resources for ships relying on processed refueling, and it is heavily patrolled, insuring that most pirates and other raiders from beyond the rift do not bother the mercantile traffic in the region.

Than’kk
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A polity of Paridas, this world has a large migrant population of adapted humans as well as the local indigenes called the Athan’ka, which are a form of intelligent cetecaean. The population has thrived here for centuries, but most of its technological evolution has revolved around adapting to life on a water world.

Skaltin
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Skaltin is the first gateway world in this region to the Penumbra Nebula expanse. Skaltin is a virtual lawless planet, populated by succeeding immigrant waves of various extremiss, revolutionaries and expatriates over the centuries. It has arranged for a nominal political position in the Penumbra Collective, allowing the PSS to maintain a base of activities here, but there is little actual authority in the region outside of the twelve “families” that keep the system running. There is a vigorous local economy centered around belt mining and fuel extraction from the three jovian-class planets in-system. The “twelve” like the PSS here mostly as a deterrent from rampant piracy. The local PSS commander is Commodore Alice Burns, a weary older woman who at once is horribly pessimistic, but secretly loves the challenge of this system.

Gassar
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Gassar is a small indendent colony of rebels who believe that jovians (4) of the system show strong evidence of intelligence life brewing in their depths. The locals are cult-like in their observation and study of these beings, and have been trying to communicate with them for two decades. Gassar itself is a small barely habitable moon, and it is unclear how they sustain themselves with such meager facilities and limited contact. Their leader is Andon Poorman, a man wanted by the Terran Authority many sectors away for a veritual genocidal crime many decades ago.

The Sathar have a secret military installation here, and they are interested in the work going on at Gassar, so they provide funds and resources in exchange for the data the colony generates. It is a class C military outpost.

Ages of Lingusia: the Chaos Gods

 

Principle Gods of Chaos:

Baragnagor

Profile: Orcs and goblinoids, deformity, monsters, might, battle

Alignment: chaos

Baragnagor is one of Selene’s bastard offspring, or possibly a nephew. The deformed idiot god is considered to have lacked imagination or full ability, having been tainted by chaos. At the dawn of creation, he observed the other deities creating their children, the many races of the world. He is said to have been unable to produce beings of his own, and so he stole the body of man and the head of a beast from the other gods. He jammed the parts together at random, and created the orcs and other beast-kin races. The orcs take this as gospel, though it does not bother them that their god might be simple in mind. Instead, the idea of a being who’s thought is singular means, in the orcish mind-set, that his vision is clear for battle, a far more important virtue. Still, the priests of Baragnagor seem to have no problem scheming within the clans of the orcs.

   Baragnagor is a conventional patron of the orcs, and most all tribes at least have a shrine or shaman dedicated to him, even if they have also chosen to follow another deity or demon lord. Baragnagor means strength, victory, and the defeat of enemies in the orcish mindset.

   As Baragnagor is a chimeric being, followers tend to regard other chimeric creatures as divine. Orcish tribes who find a nest of chimerae, for example, will try to tame them and raise the infants to be war beasts.

   Baragnagor is depicted as a great, deformed giant with the head of a crocodile and tail of a dragon. His form changes over time, and his skin is at once furry, scaly, and feathered. He is a terrible, chmeric creature.

Belphegor

Profile: power, lust, pain, torture, angst, fear, envy, hate, batrachian undead

Alignment: chaos

   This fallen demiurge of Chaos is said to have died more deaths than most. Having been an ancient devonin lord ensorcelled in to the service of the Prehunate Empire ten thousand years ago, Belphegor was slain on the fields of battle when the gods cast down the heretical pre-human civilization of old. Thousands of years later, the dark necromancers of the Kadantanian Empire sought to resurrect the demon god, and he was brought to life through much sacrifice, rising from the festering remains of his subterranean tomb to live anew. For centuries, the Kadantanians were a force to be reckoned with, but at last they were destroyed in war, and Belphegor’s vampiric undeath could not be sustained. He fell once again in to deathly slumber, only to be awakened again by agents of Draskis, in which descendents of the Kadantanian necromancers had found new power. He became the patron god of the doomed city Draskis, and it’s vile inhabitants eventually set about to creating a new temple-tomb in which Belphegor’s undead body could reside. The Temple of Necropolis Damniskovus was completed just recently, and already it’s evil presence is causing strife in the lands of Cymeer.

   Belphegor manifests as a terrible black toad, the size of a dragon. Upon his back are the countless souls of his most faithful, flailing their limbs about, trapped in his form like abominable warts. He can release these trapped beings, who defend him as various demons and undead.

Dalroth

Profile: lord of chaos, bringer of apocalypse

Alignment: chaos

Dalroth is the dark lord of the chaos pantheon, and his followers serve chaos with their very lives. No good or sane being is known to follow him, though evil nations have chosen to follow Dalroth, but the society as a whole falls in to such corruption and chaos that it eventually succumbs to anarchy.

   Dalroth is described as one of the fist generation of ancient gods, sometimes described as the brother of Naril. He was born in to the world a corrupt being, and from birth knew his destiny was to serve the furtherment of Mala’Kor, lord Chaos itself.

   In the Codex of Creation, Dalroth is described as the overseer of Armaggedon, the god who shall hearld the end of everything. He is said to have forged the Abyss by order of Mala’Kor, and to have bled freely of his own blood, each drop landing upon the boiling earth of the newly created Abyss, spawning the infinte armies of the devonin, his people.

   Dalroth is a pervasive influence throughout the world. His legacy in the history of Lingusia is great, and he was the lead general of the forces of Chaos in the War of the Gods. He is a betrayer, destroyer, and the symbol of corruption and power at any cost among the Middle Kingdoms. His followers almost always begin as evil men and women who seek ways to further themselves, and quickly succumb to the siren call of evil and destruction which Dalroth advocates. His priests are sometimes called Entropomancers.

   Dalroth’s strongest followers include the Black Circle of Dahik, a coven of priests and wizards dedicated to chaos which have recently survived a coup deep within the Ashtarth empire. In far Galonia, two different sects followed his call of doom, including the Red Robes, a corrupted branch of the Circle of Twelve, magicians all who seek greater magical power through the study of Dalroth’s will, and the cultists of the Dark Pharoah, Lord Xauraun reborn as the divine ruler of that southern realm (though he is formally known as Xaros).

   The Red Robes are sometimes called “The Order of Circles” by its members, for there are ten circles of illumination and advancement. The first nine are held by various elightened priests, and the tenth is held by the solitary Grand Mage, who is always cloaked in secrecy, and whose name and identity are never truly known. It is said that those who reach the ninth and tenth levels alone are privy to the true secrets of the Lords of Chaos, and that they are given a permanent place of power in the afterlife of the Abyss.

Haro

Profile: assassins, profit from death, treachery, murder             

Alignment: chaos

   Haro is the lord of assassins and the principle deity of worship in the enigmatic cult of the Fire Knives, an ages-old cult of assassins that revere this dark chaos god. More about the cult and its beliefs can be found in the section on Orders and Organizations of Lingusia.

Kathak

Profile: insects, plagues, famine

Alignment: chaos

The dread lord of the insects, a god king of Ethenur, the dreamlands, Kathack is the embodiment of the mystical unknown and the unknowable. Beasts and insects inhuman and beyond imagining, are said to have sprung in to existence from the errant dreams of this dark and prodigious god.

   Kathack has few, if any human worshippers, but among the insect men of Karaktu, the khitteck spiderfolk of the Faerie Woods, and the kattachi scorpionmen of the Hyrkanian Deserts, Kathack is dark and fearsome lord.

   The worship of Kathack among his spawn is varied. Those who seek his power supplicate and obey, turning to dark and ominous means of gaining their god’s favor. Others, less inclined to the spirit of evil and touched by the spirit of Ga’Thika, seek only to offer sacrifice or worship in exchange for warding bad luck or being left alone. The khitteck, expecially, have no overt interest in the pursuit of evil as a species, and tend only to see Kathack as the god who blesses their hunt.

Appearance: Kathack appears as many different monstrous beings, usually being depicted as belonging to the species which is worshipping him in a given area. Kathack’s true form is ever-changing, a great mass of parts and pieces belonging to all of his spawn.

Orcus

Profile: keeper of undead, lord of darkness, gladiators, pits

Alignment: chaos

   Orcus is one of several demon lords who have risen to such prominence that they are worshipped as if they were gods by the monstrous denizens of the world. Orcus aspires to become the dark lord of the undead, a position of great opposition among the Death Patheon of Lingusia.

Slithotep

Profile: madness, insanity, chaos, obsession, and nothing

Alignment: chaos

Slithotep is the mad offspring of the elder gods Naril and Selene, brother to Death, and the betrayer of all things living. His madness and the reasons for it are manifold, chief among which is his inherent instability as a being composed of chaotic energies.

   Slithotep has long plagued the world, and his mortal form, like so many other gods, was destroyed in the War of the Gods. His body was lain to rest in the Slithotendan Mountains, where his corrupting essence consumed the very land and aided in turning the once beautiful region in to a place of madness and decay. In fact, Slithotep did not truly die, for his body, composed of the essence of Chaos, existed outside the fabric of reality, and he gradually reformed a material form. His body takes on many shapes, but in recent centuries Slithotep has taken on the form of whole structures and buildings, including the weeping citadel of the Hyrkanian Deserts and the Hut of the Wailing Woman in Mitra’s Forest. Some think the Wailing Woman, a mad witch is Slithotep’s avatar, but they are wrong; she is a woman he took as his mortal wife at one time, long ago, and whom he will not let die, even though his corruption has driven her permanently mad.

   Because of the purile and horrific practices associated with Slithotep’s worship, the cultists who follow the god are of a particularly deviant nature. All true dedicates to Slithotep must choose a form of madness, usually of a psychotic, delusional or sociopathic nature. Even if they didn’t have a mental problem before joining the cult, the rituals involved in indoctrination guarantee that the cultist is mentally scarred afterward.

Appearance: Slithotep can take any form, living or inanimate, and any size, shape, or substance within reason. There are some who have met Slithotep, even entered his very belly in the form of a great hall or keep, and never even known it. Anyone doing so, however, must make a Wisdom check at -5 each hour to avoid a creeping, permanent debilitating madness from setting in.

Phaedra

Profile: Shadows and darkness, undeath

Alignment: chaos

   Phaedra in this era is an unknown; she is the goddess of Shadow and has manifested in that domain as its ruler thanks to the chronomantic ledergdemain of her lord Unarak. Together, Phaedra and Unarak have managed to use the chronomantic meddling of Huuarl and his agent Aeon to traverse the timestream and reappear in the past, with no one able to amend their actions. Each entity returned as a shade, a wisp of their future selves; Phaedra possessed the body of a mortal woman who was her ancestor.

   To date Unarak and Phaedra have stolen the power of Vishannu, whom they had an advantage over, for in their future his treacherous secrets had been laid bare and the two stole a powerful prehunate artifact from him, one whould could steal the divine essence of an actual god. They subsequently took this divine spark and used it to steal the shadow kingdom from Penumbros, who now lies exiled and powerless in the dark wastelands of the Shadow Kingdoms. Once their kingdom was secure, the two assassinated the ancestors of the demigod Thalion, who would one day rise up to defeat them in the future. Phaedra, drunk with new power, now conspires with Unarak on their next actions.

Thasrik

Profile: slavery, control, domination, subjugation, castes           

Alignment: chaos

   Thasrik is an ancient Lord of Chaos, one of the most vile ands corrupt, but surprisingly unmotivated in comparison to his cohorts. Thasrik gains power through the subjugation of others, and wherever societies go bad and begin the wanton enslavement of one another, the presence of Thasrik’s secretive order can’t be far away.

   Thasrik’s order, sometimes called the Servants of the Dominator, are strongest in Hadros, where they are endorsed by the Emperor himself, and have a visible footing in the slave-driven lands of Hotepsala, a land which depends on the productivity of slaves for its great monument building. His cults appear more secretively throughout Lingusia and Takkai as well, inserting themselves in to otherwise normal lands and spending years chiseling away at the foundations of established social systems to try and foment a desire among the superior classes for a stronger and harsher system of slavery and abuse.

   Many gladiatorial arenas throughout the Middle Kingdoms are also prime locations for the Order of the Dominator to make an appearance, as the castigation and execution of slaves in the arena is considered an especially desirable effect for this deity.

   Thasrik’s symbol is the Old Tongue runes for pain and humiliation, but his physical form, which is rarely ever pictured, is that of an immense, bloated demon dressed in a black cloak and hood, wielding a whip and spear.

Unarak

Profile: undeath

Alignment: chaos

   Unarak is one of two active gods of the so-called Shadow Pantheon. With Phaedra he has returned to the past, exploiting a loop in time created by Huuarl and his minion Aeon when they sent agents back in time to prevent the formation of the ancient book of prophecy that would awaken the Skaeddrath and lead to the destruction of the world in fifteen hundred years. Unarak originally rose to power after the alternate timeline’s cataclysm, during which a vacuum amongst the gods and a severing of ties to the planes allowed the lich king once known as Anharak to sieze control over the domain of undeath. He broke the tethers between the souls of the dead and the afterlife, forcing the souls to migrate back to the plane of the living, where he forced them to reanimate in the bodies of the dead. A plague of undead, called the Plague of Unarak, spread, and it took two centuries before it was completely contained after a band of young avatars rose to defeat him and end his magic.

   In this distant future Unarak was cast down, but now he has an opportunity to redeem himself, for the dreaded god’s shadow spirit has escaped back in time, taking advantage of the Time Lord’s efforts to destroy a much greater threat to the world, to reposition himself and his favored ally Phaedra to strike out against the realm in a time and place when he is relatively unknown.

   Both Unarak and Phaedra found host bodies, Unarak presenting himself to Anharak, the mortal sorcerer whom he once was before he became a lich, and informing him of the inevitable defeat, death, and rebith he would undergo before his rise to godhood six centuries hence, followed by another defeat shortly thereafter. It took little convincing to his younger self to bond with the shade of the future, and Unarak seized control of his old body’s mind, snuffing out what he once was and remaking himself anew.

   Unarak and Phaedra then joined together, to exploit the second known weakness. Deep in the jungles of Amech, in a prehunate ruin lost to time, they found an amulet that allowed one to siphon the divine power of a god from his dying form. They knew of this amulet from their future alliance with the traitorous god Vishannu, who was in their alternate future responsible for the Cataclysm through his manipulations. They then sought out Vishannu and mortally wounded him in a moment of surprise, using the amulet to steal his life force. They were partially successful; Vishannu’s favored avatar and champion Avolakita stopped them at the last moment, and with his last breath he gave her his remaining divinity. She is now a demigoddess, and seeks revenge against the Shadow Pantheon.

   Unarak and Phaedra then travelled to the remote demiplane called the Shadow Kingdom, and struck quickly and decisively, stealing the domain from Penumbros, as well as stealing his divinity. Penumbros was not slain, but now lurks in the far corners of the Shadow Plane, conspiring about how to restore his divnity and kingdom.

   From their new throne the two began a process of seeking out the known ancestors of the avatars that had slain Unarak in the future, and snuffing them out. Thalion’s clan was first, and more are yet to come. Such a complete revenge has rarely been seen in the history of the world.

   Unarak’s powers of undeath are strong, but they are hindred by the power the Cataclysm gave him in the future. Unarak has not yet solved the question of how to create a new Undead Plague, for he knows that to recreate the Cataclysm would invite certain destruction at the hands of the Skaeddrath once they are freed from imprisonment, and so he is contemplating other options to achieve power in this young era…perhaps, even, to find a way of usurping the power of the dangerous but disordered Chaos Pantheon, using his knowledge of future events to his advantage against Dalroth, Slithotep, Haro and others…

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ages of Lingusia: The Death Gods!

Source

Just in time for Halloween....

Principle Gods of Death:

Akuuris

Profile: dreams, fortune telling, visions, third sight, insects

Alignment: neutrality

   Akuuris the dreaming god is the lord of Ethenur, and master of oineriomancy (divination through dreams). He manifests as an immense humanoid insect, and indeed is followed by insectoid species as well as those who have learned to commune with the god and visit the dream plane through meditate practices and psychotropic extracts.

Akuuris' cults spread secretly throughout the world of Lingusia like a thin but tenacious spider web. His most active and visible cultists are in Karaktu, but Akuuris is a god in every land, worshipped in those sultry, smoke-filled dens of mystery. The priests of Akuuris contend that all men pay homage to Akuuris when they fall in to dream-filled slumber.

   Akuuris is the slumbering lord of night, a god who wandered for more millennia than man has existed, and at last settled down in the Dreamlands of Ethenur, a hazy demiplane of mystery, which exists nowhere and everywhere at once. His first great dreams were said to spawn the races of the insects, and the Inkidii, who see him as their creator god. He was the first god to dream, it is said, and when he discovered the dreamlands, he sought to share is discovery with all beings, and so it is that most sentients can walk through dream in slumber.

   It is said that you can travel physically to the dreaming plane through the Ethereal realms, but the cultists of Akuuris learned long ago how to move their in dreams by harvesting and smoking the leaf of the blue lotus. A plant that is rare, found only in the East of Zued, Al’Jhira, and Karaktu, the blue lotus serves as the medium by which the soul of the dreamer can transcend reality and arrive in a simulated physical form in Ethenur.

Elisin

Profile: ancients, old age, the veneration of elders, wisdom

Alignment: lawful

   Elisin is the goddess of ancient wisdom, old age, and long life. Elisin is usually depicted in sacred murals as an ancient woman of half-elvish and human descent, wise beyond imagining and surrounded by adoring children.

   Elisin is seen in some tales as a harsh old woman who observes or imparts tough life lessons on the young in a “Grimm’s Tales” sort of fashion. Among elvish poets and bards, she is spoken of as an infinitely kind and wise woman who dwells in the depths of the Weirding, and is the keeper of the Spring of Knowledge, from which the essence of learning is drawn. Most suspect that both views are right.

   There is no cult of Elisin, though it is said that there was a strong priesthood before the War of the Gods, but they were all killed in her defense when the demons overran Corti’Zahn and slew her mortal form. Her tomb is unknown, and no temple stands in her honor save the ruins of the one in Corti’Zahn.

   Once in a while, a woman of many years who has lost all she care for or loves, but who perseveres in the face of great opposition, is given a vision by Elisin, and receives a calling to take up the faith and worship of this goddess. These few women, wandering the land and aiding the needy and teaching the ignorant, are the select priestesses of Elisin.

Appearance: An elderly, harsh old woman of wizened age and appearance, sometimes kindly.

Hargameth

Profile: warfare, blood and thunder, glory, combat, killing

Alignment: neutrality

Hargameth is a northern god who spread long ago, his aspects being common to all men. Hargameth is the proverbial lord of blood and thunder, the great warrior of the battlefields, the last of the gods to go down fighting in the War of  the Gods, sealing the rift of the Abyss with his own blood before he collapsed.

   Hargameth is a cult which warriors throughout the world, especially barbarians and more visceral fighters who rely on rages, berserkergang, and bloody frenzies to work themselves in to an appropriate mind-set for combat. He is the antithesis of Vishannu, a god who harkens from the east, and represents the strategic element of war, the art of combat, and the finesse or elegant dueling and intrigue.

Appearance: Hargameth is usually depicted as a furious barbarian warrior in full plate, wielding his immense bastard sword and tower shield, stitched from the skins of the thousand devonin generals he has slain. In the afterlife, it is said that the Celestial Kingdom of Hargameth is the final resting ground of truly powerful warriors who fall valiantly in battle. There, they are ascended to the ranks of the Einheriar, spirits of battle who fight the good fight against the Abyssal devonin and all other enemies of the mortal plane.

Karn

Profile: ancestors, reverence for the dead, ancient secrets

Alignment: neutrality

 The record keeper of the dead, Karn is one of the gods of the Afterlife. His following is scattered and his presence as a god is little known outside of those priests who follow one deity of death or another. His worship occurs only in those lands where a need to provide records of the dead have become necessary. As such, his worship can be found in Hyrkania, where great mausoleums of cremated remains can be found, as well as in Galonia, where his worship continued even after all other gods of the Old Galonian pantheon passed on. In the city state of Karan, the ancient tradition of the magiocracy requires that the priests of Karn preside over and record all royal burials. Last but not least, the only death god given recognition beside the Nameless One in Autrengard is Karn, who is said to bar the northern warriors from the afterworld if they cannot recite the names of their forefathers to him, in honor of all their great deeds.

   Karn is sometimes confused with Esyphas in the Middle Kingdoms, but Esyphas is a demigod that holds the Book of the Dead for Kavishkar, and recites the crimes of those to be judged. Karn, however, performs a different duty for the souls of those who worship him, and is more of a secret master to be approached on matters of the afterlife. He is also considered the true scholar of knowledge and lore in the afterlife.

Appearance: Karn is a striking figure, an oligarchic man with kingly and wizardly aspects. However, his face is a sunken image of deathliness, and his eyes hollow voids.

Karsyllym

Profile: justice, mercy, final fate, reincarnation, destruction, executioners

Alignment: lawful

Mistress of the Land of the Dead, Karsyllym is wife to Kavishkar and keeper of the Book of Names. Karsyllym’s duties come after her husband judges the innocence or guilt of a soul, and it is her duty to record the sentence and decree the fate of the being in question. Some are sent to purgatories for whatever period is necessary to purge the soul of its crimes. Others are sent to the celestial kingdoms as servants, and an occasional soul is granted an opportunity for reincarnation. The fates of the dead are many, and Karsyllym knows all of them.

   Karsyllym has a small but dedicated order of men and women, priests who act as the executioners for dire crimes in Hyrkania. Her priesthood is feared by all, for their duty is to insure that those sentenced for their crimes are brought to justice. Often, this simply means carrying out an execution or insuring the offender is taken to the proper prison, but they are expected to puruse those who seek to evade justice, as well, and are coldly efficient bounty hunters.

Appearance: Karsyllym appears as a tall and gaunt woman, sometimes wearing ebon armor, other times a dress of blackest silk. She is flanked by a squadron of ancient guardians, spirit defenders of the eternal darkness called the Invantyr.

Kavishkar

Profile: Justice and the hand of judgment

Alignment: lawful

Serving as the lord of judgement in the Lands of the Dead, Kavishkar’s duty is to determine the guilt or innocence of any soul who must come before him in the afterlife. He holds court in the most ancient, eternal necropolis of the Stygian Darkness, with his queen Karsyllym at his side.

   Any soul who appears before Kavishkar for judgement will be scrutinized carefully. Esyphas, the Record Keeper, is a dreadful servant of Kavishkar who holds the Book of the Dead with him, in which the tales of all misdeeds of those who come to the court are held. While Esyphas read these deeds, Kavishkar scrutinizes the hapless soul, and at its end, he may interrogate the being for further illumination, after which he utters his sentence of innocence or guilt. His wife then takes over, recording the fate of the soul to whatever purgatory awaits. It is then that the Nameless One takes the soul to its appointed rendezvous with eternity.

   In Hyrkania, the Order of Kasdalan is a dedicated priesthood of civic servants and warriors who hunt down the accused and preside over lawful trials to decide the fate of living men. They revere Kaviskhar for his wisdom on such matters and are especially fond of divinatory magic.

Appearance: Kaviskhar is a tall, sallow-eyed king of darkness, with an immense beard and gaunt, pale features. At times, he seems to take on the aspect of a true skeleton or mummy, at others to be merely an ancient, wisened old man. He wears ebon armor made from the laquered bones of those who have defied his judgement.

The Nameless One

Profile: death, passing on, destroyer of undead, harbinger

Alignment: neutrality

The word for death in the Old Tongue is “Koth,” and the word for That Which Must Not Be Named is “Esiros.” When joined together in the proper manner, these words form the Old Tongue title of Death, He Who must Not Be Named: Koth’os. T’Kothos, in fact, means Lord of the Nameless One, Death.

   Death is a being which pervades all cultures and religions in Lingusia, and his Middle Kingdoms incarnation is by far the most forbidding. Throughout the Middle Kingdoms, his priests are the shunned and mysterious Walkers of Final Night. These Walkers are part time morticians, grave diggers, and hunters of the undead. Indeed, the undead are an anathema to The Nameless One, as they are the dead which will not lie in peace. He is guardian of the gates and boundaries of the afterlife, and caretaker of the netherealms where the souls pass through in their transition. He opposes the devonin of chaos who would foul that barrier to steal souls, as well as any mortal who seeks to reclaim one of the dead by reanimating it as an undead being. It is the solemn Duty of Death and his priesthood to find these undead and put them to rest.

Appearance: Death is a massive, giant-like skeletal being wearing ebony armor and wielding the sacred great sword Rishelka, the Ruby Death.

Nephythis

Profile: keeper of tombs and wealth

Alignment: neutrality

   Nephythis was a goddess of the ancient Old Galonian pantheon, a protector of tombs in the mortal world, who saw to the protection of the dead from tomb robbers and necromancers. She is now barely remembered, venerated only by a handful of Galonian families of wealth who keep her spirit alive. Naphythis has seen a minor resurgence in Jhakn, where it has become fashionable to build a shrine to her at the entrance to a family crypt.

   Nephythis was also associated with wealth and prestige, and her image was popular as a patron goddess among the merchants of Old Galonia, and even today she is still given prayers and offerings at special shrines by Galvonarian merchants.

   Nephythis has very few true priests or followers in the present, perhaps only a handful who have felt the calling of the goddess.

    Nephythis was depicted as a comely young Galonian woman in regal azure robes with gold jewelry. Once, she dwelt in a grand palace of pure gold in the celestial kingdom, but now it is said she walks the dreamlands aimlessly, looking for her lost brethren from the pantheon of Old Galonia, and trying to restore her own power.

Trimelin

Profile: deep waters, aquatic undersea dwellers, drowning

Alignment: neutrality

   The mystery of Trimelin is difficult to unravel. God of the watery deeps longbefore Enki came in to fashion, Trimelin is a god recognized by the intelligent aquatic races as a patron and perhaps even creator. The god has temples in some remote locations on the surface, and seems to have been a priesthood for thousands of years, but little or no written material about this god has ever been recorded. Some scholars worry that Trimelin bears a certain similarity to the mysterious ancient gods, the Kraken, but the similarities are tenuous at best.

   Trimelin is depicted as an immense squid-like being dwelling in an ancient city beneath the sea. Some aquatic beings claim to have actually visited this location, and say the god is a very real being, and that he exists only in the material realm. It is possible that he never even participated in the War of the Gods, and thus was never slain in the corporeal world.

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved

Ages of Lingusia: Gods of the Middle Kingdoms II

Neutral Gods:

Set

Profile: evil, lies, ascension of power, corruption of innocent

Alignment: chaos

Set is the eternal prevaricator of evil and corruption, the god who has taken it upon himself to embrace the tenets of ultimate order at any price. He is not a lord of chaos, evne though he is sometimes mistaken for such. His obsessive dedication to deceit is as much an ordered process as truth, and Set’s very existence as a deity depends upon an ordered universe in which his godly powers can work against. The tenets of chaos are in opposition to any truth about which the Keeper of Lies might spin false tales.

   The followers of Set are many, and the largest enclave is in the rigid empire of the Setite serpent men, Hazer’Phennis. Here, the rule of evil is ultimate, and power goes to the most treacherous and conniving. Throughout the world, the setites and other servants of Set seek to further his cause, which might, one day, be to unite the world under his banner of evil and worship.

   Set’s infernal kingdom of evil is known as the Nine Hells, sometimes also called Stygia. Here, Set’s fallen seraphim, the devils of lore, serve him and his dire ends.

   Set is known to take the form of a variety of desert-dwelling beasts, especially that of the snake and the jackal. His mark rests upon the races of his own creation, such as the Jackalmen of the deep deserts in Galvonar, and the Setites of the Hyrkanian Deserts.

Shandrigal

(also called Drolzaros)

Profile: lord of storms and destruction

Alignment: neutrality

   Shandrigal is the enigmatic lord of storms, a weather god with what some would describe as primitive, bestial aspects. He is sometimes worshipped by dragons and their kin, though such worship is seen as heretical among dragonkind.

   In the eastern kingdoms Shandrigal is believed to be a brother of Ravanos and is described as “The Demon of the Winds.” In the north he is called Drolzaros, and is a Wendigo-like banshee in tales.

   Shandrigal is a destructive deity, but is still a nature god, and so does not usually attract the worship of chaos entities.

Vishannu

Profile: art of war and conflict, martial arts, the amazons

Alignment: chaos

   Vishannu began as the god of tactics and warfare in distant Al’jhira of Takkai many thousands of years ago, but migrated to Lingusia, where his temples appeared in early war-torn Zued and eventually were adopted by a truly fanatical cult of women who founded the kingdom of Vyrindia deep within the heart of Amech.

   In this era Vishannu is still expanding, his cult slowly becoming more popular in the Eastern Kingdoms and with the warriors of Amech. Whether he will prove to be the ultimate betrayer god in the distant future as he did in the prior timeline remains to be seen.

   Vishannu wears blood-red armor forged from the heart of the sun. He is tall (9 feet) but moves with alarmingly protean speed. He is startlingly rugged and handsome and very well spoken. He has the army of the Enheriar at his command, as well as a handful of devonin who have defected to his cause. He is courting Wishupar, Ravanos, and certain other gods to serve as his agents and allies in his mysterious schemes.

Plot Hook: In 1,958 Vishannu is assassinated, being the first slain god in almost two thousand years. This coup was distinctive, however, for the perpetrators were two shadowy beings calling themselves Unarak and Phaedra. They used an unknown prehunate device to capture and vampirically siphon away Vishannu’s life force, but the process was interrupted by his greates amazon champion, the avatar Avolakita, who wounds Unarak and drives the two back in to the Shadow Plane. Too late to save her god, Vishannu imparts the last of his divine essence within her, making her a true demigod, and charges her with the task of bringing his killers to justice…

Wishupar

Profile: tricksters,  thieves, deception

Alignment: neutrality

   Wishupar’s temples are still secret, and known only to the acolytes of the cult. It is not a popular cult, but has gained a quiet edge in amongst Hyrkanians, as it has become endorsed as a cult for the purposes of the Hyrkanian Throne. It’s most prominent servants and warriors have dedicated themselves to the service of the Mandragora House, and the restoration of the Empire.

    Wishupar was once seen as a dreadful northern god of thieves and cut throats, but in fact Wishupar was never so hideous....the cult has always wanted to be seen as such, and propogates the rumors to insure it is feared. In fact, the cultists fof Wishupar are civic servants, worshipping a deity who espouses secrecy and deception to support the ruling class. They are mercenaries, and Wishupar is a patron of mercenaries. Worshippers may be thieves and rogues, yes, but more in fashion with a kind of secret service, one which must work conspiratorially  to serve the throne.

   It is suggested by many that  the servants of Wishupar have hidden, secret agendas, and that their dedication to a ruler is not so much for the interests of that ruler as their own. Some claim that this conspiracy goes back many millennia, and that the real purpose of the cult is to gain domination over all lands and people through time, and to damage the worship of other cults, especially the kin of Wishupar’s as described in the Idean Codices (such as Hermes and Haro). Given that the Agents of Wishupar are prone to going out of their way to kill priests and servants of those gods, there seems to be some truth to this.

   On those rare occasions Wishupar appears or is depicted, he manifests as a raven, sometimes as a wereraven. He does take human forms, as as a former demiurge ascended to godhood after the Reckoning, Wishupar has a living form as well as a divine aspect.

Wolfon

Profile: Keeper of the Beast Spirit, lord of the wilds

Alignment: neutrality

   Wolfon is the beast lord, the creator of true beasts and the master of the feral. He is the embodiment of all that is wild. In the dawn of time, the myths of the Idean Codices tell of how Wolfon grew infatuated with the moon goddess, Selene, and would pursue her throughout the night, howling as he did, and as his beasts now do in the present. As always, Selene’s son Zingar and husband Naril would drive him away.

   Beastmen of many sorts, especially the Vyrkasha, and therianthropes of all types favor the worship of Wolfon. Such worship is druidic in nature.

Zingar

Profile: hunters, rangers, justice, survival, instinct

Alignment: neutrality

   Zingar is also a god of the Middle Kingdoms, said to be a brother to Death and Slithotep. His mortal crypt can be found in the Slithotendan Mountains. Throughout Niras and the northern lands he is the god of the hunt and the spirit of the beast. His divine aspect said to materialize on key days of sacred hunting, and suring the solstices. Zingar’s cult is a quiet menagerie of professional hunters, rangers (especially the rangers of Kom’Huandyr) and dedicated priests. The priests of Zingar are chosen only from among those who actually witness the divine aspect of Zingar, the Wild Hunt.

   Zingar manifests as an immense being, horned and centauroid, flanked by a horde of baying wolves. He has appeared as a quiet elvish ranger on occasion, but under the moon light he is always the wild hunt form.

All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved