Pantheon: Deities of Orcs and Kobolds

Pantheon: Deities of Orcs and Kobolds

In my setting Gruumsh - the main (and only?) deity of orcs was slain by Corellon Larethian, elevating a minor orcish god Nepuun to the head position of the pantheon.

Nepuun

Lesser deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: an orc standing on an altar

Home plane: Acheron

Portfolio: orcs, war, territory

Domain (-30%): spells that increase combat prowess, spells that improve physical characteristics and toughness, mind control spells

Worshipers: orcs, half-orcs

Holy scripts of Nepuun tell about injustice towards the orcish race. They tell about cities, mines, farms, and everything else stolen by the weak races, such as elves, humans, and dwarves. They describe the death of Gruumsh by Corellon’s sword and Nepuun’s ascension to the head of orcish pantheon (this is considered preposterous and blasphemous by priests who believe Gruumsh to be alive).

Dogma: Nepuun’s teachings say that all other races were made to be enslaved by the orcs, and that every orc’s duty is to conquer new lands. Followers of Nepuun do not raze the cities, but conquer them and become the new tyrannical rulers.

Gruumsh

Greater deity (dead)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: empty eyesocket

Home plane: Abyss

Portfolio: orcs, war, territory

Domain (-40%): spells that increase combat prowess, spells that improve physical characteristics and toughness, spells that cause rage

Worshipers: orcs, half-orcs

Gruumsh is a deity of orcs slain by Corellon Larethian, the deity of elves. He appeared as a hulking orc in black full plate armor. He had one unblinking central eye. He harbored a special hatred for Corellon Larethian, Moradin, and their followers. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out Gruumsh’s left eye in a fight, but finished what he started several hundreds years later. Some orc clerics dispute this tale, claiming that the elven deity stole the eye because he could not beat Gruumsh in a fair fight, and that Gruumsh is still alive, just hiding.

            Dogma: Gruumsh demanded that his followers be strong, that they cull the weak from their numbers, and that they take all the territory Gruumsh thinks is rightfully theirs (which is almost everything). He tolerated no sign of friendliness from his people. Unceasing warfare was his creed, though Gruumsh did not object to simple colonization if that can be arranged. Gruumsh disliked everything that is not an orc or of orcish make, and he felt particularly spiteful toward elves (over the matter of his eye). He felt equal malice toward dwarves, who contested with the orcs for control of the mountains and won; a state of affairs Gruumsh regarded as strictly temporary.

  

Kurtulmak

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: gnome skill

Home plane: Baator

Portfolio: kobolds, trapmaking, mining, war

Domain (-30%): earth spells, making and breaking spells

Worshipers: kobolds

Kurtulmak, the deity of kobolds, appears as a particularly large kobold. He is about 5 feet tall, with scaly skin mottled black and green. His ratlike tail is long and tipped with a wicked stinger. Kurtulmak taught the kobolds the arts of mining, ambushing, and trapmaking. Garl Glittergold, deity of the gnomes, once collapsed Kurtulmak’s cavernous home as a joke. The event wounded Kurtulmak’s pride on two fronts, as he considered himself both an expert trickster and a miner without equal. Since then Kurtulmak has hated Garl and all gnomes. Kurtulmak hates being bettered by any means, especially by some frivolous method such as an illusion or a practical joke. He carries grudges and has a huge chip on his small shoulder.

            Dogma: Kurtulmak is a savage deity who is always attentive to events on the Material Plane and eager to secure any advantage for his people. He teaches the kobolds that fair fights are for fools or for the unlucky. It is better to flee and fight again than to be defeated, and no fight is truly over if even one kobold lives. Revenge is sweet, says Kurtulmak, even if it takes years to arrange. Kurtulmak also teaches his people that a quick wit, a good plan, and a well-laid ambush are far better than a strong sword arm.

Bahgtru

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: broken thighbone

Home plane: Acheron

Portfolio: brute strength, loyalty, stupidity

Domain (-40%): spells that increase combat prowess, spells that improve physical characteristics and toughness

Worshipers: orcs, half-orcs, barbarians, wrestlers

Bahgtru is the orc god of pure, physical strength and patron of the average orc, a deity as awesomely strong as he is utterly oafish. He embodies the merciless might with which orcs overwhelm their enemies, driving each weapon to do as much damage as possible.

Ilneval

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: bloodied longswrod

Home plane: Acheron

Portfolio: combat, orc crossbreeds, overwhelming numbers, strategy, war, martial skill

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

Worshipers: barbarians, fighters, ogrillons, orcs, tanarukks

Ilneval is the orc god of strategic warfare and patron of orc captains, symbolizing the race's combative nature. He is the archetypal leader in front who unflinchingly leads the charge, embodying the orcish tactic of overwhelming numbers, and the Horde Leader is revered by those that see the wisdom in that strategy. With bloodied blade in hand, he calls those that understand the flow of battle to sit around his council fire and learn the ways of the War Maker.

Luthic

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: orc rune symbolizing home

Home plane: Acheron

Portfolio: caves, fertility, healing, home, orc females, servitude, wisdom

Domain (-20%): earth spells, healing spells, mind control spells

Worshipers: orc females, runecasters

Luthic is the orc goddess of caves and mate of Gruumsh, the patron of female orcs, healing, and home. The Cave Mother is their maternal paragon, raising her brood under the earth to be strong and vicious, and she fights with the savage determination of a mother bear to protect her children.

Shargaas

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: skull on a red crescent moon

Home plane: Gehenna

Portfolio: darkness, night, stealth, thieves, trickery

Domain (-20%): light and darkness spells, necromantic spells, cold spells

Worshipers: assassins, orcs, thieves

Shargaas is the orcish god of the cold, the dark, and the night, patron of orcs that act stealthily in the shadows. The brooding Stalker Below plots the death of the living from the lightless realms deep beneath the surface. The Night Lord is also their god of undeath, though not death itself, and an embodiment of their fears.

Yurtrus

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: white hands on a dark background

Home plane: Hades

Portfolio: death, disease

Domain (-30%): necromantic spells, poison spells

Worshipers: orcs, necromancers

Yurtrus is the orcish god of death and disease, a constant terror that silently waited for their demise.

Gaknulak

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a cauldron with whirling ellipses

Home plane: Gehenna

Domain (-30%): illusion and creation spells, protection and warning spells

Portfolio: trickery, traps, stealth, protection

Worshipers: kobolds

Gaknulak, also known as the Trapmaster, is the kobold demigod of trickery, traps, stealth, and protection. He us a very pragmatic god and doesn’t like being dragged by Kurtulmak into his quarrels with the gnomish pantheon.

Kuraulyek

Demigod

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a pair of feathered wings

Home plane: Hades

Domain (-30%): air spells, protection and warning spells

Portfolio: urds

Worshipers: urds

Kuraulyek is the patron deity of urds. Kuraulyek is deeply cowardly and will never send his single avatar outside his planes unless his chosen race is in deadly peril.