The gods great and lessor.

Miraculous Magic

Miraculous magic is magic performed by the priest of a god or the god itself. What magic is available and who can become a priest depends on the god.

Great Gods

Because of the Pact the Great Gods have little to do with the day to day affairs of mankind. They contend for the souls of man, who must choose between good and evil. The great Gods are.

The Gods of Good.

Father, Tester, Creator

The father of all of humanity's souls. He does not claim to be the creator of the world but then he also does not claim not to be, when asked he only smiles. He considers all of humanity his children and normally will not take a side in conflict between groups. He has given humanity freewill and set them to life to test them.

Mother, Nurturer

The Mother of humanity's souls. Father's mate and in one incarnation the mother of the Son. She is the nurturer of humanity.

Son, the Savor.

Son, he who lived and died, the twice born. He was reborn to the Mother when she incarnated as the Wolf Priestess Marjia during the Times of Terror. He lived life as man, teaching of his father. He was taken and killed by the priests of the Evil One who served King Remus 15^th . In three days he was resurrected and called the souls of those who had died to him and turned many of the follower of the Evil One back to the Father.

Bride, Finder, She who changed, the Destroyer of Demons, Huntress, Twister.

She is the Son's wife. She was a demon/daughter of the Evil One, sent to temp Son. Upon meeting and hearing Son, she was converted and fell in love with Son. Son saw this change and her inner beauty and fell in love with her. During their wedding the Priests of the Temptress and a hoard of demons attacked the festival and manged to capture Son and escape with him, before being driven off by the Bride and Marjia.

The Priests took Son to King Remus, who condemned him to death and had him ripped apart by the demons and scattered the body.

Bride took her sword Justice and her bow Retribution and along with the wolf of Remes hunted down the demons and recovered the parts of his body and through the power of her will joined it back together. Then she and Marjia, who gave up her mortal existence, brought him back to life.

The most active of the Great Gods Bride still hunts demons in the night, not only her own brothers and sisters but also those bogeys the spring from the imagination of man, be it, vampire, werwolf, dragon or goblin. In this she is often assisted by lesser gods, The Imperator , The Witch, Wolf or Rac in particular or will come to their assistance when they run into something to big to handle.

Both Heavenly Father and the Evil One support her in this as long as she only moves to protect Humanity from the gods and the creatures of nightmare.

In her aspect as Huntress she lives in a fortress on a volcano north of the Vig River. Also on the volcano stand Marius and Aetha's Military camp , and Rac's Great Hollow Tree. The road leading to the fortress is in this and the spirit world and can be found if you know the trick. Since the trick was designed by Rac it is not easy to find.

It is said in the lands of the Imporators Children yet a a third aspect of Bride is sometime seen Twister. Some find it strange, some find it telling, that she continues this use this name because it was her name before she was converted when she was known as Twister of Souls. The Panthers say that this is her name that Bride and Huntress are the aberrations. It is known that after her defeat at Vig by Son and her failed temptation of Ganius and Roxxanna, that she approached the Totems and has led the great hunt ever since.

Twister is the patron god of art, engineering and manufacture. Many of the magical devices that are manufactured by the Children contain a tinny drop of Twister's blood and cause the effect based on the principle, that where her blood is so is she. The fact that ever drop of blood is connected to her and to ever other drop of blood that she has ever spilled. This connection allows for what ever condition one part of her experiences to be sent instantly through space to anther part of her. Sunlight striking quartz panels covered with her blood orbiting close enough to the sun to melt iron provide light and or heat to the small quartz and diamond disks, the sun stone,s that light and heat many homes.

Appearance

Huntress appears as a short, five foot tall, slender yet curvy young woman. Her most striking characteristic is her coloring. Her coloring reflects the phases of the moon going from pure sliver during the full moon to pure black during the new moon. It is believed that this reflects her inner struggle between her converted side and her inner demonic self. This is seemly confirmed by the changes in her personalty from the sweet Bride when the moon is full to the soul hungry Huntress, who leads the great hunt on the night of the new moon. The only difference in Twisters appearance is that she has the color and shine of black polished obsidian and glows more brightly from an inner light.

The Evil Gods

The Evil One, he who must not be named, The Tempter, The Stranger from the outer darkness.

The origin of the Evil One is not known, though many believe he is a demon from the outer darkness, that dark empty place between realities. Other say he is a fallen god. Once he was the Protector, the God, who much like his daughter Huntress protected mankind from the evil imagined. It is said he fell when he fell in love with and refused to kill his mate Temptress. He is the god of evil in all its forms. He temps and rewards men and women for falling to their baser natures. Murder, rape, steal, cheat or lie do this and he finds joy and will help you but if you do you have failed the test and are his. It is said that in the end he devourer the corrupted's souls. Your only hope is to turn away from your sin and repent and ask for the Son's mercy.

The Mother of Demons, The Temptress, The Dark Madness.

The Evil One's Mate/wife/mistress said to be a great demon from the outer darkness and beautiful in a strange and unsettling fashion. Others believe that she is a greater soul eating imagined. It is believed that she tempted the Protector and that is why he feel. She is the great temptress, temping both men, women and Gods. She is the mother of demons both great and small. The great demons are the children of her and the Evil One, who spend decades in the womb. The lessor demons are offspring of her and mortal men, who are born within one moon of conception. She normally kills and consumes mortals who mate with her. As shown by Bride, The Temptress's children are not irredeemably evil but can be converted to good.

The Greater Demons, Evils Children.

The Greater Demons are the children of the Evil One and The Temptress. They do the will of their father and tempt humanity. Their names are secret and not known to man. Only one is known Twister of Souls and she has turned against them and hunts them and her smaller half brothers and sisters. It is not known how many have survived the times of troubles.

The Lessor Demons

The Lessor Demons are the children of The Temptress and mortals. They serve as the disposable minions of the evil one. Only the name of one is known Remus Demonicus the son of the Temptress and Remus 15^th . The Smaller Demons are hunted by the Bride and the lessor Gods.

The Pact

The Pact is the agreement between the Greater Gods that they can not actively act for or against humanity but can only can contend for their souls. The Pact was made after the time of Terror because of the destruction wrought by both sides during the final battle. If they must fight they do so on the barren moon. Since even Evil One himself can't control the Temptress's offspring, Huntress is allowed to hunt them if they stray into the world of humanity.

The Lessor Gods.

In belief there is power and for humanity on this earth belief causes entities to come into existence. If believed in by enough people these entities become gods. The more people who believe in them and worship them the more powerful they become. There are many gods, small gods of stream, hill and mountain. Most are benign, those who are not are hunted by the Huntress and her lessor god companions as demons and put down, as are the lesser creatures of nightmare. For most of the peoples of earth, Bride in her guise as Huntress is the most appreciated of the Great Gods. Her prayer is often heard in darkness. “Huntress protect use from the demons and creatures of nightmare. Please save us from the creations of our fears.” Often she can be seen riding over the hills on the Wolf, Rac and Panther running beside her, the Imporator and Witch riding behind chasing some monstrosity from nightmare. Occasionally, when the creatures of nightmare or small cruel gods become to numerous she will call the great hunt. Near the Gullet, The Hunt consist of her riding the Wolf, The Imperator riding Bull, Witch riding Panther, and Rac. They range forth from her castle in the western mountains and clear the area from Portus to the great river of the monsters of belief and nightmare.
All of the Lessor gods have some common characteristic. They exist in the spirit lands, a plain of existence out of phase with reality. It takes power for a god to manifest in the normal world and there is a continual power drain as long as they manifest. All of the gods depend on their soul power, this is the power generated by the belief and worship of humanity. The amount of power a god receives depends on the number of humans who believe and spend emotional energy on the god. This can be love or fear. The stronger the emotion the greater the power produced. The the god's soul absorbs this power and stores it for later use. The further a god is from his core believers the less power his soul can adsorb. A god's presence and awareness is dependent on the prescience of this energy. The god uses this power to do things. Anything a god does requires power. A god can teleport himself anywhere instantly the amount of power consumed depends on the distance involved. A lessor god can not be more than one place at a time. The god can lend his power to his priest to perform magic this drains power from from the god so the god usually limits the magic that his priest can perform. The Imperator usual asked his priest not to use his power for anything that can be done by humans. All gods hear the prayers of their believers this is usually at subconscious level with only those with a high emotional content breaking through to conscious attention. Because of the limited power of even the most powerful of the lesser gods most prayers go unanswered.

Gods of the Imperator's Children.

Imperator Marius, The Imperator, Father Marius, Marius.

Marius is an ascended human, the founder of the North Guard. He and his wife Aetha, the Witch ascended to godhood when they died at the battle of the Vig and when the army found them dead on the field, a great cry when up, then a surge of love, despair and grief went up from the entire army 100,000 thousand souls connected to one catastrophic event. With belief and love comes power, 100,000 thousand souls cried that they could not be dead, so they weren't . They died that day as mortals and rose again as gods. Being born of power and love of the entire army at the height of its grief gave them enormous power from the beginning. He is actively worshiped by the Imperator's Children, most of the Black Panther Tribes and many of the poor and slaves of the south. He is feared by the many enemies of the Children and in fear is also belief so even his enemies give him power.

His priesthood is held by any who have sworn the North Guard.

His priest can:

Bless and strengthen weapons and armor,

Heal the sick and injured. Marius prefers his followers use the services of the healers because even as one of the more powerful lessor gods, there are limits to the amount of power he has available and he would prefer to save his power for those time no other option is available.

Strengthen the resolve of the troops in battle.

And call him to appear in times of desperation. Marius normally only appears during battle when it is necessary for him to confront the opposing gods. He normally appears armed with his bow Hearts Bane and to this point has successfully driven the other gods from the field. He has been known to make an occasional appearance in the camps or messes of the army. He also manifest at the swearing in of the new Imperator. One of which he killed because he was a secret worshiper of the Temptress.

Friends

His wife Aetha also known as the Witch.

Rac or the Great Raccoon

Panther the totem god of the Panther Tribes.

The Wolf of Reme step mother to the former kings of Reme and the small folk.

The Bride in her guise as the Huntress.

Lady Spider the mother of the spiders that provide the raw spider-silk.

Vex the master smith.

Adversaries

These are gods that he is often in conflict with in times of war but otherwise has friendly relations with and often ride with when the Huntress calls a great hunt.

Bull, The Bull or The Great Bison Totem God of the Bison People.

Snake Woman, the Bison Peoples Goddess of magic and mistress of the shamans.

Enemies

These are the true enemies Imperator.

The Evil One and his servants.

Balor the god of the Slaveholders and Slavers. Often while on a great hunt with The Huntress, Marius has tried to convince her to call a great hunt on Balor. She has come close to agreeing to this but so far has refused saying it would be to close to breaking the pact.

Zakkree, The Bloody Hind Claw, god of the saurons of the continent across the great ocean. Marius has not met Zakkree in the Mortal world but has had some encounters in the Spirit World were he has helped The Huntress drive Zakkree back across the great ocean.

The Witch, The Great Chieftain, She Who Loves, Aetha.

Aetha is an ascended human, the great witch chieftain of The Panther Tribes who took the oath and helped Marius stop the great invasion and eventually married him. Both she and Marius became gods at the battle of the Vig.

The Witch is the protector of witches, helping those who believe both in and out of the District. She strengthens them and if persecuted leads them to help, usually with the help of Marius and Rac.

The Great Chieftain offers help and support to the peoples of the Panther tribes both those who have taken the oath and those in the wild lands.

In her Aspect as She Who Loves she is the Mother goddess of all who live between the Rubicon and the Edge River.

Her priesthood is held by all witches friendly to the Imperators Children. The High Priesthood is held by her female descendents.

Her priest can.

Call her to stand chief of their coven when performing a great magic. With her years of experience and much greater under standing of the true nature of reality she can lever the power of the coven to much greater hights.

Bless children and marriages.

Borrow her power when in need.

And ask for help in healing. With her help a Mind Witch or a Fire Witch can perform a healing as if she was a Full Blood Witch.

The High Priest her decedents have one other power.

They can perform the cleansing.

Since all of a woman's eggs are formed at her birth it is possible to select for those eggs that carry the power gene and usual the telepathy or telekinesis genes. This is done by destroying the eggs that do not contain the desired genes. This allows a woman to make sure her children will be born witches if they mate with a witch. The cleansing is usually performed on young half witch women who carry the gene as a recessive.

The cleansing is only performed on women who have approached one of Aetha's decedents. The High Priestess interviews and counsels the women explaining what would happen the decline in fertility and the pain involved. If the woman wants to proceed, she is required to spend a week of prayer and meditation, this does two things it helps build Aetha's power reserve and give the woman time to reconsider. When it is finally time for the cleansing the woman is brought to a meeting hall of one of the Witchs's training schools, with her friends and family present praying to The Witch for help. The High Priestess lays her hands on the girl's shoulders and opens herself up to her ancestor. Aetha possess the High Priestess and burns out the undesired eggs as a healer would burn out a bacterial infection. Even with the care and and skill of the goddess the process in very painful so much so it is also called the burning. Once it is done Aetha leaves the High Priestess and retreats to her and Marius's camp to recover. The young woman is lead to a couch to recover while her friends and family have a party to celibate, sing songs of thanks to Aetha helping the goddess recover her power.

Appearance

Aetha is a tall beautiful redhead, looking as she did when she first met Marius. She normally wears the light armor of the North Guard and is armed with a short sword and horse bow.

Aetha friends and enemies list is the same as Marius. She is close friends with Huntress and Snake Woman.

Rac, Coon, The Great Coon, The Trouble on four legs, The Masked one.

Rac was originally the trickster god of the Panther Tribes, some scholars believe the original was the large, smart and mischievous raccoon pet of one of the early witch chieftains. The story tellers started telling stories about Rac and they grew in there telling. As the people and especially the children heard these stories they believed and with their belief Rac the Raccoon who stole fire from the gods came into existence. Others who have traveled to the east to the lands of the Norse. Tell what the say is the true tale, that Rac is a Totem but he is a creation of Brun, the Protector's other daughter, the Child Demon Goddess of the Norse, who did not fall with her Father. Rac is a god of mischief, a trickster. In the stories and now in real life he plays his tricks on the cruel or self important powerful. He is the god of the under dog and more importantly children. He is the protector of children, who love the stories of his collection of bogeyman teeth that he keeps under his bed in the Great Hollow Tree. In a world where belief can bring reality, bogeymen do exist. Rac hunts bogeymen killing them when ever he finds them. He often kills the bogeyman before the child who called it up then takes its teeth as a trophy and gives one of the canine teeth to the child. Many Panther Tribesman and Imperator's Children wear a bogeyman's tooth as a charm. If Rac encounters a monster to tough for him to kill alone he calls upon Marius and Aetha for help or if it is very strong the Huntress. He and the Huntress often hunt the greater Bogeymen who terrify entire towns with Rac leading her to them by following the frightened whispered prayers of the children. He often wears a necklace of Greater Bogeymen's canines. Usually a child who receives a tooth has no more trouble with the bogeyman as his or her personal bogeyman is dead. More importantly, most children who hear the stories don't fear the bogeyman and are not troubled by them. Rac also does not like those who abuse children and will often play some of his nastier tricks on them.

The nearly constant influx of Panther Tribesmen into the North Guard from very beginning of the guard has brought the belief and worship of Rac into the district. From the district the belief in Rac has filtered into Reme proper, especially amongst the poor and slave population. Many a cruel slave overseer or master has felt the wrath of Rac.

There is no formal worship or priest of Rac. He finds that thought of entirely silly with undertones of sinister with the possible abuses. He gains most of his power and is worshiped in the telling of Rac Tales. These stories are quite popular and are told in homes, camps and taverns over most of the eastern part of the continent. As these stories are told and spread the range and power Rac continues to grow. At this time his stories are told from Portus in the south to the River People on the great river. Often when the stories are told a pair bright yellow eyes can be seen gleaming over the shoulder of the story teller. While not publicly acknowledged as his priest, the itinerant storytellers of the Gullet have access to his power. With his coming the cruel and the powerful know fear. Even with no priest any fearful child can expect help if he believes in Rac and the Bogeymen and bullies tremble.

Out of respect and love for Rac many people leave food out for the wild raccoons and raccoons are popular pets.

His priesthood is held by the Itinerant Storytellers of the Gullet. The Storytellers are usually men or women over 50 years in age, who travel from village to village telling the stories of Rac and his friends. Like bards they are usually welcome wherever they travel and usually spend the evening telling their stories to an enthralled audience. These Storytellers are spreading the belief in Rac and because of their importance in the Great Hunt stories the belief in Marius, Aetha and The Huntress. After the telling is done the Storyteller turns to his audience especially the children and says, “These are but a few of the stories of Rac, maybe you can imagine one of your own.” Usually for weeks after a visit from a Storyteller the children of the village tell each other Rac stories often making up their own.

The Storytellers have the following powers:

Not seen

The Storyteller can blended into the background and is ignored by those around him.

Enthrall

The Storyteller tells her story with such skill and power that the audience lose themselves in the story and truly believe.

Dream Walk

The Storyteller can enter the spirit lands in a lucid dream.

Gate Walk

The Storyteller can find and enter one of the Shadow Gates into the spirit lands and travel the spirit lands in the flesh.

Heal

Because of the high amount of power involved Rac would rather you go to a witch healer.

Appearance

Rac generally appears as a large raccoon wearing a necklace of teeth. In times of danger he wears a set of spider silk armor, coat and pants, and his fighting claws a gift from Huntress.

His friends and enemies list is the same as Marius and Aetha.

His closest friends are Marius and The Huntress. The Great Hollow Tree grows on the same mountain where the Huntress has her fortress and Marius and Eatha their camp.

Totem Gods

The Totem gods are the spirit guides and protectors of the original peoples of earth.

They are :

Wolf, she was the Guardian of Reme but since Senators have became slaveholders, she is the god of the northern legions.

Panther, the Guardian of the Panther Tribes.

Bull, the Guardian of the Bison Peoples

Raven, the Guardian of the Ravens and also the Norse.

Orca, also a Guardian of the Ravens

Catfish the Guardian of the River Peoples

The Totems are creation of Protector before he fell. The Totems were created to be the Guardians of the peoples present during the time of his long reign. They were created by the Protector by turning his will on an animal using the belief of a multitude of people that he gathered for the purpose. Thus he provided guardians for the people. The Guardians hunted with him to help control the dangerous imagined. The Guardians did not fall with the Protector, and continued to perform their part in the great hunt. After the Fall, they hunted with Son. After the death of the original Panther due to Son's carelessness Brun would come from the Norse lands and lead the hunt. She gifted them with magical weapons and created Rac so he could help them arm themselves when she was away. After Twister came to Vig and the Totems went to Son instead of her, Brun did not return. Much to their surprise Twister after failing to temp Ganius and Roxxanna came to them to lead the hunt. Her explanation was that humanity were her father and her food and you always protect the flock and you are the last remaining things that my father created. They remembered the 80,000 humans that died at Vig at Sons hand, that the sons carelessness had gotten the original Panther killed and Son take Panthers soul to the gate. Therefore, the Totems agreed because what she said was true, and they had already fell in love with her; she reminded them of Brun.

Black Panther

Black Panther is the totem God of the Panther tribes.

It is said that he has died twice in his long existence. The first time before

Balor, Master, The Slave Catcher, Witch Hunter.

The origins of Balor are unknown, his first known appearance was after the first great slave taking after the times of troubles. It has been suggested that he is an ascended slaver or maybe a Greater Demon that survived the Times of Terror and escaped the attention of his sister The Huntress.

Balor is the patron god of slavers, slaveholders (Senators in Remes), and witch hunters.

He gains power through the worship of his followers and the misery of their victims. His chief city is the city of Balor located just south of where the Rubicon enters the great sea. He is worshiped by the Senators and Knights of Remes and by the slaveholders of Achenes across the Shallow Sea.

Balor has a Called Priesthood usual from the major Witch Hunting families of Remes or from the second sons of Slaveholders.

His priest can cast.

Subdue, which renders the captured slaves placid.

Suppress, which suppresses a witch's ability to perform magic.

Call god, which can call Balor to appear in time of need.

Heal, with witch healers unavailable, Balor must expend power to heal his followers. This is never done without the recipient paying the cost in gold and prayer and gold to pay for prayer.

Appearance

Balor appears a slender dark haired young man dressed in bronze armor caring two whips, a long bull whip in his right hand and a short cat of nine tails in his left.

Friends

The Evil Great Gods? He spreads misery and destruction, and serves the selfish needs of the slaveholders bring many of them to evil.

The family gods of a number of the Senators.

Adversaries

Balor has no adversaries all of the gods that he is in conflict with are enemies.

Enemies.

The Good Gods. Especially The Huntress, who is looking for an excuse to call a Great Hunt on him.

Marius and Aetha, who hate slavery.

Rac in his role as the protector of children and the Panther Tribes.

The Black Panther, protector of the Panther Tribes.

The Wolf of Remus, Protector of the small peoples of Remes

Bull the protector of the Bison Peoples.

Snake Woman patron of the Shamans of the Bison People.

And the smaller gods of the peoples of the north where the slavers under his protection raid.

Temples

Balor has a temples in all of the cities of Remes and Achene. The chief Temple is in Remus. The High Whip, the chief priest of the Remes Temple leads the church. The Temple is located across the forum from the Senate. The Temple in Balor controls the city and the temple built as a fortress is constructed on the bay and maintains docks and other construction to support their main feet. All of the temples lend money and use Remes harsh debtor laws to force the poor into slavery when they cannot pay. In recent years this has been less successful because of the presence of the witch-road and the North Guard recruiting stations. Between the Guard's ban on slaving in the north and the poor taking the oath to avoid debt slavery, the sources of slaves are drying up and the temples are finding it harder to supple the needs of their clients.