Deities & Religion

in Chizedan

The Shenaim 'Ahsir

 

Origins:

The majority of beings in Chizedan believe in and worship The Shenaim 'Ashir, a group of 12 deities. Tradition holds that before living memory, and before the world was, there was The Savagery. This was a time when the cosmos had no shape or boundary, and was constantly roiling with itself. But the Twelve rose from it and conquered it. See also War of Order and Turmoil.   After each of the Twelve had carved out their domains and bound the Turmoil to create the cosmos; they each took names for themselves. The names grew from within them as if The Design had imparted it to them before they were even motes of light. After the time of naming they would create, filling the cosmos and dividing it into spaces, planes, and even vast stretches of void. Since the Turmoil had be weakened and bound, it became a strangely beautiful thing to behold; it held stars, cosmic bodies, and was parts of it were fashioned to serve as conduits to the other planes and places being made.   When different forms of life were created, each found its divine anchor by which they might steady themselves. Elves, for instance, pledged themselves to Aster and Galena, each of whom shared the domain of nature and forests, where the elves first came to be. Dwarves, on the other hand, chose to worship Saffron and Alvah, often facing the dangers of nature head on and striving to become stronger. They also have great reverence for The Faceless Painter, the god of Art, Crafts, Songs, and Poetry.  

Gods and Their Worship:

Each god in the pantheon is unique but some of them share domain spaces with others. While gods may share similar spaces, expression is often very different. The list of gods and their worship are as follows:  

• Abhinav is the male god of Agriculture & the Autumn season. His domains are of life and of change. Clerics whose faith draw power from him focus in the Life and Nature domains. His icon is a buddle of wheat; the left side being green and young, the middle being golden and mature, and the right side being brown and wasted. The bundle is bound by white ribbon. Many farmers will pray to him for good harvests and protection from pests, but it also is common for Abhinav to receive prayer for upcoming choices and large life decisions. The Nav Harvest is a festival often celebrated in central Ra'el to thank Abhinav and takes place in the midst of Autumn.
• Alvah is the female god of War and The Fight and Summer. Her domain is primarily War. She also presides over competition and sports. Clerics whose faith draw power from her will be of the War domain and, to a lesser degree, the Forge domain. Her icon is an image of two swords crossing each other, the one on the left is broadsword with a straight blade and a perpendicular cross-guard; the one on the right is a deeply curved scimitar like sword, with a guard that wraps around the hilt like a cage. Soldiers will often be followers, contenders in high stakes sports, such as pit fighting or jousting, are almost always followers, and there is even a small worship of her growing among men in larger cities. Most sports events are opened with a dedication to Alvah and her temples often survive off the tithe of championship purses.
• Aster is the male god of The Hunt and Forests. His domain is Nature. His icon is tree trunk with arrows for branches. Aster has shown little care for the cities as they've sprouted, but has always tended to the ecosystems of the forests and wooded areas of the world. He does what he can to maintain the natural order, from predator to prey, from leaf to root. Clerics whose faith draws power from him often are in the nature domain. His worship is mostly from elves and the folk who live in forests. The offerings at the temples, if you can call them that, are usually choice pieces of a kill. This god's worship is not normally practiced with city walls and territories.
• Galena is the female god of Peace. Her domains are Life, Nature, and Death. Her icon is a white dove set within a golden laurel wreath. Clerics who worship her find power in the Life and Nature domains. While Death is in her domain, she does not actively seek destruction of life; instead, she stands for the peace that some may feel when death finally comes to them or those they love. Galena is often called on in times of grief when a loved one has spent much time suffering and has died. Several traditions of monks hold her in high regard as an example of finding peace any and everywhere.
• Hayah is the female god of Birth, Renewal, and Spring. Her icon is a singular tree with singular piece of fruit either hanging from the branches or shown with in the boughs. Her domains are Light and Life and clerics whose faith is in her, have power within those domains as well. Hayah is worshiped by many, since life tends to give way to more life, and is often the god given offerings at wedding ceremonies. One of Hayah's most well know festivals is The Year of Redemption, where a convicted man or woman or a person riddled with their own guilt may, instead of being tried in a court, take a pilgrimage for a year. In this time they are to seek wisdom from Hayah and find the means to mend the situation. If, by the end of the year, the guilt is alleviated or the convicted person has been forgiven, a great banquet is to take place in honor of the new person who has been brought forth. If reconciliation has not taken place, the guilty party faces the full weight of the law. And the full force of their own heart.
• Paragon is the god of Justice, and his domains are Order, Protection, and War. His icon is a sword, pointed down, behind a shield. He is the god prayed to when a person is brought before a judge for a crime, both he and Rashnu. Paragon is called on for wisdom and guidance in order to serve the greatest amount of good. He is also a god who the state guard pray and pledge fealty to. The guard philosophy is to "put on" a vestige of Paragon so that one might act as he would. In battle, if one is not praying to Reihner, prayers and offering will be sent up to Paragon.
• Rashnu is the female god of Knowledge. Her domains are Knowledge, Wisdom, and Secrets. Her icon is a closed blue book with a golden twelve pointed star on the front. Clerics who worship her draw power from the Knowledge domain. There are also several monastic traditions that hold her in high regard as well. Rashnu is god whose pleasures come from putting knowledge from the high places to the low places. But she also finds pleasure in watching what happens when secrets come to light. For this, many monks and clerics that follow her tend to be investigative. Rashnu is often also called upon when a spell is cast that allows someone to find information in in-direct ways, i.e. Scrying, Telepathy, and the like. When the gods were active in the world, Rashnu was seen the least.
• Reihner is the male god of Tyranny & Misfortune. His domains are War, Order, and Trickery. His worship is actively outlawed in many cities, so not many clerics of his exist, but if a cleric's faith does draw power from him, they will be of the War and Trickery Domains. Since Reihner's worship is prohibited, the temples are are often hidden. His icon is a broken sword wrapped in chains. It has often been with his power that the tyrants of the past found their way to power; he finds pleasure and acceptable worship in the crushing and enslavement of the weak. While many gods may have relations and bonds with others, due to their origins in the War of Turmoil, Paragon and Reihner and diametrically opposed.
• Saffron is the female god of Wild Nature. Her domain is Nature and she and Aster are the only gods to have a relationship beyond being gods together. Her icon is a vine and thorn entangled ball of green flame. Because she and Aster each have domains that overlap so much, they are often depicted as a marriage. While some scholars are unsure if that is the right way of categorizing it, they seem to be closely linked nonetheless. It has even been speculated in recent decades that their union gave rise to the sentient dragon races to the west. While Saffron's worship is often thanks given at a make-shift alter, her worship is still heavily restricted in civilized areas, due to her own disdain for cities and civilization.
• Thanriel, the first and oldest of the gods, is god of Death, Winter, and The Dead. His domains are primarily Grave and Death, but due to his dominion over winter, he also has some claim in the Nature and Tempest domains. His icon is a stark white human skull, with the eye sockets covered by a black ribbon with a white six-pointed star in between where the eyes would be. He is the god given offering at funerals, in hopes of helping those who've passed find peace and comfort in the next place. Thanriel also presides over Halls of Silence, the place where souls go when they die. He, like Rashnu, was seen not often in The Revealing.
• Zryan is the male god of Seas and Storms, and his domain is the Tempest. His icon is wave of water with a bolt of lighting arcing in front. As expected, his worship is primarily done by sailors, navy soldiers, and islanders. While his temple is often found in the Temple Quarters, many alters are built on the shores and docks to provide a quick place to give an offering for a voyage. People who live on islands pray to Zryan exceedingly, so that they might be found outside a storm's barrage.