Korus
Korus Mubete
Korus is the quiet and unassuming middle child of the Nine who is secretly the glue that holds the tempestuous family together.
Korus, by his very nature builds bridges. Korus bridges civilization and the wilderness, good and evil, law and chaos, continuity and change, masculine and feminine. To a limited extant, he even represents a bridge between mortals and Fair Folk.
On the surface of a pond it looks like a duck is gliding calmly and effortlessly along the water effortlessly but if you looked at the duck from below you would see he is kicking is legs and paddling like crazy.
Korus is a very hard working deity with a very complicated existence but most outsiders don’t see half of what Korus does. Most gods and mortals alike take Korus for granted. Korus generally prefers it this way.
Korus has a very large and decentralized nevertheless bound together by ancient traditions. Stewards of the Dominion are druidic protectors of the wilderness and the Stewards of the Gift are priestly advisors to farmers throughout Scarterra. Unsurprisingly, when Korus' primary followers are lumped together, they are simply called "the Stewards".
The Stewards are reputed to be apolitical but that is partially because few are crazy enough to oppose them. The Stewards of the Dominion want to preserve nature as much as possible and the Stewards of the Gift want to ensure sustainable agricultural practices. They quietly carry they unspoken threat of wrath driven natural disasters or mass starvation respectfully.
Accomplishments and Failures
Korus has a reputation for being inactive and uncaring but that is because his contributions to Scarterra are often taken for granted by the rest of the Nine and by mortalkind in general. The fact that Scarterra is still existing and is full of many thriving lifeforms is a testament to both Korus' great skill and care in managing his Dominion and in his ability to keep the rest of the Nine's petty disagreement from literally tearing Scarterra apart. Korus is so busy managing his siblings and the whole of the natural world that he doesn't have much time or emotional energy to guide mortal events. Despite his followers with numerous and respected, they wield very little influence in wars and political affairs as various factions take their neutrality for granted. The First Unmaking and the Second Unmaking were ushered in not by the petty conflicts of the Nine but by the hubris of mortals. None of the Nine were happy about the two Unmakings but Korus largely blames himself, perhaps irationally so.Divine Domains
Korus Portfolio includes but is not limited to: All plants but especially trees, the seasons, predator/prey balance, forests, fishing, agriculture, plant creatures, horses, compromises, prophecy, deviation from gender norms, bridges
Korus' Dominion is nature.
Korus' Gift to mortals is agriculture.
The favored spheres of Korus' theurgists are Animal, Divination, and Plant.
Artifacts
Korus' symbol of power and Divine Trophy is flail that Korus shaped out of one of Turoch's arm. The flail is both a weapon and a tool.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Even more so than other Scarterran holy symbols in general, Korus' holy symbols are extremely varied.
The Stewards of the Stewards of the Dominion usually favor trees in Korus' symbology and the Stewards of the Gift usually favor staple craps in Korus' symbology but the plants depicted varies from region to region. A very wide variety of animals are associated with Korus as well.
Holidays
Korus Zodiac month roughly coincides with the start of spring in Scarterra. Korus' Verdance, the Apex of Korus, Korus' Solace mark the beginning, midway point, and end of Korus' Zodiac month.
The Apex of Korus roughly coincides with the start of the planting season, so it's a big holiday with farmers (who make up the majority of Scarterra's population), but lay people largely ignore the ot0her two Korus zodiac holidays which are mostly for the Stewards to deal with internal business. The Stewards of the Dominion and the Stewards of the Gift don't actually associate much but much of their association that does take place is on or near Korus Verdance and Korus' Solace.
The Stewards of the Dominion and their followers put a lot of weight on the Seasonal Stellar Days and the Tween Days. The Stewards of the Gift are heavily involved in various planting and harvest festivals throughout Scarterra.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
by me with Midjourney
Korus' Dominion over the balance of nature is wider and more varied than the rest of the Nine's Dominions, so he is pretty busy. His followers and many theologians argue that he is too busy to meddle in personal affairs.
This isn't exactly true as Korus can show favoritism or even act vengeful from time to time, it's just rare. Korus is primarily focused on making sure Scarterra runs smoothly and towards that end he will put a finger on the scale of the balance of the conflict between the rest of the Nine, smoothing out the rough edges of his siblings' worst excesses in so doing makes all of Scarterra run a bit more smoothly.
Social
Contacts & Relations
When the Nine were plotting the Divine Rebellion against Turoch, Korus’ role was not very glorious but it was important. He kept the Nine from killing each other long enough, so they could kill Turoch . Even in the Third Age, Korus and his minions still intervene to stop the Nine from killing each other, both figuratively and literally.
Korus doesn’t get along as well with his brothers, but there is very little bad blood between them. Sometimes Maylar goes too and destroys too much at once. Sometimes Hallisan's pushes progress too far and his minions chop down more trees than Korus would like. Sometimes Phidas' schemes magnify the worst of civilization. Zarthus is probably Korus’ favorite brother, but even he can cause disruptions on his personal crusades.
If Korus doesn’t have any true rivals among the Nine, who is Korus’ worst enemy? His worst enemy is….himself.
Korus is the god of the wilderness and he is the god of agriculture. While Korus can wring his hands and fret about urban blight, the real threat to the wilderness is not forests being overtaken by cities, it is forests being overtaken by farmland.
Korus gets along especially well with all the ladies. By a happy coincidence the four goddesses among the the Nine are more directly tied to nature than Korus’ four brothers are tied to nature. The sun, magic, water, weather. These are all basic things intimately tied to the plants and animals that Korus manages. Khemra is a little hidebound, Greymoria is a little petty, Mera is a little naïve, and Nami is a little reckless but none of their schemes and machinations really threaten nature on a large scale.
Composite Display of the Nine's portraits by Zeta Gardner
Scaraqua
In Scaraqua, Korus is commonly referred to as Mubete. Mubete is viewed as a goddess , not a god. Scaraquans consider Mubete as one of the three Sisters of the Sea or the three Daughters of the Sea depending on how you translate Seeyirah. Along with Enosha (Mera) and Taedi (Greymoria), Mubete is considered one of the preeminent deities of the sea. Outside the Three Seeyirah, the other deities are considered sidekicks, helpers, or minor annoyances to the Three Sisters. Mubete is a bit more standoffish and asocial than Korus, but she retains Korus’ impartiality as much as possible. In general Mubete believes that good fences makes good neighbors and her followers normally endorse Scaraquans minimizing their contact with Scarterrans. Mubete is the main nature goddess of the sea. This means that she is basically the goddess of all fish. Every sea creature not directly associated with another deity is essentially considered part of Mubete's purview. Even then, Mubete has indirect influence over sharks, crustaceans, cetaceans, swordfish, and all the other fish that are spiritually tied to another deity.
Divine Classification
god
Religions
Alignment
True Neutral
Current Location
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Sex
male (usually)
Aligned Organization
Comments