Manifold are
the gods, goddesses, demi-deities and godlings of the Shrouded World. Some are
weak – denizens and masters of small localities – whilst some are mighty beyond
compare with all beings save their immediate rivals, commanding millions of
mortal adherents and vast magical power of their own. However, it must be noted
that some small-scale deities, such as Amnur, Lord of the river of the
same name, have considerable power in their own domain, and unless a
greater power should intervene, their mastery may be regarded as total.
However, many of the weaker deities owe their allegiance to greater powers. Amnur,
for example, is a vassal of Avraki, Father of Rivers and is therefore
bound to do his bidding. Avraki himself is – partially at least –
obedient to the wishes of those gods he considers his allies and friends (such
as Kaenor, Ovrano and Vlynn), and opposes the wishes of
the deities he regards as enemies (Modrus and Yelith). And of
course even so potent a being as Avraki must bow to greater powers (such
as Karsatos) unless supported by some other first-echelon deity.
THE DEITIES
In the Shrouded World it is
possible to list the gods and goddesses in hierarchical form: First-Echelon
Powers (usually representative of some powerful, all-embracing concept such as
war, love or time), Second-Echelon Powers (some widely-beloved saints of the
greater powers, gods and goddesses representing particular nations, races, or
subsidiary concepts such as strategy, fertility or prophetic dreams) and
Minor/Local Powers (ranging in potency from gods such as Amnur, noted above, to most ‘local’ saints down to very weak
godlings of a particular hill or small tribe). Often these ‘powers’ are
actually just medium-level fey or demons, unable to grant spells in the form of
learnable spells. Their power is either directly expressed or a particular
spell is channelled to their devotees.
Alongside this hierarchy of
powers are the spiritual forces that are the domain of the Shaman, the
elemental lords beloved of the Elemental spell-user, the greatest demons and
the higher lords of the fey. All of these are potent enough to channel power in
the form of learnable spells and power points to their most favoured adherents.
In addition, there is the
power of ‘nature’ that is worshipped, focused and channelled by Druids,
Animists and other similar casters. This too is a deific force –the ‘spirit’ of
nature, so to speak – although it is not personified in quite the same way as
the gods (there are nature gods and
goddesses who provide spells and power points but these are not identical with
the ‘spirit of nature’ and generally have a more limited reach and scope.
Druids and Animists do not, except in rare cases, worship these deities).
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