[3.5] Scarcity and Scavenging, Crowding and Conflict: The Scroungers Campaign Setting

[Mephibosheth]

Magic

From the teeming cities of Stha Lui’s western coast, to the hyper-productive terrace farms of Shokhestan, to the go-stone-powered ships that expand the reach of civilization over the waves, magic is a part of everyday life in the world of Scroungers. This chapter outlines the role magic plays in the Scroungers setting, outlines significant modifications to the nature of available magic and includes new spells, domains and options for spell-casting characters of all types.

Magic in the World

Only a few of the most learned sages can remember the nature of magic before the Torrent. However, since the catastrophic flood and the establishment of newcomer civilizations on Stha Lui, magic has become a critical part of daily life. With population pressures and resource demands that exceed mundane production limits, newcomers and landborn alike have devised magical means of stretching limited resources to the max. Some wealthy landowners provide high wages to spellcasters casting Plant Growth on their fields. Magical contractors in overcrowded cities like Home or Dekhi construct buildings from magically-created walls of iron or stone or magically strengthen them with spells like Ironwood. Spellcasters in Shokhestan and other hilly regions use spells like Move Earth to create the elaborate terrace structures necessary for efficient agriculture.

Despite their best efforts, Stha Lui’s spellcasters remain challenged in creating magical solutions to resource and space shortages by the increased difficulty and complexity of spells that create or preserve resource supplies. In the post-Torrent world, spells like Create Food and Water and Purify Food and Drink are more difficult to cast than they once were. While ancient legends and works of lore contain tantalizing hints about simple, accessible spells to create food and drink, these spells remain too difficult for many casters.

Similarly, the gods’ apparent departure following the Torrent has resulted in a sense of frustration and betrayal among the world’s priests and mages. This is particularly true of those mages who relied heavily on spells like Augury and Contact Other Plane to expand their knowledge of the world. For some unexplained reason, these and similar spells no longer function in the gods’ absence, blinding many of Stha Lui’s casters.

Finally, while legends tell of powerful mages who could single-handedly cast earth-shattering enchantments, the casters of Stha Lui are limited to more mundane magic. They can, to be sure, summon significant powers to heal and build or harm and destroy. Their magic is the backbone of many scrounger crews, militia units and powerful merchant cartels but the miraculous spells at their ancestors’ fingertips remain impossible for even the most powerful mages. Despite years of research by accomplished scholars, no one knows why.

Modifications to class spell lists, new spells, and other new rules concerning magic can be found here.

Religion and Deities

The mixing of cultures and races, the political needs of ruling groups, and the overarching cataclysm of the Torrent has resulted in a complicated religious situation on Stha Lui. This chapter hopes to outline the nature of religious practice in the Scroungers campaign setting.

Cosmology

The Scroungers universe is composed of three planes of existence: the Natural World, the Spirit World and the Space Between. Just as the Natural World is bound by its physical dimensions and mostly consistent throughout, the Spirit World is vast beyond imagining and infinitely varied. The Space Between, an infinite labyrinth of narrow, mostly-empty, airless passages, separates and connects the Natural World from the Spirit World.

The Spirit World

Parts of the Spirit World exist alongside the Natural World, mirroring (to some extent) natural terrain. However, its unexplored reaches extend far beyond the edges of the Natural World. Indeed, some sages theorize that the Spirit World never ends but rather stretches on into infinity and grows stranger and more fantastic the farther you travel. The difficulty of inter-planar travel and the deities’ absence ensure that concrete information about the Spirit World remains extremely limited.

Those who have traveled to the Spirit World and returned to tell of it speak of a place of incomprehensible variety. The areas of the Spirit World closely connected to the Natural World seem fairly familiar, almost safe (though there are always exceptions to this rule). The farther one travels into the Spirit World, however, the more fantastic and dangerous things become. Laws like gravity can change unpredictably. Magic can function in completely different ways or be absent altogether. Time and space can flow at different rates and in different directions. Strange creatures abound.

Some areas of the Spirit World are dominated by elemental powers that change the very atmosphere and make the air too cold to breathe or scorch the lungs with fire. Others are controlled by powerful evil spirits whose very presence can cause a mortal’s life force to ebb away. Still others are under the control of benevolent beings who provide a safe haven for travelers and denizens of the Spirit World. Most learned scholars assume that if it can be imagined, it can be found in the Spirit World.

Because of the Spirit World’s infinite, inconsistent and highly varied nature, distances and directions are difficult to determine. Those who have studied the Spirit World or who have traveled there and returned safely find it difficult to use expressions of distance, direction or time with regard to the Spirit World. The only terms that most can agree upon describe the depth to which one has traveled, as if the Spirit World were and ocean or a pool of quicksand. They speak of going “deeper” into the Spirit World and encountering strange creatures and mind-boggling landscapes. They tell of “shallow” areas of the Spirit World where natural laws are more frequently applicable and the terrain and creatures resemble the Natural World. Indeed, some theorize that the Spirit World exists within the Natural World; stretching infinitely inward in ways natural beings cannot understand.

Spirit World Traits

• Normal Gravity: In general, the Spirit World is affected by normal laws of gravitation. However, as with everything in the Spirit World, there are exceptions; areas without gravity or where gravity pulls from a different direction.
• Normal Time: In general, time passes in the Spirit World as it would in the Natural World. However, as with everything in the Spirit World, there are exceptions; areas where time stands still or progresses at a quicker rate.
• Infinite: At least as far as anyone knows, the Spirit World is unbounded, stretching infinitely in all directions. Those who have studied the Spirit World or who have traveled there and returned speak only of going “deeper” into the Spirit World and returning to “shallower” regions.
• Alterable Morphic: In general, objects and creatures in the Spirit World change only when acted upon by an outside force. However, as with anything in the Spirit World, there are exceptions.
• Elemental, Energy, and Alignment Traits: In general, the Spirit World does not have a single dominant element, energy or alignment. There are, however, a number of areas where one or more of these forces are dominant. In these areas, the appropriate traits apply.
• Normal Magic: In general, magic in the Spirit World functions as it would in the Natural World. However, as with anything in the Spirit World, there are exceptions; areas where magic is impeded or heightened or behaves chaotically.

The Space Between

Between the boundaries of the Natural World and the Spirit World there exists an empty space; an airless, mostly-empty void that stretches to every boundary of the natural or Spirit World in a labyrinth of narrow passageways. This void is known as the Space Between

The Space Between is seldom visited. It is a harsh environment for anyone not native to it; a gravity-less vacuum in which bits of matter of many sizes float, providing a modicum of stability for its few denizens. Some of the larger of these chunks of rock house the Space Between’s few denizens as well as the homes and fortresses of those few beings who have managed to travel from the Natural World and make a life for themselves in the Space Between.

The Space Between Traits

• No Gravity: The Space Between has no natural gravity of its own. However, there are objects floating in the void that can provide gravity, especially the large, asteroid-like rocks that can occasionally be found. On these locations, conditions of light gravity prevail (+2 circumstance bonus to Balance, Climb, Jump and Tumble checks, the maximum height and length of Jump checks are doubled, objects weigh half as much as the would on the material plane, falling damage dice are reduced to d4’s) and gravity pulls creatures and objects toward the center of the object providing the gravity.
• Normal Time
• Boundaries: The Space Between is bounded on all sides by the Spirit World and the Natural World. It consists of a bewildering series of tunnels and narrow passageways between the two worlds. Unless a portal or breach is present, a creature or object reaching the border on one side of a branch of the Space Between finds itself on the opposite side.
• Alterable Morphic
• Impeded Magic: By and large, spells function in the Space Between as they would in the Natural World. However, spells that require atmosphere (Gust of Wind and the like) will not function in the vacuum of the Space Between. In addition, spells of the Conjuration (teleportation) subschool do not function in the Space Between.
• Vacuum: The Space Between is completely devoid of atmosphere. Unprotected creatures must immediately begin making Constitution checks to avoid suffocation and take 2d6 damage per round in the Space Between as the pressure differences place enormous strain on their bodies. A successful DC 30 Fortitude Save halves this damage. A Necklace of Adaptation or similar spells will allow creatures to breathe in the airless void but does not protect against damage from the low pressure.
• Creatures in the Space Between count as two sizes smaller for the purpose of adjudicating wind effects.

Travel Between the Worlds

The primary method of travel between the Natural World, the Spirit World and the Space Between is the use of magic spells or similar abilities. Powerful and knowledgeable casters can use the Plane Shift ritual (see Chapter 5) to travel directly between the Natural World and the Spirit World. Spells or powers that rely on the existence of specific planes (i.e. the plane of shadow, the ethereal plane, etc.) still function in the Scroungers setting, transporting the users to a location in the Spirit World that roughly corresponds to the characteristics of the plane targeted by the spell.

Plane Shift, the primary method of conventional interplanar travel, is a difficult magical ritual and requires the assistance of a number of ritual participants to perform. Mages who need to traverse planar boundaries quickly most often rely on planar breaching (Planar Handbook, p. 151), a cruder method of travel. The mages of Stha Lui have developed spells that can create a crack in the fabric of the worlds, allowing the caster and her allies to move from one plane to another. Travel in this way is somewhat unreliable but can be performed more quickly and with less support than more conventional methods.

Spellcasters using planar breaching must first open a breach to the Space Between. From there they can travel to any area of the Spirit World or Natural World they are familiar with, whether from personal experience, research or hearsay. While a planar traveler must actually traverse the Space Between to reach a specific destination in the Natural World, the constantly-shifting nature of the Spirit World means that a spellcaster can create a planar breach to any location in the Spirit World, regardless of their location in the Space Between. Spells like Know Planar Location can be invaluable in navigating the Space Between, especially when traveling back to the Natural World from the Spirit World.

As an alternative to magical methods of travel, individuals wishing to cross planar boundaries can use naturally occurring links between the worlds. Certain spiritually-significant sites allow residents of the Natural World and the Spirit World to pass across the boundary, though no natural portals to the Space Between have ever been found. Perhaps the best-known portal between the planes is the moon. Scholars believe that, when the moon is full, it serves as a massive portal between the Spirit World and the Natural World. A full moon allows passage both ways and can strengthen extra-planar creatures on both sides of the boundary.

Religion and Deities

The mixing of cultures and races, the political needs of ruling groups and the overarching cataclysm of the Torrent have resulted in a complicated religious situation on Stha Lui. This chapter hopes to outline the nature of religious practice in the Scroungers campaign setting.

The Gods of the Faithful

The ancient texts speak of a divinity that is at once fourfold and singular; simultaneously four separate identities and one unified being. These four gods, aligned to the four points of the compass, meet in the lives of their devotees just as north, south, east, and west always meet at Here.

The Faithful look to the four winds to instruct them in the nature of the gods, believing that each wind is the thought, word, and will of its lord. Even as the four winds have different characteristics, so too are the four gods different.

While the Faithful are exhorted to keep the gods in their hearts always, their thoughts prayers rise to the four corners of the world four times per day. Responding to the lilting, somber drone of the zehaan, the Faithful are obligated to lift prayers to each god once per day. At dawn, they face the rising sun and lift their prayers to Shaayaq, the god of the east. Just before noon, they turn toward the south and call upon Jaanb, the god of the south. In the early evening, they gaze upon the light of the setting sun and pray to Laghrat, the god of the west. And finally, before retiring to the night, they beseech Shom, the god of the north, for safety in the dark and cold. Some pray on their knees, some on their feet, some with their foreheads pressed into the ground, but all are obligated to pray.

The Faithful, limited as they are by mortal language, use masculine pronouns and metaphors to describe the gods but believe that the gods themselves are beyond description in the tongues of the world. They are not described in physical terms, nor is it permitted for images of them to be crafted. The gods defy mortal attempts to categorize and describe them, being in all ways greater than mortal thought can conceive.

Finally, while the four gods appear separate to the unbeliever, the Faithful know that their true nature is singular. As such, none of the four is ever worshiped separate from the others. Those who dare suggest that the gods’ true nature is separate are cast out of the community and often face injury and death at the hands of the Faithful.

Before the Torrent, the four gods were almost universally-worshiped. Powerful spells like Commune meant that devotees blessed with magical skills could speak with emissaries of the gods. The four gods themselves rarely (only in extremely special circumstances and never at the instigation of their devotees) responded to these contacts. However, their servants (powerful angelic, spiritual beings) did interact with mortals on their behalf.

In the years following the Torrent, however, these links were severed and it became clear that something fundamental had changed in the Spirit World. For whatever reason, the four gods had withdrawn beyond the reach of mortals. While the world itself remains as a testament to their continued existence, its upheavals have become more frequent and violent in the four gods’ absence. Storms, earthquakes and fires are more common than they once were. As mortal suffering mounted, people began to fall away from the worship of the four gods and seek spiritual truths elsewhere.

Today, the gods of the Faithful are almost universally-worshiped among the Shokhanids and the deep dwarves, but they command many adherents among the newcomers as well; particularly among the Aadipurans and halflings of Śetaig and the Fádech Desert, where sizeable communities adhere to the teachings of the Faithful. Their houses of worship dot the landscape; some have fallen into disrepair and disuse, others are flourishing places of meeting, fellowship, and prayer.

Shaayaq
Shaayaq, the god of the east, is believed to be the most benevolent of the four gods of the Faithful. The Faithful say that the east wind can cheer up the saddest person, if only for a little while. Shaayaq embodies the hope that comes with the morning, the possibilities of the rising sun, and with new beginnings both sad and joyful. He is also tied to the light, wet winds that come from the east and rise over the Mountains, raining life-giving moisture on their eastern slopes before crossing the peaks and gradually settling back down in the Hinterlands, where they discharge the rest of their moisture in gentle showers.
Holy Symbol: A stylized sun with numerous rays

Jaanb
Jaanb, the god of the south, embodies and exemplifies the traits of the winds that come from the south. He is ponderous; slow to act but overwhelming in his power. His winds are often humid; life-giving and hospitable but also oppressive. They can be dry; the scorching, burning winds that whip over the dunes and strip exposed flesh from its bones. They are hot; not the comfortable warmth of the east but the overwhelming heat of the desert or the jungle. He rewards those who endure under long difficulty but also sustains those who serve him.
Holy Symbol: A cloud, heavy and grey with rain

Laghrat
Laghrat, the god of the west, is the god of things that end. He is associated with the setting sun, with the end of life, and with the change of the seasons. He is also linked to the end of journeys and the conclusion of times of struggle. His winds are brisk and dry, bringing an end to the wetter, gentler winds of Shaayaq but also bringing sailors safely back to their home ports.
Holy Symbol: A clay oil lamp lit with a flickering flame

Shom
Shom, the god of the north, is as wild and harsh as the cold winds that swirl through the high peaks of the Mountains. He is distant, cold, and aloof, lacking the loving and cheerful nature of Shaayaq or the overbearing concern of Jaanb. He can also be furious in his anger, wreaking destruction on those who oppose him or wish harm upon the Faithful. On the other hand, he is the source of trials and strength for those who believe in him. Through the testing of Shom, the strong of the Faithful are tempered and hammered into more perfect instruments of the gods.
Holy Symbol: A stylized icicle

The Gods of the Faithful in the Game
The gods of the Faithful, as simultaneously one and many, do not lend themselves well to the typical system of portfolios, domains, and favored weapons so prevalent in other settings. Clerics devoted to the gods of the Faithful may select any domains, as long as their personal outlook and alignment match their domains. Similarly, a cleric of the gods of the Faithful may select any single martial or simple weapon to serve as her favored weapon. She must make this choice at character creation and cannot change it thereafter. The gods of the Faithful are generally considered to be Neutral Good or True Neutral.

Optional Rule: Regional Favored Weapons
As with so many other things, a character’s home region is often more important than her deity’s favored weapon when determining the type of training she receives. A character may select to use her region’s favored weapon instead of her deity’s favored weapon for all purposes. She must make this choice at character creation and cannot change it thereafter. The regional favored weapons are:

{table=head]Region|Favored Weapon
Genzland|Longspear
Tanu ya Nzadi|Battleaxe
Home Territory|Dagger
Śetaig|Shortbow
Qileka|Short Sword
Aadipura|Guisarm
The Mountains|Heavy Pick
The Hinterlands|Longbow
The Śathadva Islands|Greatclub
The Fádech Desert|Kukri
Shokhestan|Scimitar[/table]

The New Gods



As the Torrent raged around them, clerics who reached out to the gods felt their spells fail. In the years that followed, intrepid priests and mages tentatively reached out once again, only to find their Commune and Contact Other Plane spells continuing to fizzle and die.

Over time, convinced that the four gods had truly abandoned the world, new religious sects began to develop around the beings clerics remembered interacting with in the past; the lesser spirits who were believed to serve as messengers and subordinates and who still occasionally answered to Commune rituals. As more and more worshipers looked for solace, blessing and solutions to specific problems, more sects were founded and the number of devotees of the new gods increased.

The new gods do not constitute a united pantheon by any stretch of the imagination, though most of their devotees believe that relationships exist between some or all of them. There are, however, some unifying beliefs that link their devotees together. Foremost among them is the increasingly-popular belief that the four gods of the Faithful never existed and that the new gods are the only real deities. Second, they believe that there is no ultimate separation between the mortal and the divine. Just as mortals can breach the fabric of the planes and travel to the spirit world, so too can they participate in the lives of the gods. To be sure, the gods are vastly more powerful than any mortal, but the difference is one of degree, not of kind.

Unlike the gods of the Faithful, the new gods are believed to be comprehensible to mortals. They have faces and physical appearances, limited (though still considerable) powers, specific areas of responsibility, well-defined personalities, understandable motivations, and character flaws. Images, statues, and paintings are used extensively in the worship of the new gods, where they serve as focuses for devotion and recipients of offering. The image is cleaned and bathed before offerings of money, fire, sweets, and rare spices are made at its feet. Many believe that these images serve as points of connection between the devotee and the deity, and that just beholding the image (even from a distance) establishes a momentary connection.

Sample New God: Mah’kaari
Mah’kaari is the god of disease and plague. Most worshipers see him as dispassionate, his diseases merely a part of life (though he spreads them with a wantonness and joy that many find disturbing). However, as happens so frequently within sects of the new gods, this view is far from universal. Some factions within the sect represent him as Neutral Evil, the bringer of death and destruction. Others represent him as Neutral Good, one who prevents plagues when properly placated.

Mah’kaari is most often represented as an emaciated ascetic figure, clad in a loincloth made of the leaves of a wide variety of plants, usually stylizations of important herbs. He has 10 arms, each of which holds a vial or incense-burning device (the exact nature of these implements depends upon location and the prominent diseases of the area). His hands are usually postured to indicate waving or shaking as he distributes these diseases over the world. His symbols include an incense burner, a stoppered vial, a leaf, a scarf and a bloody tear, often drawn in ash on the devotee’s forehead.

• Holy Symbol: A bloody tear
• Portfolio: Disease, plague, pestilence, healing, death, life, purity and impurity
• Domains: Death, Healing, Madness (Complete Divine), Pestilence (Complete Divine)
• Favored Weapon: Light Flail

Sample New God: Maata
Maata is the patron of mothers, wives, grandmothers, and daughters. She is also worshiped for her ability to influence fertility (both human and of the land) and her powers over childbirth. She is often depicted sitting in a water lily with a child in her arms. While she is usually seen as a benevolent, relatively calm figure, she also represents the power of motherly affection. She has an alternate form, known as Larani, who represents the ability of mothers to fight for their loved ones. Larani is much fiercer than Maata and is often depicted in the midst of battle, a child slung on her back in a sling, battling slavers who are seen holding the chains of several young children. Maata, in her incarnation as Larani, has four arms and darker maroon skin.

• Holy Symbol: A stylized child in a sling
• Portfolio: Motherhood, family, childbirth, fertility, protection
• Domains: As Maata – Healing, Good, Charm (Spell Compendium). As Larani – War, Good, Strength
• Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike. Clerics of Larani who select the War domain gain Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat instead of Martial Weapon Proficiency.

Sample New God: Amanu
Amanu is the god of tantric practitioners, renouncers, rebels, and anyone who exists outside the law. He is also worshiped by thieves, but they aren’t included in his primary responsibility. Amanu is often depicted as a wandering ascetic, emaciated, clad only in a simple loin cloth and carrying little except his begging bowl and his staff.

• Holy Symbol: A begging bowl, occasionally skull-shaped
• Portfolio: Asceticism, renunciation, rejection of normal society, rebellion, thievery
• Domains: Asceticism, Knowledge, Luck, Travel, Trickery
• Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff

Sample New God: Mephibosheth
Mephibosheth is the god that rules over the making and maintenance of contracts, promises, covenants, and agreements of all types. He works to ensure that the sanctity of a covenant is maintained, that promises are kept, and that “my word is my bond” still has meaning. He is especially powerful when the covenant involves family or community ties. Mephibosheth is most often depicted as a young man leaning heavily on the haft of a guisarm. His legs appear slightly misshapen and underdeveloped, and he moves in a deliberate, cumbersome fashion. He most often appears wearing dark robes with a hood that covers his face. His symbols are the guisarm that he wields, a small and elaborately-carved model of a banquet table, a rolled up scroll, and a quill pen. Any of these emblems indicate Mephibosheth’s influence, and contracts commonly include a drawing of his quill pen and his scroll near the area where the signatures are written.

• Holy Symbol: A quill pen
• Portfolio: Promises, contracts, covenants, agreements, family, communities, underdogs
• Domains: Community (Spell Compendium), Law, Luck, Protection
• Favored Weapon: Guisarm

The New Gods in the Game
This book, while it provides examples of the new gods, does not provide game rules for all of them. The new gods are too numerous to even scratch the surface and too diverse to adequately represent in a single book. Individual DMs should populate their Scroungers world with new gods and players should be encouraged to participate. If a player wants their character to be a devotee of a specific deity, the DM should work with the player to craft the story and rules for that deity or adapt it to Stha Lui’s cultural, religious, and linguistic context. DMs should not shy away from establishing relationships between different gods. Perhaps a new deity is merely a second incarnation of another, more powerful god. Perhaps a new goddess is the consort, wife, or daughter of an already-established deity.

The Nameless Gods

Scroungers, sailors, fishermen, and those who live on the coasts have begun to worship a group of nameless gods. The nameless gods are associated with the waves, the wind, storms, and other facets of life on, in, or near the sea.

In some ways like the gods of the Faithful, the nameless gods are as faceless as the natural phenomena over which they govern. Their temples are as austere and hard as the reality of life at sea. Unlike the gods of the Faithful, however, their worshippers know little about them; neither their motivations nor their personalities. Their existence is accepted as a matter of pragmatic necessity and because lack of evidence to the contrary. They inspire more fear than love.

The nameless gods are most commonly revered as a group, with the faces and personalities of the individual nameless gods remaining unknown. While some profess greater faith in one or the other of the nameless gods, most who ply the seas lift their prayers to the nameless gods together, hoping to receive the blessing of all the gods and ensure a safe voyage. The ire of even one of the nameless gods can spell disaster. They are known by different names (the Sea God, the Wind God, the God Below the Waves, the Storm God, the Cold God, and others) but few if any know more about them.

Like the old gods after the Torrent, the nameless gods, if they truly exist at all, are silent and distant. There have, however, been miracles and signs attributed to the nameless gods: sailors drowned at sea emerging alive again from the water, food found miraculously on bare and rocky islands, salt water turning sweet and saving men from thirst. These miracles are inconsistent and infrequent at best. Some of the nameless gods’ most faithful devotees have sought their aid consistently for decades and never received an iota of help. Others with little faith have been blessed.

In the years following the Torrent, a sharp distinction has arisen between the nameless gods and the gods of the Faithful. The nameless gods have become the gods of the sea and the gods of the Faithful have become the gods of the land. The nameless gods are the gods of the bleak present; the gods of the Faithful are the gods of the utopian past. Devotees of the different gods coexist, but not without friction. The nameless gods are seen as hard, unfeeling, and callous by devotees of the old gods. The old gods are thought to be idle, decadent, and soft by those who follow the nameless gods.

The religious distinction between land and sea is more than mere semantics. Devotees, especially of the nameless gods, believe that the gods are more powerful in their respective domains. The old gods are believed to be most powerful on land, with their power waning (or even disappearing) in the deep ocean. The nameless gods, on the other hand, are only powerful where water dominates the environment. Away from the ocean and other large bodies of water, the nameless gods are believed to be blind and powerless.

The Nameless Gods in the Game
Like lay worshippers, most clerics serve the nameless gods as a pantheon. Clerics of the nameless gods can select from the following domains: air, death, destruction, navigation*, travel, trickery, war, and water. Players using the Spell Compendium should add the following domains to those granted by the new gods: cold, ocean, storm, trade, and windstorm. Clerics who focus their devotion on one of the nameless gods should select domains that correspond to that god’s portfolio. Clerics of the nameless gods can select any single weapon from the following list as their favored weapon: battleaxe, guisarm, longbow, longsword, scythe, spear, and trident. The cleric makes this choice upon taking her first cleric level and cannot change it thereafter. The nameless gods are considered to be True Neutral or slightly Chaotic Neutral.

The Prophesies
The old gods’ apparent absence from the world was a serious blow to religious establishments throughout Stha Lui. Even among the landborn, where religious faith remains strongest, people are questioning their traditional beliefs. However, the divine voice is not completely lost to the world. In the decades following the Torrent and the old gods’ disappearance, as newcomers settled on Stha Lui and new societies began to emerge, certain individuals began to hear the voices of the old gods’ servants and to prophesy concerning their return.

These prophets, while few in number, were scattered throughout Stha Lui’s religious and ethnic groups. They passed on a large number of Prophesies, each containing small bits of information. Some were recorded, others were not. Some inevitably still remain to be discovered. However, all of them point to the old gods’ eventual return.

The Prophesies tell of individuals who are to come. These individuals will be able to hear the old gods’ voices directly and act to bring about their return. Some prophetic scholars believe that these individuals will be a physical manifestation of aspects of the old gods’ powers; the four gods made flesh. Others argue that these individuals will be simple mortals, blessed by fate and devotion. Still others maintain that all four old gods will become incarnate within a single individual. The Prophesies themselves are somewhat ambiguous on this point. Whatever their nature, the Prophesies agree that their coming will herald a time of great struggle and sacrifice but also the return of homelands lost to the sea.