The following is a brief discussion of the most common and widespread deities followed and found in the world of Esthis. By no means is this a complete or exhaustive list, just those powers known in the most places. Many villages will have a local guardian spirit or god, or have a different interpretation of the nature and relative power of those gods that a traveler might find unfamiliar.
Domain(s): Order
Abakesh is the offspring of Wellenfore. While his father’s domain covers order and law, he also condones trickery and deceit. This never sat well with Abakesh, who believes that all beings should follow the law in an honest and true fashion. This caused a rift between them, and Abakesh vowed to uphold his own vision of order in the world.
Abakesh teaches that the law is the law, and justice is to be upheld in the laws eyes. Those who uphold the law are to be respected, and those who break it are to be punished. Abakesh, unlike his father, isn’t opposed to using force or violence to maintain order. Although, he recognizes that this can be a slippery slope.
His followers are few and far between, and often hail as law keepers.
Depiction: Abakesh is often depicted as a strong, faceless man with a hood over his head. He is humanoid, often wearing armor over robes, coloured in both white and black.
Holy Symbol(s): A great hammer resting upon a pillar.
The Commandments of Abakesh:
Domain(s): Arcana, Knowledge & Nature
Bal’illan-Fos is the god of the deep-earth, caves and old-growth forests; as well as the forgotten knowledge of the past. Is considers a sort of spiritual bedrock of the world. His sacred sites are old tree’s, whose roots are thought of sipping his blood, underground rivers and deep caves under the earth.
His tenets deal with not allowing knowledge to die, but teaching, the arduous task of gathering and remembering secrets, many left behind for reasons terrible and fell fall to his followers as well as standing as bulwark against threats of a more primal and eldrich nature.
The ancient does not act often, but when he does, all the other gods take notice.
Bal’illan-Fos plays a game of stones with Vreem every one-hundred years and a day, with a secret on the line as the prize; The Ancient plays with the intent of locking something away, for his acolytes know some things are better left forgotten.
Depiction: Portrayed as a great sleeping wyrm, a wingless dragon, with one eye open; the 3rd eye on its forehead, a great pool of liquid gold resting between its great horns.
Holy Symbol(s): Old Soil, loam & peat, crystals, and the gnarled branches of old trees.
The Commandments of Bal’illan-Fos:
Domain(s): Grave, Life & Nature
The deity who is associated with the wild places of the world: deep forest, hidden fens, and high mountains; as well as the bounty that can be gathered there. Hunters, trackers and farmers give prayer to her, asking for the success of their endeavors; as well as travelers who have left the roads and pathways of civilization.
Depiction:. Frey’Lenn is often depicted as an athletic woman, wielding a spear and bow, often in the middle of a hunt.
Holy Symbol(s): A green wolf or a Spear and bow crossed.
The Commandments of Frey’Lenn:
Domains: Arcana, Light & War
Representing, as well as existing as the sun itself. Ilios’Fal is the paragon of those that strive to show their worth. Grand feats of personal magic, glory on the battlefield, and expressing one’s vitality in the leadership and service of others are all acts of worship to Ilos’Fal.
Ilios’Fal is worshiped most by leaders; politicians, war-generals and active magi, individuals who wish to use their gifts to both affect the world and inspire others.
Depiction: Two-fold, either a stylized representation of the sun itself, blazing in all of its glory or a tall beautiful woman with red-gold hair, pale skin possessed of an innate glow and golden eyes that seem to shine with an inner light. Ilios’Fal is often depicted garbed in a simple robe of pristine white with the ends of the sleeves and hem transforming into solar fire.
Holy Symbol(s): A radiant sun, a flaming sword.
The Commandments of Ilios'Fal:
Domains: Prophecy, Grave, Life and Death Domains
Lantress weaves the strands of life, fate and destiny, guiding souls from their birth to the gates of death. Her followers are diverse, soothsayers, physiks, and gravekeepers being the most visible of the lot.
Lantress fundamentally deals with Transformation: the present to the future; life to death; and death again to life again. It is through her guidance that the fundamental forces of the world continue to flow.
Depiction: A tall woman with glossy raven-black hair flowing down to her waist with slight elfen or fey features. Lantress is imagined with bright, almost glowing, violet eyes.
Holy Symbol(s): A simple lantern with a slim flame of violet.
The Commandments of Lantress:
Domains: Nature & Tempest
Se’mystra is the goddess of the open ocean, the seas, as well as the sky above them. Her domain also encompasses violent storms, gentle clouds, and the blizzards that come in the middle of deep winter. An oft repeated adage of her followers is “The sky is an empty ocean awaiting it’s own waves and waters, and they always arrive”.
Sailors, farmers and people of the wilds count themselves among her devotees and the dual worship of Se’mystra and Ilios'Fal the God of the Sun are common among the people of Lair’enTel.
Depiction: Se’mystira is described as a statuesque woman, wild of hair and clothed in rolling storm clouds shot through with lightning and sunlight-beams of light.
Holy Symbol(s): Stylized set of three waves.
The Commandments of Se'Mystira:
Domains: Forge & Order Domains
In the early stages of the world it was said that the Granite Hammer’s ceaseless work beat out the coastlines and the mountains of the world. They are the deity of ceaseless work, of rigid progression from smaller things to things of greater complexity of an individual’s and societies struggle against entropy.
Smiths, artisans, and any person who transforms base elements to more complex objects pay homage to the Granite Hammer.
Depiction: A squat, stout humanoid, made of stone and iron with coals for eyes and moss for hair. He is depicted holding a smith’s hammer and tongs often with an angle in the aspect of an upside down mountain.
Holy Symbol(s): Hammer and Mountain.
The Commandments of The Granite Hammer:
Domains: Arcana, Knowledge, Trickery & Twilight
Representing and existing as the moon itself, Vreem is the god for those who keep their knowledge close. His followers are those who seek knowledge both normal, hidden or even forgotten from themselves. Paradoxically, it is the discovery and sharing of knowledge that are considered sacred acts, and those who push into the dark will often find themselves rewarded for their courage where no-one is looking.
Vreem plays a game of stones with Bal’illan-Fos every one-hundred years and a day, with a secret on the line as the wager of the game; Vreem plays to release a secret into the world, knowledge is meant to be discovered after all.
Depiction: Two fold, either a stylized representation of the moon itself, in any of its faces; or a slight slim man, mostly hidden in a flowing robe of shadow and starlight, black hair and porcelain skin poke out from under his clothing and silver eyes alight the darkness of his robe’s hood.
Holy Symbol(s): A moon in any of its phases, a silver eye.
The Commandments of Vreem:
Domains: Peace, Order & Trickery
Wellonfore is the god of the deal; merchants, law keepers, politicians and bureaucrats count him as their primary deity, along with anyone involved in the day to day running of cities or organizations.
However, critically and perhaps most misunderstood Wellenfore also represents the duality present in these situations, he is not a god of truth, holding both order and trickery in his portfolio.
Overwhelmingly, his tenets stress non-violence and the talking through of situations, whether that is with careful manipulation or honest devotion to a creed.
Depiction: Typically depicted as a slightly portly middle aged man, his face red with both wine and the success of his labors. Wellenfore is always depicted holding a set of gold weighing scales.
Holy Symbol(s): Golden weigh-scales.
The Commandments of Wellenfore: