Pantheon of Bennoria
Divines and Deities of Bennoria
There are two types of 'godlike' beings in the World of Valroth. The first are collectivly known as The Divines and are associated with the four seasons of the world. They are the creators of all things and through their balance is the world preserved. Then there are The Deities. These are the personfied 'gods' of Valroth that represent various aspects of the world. These deities have many names and faces, but in truth there is only one deity in each realm.
DIVINES
To call the Divines simply representation of the four seasons is a vast understatement. It is, in fact, the other way around. The seasons come and go as the powers of the Divines wax and wane over time. The power of Spring wakens the world from it's slumber bringing new growth and new light. Summer is where all things work hard to achieve their utmost under the bright light of the sun. When things are ripe for their plucking is the time of Autumn, the world begins to lean into twilight. The night of Winter is not the end of things, but more like the rest all things need before beginning again. The Divines are all this and more, but to the peoples of Bennoria they are simply the forces of the seasons and are somewhat beyond their understanding.
DEITIES
No one is exactly sure which of the Deities manifested first, but they all came after the huminoid races started to spread over the world. They were formed by the beliefs of the peoples and each were shaped accordingly. As the races spread out so did their beliefs, developing various gods in their own reagons among their own peoples. This created conflict for many years. It wasn't until the coming of the Avatars that it was understood that a deity could have different names and faces but still be the same. Things like Dhamir, the dwarven god of thunder, being the same as Aklos, human god of rain. Deities are unconcerned with what name they are worshipped by, only that they are worshipped. Since The Fall and the disappearance of the Avatars these deities have been fairly quiet, only distantly speaking to their followers through more obscrue ways. This is why the time since The Fall has been deemed the Age of Silence.
Mythology & Lore
When the Universe came into being so to did the Four Divines of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. They sought balance amongst themselves and so created the world and each in turn would guide their creation for a time.
First was Spring to bring the dawn and birthed the plants and animals upon the world. Next came Summer who guided the sun to it’s apex, seeing each to their proper place, helping them achieve their greatest potential. Next came Autumn who saw to the ripeness of all there was and divided the harvest amongst their creations, seeing the sun into twilight and advising all creatures to preapare for the time to come. Finally there was Winter, guiding the world through the darkness of night, setting the two moons in the sky, and collecting the souls of the dead.
So it was that the World of Valroth came into being. Since the beginning of all things have The Divines guided our world and brought us understanding of their creation.
Cosmological Views
The Material Plane is made up of all we see: the world, sky, sun, moons and stars. It contains the physical creations of the Divines.
Above the Material Plane is The Astral Plane, the realm of sprits and the divine. It has four main reagons, one for each Divine: Divine Realm of Spring, Divine Realm of Summer, Divine Realm of Autumn, and the Divine Realm of Winter. There are no real 'borders' between these realms as one simply blends into the next. Travel between complementary Divine Realms is difficult but possbile by venturing to the center of the Astral Plane where all four realms come together.
Within the Divine Realms are the Realm of the various Deities that have come into being. These realms are not static places but rather wandering regions that drift along, sometimes even venturing from one divine realm to another and thereby influencing the deity of that realm.
Below the Material Plane is the Infernal Plane where Devils and Demons dwell.
Type
Religious, Pantheon
Deities
Related Professions
Related Items
Related Myths
This is a really interesting pantheon! I love the idea of seasons deriving from Divines, and I'm curious to learn more about Deities, how many of them exist, what kinds of powers and worships they have, what rules they live by and so on. Nice job!
In preparation for World Ember I had decided I'd start a brand new world. It was difficult because usually I start with a story idea and build the world around/through the story. This is the first time I've started with the world first. At first I toyed with the idea of weird space mechanics (an exomoon around a gas giant in a binary star system) but that started to get too technical. The concept of the power of the gods being effected by the celestial patterns sorta stuck then the idea of reversing it, of the seasons being from the divines just made it all click together. Really looking forward to fleshing this entire thing out, especially since the deities can be almost infinite in number. I think I have about 20 in stubs right now. Thank you for the idea about the rules they live by. There really should be rules in place for all of them. *adds it to the ToDo list*
Costuming Challenge Article: Divine Vestments
Its pretty cool! I'm looking forward to reading about what rules you come up, gotta say reading (and writing) about gods is some of my favourite stuff :)