Flan Pantheon

The Flannae peoples seem to have a particular fondness for gods representing nature. The Flannae Pantheon mostly consists of gods from the Old Faith. With Beory and Obad-Hai being the gods most commonly associated with the old faith. Over the years different cultures have altered the original gods associated with the Old Faith, save Beory and Obad-Hai who are always present among their number. The original gods where the center of it all Mother Beory, Father of Summer Obad-Hai, The Lord of Spring Pelor, The Autumn Lord Incabulos (in some Flan cultures he is replaced by the goddess Berei), and The Lord of Winter Nerull.
Originally all were neutral aspects though Incabulos became associated with plagues and suffering, making many followers of the old faith wish for the Lord of Winter to end their suffering. As such every winter Obad-Hai is slain by the lord of winter. It is the lord of spring that releases Obad-Hai from the summer tree. He has Berei assist him with the burial of Obad-Hai. Where he is buried Mother Beory’s tears revive him and a young sapling grows, which drops the fruit that hatches a young Obad-Hai once again in the spring. By the summer he is fully grown and strong, the Stag King, leading the wild hunt against those that would defile nature. During autumn he grows into a weathered old man, waiting for the winter lord to slay him once again.
There is a belief amongst the Old Faith, that should Pelor fail to bury Obad-Hai after seven days. He will be gone forever, and Oerth will forever be plunged into an eternal winter. The Flannae Pantheon consists of Allitur, Beory, Berei, Boccob, Celene, Earth Dragon Ehlonna, Grummush (amongst the early Flan he was thought a chief rival of Obad-Hai, in the old faith he was once known as the autumn lord, and was replaced by Incabulous after he established himself as the chief patron of the orcish pantheon),Obad-Hai, Pelor, Incabulous, Iuz, Krovis, Kyuss, Luna, Myhriss, Olidamarra, Rao, Red Fox, St. Cuthbert, The Serpent, Vathris, Vecna, and Zodal.
Beory, Boccob, Obad-Hai, St. Cuthbert, Pelor, and Rao are the primary recipients of Flannae worship in the Flannaess, though all the gods of the pantheon receive varying amounts of veneration, token though they may be. Many others have lost a direct association with the Flan pantheon and are not mentioned here. Though in truth about 90% of the Flan pantheon is considered part of the common pantheon of gods. As the oeridians stopped worshipping Sol and have fully adopted Pelor into their pantheon of gods. Beory is considered the mother of the gods, and only in the baklunish west is she known as Mother Geshtai foe of Sevelkar the waster, the baklunish name for Incabulos. the Flan may be the most diminished of the human races currently bordering or occupying the Flannaes. However, they have cemented their customs and traditions into every human species they have ever come across. Most notable of them all are the Oeridians, and to a lesser extent the Suloise people.

Flan Gods considered part of Core Pantheon

• Beory; (N; goddess of Oerth, nature, rain)

• Nerull “The Reaper”; (NE; god of death, darkness, and the Underworld)

• Obad-Hai; (N; god of nature, wildlands, freedom, and hunting)

• Pelor; (NG; god of the sun, strength, light, and healing)

• Rao; (LG; god of peace, reason, and serenity)

Other Flan Gods

• Allitur; (LG/LN; god of ethics and propriety)

• Berei; (NG; goddess of home, family, and agriculture)

• Myhriss; (NG; goddess of love and beauty)

• Zodal; (NG; god of mercy, hope, and benevolence)

• Vathris, LN Demipower of Anguish, Lost Causes, and Revenge

Obscure Flan Gods

• Earth Dragon; (LE; god of earth, weather, hidden treasures)

• Krovis; (N; god of halting the domination of the Flanaess)

• Red Fox; (CG; god of crafts, thievery)

• The Serpent; (?; god of arcane magic)

ALLITUR

LG (LN) God of Ethics and Propriety

Flan Lesser God
Allitur (AH-lih-toor) is an old Flan god, representing the need to maintain traditions, laws, and ethical behaviors between tribes and generations of people. Often considered the younger brother of Rao, he maintains close ties with all of his pantheon and often acts as a liaison to other pantheons because of his gift of divine diplomacy; it is this interaction that has gained him some awareness beyond the Flan people in this century. He rides an untiring horse named Keph; his symbol is a pair of clasped hands.

Dogma

The people should understand and respect their cultural traditions, else breakdown of society should result. Allitur insists on the performance of traditional rituals, and most of the Flan customs about home and family can be traced to his teachings. He also introduced the concept of laws and punishment to the Flan, and his name is invoked at trials, diplomatic meetings, and other official situations where fairness is expected from a bargaining partner.

Clergy

Allitur’s clerics arbitrate disputes, carry messages between tribes and nations, act as legal advisers or judges when needed, scribe laws and other documents for the common folk, travel to teach the proper traditions to children and heathens. They also have a martial aspect because of their role as enactors of punishment for criminals, violators of taboos, and oathbreakers. Allitur’s worshipers are expected to comply with clerics when they serve this function. These roles carry them far into hostile lands where their belief comes into conflict with heretics and the uncivilized.
Domains: Knowledge, Order
Weapons: Shortspear

BEREI

Hearth Mother, NG lesser goddess of Home, Family, and Agriculture

Flan Lesser Goddess
Berei (BEAR-ay) is possibly a splinter cult of Beory that has taken on an anthropomorphic persona. Berei is the live-giving soil and the strong stone that is the foundation of a safe home. She is shown as a strong- backed woman of brown skin and kind demeanor, and her holy symbol is a sheaf of wheat stalks. As the goddess of the home and family, she blesses weddings, gives fertility, protects the household and its members, guides the hands of those who till the soil, and teaches ways to care for the land. Beory is the only deity that concerns her.

Dogma

The family is the strongest tie between individuals, and one must learn to support and depend upon one’s family to survive. A community is a form of large family, and when another family is in need it is the duty of the community to provide for them. The birth of a new child in a time of plenty is a great blessing and an opportunity to resolve differences and restore frayed connections within the family. Care must be taken with every planting so that life can begin there again gain next year.

Clergy

Clerics of Berei tend to stay close to their families, serve as advisers and protectors, advise farmers on crops, and restore barren land. Some of her clerics choose to wander, planting seeds, looking for exotic crops, and carrying news between communities. They often adopt their traveling companions as family members, and consider these bonds as sacred as those of blood relatives.
Domains: Nature, Peace
Weapons: Sickle

MYHRISS

The Thrice-Kissed, Maid of Light and Dark, NG lesser goddess of Love, Romance, and Beauty

Flan Lesser God
Myhriss (MEE-ris) is shown as a Flan woman just reaching adulthood, a garland of flowers in her hair, or else as a fair-skinned, dark-haired provocative beauty or a sun-blonde tanned woman of approachable prettiness. Her dark-haired form is associated with the whip, her other aspect favors the shortbow. She is friendly and affectionate toward all benign gods but avoids those who are hideous, crude, or hateful. Although Wee Jas dislikes her, Myhriss appreciates the vain Suel goddess for her obvious attractiveness.

Dogma

Love can cure the world’s ills. Quarreling rivals and warring nations can be brought together with a well-placed romance, and beauty can turn the heart of a dumb beast or a despondent tyrant. Beauty is often fragile, so protect it from accidental harm, as the destruction of something beautiful is a great tragedy. Beauty comes in many forms, for even the most evil red dragon is a sight of terrifying splendor when it is on the wing. Celebrate love, affection, romance, and beauty wherever you find it.

Clergy

Clerics of Myhriss are starry-eyed and always looking for signs of love and beauty in the people and places around them. They bless young lovers, perform marriage ceremonies, create works of art, and travel to see beautiful people and fantastic sights. A few take roles as diplomats, as their looks and charisma make even the most hostile folk stop to listen to them. Some are crusaders against hate and ugliness, seeking out those who destroy love or vanquishing those of repulsive presence.
Domains: Life, Peace
Weapons: Whip

Vathris

the Transfixed, LN Demipower of Anguish, Lost Causes, and Revenge

Flan Ascendant Demipower
A thousand years before the Twin Cataclysms, the land now known as the Bright Desert was a fertile (if some- what arid) basin contested by a half-dozen semi-nomadic Flan states. Necromantic Ur-Flan adepts bolstered the dominant kingdom of Sulm. Their primary rival Itar honored Vathris, a demigod of Progress and Ingenuity who had walked their lands for centuries.
When the two nations clashed in an inevitable conflict that lasted more than three decades, Vathris stood at the heart of the final battle. There, the godling and his army were annihilated.
For more than a thousand years, Flan dervishes ranged the dunes of the now-despoiled desert, venerating a god who would not answer their prayers. Responding to a terrible vision seen by the Qolat Sisterhood in 562 C Y. thirty six ranking dervish priests gathered at the Plain of Spears and enacted a ritual to resurrect their fallen god. What emerged from the chaos of their casting was hardly the hero of their ancestors.
Ancient carvings depict Vathris as a shirtless copper-skinned muscular man standing half again as tall as a human and wearing metal and clay beads in his long dark hair. Since his "death," he appears with a grisly torso wound, which seeps black poisonous bile. Vathris wields the wickedly barbed onyx longspear that killed him, using the object of his own defeat to exact revenge upon his enemies. In this way the black spear has become his holy symbol. and the favored weapon of his clergy. His once-bright eyes are now empty, hollow sockets. Vathris once stood for the future. Now, he is obsessed with redressing the past.
He manifests perhaps once or twice a year, wandering the desert for days in a weakened, delirious state, violently dispatching monsters and ignoble men, and offering guidance and seeding ideas of revenge among the wronged. Within a matter of weeks, he collapses and dies once again.

Dogma

Fear not your own suffering and death, for those who fall on the side of right will rise again on the Day of Vindication, and take their place among the righteous tribes who forever torment the malign. Break not the laws of our people, but bide your time, striking when fate allows it.

Clergy

The Flan dervishes who worship Vathris are broken into two factions. The unpopular priests who follow the god's original manifestation as interpreted from centuries of oral tradition act as clerics who attempt to elevate the desert folk from their nomadic lifestyles, frequently overseeing oases or caravansaries. The more militant dervishes, often warrior priests, venerate Vathris as the Great Talion who rights wrongs perpetrated upon the tribes by local monsters, northerners from Urnst, and (increasingly) the forces of Rary of Ket.
Domains: Order, War
Weapon: longspear

ZODAL

The Gray Son, the Gentle Hand, NG God of Mercy, Hope, and Benevolence

Flan Lesser God
Zodal (ZOH-dal) is a servant power of Rao. He espouses kindness and compassion in situations of anger and vengeance, and diffuses negative emotions of those around him. Depicted as a man in simple gray robes with large careworn hands, he considers even the most hateful and destructive gods his friends, for he believes that with enough effort on his part they might change their ways. He continues his ministrations despite the evil and pain in the world, believing that his efforts will eventually make change happen. His symbol is a man’s hand partially wrapped in gray cloth.

Dogma

Only by experiencing kindness and mercy can evil be turned from its path, whether in a single goblin or an entire nation. Despite the world’s troubles, press on with faith that your actions bring about a better place. Let the Zodal guide you when you would be pulled into the sea of blood, pain, anger, and despair. You are the master of your feelings and by acting upon your positive ones you set an example for those who have known only misery.

Clergy

Zodal’s clerics spend their lives in simple circumstances, using their knowledge and abilities helping people in need and alleviating pain. They are drawn to warfare, to minister to the wounded and convince evildoers to change their ways. They adventure to bring attention to their cause, discover artifacts of good like the Crook of Rao, and destroy items that promote woe.
Domains: Life, Peace
Weapons: hand of Zodal (unarmed strike)

Type

Religious, Pantheon