Gods and Goddesses of Icengale

The Divine Congregation is comprised of a total of 44 gods and goddesses, though once they numbered 45. The Goddess Sarantha stands alone, She Who Shall Not Be Named was cast out, and of the remaining 43 Gods and Goddesses 11 are collectively known as the Mainen and the remaining 32 are known as the Alarin.

When the world was created there was one true Goddess, Sarantha, the Mother of the World. It was she who created the world out of the body of Alarthen, an ancient, gargantuan red dragon whom she slew in personal combat. The dragon's heart became the sun and its body the world. Alarthen's green eyes became the twin moons Gainem and Nirvea, and his scales the multitude of stars. Flesh became the world, blood the waters, and bones the trees and plants of the world. The dragon's brains became the clouds, and the teeth, planted in the dragon's own flesh, sprouted forth as all the living creatures of the world.

First among those that sprang forth were the Sarai, the First Ones, who in the vulgar languages of those who followed were known as Lizardmen. As later life forms, both intelligent and animal, sprouted forth from the soil, lesser divine powers were drawn towards the newly formed world of Alaris. None of these lesser deities had much power, but they were content for they had lives and aspects of the world to watch over. As the power of the Sarai grew, however, the Alarin became jealous, for the power of Sarantha grew but theirs remained the same for the Sarai ruled all and the lesser races grew but slowly. They Alrarin, however, were unable to do anything about it for even if the combined all of their powers together they were no match for Sarantha.

Eventually the power of the Sarai reached its zenith and in their prosperity they stagnated. And with the stagnation of their power so, too, did the power of Sarantha stagnate. She, too, became complacent in the achievements of her children. Together, Mother and Children failed to notice the lesser races as they started to grow and change and as they grew the power of the Alarin grew with them. First to rebel were the Children, and first among the children were the stunted ones known as Dwarves. Quickly other intelligent races, elves, orcs, humans, and all of the others, started to rebel. At first this rebellion was merely an expansion of their numbers, but as those numbers grew they came into conflict with the Sarai. The Sarai, secure in their belief of dominance, easily defended themselves, but they lacked the ability to change. The Children of the Alarin, however, were quick to change and adapt to the world around them and soon they started to evict the Sarai from lands that for millennium they had called home.

Their power bolstered by the growing strength of their Children, some of the Alarin revolted against Sarantha. A few chose to remain neutral, hoping that Sarantha would willingly embrace the newfound powers of the Alarin, and others remain loyal to Sarantha. The Divine Rebellion saw the world forever changed, both figuratively and literally. Those who rebelled were victorious, but not completely. The world itself was physically altered by the war, making it a place inhospitable for cold blooded creatures. Sarantha, however, protected her children. She expended much of her power to protect them from the new changes visited upon their world. Their blood grew warm, their scales thickened, and they were able to endure the cold. This protection was granted to all of her children, both high and low.

The end result is a world literally divided in two. The equator of the world was raised up as a barrier and was surmounted by a glacier of immense size. The North is overseen by those sixteen who remained loyal to Sarantha and the South is overseen by the sixteen who succeeded in rebelling against the Mother of the World. Those who remained neutral, now known as the Mainen, numbered eleven in number and they are venerated by folk from both halves of the world. While in their true forms the Mainen and the Alarin are without sex, for the sake of their children they take on forms both Male and Female.

When the Rebellion divided the world, it divided the powers of the Deities. Each of the Alarin had to expand their powers to "fill in the gap" left by their brethren who now protected the other side of the world. With this expansion of power they also polarized their sexual representation. For example, in the North the Deity representing agriculture is personified as a God. His opposite in the South is the Goddess of vegetation. Each of the two sub-pantheons is comprised of eight Gods and eight Goddesses. The Mainen are also equally divided, consisting of six Gods and five Goddesses.

While the Mainen have one true form, in various parts of the world some of their worshippers pay homage to one specific aspect of their Deity. For example, some sailors who worship of the God of Ice pray to his aspect of icebergs, seeking his protection from said icebergs. Another example is that of the worshippers of the Goddess of Fire who live near volcanoes. They may only worship her aspect of lava.

There once was a twelfth Mainen, Meganna, the Goddess of Insanity. Her influence was deemed a corruption and a threat to not only the Children of the world but also the Gods and Goddesses themselves. Shortly after the Divine Rebellion her power grew immensely as the rest of the Mainen and the Alarin sought to stabilize the world. Her power grew to the point where it exceeded that of all of the other Mainen combined. Despite the lingering animosity of the recent rebellion, all of the Gods and Goddesses, Mainen, Alarin, and even Sarantha herself, briefly united to strip Meganna of her powers and cast her out of the world and the Blessed Realm above. Though she herself is vanished from the world the effects of her corruption still linger upon the world. As a testament to her power the other Deities have never been able to completely eradicate insanity from their Children.

The Alarin are thus aligned,

Within the Pantheon of Icengale the Mainen are Greater Deities while the Alarin are Lesser Deities. Sarantha is also a Lesser Deity. Despite her diminished powers Sarantha still has the largest number of worshippers out of any of the Divine Congregation.

The Gods and Goddesses of Icengale are for the most part perceived differently by the various races. For example, in his natural form Vainen appears as an old human male and this is how he appears to humans. But to a dwarf Vainen appears as a venerable dwarf and as a halfling to his halfling worshippers. This perception also applies to sub-races. An asian human would perceive Vainen as a male with asian characteristics, but to the tall barbarians of the Norfinn Expanse he would appear as a tall, elderly barbarian. Some Deities, however, do not appear naturally as humans and these Deities appear as their true selves to all of their worshippers. Tirdin, the God of Water, for example, appears as a sea-elf in his natural form. All who worship him worship him in this form, that of a sea elf.

The Deities of Icengale all reside on the Demi-plane of Morycia, a plane that can only be accessed by those who reside on the planet of Icengale. Morycia is not infinite as most planes, but its size is immense and extremely daunting to mere mortals. It is a realm that is frozen in the North and tropical in the South. The lands between contain all manner of terrain, from arctic tundra to vast forests to deserts to giant mountain ranges, and more. The plane is also home to vast cities, isolated villages, and the souls of all who have lived and died upon the world of Icengale. Every God and Goddess controls a vast realm where their loyal worshippers are rewarded by an eternal life befitting the wishes of their followers. Those who are punished, are either given as slaves to those loyal worshippers or are cast out, either to drift aimlessly through the astral plane or sent to the depths of the Abyss.

Unless otherwise specified there are no restrictions on sex or race for Priests and Priestesses of Icengale. If a priest or specialty priest has access to any spell that they would not normally be able to cast as one of their powers then that spell must be prayed for and takes up one of the priest's allotted spells, unless specified as a bonus. In that case the spell still must be prayed for but is treated as a bonus spell above and beyond their regular number of allotted spells.