| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| The Cardinal |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 00:37:47
Greetings my fellows.
I have a question about Zakhara, and that is concerning the faith of it's inhabitants. Now Faerun is run by the Faerunian gods, Mulhorandi, by the Mulhorandi ones. Kura-Tur by the Cestial Council (or Somesuch, I cannot recall the right name for it), Maztica by ???? (Maztica gods yes but for myself they are still unknown). I remember hearing that Zakhara is run by some sort of fate or something... Any clues or parcels of wisdom on this?
Thank Thee.
Cardinal Deimos |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| The Sage |
Posted - 09 May 2004 : 15:11:52
Here's a little more -
[Again the content has been copied as is]
The Great Gods:
Hajama the Courageous, regardless of the realm, has a mosque, fortress, or shrine of deep and featureless black, as dark as the night sky.
Hakiyah of the Sea Breezes has a windswept seaport in Lunia. In Bytopia her shrines are bright and shining, casting a harsh light on the sands and guarded by stern asuras.
Haku, Master of the Desert Wind, is the god of personal independence. As such, he has cast down his holdings in the Ethical and Moral Heavens; those of his faithful who live there dwell in the holdings of his brother (or sister), Najm. In Bytopia, shrines of Haku welcome travelers and provide them with help in inverse proportion to what they've already provided themselves. There are also many shrines to Haku in wild Shurrock and throughout the Great Ring.
Jauhar the Gemmed lives in a sumptuous palace filled with dancers and running water. The inhabitants of her domain are incredibly hard working and stalwart, and also very wealthy. Her realms often contain great bazaars and marketplaces, and fields rich with grain.
Jisan of the Floods is the goddess of fertility, worshipped in places where Jauhar is not. Perhaps her largest mosque is in the Marketplace Eternal in the Outlands, where she prevents Jauhar the Gemmed from gaining a toehold. Her followers also value hard work, but put more emphasis on careful preparation. Her mosques are always shrouded with clouds, and there is one on the Elemental Plane of Air. Her port city in Lunia brings the fruits of her fields by secret ways to the River Oceanus and beyond.
Kor the Venerable's mosques are great and ponderous and ancient, except in the Pragmatic Realm, where they tend to be makeshift and experimental, though the knowledge gained from such experiments is put to good use in future versions of the sites.
Najm the Adventurous has mosques in the heavens that are wealthy from the adventuring spoils of his worshippers. They are usually somewhat rough and ready, though some are extremely ancient. His petitioners and celestials are always pouring in and out on their way to and from distant lands.
Selan the Beautiful Moon is probably the same as Selune, and thus has a realm in Ysgard. Her domains elsewhere are similar, shrouded in moonlight and containing landings for the Infinite Staircase.
Zann the Learned watches over celestial universities and libraries. The greatest of these is said to be in a hidden realm in Arcadia, though no outsider has ever been permitted to see it. Some few claim that his Pragmatic library is instead the greater, since visiting scholars have contributed great and varied knowledge. More conservative Zannites dismiss this idea, since visitors would only be able to provide common texts.
Local Gods:
Bala of the Tidings keeps realms filled with music, either light ballads or solemn dirges for the oppressors they must slay.
Vataqatal the Warrior-Slave keeps blood-red mosques, often in the realms of other powers who Vataqatal serves.
Wild Gods:
The Beast is the same as Malar, and lives in Carceri.
The Faceless God lives in the Elemental Plane of Earth, in a hidden mountainous realm scorched by ancient negative energies. Probably.
Most other gods live on the Prime Material Plane.
Other Planes:
I've described the three main places I think the realms of the gods would be, but there's no reason they couldn't be anywhere.
The Abyss - in the Abyss, sometimes powerful demons will dedicate their domains to a god of Zakhara, especially gods like Hajama and Najm. These will resemble their realms on the upper planes, but they are completely staffed with demons instead of celestials. Petitioners are treated carelessly, and are often destroyed by the more powerful denizens of the realm, but such is the risk of worshipping a god in its chaotic evil aspect.
Too often, Zakharans will worship demons directly and skip gods entirely. This is considered blasphemous by all but the most liberal faiths, but it happens, and demon cults have their Moralist, Pragmatic, and Ethoist factions just the same as any other faith. Moralist demon-worshippers are extremely self-righteous and fanatical, while Pragmatists are more cynical, in it only for the power.
Many demon lords seek to destroy the gods. Some were once gods themselves.
Carceri - here are the remains of forbidden and banished sects that have been overthrown for their corruption and betrayals. All of the gods have such sects, and in Carceri they eternally plot and scheme to regain their previous status.
The Gray Waste - Niflheim is the land of the forgotten dead, the shades despised by their descendents and wiped from their memories. Grim spectres watch over them, entrusted in this task by gods who would rather not have anything to do with such pathetic souls.
Oinos is more dynamic, and cults of disease - corrupt versions of the gods of fertility and the wind - flourish. If there are yugoloth cultists, they are secret.
Pluton is the home of the accursed and doomed heroes who brought the wrath of all the gods on themselves through their hubris. They will never be forgotten, but they will never see the rewards of Elysium either.
Baator - the Nine Hells are the domain of Iblis, once a lord of the genies (or a celestial, according to some), and now a lord of darkness. Hell is a place of fire, ice, and darkness. Its inhabitants - devils, evil genies, giants, ghuls, sphinxes, and more - are the enemies of the gods, but also sometimes entrusted by them to punish.
Acheron - the most extreme and hate-filled of the Moralist faiths end up here, where their battle for supremacy never ends. These Moralists sometimes end up temporarily allying themselves with foreigners in order to destroy their Moralist enemies.
The Inner Planes - many of the genies are Enlightened. The Caliph of the djinn considers himself to be a successor of the Loregiver just as his counterpart Caliph Khalil is on the Material Plane (but moreso). The gods answer genie prayers, but they seem more preoccupied with mortals, something that led to Iblis' original rebellion.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 09 May 2004 : 15:08:31
Cardinal, I've found a little more regarding the faith of Zakhara. It's from my older archives, which were entries from an even older Mailing List (I'm not sure which) -
[Special note: I have edited the following content, only removing several terms which I felt where inappropriate for a community forum such as this  . Everything else has been copied as is]
It seems to me, considering Zahkara magic, and reverence of the Genies, they would be well versed on the inner planes, and the ideal of it would fit as shown within the text of Planewalkers Handbook. As for the Outer planes, my bet is they are ignorant mostly on the dark of it all. In their scheme of enlightened and unelightened, the enlightened travel to the positive material plane and become apart of the force which creates all life... the unenlighten are doomed to the negative material plane, for an eturnal suffering in oblivion.
I agree with a home turf for all gods, but only the five gods of the Pantheon, A realm called Oasis, located in the link between prime and inner plane, the ethereal. As for the other gods, they do visit the court, but don't live there... the savage gods would be unwelcomed, the cold elemental gods... perhapse since they are the source of all magic.
Greater Gods:
Hajama the Courageous--- Pantheon
Ethos: Bravery wins out over opposition.
Hakiyah of the Sea Breezes
EThos: Thruth will always win out.
Plane: Oceana, 1st plane of Mt. Olympus.
Haku, Master of the Desert Winds
Ethos: A man and a woman must be free to be considered alive.
Plane: A desert/ oasis in Aborea
Jauhar the Gemmed--- Pantheon
Ethos: Money changes everything
Jisan of the Floods
Ethos: Hard work bring abundance
Plane: The Demi-plane of Storms
Kor the Venerable--- Pantheon
Ethos: With age comes wisdom and with wisdom comes strength.
Najm the Adventurous--- Pantheon
Ethos: Make the unknown known
Selan the beautiful Moon--- Pantheon
Ethos:There is beauty in everthing
Zann the learned
Ethos: Understanding is the key to all doors
Plane: mechanus
Local Gods:
Bala of the Tidings
Ethos: Song lifts the spirit to goodness
Plane: Carceri... remember, Bala was banished and the power was deminished... being in the prison plane could explane that, plus add the element of a safe haven in Carceri.
Kahins (no actual god)
Ethos: Divinity is found in all things
Plane: The whole Multiverse
Temple of Ten Thousand gods
Ethos: All Deities are facets of the same divine force.
Plane.... hard one to call
Vataqata the Warrior-Slave
Ethos: Growth by Conflict
Plane: Asgard
Savage Gods:
Depending on the god, but mostly abyssal or beastlands.
Gods of the Crowded Sea
All are prime gods.
Wild gods:
The beast: A facet of Malar perhapse
Faceless God: Could be an abysal lord... perhapse Baphomet or Kotskichieski (sp?)
Cold Gods of the Elements
Normal elemntal gods, Kossoth etc, on the plane which represents their element.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:52:58
Hmmm...you are right about that. Although, I could have sworn the Realms dwarven pantheon was known by a different, more formal title. That is, at least according to On Hallowed Ground. I'll have to check, since it could be another example of the 2e-to-3e changeover.
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| Arivia |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:47:51
And there's the Morndinsamman... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:42:40
Indeed  .
Of course, there is the 'Dark Seldarine' composed of the deities of the Drow, although I've never been comfortable with that distinction. And, depending upon the edition (and whether you're limiting this discussion to purely human deities), several other demi-human and monstrous pantheons have also been listed in some sources, like the 2e Monster Mythology for example.
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| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:36:40
Except "Maztican" of course.  As far as I know, the Celestial Bureaucracy and the Seldarine are the only ones with particular names. Of course, considering the few resources I have, I suppose you could correct me on that. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:19:31
Cardinal, the Maztican pantheon is covered in detail in the Maztican boxed set. Their planar cosmology is essentially the same as the Faerunian pantheon, only the planes and deities have the obvious Maztican flavoring. My search through the boxed set, revealed no name for the pantheon of Maztican gods as a whole.
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| The Cardinal |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:16:37
Ah many thanks, Friends... So the search for a loop hole in Kelemvor's power continues... Bloody Deities... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:11:53
Cardinal, this may help -
quote:
Religion is a way of life among people in the Land of Fate. If it seems that the codes of conduct described so far are pursued religiously, it's because they are. Honor is also a matter of piety, of behaving in the manner deemed good and right by those who rule the heavens, those who will determine whether you are worthy of finding paradise in the after life. A dishonorable man, it is said, is never worthy of this great reward.
Zakharans accept people whose religions are different. In fact, there are a great variety of faiths throughout the Land of Fate. Yet Zakharans find it exceedingly difficult to accept anyone who does not believe in and pay homage to some higher power. To believe in other gods may seem strange, but it is not a sin. The sin is believing in nothing.
Major gods, recognized throughout Zakhara, include Old Kor, Learned Zann, Brave Hajama, Najm the Adventurous, Selan the Beautiful Moon, Jisan of the Floods, and Haku of the Desert Winds, and Hakiyah of the Sea Breezes. None of these gods has a precise portfolio. Instead, each shows strength in a particular ideal or element, wisdom, knowledge, bravery, courage, beauty, bounty, freedom, and honesty.
Zakharan deities also include a plethora of lesser gods, local gods and demigods. Such minor deities may be venerated in one small area, while they are unknown just ten miles away. All gods, major and minor, answer their worshippers' needs with equal ability.
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| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 30 Apr 2004 : 07:06:40
According to page three of Faiths & Avatars, Zakhara has it's own pantheon. What it is, of course, isn't in the book. |
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