Mommy, where do deities come from?

Okay, in reality I just should have just accepted that I was going to end up taking the Monday after Gen Con off from writing — my brain was just too overloaded to focus on much that day.

However, I can at least post some of the pictures I took:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

But, now, I want to discuss something that I think really carries my whole question about the existence of the gods to another level.

In essence, I want one of the major aspects of religion to be that belief in the gods’ divinity is a spectrum — some believe they don’t exist while other believe they are all-powerful beings.

In the middle of this spectrum are those who believe that all current deities worshiped in Kalanesia were once mortal.

That’s right, that they’re all demigods.

Now, I already have a few of these: Nemerium, Boudica, Rhys r’Ogosaa and Wee Jas. Even the swords in the Parable of Blades philosophy could be construed as such.

Well, as I was typing out some more back story for Halath. As I did, I came up with a great idea for a legend tied to the faith. Essentially, in the early ages of the mortal world, there was only light and peace. However, one day, portals to all the various worlds opened, allowing creatures to pass through. These became known as the bloodrifts.

Because of this connection, demon, devils, evil fey, elementals and other monstrosities poured forth and attempted to take the mortal plane for themselves. However, during this age of chaos, that powerful entities native to the mortal plane rose to prominence — beings some argue changed from mortals to the first deities.

No on is sure of the process. Atheists and those who believe this theory say that divine spellcasters’ pure faith allows them to direct magic. The latter believe that the demigods gain power from that faith. However, these are both opposed by those who believe that the gods were always immortal.

Those who hold the demigod theory point to those I mentioned before as evidence that this phenomenon still occurs.

They also hold that other planes have similar examples found in those patrons warlocks and witches forge pacts with. They are powerful beings that give their followers power. Some believe that’s how the fey courts’ religion was created — enough of each courtly position attained power to create the icons that some divine casters of fey origins draw power from.

Why Rhys r’Ogosaa just hates you

Last week, I waxed literarily critical on the Perfect Warrior and how that led to the creation of the deity that I’m talking about today, Rhys r’Ogosaa.

As you recall, I wanted a deity that would serve as a humbler of prideful PCs.

“Screw you, designer guy. We’re awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Actually, you deserve to die just for using that many exclamation points.

 

Anyway, without much more forced comedy, let’s talk about Rhys r’Ogosaa, the Slayer of Heroes. His epithet is is actually a rough translation of a dialect that was once common in the northern areas of the continent.

Most of the deity’s adherents believe it is their duty to knock those who are prideful down a peg. This can range from protesting the decisions of a politician in Exeline, tripping a smug noble into muck or, in more extreme cases, killing a powerful hero who is lauded by a city-state.

But why does this deity call his followers to do so?

Well, some will say Rhys r’Ogosaa has been in existence since the beginning of time; however, more fanatical adherents dismiss this notion, instead favoring a story that casts him as a jaded demigod, much like Boudica, who some believe may have originally been a priestess of this deity or who became a separate manifestation of it. This is because the demigod version is an average person, not some high and mighty entity whose beef against pride could be viewed as ironic.

Anyway, Rhys r’Ogosaa, in the legend, is said to have been the son, or daughter in another version, whose parents were killed in collateral damage caused between a barbarian warrior who fought against a horde of orcs. Think the damage caused by the Avengers.

However, despite the large amounts collateral damage, the village lauded and feasted the warrior, but the child nursed a hatred for the death of his/her parents. Eventually, when the child reached early adolescence, he/she enacted his/her revenge plan.

In the end, he/she managed to kill the warrior, who had become fat and lazy on the applause and honor of the village, but was captured by the townsfolk, who hanged him/her. However, he/she exclaimed that his/her vengeance against those whose pride threatens others would continue. Not much more than a week after the hanging, the first cleric of Rhys r’Ogosaa came and destroyed the village entirely.

Now, the religion has spread in an underground fashion, and, occasionally, adherents will hold protests that can turn violent or subversive to the way things currently operate. Some even suspect that the Bloodrift Warlock was a member of the clergy who chose to topple the proud Blue Empire.

And the religion can serve as the seed for side quests or vignettes while PCs are in between major plot points. However, that doesn’t mean they can serve as the main villain — perhaps a copy cat hopes to continue the path chosen by the Warlock or even another deity like, oh say, Aza Mathera.

Symbolism is everything

This week, I thought I’d share some of the holy symbols I’ve bee trying to draw up a basic visual key for myself.

Now, this doesn’t have much in the way of writing or new story stuff — though it has a few hints at what’s to come, such as two symbols and epithets for Verisérin and a new, fiery deity, Cador. I’ll leave you all to ruminate on that.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Winning in November

Well, it’s been a month since the last post on here while I worked day and night on my National Novel Writing Month entry, and it all paid off with an official word count of 50,214 on the last day of the month.

Now, my plans to post quick snippets on here and tweet excerpts as I worked fell to the wayside as time constraints reared their ugly heads.

But that doesn’t mean I have learned a lot of really cool things about Kalanesia through the process.

I already posted a neat bit of trivia about elves: those raised in normal circumstances bear tattoos that indicate certain things about them, such as occupation, family, etc. I think it is a really cool way to differentiate them from other elves — both from other worlds and in Kalanesia. Aside from this, I’ve got enough new material lined out for another couple of posts on elven culture. So keep an eye out in the next month or two.

Otherwise, I’ll start with the first major component that has developed out of writing the novel: I’m going to do my best to disengage the setting from being solely for Dungeons and Dragons and provide material that could easily transmit to any roleplaying system.

• Wee Jas will need to be renamed. What that name will be I am unsure.
• Remember when I said the demon lords would remain like D&D? Well, they’ll be retooled, as well.
• Names of places like the Feywild and Shadowfell will also be reworked. The new name of the Feywild will be the Feylands, and the Shadowfell is now the Grey Wastes; I’ll explain more on this in the future.

But, here are some of the other trivia bits of info that came out of writing the novel.

• Priests of Boudica give up their original names and take on new identities under their goddess.
• While the city of Exeline is not on the coast of an ocean, it was built around a waterfall and a lake, which empties into a river than runs to Waystrand. As such, there is river-based trade using barges that flow between the cities.
• Most of the Church of Halath’s rites and rituals take place at night, when their vigilance is most needed.
• Changelings are a hated race because many believe they always lie.
• There are some areas in Kalanesia were slavery exists, and in areas where it is outlawed, slavers still manage to pop up offering their living wares. This isn’t touched on yet, but Sargesia, the main city of teiflings is a major hub.
• Those who worship the Seven Sisters use “Sisters’ knees” as an swear, base off of the “Sisters’ knobbly knees,” a send up of stereotypical images of Halloween witches. While no others popped up, I don’t see why this can extend to other things such as “a wart on my nose,” to reference an annoyance.
• Ever wondered why demons and angels seldom appear in the mortal world and abjuration magic banishes them? It’s because they aren’t native to the mortal world and have no direct connection to it, which can only be forged by someone in the world via a ritual or the expenditure of amazing amounts of energy. So what does this mean for extra-planar travel? You’ll have to wait and see.

As to the finished novel, well, it isn’t finished. I’m planning on leaving it along for a month and, at the start of 2014, picking it back up to start editing. Since this has mostly been a fun experience, I’m not sure yet if this is something I’m going to send out for publication submission. It will largely depend on how the editing process goes.

So cheers ’til next week, folks.