Dah'mir - The Living God -

Dah'mir is the god of the Bonetree Clan, an imposing blue giant that sits on a gem-encrusted throne inside the skull of an enormous skeleton pinned on the side of the mountain of Fayyum. The people of the Valshar Mountains know that their god is the most powerful creature in Eberron, and they are eager to prothelyze the scared, huddled masses that live outside their mountains.
Dah'mir returned to his people almost 20 years ago, when the mountain people were on the brink of extinction following a run of failed expeditions into the heart of the Shadow Marches. The god descended onto the mountain of Fayyum through an enormous thundercloud at the center of the worst storm that the Bonetree Clan had ever suffered. After a brief but terrible display of strength, Dah'mir showed himself to be the deity that his people were waiting for.

Praising Dah'mir:

Followers of Dah'mir walk a strange sort of duality that most Marchers do not understand. The faith can best be explained through the feats of their deity since his return. In the years immediately following his return, the god led the ragged band of warriors that remained to defend the mountains while the rest of his people licked their wounds. In those years he was the protector, defending the weak through his unyielding strength. Many of Dah'mir's faithful are fierce protectors of their people, learning at a young age to weild weapons in their own defense. Now that his people have recovered and their numbers of healthy warriors have grown, Dah'mir has called his people to fulfil the second part of their oath. War parties from each mountain are preparing to spread their faith by axe and sword, showing their strength and bending the weak to their will.

Dah'mir and Conquest:

Siv the Herald, a loyal acolyte of Dah'mir, rides ahead of his war chiefs. This holy woman offers the people of the Marches an opportunity to renounce any of their so-called gods and pledge themselves to Dah'mir. She collects the new converts, and protects them along the road back to the Valshaar Mountains, where they begin their individual pilgrimage to join one of the many clans. This trek is dangerous, and many die in the attempt, but those who complete this holy rite become feverent followers of The Living God.
Once Siv has departed a village, it is an acceptable target for a war party. One of the many mountain clans will declare themselves to prothelyze a village, and will do so through the axe and sword. Marching for days, unyielding to the elements or fatigue, the war party arrives at their chosen target and begins to take positions for the seige. What happens next has been a fixture of many tales in the Marches: the war chief marches to the gates and announces themselves to the village, challenging the strongest of their foes to single combat for the fate of their village as a tribute to Dah'mir. The battle is, of course, to the death. If the war chief loses, the warriors of the Bonetree Clan return to their mountain, regardless of their superior numbers, seeing the loss as an ill omen from Dah'mir. If they win, the death and destruction they visit upon their foes becomes the sorrowful lament for the bards.
After seizing the village, the children too young to weild a spear are brought back to the Valshaar Mountains to be raised as members of the Bonetree Clan. There, they are taught to praise Dah'mir with all that they do, and to be stronger than the frail people that bore them. When they are old enough, they also are given the opportunity to undertake the pilgrimage to become full members of a clan. Those few that do not participate in the rite are allowed to return to the society that they came from. Some even grace the ranks of the Blademark's Guild for House Deneith, with love of Dah'mir still burning secretly in their hearts.

Dah'mir in Fayyum:

On the day that Dah'mir came to Fayyum, a storm raged overhead, and that storm has not ceased since. Dark clouds obscure the mountaintop, and make travelling to the god's throneroom a treacherous endeavor. Each year since his return, the deity has demanded that a festival be held in his honor. At the conclusion of this festival, fireworks explode above each mountain in the Valshaar region. This causes several deadly avalanches, but the tradition holds regardless. Some of the younger members of the Bonetree Clan have even taken to racing the avalanches on their bear mounts.

Speaking to The Living God:

Dah'mir has become reclusive in the past few years, hardly entertaining any of his people in his throneroom in Fayyum. Only his most loyal followers (Lash Neifjell, Runar Paartfjell, and Siv the Herald) are said to have an audience with the god each day. Chosen leaders from Dennmarsh and Valshar'ak deliver a tribute of gems each summer when the passes thaw to attempt to stave off the god's displeasure. Their recounting of the journey is of scaling the bones of an enormous humanoid before entering an enormous chamber made from the interior of the skull. There, enormous copper braziers light a chamber filled with jewels, and flicker against the deep blue skin of a giant man covered in white warpaint.

Rumors About Dah'mir:

The prevailing belief among the many clans of the Bonetree Clan is that Dah'mir has returned to preside over a new age for their people. He nurtured them when they were weak, and now expects them to go out into the world and foster faith in him among those who would not believe. Faithful members of the Clan believe that his religion of strength is what is needed to weather the greater storm that is to come, but others whisper in dark caves about what they believe is the true nature of their god. No member of the Bonetree Clan would dare to repeat one of these rumors, but they have all heard them.
1. Dah'mir isn't a god at all, only a frost giant with delusions of grandeur. His ability to command storms? Parlor tricks.
2. Apostates tell the tale of a day, nearly ten years ago, where Dah'mir was bloodied in a battle against a fell beast. Every warrior that fought with him that day was killed to keep up appearances that the "god" was invunerable.
3. The god of the Bonetree Clan is looking for something, and is sending his war parties into the Marches to find it for him. He cares little for more converts.
4. The skeleton pinned to the side of the mountain was Dah'mir's former body. He has recently reincarnated and is rebuilding his people while awaiting battle with the creature or deity that bested him in a former life.
5. Nothing will satiate his hunger but more jewels. Once, a tribute was paid in gold and the god crushed the poor man in the middle of his throneroom. The village was razed the following week.
6. The storm that always rages above Fayyum is actually there to disguise some kind of arial army that secures the god's palace and gives him power.