Religion: True Gods
The True Gods in Trinity.
Overview
It is not known how many True Gods there were; even if it were, their names and natures have been lost to the ages. The lore and ecclesiastical texts regarding the origins of some of the more powerful remaining Divine beings make vague references to these beings, but only in one - the origin of the Lucavi Ajora - is a name directly given, that of the True Goddess Kolaita.
Unlike the Scions, whose power waxes and wanes with the strength of faith placed in them, for whom it is possible to lose and re-attain Divine status, a True God's power is not dependent upon faith; their existence is a fact, made possible by metaphysical links forged between reality and the Divine. If this link is severed, the True God dies - and once such a link is severed, it cannot be reforged. In the event known as the Fracture, the links between the Metaphysic and all of the True Gods were cut; no amount of faith and no mortal attempt can bring these beings back from the dead. While it is possible for new Divine beings of other sorts to come to the fore, and old ones who had long been forgotten to suddenly return, the True Gods are truly gone.
It is known, however, that the power the True Gods held is present in the form of the still-existing Divine beings of the world: the Scions were direct creations of the True Gods, and even those newer Scions can still draw their metaphysical lineage directly to the True Gods; the Shards are creatures crafted by the Scions out of the fragments of the True Gods that still held a hint of the Divine spark; and the Servants are beings crafted by the Scions out of the leftover physical remains of the True Gods, imbued with the souls of departed mortals.
The True Gods
General overviews of each of the True Gods follow.
Kolaita
The Namer, The Healer, The Lifegiver
Greater Deity
Symbol: An upright peacebonded sword
Alignment: Neutral Good
- Ethos: White/Green
Portfolio: Names, beginnings, communities, healing, families
Priest Alignment: LG, NG, CG, N
- Priest Ethoi: Green @ d10, White @ d8; Black at least three ranks lower than Green and two ranks lower than White
Domains: Community[1], Creation[1], Family[1], Good, Healing, Heaven[2], Joy[3], Knowledge, Life[4], Pleasure[3], Protection, Purification[1], Renewal[1]
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Description
Kolaita takes the appearance of a young human woman with flowing blond hair, garbed in a white dress with gold decoration. Her hair and clothing ripples in an unseen wind, and her skin glints as though studded with tiny stars.
Kolaita is a soft-spoken, kind, and gentle deity, who seeks for little more than the world to be whole and all the creatures within it to live in harmony. She is an old goddess, and is said to have been present when the Divine sought to give names to everything within creation. She treats every creature, even those that have wronged her or actively worked against her beliefs, as a child dear to her.
Dogma
Names and life are sacred; take neither in vain. Family and community are of utmost import. Do well to remember the names of all those you hold dear. Give names to the nameless and spread joy to the joyless, for these are the greatest good anyone - mortal or immortal - can perform.
Clergy and Churches
Kolaita has had an array of clergy throughout history, and was one of the most actively-worshiped deities prior to her death.
Kolaita counts healers and historians amongst her primary following. Her church has a large order of paladins throughout her life, who oftentimes multiclass into defender or knight to improve their protective prowess. Her clergy are welcomed throughout the world in almost every civilized place, as they are known for their vows of peace and nonviolence.
In addition to her clergy, Kolaita has a small sect of followers known as the Anilikiotita, which are a very small group of individuals who are born of virgin births, their very existence instigated by Kolaita. The purpose of this sect is to seek out and destroy people or things that blaspheme important names, or that destroy life. These individuals are never given names, do not go take part in Deoridzo (see below), nor are they judged for their deeds in life; if they do what is required of them, they are given names in the afterlife.
Rites and Rituals
Amongst the most important rituals for Kolaita is the Deoridzo, a ritual in which a newborn child is given their name on holy ground. It was believed that through this ritual, Kolaita - and through her, the Divine itself - acknowledged the name given to the child.
The Fracture
Unlike most of the other True Gods, Kolaita was not present at the Fracture; she had been slain much earlier, by the angel Ajora, who struck her down in an attempt to absorb her Divine power. While Ajora failed in his efforts (though he joined the Lucavi and would later rise to power among them), he did manage to succeed in slaying Kolaita; her death was as permanent as the deaths of the True Gods during the Fracture.
Even after Kolaita's death, the Anilikiotita continue to exist, most likely continued by the largest of her Shards.
Tethys
The Watcher, The Clockmaker, Keeper of the River
Lesser Deity
Symbol: Hourglass
Alignment: Neutral
- Ethos: Blue/White
Portfolio: Time, travel, observation, education, prophecy
Priest Alignments: LN, NG, N, CN, NE
- Priest Ethoi: Blue @ d10, White @ d8; Red at least two ranks lower than Blue and White
Cleric Domains: Balance[1], Celerity[1], Fate[1], Knowledge, Liberation[1], Oracle[1], Planning[1], Prophecy[2], Time[1], Travel
Priest Domain: Tethys
Favored Weapon: Chakram
Description
Tethys takes on the appearance of a middle-aged humanoid, whose appearance is vaguely human but with heavily Yuan-agan features. Above and behind his head floats a double-ringed halo, the outer edge of which is ringed with the numerals used on clocks, and the inner edge of which is ringed with the relevant time-period's zodiacs.
Tethys is a quiet and withdrawn deity. Unlike the other deities, he did not take an active interest in reality, instead choosing to examine the nature of time; his nigh-infinite understanding of the workings of time (as well as the foresight it granted him) led him to distance from most of the mortal races and the rest of the True Gods.
At times, Tethys also appears as a somewhat paradoxical deity - oftentimes his dogma contradicts itself. He stresses the inevitability of fate, but at the same time, insists that fate can be changed.
Dogma
No man can escape his fate, but a man's fate can be changed. Watch and wait; patience, above all else, will win the day. The smallest action can have the biggest impact, and even the largest effort may result in nothing gained. Do not let what you know limit your options; even that which seemed impossible before may be possible in the future. If you have knowledge that will prevent catastrophe, use it.
Clergy and Churches
Throughout the history of the world, Tethys has had incredibly few dedicated priests, and a rather small veneration amongst mortals; while he has respect as a deity, few actively worship him.
The primary exception to this is the Templars, a group of epochents, harriers, prophets, oracles, archivists, and priests of Tethys. While not all of the Templars actively worship Tethys, many at least offer him small prayers, and the priests of Tethys are the only Divine force-users allowed into their order with any regularity.
Rites and Rituals
Having a small following and even smaller priesthood, Tethys has rather few rites and rituals.
Most denizens of the world offer a quick prayer to Tethys when setting or resetting an hourglass.
Tethys does not require that his priests recite prayers to regain their ability to call upon Divine power; instead, they must simply sit and wait for an hour to pass.
The Fracture
Tethys was one of the last deities to be slain. Unfortunately, not all of his fragments nor his servants were recoverable; it is thought that, due to his closeness to time, it is possible that some of the Divine fragments of Tethys were scattered throughout time.
The largest fragment of Tethys was formed into the Angel Zodiark, Keeper of Precepts. In keeping with Tethys' detached nature, Zodiark has no affiliation with the Saints or the Lucavi; instead, he works with the timestream itself, and is known to very rarely whisper words of prophecy to mortals.
It is also thought that Tethys knew, from the very beginning, that the Fracture was coming. Those scholars who were present for the Fracture and were aware of Tethys sometimes believed that the god of time may have arranged for a way around this catastrophe, though there was no proof and prayers to Tethys continued to go unanswered.
Viraxis
Keeper of Secrets, Lady of Runes, Mistress of the Arcane
Greater Deity
Symbol: Winged Scarab
Alignment: Neutral
- Ethos: Blue/Black
Portfolio: Magic, lore, secrets, knowledge, power
Priest Alignments: LN, N, CN, NE
- Priest Ethoi: Blue @ d10, Black @ d6; Red at least two ranks lower than Blue
Priest Domain: Viraxis
Favored Weapon: Dagger
Description
Viraxis takes on the appearance of a bronze-skinned young humanoid, typically human, though with wings along her forearms. Her head is often flanked by a halo, inscribed with various runes in Arcanic. Her light armor is often portrayed as having been made entirely out of ruby mox.
Secretive but power-hungry, Viraxis was not an evil goddess, but her dogma often trended towards the pursuit of knowledge and power: the quote "knowledge is power" is often attributed to the remnants of her beliefs, even in present-day Trinity. She was a significantly active deity, and as the goddess of magic, the majority of her physical form was forged out of ruby mox by the Divine.
Viraxis became especially prevalent as a deity when the Arkeyans began experimenting with magic in the Second Epoch, though prior to that she had been a known - though lesser deity - to the yuan-agans of the First Epoch, though their inability to work magic significantly reduced her influence during that period.
Dogma
Knowledge is power.
Clergy and Churches
What knowledge of Viraxis remains does not include information of this sort.
Rites and Rituals
What knowledge of Viraxis remains does not include information of this sort.
Scions and Shards
Viraxis is known to have been partial to Lucavi, and crafted a number of the first Lucavi in her image. Elidibs, it is known, was among the Lucavi made by her hand.
From the remains of Viraxis' Divine spirit were made two Shards: Vir, whose left eye contains the mox that was Viraxis' left eye; and Axis, whose right hand is crafted from the remains of the mox of Viraxis' right hand. They are, respectively, known as the Eye of Viraxis and the Hand of Viraxis, though these titles have long since lost most of their meaning as these two Shards have found themselves in the service of other Divine entities. However, they do retain these titles, as well as considerable Magic abilities along with them.
The Fracture
Viraxis was among the first of the deities to be slain, having been closest to the point where Lexicon entered the metaphysical plane in which the gods resided.
Legend holds that Lexicon made three cuts to fell Viraxis: the first severed her left hand; the second, gouged out her right eye; and the third finally felled the goddess. It is believed that her hand and eye fell through the planes and landed somewhere in the worlds of Trinity, and though devoid of Divine power, they are completely made out of ruby mox. If there is truth to this tale, then the recovery of one or even both of these items would allow an individual to attain a level of Magical prowess that could rival even the likes of Kotrit Wayveri.
References
- Spell Compendium, Wizards of the Coast
- Anger of Angels, Malhavoc Press
- Book of Exalted Deeds, Wizards of the Coast
- Eberron Campaign Setting, Wizards of the Coast
