[Tzi]

Gods and Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses in this setting do not traditionally have a specific alignment except that some are generally good and others generally bad. Most of this is told from the perspective of the people worshiping these deities. One deity, Akhkzomet is a vile fiend of disease, affliction and misery. While not labeled evil, what she does (Visit curses and sickness unto people) is regarded as bad by the people who live in the Inan. Thus she is a fiend not to be worshiped. Nazrael, the Goddess of the Sun, is also said to be passionate. Without her plants will not grow and the world would be without light and life, however the sun is seen also causes drought, makes things extremely hot, dries up the water. Finally sunburns, nobody likes those.

Deities are thus divided up based on their actions and relations to mortals, as in the players. Good deities generally being those worshiped by conventional society. And bad deities generally being those not sanctioned by society as something to legitimately worship.

Gods and Goddesses also generally do not have a favored weapon, favored weapons are determined generally by ones local cult.

First, a regional map of the Inan and nearby areas, to give you an idea of the places these divine beings are revered... or feared.
Map:

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The Good Deities...

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Ziel, God of the Moon

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Domains: Darkness(Moon), Magic, Luck(fate), Weather
Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians and Sabylians, Oracles, Farmers, Witches.
Portfolio: Time, Fate, Age, the Seasons, The Lunar calender, Night, the Moon
Centers of Worship: Nazri (Shrine of the Moon), Urakesh (Spire of Clocks), Qutan (Ziggurat of the Crescent), Pilgrims Rock
Description: Depicted as an elderly man with a great white beard, he often is depicted as having a crescent moon sigil on his fore heard and long Ibex horns. Ziel and Nazrael, along with Mizarom turned the horn of Enlel into the Key of the Damned which was used to bind him into hell.

He is the lover of Nazrael, however his fidelity is questionable.

Nazrael, Goddess of the Sun

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Domains: Charm, Fire, Sun, Magic
Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians and Sabylians. Farmers, Sorcerers, Witches, Wizards, Bards
Portfolio: Passion, Intensity, Day, Fertility, Fire, Sex, Spells, the Sun
Centers of Worship: Nazri (Shrine of the Sun), Erudesh (Dawnslight Ziggurat), Pilgrims Rock
Description: A nude woman, wreathed in flames, usually depicted with a stylized sun behind her head. She has small female Ibex horns. Ziel and Nazrael, along with Mizarom turned the horn of Enlel into the Key of the Damned which was used to bind him into hell.

She is the prime lover of Ziel, her fidelity is also questionable.

Anash, Goddess of the Rivers, Lakes and Sea

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Domains: Weather, Water, Plants, Animals, Magic
Worshiped mostly by: Especially Tamazians, but all ethnic groups in the Inan
Portfolio: Rivers, Oceans, The Anash River, Sea life, Sea of Dilmund
Centers of Worship: Mezekesh (Coral Ziggurat)
Description: Depicted as an Aqua marine blue skinned mermaid with long white hair, more humanoid looking. Vabbians and Sabylians hold that she is the daughter of Nazrael and Ziel, Tamazians do not adhere to this belief and believe they merely willed themselves into being.

She is sisters with the Goddess Enki, and Mother of Asher. She mother Asher with a mortal shepherd.

Enki and Anash resolved to release the Terrasque to fight Gog, the False God, during the prelude to the War in Heaven.

Enki, Goddess of the Rivers, Lakes and Sea

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Domains: Weather, Water, Plants, Animals, Magic
Worshiped mostly by: Especially Tamazians, but all in the Inan
Portfolio: Rivers, Oceans, The Enki River, Sea life, Sea of Dilmund
Centers of Worship: Mezekesh (Coral Ziggurat)
Description: Typically a darker blue mermaid with more fish like features, no hair and a fish fin on her head. More clearly fishlike, but still humanoid. Vabbians and Sabylians hold that she is the daughter of Nazrael and Ziel, Tamazians do not adhere to this belief.

She is sisters with the Goddess Anash, and Mother of Anshara. She mothered Anshara with a mortal fishermen.

Enki and Anash resolved to release the Terrasque to fight Gog, the False God, during the prelude to the War in Heaven.

Anshara, Goddess of Health

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Domains: Healing, Community, Protection, Nobility
Worshiped mostly by: All Ethnic groups, Healers.
Portfolio: Health, Cures, Fertility, Birth, Pregnancy, Marriage, Family
Centers of Worship: Augury Rock,
Uthesh (Shrine of Serpents), Kisho (Ziggurat of Peace)
Description: Said to be the Daughter of Enki and a mortal man, Anshara is depicted as a woman wrapped in white cloth, with three sets of white feathered wings, and a khopesh of gold.

She was unwillingly the mother of Akhkzomet, Sazomet and Batzomet, the fiendish offspring of Enlel. Her daughter Akhkzomet is most reviled for Akhkzomet is her polar opposite, a fiendish deity of affliction, death and disease. Anshara broke the right horn of Enlel and with Mizarom, Nazrael, and Ziel bound him into the black pit of the ethereal-shadow, and then helped forge the horn into the Key of the Damned.

Asher, God of the Hunt

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Domains: War, Animals, Plant, Glory, Strength
Worshiped mostly by: All Ethnic groups. Hunters, Warriors, Adventurers, Games, Honor, Combat prowess
Portfolio: Hunting, Herdsmen, Triumph, Struggle, Adventure
Centers of Worship: Azar Izel (Mt. Of Zultan), Akkash (Ziggurat of Champions)
Description: Depicted as a man in hide armor, With a great tightly braided beard wielding a composit longbow. Son of Anash and a mortal man, he is known to favor the strong and help the weak become strong.

He is famed for slaying the false artificial being known as Gog, and for killing Batzomet, Arch-Fiend of rage. He is close friends with the nature Goddess Izel.

Asher is both responsible for slaying Gog, and Batzomet.

Mizarom, God of the Judgement

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Domains: Repose, Rune, Magic, Law
Worshiped mostly by: All ethnic groups. Often by priests and clerics whom deal with interring the dead, fighting the undead, and by Arcane spellcasters.
Portfolio: Judgment, Law, Afterlife, The Dead, Spellweaving, and writing
Centers of Worship: Arkech (Ziggurat of Sleeping Souls, Minaret of Truth, Stone of Law), Urakesh (Shrine of Spells)
Description: Seen as man with small horns, skinny, tightly wrapped in black robes with feathered frills coming out the neck and sleeves, usually covered in keys, keyrings, and locks. He is often depicted clutching a book or mechanical device.

Mizarom is said to have let man learn magic, or taught the most ancient people of the Inan basic spell casting. He is also often credited with being the source of law for most Kingdoms. Mizarom is said to lament man kinds willingness to wield more destructive forms of magic, and is said to visit curses upon law breakers and those whom try and raise the dead without his consent.

Mizarom was instrumental in aiding Anshara in binding Enlel into the Ethereal Shadow, in some layer of it Mizarom dubbed Gahenna.

Azul, Goddess of Pleasure

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Domains: Fire, Charm, Magic, Artifice
Worshiped mostly by: Tamazians, Sinatians, Bards, Wizards, Sorcerers, Rogues, Artists, Performers, Writers and Party goers.
Portfolio: Lust, Pleasure, Art, Poetry, Parties, Fire Dances
Centers of Worship: Mezekesh (Temple of the Golden Heart),
Kemi (Menagerie of Flames)
Urakesh (Shrine of the Dance)
Description: Depicted as a dark reddish skinned woman with feminine curves and typically naked. Crowning her head are horns like those of a goat or ram, sometimes an female Ibex. She has a long tail and silver like hair. Idols and artwork usually show her in a seductive pose or holding a harp or lute. Vabbians and Sabylians say she is the daughter of Nazrael and a mortal bard whose wondrous songs enchanted the Sun Goddess so that she made love with him in his tent.

Tamazians and Sinatic speakers do not say that she was born from the very volcano's of the Azun mountains, emerging from a pool of molten rock.

Kikatnu, God of Crafts

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Domains: Artifice, Knowledge, Earth,
Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians, Sabylians, Tamazians, Sinatic, Often by blacksmiths, miners and orders of Stone-cutters.
Portfolio: Craftsmen, Stonecutters, Builders, Miners, Smiths
Centers of Worship: Folk deity, no specific centers of worship
Description: Son of Nazrael and Ziel, he is depicted as a bearded man with many tools and a great smiths hammer. Most idols show him being very short and stalky.

Shonash, God of Games

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Domains: Charm, Artifice, Water, Community, Glory
Worshiped mostly by: All Ethnic groups. Bards, Partiers, Competitors.
Portfolio: Sports, Competition, Games
Centers of Worship: Folk deity, no specific centers of worship
Description: Son of Nazrael and Ziel, He is often depicted swimming. He has a lost for competition, games and sport. Like his sister Azul he is given to pleasure seeking however he often wishes to be the best and compete.

Hadat, God of Storms

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Domains: Air, Weather, Travel
Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians especially those of the Desert of Vab. Merchants and travels will pray to Hadat for good luck.
Portfolio: Travelers, Caravans, Merchants, Wanderers, Herdsmen
Centers of Worship: The Red Gap (Merchants Wishing Well)
Description: Son of Ziel and a mortal woman, depicted as a wandering man in a brown cloak with white linen bandages wrapped around his forearms and legs. Usually carries a crooked shepherds staff.

Dunara, God of Agriculture

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Domains: Luck, Animals, Plant, Weather
Worshiped mostly by: Often prayed to by farmers, Vabbians, Sabylians.
Portfolio: Good Harvests, Fertile Livestock
Centers of Worship: Folk deity, worshiped in private home shrines by farmers.
Description: Son of Ziel and Nazrael, depicted as a golden fleeced lamb.

Kishar, Goddess of Fortunes

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Domains: Knowledge, Rune, Void, Darkness
Worshiped mostly by: Sinatian peoples, Fortune tellers. Witches
Portfolio: Starsgazers, Fortune Telling, Night
Centers of Worship: Folk deity, worshiped in private home shrines by farmers.
Description: Often depicted as a raven haired woman in black robes with stars and silver embroidery on her robes. She may also be seen wearing a golden crown. People of the Sinat peaks associate her with a constellation appearing like a standing woman holding a scroll of said to foretell ones destiny.

Zolanil, God of Stones

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Domains: Protection, Strength, Earth, Charm
Worshiped mostly by: Sinatian peoples.
Portfolio: Stones, Strength, toughness
Centers of Worship: Kemi (Ziggurat of Might)
Description: Seen as a bronze bull or golden bull, he is also called the bull of heaven. Associated with the virtues of strength and tenacity, but also virility and sex.

Izel, Goddess of Cats

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Domains: Animals, Plants, Glory
Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians and Sabylians, most often Elamite's, Akkasians and Margonites. Typically worshiped by Rangers, Witches, Rogues.
Portfolio: Tenacity, Victory, Hunters, Woodlands, Hills, Cats
Centers of Worship: Azar Izel (Mt. Of Zultan, Temple of Cats)
Description: A Caracal, typically idols are made of bronze or carved from volcanic stone.

Marduk, God of Ibex

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Domains: Plants, Earth, Animals
Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians of the Red gap most often worship this deity, also people west of the Anash river.
Portfolio: Rams, Livestock, Travelers, the Plains, Desert lands
Centers of Worship: The Red Gap (Pillar of Horns)
Description: Usually not depicted except as paintings on walls or with an Ibix skull on a stone slab. Sometimes glass or marble Ibix figurines are made.

Anat, God of Owls

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Domains: Air, Animals, Glory, Knowledge, Magic
Worshiped mostly by: Tamazians and Sinatic people, often those of the Mezek forest and Sinat peaks, Wizards, Witches and Oracles.
Portfolio: Birds, Wisdom, Learning, Visions
Centers of Worship: Anat (Shrine of the Great Owl)
Description: Typically depicted as a large Owl, idols often carved from wood branches of Mezek trees.

Matzu, God of Turtles

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Domains: Water, Scalykind, Animals
Worshiped mostly by: Typically people from the Southern Inan, often Vabbians and Tamazians. Usually prayed to by warriors of various types.
Portfolio: Fish, Turtles, Lizards, Dragons
Centers of Worship: Nimeresh (Ziggurat of the Turtle)
Description: A great Dire Turtle, Dark aqua marine blue skin and a green shell.

The Bad Deities...

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Enlel, Fallen God of Storms, Arch-Fiend of Treachery

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Domains: Chaos, Evil, Destruction
Worshiped mostly by: Occasional mad people, strange cults, otherwise none.
Portfolio: Hatred, Faithlessness, Treachery
Centers of Worship: None in Material plane
Description: The fallen God of Storms, is depicted as a skeletal gaunt corpse like man with fangs and long bone claws and three sets of black feathered wings. Some depictions show him with a set of horns, with the right horn broken, symbolizing Anshara breaking his right horn at the conclusion of the War in Heaven.

Enlel is know as the God who sought to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. In the early days, near the age of man's beginning, Enlel disliked mankinds growing knowledge. Regarding them as mere animals, toys who should not know what Gods know. When Arch-Fey taught men of the Inan to weave arcane spells, Enlel grew enraged. When Mizarom taught man to master it, his dismay grew ever more.

When a nation among the first men built the false god Gog, even though many did not and warred against Gog and his worshipers, Enlel resolved mankind to grave of a threat and decided to flood the world. He conjured storms and clouded out the sun, moon and stars and decided to drag mankind beneath the waves.

The other God rose to stop him from wiping out mankind and ultimately Enlel was stopped before the world drowned. But his rage could never be quelled and it led him to kidnap and impregnate Anshara, forcing her to birth his three children Akhkzomet, Sazomet, and Batzomet whom would be a pox upon mankind.

Anshara eventually grappled Enlel and broke his right horn, and took it to Mizarom, Nazrael and Ziel whom used it to bind him into a dark empty pit in the ethereal shadow. Mizarom then made his horn into the Key of the Damned, which seals the gates of hell.

Akhkzomet, Fiend of Affliction

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Domains: Death, Evil, Luck(Curses), Magic
Worshiped mostly by: Weavers of black magic, however few pray to her as she tends to be the bringer of disease. Technically clay idols of Akhkzomet are made and then smashed or binded in rituals to ward her away from communities and fields.
Portfolio: Spiders, Disease, Afflictions, Curses, Pestilence, Black Magic
Centers of Worship: None in Material plane
Description: Akhkzomet is the first child of Anshara and Enlel. She appears as emaciated woman, with fading paled skin. Her left eye is an empty skeletal socket, and her right eye, a blank white sphere. Her mouth is covered by bloody linen wrappings. At her talon feat writhe locusts, maggots. Her boney clawed hands weave black magic, and the air she breathes is pure poison and disease.

Akhkzomet is the most vile of the three spawn of Enlel. In that she relishes in affliction and degrading the body. Her mother Anshara hates her most of all since she is the polar opposite of her and the least salvageable.

Sazomet, Fiend of Discord

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Domains: Madness, Evil, War
Worshiped mostly by: Possibly some thieves and gangs, but few would pray to the Fiend who compels people to murder, steal, lie, and defraud.
Portfolio: Discord, Insanity, Possession, Evil Spirits, Murder
Centers of Worship: None in Material plane
Description: Sazomet is the second child of Enlel, He looks like an anthropomorphic rat, one that stands on two legs gnawing on the bones of others sitting on a pile of bloodsoaked gold. His body is rotten, partly decomposed.

He relishes of pitting people against each other, stealing, and driving people apart.

Batzomet, Fiend of Rage

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Domains: Chaos, Destruction, War
Worshiped mostly by: None, as he is considered truly dead.
Portfolio: Destruction, Rage, Slaughter
Centers of Worship: None in Material plane
Description: Batzomet was the third child of Enlel. He is sad to have been a serpentine dragon, in the very likeness of Gog

Hasatan, Fiend of Accusation

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Domains: Law, Evil, Trickery
Worshiped mostly by: None, though he is feared and sometimes appeased with a goat left out to be devoured by dire beasts in the desert.
Portfolio: Temptation, Sin, Bad Faith Deals.
Centers of Worship: None
Description: Hasatan is the adviser and friend of Enlel, even after the war in heaven, Hasatan has remained as Enlel's champion. Depicted as a horned man with goatlike hooves. He seeks to compel the souls of the dead to worship Enlel in the afterlife.

Tematu, Primordial Titan of the Abyss

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Domains: Destruction, Evil, Chaos, Water
Worshiped mostly by: Feared by sailors and coastal people.
Portfolio: Sea monsters, the world before the world, Aboleths.
Centers of Worship: None
Description: He looks like a giant Aboleth, but sleeps beneath the sea. He spawned the race of Aboleths, the dreaded sea creatures whom sleep in the deepest parts of the sea. The Arch-Fey of the Age of Creation bound him and his children deep in the darkest crevice of the earth.

When he awoke at Enlel's behest, he and most of his children were bound into the same pit as Enlel.

Gog, The Artificial God

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Domains: Chaos, Destruction, War
Worshiped mostly by: -
Portfolio: -
Centers of Worship: None Living
Description: Once a great metallic Golem of epic size. Built by a nation of first men, whose actions in building them had their very name cursed for all the ages. Gog was imbued with such magic that he developed a false soul, reflecting the arrogance and malice of those whom made Gog.

Gog annihilated the city of Ur-Bekk with his breath that turned the sand to glass and burned shadows into the ground from those whom lived there. When the Gods released a primordial titan, the Terrasque which consumed the lands of his creators, Gog and the Terrasque clashed for seven days and seven nights. Eventually Gog defeated the Terrasque in a titanic battle that shook creation to its core. However Gog was mortally wounded, and his bones were used to make a spear, which the God Asher used to slay Gog at the peaks of the mountains which bare his name.

The Tomb of Gog is all that remains of him. In a chasm in the Magog Mountains rests the metallic bones of Gog. The land is poisoned, nothing grows, and the lake where his skull rests is poison. Those whom dwell to close to Gog grow sick, weak and eventually die. His chest still burns with the magic that sustained him and gave him life, and still rages with the malice and arrogance of Gog's creators.