Sara Pahang, Goddess of War
Domains: War, Light, Forge
Symbol: A white crocodile with a burning halo
Offering: Alcohol
It is said that Sara Pahang was born in the heart of the sun and slept there for eons during the age of creation. When she awoke she burst out of it as a great comet and landed upon the world, bringing the primal flame unto the mortal plane. For a long time she wandered the world teaching mortals the art of fire and forge, besting demons and monsters in challenges of craft, song and strength and getting very drunk. When she eventually did ascend to the heavens she did so reluctantly for she loved the world and its people, so before leaving she tore off one of her arms which became a white crocodile. To this day sailors sometimes report seeing a great white beast fighting titanic monsters off in the distance.
Sara Pahang is depicted as a woman with fiery hair, five arms each holding a weapon or tool, and standing on top of a great crocodile. Her followers are crafters and warriors in equal measure, or those simply seeking her protection for their home or business. The Goddesses presence is said to ward off evil and ill-intent, so it is not unusual to find small crocodile statues dotted around the city.
Bi’san, God of the Winds
Domains: Tempest, Wind
Symbol: A compass
Offering: Fish
Legend has it that Bi’san was born from a mountain, and that when he split it in half to free himself the winds burst out of the earth and filled the sky. Taking flight Bi’san lead the winds to every corner of the world, bringing the joy of flight and freedom to all the people who witnessed his journey. With his task completed Bi’san ascended to the heavens, but not before leaving behind a multicoloured egg that in times of crises births the mighty Phoenix.
Bi’san is often depicted as a mighty and beautiful harpy, though sometimes as a human with great colourful wings sprouting from his back. All those who fly pay respects to Bi’san for the gift of the winds, as do sailors praying for a swift and safe voyage. The God is also known for their great passions and free spirit so also find followers among artists and actors.
Sang Mahsuri, Goddess of Nature
Domains: Nature, Trickery
Symbol: A snake coiled around a hand
Offering: Fruits
The Goddess of Nature was said to have been born from a flowering lotus and gifted with divine beauty. Where ever she went flowers and plants would grow and the very seasons changed depending upon her mood. In a story that is often recited in plays, mortals and gods alike from all across the world vied for her hand in marriage, but she always refused them and their gestures. Even a great demon fell in love with her, but fearing her rejection if she ever saw him he began sending her letters with the help of a passing snake. By the end of the tale the demon had defeated her unworthy suitors, and she revealed that she had been the snake all along and accepted him as her husband in the heavens.
Sang Mahsuri is most often depicted as a tall lithe human or a mermaid, but in truth she has no set appearance. It is said that she appears differently to each of her worshippers, sometimes as an animal, others as a woman of a different race, but always with a snake coiled around her right arm. The Goddess has a very strong following amongst the mermaids and farm workers of the city, as they pay strong homage to her for the miracle harvests that keep the city fed. But she also retains an unorthodox following of thieves and cheats, who have a slightly different interpretation of her nature as the Fey Queen. Statues of her can often be found over channels, gardens or in shrines dotted around the underwater forest.
Kel’Ragna, The Twice Born God
Domains: Love, ????
Symbol: A male and female figure holding each others hands
Offering: Flowers
Before the beginning there was only a single being in existence, whose name has never been known. Wishing for something more, wishing for something that did not exist, this being spilt themselves in two. From this cosmic act of separation energy and life filled the void, giving birth to all of creation. These two new beings, separate yet inseparable, named themselves Kel’Ragna and looked over creation with an endless sense of fulfilment and love.
The Twice Born god is always depicted as a male and female pair, though anyone who has observed one of their statues always say they only ever see their own race in their visage. Kel’Ranga, born in the heavens, is thought to be the most distant of the gods and rarely intervenes in the lives of mortals, but this is because their love is unconditional and they believe mortals should make their own choices. When Kel’ranga does act, as they did during the cataclysm, it is to grant mortals the opportunity to prevent disaster themselves.
Seros, Goddess of Life and Death
Domains: Life, Grave
Symbol: A Golden Bat
Offering: Sweets
There are many stories about Seros’s origins, some say she was the first shaman, or the princess of an ancient kingdom, or even that she existed in the darkness before there was light. Regardless of her origin all agree that she was the first soul to ever die, thus opening the gate of death and rebirth. It is by Seros's guidance that all life that ends can begin again, a circle of reincarnation until every soul finds a permanent home within the heavens.
There are very few depictions of Seros as many believe that seeing her visage is a premonition of death, so instead her shrines are decorated with images of her servants and messengers, bats. There is said to be a statue of her image within her temple but few dare to look upon it directly, so it is hidden behind numerous curtains so only her outline can be gleaned by petitioners. Most people who pray to Seros do so only in times of great distress, hoping to be spared, for a soul to be delivered peacefully into the afterlife, and by parents praying for a safe pregnancy. She is known to be a friendly deity, who can offer kindness in even the darkest of times, but her closeness with death makes many nervous to pray to her often.
Nak’ado, God of Magic
Domains: Arcana, Knowledge
Symbol: A Lunar Crescent
Offering: Tea
When the universe was created by the act of holy separation energy spread throughout existence, filling the stars with light, the world with life, and the gods with holy power. In the aftermath all that was left was a storm of untapped might without form or function but with infinite power. Gods, Dragons and even Demons were able to pluck miracles from this unimpeded storm, but mortals who tried to channel it almost always perished.
Then one day a wanderer came and dipped a paint brush into the storm and used its essence to draw the First Words. For a hundred days and nights the stranger painted words for every creature and object in existence, and gave the words to mortals so they could recite miracles for themselves.
The Hermit, as he is sometimes called, is depicted as a lizardman in a large ragged cloak with his eyes hidden under a hood and a wand in his hand. His followers are all mostly scholars or mages, but people also pray to him for inspiration and help discovering truth.
Varasha, God of Destruction
Varasha , the Great Destroyer, has no shrines within Anatos. Worship of this forbidden god is said to bring only disaster, and those who have tried to pray or divine it's nature have all suffered from a terrible curse.
The Forgotten
Other gods are said to have existed before the calamity, but their presence is no longer felt in the world. If they have symbols they have long been forgotten by mortal kind. However references and even shrines to these gods sometimes appear within dungeons, some of which have been known to grant miracles to the residents of that dungeon. However many of these dungeon worshipped entities are often monsters posing as gods, or evil demons born from corrupt magic.
Sometimes known as Demons or Devils, fiends are evil spirits born from corrupted sites and dark magic. Most of these spirits are born weak and soon dissipate but some manage to survive and find victims to feed on or discover other ways of empowering themselves. These greater Demons sometimes offer some of their power to desperate or destitute mortals in exchange for some of their lifeforce, strange requests or even offerings. Even when the pact is complete the Demon is never truly done with their petitioner, they are always somewhere nearby to grant them more power for ever more costly prices.
Hantu’Raya
The oldest known demon to exist in Anatos, Hantu’Raya was born in the age of the Great Hunger, and hushed stories suggest the demon was created by a mage desperate for a powerful familiar to help him murder a rival. No one knows what Hantu’Raya’s true form is as they always appear as the person who summoned them, the only discernible difference the demon has is it’s shadow is much larger and darker than it’s summoners. The Demon most often appears to those tempted to perform a great crime and offers to fill in for them, granting them an alibi for their misdeeds. But the demon inevitably asks a high price for it’s services, and if not met threatens to enact all manner of misdeeds in their summoners form.
The Rakshasa
Born in the tragedy of the Guild Wars, the Rakshasa has the appearance of a tiger, and with it’s brilliant mind it offers ‘advice’ to weary and cornered souls how to achieve fame and fortune. The demon's intent is hard to judge as sometimes it delivers on its promises, while other times it strings it’s victims along to a gruesome fate. Pacts with the Rakshasa are always dangerous though as sometimes it will ask for nothing in return, then ask for a terrible price when the warlock has no alternative.
When the world was destroyed in the calamity it’s said the goddess Sang Mahsuri opened a path into the realm of dreams for all the spirits of nature, so she could preserve the world as it once was. Those spirits went on to create dreamscapes of their own, fashioning familiar and alien landscapes with the power of their imagination. As a gift to the material world the goddess allows mortals to visit some of these realms in their sleep, so the memory of the old world doesn’t completely fade away.
The creatures living in these dreamscapes became known as the Fey, beings of raw imagination and emotion. Most Fey are simple creatures with a bent for trickery and play, but others are more powerful and hold sway over vast areas of the dreamscape. Some legends even say these powerful Fey existed long before the dreamscape existed in its current form.
Occasionally a dreaming mortal might stumble into the realm of a mighty Fey, who often forces the mortal to do a task or play a high stakes game with them. Most of those who survive such encounters forget about them upon waking, but sometimes the Fey may mark a person with some of their power so they can be called upon again. Most Fey seemingly have no interest in the realms beyond the Dreamscape, demanding their new ‘servants’ solve some issue in their court, but Fey are tricksters at heart and often have hidden agendas for their unlucky servants.
Rerrodux, the Nightmare Count
A tall figure wearing a flowing green robe, with a gold metal mask for a head which shifts like cloth, Rerrodux is known as the Nightmare Count to those who make pacts with him. The Fey Lord has a practical interest in the nightmares of mortals, taking delight in their expressions of fear and terror. When he takes a mortal servant it is often to help him craft or alter nightmares to make them worse, ensuring the dreamers in his realms never quite overcome their primal fears. In exchange the Fey Lord happily shares some of his power, holding little interest in how it’s used so long as his servant helps fashion interesting nightmares.
There are places, hallways and caverns, within the foundations of Anatos that have never seen the light of the sun or stars. Once long ago a man stumbled down into one of these forgotten chambers and began to hear music unlike anything he had ever heard before. Venturing deeper into the pitch black void he felt another presence, someone playing on a pipe flute in the centre of the chamber. When the man approached the presence they found nothing but an ivory flute, and unable to bear the silence he began to play it.
Rumor has it that man still plays his flute in those dark depths, drawing others to his music in search of something greater than themselves. This strange gathering of people have all taken up playing flute pipes and say that they play for the enjoyment of the Great Old One, Hasouda, who bestows its power and secrets onto the best performers. Piper’s, as they are called, can be seen occasionally on the streets of Anatos. Their skill with their instrument sometimes see them join acting troupes, but their true skill lies in playing music that echoes in the mind.
Legend has it that when the six champions fought the god of destruction one of them went into the battle with a weapon known as the Hexblade, a sword endowed with so many curses it would instantly kill any normal creature that felt it’s bite. During the height of the battle the Hexblade shattered, it’s curses rebounding upon their wielder, crippling and almost killing the champion. They survived however and went on to become the first battle sage, teaching others the ways of combat before they too ascended to the Heavens.
The shards of the Hexblade were thought to have never been recovered, but secretly they were collected together by various battle sages and their students. If rumor is to be believed these shards can be bonded to a person's soul, allowing them to summon forth a small portion of the Hexblades power. Some battle sages believe that if they can collect all the shards the Hexblade can be reforged, and so go from tower to tower engaging in secret duels over the fates of the shards.
Fishermen sometimes whisper in hushed tones that beyond the city, beyond great storms, lie’s an ocean of unnatural stillness. Within this Silent Ocean great gargantuan creatures lurk, whispering secrets of the cosmos and the old world to any that dare swim down to them. It’s said those that come back from the Silent Ocean awaken as babbling lunatics, screaming out mad notions that fill all who hear them with a terrible dread.
Sometimes these mad fishermen return clutching strange objects, gifts from ‘Those That Lurk Beneath’. Most of these objects are destroyed on sight but occasionally find their way to the city, where a person might unknowingly stumble upon them. If studied with the correct rituals these objects have been known to open a ‘doorway’ between a person and ‘Those That Lurk Beneath’, granting them power but corroding their mind with the slow drip of mad truths.