By far the largest and most worshiped of the pantheons, the Astoran pantheon was made up of a large collection of gods from various backgrounds who are worshipped throughout Astora.
Organization
The Astoran pantheon was made up primarily of the gods native to this realmspace who chose not to align themselves to a specific race or cultural group. Though some interloper deities were eventually accepted into the Astoran Pantheon, such instances were rare.
Hierarchy
The
Circle of Greater Powers are the thirteen deities that lead the pantheon. The leadership is a loose matter and is more administrative in nature. Apart from this, there is little hierarchy in the Astoran pantheon except for the ones the gods create among themselves. A unique trait of the Astoran pantheon is that deities with similar portfolios often cluster into a hierarchic relationship with each other.
The reason they do this, or to be more precise the reason why the highest deity does not just kill the lower-ranking ones and assume their places, is surmised to be either a bargain where the lower-ranking deities help the higher-ranking ones at increasing their influence in return for protection, or blackmail where the higher-ranking ones bullies the lower-ranking ones into giving them their divine energy and servitude. It is assumed that the exact nature of such arrangements vary with the personalities of the involved deities.
History
The Astoran pantheon was born out of the unification of several smaller pantheons over eons of history, the latest of which being the Netherese pantheon. While many gods consider themselves (or are considered) a part of the pantheon, there is limited cohesion within the group, especially compared to many of the smaller and interloper pantheons, and so members of the pantheon as a group have very little interaction, save for in the most extreme circumstances.
Era of Man's Folly
The Astoran pantheon as an acknowledged entity first came into form during this time. As humanity began transitioning from a time of localized tribes and settlements to larger nations, their cultures and religions similarly changed, leading to less geographically segmented societies and worship. As such, the gods found themselves in more regular interaction as their followers interacted more, and so began considering themselves a somewhat more cohesive grouping.
The Godswar
While primarily fought between the interloper pantheons and Imaskar, the Astoran pantheon were united in their displeasure at the appearance of a large swath of new gods to their realmspace, and worked together to both punish the Imaskari for their actions and ensure such an occurance would not happen again. It is during this time that Silvanus' realm was established partially within the material plane in the form of the Savage Wilds, and the world was permanently scarred by the gods in their wrath. While initially there was a great deal of strife between the Astoran pantheon and the interloper pantheons, especially as they had bypassed the Primal Ban in coming into Astora, things eventually settled out and the new gods took their place amongst the old.
The Orcgate Wars
When the new orcs entered Astora and brought their gods with them, again bypassing the Primal Ban, many within the Astoran pantheon united to fight the new interlopers along with the gods still residing in Astora. Some were even able to have avatars summoned to Astora to aid directly, while the rest turned the will of their followers to fight the invaders. Many gods on both sides were killed in the fighting, and the surviving orc gods retreated to the outer planes in order to hide from the continued united wrath of the other pantheons.
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