In this blog post we will cover the basics about the Gods of my primary fantasy setting. There are three different groups that will be covered, the true gods, the Neverborn and the “God-King” Thand. Some of these have been referenced in previous blog posts.
First up are the true gods, the actual divine beings of the setting. Around a score in number, they each have their own areas of focus. They are led by Jor, the God of Honour and Justice. Thousands of years ago they created the material world, and many other planes of existence, along with all the creatures that exist in them. Other than the god of death, they all appear to live on the plane known to most mortals as Heaven and while it is believed that once they personally traveled the many realms of reality, they rarely if ever do so now, relying on their many servants and angels for such tasks.
The true gods are able to grant divine blessings to their servants and devout worshipers. Most often this allows that person to call on the god to temporarily grant them a tiny sliver of their power, healing injuries, augmenting that person or their allies strength, toughness or other characteristics or smiting those touched by the curse of the neverborn. But this is not a power to be abused, for it tends to work best for those who are truly devout and know when to use it, rather than calling upon it constantly. The gods will not always respond and are less likely to do so for one who is constantly calling on them.
Many believe that because they are opposed by the truly evil Neverborn that by default the true gods must be good. But that is not the case, and most of the gods are probably best described as neutral. Some would even describe the gods as uncaring with how many terrible things happen in the world, often with priests looking on, or even participating.
Some of their priests are focused on the worship of one specific god, while others the pantheon as a whole, shifting their primary focus depending on the current situation. The ratio between these different types of priests varies in different lands, but in most of Gal Hadre, more generalist priests are the majority. The rulers of various lands in Gal Hadre generally try to control what priest work in their territory through church hierarchies, often also claiming that the priests of neighbouring lands should be responsive to their senior priests, priests that are usually chosen for their connections to the ruling class.
The Neverborn are the first dragons, the first creations. Other than creating something completely from nothing; their power is nearly that of the true Gods, though twisted, always with evil intent. Their actions have influenced reality nearly as much as the true gods, with their rebellion spawning the most destructive war in history and leading the eradication of entire species of sentients. And their continued destruction through big events like the dragonstorms that have devastated reality at least 3 times and lesser but constant efforts. Yet the true gods have never stepped in to stop such events, suggesting that they either can’t, are afraid of the fallout if they do or that this is all somehow part of their millenia spanning intent for reality.
As the source of the eight paths of dragon magics, they can also provide their servants incredible power as even a tiny amount of dragon blood will completely transform the creature granted it, including the ability to use powerful dragon magics. Many others are willing to enact the dragons will simply for the possibility that they will receive dragon blood in the future, a prize that even the youngest of dragons will dangle in front of those they wish to control.
Despite all this potential power the Neverborn and their descendants can grant, they are unable to directly aid a worshipper when called upon. They would probably find any that were attempting to do so unworthy of their attention anyway as the dragons rather fiercely believe that the strong take and the weak either serve or die. This gives many of their servants a very cutthroat mentality. It often makes chasing down their cults very difficult as they are just as likely to slit the throats of any of theirs that the authorities are looking for, as leave them in place.
Worshippers of the Neverborn almost never worship all of them, they are cults of specific dragons, often not even the Neverborn but one of their descendants. Most likely in modern times a fourthborn or fifthborn. Because of how hidden and insular these cults generally are, they often work at cross purposes to other dragon cults in the area, and may be as motivated as the authorities to suppress other cults. The leaders of dragon cults are almost always able to use at least a few basic dragon magic spells, often ones that are either very flashy to impress their acolytes or incredibly subtle so it is nearly impossible to notice what they are doing .
Last we have the “God-King” Thand, claimed by his worshippers to be a mortal who discovered the secret to divinity and a replacement of the gods of old. Born in the uncivilized north-east of Gal Hadre approximately 450 years ago he unified a significant area under his “divine” banner, but eventually died, or as claimed by his worshippers ascended to another plane of existence. The priests that now rule his kingdom in the name of their god claim that they can manifest powers granted to them by Thand, but many scholars believe them to simply be a branch of dragon magics disguised as divine blessings. Some have suggested that he wasn’t entirely human either a dragonblooded with no clear signs of the normal mutations that brings or Nephyl, the child of a fallen angel.
What do you think of the various gods of Gal Hadre? Are there any specific gods you are more interested in learning about? What about divine blessings?
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