Visctherian Pantheon
Favorable Deities
The first group of gods created by Udis, the Favorable Deities were made to fill the world with creations. They populated the world with the first Visctherians, as well as creating the things that brought them life, such as the sun, moon, and sky. The Favorable Gods ruled Visctheria for many years, until their siblings were born.
Adtia
- Light is life & health.
- Growth is constant & necessary.
- Sparks live in us all, and radiate life from within.
As goddess of the Sun, Adtia is hugely important to the Visctherian Pantheon. That being said, she isn't a hugely common deity to worship. There are many offerings made to her at temples and thanks given in prayer, but few definitive devotees of Adtia exist in the world.
Antar
- Power of the mind is power of the body.
- Community breeds thriving people.
- Peace is the greatest victory.
Antar is the god of peace, a relatively popular god on the war-torn world of Visctheria. While his teachings are absolute, many devotees of Antar eventually find themselves fighting for that peace they so desire. Hundreds of soldiers across the world devote themselves to the god of peace, hoping that one day, his teachings will reach the unlistening ears of the enemy.
Athos
- Burning is creation in action.
- The strongest shield is a lack of enemies.
- Sparks are gifts, never let them go out.
The god of fire gave the early Visctherians their Sparks, bringing life from the hands of Athos to the world at the beginning of time. The Cult of Athos Malprg in Ieuthibar honors this event as the beginning of their history, keeping careful records of time as it passes in a series of journals that later Arcanists would find invaluable in the creation of the Visctherian Analogs.
Brodea
- Strength is serenity.
- Knowledge flies at darkest night on silent wings.
- Kindness heals the receiver. Gentleness strengthens the giver.
Brodea, goddess of the moon, graces the sky every night to shine soft, gentle light on what otherwise would be kept secret. She controls the three Moons of Visctheria and their cycles, and many worshipers hold both the triple full moons and triple new moons sacred. Dozens of festivals are held across the world on those days, showing a rare sense of unity across Visctheria.
Eva
- Love conquers all ills.
- Love comes in many forms.
- Kindness begets kindness.
Eva is one of the more simplistic deities, bringing love to everyone and everything around her. A triune goddess, and the only one of her kind in the Pantheon, her three forms represent her different gifts to Visctheria: love, friendship, and compassion. Her realm of power extends past the material world into the metaphysical one, being one of the few deities with a concept for her sphere of control. Despite being easily overlooked by many worshipers, Eva's following makes sure that there is still goodness in the world, and love given to those who truly need it.
Ilotl
- The world was made to experience; remaining stationary is a sin.
- Calm seas are good for travel, but beware the doldrums.
- Value extends only as far as your merit has brought you.
The goddess of the sea, Ilotl, is a complex creature. Worshiped by pirates and kings alike, she represents the benevolence of the ocean. Queen of travel, freedom, and the gifts of the sea, Ilotl is a model deity for many Visctherians. Ilotl holds the majority percentage of temples in Skaolia, as a country of seafarers, and her temple in the tiny Meskaovanian colony to the east of Raxala is the largest Visctherian temple on record.
Lothar
- The world was born of the gods, and you were born of the world.
- Give freely, and often. Your generosity mirrors nature.
- The earth offers more than we can imagine.
Another deity of gifts and nature, Lothar, god of earth, is a benevolent giver. He champions mortality as a gift from the gods, and therefore as being worth more than the divine, who have always been. He is considered to be a god of the people, bringing kindness and gifts from below the surface of the world.
Thadum
- The sky is our true home; it is where we came from, it is where we shall return to.
- The sky tells us all things that have happened or will happen. It sees all.
- All things under the sky belong to you.
Thadum is an interesting god, in that his appearances on Visctheria are often in the form of a typical Viscan. He arrives in a vision of a temple in the sky, and comes down on cloudy stairs to speak to his closest followers. The resulting prophecies have almost overfilled the Athos Repository, and no one knows what is real or false - until a prophecy is fulfilled.
Unfavorable Deities
The Unfavorable Gods were born as an offset to the Favorable Gods, intended to bring balance to the universe. Instead, they brought war and destruction, so much so that Udis had to create another race of beings to stop their wanton rage. These Unfavorable Gods forced many Visctherians into hiding during the War of the Gods, every day a danger while magic scarred the land.
Ureus
- Darkness comes before growth.
- Sparks are always, eventually, snuffed out.
- Growth comes from within, not from what surrounds you.
Ureus of the darkness was built to conquer and destroy Adtia's sunlight, choking the rays of golden radience with crushing inky blackness. While he still focuses on growth, Ureus champions internalizing suffering and growth, and embracing death at the end of life. Very much the opposite to the goddess of the sun, he poses a massive threat to the balance of the universe every night, when the sun may never rise again.
Zaohr
- Give into nature, it lives at our core.
- Death is the truth of life, and those who see it see the world differently.
- Combat is control.
Zaohr is the representation of animalistic masculinity in the Visctherian Pantheon, and it shows in his teachings. His call to nature makes some confuse him with Lothar, but the god of war is nothing like the benevolent giver. Champion of battles and wager of wars, Zaohr cuts an imposing figure among the gods.
Maghena
- To die is to have lived and to live again.
- Burning is the last act to destroy what was and create anew.
- The best of life is after death.
Goddess of ash, Maghena is also a deity of death and rebirth, the opposite to Athos' realm of creation. She requires her followers to be cremated after death in a final act of renewal, their ashes used to fertilize next year's crop and provide for the community. She is also commonly known as the Queen of the Beyond, the Visctherian afterlife.
Esbius
- Surround yourself with blessings as numerous as the stars.
- Magic lives and breathes, those who can tame it are rich.
- Renewal comes from what is broken.
Esbius isn't like the other gods whose realms cover gifts. Where other gods like to give, Esbius wants to receive. His expansive wealth of stars at his disposal twists his teachings, and while the Magic of Visctheria comes from the stars, so will Esbius keep control of the world's magic.
Festher
- Rage is clarity.
- Illness is consumption by nature, and requires purification.
- The lost children will inherit the earth.
Festher, god of hatred, is the opposite to Eva's triune form. The three-headed god is constantly bickering with himself as one head chokes on disease, the second calls for vengeance, and the third cries eternally, longing for lost things. Patron of orphans and spreader of illness, Festher consumes all, spouting an endless cloud of poison - both physical and spiritual.
Thegyn
- The storm consumes all.
- Chaos is the natural state of being.
- Destruction is just as important as construction.
The most unpredictable and destructive of the Visctherian Pantheon, Thegyn is goddess of storms and natural disasters. She brings chaos to the world in violent opposition to Ilotl's calm waters, forcing sailors to adapt and learn the new ways of the angry ocean. Her teachings lead to internalizing the storm, allowing her followers' emotions and nature to consume them in a destructive display of animalism.
Ninana
- Fear is natural and keeps you safe. Destroy it.
- Everything comes from the earth and returns to it.
- Creatures you call unnatural are only different in your eyes. Nature overtakes all in the end.
Ninana is a disturbing creature, mother of monsters and creator of horrors. Visctherians interpret her as the true animalistic feminine aspect of the Pantheon, and credit her with control of all curses and fear in the world. Despite being created to offset Lothar, god of earth, she is surprisingly similar to the deity in her teachings, holding a similar - but darker - love for the earth.
Adia
- Everything is born from nothing, and to nothing it returns.
- The Beyond welcomes all in death.
- Beginnings only come after endings.
Adia is pure nothingness. The goddess of the void, she brings not destruction or creation, but a lack of being, returning the galaxy bit by bit to the nothingness it once was. Modern Arcanists theorize that Adia was the last god to be born, the true offset to the entropy of the universe.
Udis
The creator of the Visctherian Pantheon and all of the Margeh Cradle, Udis is a mysterious being that has much more of a hand in the goings on of the world than other gods and beings in the Tethered Realms. Some claim to have seen her guiding them down a certain path, be it literal or metaphorical. Arcanists theorize she occasionally comes down to the surface of Visctheria to change the planet's path through time, orchestrating the fate of the world.
Shards of Power
When the Gods Shattered into their Shards of Power, the fragments fell to the surface of Visctheria, some growing into the massive Trees of Power that keep the magic around Visctheria moving. As the Shards scattered around the world, some landed near enough to mortal civilization that they were easily discovered. Few Shards still remain on the surface of Visctheria today, and those few whose locations we are aware of are being hunted.
Enchirydion
Known as the book of the gods, the Enchirydion is the story of the world's creation - and of the gods' destruction. It tells the tale from the beginning of time to the Age of Mortals, written in the early Heroic Age by Icauria Soldenmarch in the religious city of Caldarash.
While many modern members of the Interworld Arcanist Society do not use the Enchirydion as a true historical document - due to the lack of mortals alive at the beginning of time - few Heroic Age Arcanists questioned the validity of the claims in the book. Many prophecies translated from the document were expected to happen as precisely as they were described. The thing no one can explain is why so many of these prophecies did actually come true.
Godsent
The Godsent are said to be a gift to Sapients from the Pantheon themselves, keeping the world a safe and magical place. The Godsent are massive beasts that roam the wild lands of Visctheria, maintaining their old breeding grounds for thousands of years.
Epithets
When the Shards of Power fell to the surface of the planet, the Gods came to be known by the names of those Shards. Each deity broke into many pieces, but the largest ones were given epithets, by which to honor the different facets and realms of the Gods' power.
- Sun - Oudatios
- Knowledge - Johiom
- Serenity - Mectoulm
- Growth - Variti
- Life - Aswera
- Light - Twagensi
- Femininity - Shernada
- Masculinity - Shepadha
- Fortitude - Clualo
- Law - Ousnesant
- Love - Eryos
- Luck - Joscro
- Healing - Feaveli
- Friendship - Fellit
- Peace - Ambanisti
- Fire - Malprg
- Forge - Intio
- Protection - Omnion
- Sea - Raili
- Earth - Mosengl
- Sky - Viess
- Balance - Uhlosei
- Chaos - Ethummu
- Darkness - Throrit
- War - Evoustra
- Power - Bentori
- Moon - Graa
- Insanity - Eoheter
- Ashes - Seifor
- Death - Abblexe
- Stars - Amatensta
- Wealth - Aubba
- Renewal - Mardiast
- Magic - Inoteri
- Hatred - Balis
- Vengeance - Timnesqu
- Illness - Tassare
- Monsters - Shmoi
- Curses - Edula
- Fear - Obrac
- Sleep - Nilis
- Destiny - Holli
- Culture - Cintivi
- Travel - Aineo
- Agriculture - Lastasi
- Nature - Dacha
Prime Epithets are those Epithets that match the God's main realm of power. Lothar of Earth would not use "Caosg" as an Epithet, as it would be redundant. There are a few specific cults that follow Prime Epithets, such as the Cult of Brodea Graa, but it is often viewed as an insult to call upon a God in their Prime realm, as if they were to be unsure of their power.
The Gods
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These are really cool deities! I love Fester as a counterpart to Eva. I love the different facets that squabble against the unified tribunal that is Eva.
But also just every deity is awesome. :) What a cool pantheon.
Thank you so much! I'm excited to do more work with this pantheon, keep an eye out for individual articles for each of them!