Islander Talgazan pantheon

The Islander Talgazan pantheon (pronounced tall-GAH-zen) is one of the major regional pantheons on Kishar. Its gods are worshiped primarily by the Fjarri, the descendants of Rothurlandic seafarers who were driven by fearsome storms into the Wounds, waters previously unknown to them so many hundreds of miles away from their homeland. The pantheon is based upon a fusion of their older traditional beliefs with those of adherents of the Beating Heart.

Overview

At its core, the Islander Talgazan religion is quite similar to that of the Talgazan pantheon. Followers of both believe their gods to be largely dispassionate deities who rarely take notice of the mortal realm, though they pray to them to in hopes their gods may pull themselves away from their own struggles long enough to grant boons to their faithful. Where the pantheons differ, and differ greatly, is in their cosmology and stories of creation.

The ancestors of those who worship the Islander Talgazan pantheon once believed in the same stories as are common throughout Rothurland and Talgazan - that is, that one of the gods, Ubilai, tired of the endless feasts and fights of the divine world and sneaked away in order to create his own realm, to be populated by his loyal servants whose support he would use to take his rightful place over all the other gods. When the other gods took notice at last, they flew into a rage and attacked Ubilai - all except his brother Skohsla stood against him. Ubilai was defeated, his attempt at creating a world of evil and order halted as the gods took Ubilai's remains and used them to shape the new creation to their own aims instead. His flesh became the land, his blood the seas, and his bones the mountains.

When the forebears of the Fjarri found themselves in the Wounds and met the many other peoples already living there, they came into contact with the Beating Heart, a major religion in that part of the world that holds that the planet itself is a broadly benevolent living god. Already in crisis, this spiritually shook the Fjarri. After all, how could the same god they held to be dead and evil simultaneously be continuously creating new life and land? Gradually new beliefs took hold. Ubilai was not malevolent nor completely defeated, their new shamans declared. Rather, these were lies told by the other gods to entrench their own power after slaying Ubilai out of jealousy for his new creation. Caging his heart deep within Kishar, they spread falsehood of the god and his loyal brother, deceiving mortals into the worship of them instead. The rest of the pantheon, now understood to be evil, fell out of favor with the Fjarri, as they reoriented their faith around Ubilai and Skohsla instead.

To those that follow the Islander Talgazan pantheon, worship of ancestors and ghosts is seen as equally important as the veneration of the gods, if not more so. Ancestor spirits have more of a day to day impact on the world and can be communed with regularly, and are therefore more reliable spiritual guides than deities. Still, the gods are worshiped regardless, as they can still provide valuable guidance at times.

Adherents of the Islander Talgazan pantheon broadly eschew holy texts or organized clergy, preferring instead either local priests or more personal worship.

Deities

Name	Areas of Concern	Description
Skohsla	Protection, vengeance, destruction, kinship, healing	Skohsla (pronounced SKOH-slah) is a god of protection, vengeance, destruction, kinship, and healing. Driven by revenge for what the other gods did to his brother, he seeks to defend Kishar as Ubilai's form against all threats, divine and otherwise, all the while waiting for an opportune moment to strike down the evil gods from their divine realm. Just as with the god himself, Skohsla's followers have many aspects. He is the patron of individuals as varied as healers, guards, sailors, and family elders, each of whom find themselves in the deity. Fjarri who travel forth to fight the demons of the Old Twins act under his guidance, yet so too does the humble village witch-healer. All his followers learn from Skohsla that subtlety is not something to be entertained - they act with direct action and blunt words towards their enemies and friends alike. Any harshness is done in service of broader goals, however, as Skohsla and his faithful care deeply about their families and loved ones, and will go to any lengths to shelter and aid them. Skohsla is almost always depicted as a giant figure with serpentine features. He is rarely pictured as a linnorm, the traditional Talgazan imagery of the deity.
Ubilai	Creation, fire, volcanoes, ambition, stone	Ubilai (pronounced OOH-bih-lie) is a god of creation, fire, volcanoes, ambition, and stone. After bringing the world into being, his body was torn apart by the other gods to sculpt it to their whims, with his heart imprisoned deep within his reshaped form. Even in his weakened state, however, Ubilai still seeks his freedom, as he strains to be reunited with his brother Skohsla and the mortals of Kishar that he created. Even within his prison Ubilai continues to build upon his earth-form, sending forth magma and stone to create new islands within the oceans of his blood. While benevolent towards the mortals he made, at times his struggles against his confines cause dramatic and dangerous eruptions as he shakes the bars of his cage. Ubilai is the patron of all who seek their freedom and self-determination, away from the restraints imposed by outsiders. He is the guide of those who bring forth new life and new communities, and of those who seek to uncover and reveal obscured truths. Depictions of Ubilai vary. Many followers of the Islander Talgazan pantheon prefer to anthropomorphize the god as a fiery humanoid, while others eschew this, reasoning that the deity was torn asunder and should be portrayed in his current form as a caged deific heart.

Area of worship

The Islander Talgazan pantheon is almost entirely worshiped by the Fjarri. Some other peoples they have come into contact with within the Wounds, especially near the Fjarri settlements in the Salt Spring Archipelago, have adopted the pantheon as well, but this is uncommon.