Gods, Cosmology and Magic


Gods of Tollaria

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The First Three
Before anything came The First Three. Apsu, the sun, his brother Barbarus, the Moon and Choryx, the Oblivion. All three emerged at the same time. Choryx was the antithesis of Apsu and Barbarus.

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Apsu, the Sun NG
Life, Fire, Good, Sun, Strength
The Creator
Apsu is the great ball of fire in the sky, the one who makes life possible. He made the Dragons and, alongside Barbarus, the Giants.

Barbarus, the Moon NG
Darknes, Knowledge, Water, Weather
Deceased. Former patron of Aasimar
Barbarus was the moon. He had the loyalty of the Aasimar and, in return, lent them his divine power. He was killed by the Eloi to pave the way for the Eloi Pantheon.

Choryx, the Oblivion NE
Death, Destruction, Evil, Void
Deceased
Choryx was the darkness that filled the sky. When he was killed by the Eloi, his body splintered into an immense horde of soul-devouring fiends, led by the Four Horsemen. Without his dark bulk covering the night, stars appeared. The early Humans looked up at these stars and wondered what they could be. Choryx’s death inspired human curiosity and drove the race to greatness. While his mantle as The End of All Things had been taken up by the Four Horsemen, the horsemen were not hovering over everyone every night and the lack of that forbodeing, once the fiendish hordes had been thwarted, sent the world into a heroic age.


The Giants
Apsu and Barbarus together made eight giants and sent them down to the world to shape it and make life. Choryx, wishing to keep the brothers in check, made two giants of his own.
The Giants of Apsu and Barbarus now lay in a deep slumber. Clerics of these Giants gain their divine power from the amazing amounts of divine magic that emanate from the Giants’ sleeping bodies. The Giants never speak to their followers and so their will is always just an interpretation. They have no names but those given them by their followers.

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Korvosh, the Fire God CE
Fire, Chaos, Rune
Patron of Fire Dwarves
One of the Giants made by Choryx, Korvosh tried to stymie his brothers’ efforts to shape the world by causing great explosions of magma to ravage the land. Morub and Tun together drove Korvosh deep underground and imprisoned him there within a huge lake of magma. Thousands of years passed and Korvosh’s magic infused the lake he was trapped in, giving birth to the Demondand who work tirelessly to free Korvosh from his prison, constantly driven by the Fire God’s whispers.


Morub, the Shaper N
Earth, Strength, Artifice,
Patron of Stone Dwarves
Morub and Tun together created the continents and now lay side by side deep beneath a mountain range on the Eloi continent. Their magical energies reacting with the stone that entombed them created the Dwarves. These Dwarves see Morub as the one who gave them their bodies.

Ogrosh, the Ogre Lord N
Nobility, Healing, Community
Patron of Ogres
Ogrosh was the last of the Giants to enter the deep sleep. He waited until the shaping of the world was complete before making his masterpiece: Creatures who would have been too frail to survive the changes caused by the Giants’ remodelling. Ogrosh is responsible for all the non-magical creatures of the world, including Mankind. He sleeps in a valley that was discovered by a group of adventurers who saw him as a God. Eventually, the valley was settled and a great cathedral was built to house his body. The proximity to Ogrosh, combined with prayer and meditation in the pursuit of becoming His image, caused these humans to grow to great size and turned them into Ogres.

Sha, the Whisperer CE
Water, Madness, Trickery
Patron of Deep Water Dwarves and the Frost Dwarves
Sha is the second Giant sent by Choryx to lay low all that Apsu and Barbarus have made. Unlike Korvosh, he kept his arrival quiet and even now hides beneath the waves, waiting for the right moment to rise and bring ruin to those that dwell above. Where Korvoth favors brute methods, Sha’s are much subtler. Unbeknownst to her, It was Sha that led the Eloi Matriarch to the secret of God-Killing. He is also responsible for several other historical disasters, always acting behind the scenes. He is waited on by the aboleth, a creation as insane and diabolical as their creator.

Tun, the Maker N
Earth, Law, Protection
Patron of Stone Dwarves
Morub and Tun together created the continents and now lay side by side deep beneath a mountain range on the Eloi continent. Their magical energies reacting with the stone that entombed them created the Dwarves. Tun is said to be the one who breathed life into the first of these Dwarves

Ugun, the Stone Father N
Earth, Rune, Magic
Patron of Diamond Dwarves
Ugun’s role in shaping the planet was to map out the Arcane Leylines that would not only feed magic to world but keep it from running rampant and tearing apart the masterpiece he and his brothers worked so hard to create. He sleeps in a crystal cavern below the Eloi continent.
From these crystals sprang the Oreads.

Unamed Giant in the Arctic N
Weather, Repose, Knowledge
This Giant formed the climate of the world as a whole. He has no name as the Frost Dwarves that make their home in his glacial resting place will not name him, their scholars on a fruitless quest to discover what the Giant was called. The Barbegazi were created from His magical body but, oddly for a race so focused on knowing, refuse to believe Him to be their progenitor. They believe their God lies elsewhere and has tasked them with learning about this creature trapped in the ice. This is a result of Sha’s trickery. The Ice Giant does not speak to his creations, but Sha whispers in their minds, driving them to terrible misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the knowledge they crave.

Unamed Giant Underground N
Earth, Chaos, Destruction
This Giant carved the great caverns below the surface of the earth, seeding it with life that would remain hidden to those on the surface for many thousands of years, including the Lizardfolk who were quickly enslaved by Korvoth’s Magmin. He sleeps in a cavern that once had a tunnel to the surface of the human continent. When his body spawned the Crag Men, it caused a massive quake. The newly born creatures fled for their lives up the tunnel as it collapsed behind them, entombing the unknown Giant.

Twin Unamed Hidden Giants N
Creation, Destruction, Life, Death
These Giants together created the powerful, magical races of the world. As a masterpiece, each created a sentient race in his likeness. One made the Aasimar, the other made the Eloi. They sleep somewhere hidden, where even other Gods cannot find them.


The Eloi Pantheon
The Pantheon were created when the Eloi used the secrets given by Sha, the Whisperer to kill one of the FIrst Three: Barbarus, the Moon. His divinity was harnessed by the Eloi and elevated them to even greater heights. The creation of The Eloi Pantheon marked the end of the Eloi Aasimar war and the beginning of a 120 year golden age for the Eloi.

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The Matriarch LN
Magic, Knowledge, Glory, Nobility
Deceased. Former patron of Eloi
The Matriarch was a great leader of her people. When the Eloi stole the Moon’s divinity she used some of it to elevate herself to Godhood so she could continue to lead her people through the generations. Her own hubris proved her downfall when, from her urgings, the Eloi tried the steal divinity from Oblivion, unleashing nightmarish fiends upon the world. The Matriarch fought alongside her people but was eventually slain, her divine soul torn into four pieces and trapped by all four of The Horsemen.

Temunan and Asulmun, the Twin Lodestone Moons LN and LN
Darkness, Weather, Death, Knowledge
Patrons of Eloi
Asulmun is Patron of High Elves and Dark Elves
When the Eloi killed Barbarus, the moon was split in twain. Using her new godhood and amazing arcane rituals, The Matriarch bound some of Barbarus’s divinity into the split halves of his corpse and transformed them into new gods and mystic Lodestones for her peoples’ souls. Asulum, the larger half, is a magnet of sorts. He would stop the souls of Eloi from leaving the material plane to rejoin the wheel of life and death through the outer planes. Every soul instead would pass through him, and onto Temunan, the smaller half, who would prepare the souls for rebirth and send them back to their newly made bodies, previous lives and memories intact.
When the fiends of Choryx were unleashed, they began devouring mortal souls, sentencing them to oblivion. Due to the Lodestone Moons, the Elois’ souls could not be completely destroyed and instead became tainted by their passage through the monsters. These souls came to Asulmun as normal and he sent them on the Temunan. The tainted souls proved difficult to process and caused Temunan to become faulty in his duties. The tainted Eloi were returned not as Eloi but as the ravaging Orcs.
In a final attempt to escape the Horsemen’s army, the High Nobles of the Eloi fled the surface for the safety of Temunan. Their exodus was foreseen, however, and decimated by the fiends. The thirty two survivors watched as the last bastion of Eloi civilization fell and, assuming themselves to be the last of the Eloi, harnessed the power of Temunan and repurposed him, using his divinity to grant them all true immortality so long as they remain on the Moon.
Asulmun continued to work as a lodestone, keeping the remaining Eloi, the Orc and eventually the Elf souls from leaving the Material plane, but without Temunan to process them they were returned to the world without any memory of their previous lives.

Antonal, the Living God CG
Life, Animals, Plants, Healing
Patron of Gnomes and Goblins
While the Eloi harnessed much of Barbarus’s divinity to create the Twin Lodestone Moons and grant godhood to the Matriarch, much of the power his death released remained unused. Some came together in the forests of the Eloi continent to spontaneously create Antonal, god of Life and the Living. Shortly after the Moon’s death, small, intelligent, humanoid creatures began appearing, first on the Eloi continent and then around the world. These were the Gnomes, an extension of Antonal’s will. Each Gnome is actually a small part of the God himself, thus the moniker ‘The Living God,’ and each Gnome sees it as their duty to spread as much life as possible, usually through traditional reproduction.

Seyotek, the Hidden God CN
Darkness, Chaos, Charm, Trickery, Liberation
Patron of Dark Elves and Osguloth
Where Antonal announced his spontaneous creation to the world, Seyotek chose to remain hidden. Deep belowground he discovered one of the primitive races created by the Giant Underground and gave his power to them, allowing their civilization to advance incredibly fast. These Osguloth worship Seyotek unquestionably and adhere to his tenants of stealth, misdirection and subjugation from within. Eventualy, when the Eloi on the surface lost contact with Temunan and became the two sects of elves, Seyotek lured many of the Dark Elves away, to the underground stronghold of the Osguloth where he amasses his forces for some unknown future event.


The Four Horsemen

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Charon, Horseman of Death
Death, Evil, Void
Patron of the Strix

Appolyon, Horseman of Pestilence
Destruction, Evil, Void

Szuriel, Horseman of War
Destruction, Evil, Void
Patron of Orcs

Trelmarixian, Horseman of Famine
Death, Evil, Void



Dragonflight Lords

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Baphomet LG
Scalykind, Fire, Good, Liberation
Patron of Mettalic Dragons

Tiamat
Scalykind, Air, Good, Strength
Deceased

Nerexus LN
Scalykind, Air, Law, Magic
Patron of Chromatic Dragons



others:

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Aroden, God of Humanity NG
Community, Nobility, Luck, Glory, Travel
Patron of Humans

Daru Biggs, human god of primal magic CG

The Wicked Coven, goddesses of elements LE

Ferryck The Torn, former god of elements, now just a bunch of elementals CN


Omun, god of life and death, the judge of souls N




Cosmology
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Material Plane

Omun’s Domain
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In the center of the flaming ball that is the manifestation of Apsu on the material plane is a portal to Omun’s Domain where all mortal souls spend their afterlife. Apsu’s domain is made of three separate planes: First, the seven-tiered mountain of heaven, home to archons and all good and worthy mortal souls. Below heaven, extending as deep down as the massive mountain rises, are the seven pits of Hell, where evil and cruel mortals spend their afterlife being tormented by devils. At the junction between the mountain and the pit lies the Court of Souls, presided over by Omun himself. It is in these massive courts that the god of death judges whether a soul is worthy of the prize of heaven, or damned to the pits of hell. Omun is served by psychopomps, who ferry all mortal souls (save those of the eloi) from the material plane to his plane.


Abaddon
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In the early days of the world, Choryx, the Oblivion’s dark form blotted out the night sky. Beyond Choryx’s body was a plane of his own, but while the world within Apsu was one of paradise and pain, Choryx held back a plane of pure destruction: Abaddon. When the Eloi struck him down and his body shattered, the ravening daemons of Abaddon were unleashed into the material plane. This wave of fiends would have consumed everything is Apsu had not reacted swiftly, sending forth a massive army of angels to drive back the invasion. These billions of angels now stand a constant vigil, twinkling as stars before the yawning black chasm that is the entrance to abaddon.


Astral
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The astral plane lies within and between all other major planes. It is in the astral plane that the arcane leylines of tollaria originate and pierce through to the material plane at places of convergence. Being concurrent with most other planes, the astral plane is used as a superhighway of sorts for many planar travellers. It is through the astral that Omun’s psychopomps ferry the souls of dead mortals to his court.


Heightened
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If one were to move through an area of leyline convergence, into the astral plane then out the other side, he would find himself in the Heightened World. Here, everything is larger than life. It is similar to Tollaria on the material plane but the colors are brighter, the distances farther, the sensations more vivid and the magic more potent. The heightened world is an intensified mirror of Tollaria, created when Ugun formed the leyline network around the world. Every creature, object and event in Tollaria has an exaggerated counterpart in the heightened world. The mundane races are represented by magical fey creatures while the magical races are mirrored as powerful outsiders like agathions, genies and more. The azata are the exception to this. The creatures are an enigma, having apparently no origin, no connection to Apsu and no counterparts on any other plane. Fey creatures from the heightened plane are the most likely inhabitants to be found on the material, being based on mundane creatures and so less loathe of the dull world most heightened creatures see Tollaria as.

Ethereal

Shadow

Maelstrom

Abyss




Magic
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Divine Magic in Tollaria
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Every God in Tollaria, save those spawned by the death of Choryx, in some way owes their divinity to Apsu, the Sun. Whether they were created directly by his hand, like the slumbering Giants, or ascended to Godhood by harnessing the ambient divine power left over from the death of another God, like some of the younger deities, all divinity traces it’s way back to Apsu. The exceptions are those fiendish deities spawned from Choryx, the Adversary. Their power comes from a darker place, but the mechanics of this profane magic are effectively the same as that derived from Apsu.

Because Tollaria is the land where Gods walk among men, divine magic is everywhere. Each God is a vast reservoir of divinity and many of them aren’t careful about how much spills out into the world around them. Thus, because Gods have been walking Tollaria for many thousands of years, it is relatively easy to tap into the power of the divine. Some divine casters take the traditional route and are granted power by their patron deity while others worship no deity and simply use the ambient divine power that permeates the world. An interesting compromise are those who take their power from the slumbering Giants. Among the oldest of Gods, the Giants have been sleeping since the dawn of time and have never responded to any worshiper’s attempted communion. However, because their bodies are of such powerful divinity, having been created directly from Apsu as opposed to the secondhand power of the younger Gods, followers of the Giants find it easy to tap in to the specific ambient divinity of their patrons.

Walking with your God
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Because all Gods on Tollaria take physical form, many worshippers enjoy a much more personal relationship with their deity than those on other worlds. When a divine caster is physically near his patron deity, he is filled to overflowing with divine power and does not expend spell slots for any spells he casts. This is usually within a few dozen feet for weaker gods but the distance grows farther proportional to the deity’s power. There are two exceptions to this. The slumbering Giants are one exception because they do not directly grant power to their followers. A divine caster who worships one of the Giants does, however, cast all spells at +1 caster level when within one mile of their patron, because of the increased concentration of the Giants’ ambient divinity. The Gods Antonal and Ferryck The Torn are the second exception because their physical presence on Tollaria is split between thousands of gnomes and elementals, respectively. Because their presence is so diluted it grants no bonuses to nearby worshipping divine casters.
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Arcane Magic in Tollaria
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A network of criss-crossing power conduits, called leylines, that covers the planet are the source of Tollaria’s arcane magic. These leylines exist mostly in the astral plane and only intersect the material at points where two or more leylines converge. As such they are largely undetectable, except by those who are trained in the arcane arts or have a natural inclination for arcana.

Because the leyline network is so extensive, it is relatively simple for an arcane caster to draw forth power from a leyline from almost anywhere in Tollaria.

Convergences and Deadzones
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Places where two or more leylines cross are called convergences. This is an area where the magic of the leyline network in the astral plane pierces through to the material. While lesser convergences, where only two or three leylines meet, are not enough to create any substantial change in local arcana, convergences of dozens or even hundreds of leylines are places of great power for arcane casters. Arcane spells cast in areas of greater convergence where over a dozen leylines converge are cast at +1 caster level. If the area is one of a massive convergence, with over one hundred leylines meeting, arcane spells are cast at +2 caster level. It is hypothesised by some that there are even more powerful areas of convergence hidden around Tollaria that would increase arcane might enough to allow a single wizard to stand up against even a God.

While convergences are meetings of multiple leylines and places of power for arcane casters, deadzones are the exact opposite. Though rare, there are some areas in Tollaria that no leyline comes near. With no leylines near enough, no new arcane power can be drawn forth while within one of these deadzones. Any arcane caster travelling through a deadzone is advised to bring as many spell-storing items as he can carry, for once he casts all of the spells he prepared, or uses all of the spell slots he had available before venturing into the deadzone he will be unable to regain any spells until he returns to an area with active leylines.

Random notes
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Humans are new to arcane magic so mostly wordcast
The races of Eloiwhyn have had ages to craft spells so use traditional spellcasting
Daru Biggs has tangled leylines with his divinity and controls primal magic
The kami of Okuroshi use sutra magic