Pantheon: Illumian Deities

Pantheon: Illumian Deities

This post details the deities of illumians described in Races of Destiny.

Tarmuid

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: a star in a bisected square

Home plane: Plane of Shadow

Portfolio: illumians, magic, languages

Domain (-30%): communication and empathy spells, meta spells

Worshipers: illumians, mages

Tarmuid, the wizard/monk who created the Ritual of Words Made Flesh, was the first illumian and the creator of the illumian race. After he showed other humans how they too could transform themselves into illumians, he spent the rest of his lifespan researching how the Illumian language that infused his body might possess the secret of eternal life. For decades, he searched in vain for a means of ascension. Then, upon his deathbed, his final utterance contained words of transfiguring power, and he became a demigod and protector of the illumian people.

To this day, Tarmuid dwells in the Castle of the Infinite Sigil at the heart of the illumian shadow-metropolis of Elirhondas, where he dispatches his clerics and followers to eliminate threats to the illumian race—often by subtle means, but occasionally with an overwhelming crusade.

When Tarmuid appears to the faithful, it is as a pale but handsome illumian in glowing white robes, with every letter in the Illumian alphabet whirling about his head.

Dogma: Translate teachings of Tarmuid to other languages. Protect illumians and their secret knowledge.

Aulasha

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Good

Symbol: an open book

Home plane: Plane of Shadow

Portfolio: learning, books, grief

Domain (-30%): book spells, knowledge spells, necromantic spells

Worshipers: illumians, researchers

Aulasha, a loremaster and a childhood friend of Tarmuid, was the second illumian to make a final utterance that resulted in her ascension, becoming a deity only twenty years after Tarmuid. She appears as a kindly crone with white hair and a brown robe; tiny books surround her head where sigils would otherwise float.

Aulasha took the vast store of illumian knowledge and lore as her domain, and together with her followers she built the Library of the Sublime. About a hundred years ago a githyanki army sacked and looted the library, driving Aulasha away with only a fragment of her priesthood.

Today, Aulasha’s whereabouts are known only to her most trusted clerics. She relentlessly hunts across the cosmos for the contents of her library, and her followers have vowed to rebuild it better than before. Aulasha was so full of sorrow after the library’s destruction that she added grief and sorrow to her portfolio, and she is venerated whenever an illumian mourns a lost friend or suffers a similar tragedy.

The destruction of the Library of the Sublime was the illumian people’s greatest tragedy, and not every illumian has forgiven Aulasha for “letting” the githyanki overrun it. An active cult of illumians tries to destroy Aulasha’s faith and even end her divinity because they feel she betrayed the illumian people. The cult, known as Respect Only the Brave, claims adherents in dozens of cabals, and clerics of Aulasha are always on their guard against plots or outright attacks from cultists.

Dogma: Make rebuilding the Libray of the Sublime your goal in life. Hunt down lost knowledge, catalogue it, and protect it.

Glautru

Demigod

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: a flaming brazier

Home plane: Elemental Plane of Fire

Portfolio: prophecy, fate, life and death

Domain (-20%): fire spells, knowledge spells, healing spells

Worshipers: illumians

Glautru was an illumian cleric of Orraya before he ascended to godhood himself several centuries after Tarmuid and Aulasha. He still visits Orraya from time, but he takes his responsibilities as the god of illumian fate very seriously and regards Orraya as a wise colleague, no longer worthy of worship.

Illumian clerics say that Glautru’s vision is so keen that he can read an illumian’s entire destiny—from birth to death and beyond—simply by looking at his or her aura for a moment.

Glautru usually appears as a purplerobed man with a white goatee, carrying a massive, ironbound book in one hand. Where his legs would be is a column of fire that levitates him a few inches above the ground and propels him forward.

Dogma: Celebrate both life and death. Never raise the dead – those who died have died when they were supposed to, and breaking this pattern is sinful. Tend to the wounded and the sick, protect illumians who are too weak to stand for themselves.

Soorinek

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a golden star with staring eyes

Home plane: Negative Energy Plane

Portfolio: intrigue, secrets, betrayal

Domain (-20%): knowledge spells, stealth spells, communication and empathy spells

Worshipers: illumians

In life, Soorinek was a powerful illumian sorcerer who disdained religion as “mere trappings designed to accrue power from the gullible and weak-minded.” Imagine her surprise when her final utterance resulted in her ascension to godhood. Since then she has appeared as a black-skinned illumian with a jharis—the equivalent of the question mark in the Illumian language—floating around her head.

Soorinek assumed her new role with a mixture of enthusiasm and reluctance. She quickly saw the power that an organized church could bring, so she took the secret-stealing and espionage that was her hallmark in life as her portfolio in godhood. But she is unwilling to behave like an omniscient, omnipotent deity, and she uses the power of her church to tear down anyone or any group that exceeds its rightful place and authority. Many a powerful king, proud general, and pious priest has fallen victim to the subtle plotting of Soorinek’s followers. Even her fellow deities aren’t immune to Soorinek’s drive to make sure no one exceeds their station.

Soorinek directs her church from a citadel shaped like a gray orb that hangs in the nothingness of the Negative Energy Plane. But she has been spending more time lately conferring with the archdevils of the Nine Hells than in her lonely spherical palace.

Dogma: Tear down anyone or any group that exceeds its rightful place and authority.

Syeret

Demigod

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Symbol: a setting sun

Home plane: Arborea

Portfolio: inspiration, light, creativity

Domain (-20%): light spells, sound spells, communication and empathy spells, spells that improve craftsmanship

Worshipers: illumians, bards, wanderers

Depicted in painting and sculpture as a golden-armored illumian bearing an oversized torch, the bard Syeret was the fifth illumian to ascend to godhood and the first to do so as the head of an ascension cabal. He has since taken the ascension cabals under his wing, promising to “use my torch to light the way to divinity for all.” Syeret likewise is popular among gibber cabals, because he values creativity and his prayers incorporate invented words.

Syeret became a deity less than three centuries ago, and he hasn’t yet established a permanent base. He has started palace construction several times amid the white dust of Arborea’s third layer, only to start over again when a new architectural inspiration strikes.

Dogma: Syeret delights in the new, so his followers shepherd recently created objects and ideas into being. They help found cabals, create new masterworks of magic lore, and gather the raw materials for new magic items and artifacts for the illumian people.

Wathaku

Demigod

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a book page pierced by a spear

Home plane: Plane of Shadow

Portfolio: entropy, wrath, endings

Domain (-30%): stealth spells, knowledge spells

Worshipers: illumians

Wathaku is the youngest of the illumian gods, having attained godhood less than a century ago. If Wathaku has his way, he will also be the last illumian to ascend to godhood. Wathaku seeks nothing less than the death of all illumians, the unmaking of his fellow illumian deities, and the end of the Illumian language.

The motivation behind Wathaku’s desires is a mystery, because few sources document Wathaku’s life prior to becoming a deity. So far his church is little more than a secret cult, outlawed in almost every illumian cabal. Even so, a few madmen and the truly desperate find a reason to live by Wathaku’s nihilistic philosophy, so his religion has slowly grown over the years. Wathaku’s clerics—who typically pretend to worship another god or no god in particular—try to steal the fragments of the Ritual of Words Made Flesh that each cabal guards.

If Wathaku can gain possession of a complete copy of the ritual, perhaps he can reverse it and literally unspeak the Illumian language, destroying all illumians in the process.

When he deigns to appear to his followers, Wathaku appears as a burly illumian with blank skin where his mouth would be and a single silver line where his sigils would otherwise float. Wathaku has no known fortress or base, instead moving incognito from cabal to cabal by taking the form of mortal illumians.

Dogma: Wathaku seeks nothing less than the death of all illumians, the unmaking of his fellow illumian deities, and the end of the Illumian language.