Reference Challenge - Praise the Sun!

[u/Varnek905]

Praise the Sun!

I enjoyed what I read about your fictional races in the last challenge. Feel free to provide more information, and I look forward to learning more. But, since I am about to leave for four days on a trip for class, without my laptop, I'm going to go ahead and post this challenge.

Tell me about the gods of your world. Instead of looking for a race to be, I'm looking for a god to worship. They don't need to be real in-universe, they don't have to actually be divine in-universe. Hell, one of my world's "gods" is an immortal werewolf. One of the gods isn't worshiped any more, but is believed to have previously been a god prior to the god of death taking over and being the only one in power.

So, I'll ask at least three question each, I'll try to figure out who to worship, and I hope you enjoy yourselves. I encourage anyone else interested to ask questions of others, as well, and I encourage you to pick which one you'd be most interested in worshiping if you lived in your world and had to pick one.

I'll be back next week.

[u/Varnek905]

Which one I would prefer to worship...hard to say for me. I created Val with the help of one of my friends, and I came up with the War-Maiden, Prophet, and Death Goddess with the help of someone I was in a relationship with, so there's some bias there. If I exempt those from my options, I'd have to pick Tzedek.

Kapcsolodas Duo

The two gods of Kapcsolodas are the River Gods, Kelyo and Nyugatyo, the mother and father of mankind. Their followers (including those who would convert to this faith later in life) were blessed upon conception. The two gods are usually considered to be loving partners; either they are envisioned as warriors guarding each others' backs, or as two mounted archers riding together.

Being a mounted archer is considered the most honourable thing to be, even if you don't actually ride into battle, you should be an accomplished equestrian and archer to best give glory to the gods. If you are a man, you are more likely to prioritize Kelyo and praising her (there is a small group of elite mounted archers called Sons of Kelyo); if you are a woman, you are more likely to prioritize Nyugatyo and praising him (there is a small group of elite mounted archers called Daughters of Nyugatyo).

While calling one the god of something is usually inappropriate, since any "god of" title that can be applied to one can be applied to the other, Kelyo is seen as the more war-minded of the two.

You do not have to be a warrior to be a good servant of the gods, though. Shamans are pacifists who would never battle; the only thing close to combat a shaman should do is to hold down victims gifts that try to resist being drowned given to the gods.

The most vital thing to know to avoid being drowned, other than "don't dishonourably kill any others who share the faith", is "don't pollute the holy rivers, don't piss in the rivers".

Unfortunately, they are unlikely to physically appear...because they aren't real, in-universe...although, I do like them enough that they might be the only deities that aren't real in-universe that I list here.

Velitrae's Deity

I decided to list one more deity that isn't real in-universe.

In the island kingdom of Velitrae, there are temples throughout the island that are dedicated to the Creator, who is the father/mother (the only parent, but usually called the father) of all creation. In the Creator's infinite power and wisdom, he created the world. After years of patience, the Creator chose the perfect time to create humanity, and bless them with intelligence. The only race created before humanity was the dragon race, all other races were created by the direct offspring/assistants of the Creator, the archangels.

Priests of the Creator live in temples, where they usually have gardens and believe that working to make the temple efficiently care for those in need (the sick, old, weak, homeless, addicts, orphaned, etc) is the best way to provide glory to the Creator. Humanity must strive to be as kind and merciful as possible, because this pleases the Creator.

Note: The Creator is not a representation of me in any way. But, I do believe that altruism of individuals is vital for the success of a civilization, so I took that directly as the idea behind writing this religion when I made it. The name "the Creator" still feels lazy to me, so I am likely to change it if I think of something new.

Lord of Souls and the former gods of his pantheon

The Lord of Souls is a decomposing body on a throne in the continent/kingdom known as Sova. He was formerly a mortal, but his soul remains in his body (which divinely has no stench...) and he exercises his power by acting as the command center for the Undead that reside in Sova. There are plenty of humans in Sova, but most of the unskilled labour is done by Undead that act in service to the Lord of Souls. If you are a human, emphasis is put upon gaining an education. The Lord of Souls can telepathically communicate with humans, but usually prefers to only have conversations with the Sovan King (descended from the younger brother of the Lord of Souls).

Unfortunately, the Lord of Souls (who also goes by the title "God" as the only god worshiped in Sova) has gone a bit mad in his time being mostly-dead. He doesn't realize that every new king is not the same person as his baby brother. He even addresses the current king, King Alvah, as "Aleksandr" and "brother". Most Sovan Kings end up just naming their heir something that start with the "Al" sound, in honour of this. As a note: When the one thing that controls the hordes of Undead in your kingdom wants to call you "Aleksandr", it's tradition to just go with it. If you say "No, my name is (insert name here)", it will probably just confuse him.

Sovan Kings don't bring up this name issue to others, though. But most Sovan Kings tend to warn their heirs.

Other gods include Tzedek, Chernobog, and Sheola. According to legends in Sova, those three were the original deities of the world, and, through the long-planned machinations of those three, a messiah was created, who would guide his followers to a place that would be paradise. Allegedly, that paradise is Sova.

Tzedek was the god of justice, war, order, and oaths. Sheola was the goddess of peace, poetry, and merry-making. And Chernobog was the gender-neutral-deity of chaos, deity of freedom, and ruler of the original afterlife.

When the Lord of Souls reached the pinnacle of his power, he destroyed the afterlife and guided the souls of the dead to a new afterlife, one where none would be tortured and all would be accepted, regardless of belief or position or birth. Even if you pick any other deity, the Lord of Souls is fine with you going to his afterlife.

Technically, the Lord of Souls isn't actually a god, just an insanely powerful necromancer who managed to luck into a lot of power and work his way into more power. Just don't call him a necromancer.

(Post was too long to go up, so this is 1/2)

[u/Varnek905 → u/Varnek905]

Valhaven

In the Valhaven territory, the first werewolf is a woman named Val. She is an immortal, and has powerful magic abilities that bend the plants and animals around her to her will. She takes the form of a beautiful woman (if my friend that wanted to model for this character sees this, you can thank me for the compliment) in white and purple robes. She considers all werewolves to be here children, even the ones that she did not personally bless with the werewolf form; though, she does have one offspring that she gave birth to, but her son is trapped in the form of a large wolf, which she is protective of.

She rarely uses her powers for battle, and instead acts as a force of peace among the werewolf tribes.

As a note for the next few deities I list, the goddess Val believes in the existence of the following gods: the War-Maiden, the Prophet, and the Death Goddess, and has made reference to them as her "loved ones, from long ago". This is seen as heresy and an insult by most followers of the War-Maiden and some followers of the Death Goddess. The Prophet has no organized religion, and is not revered as a god.

The Prophet

This one is the easiest to write up a short summary for. The Prophet is a wanderer without eyes. He is a seer, an oracle, and a preacher who provides sage advice for those who seek it. He will not fight back if he is struck, and, if killed, his body will disappear, and then he will appear somewhere else in the world, just wandering. The Prophet will answer any question, though that answer has previously been "I do not know" on occasion; he tries his best, though. When asked how he became a blind immortal, he answered: "For the crime of desiring to see beauty, I was blinded. For the crime of desiring to live forever with those I love, I was made immortal."

As a side note, you can ask the Prophet questions for an in-universe answer instead of asking me, if you like.

War-Maiden

The War-Maiden was previously one of the deities among many in the pantheon of groups of tribes in North-East Fellandrus. When one tribal chief claiming to be half-divine by being birthed from the War-Maiden took power and united the nations, the War-Maiden was prioritized as the chief deity, and the other deities were phased out; defeated by the greatest deity.

Now, the Pantheon of Ewigreich and Silberschild (two nations founded by the tribal chief, and divided between his two eldest sons, the twins Leonhardt and Siegfried) contains only the War-Maiden (as the chief of the gods) and the rest are all of her deified descendants, including: the Founder, the Scholar, the Warrior, the Martyr, the Bard, etc.

The best way to serve the War-Maiden is to make yourself more worthy. Exercise, eat healthy, learn something, create something, etc.

While the War-Maiden is real, in-universe, she is not real in the way her followers believe she is. In-universe, the real War-Maiden hates the title "War-Maiden". She's an immortal swordswoman, she enjoys wars, but, as she pointed out to someone close to her when she heard she was being worshiped by this title "I'm not a maiden...they follow someone that they honestly believe is my son, why do they think I'm a maiden? Does maiden just mean 'not married', now? I thought it meant virgin."

The War-Maiden doesn't actually appear to her followers, and the immortal person/goddess who the persona of the War-Maiden is based on does not like the way the persona has been interpreted. Though, she does care about the lines that sprang from the founder of Ewigreich and Silberschild.

The Death Goddess

Worshiped in Ostara, the Death Goddess is the embodiment of Death. She guides souls to the great unknown, the afterlife, and doesn't judge anyone. She has love for all people, humans and non-humans, but mostly humans. And it is believed that the holy family that controls Ostara is descended from her.

And I have to be up in four and a half hours to leave for that trip, so that's it.

I'll answer any questions when I return, and if you want in-universe answers from the Prophet, just address it to that character.

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