Deities of Gaion

I: The Pantheon as of 990 AC

Living Deities (29)

• Arcians: 11 (2 Ascension, 9 Planar)
• Dakians: 12 (3 Ascension, 9 Planar)
• Temprans: 5

Deceased Deities (15 known)

Elder: 4

Titan: 4

Ascension: 2

Planar: 5

II: Divine Ranks

Elder Gods

The Elder Gods were born at the beginning of the known universe. The Big Bang, a creation myth/theory indicating that the universe started from a massive celestial explosion, shunted ethereal particles of pure possibility across the virgin cosmos. When four of these particles collided with each other, the resulting event horizon drew in all of the energy & mass in the AoE of a solar system. It then detonated to create a star (Gaion’s Sun), along with the planet of Gaion, Gaion’s moon & five neighboring planets (later named Hytheria, Aurofae, Ominor, Thugora & Denotheim). In the earliest prehistoric days of the Gaion System, the four cosmic particles grew from the flesh of Gaion into the four Elder God, who’s domains and actions would forever define the new world’s path through time.

1. Aurovi: Life, Light & Creation
2. Denothok: Death, Darkness & Destruction
3. T’Nar: Time & Knowledge
4. Gaion: The Primordial Elements

Titan Gods

The Titan Gods were born as children to Gaios and another Elder God. As such, each Titan God had domain over one of the four Primordial Elements. While understanding of the modern elements is more expansive than before, the dragons based their own concepts of the Draconic Elements on these four, which was then studied by giants & humanoids to develop their own elemental understandings. The four primal sources of elemental power still reign supreme in most cultural settings, albeit with additions & nuances to their respective understandings. It is said that each god was conceived & born during the season associated strongest with their element, which explains the natural cycle of the seasons in the mortal world.

1. Waryuk: Water & The Sea. Child of Gaios, Aurovi & Denothok, born on the Winter Solstice.
2. Torthan: Earth & The Land. Child of Gaios, Aurovi & Denothok, born on the Spring Equinox.
3. Vulca: Fire & The Sun. Child of Gaios & Denothok, born on the Summer Solstice.
4. Jalar: Air & The Sky. Child of Gaios & Aurovi, born on the Autumn Equinox

Ascension Gods

The Ascension Gods were born as children to a mortal creature & an Elder God. As such, these gods were born as mortal demigods with a dormant seed of divinity within their soul. As they come of age, the seed begins to sprout & grant the mortal demigod powers associated with their divine parent. They became powerful champions of their respective races to prove their worthiness of divinity. Eventually, each Ascension God amplified their divine essence with a Gaiostone, becoming the first mortals to wield one without dying. Each demigod then performed a Feat of Divinity to ascend to their true potential, which usually included leading their people against the tyranny of Moon Elves, dragons & giants during the Gigan Age.

Old Ascension Gods

1. Neviros, the Midnight King (deceased): The Moon, Night & Moon Elves
2. Dahli, the Burning Empress: The Sun, Summer, Conquest Sun Elves.
3. Gar'gomaut (deceased): The Land & Giants
4. Akana, the Seamother: The Sea & Seafolk.

New Ascension Gods

1. Thatos, the Lord of Ruin: The Inferno, War, Chaos & Orcs.
2. Cyr, the Frost Reaper: Death, Winter & Frost Elves.
3. Hytheron, the Storm Warden: The Sky, Storms, Conquest & Humans.

Planar Gods

The Planar Gods were born as natural & societal concepts of Gaion, seeded in one of the Five Realms and fertilized by the divine essence sacrificed by an Elder God. They could also be crafted from the divine essence of a recently deceased god, which is the case for Aiora & Inihl. To birth a Planar God, an idea or concept of the mortal world must grow strong enough for a Seed of Potential to sprout in one of the Five Realms. The Elder God with a connection to that realm must nurture the seed with a fraction of their divine essence, usually granting a lesser, though still omnipotent (from the mortal perspective) influence of their own domain to the unborn deity. The god then leaves the seed to develop into a divine child on its own. To ascend into their full divinity, the child, now a powerful titan of the domain, must prove themself as the strongest being within their native region/aspect of the Realm. This usually involves killing the region's strongest non-god rule, but only after killing or forcing submission from the rest. Immediately afterwords, they must perform a show of divine force in the mortal realm, which, if strong enough, will complete their ascension. Since Planar Gods are children of Elder Gods, they exist on the same degree of potential as their Ascension God siblings & cousins. As such, the more that were made, the more competition over domain & worship became. This eventually lead to the OmniWar, which started with the deaths of two Elder Gods and ended with the death of T'Nar, several Planar Gods & 70-80% of mortal life on Gaion.

The Planar Gods are further divided up based on their planar lineage.

Celestial Gods

Planar Gods that hail from Hytheria.

• Ortheus, the Everwind: Wind, Tornadoes, Freedom & Travel
• Maqari, the Scorned Tempest: Islands, Rain & Sea Storms
• Zolthar, the Lawhammer: Mountains, Earthquakes & Dwarves
• Aetheli, the Dreamweaver: Night, Stars, Beauty, Art & Imagination

Fey Gods

Planar Gods that hail from Aurofae.

• Arsora, the Archmaiden : Love, Sexuality & Compassion
• Syna, the Sproutmatron: Flora, Spring, Harvesting, Forests & Wood Elves.
• Jaga, the Preywarden: Fauna, Autumn, Hunting, Jungles & Wood Elves.
• Maku (deceased): Deserts & Drought
• Aiora, the Allheart: The Beginning (Soul Birth), Birth & Maternity. Aiora holds the sole dominion over creating new souls.

Aqui Gods

Planar Gods that hail from Ominor.

1. Aperos (deceased): The Open Seas & Merfolk.
2. Celora (deceased): The Arctic Seas & Cecaileans.
3. Ugratok (deceased): Reefs, Seamounts, Seabed & Cratoans
4. Imoq'ku, the Drowned Oblivion: The Deep Sea, Trenches, Maelstroms & Gluttony

Demon Gods

Planar Gods that hail from Thagora.

1. Damathrax, the Wrathmonger: Volcanoes, Rage & Battle
2. Zorn, the Lord of Chains: Tyranny, Slavery & Greed. Also known as the Coiled King.
3. Goru, the Screamlord: Shadow, Fear, Nightmares & Dark Elves
4. Neris, the Rotmother: Funga, Disease, Decay & Bog Elves.
5. Sevuctus, the Dark Enthraller: Illuson, Deception, Envy & Shapeshifters
6. Agdolyr, the Laughing Mask: Pain, Cruelty & Madness

Under Gods

Planar Gods that hail from Denotheim.

1. Danos, the Grimwarden: The Transition (Soul Limbo), The Underworld, Undeath, Necromancy
2. Inhil, the Voidweaver: The End (Soul Death), Nihilism, The Void. Guards the Loom Entropy, the other remaining concentrated essence of Denothok. Inhil (genderless) uses the Loom to circulate raw aether back into the leylines of the Gaion System, ensuring that none escapes into the cosmos beyond.

Lesser Deities

The Lesser Deites are either the children of Planar Gods or powerful immortals that have learned to tap into the divine magic provided from worship.

1. Archangels: the powerful Solars that, in the name of their sworn deity, individually rule each heavenly metropolis of Hytheria.
2. Fey Barons: the powerful Archfey that lead the various Fey Courts responsible for loosely ruling Aurofae.
3. Aqui Princes: the most powerful of the Aquilords that rule different seas of Ominor.
4. Demon Princes: the most powerful of the Demon Lords that loosely rule the chaotic realms of Thugora.
5. Necrolords: the most powerful undead that loosely rule pockets of other undead within Denotheim.
6. The Wyrmkings
7. The Gigan Lords

Demigods

Demigods are either children of a mortal & a deity or an immortal creation/champion of the gods. This also includes former gods that have de-ascended to mortal form (ex. Hytheron, Thatos, Dahli) & mortals that have ascended to a power of pseudo-divinity.

II: The Divine Alignments

Divine alignments are not organized by true morality, but rather by the four Divine Purposes of existence: Life/Creation, Death/Destruction, Time/Knowledge & Elements/Nature.

Arcian

Arcian Gods are aligned with Life & Creation. These deities are further classified between the Old Arcians (Pre-Cleansing) & the Savior Gods (Post-Cleansing). The Old Arcians were the children of Aurovi & his lineage, whereas the Savior Gods were the deities that defended mortal life during The Cleansing.

Dakian

Dakian Gods are aligned with Death & Destruction. These deities are further classified between the Old Dakians (Pre-Cleansing) & the Slayer Gods (Post-Cleansing). The Old Dakians were the children of enothonk & his lineage, whereas the Slayer Gods were the deities that slaughtered mortal life during The Cleansing.

Temprus

Temprus Gods are aligned with the amoral preservation of Time, Knowledge & Reality. This also includes the deities that did not participate in The Cleansing as a Savior or a Slayer.

Primordial

Primordial gods were aligned with the amoral cycle of the Elements & Nature. All Primordial-aligned deities are extinct as of the end of the Primal Age.

Pagan

Pagan gods/deities are unaligned with any significant tenants of the four Divine Alignments

The Pagan Gods (7)

1. Testudo, the Wandering Shell: Archfey of Tortles & Travel. Patron to nomads, explorers & traders.
2. Savaan, the ???: Archfey of Tranquility. Matron to loxodons, archenemy to Pronoxus.
3. Pronoxus, the Pentaphant: Demon Prince of Savagery. Patron to mammodons, archenemy to Saavan.
4. Gnathok: Demon Prince of Hypercarnivory & Lycanthropy. Patron to gnolls & lycanthropy.
5. Avernox, the Shadow King: Archlich of Magic, who attempted a failed apotheosis to deification. Wanders the Astral Fog & the Daidrin Leylines in search of limitless arcane, divine, Gaioforce, Eldritch & other magical knowledge.
6. Thalagar, the Roaring Tyrant: Demon Prince of Dragons. Banished to Thagora by champions of the dragons, who did not wish to be ruled by any deity. Has seven heads, each representing an Infernal, Solar, Storm, Frost, Forest, Reaper & Terra Dragon.
7. Dorfactus: Dwemish God of Magitech, Craft & Innovation. The only god born from an artificial soul, crafted by the Dwemish Empire through Dwemish Arcana.

III: Divine Life Cycle

Divine Birth

As previously stated, gods & deities are born based on their deity type. When a god creates a demigod, they give up a divine aspect of themselves to do so. This is heavily reflected in Dahli, who was once the god of nature. The more aspects of nature she gave up to create her children, the less of those moral aspects she retained within herself. This is why she became a conquering goddess in the end/by the time of the Elder Wars; she only knew the power of the Sun & how it rules over everything, while forgetting the balance that nature provides.

All living gods still have their true names remembered in the psyche of history. However, speaking their true name invokes power & influence from that deity, so people are discouraged from speaking it unless they wish to invite their presence, alternatively referring to them by their epithet. For this same reason, the utterance of a Slayer God’s true name often ranges from a societal taboo to a religious crime. While the Savior Gods are openly worshipped around the world, Slayer Gods are only worshipped in specific societies with darker cultures.

Divine Death

When a god dies, their true name is sundered from the minds of non-cleric/paladin followers. Cleric/paladin/warlock/champion followers can retain the true name if strong enough in their fai (ex. succeeding on a DC 30 Wisdom or Charisma saving throw). Clerics & paladins lose access to their divine magic, but can regain a connection to the residual Wild Magic/divinity left in the world if they have strong enough faith in the domain. Religious texts & iconography still bear the name, but it becomes unreadable by magic or the eyes of mortals that do not already know the name. Their titles/epithets still stand.

The death of a god results in a catastrophic divine explosion, which causes untold destruction if not redirected in some way. When Aurovi & Denothok were destroyed, T’Nar redirected the blast into the Five Realms, destabilizing their borders and sparking the OmniWar. When Gaios was destroyed, the Elder Gods forged his essence into the Gaiostones while allowing the rest to destroy the planets that would be reformed into the Five Realms.

IV: Echoes of Arcia started

V: Demigods & Deceased Deities section

These are the demigods & deceased gods/lesser deities as of 990 AC (beginning of the Main Story). 16 gods have been killed throughout Gaion’s history, along with numerous lesser deities.

Demigods

1. Lord Tharek (Thatos)
2. Certain titans & powerful immortals

The Primordials (5)

1. Gaios: Elder God of the Elements & Space. Essence split between the Gaiostone, Gaion & The Five Realms.
2. Waryuk: Titan God of Water. Essence woven through the Aquan Titanfall Nexus & combined with the Cosmic Sea to create the Plane of Water, 1/4 of the Elemental Rim.
3. Torthan: Titan God of Earth. Essence woven through the Terran Titanfall Nexus & combined with the Cosmic Sea to create the Plane of Earth, 1/4 of the Elemental Rim.
4. Vulca: Titan God of Fire. Essence woven through the Ignan Titanfall Nexus & combined with the Cosmic Sea to create the Plane of Fire, 1/4 of the Elemental Rim.
5. Jalar: Titan God of Air. Essence woven through the Auran Titanfall Nexus & combined with the Cosmic Sea to create the Plane of Air, 1/4 of the Elemental Rim.

Old Arcians (5)

1. Aurovi: Elder God of Life & Primordial Light. Essence split between Dahli (Light), Aiora (Life) & the Gaion Muliverse (remnants of both).
2. Hytheron, the Skyfather: Ascension God of the Skies. Godwraith imprisoned within the Void, while no divine essence remains due to being a demigod at his time of death. However, a temporal variant for Hytheron rules the planet of Forren, thanks to divine experimentation by Stuvanis.
3. Maku, the Drybaron: Fey God of Deserts & Drought. Killed by Syna & Jaga during the OmniWar.
4. Morgul, the Gloomfeeder: Fey Goddess of Fungi, Microbes & Swamps. Killed by Neris during the OmniWar.
5. Lupio, the ???: Celestial God of the Moon. Grievously wounded by Cyr, then betrayed & killed by his own champion, Zaelim in a ritual using the Shards of Neviros. With this ritual, Zaelim sealed the dying Lupio within the Moon’s core. He continually drew upon his essence through the Luxfall Nexus, a runic circle/temple built with all but two of the Shards of Neviros. He forged his last Shard into his own staff to help draw upon & control the divine power, while the last Shard is buried within an ancient Druidic temple in the corrupted Shade’s Cradle Forest. Since Lupio is dead/not considered a god anymore while Zaelim carefully doesn’t approach full divinity, the Moonfather is safe from Cyr’s wrath while not being subject to the Divine Accords.

Old Dakians (3)

1. Denothok: Elder God of Death & Primordial Darkness. Essence split between Cyr (Death), Inhil (Primordial Darkness) & the Gaion Muliverse (remnants of both).
2. Neviros, the Midknight King: Ascension God of the Moon & Night. Godwraith imprisoned within The Void, while his remaining essence exists within the legendary Shards of Neviros.
3. Gar’gomaut, the ???: Ascension God of the Land & Giants. Godwraith imprisoned within The Void, while his remaining essence is embedded within the seafloor of the Esgaron Ocean, constantly shifting it through volcanic & tectonic activity.

Old Temprans (3)

1. T’Nar: Elder God of Time & Knowledge. Split into the three Tri-Elder Gods: Stuvanis, Prolexer & Prafina.
2. ???: Aqui God of the Seamounts & Sea Volcanoes. Patron to cratoans, killed by Imok’qu during The Cleansing.
3. ???: Aqui God of the Frigid Seas. Killed by Cyr during the OmniWar, worshipped by cecaileans & underwater societies.