The Pantheon of Ten'Drotha
Out of the Void, the Gods of Ten'Drotha formed to restore balance to the Universe that was imprisoned and in danger of being completely devoured by the Old Gods. The Gods united, defeated the Old Gods and imprisoned the ones that couldn't be defeated.
The Nature of Divinity
There is no clear and distinct barrier between the Gods of Ten'Drotha and the mortals who live on Ten'Drotha. The Gods tend to be more powerful than most mortal creatures (including spellcasters), but there may be some very high level spellcasters who are mightier than a specific lesser deity. The Gods are mainly incorporeal beings, but some deities may have a physical form. They are able to manifest on specific planes to interact directly with one another. They are immortal in a sense that they can’t die merely from old age and they are resistant to sickness and injury.
However, immortality does not equal invulnerability, both literally and figuratively. Some deities may be vulnerable to luxury food, a good story, social interaction or specific objects (e. g. from another god) that may damage them. Specific objects may be able to imprison or restrain them.
The Importance of Balance
The Gods have the potential to be extremely powerful, depending on the spark - the representation of power - that represents their significant domain. The more people worship a specific God, the more influence a God gets.
Their spark grows through influence. In the extreme, this can get out of hand quickly. However: Ten'Drotha is about balance. The Gods are fully aware of the danger that too much power brings with it: The Gods themselves manifested out of the Void in order to defeat the Old Gods, because they became too powerful.
Still, the Gods have got their connection to the world of Ten'Drotha, can lend their power to clerics and paladins and are able to cultivate farmlands, create storms and life.
They are very aware of lesser deities or immortal champions who want to become a God and monitor their advancement to maintain balance.
Divine Dwellings
As the Gods are mainly incorporeal beings or sparks, they to not have their own planes of existence and are omnipresent. However, they can interact with lesser deities or even mortals through their worshipers or directly through visions and/or manifestations of nature and/or objects (speak through an animal, an object, etc.). However, there are other planes on which they may take on a physical form and can directly be interacted with.
Godly quirks
The Gods all have their "guilty pleasures". They see the joy and passion that mortals have and hunger for similar things: One of them enjoys sweets and pastries, another enjoys theater and art, another enjoys social interactions and games, while another enjoys love and passion.
The Old Gods
The Old Gods are mighty entities or beings of incomprehensible power that thrive from chaos, anarchy, death and despair. They are parasitic, eldritch horrors that feast on energies of planes and mortals. They grow like cancers within the worlds or planes they visit. They roamed across the cosmos and ruled the Void of the Universe for a long time. Although they are not in charge now, their corruption and their presence can still be seen in the different planes of the Universe. Their nature is ceaseless hunger, so they traveled between planes devouring the life energy until the plane’s destruction.
They have a special taste for hatred, despair, fear, anger and lust. To this day, they have worshipers throughout the planes who try to awaken or free them.
The Gods
The Gods are cosmic beings, consisting of divine energy and the primordial matter from which the universe came into existence. Imbued with the raw power of creation itself, the Gods used their force to find and awaken others of their kind. Together they defeated the Old Gods and shaped and brought life and order to countless worlds. The powers of the deities vary, depending on their respective domain. They gain their power and influence through the people worshiping them and spreading the God’s influence. In return, the Gods offer knowledge and power to divine spellcasters.
Idses, Justice and Protection
Worshiped by judges, clerics, smiths, guards and paladins, Idses is the God of Protection and Justice, but also of Light, Strength and Healing. He is known as the Shining One and the most dominant of all the Gods. He has an affinity for wine and is sometimes depicted as arrogant.
Dhutris, God of Fertility and Life
As the Goddess of Fertility and Life, she is worshiped by farmers, the common folk, travelers and artists. Her guilty pleasure involves a good story and she is often depicted as a naked nymph.
Xydon, Beauty and Love
Worshiped by artists, teachers, artisans and some common folk, Xydon is the God of Beauty and Love. His quirk or guilty pleasure involves a good horror theme or story. He enjoys the emotion of fear mortals sometimes experience.
Narphin, God of Art and Knowledge
Narphin enjoys poetry, is easy to distract and worshiped by teachers, smiths, wizards and sorcerers. Narphin is the God of Art, Knowledge, the Arcane and Magic. She is often depicted as a book.
Tedohr, God of War and Destruction
War and Destruction are the main domains of Tedohr, so is mainly worshiped by soldiers, and knights, but smiths will also see him as a noble God. His guilty pleasures are pastries and everything sweet.
Qikean, God of Death and Fate
Qikean or Queen of Shadows as she is often referred to, is the Goddess of Death, Fate and Doom. She is worshiped by thieves and assassins, but also by some knights. She may even have paladins worship her because of the believe in fate. Her guilty pleasure is mortal love and romance.
Dhaarin, God of Trickery and Lies
As the God of lies, tricks, foolishness, but also fun, entertainment and laughter, Dhaarin is worshiped by thieves, rogues and bards.
He also stands for freedom and traveling but also trading and bargaining. His guilty pleasure involves collections of shiny things.
The Nature Gods
These gods are the manifestations of Ten'Drotha itself: of life, nature and the wild. They may be encountered on Ten'Drotha through different animals or plants and may communicate to druids or rangers, but their spirits are anchored in the Void.
Sasmis, God of Nature and Wilderness
Sasmis is worshiped by druids, rangers, some barbarians farmers, because she represents wild creatures, plants, life and wilderness.
Undon, God of Sea and Storms
Between the calm sea, thunder cracks and lightning strikes, Undon is worshiped by soldiers, sailors, warriors and fighters. His guilty pleasure revolves around a good book and fireplaces.
Ziarin, God of Earth and Seasons
As God of the Seasons, of Earth, but also of Time, Ziarin is worshiped by many people who can't really decide to worship other gods, because Earth, Seasons and Time are aspects that can't be ignored by many. His guilty pleasure revolves around good music of bards.
Alliances and Diplomacy
From time to time, the Gods form alliances. This becomes necessary, if they think one of the other Gods becomes too powerful. Besides that, some Gods may even have romantic relationships with each other.
However, they maintain some kind of love/hate relationship towards each other. It all depends on the power each deity enjoys. If one becomes too powerful, some other deities may join forces in order to reduce that power. For example, if Dhutris, the God of Life and Fertility becomes too strong, the Tedohr and Qikean may join forces and extend their influence. War may break out to reduce the amount of life on Ten'Drotha.
Ascension to Godhood
It is possible to join the ranks of the Gods. First and foremost, the other deities check whether the new God already has too many followers or believers which may distort the balance. Secondly, they check whether they bring something to the table that they enjoy or isn't covered by the domain of one of the other deities.
They have to add something to the ranks of the Gods, e. g. a specific form of entertainment or speciality of lust or passion, etc.
Depending on the quirks of the greater Deities, this may vary. The power or might of the Lesser Deities is not as important for the application process, as it is clear, that lesser deities have greater power compared to mortals.
Interaction with Mortals and Worshiping
The Gods participate in mortal affairs. However, communication is mainly persuaded through people of the clergy, clerics and paladins. The Nature Gods are in touch with Rangers and Druids from time to time. Actually, all the Gods have to observe their respective other and the power of the others in order to maintain balance.
Appearing within arms reach of a God is not something that happens often. A physical touch is allowed by the God rather than done by humans. However, Gods may appear or talk to humans through visions or manifestations (objects or animals). If mortals are able to travel to specific planes, the Gods may even manifest in some form to ineract directly with mortals.
On the one hand, the Gods enjoy an extension of their power. However, as they are aware of the balance aspect, they make sure to not be too powerful. Still, some of them enjoy the deeds of the mortals (clerics, paladins, warlocks, etc).
Occasionally, the Gods strike bargains with mortals to reshape reality or maintain balance of power. It may occur that mortals fulfill a contract from their God, may kill another Lesser God/Demigod or prepare an Intervention of a God to form an alliance with another god (War and death to reduce the amount of fertility, for example).
Lesser Deities
These entities have more power than many humans and are usually high level spellcasters, e.g. clerics and/or paladins. Some of them may have occasionally played important roles in the world’s history. However, in contrast to gods, they have never been the center of worship, but there may exist rumors and legends about them.
Lesser Deities or Demigods may change portions of reality, can bring themselves into other physical forms (e. g. shapeshifting) or may call upon an intervention of their respective god to change a recent course of action. On the evil side, Lesser Deities of the Old Gods may summon demons or feints.
Lesser Deities are very rare, as they are on the glimpse of becoming a God themselves, the other gods make sure that the number is limited to maintain balance.
Magic
Arcane magic comes from another source on Ten'Drotha, namely from crystals that form throughout the plane. There are spells, however, that can't be cast without divine support (Beacon of Hope, Cure Wounds, etc.) or without support of the Nature Gods (Goodberry, Wild Shape, etc.). These crystals were created by Narphin, because he once tried to overthrow Idses with the help of mortals and Lesser Deities who used arcane magic instead of divine magic.
The Gods themselves use divine magic to bring their realm of power to the planes (fertility, war, death, etc.). The greater deities grant their worshipers and followers special magic, but they have to make sure to maintain balance, because otherwise the other deities might join forces to overthrow them.
Atheism and Agnosticism
Usually people lose their faith in their respective God due to the intervention of another God. For example, a farmer who prayed day and night for their crops to grow may lose his/her faith if Qikean or Tedohr crippled their home, land, family or harvest. Usually, these mortals don't have an explanation for the mayhem that happened to them, despite worshiping their God. Little do these mortals know, that this is a consequence in order to maintain balance and in order to protect the plane from a much more sinister problem: The Old Gods.
The faithful people may have a better understanding of the underlying problem of existence that the Gods try to work around. They don't want the mortals to know the horrors that may come upon them through the Old Gods. Although there are mortals who remain faithful and serve and worship their own Gods, some of them are quite skeptic of the concept of "balance". Some of them have critical thinking skills and think that the concept of "balance" may be a excuse for almost everything. On the other hand, there are some fanatics that try to give their own God more power and try to convert as many other people and even atheists or agnostics to join their own God.