House Deities

Aberash – Goddess of the Sun and Renewal 
Neutral Good
Domains – Healing, Glory, Good, Repose, Sun
Sub-Domains - Azata, Day, Heroism, Light, Restoration, Resurrection 
Symbol – Out stretched hand reaching thru the sun
Weapon – Light Bringer  (Morningstar) 

Ahroukin – God of Savagery, Barbarism, and Bloodshed
Chaotic Evil
Domains – Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil, Madness, and Strength
Allowed Sub-Domains – Demon, Murder, Catastrophe, Rage, Insanity, Nightmare, and Ferocity
Symbol – scythe dripping blood into a large field of red
Favored Weapon – Scythe

Alastriel Talanka – Elven Goddess of the Hunt
Chaotic Good
Domains – Animal, Chaos, Good, and Strength
Allowed Sub-Domains – Feather, Fur, Azata, Ferocity, and Resolve
Symbol – A longbow crossed with a quiver of arrows
Favored Weapon – Long bow or Composite Longbow

Bergbau Edelstein – God of mining
Neutral
Domains – Darkness, Destruction, Earth, Fire, Strength
Allowed Sub-Domains – Night, Catastrophe, Caves, Metal, Ash, Smoke, Ferocity, and Resolve
Symbol – Mining pick striking a rock and making a spark
Favored Weapon – any Pick

While Bergbau has a dwarven name and is claimed as a dwarven god by the dwarves, he is also the god of mining for the gnomes, humans, halflings, and pretty much all other races that mine.

Caridwen – goddess of entertainment and artistry
Chaotic Good
Domains:  Artifice, Chaos, Charm, and Good
Allowed Sub-Domains – Construct, Azata, Love, and Lust
Symbol:  A crossed paintbrush and Flute
Favored Weapon:  Rapier

Dolbaranan – God of gluttony and wretched excess - sometimes referred to as the Devourer or the God of Cannibalism.
Chaotic Evil
Domains – Animal, Chaos, Evil, and Plant
Allowed Sub-Domains – Feather, Fur, Demon, Decay, and Growth
Symbol - crossed knife and fork (or local equivalent)
Favored Weapon – Dagger

Dolbaranan espouses that all plants and all animals (even the thinking ones) are, or should be, food.  His worshippers are encouraged to taste of all that the world has to offer.  As this often leads the followers to black market imports or kidnapping and murder, worshippers of Dolbaranan are not well liked, and is rarely tolerated in polite society.

Dorble Mundain – God of lost causes, the poor, the homeless
Neutral Good
Domains:  Good, Healing, Luck, Nobility, and Protection
Allowed Sub-Domains – Agathion, Restoration, Resurrection, Fate, Leadership, Martyr, Defense, and Purity
Symbol:  an alms cup
Favored Weapon:  club

Forseti – Goddess of truth and the dispensation of knowledge
Lawful Neutral
Domains:  Glory, Knowledge, Law, and Rune
Allowed Sub-Domains – Heroism, Honor, Memory, Thought, Inevitable, and Language
Symbol:  All seeing eye
Favored Weapon:  Long Sword

Forseti and her followers believe in the open distribution of knowledge, all knowledge.  They don’t believe in secrets, they don’t believe in lying.  Most of her clerics are disliked as they tend to speak only the truth, regardless of what feelings they might hurt.  They are never confided in as they don’t believe in keeping secrets.  However, their adherence to truth and desire to gain knowledge makes them excellent judges.

Heilen Earthmender – Dwarven goddess of healing and family
Lawful Good
Domains – Community, Good, Healing, Law, and Repose
Allowed Sub-Domains – Family, Home, Archon, Restoration, Resurrection, Ancestors, and Souls
Symbol –
Favored Weapon – quarterstaff

Hentara Homemaker – Goddess of Home, Hearth, and Herbs
Lawful Good
Domains – Community, Good, Law, and Protection
Allowed Sub-Domains – Family, Home, Archon, Defense, and Purity
Symbol – a fireplace with a pot of something cooking
Favored Weapon – Dagger

Has a penchant for the letter H, whether the goddess, her worshippers, or all of the above.  Seeks the Healing sphere to add to her spheres.

Hrothgar Sparkshard – Dwarven god of the Forge
Lawful Good
Domains – Fire, Law, Protection, Strength, and War
Allowed Sub-Domains – Ash, Smoke, Archon, Defense, Purity, Resolve, and Tactics
Symbol – a hammer striking an anvil
Favored Weapon – any hammer

Koroth – god of ambition, greed, and commerce
Chaotic Neutral
Domains – Chaos, Charm, Glory, and Travel
Allowed Sub-Domains – Azata, Love, Lust, Honor, Exploration, and Trade
Symbol – Gold Coin depicting gold ingots
Favored Weapon – Light or Heavy Pick

Kralnath – God of giants
Neutral
Domains – Destruction, Earth, Fire, Strength, and War
Allowed Sub-Domains – Catastrophe, Rage, Caves, Metal, Ash, Smoke, Ferocity, Resolve, Blood, and Tactics
Symbol – a beating heart
Favored Weapon – any two-handed martial weapon

Father of Venisoty and Skraven.  Gave Skraven the sphere of fire, gave his daughter Venisoty the sphere of weather.  Came to the aid of giants in their time of need, becoming their patron deity.

History:

The giants were originally created as a work force for the gods.  The gods found “the world” and decided to make it their own, but its shape and make-up didn’t quite suite them, plus it was already inhabited by dragons.  The gods decided they needed a labor force and army to deal with the terra-forming they needed and to fight the dragons.  They created the giants.  At first the giants were assigned to fight the dragons, whittling their numbers down to fractions of what they once were.  Then the giants were assigned to reforming the planet, making the world suitable for the new races the gods were creating, races that would worship the gods.

The giants were mostly finished with the terra-forming that the gods required when they discovered something.  When the giants were done the gods planned on getting rid of the giants.  The giant races would be no more.  This did not sit well with the giants, naturally.  They organized, uniting behind their chosen leader, Kelmanghort the stone giant, the smartest of the giants.  They began a war with the gods.  They didn’t have much of a chance, and they knew this, but it was better than just sitting by while the gods killed them.  The battles started off poorly and went downhill from there, but the giants had nothing to lose.  The giants would have been utterly defeated, but then they got a break.  One of the gods, Kralnath, god of weather, felt sympathy for the giants and sided with them.  Kralnath contacted Kelmanghort and granted him clerical powers.  Some of the other gods also sided with Kralnath, mostly minor gods who saw the giants as a race with potential for their own uses and didn’t want them gone.  All of this helped the giants, though it still wasn’t enough.  The giants were victorious against one of the gods, Brogtillem, god of fire, and Kralnath quickly took over his domains, but still this wasn’t enough.  The gods fighting against the giants were united behind the god of combat, Poth, and they kept winning battle after battle.  The giants were shrunken in numbers, with no real chance against the gods, but they tried anyway.  They tried one last effort, an all-or-nothing shot.  The giants meant to kill Poth and throw the gods behind him into turmoil.  This last ditch effort was led by the giant leader, Kelmanghort.  Kelmanghort and Poth fought an epic battle, causing those nearby to stop and watch.  In the end Poth was victorious and pulled Kelmanghort’s still beating heart right from his chest.  Poth held the beating heart in the air for all to see, while behind him Kelmanghort’s heartless body rose up from the ground and stabbed Poth in the back, killing him.  Panic and chaos ensued after that.  Many more giants were slain and a few of the lesser gods were as well.  Kelmanghort’s body was lost, trampled into mush by the giants and gods, but his still beating heart was saved and the giants who survived returned to the world with it.  Kelmanghort’s heart never stopped beating.  It is said that so long as the giants possess Kelmanghort’s beating heart that their race will never die.

Laithe – Goddess of Protection and Freedom, especially the protection and freedom of the downtrodden
Neutral Good
Domains – Community, Good, Liberation, Protection
Allowed Sub-Domains – Family, Home, Agathion, Freedom, Revolution, Defense, Purity
Symbol – broken chains
Favored Weapon – Bastard Sword

Moam Deathbringer – God of death and the undead
Neutral Evil
Domains – Darkness, Death, Evil, and Repose
Allowed Sub-Domains – Loss, Night, Murder, Undead, Daemon, Ancestors, and Soul
Symbol – skull
Favored Weapon – Spiked Chain

Orik Stonesplitter – Dwarven god of creation
Chaotic Good
Domains – Artifice, Chaos, Earth, and Good
Allowed Sub-Domains – Construct, Toil, Azata, and Metal
Symbol – multi-colored swirling mass, never are any two exactly the same
Favored Weapon – Unarmed strike or Gauntlet

Paramis – goddess of chastity and brothels
Chaotic Neutral
Domains – Chaos, Charm, Liberation, and Protection
Allowed Sub-Domains – Azata, Love, Lust, Freedom, Revolution, Defense, and Purity
Symbol – for the chaste, an unbroken, undecorated gold ring.  For others a feather boa, or a collection of feathers
Favored Weapon – Quarterstaff or Whip

Pertian – God of terror and destruction
Chaotic Evil
Domains - Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Fire, and Madness
Allowed Sub-Domains – Demon, Catastrophe, Rage, Ash, Smoke, Insanity, and Nightmare
Symbol - wildfire (what it is destroying varies with the sect, plains, crops, forests, etc.)
Favored Weapon - Greataxe

Pertian is out for chaos, madness, and utter destruction.  When the world was made, Pertian was not consulted and he has taken this very personally.  There are things he would have liked to do, much different than what was done, and he means to have his way.  The only way to do that, however, is to first destroy what has already been created.  Pertian seeks nothing less than the destruction of the entire world.

Pertian, while wanting the destruction of the entire world, doesn't limit himself to just that.  In order to weaken the power of the other gods, he also seeks to destroy minds as well, in the form of terror and madness.  Not only does a being going mad deprive one or more of the other gods of a worshipper, as a bonus the now mad person is often destructive as well.

Pertian's clerics are expected to cause destruction, chaos, and terror.  Many of his new initiates will set fires, attack shops, kill wantonly and randomly, etc.  Most are caught and either imprisoned or executed.  Those who show a bit of restraint, who plan their escape, who seek massive wholesale destruction rather than minor nuisances, these are the ones who advance in the worship of Pertian.  It is hard, after all, to advance when jailed or executed.

Clerics are expected to make a minor sacrifice at least once a month, and a major sacrifice at least once a year.  The minor sacrifice is usually something taken from an opponent that is then destroyed, often in fire.  The major sacrifice takes the form of the cleric's most prized possession, a relic or holy artifact from another deity, a powerful magic item (based on the level of the cleric) or the mind of a cleric of another deity.  Any of these will do.  Anything less than these won't.  Clerics who exceed their minimum requirements are rewarded.  Clerics who fail to live up to these requirements are punished.  After all, no matter how poor a cleric might be, he is bound to have a most prized possession.

Ringen Krig – God of Conquest & Tyranny (current patron deity of the Empire of Haelthia)
Lawful Evil
Domains – Evil, Law, Protection, Strength, and War
Allowed Sub-Domains – Devil, Defense, Ferocity, Resolve, Blood, and Tactics
Symbol – Shackles
Favored Weapon – Long Sword or Whip

Ringen Krig is known as the god of tyranny and conquest amongst the good and neutral gods.  Amongst his own followers, Ringen Krig is the god of strength, power, and protecting the weak.  Of course, this protection of the weak tends to have them subjugated to the powerful, but it is required of the powerful in charge that they protect those under them.

Selia – Goddess of Love and Commitment
Neutral Good
Domains – Charm, Community, Good, Protection
Allowed Sub-Domains – Love, Family, Home, Agathion, Defense, Purity
Symbol – a family together, usually holding hands (race varies)
Favored Weapon – Dart or Short Bow

Skraven –God of Fire and Destruction (patron deity of most orcs)
Chaotic Evil
Domains:  Chaos, Destruction, Evil, and Fire
Allowed Sub-Domains – Demon, Catastrophe, Rage, Ash, and Smoke
Symbol:  a flaming meteor
Favored Weapon:  Great Axe

Skraven is the son of the god Kralnath.

Sturmisch Hilletcher – Dwarven goddess of magic
Lawful Neutral
Domains – Knowledge, Law, Magic, Protection, and Rune
Allowed Sub-Domains – Memory, Thought, Inevitable, Arcane, Divine, Defense, Language, and Wards
Symbol –
Favored Weapon – dagger

Synzarn – God (Goddess?) of Nature and Diversity
Neutral
Domains – Animal, Plant, Strength, Sun, and Travel
Allowed Sub-Domains – Feather, Fur, Decay, Growth, Ferocity, Resolve, Day, Light, and Exploration.
Symbol – a disparate scene of nature, which varies depending on the sect (such as a monkey in the desert, a dolphin in a tree, etc.)
Favored Weapon – Quarterstaff

Synzarn is depicted as male, or female, or sometimes androgynous.  As the deity of diversity, this is hardly surprising.  Clerics and followers of Synzarn are encouraged to wander the world so that they might encounter all the diversity to be found in nature.  It is said that Synzarn is also responsible for the diversity to be found amongst the intelligent races (not the many different races to be found, but rather the diversity to be found within each one).  Synzarn is worshipped mostly by druids and rangers, but a few hardy souls take up the religion and become clerics as well.

Taenis Mog – God of Magic and Rituals
Neutral
Domains – Knowledge, Magic, Rune
Allowed Sub-Domains – Memory, Thought, Arcane, Divine, Language, Wards
Symbol – an eight-pointed starburst
Favored Weapon - Dagger

Thalas – God of the Seas, Oceans, and Storms
Chaotic Good
Domains – Air, Chaos, Destruction, Good, Water, Weather
Sub-Domains – Agathion, Archon, Catastrophe, Cloud, Ice, Oceans, Protean, Storms, Wind
Symbol – Waves
Favored Weapon – Trident

Thanhoff the Bloody – God of fighting, skirmishes, and brawls
Chaotic Neutral
Domains – Chaos, Death, Destruction, Strength, War
Allowed Sub-Domains – Azata, Murder, Undead, Catastrophe, Rage, Ferocity, Resolve, Blood, and Tactics
Symbol – a ball with dozens of pointy weapons sticking out of it like a reverse pin cushion
Favored Weapon – any sword

Theokahrm – god of crafts and craftsmen
Neutral Good
Domains – Artifice, Community, and Good
Allowed Sub-Domains – Construct, Toil, Family, Home, and Agathion
Symbol – crafting tools (which tools varies with the sect)
Favored Weapon – any hammer

Tolgar Thunderblade – God of tactics, strategy, and war
Lawful Neutral
Domains – Glory, Law, Strength, and War
Allowed Sub-Domains – Heroism, Honor, Inevitable, Ferocity, Resolve, and Tactics
Symbol – two weapons clashing (types of weapons vary with the sect)
Favored Weapon – any martial weapon

Tyrin Luckbringer (sometimes known as Tyrin Luckstealer) – God of travel and good fortune
Chaotic Neutral
Domains – Chaos, Luck, Travel
Allowed Sub-Domains – Protean, Curse, Fate, Exploration, and Trade
Symbol – a pair of dice
Favored Weapon – Quarterstaff

Venisoty – Goddess of weather
Chaotic Neutral
Domains – Air, Chaos, Darkness, Destruction, Madness, and Weather
Allowed Sub-Domains – Cloud, Wind, Azata, Night, Catastrophe, Insanity, Nightmare, Seasons, and Storm
Symbol – A lightning bolt
Favored Weapon – Javelin

Venisoty is the daughter of the god Kralnath.

Yaarsarko – God of Beasts, Savage Death, and Lycanthropes
Chaotic Evil
Domains – Animal, Chaos, Death, Evil, Madness
Allowed Sub-Domains – Feather, Fur, Demon, Murder, Insanity, and Nightmare
Symbol – Two knives crossed in a pool of blood
Favored Weapon – Claws or Bite if you have them, otherwise Flail

Yaarsarko is an elder god that has been around forever.  Some call him the beginning of chaos.  Many have forgotten about him completely.  His worship springs up in remote places, usually where dangerous monsters can be found.  He believes that all creatures, whether they are intelligent or not, are beasts and thus are all equal.  All are free to be hunters, or hunted.  He is worshipped by lycanthropes, intelligent monsters, and savages.  He hates undead as they are either without flesh or their flesh is not fit to be consumed, and doesn’t care for elementals for the same reason.  Elementals don’t get his enmity though, due to the fact that they were always that way, not changed from flesh like undead.

Yaarsarko is the father of Ahroukin and Dolbaranan.

Yaarsarko’s worshippers collect specimens to be sacrificed to their god, the more dangerous the better.  The sacrifices usually take place on a specific night or time of year, this varying with the sect.  They drink the blood of the sacrificed, and consume their flesh.  This gives them power, with the power being greater with the danger level of the sacrifice.  The high priests of Yaarsarko are given great powers once a year, but only if they sacrifice and consume the flesh of a sufficiently powerful beast.  Failure to do this, or failure to sacrifice a sufficiently powerful beast, often leads to a new high priest.  Some sects collect body parts or the blood of their sacrifices.  Sometimes these are just kept as trophies.  Sometimes these are added into their rituals for added power.

Zharzull – God of Assassins, Darkness, and Shadows
Neutral Evil
Domains:  Darkness, Death, Evil, and Trickery
Allowed Sub-Domains – Loss, Night, Murder, Daemon, Deception, Thievery
Symbol:  Black disk with two small eyes just visible in the blackness
Favored Weapon:  Dagger
Prohibited Weapons:  Bows, Crossbows, Slings & Javelins, but only when on assignment

Zharzull is the god of assassins, and the darkness and shadows that they work in.  He is not the god of murder, however.  Murder is a petty crime, of opportunity or passion of the moment.  There is no artistry in murder.  Assassination, however, requires forethought, planning, flawless execution.  Assassination is an artform to Zharzull and his followers.

 Temples to Zharzull are, of necessity, secret.  They are often deep in the wilderness or in the worst slums of large cities.  Worshippers themselves are a secretive and highly suspicious lot.  The worship of Zharzull is usually illegal, even though many of those in power make use of his followers.

Temples to Zharzull, while rare, are generally used as training grounds for assassins.  Priests of Zharzull, those who aren't running the assassin schools, wander the cities looking for prime candidates amongst the thieves and criminals.  They keep a close eye on these possible candidates for at least a year before approaching them.  Even then the prospective candidate is only given the location where they can meet their next contact, not the actual location to the temple and training grounds.  That is a piece of information that must be earned.  Their contact will have a job for them.  It will be one that will test their mettle, but most important of all, it will test their morals.  Being an assassin means setting aside any feelings you might have for the victim and concentrating solely on the job at hand.  The victim is merely the largest part of the job.  Those of good alignment who plan on infiltrating in order to find the location of one of Zharzull's temples generally won't be able to finish their assignment.  Those who fail are killed as they have gotten too close to the knowledge they are not worthy to have.

Zharzull prohibits the use of long-range missile weapons when on an assassination mission, a prohibition few object to.  Amongst Zharzull's followers it is believed that looking into the eyes of a victim as they die, whatever the method of their demise, allows one to take some of their power.  Long range missile weapons don't allow this, and Zharzull hates to see power lost or wasted.  Bows and crossbows are allowed to be used for defense or in time of war.  They just can't be used as the method of assassination.

Generally getting into a temple of Zharzull, even when one knows the actual location, is a challenge.  Zharzull doesn't want followers that can't take care of themselves.  Zharzull wants those who can think on their feet, defend themselves, get through locked doors or trapped hallways.  But mostly Zharzull wants followers who are dedicated and who don't give up.  Zharzull expects only the best from his followers.