The Old Gods

The Old Gods have been worshipped for a very long time. It is said that when Soteria was very young, they walked its lands and sailed its oceans, but they became too wise and lost touch with the world. As a result, the world cast them into the skies. For each God, there is a counterpart Goddess to balance each other out: the God and his Consort, the Goddess and her lover.

Gods

God of Keeping

Onos is the central god of the Elder Soteria pantheon. He presides over the contradicting forces of war and peace. He preserves the balance of all things with his consort, Myta, the Goddess of Decay. He guides the hands of mortals when war is necessary but gives them the strength to stop fighting and see reason in the face of the savage nature of mortals. It is said that Onos gave mortals the ability to be strong in the face of adversity and keep themselves steadfast. To honor him is to balance the urges of violence with the reason of thought.

God of Stillness

Eruer is the son of Onos and Udona. Their affair enraged Myta, and she exiled Eruer and Udona over the affair. They were forced into the company of mortals, and while Udona stayed separate and listened, dancing to the music of life, Eruer was quiet and listened to the tone of struggle within mortals. He is the god of care and neglect, striving to listen and know when to embrace and when to let go. To honor him is to sit quietly and hear the world moving around one's life, to notice the details but not disturb them. It is said that if one finds the power within themselves to become truly still and one with the world in a moment, he will appear and join a mortal for a time, leaving a gift behind for the company without saying a word.

God of Sleep

Guarus presides over obsession and apathy. He represents the need for balance between passion and letting go. In mythology, his story is one about honesty as well, told to children about why they should not lie about who they are.

Goddesses

Goddess of Decay

Myta is the central goddess of the Elder Soteria pantheon. She presides over the contradicting forces of growth and atrophy. She ensures that new life can spring from old, as the old withers and decays so that new life can form. She provides an end to things when they are through. Mortals shall grow old and then rest after a long life as the reward for fighting so long while living. To honor her is to accept one's death is coming and help new life come forth.

Goddess of Music

Udona is the goddess of hope and despair. She brings color and feeling to the world, and through her, mortals know love and hate, fear and bravery. She loves the sounds of life and encourages tales of past deeds to be told in song for all eternity. It is said that when a mortal sings anywhere, she will stop to listen for a moment of her long existence and dance if the melody is sweet enough and the words powerful enough. She is the daughter of Myta and Onos. After the Fates began to quarrel heavily, her parents grew tired of the constant bickering. Soon after, they gave birth to her, and she grew up listening to the sounds of mortals and the music of the Fates plucking at the strings of life. To honor her is to embrace one's feelings, to sing and dance as if any day could be your last.

Goddess of Knowledge

Kyntris presides over light and dark. She believes that no knowledge is free and that it must be earned.

Goddess of Life

Citona presides over birth and death. She wants to see the newly born thrive and the newly dead find peace. She carries the souls of the newly dead, judges them, and should they not be ready, she will pass them along into another life in the newly born. If they are ready to let the mortal world go, she will pass them to the Infinite Sanctuary where they will know true peace. Should a soul be so corrupted by anger and hate that they seem to be a lost cause, she will cast them out into the Severed Realm to protect mortals from such a being.

The Fates

The Fates are a trio of powerful beings. They are neither male nor female yet somehow both. They have the power to pull and shape the lives of everyone from entire kingdoms to individual people. The three beings are siblings, children of Onos and Myta when the world was young and devoid of life. Their children began to fight as they grew older, and each took up a different quality of life. Their voices can be heard in the natural sounds and music of the lands, from the oceans to the woods. The Fates speak in the tones of nature itself.

Discord

Believing that life is disharmony and each note diverging from the others, this Fate argues for self-determination and free will, whatever it may bring. He is more male than the other two.

Harmony

Feeling that the truth of life is to fight and strive for togetherness and being one with each other, this Fate argues for people to be brought together, the good of the many over the good of the one. She is more female than the other two.

Timbre

Balancing between its siblings, bringing together the notes of harmony with the notes of discord, this Fate argues for peace between the others. It believes that both have their place in the world and does not understand why they do not see this. Timbre is truly balanced between male and female.

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  Discord

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  Harmony

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  Timbre

The three Fates can only sway either one at a time or all at once. When they act apart from each other, their influence is minimal, pulling at their individual strings within mortals. Discord and Harmony often fight over what should be done, while Timbre carefully plucks the strings of mortals in subtle ways to bring them together. It is a rare thing for the siblings to agree, but when they do, they can sway all the people in the 10 Kingdoms to their will and play all mortals in a symphony. Legend says that the Fates brought the Ageless Ones across the realms, having decided that the war had brought too much discord, and they were satisfied and ready to give in. Harmony was said to be filled with the actions of the heroes who had sacrificed themselves for their people, but too many had done so over the years, and she was satisfied. Timbre was saddened by all the death and destruction but finally satisfied to bring peace.

When the siblings came together, they called across the realms to bring the Ageless Ones and influenced the mortals of the 10 Kingdoms to agree to and honor the Peace of Ages.

Forces of Nature

Protector of the Forests

Kraul, an immortal forest protector, arose from the ashes of war as the forests were ravaged by fire and destruction. His powerful magic infuses the remaining woodland, driving its regrowth. In exchange for blessings and stewardship, he permits Man and other races to hunt and use the forest's resources, but his wrath is legendary, capable of leveling towns and annihilating those who harm his domain. Among his enigmatic powers, it is said that he reserves mercy for the innocent, as the trees themselves shield lost children who retain the purity of youth within his woods.

Protector of the Dead and Dying

Osyn, the protector of the dead and dying is the daughter of Eruer's mating with his daughter Aelia. She bore the child in an angry rage, and during that time, the work of the world suffered hard. She frequently raged through the mortal world, declaring that people were too lazy and punishing them harshly for it. Many died during this time. When the child was born, her father, Eruer, took her from her mother, calling Aelia unfit and cruel. Eruer raised Osyn to protect those mortals who needed the most protecting, the dead and the dying on their way to the other side. She would judge them and take them to either the Ocean of Dreams or the Severed Realm. Before Osyn, mortals could hold onto the mortal world and continue to plague the living. It is said that once ghosts were common, and the dead would come to smite those who had wronged them in life. Osyn protects us from such. She protects the dead from being taken over by the rage and revenge of life and then escorts them to the next life. Those souls that will not go quietly, who have lived bitter and angry lives filled with hate, anger, and violence, will be taken to the Severed Realm, which is cut off from the mortal world entirely. Those souls that accept their fate and let go of the anger and hate of life can die in peace and go to the Ocean of Dreams, where it is said that they are permitted to watch over loved ones, viewing across the gulf between the living and the dead.

Protector of the Desert

Hiksaresh is the mythical snake spirit that serves as the eternal protector of the desert, wielding control over the sands and safeguarding its secrets. Believed to be awakened by a mesmerizing melody played on the Ney flute, Hiksaresh embodies ancient wisdom and commands the elements that shape the arid landscapes. As the desert's guardian, it holds the key to the mysteries buried within the dunes and bestows its blessings upon those who chance upon the lost treasures revealed by its enigmatic guidance.

Demigods

Caladhris Twice-Born

A cursed figure driven by an insatiable hunger for power, possesses a callous and ruthless personality. His formidable magical abilities fuel an unsettling arrogance, while his anger manifests in terrifying brutality. Yet, buried beneath his hardened exterior lies a vulnerable longing for the family he lost, a hidden crack in his otherwise impenetrable facade. Driven by unwavering resolve, he manipulates and pursues his goals, forever haunted by the shadows of his past.

Lesser Deities

Goddess of Work

Aelia's tale is woven from the threads of a forbidden union between Eruer and Udona. Her birth stands as a constant reminder to the profound scandal that cast a shadow over her divine lineage. The love between a mother and her son, already a taboo, was further debased by the bloodline of Onos. Yet, it was Myta, in her unyielding judgment, who cast them into exile, denying Eruer his rightful place among the gods. Emerging from her parents' deep regret and shame, Aelia's destiny was forever tainted by their unholy passions. As if history echoed its own tales, Udona, who once lay with her father Onos, later turned to her own son, Eruer, in equally forbidden embrace. Aelia, robbed of the celestial life she sought, bore a fierce anger against the deities who ostracized her and the mortals who looked upon her lineage with disdain. Nurtured on sparse moments of love and perpetually haunted by the sins of her forebears, her heart grew cold with an enduring resentment for all.

God of Lust

Somus is the son of Myta and Eruer. To hide him from her jealous husband, Myta forbade him to leave his chambers, and he spent all of his time watching the mortal world live. Loneliness blossomed in him with an intense desire to belong and be together. He is said to be incapable of passing by a truly beautiful man or woman. If a mortal catches his eye, he must have them. Over the years alone, he learned to disguise himself until one day he found he could transform himself into someone else for a time. Using this, he escaped from his mother, who was too ashamed of what she had done to go after him. Since then, he disguises himself as a mortal and is said to spend nearly every waking moment with the most beautiful and attractive mortals he can find, spreading his seed throughout the world. Legend has it that he gave mortals an exceptional quality of the Gods that had been forbidden, but left a wake of broken hearts and ruined lives as he flitted from interest to interest, never settling down.