Gebtom

The Garden Regent

"Rage, rage against the acts of a half-sun, a midnight assassin. False messengers bearing a seed, a seed that entered into the heart where it bloomed unbidden! Bloomed and ravened. A lawless act! A shameful attack, enacted without due ceremony!" Past keeper and caretaker of the Reach, Old Tom was wounded through treacherous methods which did not adhere to the Courtesy. The deity of wilderness, lifecycles and rebirth, It was forced to dispel its corporeal form to survive, scattering its being across the High Wilderness. Unable to reform, the consciousness of Old Tom is said to communicate with those who listen closely through the burble of a river, the silence of a plain, or the hushed murmur of a wind. Though diminished, it is harder to kill a god than it seems; that which is gone may one day return again. The moment of Old Tom's betrayal, an apocalyptic event of cosmic proportion, caused a rend in the very fabric of the Universe according to those who study these things. The only god known to have been murdered, Its "death" drove Its followers into a riotous frenzy. The following purge of Its priests and adherents, carried out to maintain public order, led to the destruction of most temples dedicated to Old Tom. Some resentment is still held towards those who worship this god by the powers that be; it is not uncommon for Gebtom's statues or idols to be shattered or defaced in public places of worship.