Nine Trickster Gods
With Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) gone, primal spirits arose from the rainforest to bewitch the few remaining Omuans. They disguised themselves as jungle creatures and promised great power in return for devotion. Desperate for redemption, the Omuans tore down their temple to Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) and raised shrines to these nine trickster gods.
The new deities were divisive and often cruel. Too weak to grant miracles to every follower, they concocted elaborate trials to winnow the clergy. On holy days, the mettle of aspirant priests was tested in their nine shrines, with deadly consequences for failure. The trials provided entertainment for the degenerate Omuans and fed their weakling gods with much-needed sacrifices.
For nine decades, the city folk lived by the mantras of their trickster gods. They built statues in their names and schemed against each other to assert their chosen god’s dominance. Omu’s glorious past was lost, but its people endured. Such mercy did not last long.
Fall of Omu
Omu’s bloody trials drew the attention of Acererak, an archlich who wanders the cosmos in search of souls to harvest. Acererak, who is fond of deathtraps, marveled at the trials concocted by the Omuans. They inspired him to create his own dungeon below the city.
A little over a century ago, Acererak entered Omu and slew all nine trickster gods. He then enslaved the Omuans and forced them to carve out a tomb for their defeated gods. When the tomb was complete, Acererak murdered the Omuans and sealed them in the tomb with their false gods. The archlich resumed his odyssey across the planes, content that the dungeon would feed his phylactery with the souls of dead adventurers. The jungle reclaimed Omu, and it fell into ruin.
Legend of the Nine Gods
Stories of Omu’s nine trickster gods died with the Omuans who worshiped them. A few adventurers found the gods’ shrines, and pieced together fragments of the legends of the Nine Gods.
Long ago, the god Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) hardened his heart and vowed to weep for the people of Omu no longer. The rains stopped, the jungle withered and died, and death swept through Omu.
One morning, a wise zorbo emerged from her hollow tree and spoke to the dying Omuans.
To convince Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) of their worth, she decided to cook him a stew made from all their good qualities. Catching such virtues wouldn’t be easy, so she asked a wily almiraj to help her.
The almiraj snuck recklessness in the pot, which she saw as a virtue, and Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) spat out the stew when he tasted it. From that day on, Obo’laka the zorbo and I’jin the almiraj became terrible enemies.
At noon, a brave kamadan hopped down from her rock.
She saw the evil in the Omuans’ hearts and decided to lance it like a troublesome boil. The kamadan fashioned a holy spear, but she left it by the riverbank and a crafty grung stole it.
In her rage, Shagambi the kamadan forgot all about the Omuans and chased Nangnang the grung forever across the sky.
When evening came, a wily eblis stepped from his reed hut.
He didn’t like the Omuans, but without them he’d have no one to play his tricks on. The eblis sent a marsh frog to reason with Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh), but the frog was angry and decided to wrestle the god instead. This amused Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh), so he gave the frog tentacles to make it stronger and it becam a froghemoth.
When Kubazan the froghemoth returned to Papazotl the eblis, he chased Papazotl into the swamp with his new tentacles.
That night, a su-monster broke into Ubtao’s (oob-TAY-oh) palace and stole a pail of water for the Omuans.
When the god came running to find it, the su-monster hid the pail in a jaculi’s burrow.
Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) asked the jungle animals where his water was hidden, and Moa the jaculi was too honest to lie. When Wongo the su-monster found out how Moa had betrayed him, he vowed to catch the jaculi and eat him up.
All the while, Unkh the flail snail lived deep under the earth.
The noise of the other animals fighting made her slither up to the surface, and when day dawned over her shell, the light blinded Ubtao (oob-TAY-oh) and made his eyes water. Life returned to Omu, and the people built shrines to honor the animals who’d saved them.
