<~> Chapter 226I sat down in the private room an who was already nose deep into a book. It looked like the others hadn't returned yet and were still browsing the shelves. Man had fewer books than I thought she would but she was eager to get to reading now that she has some time to dedicate toward it.
"What do you got there?" I asked her.
She looked up from her book and smiled. "A book on advanced magic theory. It's iing but... maybe not all that practical. How about you?"
I showed her the book I had found on the gods. It was a bit shorter than most of the other ones in the room but it was more of a brief that gave a small amount on most of the gods rather than anything ih. It seemed to be aimed at pointing others in the right dire for additional research rather than providing mu its own. It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for though.
She nodded. "Smart, with everything going on you should make sure to learhing you about them."
"That was the idea."
She smiled. "I'll leave you to it then." Without waiting for another response she put her nht ba the book she was reading, which made me chuckle a bit.
I cracked my own book open and looked at the first se titled: The Majods. The gods in this se would either be the most powerful, the most worshiped, or both. The beginning of this chapter remihe reader that in most cases the gods aren't mutually exclusive, people be followers of multiple gods or none of them and still receive their blessings and be from their temples. The book also specified that followers are not intergeable with more specific roles such as priests or padins, even though those specific roles are always followers of the god they represent. After skimming through this beginning part, I gathered that the number of each of the gods' worshippers tributed to their power a lot but that wasn't always the only factor that made them strong or why they were sidered 'majods.
Case in point, the very first god listed was Charon.
The God of Death, usually depicted as an old man or an animate skeleton by those who have cimed to have seen him when they were close to death. Unlike most gods, he has very few followers. The only ones known to follow him are assassins and occasionally demon cultists, though he is not known for supp demons based on the word of ods. He occasionally gives people the mark of death, a powerful god mark that magically makes attacks from the marked much more powerful. It is sidered a crime to have the mark of death in every civilized try. Despite the god of death's few followers, he is sidered to be the stro of the gods after he killed Erimikai aroyed the domain of war during the War of the Gods.
Pretty basic, I moved on to the entry.
Sielfrie, The Lady of Nature and Decay. This god is most often worshiped by elves, druids, nature mages, and others who are heavily ied iural world. She is usually depicted as a beautiful elf with sharp eyes, wearing dresses that reflect the current season. Sielfrie is often theorized to either be the stro god or sed stro god behind The God of Death siheir domains overp much more than most ods. Uhe God of Death, Sielfrie had many worshippers across the known world making it possible that she may be stronger. Sielfrie has told her worshipers in the past that those who die without burial fall into her domain while those whiven proper funerary rights belong to The God of Death. ter-intuitively however, Sielfrie is very strict about her followers providing funerary rights to others, both iies that she operates a temple in and in the wilderness. It is specuted that there is some e and agreemeween Sielfrie, The God of Death, ahel, the Goddess of Life and Reination surrounding the souls of the dead. None of these gods have firmed how this process works despite reination falling withihel's domain. There are many rituals as dedicated to Sielfrie, especially in elven afolk cities, predominantly surrounding the ging of seasons. The worshippers of Sielfrie do not view Decay as a ive aspect of her domain, rather as a part of the cycle of nature, however, worshippers of ods and the general popuce generally disagree.
I remembered entioning that the Lady of Nature and Decay owed him a soul after I had teically given Cliff a funeral with the s I pced on his eyes. I hadn't heard much about her si I'm not surprised that elves were associated with a goddess of nature. I haven't heard much specution one way or the other oher or not she could be associated with the Tamin Church though.
Moira, The Goddess of Fate and Future. This god is most often worshipped by select tribes of beastfolk, mages who use forms of divination magid those who cim they have been personally aided by this Goddess. She is usually depicted as a human woman who wears a dark blue cowled robe that hides her faot much is known about this Goddess' personality as their priests tend to be very secretive about their rites and forms of worship. This god is known to influes for those she deems worthy of, iher the past or future, and is generally looked at favorably by the general popuce. There are temples dedicated to Moira in me cities where people visit and pray for future success, ask flimpses into the future, or receive advice from her priests and priestesses. Though she has fewer followers than most ods in this se, her domain is sidered very powerful and even holds sway over most ods with the notable exception of Fortuna, the Goddess of Lud Fortuheir domains are diametrically opposed to each other and this often puts their followers at odds. Followers of Moira are not allowed in any church ambling den belonging to Fortuna's followers, and followers of Fortuna are magically uo enter a church belonging to Moira. It is for this reasowo goddesses are sidered to be enemies of each other, though her side openly aowledges the reason behind their hostility. Of the two, Moira is sidered more powerful, however, Fortuna's domain is far wider reag aends much further past the people who directly worship her iemples. It is said that anyone who wishes for luck be influenced by Fortuna, pared to Moira who is much more selective with those she deems worthy of her attention.
Fortuna, The Goddess of Lud Fortuhis god is most often worshipped by gamblers, adventurers, soldiers, and explorers. She likely has fewer priests and priestesses than most gods in this se but her influence is much wider than most ods from people outside of her direct worship. Fortuna is always depicted as a young human woman ieenage years, though her attire varies wildly from depi to depi. The most well-knowion is the ohat is associated with her temples, as every temple bears a simir statue of her in its courtyard or tral building. Stories of her iion with mortals suggest that she has a pyful personality and enjoys teasing those who i with her. She enjoys games of all sorts and will often bless people who e up with new pames, even those that do not involve gambling. Her temples are less focused on worship, service, and advice than all ods, but she personally appears before mortals much more often than most ods, only behind Sorsette, The Goddess of Knowledge and Innovation. It is not unon for there to be holidays or celebratioered around Fortuna but these tend to be local celebrations and while none of these holidays are directly saned by the temples of Fortuna, they do often sponsor events aivals as a general practice. In addition to her temples, nearly all gambling dens are dedicated to her. This brings a lot of wealth to her temples and is why her temples are so widespread, even in small towns, and how they afford to sponsor so mas around the world. Fortuna is either viewed very favorably or very ively depending on who you ask and is the most porizing of the gods. Some adventurers swear that they only survived a deadly enter by Fortuna's grace, others curse her after their lives were rui one of her gambling dens.
It was iing to see the goddesses of fate and luck to be at odds with each other, but it made sense. If Moira is sidered an enemy of Fortuna, and Fortuna is associated with the Tamin church, then perhaps the Goddess of Fate and Future would be worth approag. It seems uhat she would be w with Fortuna if they are at odds with each other.
Velenthel, Goddess of Life and Reination. This god is most often worshiped by healers, various tribes of beastfolk, adventurers, and oners. Velenthel is usually depicted as a tall motherly woman of all races. Unlike most gods that prefer one or a few specifis, Velenthel is most likely to appear as the same race as the one she chose to appear before. Her personality has been described as wise and motherly as her physical representations would suggest, though she rarely appears before people herself. Velenthel easily has the most followers of any god mostly due to her popurity among the on folk. Velenthel is one of the most reliable ways to receive access to healing magic as a oner and even many nobles choose to receive healing from Velenthel priests and priestesses due to their reputation for phenomenal skill with healing magid access to rare fertility and virility treatments. As a result, she is one of the most positively viewed goddesses.
This was the goddess Sorsette mentioned as having wiped my memory during reination. I'm not sure what to make of this goddess. From the description, she seems like she would be uo work with the Tamin church due to her e with oners and some tribes of beastfolk. Sorsette wasn't able to give me a guarahat she wasn't w with them but it seemed as if she hadn't really suspected Veleo be among them either. Other thaioning that some tribes of beastfolk follow her there wasn't any information on how she viewed beastfolk. I shrugged and carried on.
Bollide, God of Pathfinding and Exploration. This god is most often worshiped by explorers, pathfinders, adventurers, hunters, and some beastfolk tribes outside of the Zarcuda region. Bollide is nearly always depicted as a tall tigerkifolk that wears darkly colored leathers and hides, armed with a longbow. He rarely speaks to his followers directly, choosing io appear in moments of great peril for his followers. There are tless stories both real and fial of Bollide appearing just in time to save someone from certaih while expl somewhere new. It's generally believed by his followers that he does not appear for someone more than on a single expedition and he does not appear for people who unnecessarily put themselves into danger or explore unprepared. Despite taking the form of a beastfolk himself, the tribes of Zarcuda do not agree with his zeal for exploration and trailbzing since most of the cultures within the Zarcuda region are more focused on tradition and unity. Bollide represents the lone wolves and the bck sheep of the beastfolk, emp them to find their own path and search out new pces to settle and explore. Bollide has temples in most major cities outside of Zarcuda and the Northern Greens though for obvious reasons the presence of his temples tends to be focused on froowns. He is not the most heavily worshiped god but his worshipers, including his priests and priestesses, tend to be individually stronger on average than most people and especially more than other priests, priestesses, and padins of ods.
This entry was iing. Could Bollide be part of the Tamin church as a form of revenge for his followers' treatment by the tribes of Zarcuda? Though, the Tamin church tends not to discrimiweefolk, treating them equally as poorly, and it would be rather odd fod that takes the form of a beastfolk themselves to secretly be a part of the gods that are cooperating for the Tamin church...
Sorsette, Goddess of Knowledge and Innovation. This god is most often worshiped by schors, mages of all types, crafters, adventurers, avid readers, and world travelers. The likelihood that you are reading this very book in one of Sorsette's many libraries across the world is quite likely. Sorsette is usually depicted as a silver-haired Elven woman wearing purple colored robes or other dark colors. Of all of the gods, Sorsette is the most likely to appear directly before a mortal and the only reason for her differences iion is because of her own occasional insistent appearance among those she appears before. She is most likely to appear before mortals that she deems have made great tributions toward new research or the development of new magic, however, she is also known to appear before others as her whims dictate. She is most likely to appear to people within one of her libraries and it is also specuted that she likes to pose as a member of the library staff, you may have already spoken to Sorsette without having even known it! Sorsette is one of the most well-known gods across the world and has a library in me cities. After the War of the Gods, she agreed to no longer hold any padins and even her priests and priestesses are barred from eling her divine power. Despite this, Sorsette has rge numbers of followers spread out across the world stantly trying to develop new magic, learn more about the natural world, create hings, and preserve knowledge anywhere it be found. Sorsette is very protective of world travelers and is the most likely god to shelter them when their ideas create flict within the world. Visiting one of her libraries is usually free, though in some tries she is forced to charge for access or membership to operate within local ws. Membership to one of her libraries be more difficult to gain but is usually within reaost people if they are diligent enough in their studies, higher tiers of membership are only avaible to people who discover things or are able to tribute to the preservation of knowledge in some way. Sorsette is sidered one of the wealthiest gods but that wealth is usually represehrough her assets and nd rather than her holdings in like Fortuna.
I smiled. It looks like this writer had a lot to say about Sorsette, I already knew most of this and I've met her myself. There was more but it's probably better to skip the rest of her se and tinue on to the ods I'm not familiar with.
Saine
Hello! You've reached part one of the lore dump! There's lots of info on the gods in this chapter and the ohis chapter is lohan average and the chapter is even longer yet. If you missed the news, I'm redug my posting frequency for December, but at least you'll have some lohan normal chapters to chew on while I recover and deal with the holidays. Thanks as always for reading!
As a reminder, I'll be posting each story once a week from Ded until Dec 29th when I will resume my normal upload schedule. That means four less chapters of each story than usual this month. Umbral Feast will be posted on Mondays and Lilith will be posted on Wednesdays.
Chey other story here: Umbral Feast
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