Deities of Atlazan

Hello everyone.  As a preview to the guidelines of developing a pantheon for your game world, I have the basic outline for my deities of Atlazan.  There are no specific deities or domains or any such things.  The following is a outline of the different types of entities that are worshipped on Atlazan and descriptions of those deities, how they are different.  Thursday I will build off of my last article and use what is presented here as a guidepost.  Hopefully I will be able to share some of my thought process for developing worlds, using a pantheon as an example aspect.  Anyways, I present to you those whom the creatures of Atlazan worship.


Old Gods
In the days of the First Atlazi Empire, many gods were worshipped.  A whole pantheon existed in the temples and holy places of Atlazan, worshiped by atlazi from farmer to noble, before the coming of the Kai’rella.  The natural hatred and non-understanding of gods and goddesses by the Kai’rella lead to the elimination of most religion in the empire.  Most of the old gods were lost to time and memory, especially during the dark age of the Third Coil.  Not all gods could be stamped from memory, however, and many survived and continue to be worshipped to day, ruling the most basic of sentient concepts.

Hero Gods
During the end of the Second Coil, during the fight with the Kai’rella, heroes were important and their memories were lifted up with each telling of the tales of battles.  Eventually these heroes became legends, names voiced with nearly the awe of the gods.  When it came to take the demon lords during the turning of the Fifth Coil to Sixth, new heroes, led by Raeshana, helped to defeat the abyssal monsters.  Some, it is claimed, were the heroes of old reborn.  Others were new heroes, inspired by the ancient legends.  Regardless, the defeat of demon lords and the faith of the common folk allowed some of them to ascend to godhood, where they are worshipped, especially by the feathered-folk of the Great Avian Alliance.

Liege Wyrms
Heroes were not the only ones to rise during the various Coil turns.  Great dragons, ruling lands and leading masses, also rose to protect their charges.  Whether driven by the desire to protect or by the draconic greed of protecting what they believed was theirs, it is unknown.  Regardless, the oldest and most powerful dragons became known as Liege Wyrms.  Unlike the heroes of old, who became legend, Liege Wyrms or their offspring continued to rule and grow more powerful.  Eventually they could grant a portion of their power to mortals they struck deals with.  With the defeat of the demon lords, the worship of the Liege Wyrms grew, especially with great sacrifices they made.  Now, ancient Liege Wyrms, some dead and others lost, are worshipped as gods and the powers granted to their priests proves them to have a place among the gods of Atlazan.

Demon Lords

The Fifth Coil represented a dark time.  With infighting among the Rae-atal and the Mu-atal, the beast men of Atlazan were allowed to prosper and grow.  While they too once worshipped old gods, these were primal and vicious beings.  Sometime during the Kai’rellean occupation, some beast men turned to the Abyss for greater power to regain some of their lands.  Eventually most were converted, and those who were not were lost to both the Atlazi Empire and their rivals.  The beast men continue to worship their princes and princesses of the Abyss, making sacrifices and killing in the name of them, summoning demons to sow chaos, and searching for a way to unleash them upon Atlazan again.

New Gods
Recently, new gods have begun to make their presence known.  They are varied in both their outlooks and their goals.  Among them is Deionyche, the goddess of the archeons.  Some say that there are even new gods trying to reclaim beast men from their demonic ways.  Where these gods came from, and why they’re here, is a complete mystery.

Elder Gods
There are new gods, born of new ideas or made for new times.  There are old gods, ancient deities of base concepts of sentience.  Then there are elder gods, ancient beyond words.  These beings come from a place beyond the known world, and even any of the known planes of existence.  They are something more.  Unfathomable, these entities have minds, plans, and desires that are so alien, knowledge of them, itself, often comes at a price.  Horrors from the deepest darkest depths of the psyche serve the Elder Gods, who care not an ounce for their worshippers or any other simple flesh-based mortal.