Gods of Talamh

Summary

The deities of Talamh are powerful but not omnipotent, knowledgeable but not omniscient, widely traveled but not omnipresent. They alone of all creatures in the universe consist only of astral essence. The gods are creatures of thought and ideal, not bound by the same limitations as beings of flesh. Most people revere more than one deity, praying to different gods at different times. Commoners in a small town might visit a temple that has three altars, where they pray to Bahamut for protection, Pelor for fertile crops, and Moradin to aid their skill at crafting. Clerics and paladins more often serve a single deity, championing that god’s particular cause in the world. Other adventurers range across the spectrum, from paying lip service to the whole pantheon, to fervently serving a single god, to ignoring the gods entirely as they pursue their own divine ascension. Myths say the gods were once in harmony, balancing Community and Freedom, Self Sufficiency and Raising Others, and other dichotomies. But wars before the dawn of time destroyed many of the gods of Law and Good, leaving a skew towards Chaos and Evil in the universe.

Deity	Alignment	Influence
Asmodeus	Lawful Evil	Power, domination, tyranny
Avandra	Chaotic Good	Change, luck, trade, travel
Bahamut	Lawful Good	Justice, honor, nobility, protection
Bane	Lawful Evil	War, conquest
Corellon	Chaotic Good	Arcane magic, spring, beauty, the arts
Erathis	Lawful	Civilization, invention, laws
Gruumsh	Chaotic Evil	Turmoil, destruction
Ioun	Neutral	Knowledge, prophecy, skill
Kord	Neutral	Storms, strength, battle
Lolth	Chaotic Evil	Spiders, shadows, lies
Melora	Chaotic	Wilderness, sea
Moradin	Lawful Good	Creation, artisans, family
Pelor	Good	Sun, summer, agriculture, time
Raven Queen	Neutral	Death, fate, winter
Sehanine	Chaotic	Trickery, moon, love, autumn
Tharizdun	Chaotic Evil	Annihilation, madness
Tiamat	Chaotic Evil	Wealth, greed, vengeance
Torog	Evil	Underdark, imprisonment
Vecna	Evil	Undeath, secrets
Zehir	Evil	Darkness, poison, serpents

Good Gods

Avandra

The Chaotic Good god of change, Avandra delights in freedom, trade, travel, adventure, and the frontier. Her temples are few in civilized lands, but her wayside shrines appear throughout the world. Halflings, merchants, and all types of adventurers are drawn to her worship, and many people raise a glass in her honor, viewing her as the god of luck. Her commandments are few:

Luck favors the bold. Take your fate into your own hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
Strike back against those who would rob you of your freedom and urge others to fight for their own liberty.
Change is inevitable, but it takes the work of the faithful to ensure that change is for the better.

Bahamut

Called the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut is the Lawful Good god of justice, protection, nobility, and honor. Lawful good paladins often revere him, and metallic dragons worship him as the first of their kind. Monarchs are crowned in his name. He commands his followers thus:

Uphold the highest ideals of honor and justice.
Be constantly vigilant against evil and oppose it on all fronts.
Protect the weak, liberate the oppressed, and defend just order.

Corellon

The Chaotic Good god of spring, beauty, and the arts, Corellon is the patron of arcane magic and the fey. He seeded the world with arcane magic and planted the most ancient forests. Artists and musicians worship him, as do those who view their spellcasting as an art, and his shrines can be found throughout the Feywild. He despises Lolth and her priestesses for leading the drow astray. He urges his followers thus:

Cultivate beauty in all that you do, whether you’re casting a spell, composing a saga, strumming a lute, or practicing the arts of war.
Seek out lost magic items, forgotten rituals, and ancient works of art. Corellon might have inspired them in the world’s first days.
Thwart the followers of Lolth at every opportunity.

Moradin

Moradin is the Lawful Good god of creation and patron of artisans, especially miners and smiths. He carved the mountains from primordial earth and is the guardian and protector of the hearth and the family. Dwarves from all walks of life follow him. He demands these behaviors of his followers:

Meet adversity with stoicism and tenacity.
Demonstrate loyalty to your family, your clan, your leaders, and your people.
Strive to make a mark on the world, a lasting legacy. To make something that lasts is the highest good, whether you are a smith working at a forge or a ruler building a dynasty.

Pelor

The Good god of the sun and summer, Pelor is the keeper of time. He supports those in need and opposes all that is evil. As the lord of agriculture and the bountiful harvest, he is the deity most commonly worshiped by ordinary humans, and his priests are well received wherever they go. Paladins and rangers are found among his worshipers. He directs his followers thus:

Alleviate suffering wherever you find it.
Bring Pelor’s light into places of darkness, showing kindness, mercy, and compassion.
Be watchful against evil.

Neutral Gods

Erathis

Erathis is the Lawful god of civilization. She is the muse of great invention, founder of cities, and author of laws. Rulers, judges, pioneers, and devoted citizens revere her, and her temples hold prominent places in most of the world’s major cities. Her laws are many, but their purpose is straightforward:

Work with others to achieve your goals. Community and order are always stronger than the disjointed efforts of lone individuals.
Tame the wilderness to make it fit for habitation, and defend the light of civilization against the encroaching darkness.
Seek out new ideas, new inventions, new lands to inhabit, new wilderness to conquer. Build machines, build cities, build empires.

Ioun

Ioun is the Neutral god of knowledge, skill, and prophecy. Sages, seers, and tacticians revere her, as do all who live by their knowledge and mental power. Corellon is the patron of arcane magic, but Ioun is the patron of its study. Libraries and wizard academies are built in her name. Her commands are also teachings:

Seek the perfection of your mind by bringing reason, perception, and emotion into balance with one another.
Accumulate, preserve, and distribute knowledge in all forms. Pursue education, build libraries, and seek out lost and ancient lore.
Be watchful at all times for the followers of Vecna, who seek to control knowledge and keep secrets. Oppose their schemes, unmask their secrets, and blind them with the light of truth and reason.

Kord

Kord is the Neutral storm god and the lord of battle. He revels in strength, battlefield prowess, and thunder. Fighters and athletes revere him. He is a mercurial god, unbridled and wild, who summons storms over land and sea; those who hope for better weather appease him with prayers and spirited toasts. He gives few commands:

Be strong, but do not use your strength for wanton destruction.
Be brave and scorn cowardice in any form.
Prove your might in battle to win glory and renown.

Melora

Melora is the Chaotic god of the wilderness and the sea. She is both the wild beast and the peaceful forest, the raging whirlpool and the quiet desert. Rangers, hunters, and elves revere her, and sailors make offerings to her before beginning their voyages. Her strictures are these:

Protect the wild places of the world from destruction and overuse. Oppose the rampant spread of cities and empires.
Hunt aberrant monsters and other abominations of nature.
Do not fear or condemn the savagery of nature. Live in harmony with the wild.

Raven Queen

The name of the Neutral god of death is long forgotten, but she is called the Raven Queen. She is the spinner of fate and the patron of winter. She marks the end of each mortal life, and mourners call upon her during funeral rites, in the hope that she will guard the departed from the curse of undeath. She expects her followers to abide by these commandments:

Hold no pity for those who suffer and die, for death is the natural end of life.
Bring down the proud who try to cast off the chains of fate. As the instrument of the Raven Queen, you must punish hubris where you find it.
Watch for the cults of Orcus and stamp them out whenever they arise. The Demon Prince of the Undead seeks to claim the Raven Queen’s throne.

Sehanine

The Chaotic god of the moon and autumn, Sehanine is the patron of trickery and illusions. She has close ties to Corellon and Melora and is a favorite deity among elves and halflings. She is also the god of love, who sends shadows to cloak lovers’ trysts. Scouts and thieves ask for her blessing on their work. Her teachings are simple:

Follow your goals and seek your own destiny.
Keep to the shadows, avoiding the blazing light of zealous good and the utter darkness of evil.
Seek new horizons and new experiences, and let nothing tie you down.

Evil Gods

Asmodeus

Asmodeus is the Lawful Evil god of tyranny and domination. He rules the Nine Hells with an iron fist and a silver tongue. Aside from devils, evil creatures such as rakshasas pay him homage, and evil tieflings and warlocks are drawn to his dark cults. His rules are strict and his punishments harsh:

Seek power over others, that you might rule with strength as the Lord of Hell does.
Repay evil with evil. If others are kind to you, exploit their weakness for your own gain.
Show neither pity nor mercy to those who are caught underfoot as you climb your way to power. The weak do not deserve compassion.

Bane

Bane is the Lawful Evil god of war and conquest. Militaristic nations of humans and goblins serve him and conquer in his name. Evil fighters and paladins serve him. He commands his worshipers to:

Never allow your fear to gain mastery over you, but drive it into the hearts of your foes.
Punish insubordination and disorder.
Hone your combat skills to perfection, whether you are a mighty general or a lone mercenary.

Gruumsh

Gruumsh is the Chaotic Evil god of destruction, lord of marauding barbarian hordes. Where Bane commands conquest, Gruumsh exhorts his followers to slaughter and pillage. Orcs are his fervent followers, and they bear a particular hatred for elves and eladrin because Corellon put out one of Gruumsh’s eyes. The One-Eyed God gives simple orders to his followers:

Conquer and destroy.
Let your strength crush the weak.
Do as you will, and let no one stop you.

Lolth

Lolth is the Chaotic Evil god of shadow, lies, and spiders. Scheming and treachery are her commands, and her priests are a constant force of disruption in the otherwise stable society of the evil drow. Though she is properly a god and not a demon, she is called Demon Queen of Spiders. She demands that her followers:

Do whatever it takes to gain and hold power.
Rely on stealth and slander in preference to outright confrontation.
Seek the death of elves and eladrin at every opportunity.

Tharizdun

Tharizdun is the Chaotic Evil god who created the Abyss, though the fact of his existence is not widely known. A few scattered cults of demented followers revere him, calling him the Chained God or the Elder Elemental Eye. Tharizdun doesn’t speak to his followers, so his commands are unknown, but his cults teach their members to:

Channel power to the Chained God, so he can break his chains.
Retrieve lost relics and shrines to the Chained God.
Pursue the obliteration of the world, in anticipation of the Chained God’s liberation.

Tiamat

Tiamat is the Chaotic Evil god of wealth, greed, and envy. She is the patron of chromatic dragons and those whose lust for wealth overrides any other goal or concern. She commands her followers to:

Hoard wealth, acquiring much and spending little. Wealth is its own reward.
Forgive no slight and leave no wrong unpunished.
Take what you desire from others. Those who lack the strength to defend their possessions are not worthy to own them.

Torog

Torog is the Evil god of the Underdark, patron of jailers and torturers. Common superstition holds that if his name is spoken, the King that Crawls burrows up from below and drags the hapless speaker underground to an eternity of imprisonment and torture. Jailers and torturers pray to him in deep caves and cellars, and creatures of the Underdark revere him as well. He teaches his worshipers to:

Seek out and revere the deep places beneath the earth.
Delight in the giving of pain, and consider pain you receive as homage to Torog.
Bind tightly what is in your charge, and restrain those who wander free.

Vecna

Vecna is the Evil god of undead, necromancy, and secrets. He rules that which is not meant to be known and that which people wish to keep secret. Evil spellcasters and conspirators pay him homage. He commands them to:

Never reveal all you know.
Find the seed of darkness in your heart and nourish it; find it in others and exploit it to your advantage.
Oppose the followers of all other deities so that Vecna alone can rule the world.

Zehir

Zehir is the Evil god of darkness, poison, and assassins. Snakes are his favored creation, and the yuan-ti revere him above all other gods, offering sacrifice to him in pits full of writhing serpents. He urges his followers to:

Hide under the cloak of night, that your deeds might be kept in secret.
Kill in Zehir’s name and offer each murder as a sacrifice.
Delight in poison, and surround yourself with snakes.

Minor Gods

Ilmater, exarch of Bahamut

As Bahamut is an institution for the betterment of all, Ilmater focuses on those who fall through the cracks. The downtrodden, ostracized, outcast people of the world can always find protection in his embrace.

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