Darmon (DAR-mahn)

God of Travel, Wealth, and Joy

Darmon is the chaotic good god of travelers, tricksters and rogues, joy, laughter, good fortune, trade, merchants, diplomacy, messengers, jesters, scouts, rebels, and thieves. He is associated with the fox, the otter, and the kestrel—the cleverest beasts of land, water, and sky. He is also associated with the Jaathoom, who were once among those div confined to the pillar of fire. Darmon once went to the fire pillar, and found those div of good heart who’d been wrongly imprisoned. These he transported to the pillar of the air, where they rule to this day. These powerful beings love Darmon and are fond of his followers. Darmon is called “many faced” because he has always disguised himself to walk among the mortal races. Every race shows him as one of their own in icons, generally as very handsome young male with laughing eyes. He is always shown wearing golden laurels on his brow, bearing his short blade Laughter’s Sting, and wearing his cloak of the heavens. Representational tokens for Darmon are extremely symbolic. A circle of gold, filled in, is all that is necessary to represent Darmon, and many merchants use this symbol to signify their trade. Those who wish to wear holy symbols of Darmon usually wear a large, round gold coin. When in haste, one need only paint a gold circle, though it is considered most fitting to fill it in. Since Darmon has walked among the mortal races more than any other god, and in the early days could reveal himself when he did so, he is the most universally popular of the gods. All races engage in the crafts he taught them. If there is one race most fond of Darmon, though, it is the humans, who are most enamored with his ways.

Divine Domains

• Ambition
• Change
• Cities
• Fate
• Freedom
• Luck
• Travel
• Trickery
• Wealth
• Zeal

Artifacts

Darmon spent a great deal of time with his mother’s creations, the Titans, and learned as many tricks from them as they did from him. He once bet the King of the Titans that the greatest smiths of his people could not make a weapon powerful enough to cut apart a mountain, but small enough to fit in his pocket. The King ordered it done, and the smiths slaved away, night and day, to make it so. They would have failed, but Darmon’s cousin, Korak Hammer Hand, played a trick on Darmon. Masking himself as a Titan, Korak helped the other smiths make Laughter’s Sting, a tiny blade (well, tiny for Titans) mighty enough to level a mountain. When the King of the Titans presented the sword, Darmon lost the bet, and had to serve for one hundred years as the King’s throne, bent on hands and knees to take the Titan’s weight, day and night. When Darmon found out what Korak had done he was at furious at first but then, laughing, demanded his cousin repay the hurt with labor. Master Korak agreed, and Darmon made him craft ten thousand gems out of fire, silver, and adamantine. Korak mined the silver and precious adamantine from deep in the earth, and worked his most spectacular creations. When the gems were done, Darmon slipped them in a pouch and went to the mighty halls where Urian the Wind Lord resides. Asking the Sky King to drink with him, Darmon produced a bottle of his mother’s wine. The two drank through the night and, by the end of it, Urian slept. Seizing the moment, Wily Darmon slipped into the night and stole ten thousand stars from the heavens, replacing them with the gems of Clever Handed Korak’s devising. These stolen stars he had sewn into his cloak, making his cloak of the heavens, which he wears to this day. Ever since then, Urian has hunted down these gems that are now stars and, when he finds one, he bashes it out of the sky. As they fall, they leave trails of silver and fire, for they become shooting stars. Sometimes they hit the earth, and when they do there’s nothing left of them but the adamantine, which is why the mightiest of metals can be found deep in the earth, but sometimes fall from heaven, too.

Holidays

The last day of the calendar year is a one of enormous importance to the Darmonite faith and is celebrated with an elaborate festival. Darmon taught the mortal races about time and helped them set down their various methods for keeping it, so the last day of the year recalls this gift and others from the Master of the Road. A parade typically accompanies the festival, and children perform dances to commemorate Darmon’s various gifts. Usually, the people celebrate a gift of importance to their livelihoods; a seaside community might commemorate the gift of sailing, for instance. Many of Darmon’s gifts involved skills and practices for which he is not the god. He introduced the idea of crop rotation to the mortal races, but Rontra is the goddess of farming. Also, many communities who worship gods other than Darmon most of the year celebrate the Laughing God at its end. In small towns that lack a house of Darmon, the clergy of other churches organize these celebrations.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Laughter, Joy, and Riches

Like his sister, Aymara, Darmon is a preternaturally happy god. He tells jokes in Heaven and when he walks among mortals, improves their lives with humorous japes and beautiful creations. However, his love of golden things and beautiful objects is irrepressible, and he has taught this love to the mortal races, calling the mercantile trades “the finest of the arts.”
Darmon gave the mortal races many of the basic tools necessary for civilization: writing, keeping time, crop rotation, sailing, trade, riding, the making of compasses, and many other useful tricks and trades. He did this with his cousin Korak, who at the same time taught the mortal races useful skills such as sewing, weaving, making steel, and building arches. They did this out of a love for mortals which has not diminished over the ages. Although Darmon delights in mischief and is always happy to see horrible things happen to bad people (or even people who just think too much of themselves), he has never had a problem with mortals violating all sorts of laws. In his love for mortals, he would see them thrive. Darmon wants a world free of stuffiness and useless restrictions. He wants to replace them with wealth, joy, good food, magnificent song, and, most of all, laughter. He’s rarely serious, refusing to put away his tricks and fun, but when he is forced to abandon humor, his temper grows as fierce as his mother’s, father’s, and sister’s. He sides with his parents in conflicts among the gods, but like the other young gods, he is less interested than his elders in such rivalries. He is endlessly inquisitive, loving to see and learn new things, but he prizes above all the freedom to travel and move. Darmon is messenger of the gods, so he may venture into the mortal sphere to retrieve someone of importance or deliver a divine decree. Although the Compact has made these occasions less frequent, Darmon is the god living mortals are most likely to meet.

Servants of Darmon

Darmon has one thousand servants running messages across the Material Plane and beyond. Because Darmon is entrusted with messages, he often relies on minions to bear notes from god to god. His closest companion other than his divine relatives is Ix, his silver fox. Darmon delights in watching Ix infuriate Metteron, the golden lion of Terak. Tales of Ix tricking Metteron are well loved, and told to children for entertainment.

Divine Classification

God

Religions

• The Houses of Darmon

Realm

Seven Heavens

Church/Cult

The Houses of Darmon

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Silver Tongue, Clever, Wily, Merry, the Traveler, of the Many Faces, the Laughing God, Master of the Road, Lord of the Ways, Champion of Heaven, the Golden Messenger