[sblock=Hinotheus: Common Knowledge in Venza] Hinotheus, The Flame Wolf, The Hunter of Darkness: Depicted as a large wolf made of flames, Hinotheus' origins have legends, one told by the population of Venza and the other by the halflings. First the one of Venza:
Dessano, bound by Akutu and knowing he could no longer serve as the protector that Venza needed, inspired his sons: Sapo and Farino formed a hound of cold iron. During its creation Sapo unintentionally cut his hand and divine blood mixed into the iron igniting it yet not consuming it in the divine fire that engulfed it. The two gifted the hound to Cortesia to serve as her guardian for the city. The hound, Hinotheus, born of blood and fire and metal from the soil upon which Venza is built is the spirit and protector of the city even more than Cortesia, its patron goddess, because Hinotheus walked the streets of the city protecting her poor and downtrodden while the gods were occupied with weightier matters. In time, Venza’s poorest citizens began worshiping Hinotheus as a god; his first temple is in Ranocchio district.
[sblock=DC10 religion check]And now Hinotheus' origins as the halfling tell it:
When the halflings came to their new home and built the beginnings of the city to come they discovered the land was already inhabited by an elusive spirit that manifested itself as a floating globe of fire. Attempts to communicate with the being failed and so they beseached their gods to aid them. Issolatha was newly lost in her madness and so Tanager intervened because he had come to care for the halflings he had been persuaded to protect. Tanager directed Elfiris to create a body from the earth and ignite it using the weapons he created for the Stormlords. The fiery wolf attracted the attention of the spirit and it inhabited the body to speak with Tanager. Tanager discovered it was a god of the halfling’s new land, aimlessly drifting about the home of its long dead worshipers. The two came to make a pact: the halfling became its new people and the being, Hinotheus, would become their protector.[/sblock]
The clergy of Hinotheus act as self-appointed protectors in Venza, specifically in the planks. They see protecting the people of Rannachio as their sacred duty, as such their reputation reflects on which side you find yourself, honest citizens praise them while dubbious one curses them [/sblock]
) [/sblock]
