On Deities and Religion
Antheros is guarded by several gods and goddesses. The general attitude towards religion is that most worshippers don’t restrict themselves to a sinlge deity. Rather, anyone who feels the need may make a prayer or sacrifice to whichever deity they feel appropriate though most people have one or two favourites among the pantheon.
Clerics are the exception, and are restricted to worshipping their own deity (though one may appeal to Lohi when healing). In smaller towns where not all deities are represented, this rule is relaxed somewhat and clerics will conduct services to any deity one wants (while keeping their personal devotions to a single deity).
While all the various religions are respected by all races, competition between the religions does exists. For the most part this competition is not violent (the exception being those worshipping the goddess Azriel). Any attack on the pantheon from outside is not to be tolerated, and is one time that all religions will band together.
Within any given religion there may be several orders of varying stature (e.g. you worship Ariel, one of the more important goddesses, but are part of a minor order).
Within the pantheon there are four generations:
- The Elders: Serindë, Ladros and Laydi, who have been around the longest
- Firstborn: These are the children of two Elders
- Secondborn: Those where only one parent is an Elder
- Latterborn: Children of Secondborn, or other Latterborn
Elders
Serindë*: Goddess of Truth, Mother of the Gods
Ladros*: God of Knowledge, Father of the Gods
Laydi: Goddess of Luck, Patron of Gamblers
Firstborn
Istara: Goddess of Magic
Narconal*: God of the Earth and Agriculture
Nenya: Goddess of the Sea, Mother of Storms, Patron of Sailors
Maedhros: God of Fire, Patron of Metalworkers
Ea: Goddess of the Air, Patron of Travellers
Secondborn
Strathos*: God of War, Strength & Courage, Patron of Warriors
Ariel*: Goddess of Love & Beauty, Patron of the Arts
Mandos : God of Death
Etheah: Goddess of Nature
Lohi: Goddess of Healing
Latterborn
Azriel: Goddess of Disease & Suffering, Mistress of Pain
Vairë: Goddess of the Underworld
Thalos: God of the Night, Patron of Thieves, Lord of Mischief
* denotes a major religion.
Usually only clerics are taught the following information. It’s not a secret, but also not generally known by the common folk.
Like many other pantheons, the genealogy is a bit, shall we say, complicated. Serindë and Ladros are considered Mother and Father of the Gods since most of the rest a descended from them. An interesting side note is that Ariel’s full parentage is not clear. Some say that Serindë brought Ariel into the world alone since love and beauty are unknowable thus Ladros can’t be the father.
Ladi is somewhat of a special case since nobody is sure where she came from and may be from “elsewhere”. Others say that Serindë and Ladros were created by Laydi.
Red indicates female/mother; Blue indicates male/father
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