Sometimes Usumu weeps, and the skies darken and the rains pour. Sometimes she smiles and the clouds part. Sometimes she laughs and the ground trembles and shakes. Her moods are mercurial, her temperament unpredictable. Our lives are shaped by her whims, by her great forces that surround us.—Excerpt from writings by an unknown Meklovian author
Usumu (pronounced ooh-SOO-moo) is a pantheonic goddess commonly associated with nature, weather, air, and water.
Aserdian pantheon
Auva (pronounced OW-vah) is a goddess of the natural world. In the Aserdian pantheon, Auva is seen as benevolent yet prone to outbursts. Though largely a passive deity, she takes a very active role in the defense of nature - animals that fight back against those that get too close to their nests or young are seen as acting out Auva's will. Thorns, poisons, tusks, claws, and other means by which nature can defend itself are thought to be gifted by the goddess.
Her clergy can be found both in dense urbanized regions and in places that are extremely sparsely inhabited. In cities her clergy ensures that the natural world maintains a presence and is never forgotten, while in wild lands they seek to commune with their goddess as directly as possible. Her followers often leave inscriptions in her name on dead trees or prominent rock outcroppings, prayers for passing animals to see.
Auva is typically depicted in a giant anthropomorphized form, usually as a figure made of stone or air emerging from a mountainside or cloud bank respectively. Her holy animal is an okapi.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources, harm a creature that is protecting its children
Chaskan pantheon
Usumu (pronounced ooh-SOO-moo) is the goddess of nature, weather, air, and water, seen as the protector of the seas and forests in particular.
Usumu is carried by the winds and the waves to every corner of Kishar. Her influence is almost inescapable. And yet, the ongoing events of the world do not interest her much, even as she indirectly shapes them - the processes of nature will continue much like they always have, with or without her firsthand involvement. Disregard for nature or destruction of its often fragile systems, however, invariably stirs her most devout followers to action.
The natural world has no inherent motivations or causes, and therefore Usumu accepts followers of any alignment. All those that find a connection to nature are welcomed by Usumu. Druids often follow her, as do sailors, farmers, hunters, and others whose livelihoods are inextricably tied to the earth, air, or water. She is the patron of sailors and fishermen especially, who often pray to her when encountering rough waters or headwinds.
Even more so than with other pantheonic deities, stories about Usumu's origin are contradictory. In some, she was the architect of the natural world during the moments of creation, while in others she was born from the ground itself itself in order to bring an otherwise static world to life. Regardless, none doubt her primacy over her the natural world since.
Usumu has no church. Her followers usually prefer secluded locations for their temples and shrines. Remote places away from major settlements work best, but a refuge in a park can be suitable if there are no other options. Similarly, she has no singular holy text. Devotees of the goddess of nature often leave inscriptions to Usumu on standing stones or dead trees, though never in places where doing so would harm a plant or animal.
Usumu is variously depicted as a giant figure made of stone or air, often emerging from a cloud bank or mountainside, or sometimes in her angered forms as a great fiery face. Usumu's holy animals are elk and dolphins.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources
Hellean pantheon
Ananke (pronounced ah-NAN-key) is a goddess of creation, nature, time, and motherhood. As the first of the Hellean deities, and the one who created the world from nothingness, Ananke occupies a special place in the pantheon. Compared to her children, Ananke is an impassive deity who rarely becomes involved in the events of mortal life, preferring instead to leave such duties to the other gods. She is quick to come to the protection of the natural world, however, and any unnecessary harm to nature is seen as harm to the goddess herself.
Many devotees of Ananke are druids or others concerned with the natural world and its processes. Nearly all followers of the Hellean pantheon pay at least occasional homage to Ananke, worshipers of Typhon excepted. The goddess does not walk amongst mortals as the other gods do, though many believe she has little reason to do so as she is the world itself. Ananke is a pensive and ponderous deity, traits that her priesthood impart to her followers. All actions should come only after careful deliberation, Ananke teaches, though she herself sometimes acts rashly in defense of nature.
Unlike with other deities in the pantheon, temples to Ananke are usually located away from cities and other populated areas, found instead in the more wild and remote parts of Hellea. These temples and shrines are often not immediately recognizable as such, as they are frequently built to appear like natural extensions of the landscape. Rituals, sacrifices, and invocations to the goddess tend to be direct and without pomp or pageantry, as such needless formality is said to tire her. In the rare times she deigns to communicate with mortals, Ananke prefers to send omens that are inscrutable and vague.
Ananke is rarely depicted in a humanoid form. In the uncommon artistic works that do attempt to picture the goddess in such a manner, she is shown as an elderly woman whose eyes are always closed.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources, harm a creature that is protecting its children
Talgazan pantheon
Nemedaz (pronounced neh-meh-DAHZ) is a goddess of nature, air, water, and farming. While not evil, she is often seen in an antagonistic role. Nemedaz is the embodiment of the harsh landscapes in regions that follow the Talgazan pantheon, which forces those that live there to develop a mastery of the land. Such traits are believed to be favored by the goddess. She is also the patron of farmers and herders, who must understand the goddess and her domains well in order to thrive.
Though Nemedaz is considered to be concerned with the natural world in its entirety, the skies and seas are of particular interest to her. Thunder and lightning are reflections of Nemedaz's frustration and anger at the events of the divine world as the feuds of the gods endlessly continue, as are stormy and turbulent oceans. Seafarers commonly pray to Nemedaz for safe travel over the waters, often tossing talismans of the goddess overboard when the seas turn rough in order to appease her.
Nemedaz is typically depicted as a large woman draped in thunderclouds. Her holy animals are orcas and moose.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources
Taruhmite pantheon
Urphel (pronounced ur-FELL), the Bringer of Typhoons, is a goddess of inclement weather, natural disasters, rough seas, and volcanoes. The consequences of her wrath are the most dramatic and visible of all of the five, displaying to all the lengths she will go to punish those who did not maintain the proper sacrifices.
Urphel is explosive when enraged. Her anger can come from all directions, whether storms of lightning from above, eruptions of magma from below, or tsunamis from the seas. All can subdue those who attracted her ire, devastating their communities in myriad ways. More than anything else, Urphel sends forth such ruin to teach a lesson, her actions visible from islands far away in order to warn all of the consequences of failing to appease her. Perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, she is seen by followers of the Taruhmite pantheon as the most merciful of all the deities, as by her showy nature she allows those who were not her victims to fall in line.
The church of Urphel in Harv Taruhm diligently watches the weather for any signs of her omens. While they may attempt to manipulate the skies and seas at times into more favorable conditions, they are careful not to go too far, lest they intrude into the goddess' domain. Her cults, meanwhile, use primal magic to bring forth storms, eruptions, and so on, though on a much smaller scale than the goddess herself is capable of, in hopes it will whet her appetite for more.
As with other deities of the Taruhmite pantheon, Urphel is given no appearance. Her omens commonly manifest as dangerous clouds on the horizon, slight rumblings in the earth, or a darkness beneath the seas.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- None
- Anathema
- None
Dwarven pantheon
Unelma (pronounced ooh-NELL-mah) is a goddess of nature, water, mountains, caves, and the wealth of the underground world, especially ores. She instructed the earliest dwarves in how to live and thrive underground, how to use the intricate and often hazardous cave systems of the world to find sources of water and metal with which to create their communities.
Unelma is not a strictly benevolent goddess, however. She has domain over all the processes of underground life, including the many dangers that can strike even the most experienced and prepared. The goddess uses these perils to show her displeasure at those who disobey her tenets, most often by trembling and shaking the earth or by causing rockfalls, proportionate in scale with the transgressions committed. Dwarven miners often share with each other beliefs of specific acts to eschew or places to avoid so as to not upset Unelma. While invoking her ire is always risky, devoted followers of Unelma know that their faith will be rewarded as the goddess guides them towards rich ore veins, valuable gems, and vast aquifers.
Temples to Unelma often have a rough, unfinished appearance to them, with walls and ceilings of exposed rock. These holy places are frequently built at the entrances to mines in order to allow worshipers to pray to the goddess before they delve even farther into the earth.
Unelma is usually depicted as a dwarven woman dressed in flowing blue robes. Her veins and arteries are shown as gold or silver in color, as if they were veins of valuable metals.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources (particularly ores and water)
Elven pantheon
Hurtate (pronounced hur-TAH-tay) is a goddess of nature, water, wildfires, hunting, and cultivation, the patron both of the natural world and of those that take their food from it. She keeps the world bountiful though wildfires, which are seen as divine gifts from Hurtate, burning away the old in favor of something new. Worship of Hurtate is especially important to Wilds Ones. Many of her followers gently aid in the growth of natural places as a form of prayer and meditation, tending to groves of trees and other sites to ensure they can thrive.
The priesthood of Hurtate can be found both in larger settlements and in the less developed parts of the world. Though they often teach methods of cultivation and hunting that minimally disturb the surrounding landscape, some of their other religious practices can be far less hands-off. In particular, Hurtatean clergy will sometimes intentionally start plain- or forest-fires, ritually allowing their goddess to bring new life into being from the ashes.
Hurtate is typically depicted in a giant anthropomorphized form, usually as a figure made of air or fire emerging from a cloud bank or raging wildfire respectively. Her holy animal is a mouse-deer.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world, allow new growth to replace the old
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources
Orcish pantheon
Umuth (pronounced ooh-MOOTH) is a goddess of nature, air, water, sleep, and healing. She is seen as a slumbering deity whose movements as she rests can bring either calm weather or havoc to the world below. Clear skies, torrential rains, wildfires - all are seen as unintentional on the part of the goddess.
Compared to other deities in the Orcish pantheon, Umuth has little awareness of the mortal world. Though not malevolent, she is capricious and unpredictable when awake, and thus the other gods take care not to stir her. Even prayers by her followers are whispered in hushed tones. It is said that the goddess was a martial deity in past universes who fought against Vemdu with such vigor that her energy remains sapped to this day.
Umuth is the patron of druids and healers especially, though she is worshiped by people across orcish society. Temples and shrines to the goddess are traditionally built in quietest locations that can be found, usually far away from any settlements.
Umuth is usually depicted in a slumbering form, often covered by such a layer of plants and moss that she could disappear into a landscape. Her holy animal is an bear.
Edicts and anathema
- Edicts
- Respect and protect the natural world, heal those in need
- Anathema
- Cause pollution, destroy natural ecosystems, waste natural resources, disturb someone's slumber unnecessarily