Feint Whispers Compiled Campaign Info

Random campaign tid bits for my Feint Whisper players. All common knowledge conscerning Religion, Politics, Geography, etc.

The Northern Pantheon (Part 1)

Telmor the All Father (G) NG
Portfolios: Time and Space, Truth, Perfection, Supreme
Domains: Knowledge, Time, Fate, Good, Healing, Mentalism, Luck,
Favored Weapon: The Learned Fist (Unarmed)
Background: Telmor rose to prominence two millennia ago during the great upheaval of both the heavens and material world that followed the event known in legend as the ‘Great Fall’, supporting the rise of the adventuring group Telmor’s Plume as well as the Som Empire in its heyday. It was he who crafted the Divine Pact that still bonds the gods together in principle if not in practice. Currently he stands as the undisputed leader of Northern Divinity. The God and his clergy take lenient attitude towards their adherents, preferring that they make their own mistakes and find their own way; this is not the case with his close vassal, Lothar.

Lothar (L) LG
Portfolios: War (specifically Righteous Battle), Honor, personal and public Virtue, Adventurers
Domains: Law, Good, War, Healing, Protection
Favored Weapon: Virtue’s Extent (Long Sword)
Background: Born to a barbarian tribe somewhere in remote northeast, Lothar heard Telmor’s call early, the great deity granting a mere boy the power of a paladin. Lothar found himself in the Great Sea during the chaos that erupted after the fall of the giant kingdom and the onset of the Fiend Storm. Along with Vespacious, he held the leadership of Telmor’s Plume, bringing the group to victory over the fiends. Upon his death, he and the rest of the Plumes were revered as deities. When Vespacious and Telmor fell out, creating the great Schism, Lothar stood by his God. Thus former earthly friends are now bitter heavenly foes. Lothar is rigorous in adhering to and enforcing his principles, and this attitude is reflected in those priests and paladins that make up his clergy.

Steffas (L) LN
Portfolios: Magic, Creativity, Adventurers
Domains: Magic, Spell, Illusion, Knowledge, Craft
Favored Weapon: Old Staff (Quarterstaff)
Background: Originally a Somite colonist in the north, Steffas gained legendary power far beyond the bounds of his contemporaries, studying with the archmages of the northern Elvin Empire of Fey’ri. He later joined with Lothar and the Plumes to put to rest the Fiend Storm, giving the Somite Legions the benefit of his arcane expertise, crafting enchanted items to level the magic gap between the warriors of the Som and their enemies. He acts as patron to all Northern magic users, most notably the Arcane Guild. He is a close ally with another former Plume, Aeron, whose followers help fund the arcane crafts.



Aeron (L) N
Portfolios: Trade, Money, Wealth, Adventurers
Domains: Trade, Travel, Craft, Protection, Trickery, Portal
Favored Weapon: Flurry of Coins (nunchaku)
Background: Aeron was born to one of the wealthiest merchant families in his homeland of Policia. Through his cunning, he made it even wealthier, investing in numerous adventuring companies as well making generous loans to those committed to the war against the Fiend menace. Eventually he joined the Plumes in their quests, providing the free coin needed when the company was short. He worked closely with Steffas, providing for his students and making bulk purchases of magical equipment to arm the Legions against outsider foes. Aeron stands as the dedicated patron to those who buy and sell, a small group in the North, where the self-sufficient tiller of the soil in the norm.

Looking Good, can't wait to see stuff for D'or

The Northern Pantheon (Part 2)

Moradin the Dwarffather (I) LG
Portfolios: Dwarves, Metalwork, Stonework, Family, Protection
Domains: Dwarf, Craft, Law, Good, Earth, War, Protection, Family
Favored Weapon: Soulhammer (Warhammer)
Background: Regarded by most humans and dwarves as the creator of Dwarfkind, Moradin allied with Telmor during the time of the Falling and Fiendwars. When the All Father crafted the covenant, Moradin and his clergy were the first to declare it holy law, being attracted by the security it offered to the dwarves against the political chaos which often took hold over the more numerous non-dwarven population. As a result, almost all dwarven nations became allies of the Som Empire, fighting fiends and heretics until its collapse. When the great schism occured, Moradin sided with Telmor, seeing in the south propensity for tyranny a threat to the dwarven ideals of family, efficiency, and ingenuity. Moradin's clergy tends to have a cynical bent, as dwarves all over the lands of Som see themselves in decline owing to barbarian migrations and the rise of tyranny.

Solonon (D) N
Portfolios: Elves, Archers, Scouts, Bowmaking, Mercenaries
Domains: Elf, War, Retribution
Favored Weapon: Flying Death (Longbow)
Background: A mercenary from the northern elven realm of Fey'ri, Solonon found enough work to fill his long years in the Fiend Storm which enveloped the southern Great Sea. It was here that he won renown for both the his peerless archery and the efficiency with which he waged his battles. As his fame rose to such that all in Som and its allied states knew his name, he was hired by Lothar to train the archers in his army as well as make presciosion attacks on faraway enemy camps. He eventually entered the ranks of the Plumes. Like the rest of the legendary adventurers, he ascended to divine status upon his death. In Som his church was formalized, commisioned by the government as a legal alternative for fey worship to the heretical elven gods, who were banished after the Som conquest of Fey'ri. Because of this history and his willingness to submit for proffesional reasons, his worship among elves has been small outside of elven auxillery troops. When the great Schism occured, he sided with Telmor and the Northern Gods; some say it was because Telmor offered him a bow of artifact-level strength, others because he had taken a long-term contract during his life with Lothar which even in the heavens could not be broken.

The D'or

For Jericho only.

The D'or Covenant (G) LN
Portfolios: Law, Infinity, and all ordered aspects of Time and Space.
Domains: All excluding Chaos
Favored Weapon: All (a cleric with the War domain picks one martial weapon)

Background: The D'or ironically found its origins in chaos. As civil strife and invasion by human and orc barbarians broke the peace and unity of the Som Empire, so broke Telmor's Divine Compact, the underpinning of Law within the Imperium. In this environment of general disorder, the temples of the multiplicity of local dieties that peppered the diverse landscape of the Empire were often ransacked by rampaging Warlords and even by the churches of more powerful Gods. Upset at these developments, many of these minor Gods, most of Lawful Alignment, came to the conclusion that the Covenant of Dieties had fallen to corruption. They ordered their clergy to travel beyond Imperial reach. Their destination was the desert realm of Dothkar.

Dothkar was located in the far southeast of the Som continent and maintained a tenuous allegience to the Empire. Its inhabitants were mostly mobile desert tribes who raised cattle and raided on the Som and Part empires to the northwest and northeast respectivly. It was in this context that a young merchant-chief named D'or was given a vision by a collective of dieties. He was tasked by these exiled Gods to create a new Covenant to replace the broken one of the ailing Som empire. Joined by the exiled priests, D'or proceeded to unify the fractious Dothkar and wage holy war against both the Part and Som, conquering the former and severly weakening the southern part of the latter. The D'orite Caliphate was born and held sway over much of the territory of southern Som.

The tenants of the D'orite faith revolve around the concept of the indivisible Law. This is such an important aspect that the D'orite dieties have proclaimed it a sin to give them names. Because with names come temples. And with temples come religious, social, and political division, as what happened in the North. When a cleric prays for spells, he does so from the Covenant, not the individual diety. Another feature of the Faith which reinforces its monolithic identity is the nature of the clergy itself. Neither the Northern or Southern Empires boast as many religious men as in the lands of D'or. This is largly because, unlike in those lands, D'orite clergy do not seperate themselves from society by creating distinct orders with strict entry qualifications, political or otherwise. Anyone who has the wisdom can pray for spells, and is in fact activly encouraged to do so. Clerics are in fact largly apolitical, and often step in to curtail the power of a local Emir or wizard in order to preserve the Divine Rights of his/her community, as layed down by D'or. These large numbers of priests, from a diverse set of backgrounds, help to preserve a balance of power, and thus stability in D'or. The religious head is the Caliph, a man who holds ultimate responsibility for enforcing the Law. While his earthly political power has faded in recent decades, he still remains the ultimate legal authority to be consulted when sultans and emirs seek redress.

The Southern Pantheon (Part 1)

Vespacious (G) LN
Portfolios: Imperial Law, the State, Aristocracy, Adventurers, War
Domains: Law, War, Tyranny, Planning, Nobility, Retribution, Strength
Favored Weapon: Swift Justice (Shortsword)

Background: Born to a noble house in the city of Som, Vespacious advocated an aggressive stance in Som's participation in the Fiendwars, entering the ranks of that city's military early and rising to the status of Legionary Commander. It was during this time that he meet the southern princeling Lothar, the armies of each campaigning together. Amongst his other achievements, Vespecious cofounded the legendary adventuring party known as the Plumes. After the war, as the other Plumes seperated and slowly faded to death to rise as dieties, the ambitious Vespacious was grounding his worldly power, using his prestige from the Fiendstorm to become Emporer of a conquest-minded Som. Conquering many surrounding lands, including the Northern Elves of Fey'ri, Vespacious made Telmor's Heavenly Compact an earthly reality, integrating the churches of all complient dieties into the larger Imperial system, forcing their Patriarchs to move to Som's temple district. But even a man who could accomplish this would eventually see his end, dying on a campaign versus the Part Empire in the South. He was imediatly proclaimed a diety. As the Empire's hold over the world grew greater, so did the Church of Vespacious, leading to both he and his worshipers challenging Telmor in the minds of the Empire's subjects. Both clergy and dieties eventually saw each other as challenges, Telmor seeing in Vespacious the rise of Tyranny and arrogance over virtue and the Commander seeing in Telmor's willingness to accept everyone a threat to public order. Thus was the Schism born.

The Church of Vespacious is most heavily concentrated in the Southern Empire, when an active and cohesive descendent government of Som still exists. There is no line between Church and State here, an Emporer's prestige being inexorably linked to the welfare of this Faith. But a less formal clergy can also be found in the north, often patroned by noble houses (including the Northern Emporer) many of whom see themselves as current embodiment of Vespacious' civilized warrior.

Southern Pantheon, Part II

Policious (I) LN
Portfolios: Cities and Community, Magic and knowledge.
Domains: Law, Craft, Trade, Community, Protection, Knowledge, Magic
Favored Weapon:Sting of Complience (Whip)

Background: As the different peoples that now populate the world recovered from their chaotic migrations and strife, local tribal gods instead became associated with the spirit of the walled city. These were many and scattershot. But as the land that would one day be known as Policia became more urbanized, city-dwellers began to see the commonality in cosmopolitan culture and virtue; the wisdom and civilization that came with close human interaction. A central power became associated with this lifestyle, Policious. When the Some Empire began began its conquests, the empire saw the virtue in encouraging the formation of colonies and local communal centers in order to more easily control the local population. The worship of Policious was brought with this administration. The era also served to tie the faith of Vespacious with that of Policious, as both city and empire acted to reinforce each other. Policious acts as Vespacious' righ-hand man, maintaining stability amongst his heavenly legions and earthly servants as the Emporer God plans future victories. A clergy man of Policious can be found in every Sommite city, north or south. In the South, these priests hold greater power, seeing to local administration, settling petty disputes, etc. The chaos that gripped the North ensured that the city would see a decline, along with Policious' worship, though a stability returns, the culture of the town is being revived.

A note on neutral gods.

The three sets of pantheons set out above are not wholly antithetical to each other. This is especioually true between the North and South, where a battles of dominance are still waged between different clergy. Likewise, there is much overlap worship of certain gods who never took part in the Schisms. Even the D'orites take holy power from these dieties without specically naming them and with no distinct formal clergy.

Brief Summary:

Elemental Lords (I) N: Four distant dieties with scant formal clerical organization, they represent the purity of natural forms, but are highly apathetic to most living things, sentient or not.

The Scriber (L) CG: Diety of poetry, the past, and adventurers, he records the ongoing deeds and general history of the Material Plane. He is said to have made several appearances at key moments in time, most notably the Fiend Storm, where he recorded the doings of the Plumes. It is said that he read of their exploits to a collective of gods, who all unanimously offered their endorsement for ascensioun to the adventurers. His small clergy also claims that he drafted the Compact for Telmor and, upset at its neglect, now travels back and forth between Telmor and Vespacious, arguing for them to make peace.

Osiriset (G) NE: The Laughing God of Death. Whenever someone dies, it is said they hear a cackle, for the diety is happy to have another subject, however briefly (explained later). His clergy is everywhere, responsible for seeing to the dead and, more controversially, preserving knowledge of the past through examination of the flesh. There lawful clergy is largly apolitical, though it is rumored that darker rights and cults lurk elsewhere.

All good stuff Carl, keep it up

The Old/Heretical Gods

These are dieties who are well known, but whose worship is considered heretical by all three major sects because they are not members of the Divine Compact. They are commonly associated with the 'old', decadent world of magic that preceeded civilization as it is known. Their worship and power was wiped off the world when humanoids crusaded against their followers magical followers, mainly fey and giants. Cults to these dieties are thought to exist, but PCs will generaly not know much about them (without a Knowledge(Religion) check) beyond the most general cliches. Even the divine ranking of these Gods is unknown.

Brief Summary:

The Earth Mother: Known generally as a good diety, acknowlegment of this diety is not considered a sin, though she cannot be directly worshiped, and in fact, is not known to grant spells to any type of organized clergy. Instead, it is said that thanks for her blessing should be redirected to Telmor, her protector. She is thought to be very old, the embodiment of the Earth itself. It is said that she still holds court over the remaining fey, wherever they may be.

The Moon Goddess: A god of Chaos and raw, animalistic instinct, her worship is still practiced by isolated villages within civilization as well as the nomadic tribes of the Horselands. These cults convene at night, and pray to (not surprisingly) the moon, thought to be her visible manifestation. Any aknowledgement of her is considered a sin by all the earthly compacts, but especially the D'orites, who see her and her worshipers as a destabalizing force. Both she and her sister, the Sun, were once worshiped by people of the Part Empire as one, and given that the D'orite lands now encompass that empire.

The Sun Goddess: The Lawful twin of the moon, both she and her sister are the suppossed children of the Earth. While her sister's worship is geographically widespread, the Sun's adherents tend to be isolated in a few locations, notably D'or, because the followers are not inclined to migration. She is known as the Mistress of the Forests, because the world's plants are thought to be under her care. Considered less blasphemous than her sister, she is still cursed by the desert stricked citizens of D'or.

Grummsh: A relatively new diety, he is the barbaric patron of the orcs, who migrated from the distant folds of the Horselands only a few centuries ago. While many orcs have been integrated into the worship of one of the Three Compacts, the most savage and isolated still hold to Grummsh as their key to triumph and exploration.