Pantheon: Other Deities

Pantheon: Other Deities

And here we have the rest of D&D deities that are more or less relevant to my setting. Again, most of the info is taken from Wikipedia, D&D splatbooks, and AuldDragon's blog.

Iborighu

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: an icy scythe rising from a blood-stained snowdrift

Home plane: Abyss

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

Portfolio: despotism, murder, ice, frostfell

Worshipers: wizards, murderers, despots

Iborighu is perhaps the most dangerous and sinister deity of the frostfell. His worshipers range from bitter thugs and obsessed killers to despotic warlords and powerful wizards. Known as the Frozen King, Iborighu is depicted as a huge fiendish uldra with eye sockets filled with blood, a mouth filled with sharklike teeth, and an emaciated blue body covered with evil runes and symbols; his lower body is draconic, complete with a long forked tail. Iborighu stole the power of ice magic from his half-sister Hleid ages ago, and has since used its secrets as rewards to the necromancers and vile cultists that venerate him.

            Dogma: The world must be covered in ice; Iborighu’s worship must become dominant in the frostfell. Use any measures to gain power and spread the faith.

  

Tharizdun

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a dark spiral

Home plane: Demiplane of Imprisonment

Domain (-10%): darkness spells, breaking spells, cold spells, knowledge spells, gate spells

Portfolio: eternal darkness, decay, entropy, malign knowledge, insanity, cold

Worshipers: insane cultists

An old and evil god of uncertain origin, Tharizdun was imprisoned long ago by the concerted effort of all of the human gods. He is a power of darkness, decay, entropy, and ruin that seeks nothing less than the unraveling of the entire universe. His adherents believe that Tharizdun will grant them great favors when he remakes the world. Hateful aberrations that dream of the destruction of the human world sometimes proffer worship to this dark deity, and some say that Tharizdun hails from the Far Realm or the dim memories of an earlier universe - origins that suggest an affi liation with extraplanar or extratemporal creatures such as aboleths, cloakers, grell, psurlons, or similar monsters.

            Dogma: Tharizdun's doctrine is to destroy all and everything encountered.

Merrshaulk

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: a cobra head

Home plane: Abyss

Domain (-30%): poison spells, mind control spells

Portfolio: poison, venom, somnolence, yuan-ti, reptiles, ruins, corruption

Worshipers: yuan-ti

While still powerful, the somnolent Merrshaulk is in a slow decline. His chosen followers are the insidious yuan-ti, who lurk in ruins of ancient cities, either remnants of their own past or the remains of places they corrupted and destroyed. His lack of direct attention to his followers has led to a usurpation of his power by other deities on more than one world, however.

            Dogma: Perfection is found in the form of a serpent, for the simple form is elegant death incarnate. With patience and calm all goals can be achieved; frenetic activity is a waste of energy and a hallmark of those that should be prey. Squeeze what you will from the world, and circle about your goals and keep what you desire tight within your coils. That which was lost and destroyed can be rebuilt, but in its right time; until then the tumbled stones serve as places from which to ambush the unwary. Be it slow or quick, venom is a powerful gift from the Serpent Lord, and shows the superiority of his servants.

Panzuriel

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a left footprint, a kraken's head, or a squid eye surrounded by nine tentacles

Home plane: Hades

Domain (-40%): water spells

Portfolio: murder, confusion, subversion

Worshipers: evil aquatic creatures

Panzuriel is a deity of murder, confusion, subversion, and evil creatures of the sea. Panzuriel manifests as a hunchbacked old humanoid figure with gills and green, scaly skin, which fades to yellow on his underbelly. His left leg ends in a crystalline foot, and he grasps a staff in his taloned hands to support himself as he limps onto dry land. He has shining green eyes. Panzuriel may also manifest as a giant octopus.

            In prehistoric times, Panzuriel's influence was banished from the Prime Material Plane by Deep Sashelas and another sea deity. Bitter and enraged at his banishment, he directs his minions to work against sea elves and the servants of Procan and other sea deities opposed to his works. Panzuriel is sometimes said to be the father of Laogzed, the product of his coupling with a reptilian demon.

            Dogma: Panzuriel seeks to lay havoc and waste to the seas, seeking revenge, torture, and murder of all his enemies.

  

Meriadar

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: an artistically decorated bowl used for sacramental feasting and sharing food

Home plane: Arcadia

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

Portfolio: patience, meditation, tolerance, arts and crafts

Worshipers: mongrelfolks, monks

Amongst all the goblinoid deities, the only one who is not evilly aligned is the patron of the oft-enslaved mongrelfolks, Meriadar the Patient One. He is long-suffering and patient towards those who are violent and aggressive, willing to suffer and endure pain to achieve his goals. The Tolerant One believes that all individuals should be judged on their own actions and accepted for who they are, and not shunned for the actions of their race; as such, he is often worshipped by goblinkin who have turned their backs on the viciousness and evil of their own races. Finally, as one who loves beauty and wishes to see it created, he is a patron of craftsmen, and encourages the creation and discovery of beautiful objects.

            Dogma: No creature is incapable of peaceful coexistence with others. Work to bring the goblin races together in peace and tolerance with the other races of the world. Society flourishes through ordered, hierarchical governing and fair legal codes. Every creature has its purpose and place and should be respected. Beautiful creations are a tribute to Master of Craftsmen. Admire outward and inward beauty, and look for the beauty within all things; work to nurture it and reveal it to the world. Peace and tolerance are the way to true happiness. Violence is to be avoided in all but extreme circumstances and self-defense. Words of kindness and understanding are a better weapon than any blade.

Kikanuti

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Symbol: a clay pot painted with a stylized bird

Home plane: Arborea

Domain (-10%): earth spells, meta spells, protection spells, plant spells

Portfolio: protection, fertility

Worshipers: bhuka

Kikanuti is the principal deity of the bhukas, who revere her as the source of all life and their protector in the time before the Emergence. The great cavern below the earth, from which the bhukas claim they and all other people first emerged, is thought of as her womb, and the Upper World is her hearth, where she warms and nurtures her children. She appears in many forms, embodied in the ritual masks worn by bhuka dancers, but most commonly as a bhuka woman with braids of corn ears, wearing a brightly painted tunic. Maglubiyet, the patron deity of brutal goblinoids, is her sworn enemy. She considers him an enslaver of his people, keeping them beneath the earth and blind to the full joy of living. For his part, Maglubiyet wishes to seize Kikanuti’s power over the fertility of the earth and extend his dominion. Goblinoid tribes in the mountains bordering waste areas often raid bhuka territory, forcing those people to retreat into ever more inaccessible terrain.

            Dogma: Protect the community and keep the lands fertile. Resort to violence only when other means of conflict resolution proved to be ineffective.

  

Jazirian

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Good

Symbol: an uroboric couatl

Home plane: Celestia

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

Portfolio: community, peace, learning, parenthood, eternity, wisdom, couatls

Worshipers: bhuka

The ancient creator and patron of the couatl, Jazirian is both incredibly powerful and supremely wise. The Eternal Serpent, who is both hermaphroditic and sexless, is contemplative and reflective, attentive and listening to the world around him/her. Despite his/her great power, The Rainbow Serpent is ultimately a peaceful deity, wishing above all for the spreading of learning and knowledge; his/her couatl followers are faithful in all regards to these causes and way of thinking.

            Dogma: Virtue untested is merely innocence. Each journey is a journey into death, but each death is a rebirth. The ultimate knowledge is peace. Teaching and learning are the greatest of virtues.

Elishar

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Symbol: a five-pointed star with another five-pointed star within its center

Home plane: Positive Energy Plane

Portfolio: positive energy, light, prophecy

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

Worshipers: good and neutral mortals

Elishar is a radiant being suffused with positive energy. It appears in many forms: a pulsating globe of light, a humanoid (either gender or androgynous) with brightly glowing silver or gold skin, or a ravid. Like a ravid, Elishar literally exudes life energy, and its mere presence is devastating to undead.

Dogma: Life is the greatest power of the universe - the energy that animates living creatures is a good in itself. All evil and all things that hinder life’s being experienced to the fullest come from Toldoth. Elishar is the source of life and of all things that contribute to life: every natural and supernatural blessing of health, wholeness, and energy.

Toldoth

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: onyx disk

Home plane: Negative Energy Plane

Portfolio: negative energy, darkness, destruction

Domain (-30%): necromantic, darkness spells

Worshipers: undead, evil and neutral mortals, monsters

The opposite of Elishar in almost every way, Toldoth is a dark creature composed of negative energy. It usually appears as a nightshade (any variety) or a wraith. Most followers of Toldoth are monsters, many are undead, and few are humanoids, though dark cults of Toldoth exist throughout civilized lands.

Dogma: Revere the forces of death, destruction, and decay - all the things that sap life and strength from mortal bodies and souls. Crave personal power, hope for eternal life through undeath, and look to Toldoth as the source of all you desire. Toldoth is the source of all sickness, suffering, weakness, and death.

Taiia

Greater Deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: a solar disk with three eyes

Home plane: Outlands

Portfolio: creation, destruction, mortal life and death

Domain (Creator Aspect) (-10%): air, light, healing, protection and warning spells

Domain (Destroyer Aspect) (-10%): fire, water, necromantic, body control spells

Worshipers: everyone

Taiia is a sun deity, said to be the creator of the universe and of mortal life, as well as its ultimate destroyer. The sun’s rising every morning is a reminder of her favor and life-giving and sustaining properties. The sun’s setting and absence through the night is a taste of her wrath, promised to those who do not follow her. Taiia appears as a humanoid of indeterminate race, with red skin, golden hair, three eyes, and four arms. She is surrounded with a nimbus of bright light, and no darkness can tolerate her presence.

Dogma: Taiia’s worshipers represent the whole range of mortal life: adoring devotees who seek mystical union with her light, fanatic assassins who believe they are carrying out her sentence of condemnation, and humble peasants who plead for bountiful harvests and mild winters. Different people and different sects emphasize one of her aspects over the other. The religion of Taiia denies not only the potency but even the existence of other gods, and therefore it prohibits the worship of any other deity.

Aengrist

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Lawful Good

Symbol: a two-towered keep atop a gray glacier

Home plane: Celestia

Portfolio: honor, protection, frostfell

Domain (-30%): cold, protection and warning

Worshipers: paladins, knights of the Iron Glacier

Aengrist is a rarity among the frostfell deities. His worshipers aim to bring order and law to the frostfell, to make it a safe place to live for those forced to flee their homes and for those who might be natives to the frozen land. He appears as a ruggedly handsome middle-aged human male with a gentle smile but stern eyes. Worshipers of Aengrist patrol the frostfell relentlessly, seeking to stop uprisings of barbarians and to prevent thugs from using frontier towns as safe havens to run their illicit empires. Lately his clergy have been undertaking extensive programs to build grand cathedral-fortresses in as many frontier towns, both to spread the word of Aengrist’s teachings and to provide defensible keeps for honest locals in which to seek shelter and protection during times of war.

Auril

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a white snowflake on a gray diamond with a white border

Home plane: Hades

Portfolio: cold, winter, ice

Domain (-30%): water spells, weather spells

Worshipers: druids, frost giants, rangers, those who fear the cold

Auril is a fickle, vain, evil deity who is worshiped primarily out of fear. She appears as a coldly beautiful human woman made of ice and snow. Auril enjoys tormenting her enemies, and remains untouched by any hint of love or honor. Her ultimate goal is to cover all the lands with ice, and alliances between her cult and Iborighu’s cult are not unknown (although they tend to end in betrayal).

Telchur

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Symbol: a leafless tree in a field of snow

Home plane: Pandemonium

Portfolio: winter, cold, the north wind

Domain (-30%): air spells, cold spells

Worshipers: barbarians, exiles, fighters, nomads, loners

Telchur is a brooding deity, bitter at the fact that he was assigned stewardship of the cold months of winter while his siblings revel in the spring, summer, and autumn. He appears as a stooped and gaunt man with dark eyes and an icicle beard, and is often accompanied by an albino bull. His clerics are similarly brooding and withdrawn, and dislike noise and pleasantries. They often preside over funerals, and adventure to spread the gloom of their lord to others.

Ulutiu

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: necklace of blue and white ice crystals

Home plane: Astral Plane

Portfolio: arctic dwellers, glaciers, polar environments

Domain (-20%): animal, cold, protection and warning

Worshipers: arctic dwellers, druids, historians, leaders, teachers, rangers

Ulutiu is a slumbering deity adrift in the Astral Plane, asleep in a self-imposed exile after his affair with the wife of another deity was discovered. He appears as a massive giant of a man whose countenance is set with weary sadness. Despite his exile, he remains sufficiently aware to grant spells to his followers.

Vatun

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Symbol: sun setting on a snowy landscape

Home plane: an unknown demiplane

Portfolio: northern barbarians, cold, winter, arctic beasts 

Domain (-30%): animal spells, weather spells

Worshipers: barbarians, druids, rangers, arctic dwellers

Vatun is largely forgotten, having spent much of recent history imprisoned by clerics of Telchur, his archrival. He appears as a huge man wearing polar bear skins and an icy beard, with frozen fog coming from his mouth. Vatun’s clergy are warlike and quick to anger, more so of late due to their deity’s imprisonment.

Afflux

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: scarlet droplet

Home plane: Carceri

Portfolio: inquiry, necromancy, death

Domain (-30%): knowledge, necromantic spells

Worshipers: necromancers, evil wizards, inquisitors, torturers

The unquenchable Afflux seeks knowledge of blood, body, and mind. Afflux never flinches from sacrificing the living to understand what made them once alive. He is the lord of interrogation, torture, and execution, as well as the knowledge gained thereby. He appears as a hairless, bloodsoaked man of pale flesh and supernaturally bloodshot eyes. He wears a great coat of blood that constantly drips and flows but never runs dry.

    All followers of Afflux see members of good-aligned faiths, especially those that claim to offer knowledge, as their enemies. Among the evil deities, Afflux has no special foes, and his followers may sometimes enter alliances of convenience with other evil churches when their goals intersect.

    Dogma: Afflux teaches that every creature has a secret, no matter how mundane, and the best way to spill that secret is along with the creature’s blood. To search eternally for knowledge is a noble quest, but the best place to search is in the tissues of the living, dead, and undead, since the secrets of sentience and animation mask the real secret of ultimate understanding.

Doresain

Demigod

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: ghoul skull

Home plane: Abyss

Portfolio: necromancy, ghouls

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

Worshipers: ghouls

The insatiably hungry Doresain appeals to all creatures whose hunger can never be appeased. The deity looks like an especially thin and wasted ghoul. He has eyes ablaze with a sickly green ghoul-light, and his feet are hooflike. In contrast with Doresain’s wasted body, he wears an elegant white cloak of supple man-flesh over pale leather armor studded with tiny skulls.

    Though the King of the Ghouls is a powerful entity himself and controls his own layer of the Abyss, he was once a vassal of Orcus. Later, Yeenoghu’s gnoll host invaded, and the King of the Ghouls was forced to swear fealty and pay homage to Yeenoghu. Yeenoghu subsequently lost control of the King’s layer, and more recently, Yeenoghu has lost the ability to command the King.

    Dogma: The King of the Ghouls teaches that to exist is to eat. A fully experienced existence requires the consumption of prey, preferable sentient. Flesh for sacrifice is dear to the King. When life is quenched under tearing teeth and quivering lips, the eater can fi nally feel true happiness, at least for a time.

Evening Glory

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: an open hand, pierced through the palm with a heart-shaped hole

Home plane: Outlands

Portfolio: love, beauty, immortality through undeath

Domain (-30%): necromantic, body control spells

Worshipers: immortality seekers, lovers, undead, those who have lost loved ones

Evening Glory teaches that love need not ever die. Instead, love may go on indefinitely, if the body’s remains are properly preserved. The deity of love at any price, Evening Glory appears as an exquisitely preserved woman with ice-white (almost translucent) flesh and platinum-white, neck-length hair. She has eyes of baby blue, with lips, fingernails, and toenails the same color. She is flawless, despite (or because of) her necrotic chill. Disdaining simple nudity, the Deathless Beauty prefers extravagant, backless gowns. A heart-shaped, oddly alluring hole completely pierces the palm of each of her bloodless hands.

    The Eternal Lover appeals strongly to immortality seekers, lovers, and undead. Still, anyone who has loved and lost, or knows love and fears its end, is a potential worshiper of Evening Glory. Most who worship her are undead, or soon become undead after worshiping her for a time. Many of her followers would rather welcome the followers of other faiths, but it is hard to welcome members of faiths that believe undeathmust be eradicated.

    Dogma: Evening Glory teaches that desire is all that matters, and the desire for the love of another should never be allowed to fail through the depredations of age. Those whose love transcends life should seek life everlasting through the grace of undeath.The perfect preservation may freeze love forever. While the resurrection of tragically slain lovers may do for some, nothing can stay old age’s imperious final call - nothing but the embrace of undeath.

Geshtai

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: waterspout

Home plane: Outlands

Portfolio: lakes, rivers, wells, streams

Domain (-10%): plant, water, movement, weather spells

Worshipers: druids, asherati

Geshtai is a lesser deity of lakes, rivers, wells, and streams. She appears as a young woman standing in a pool of water, holding a clay jug. Her worshipers protect sources of water and guide the lost to safety.

Ishtishia

Greater Deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: cresting wave

Home plane: Elemental Plane of Water

Portfolio: water, purification, sea weather

Domain (-20%): water, movement, weather spells

Worshipers: bards, sailors, travelers

Ishtishia is the elemental embodiment of water. He is an enigmatic and changeable deity with a small following. Like water itself, smaller groups within the religious hierarchy form, pool, and re-form. Ishtishia’s temples are built beside water, and his clergy protects and purifies water sources.

The Mockery

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: dragon turtle

Home plane: Elemental Plane of Water

Portfolio: ferocity of the sea

Domain (-30%): water, weather spells

Worshipers: sailors, sahuagin

The Mockery embodies the ferocity of the sea. He is patron to sahuagin and worshiped out of fear by all who must ply the seas. He is said to appear usually as a human or merfolk with seaweed entwined in hair and beard.

Procan

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Symbol: a trident piercing a cresting wave

Home plane: Limbo

Portfolio: seas, sea life, salt, sea weather, navigation

Domain (-30%): water, weather spells

Worshipers: merfolk, sailors

Procan is the wild deity of ocean storms, winds, and waves, as well as of sea life. He is as tempestuous as his domain and can be greedy or cruel. His clerics make anarchic water from brine and travel aboard ships to placate the god’s wild moods.

Umberlee

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: blue-green wave curling left and right

Home plane: Abyss

Portfolio: currents, oceans, sea, winds, waves

Domain (-20%): food, water, weather spells

Worshipers: sailors, sahuagin

Umberlee is capricious and ill-tempered, and her worship consists mainly of turning aside her anger (which manifests in storms and tidal waves). She appears as a blue-skinned humanoid woman with taloned fingers, finned elbows, pearly eyes, and hair of kelp.

Valkur

Demigod

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Symbol: a shield with a cloud and three lightning bolts

Home plane: Ysgard

Portfolio: favorable winds, naval combat, ships

Domain (-20%): protection and warning, water, weather spells

Worshipers: sailors, rogues, fighters

Valkur is the patron of sailors both mercantile and naval, as well as the god of favorable winds and storms. He appears as a jolly sea captain who can pilot any vessel. Changeable as the winds, the Captain of the Waves is a fiercely loyal leader. His worship is conducted on the decks of ships, and many of his clerics serve at sea.

Joramy

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: volcano

Home plane: Bytopia and Elysium (wanders)

Portfolio: fire, volcanoes, wrath, anger, quarrels

Domain (-30%): earth spells, fire spells

Worshipers: revolutionaries, charismatic leaders

Joramy embodies the fury and beauty of volcanoes. She is not only passionate and a lover of argument for argument’s sake, but also good-natured and the champion of those devoted to a cause.

Al-Ishtus

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a scorpion with its tail raised to strike

Home plane: Hades

Portfolio: desert vermin, desert marauders

Domain (-20%): animal spells, fire spells, poison spells

Worshipers: desert marauders, scorpionfolk, stingers

Al-Ishtus claims dominion over desert-dwelling vermin, such as the scorpion, and monstrous humanoid raiders and marauders of the waste. His followers make offerings of bloody gems and jewelry to appease him. His clerics often dip the point of their holy symbol’s tail in scorpion venom for use against unsuspecting opponents. Venom plays a major part in the worship of Al-Ishtus. In fact, disputes between members of his cult are frequently solved by having each one stung repeatedly by a scorpion until one or the other dies. The survivor is declared the winner of the dispute. Al-Ishtus appears either as an old man in vermin-infested rags or as a scorpion.

Aurifar

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: a golden disc polished to a mirrorlike sheen

Home plane: Outlands

Portfolio: fire, daylight, heat

Domain (-30%): fire spells, light spells

Worshipers: fire giants, efreet, fire creatures

Aurifar, the Caliph of the Sky, is the deity of the midday sun who deigns to let lesser deities bear his litter to his throne each morning, then back to his resting place each evening. Stern, unyielding Aurifar rules the skies during the hottest part of the day, passing judgment on all in his sight, deciding who lives or dies. Typically worshiped by fire giants, efreet, and other fire creatures, Aurifar appears as a glowing ball of light and unbearable heat. He can also take the form of a mute giant who carries this ball of light and heat (from which his divine voice speaks). Aurifar and his servants are implacable enemies of the undead.

Azul

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a jagged red line enclosing drops of water

Home plane: Baator

Portfolio: rain, desert travels, thirst

Domain (-30%): fire spells, water spells

Worshipers: druids, peasants, desert travelers

Azul is worshiped among the people of the waste as a deity of rain. Waste-dwellers seek Azul’s favor so that they have enough water. He appears as a plump, smiling youth with scrubbed cheeks wearing a simple, white gown. A pool, often formed from a natural spring, always rests at the heart of a temple dedicated to Azul, and priests and soldiers fiercely guard this holy of holies. Azul demands blood sacrifice in return for his blessings, and angering him always brings terrible drought. Thus, each spring, the priests drown someone to satisfy the deity, while a small sacrificial animal is typically offered before a caravan departs for the waste. Azul’s most fanatical followers belong to the fierce desert nomads, who fall upon unwary travelers, taking slaves to sacrifice or use as labor for building more temples.

Haku

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Symbol: a stylized gust of wind

Home plane: Arborea

Portfolio: wind, heat, desert

Domain (-20%): fire spells, air spells, movement spells

Worshipers: desert nomads, rangers, travelers, beings of the air

Haku, known as Master of the Desert Wind, is the patron of waste nomads. He represents the free spirit of the wanderer, as well as the wild nature of the desert whirlwinds. He appears as a nomadic human with a noble, haughty manner, dressed in flowing robes and headgear and carrying a bright scimitar. Many waste adventurers are followers of Haku, and caravan leaders pay him homage for his power over travel.

Tem-Et-Nu

Intermediate Deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: a stylized gust of wind

Home plane: Arborea

Portfolio: rivers, life, wealth

Domain (-10%): animal spells, healing spells, water spells, movement spells

Worshipers: druids, merchants, farmers, peasants, wizards

Tem-Et-Nu, the deity of rivers though to be related to the Pharaonic pantheon, is the primary matron of the pantheon of the plains folk. She is the bringer of life (in the form of water) and the provider of wealth (the commerce that shipping brings), as well as the means to victory (by carrying the armies of the plains folk swiftly into battle). Sorcerers and wizards of the plains folk revere her for her amazing intellect, and bards tell of her beauty and nobility. She is always depicted as a shapely woman with the head of a hippopotamus (her sacred animal). Tem-Et-Nu is a demanding deity, and those attacked by hippopotami are said to have incurred her wrath. Many such survivors take up roles of service in one of Tem-Et-Nu’s temples, repaying the debt of a life spared.

Zoser

Lesser Deity

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Symbol: a stylized drawing of a tornado

Home plane: Limbo

Portfolio: desert wind, sand, dance

Domain (-20%): air, earth, movement spells

Worshipers: dervishes, desert travelers

Zoser is an unpredictable being whose heart rejoices in the wild dance of desert whirlwinds. Although he is not evil, he is heedless of the devastation his storms wreak. Dervishes are his most devoted followers, imitating his capricious might in their deadly battle dances. Travelers in the waste also pay homage to Zoser in hopes that he pass them by. He most often appears as a towering whirlwind, dark with dust, in whose depths a vague humanoid outline can be seen. Sometimes he instead takes the form of a lone traveler, cloaked in sand-colored robes that flutter around him even when the air is calm. Temples to Zoser take the form of tall spires, usually natural pinnacles or buttes, with an open-air altar at the very tip. Priests scatter incense and colored dust on the wind while worshipers chant songs of praise and dance frenziedly - it is not uncommon for an overenthusiastic worshiper to fall from a spire. Zoser and Haku share many of the same aspects, but their relationship is cool.

The Dark God

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: black robe and iron torch

Home plane: unknown

Domain (-20%): darkness, cold, mind control spells

Portfolio: eternal darkness, cold, decay, enfeeblement, paralysis

Worshipers: cultists

This god is sometimes known as “the god at the end of all things”, the one who will stand alone when all time and worlds have ended, filled with the power of eternal darkness. This dread god drains sanity and strength from soul and body, but his acceptance of his reverers into the cold eternity of his being has a terrible lure for some insane creatures. Perhaps the Dark God is banished as is Tharizdun, perhaps he has simply faded into an eternal night; or perhaps he stands outside space and time, waiting for his rebirth at the end of all things.

Ezra

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: a silhouette of a black longsword on a white kite shield

Home plane: Demiplane of Dread

Portfolio: protection, healing, order

Domain (-30%): healing, protection and warning

Worshipers: monks, paladins

In her church’s teachings, Ezra was once a mortal champion who sacrificed herself – either her mortal form or her greater divinity – to enter the Demiplane of Dread and defend the people there. Much of the goddess’s history is unclear, as the majority of the church’s lore stems from the visions of one man, Yakov Dilisnya, a scion of family steeped in infamy and betrayal. Regardless of the church’s questionable origins, Ezra’s anchorites – as her clerics are known – have done much to order and defend the domains of the Core and beyond, even if the source of their powers is unclear. The Church of Ezra has four distinct wings, one for each alignment drawn to the goddess’s worship.

The Guardian of Dead Gods

Lesser deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: shattered statue

Home plane: Astral Plane

Portfolio: dead gods

Domain (-20%): knowledge, necromantic, protection and warning spells

Worshipers: scholars, dwellers of the Astral Plane

The enigmatic being now known as the Guardian of Dead Gods once belonged to the Pharaonic pantheon, where he was known as Anubis. As a deity of the dead, Anubis guided spirits from the Material Plane to the appointed planes of their rightful rewards or punishments. For countless centuries the jackal-headed god carried out this duty, until he discovered an expanse of the Astral Plane where gargantuan stone corpses floated in queit neglect through the gray infinity. These were the bodies of dead gods, deities who had been forgotten or slain through unimaginable acts. As Anubis explored, he found mortals at work among the deific corpses, mining, pillaging, and exploiting the one-time gods. Incensed, Anubis cast off his divinity and became something less and more. Now, as the nameless Guardian of Dead Gods, he protects the corpses of the gods, documents those among the godly dead, and researches the nature of divine death. Seemingly knowing every threat that intrudes upon the god corpses, the Guardian can appear upon any dead god to banish those who would despoil the massive corpses. Still possessing the appearance of a black, jackal-headed giant, the Guardian’s role within the Pharaonic pantheon was taken up by a new Anubis. Where this deity came from or if the original Anubis somehow managed to split his power into two entities remains unknown. Careless of worshipers and thus rarely venerated, the Guardian of Dead Gods has nonetheless attracted the following of small cults throughout the Outer Planes and, particularly, on the Astral Plane.

Kanchelsis

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: bat with glowing red eyes

Home plane: Abyss

Portfolio: blood, debauchery, seduction, vampirism

Domain (-20%): necromantic, mind control, darkness spells

Worshipers: vampires, drow

In the earliest days of creation, blood served as the paint with which the freshly inspired deities poured out their creative works. Upon the Material Plane, the blood of gods took the forms of new worlds, vast continents, and countless races. On one world, though, the workd of the elven pantheon, the Seldarine, and a nameless creator of humans intruded upon one another. This accidental mixture birthed a being possessed of the incredible beauty and longevity of the elder elves, but with the hunger and ambition of humanity. More and less than both races, the thing became known as Kanchelsis, the first vampire, the darkest secret of the Seldarine. From his gore-soaked realm in Abyss, Kanchelsis endlessly thirsts for blood, and while the lives of mortals sustain him, he ever hungers for richer repasts. He possesses two forms: in his lucid deviousness he is the Rake, an aristocratic elven or half-elven rogue, connoisseur, and sensualist, knowledgeable of countless worlds, art forms, and decadences; in his other form, the Beast, he is a savage force, a rapacious creature concerned only with gore, endlessly flowing rivers of blood, and the end of all things that bleed. Kanchelsis is worshiped throughout the planes by vampires, drow, and all who hunger for power and luxury.

Mellifleur

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a crystal vial in a skeletal hand with a ring on its fourth finger

Home plane: Gehenna

Portfolio: lichdom, magic

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

Worshipers: necromancers

Mellifleur was not the first lich, not one of the greatest mortal wizards to ever live, although he was perhaps the luckiest. An arcanist of considerable mmight on an unrecorded world, Mellifleur meticulously prepared himself for his transition into lichdom. At the exact moment he performed his ritual transformation, though, an evil deity of great power sought to elevate one of his most nefarious worshipers to godhood. Somehow, Mellifleur’s elaborate arcane workings accidentally captured the rare god magic and channeled it from its intended source to the would-be lich, catapulting the wizard’s ascendancy to godhood. Now a god, Mellifleur delights in evil and leading powerful spellcasters down the road to lichdom, yet he also opposes the efforts of a powerful evil deity – whose identity remains unclear – lest his power’s rightful owner reclaim the magic that fuels his divinity. Thus, from his realm on Gehenna, the fickle Lich-Lord works plots of unfathomable evil yet occasionally aids the endeavors of servants of good.

Linara

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: moon

Home plane: Outlands

Portfolio: femininity, emotions, the senses, divination, transformation, cycle of life, magic

Domain (-10%): communication and empathy, light and darkness, knowledge, meta-spells

Worshipers: scholars, students, those who live outdoors, adventurers, travelers

Linara, also known as the Eye of Night, seeks to provide her followers with the ability to adapt to the world in the absence of the sun. She brings light to darkness, provides guidance in the form of prophecy, calms those who would be afraid, and strengthens those who feel weak in the presence of power. She promotes learning, embracing emotion as a powerful force, and change for the betterment of all. Those who oppose her are treated not as enemies but instead as beings that have not yet seen the light of her wisdom.

The Eternal Light

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Symbol: sun

Home plane: Mechanus

Portfolio: life, reason, knowledge, order, hope, leadership

Domain (-10%): communication and empathy, light, knowledge, healing

Worshipers: commoners, leaders

Shining down upon its loyal subjects, the Eternal Light is venerated in many surface cultures. Although many names for it exist, the sun is known for its wisdom, lawfulness, and the life giving light and warmth it sheds. The Order of the Eternal Light’s symbol of the sun has eight rays projecting out from its center. These eight rays form the principal tenets (known by the faithful as “The Gifts”) of the sun’s religion: Hope, Inspiration, Justice, Life, Order, Reason, Station, and Wisdom. Even lay worshipers learn the importance of The Gifts and how to incorporate them into their lives.

Erebus

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: a horned arch

Home plane: the Plane of Shadow

Portfolio: darkness, lies, night, shadows

Domain (-30%): darkness, illusion, fear spells, spells that transport to or from the Plane of Shadow

Worshipers: assassins, liars, shadar-kai, thieves, undead

Erebus is a selfish and uncaring god who hates the light and desires to see all worlds returned to the lifelessness of a never-ending night. From his temple-palace on the Plane of Shadow, he makes grand and wild schemes to fulfill his improbably goal, expending legions of servants on even the most impossible plots. Although his decadence and pride make it unlikely that he will ever see his dreams fulfilled, his cultists are zealous fanatics, and his power upon the Plane of Shadow (the entirety of which he considers his domain) is nearly unmatched.

Erebus has few worshipers on the Material Plane. Those who serve him there congregate in secretive cults, usually in places of primeval darkness, such as the Underdark’s deepest depths. From there they seek ways to gain their god’s favor, such as attacking the worshipers of gods of light, destroying races that delight in the daylight, and even plotting ways to extinguish the sun. Many of Erebгs’s worshippers serve him on the Plane of Shadow. Summoning them to his domain with promises of immortal rewards, his worshippers find themselves trapped on the Plane of Shadow, serving for the rest of their lives and then after death within Erebus’s bleak estate.

Master of the Hunt

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: bow and spear

Home plane: Beastlands

Portfolio: hunting, beasts, night

Domain (-30%): animal, darkness spells

Worshipers: hunters

The Master of the Hunt’s features are veiled by black leather armor, an ebon skull mask, and an antlered crown. His eyes glow a ghostly green and his skin is jet black. He revels in visiting the Material Plane and hunting whatever or whomever might be lurking about. He does not discriminate when choosing his victims (be they humanoid, animal, or less natural creatures), and seems to have no other motive than to hunt and enjoy his hunt. Although neutral, he leans slightly toward evil.

The Oversoul

Unknown

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: a series of concentric circles

Home plane: none

Portfolio: meditation, psionics, self-improvement

Domain (-20%): body control, mind control, knowledge spells

Worshipers: monks, psions, meldshapers

In the beginning, there was only the Oversoul and the formless void in which it dwelt. The Oversoul did not understand the void – it did not even understand itself. It yearned to learn and experience, and thus the Oversoul segmented itself, and each fragment took on a physical form. At first, the Oversoul could only shape basic elements like rocks and water. Gradually, as the Oversoul learned more of the world it created, it formed more complex fragments – first plants, then animals – until finally it created intelligent life. Yet the Oversoul’s quest to understand itself has not concluded. With each generation of life it gains new experiences to add to its collective memory.

Believers of the Oversoul tell this creation myth. Some call the Oversoul a deity, but it lacks the conventional anthropomorphic form of most deities. It offers no edicts to its followers and desires no praise. It is not worshiped as much as it is believed in. Its followers hold that all mortal souls comprise parts of the Oversoul splintered foff from the whole and sent out to experience the world, allowing the Oversoul to learn more about itself. Those particularly dedicated to the path seek to emulate the Oversoul through intense self-examination and outer exploration.

Because the Oversoul does not exert direct control on its followers, variations and fringe cults espouse beliefs different than the common canon. Some claim the Oversoul applies an active – although unnoticed – role shaping events on the mortal world. Others believe that through the collective experience of life, the Oversoul will one day realize the recrets of the cosmos, and in that moment it will recreate the universe. There is even a sect – considered heretical by most followers of the Oversoul – that believes the Oversoul has grown weak by over-segmenting itself, and to remedy this situation they seek to “return souls to their source.”

Erivatius

Demigod

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: iron triangle with inward-pointing barbs

Home plane: Baator

Portfolio: aging, death

Domain (-30%): necromantic (no undead raising), mind control spells

Worshipers: monks, law enforcement, executioners, those who seek to cheat death

Erivatius is the god of death and aging from a long-forgotten pantheon. He appears as a 13-foot tall humanoid with ashen skin, skeletal hands and forearms, and eyes of molten lead that perceive all and promise oblivion to all who meet their gaze. Lead runs down his cheeks to drop from the sides of his face, forming a thick jagged “beard” of metal that flakes away to dust and shards as it reaches the ground. Fine silver runes cover his body, representing every great mortal that has succumbed to his domain.

Erivatius is a god of strict discipline and rigid hierarchies, and as such is embraced by those seeking domination of others through oppressive laws and dictatorial regimes.

The teachings of Erivatius oppose any type of undeath, viewing such as an affront to their master’s dominion over the measure of life.