My pantheon presents... The goddess of suffering

[White Blade]

Because the world didn't have enough of them, I thought I would make another pantheon. I have endeavored to follow a few rules:
• Every deity should be one people would actually worship.
• Every deity should be one players would actually be interested in playing a cleric of.
• Every deity should actually be interesting, both in how they interact and behave and in their history and lore.
• One for each of the non-neutral alignments
Without further ado, the first of my pantheon of eight:
Qaenah, the Widow

Life is full of misery and suffering - And it's all over much too soon.
-Woody Allen
Glorious Odysseus: don’t try to reconcile me to my dying. I’d rather serve as another man’s labourer, as a poor peasant without land, and be alive on Earth, than be lord of all the lifeless dead.
-Achilles in the Odyssey
Domains: Cold, Competition, Darkness, Death, Deathbound, Decay, Endurance, Evil, Hunger, Necromancy, Pestilance, Pain, Suffering, Thirst, Undeath, Watery Death
Portfolio: Desperation, compromise (especially moral), weakness, old age, fear, suffering, endurance, survival, perspective, wisdom, equanimity, silence, rationing, triage, undeath, necromancers, survivors, hunters, elders, and (some) healers.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 10:
Qaenah, the Widow, is the goddess of old age, desperation, the struggle to survive, and equanimity. She is a fearful deity, invoked on dark nights and hard days, whenever people are hungry or whenever they bury their dead. To her devotees, she offers a simple counsel: Life is hard, cruel, and bitter - But better to be alive than dead. You have to be tough to survive, able to tolerate immense pain of every kind, and you have to survive to be of any use to anyone.

Qaenah was once a happy and beautiful goddess, but she, her mortal husband, and her son and daughter were stranded far from the divine fortresses when the First Age ended a millennia ago and gave way to the Dracomachy. In desperation, she murdered her husband* and transformed herself into an immortal lich. "Cold as Qaenah" means a willingness to sacrifice anything.

Maligned by some as the goddess of cowards and necromancers, Qaenah, alone among her divine siblings, has known compromise and weakness - The desperation that comes when your back is against the wall and the madness that comes from the desire to live. She has killed, betrayed, and even been defeated time and again. She offers no judgment to those who seek her and asks that they give none in turn. She approvals of all who survive, who endure to see the next day and despises no one.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 15:
The church of Qaenah is seldom well liked in times of plenty but it is popular in the winter months, when the priesthood frequently controls rationing and hunting, as well as providing many experts in the processes of life and death and repositories of memory and prior cases. In times of crisis, they can be relied upon to rank people strictly according to how much they contribute to the community and calls for the collectivization food by the Qaenite priests are universally heeded (those who fail to do so frequently find themselves haunted by the ghosts of the starved).

Among the few core doctrines of the church beyond the command to survive is an abhorrence of waste - Wasted necessities, especially, but also wasted time and wasted feelings. Revenge is a waste of energy and an invitation to trouble. Sometimes retributive action is necessary to provide for future security but otherwise, just let it go. No minute is ever wasted by the clerics of Qaenah.

Qaenah invented necromancy after the death of her mother, the Weaver, began to draw all living souls into the grave. Fearing for the lives and identities of her mortal children, she murdered her husband to ensure her own immortality and fed them her blood. Her two children became the first vampires, now known more by the sobriquets of "Hunger and Thirst" than by their historical names.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 20
"Always be indispensable but never brag" has long been the calling card of the Qaenite priesthood, especially thanks to the fact that as rations masters, they often gain enemies. Qaenite clerics are frequently healers or expert necromancers and still more are ready to provide necessary but unpleasant services. They are also frequently the first to extend a hand of peace to conquerors.

In some of the oldest legends of Qaenah, she and her siblings had multitudinous siblings who were of age when the Smith was murdered and the Devourer was sundered and the Dracomachy began. Adammah and Ishmut were at home, just barely old enough to be considered divine adults. The dragons slaughtered all the siblings of Qaenah out in the world and Qaenah, in terror, endeavored to survive by any means necessary. In so doing, she invented necromancy, the process of becoming a lich, and vampires.

The unfortunate side effect was to decrease the health and well-being of those creatures that were closer to the grave by the length of their strand. Thus, to the limited amount of time that each person was now apportion, the effects of age began to bring weakness, illness, and decrepitude. Although to this day people talk about "the Widow's portion" when they talk about the misfortunes of aging, the knowledge of the origin of the saying is largely lost.

Knowledge (Religion) DC 25:
When Qaenah had weathered her way home across the vast spaces to the divine fortresses through the haze of her difficulty, her brothers forbade her children to enter the fortresses (though they were delighted that Qaenah herself had survived.). They were insatiable, distractible, and had no self-control. Qaenah refused to enter the fortress without them.

In the end, they betrayed their mother, trying to hand her phylactery over to the dragons in exchange for their own lives. Qaenah spirited it away from them and they were left to draconic mercies (though some say they still endure upon the earth). Qaenah returned to her brothers' in the Last Cities. While this might have made some bitter, Qaenah has never complained of a grudge against her brothers or the dragons. In fact, some myths say it was Qaenah who suggested the Treaty to Beryt and all the stories agree that it was she who cast the deciding vote among the gods to end the Dracomachy.

Qaenah's phylactery was once held in the Starry Hall where the gods live, but Zediqah tried to destroy it which precipitated Zediqah's (first) banishment, the Great Crusade, and the institution of the New Code. Now, no one knows where Qaenah's phylactery is. It is a simple iron box, full of mystic writing, and it could be anywhere in the world. It would be incredibly unwise to find it.

*The SRD says that unspeakably evil deeds must be performed to create a phylactery. I will speak those deeds here, within the setting: You must kill someone you love by tearing their heart out (or racial equivalent) to ensure your own immortality. When you do so, you render them permanently dead, impossible to resurrect or return to life so long as you survive binding them (in setting parlance, their thread) inviolably to your phylactery.
Organization: The Huntsmen

The relationship of vampires and the faith of Qaenah is complicated. Among the Nightfang orcs, the worship of Qaenah is a staple and the vampires maintain a close relationship with Qaenah, who bears her children's descendants no ill will. But among the other races, the predatory nature of vampires marks them as enemies of every living creature. Amongst these races, the August Order of The Huntsmen are some of the foremost hunters of the predatory undead in the world and preeminent experts in both Nightfang culture and the broader tendencies of vampires. Composed mainly of rangers and scouts, the order specializes in the destruction of the undead - As well as providing an expertise in hunting and other bounty hunter services to any who can pay, of course. Each member swears a vow to destroy vampires and to complete their commissions. Rumor has it, of course, that some members are themselves undead or even vampires, but the order stringently denies the later accusation.

Code of Conduct for Clerics of Qaenah:
This is the code of conduct for clerics of Qaenah, not every member of the faith:
• Above all else, survive - Survival is its own justification.
• Don't waste - There's not enough hours in the day, not enough days in a life, not enough bread for the belly, not enough cloaks for the winter. Don't throw away extras you don't have.
• Don't be cruel - Kill if you have to, hurt if you have to, even do cruel deeds if you must. But the world is cruel enough, don't do it for fun.
• Never let it get personal and never judge - Life is a desperate battle to survive that most people lose. Sometimes, you'll be the one getting stepped on. Sometimes, you'll be the one doing the stepping. Resentment and "justice" just get in the way of making the best choice - For you and anyone you care to bring along for the ride.
• Endeavor to always be useful - It's hard to survive alone.

[King of Nowhere]

nice concept overall.

[Mighty_Chicken]

This is great! I long for more gods of this pantheon, and more on the Dracomachy and Nightfang orcs.

[White Blade]

nice concept overall.

Thanks!

This is great! I long for more gods of this pantheon, and more on the Dracomachy and Nightfang orcs.

Thank you for the kind words. Adammah, the lawful evil god of family and nation, is probably next and there’s more information on the Dracomachy in most deity’s backstory. As far as the Nightfang Orcs, though, I can provide some stuff (though their history is tied up with Zediqah’s legend).

Cultural Group: The Nightfang Orcs

“I bear you no animus mortal, but my tribe needs me and I need blood.” -Akva, vampire cleric
A culture born during the Dracomachy, the Nightfang orcs were formed through a convergence of orcish weaknesses and vampiric strengths. Sharing a vulnerability to sunlight with vampires and possessing minds deeply vulnerable to mind control but powerful physical bodies, omnivorous eating habits, and short lifespans, the orcs make an ideal chattel race for vampires.

Although they experienced a brief imperial age during the Scourging, Nightfang orcs are primarily a nomadic raiding culture, raised from birth to serve a vampiric master. The lives of Nightfang orcs are short and full of violence, but they know little else. The vampires provide food for orcs and the orcs, in turn, provide food for the vampires by raiding other races. Rebels are dominated or, in the unlikely event they can't be dominated in short order, turned into vampires themselves. The chief goal of every Nightfang orc is vampirism, joining the ranks of their race's honored elders. Although some might expect the vampire lords to bestow this grace on their most successful warriors, they in fact select for strength of will.

According to the Nightfang sect of Qaenite religion, Hunger and Thirst's divine sparks continue to reside in vampires. This is both good and bad - Providing immense strength, prowess, wisdom, and immortality but also inescapable hunger. Only the strongest willed vampires can resist feeding for even a day - But obviously, draining a humanoid every week is brutal even through regular raiding. Since resisting their hunger is a core to their own viability and largely mental, the Nightfangs try to recruit members of indomitable wills to be vampires. In this way, vampirism is the ultimate test and ultimate reward - Immortality for the price of psychic torment.

Much of Nightfang culture represents this, teaching ascetic practices as well as propagating mental self-discipline. Qaenite clerics oversee the formation of young souls, teaching young orcs the way of things.

Wolf-Night:
Though the vampires largely function as parasites, they also provide highly valuable services to the orcs. One of the main weekly celebrations is Wolf Night, when a vampire will call up wolves to be slaughtered and eaten. The festivities around this are loud and often raucous nocturnal ceremonies, with shouting, boasting matches and feats of endurance on display.

The wolves are called, slaughtered, and their meat distributed across the tribe. The festival provides nearly all the meat necessary for the average band of orcs to survive, providing on average about six hundred pounds of meat per Wolf-Night.

On the off-chance that a vampire expects peaceful visitors, they will usually hold the festival as a display of power to the visitors.

[brian 333]

I was not invited to participate in your worldbuilding, but I was inspired. Feel free to reject this fan fiction.

Caemon The Despised

A young, rebelious, Nightfang Orc was repeatedly dominated by the masters, but he proved to be strong of will and difficult to control. He broke free of the domination and made his way alone in the wilderness.

For a time the orcs hunted their wayward brother, but he eluded or destroyed them. Always on the move, hated by all who saw in him only the Nightfang he once was, he lived on the threshold of starvation for many years.

Then came a winter of such bitterness that his former tribe began to starve to death. Their masters began to sacrifice them for their own survival.

When Caemon found a former brother, emaciated, abandoned, and on Death's threshold, he learned how his once great band had been reduced to a few dozen struggling refugees whose blood was so thin it could barely sustain the vampires, leaving the orcs too weak to hunt for themselves.

The few starved wolves the vampires could summon were seldom enough for a meal, and the weak who could not escape were being slaughtered and fed to those who were still strong enough to feed the vampires.

Caemon acted. He began to hunt the vampires. This took him away from the tasks he had to do to feed himself, and Caemon grew weaker. He began to consume the flesh and blood of his victims to retain his strength.

And though he starved, becoming emaciated and diseased, he grew stronger. With every vampire he slew his strength, stamina, and speed increased.

With the coming of spring there were but a dozen of his formerly great tribe still alive. But Caemon was not one of their number. They reviled him for destroying their masters, leaving them defenseless against the masters of other tribes, and the settled folk upon whom they could no longer prey.

In the winter, as he had consumed the flesh of vampires to survive, a change had come over him, transforming Caemon into the very thing he hated: a vampire. He fought, and sometimes resisted his hunger for the blood of mortals, but from that night when he first realized what he had become he became a hunter of vampires, feasting on their flesh and blood whenever he managed to catch one.

He is despised by Nightfang Orcs for rejecting their ways, he is despised by Nightfang Masters for being their most dangerous foe, and he is despised by himself for being the very thing he hates most.

[noob]

I was not invited to participate in your worldbuilding, but I was inspired. Feel free to reject this fan fiction.

Caemon The Despised

A young, rebelious, Nightfang Orc was repeatedly dominated by the masters, but he proved to be strong of will and difficult to control. He broke free of the domination and made his way alone in the wilderness.

For a time the orcs hunted their wayward brother, but he eluded or destroyed them. Always on the move, hated by all who saw in him only the Nightfang he once was, he lived on the threshold of starvation for many years.

Then came a winter of such bitterness that his former tribe began to starve to death. Their masters began to sacrifice them for their own survival.

When Caemon found a former brother, emaciated, abandoned, and on Death's threshold, he learned how his once great band had been reduced to a few dozen struggling refugees whose blood was so thin it could barely sustain the vampires, leaving the orcs too weak to hunt for themselves.

The few starved wolves the vampires could summon were seldom enough for a meal, and the weak who could not escape were being slaughtered and fed to those who were still strong enough to feed the vampires.

Caemon acted. He began to hunt the vampires. This took him away from the tasks he had to do to feed himself, and Caemon grew weaker. He began to consume the flesh and blood of his victims to retain his strength.

And though he starved, becoming emaciated and diseased, he grew stronger. With every vampire he slew his strength, stamina, and speed increased.

With the coming of spring there were but a dozen of his formerly great tribe still alive. But Caemon was not one of their number. They reviled him for destroying their masters, leaving them defenseless against the masters of other tribes, and the settled folk upon whom they could no longer prey.

In the winter, as he had consumed the flesh of vampires to survive, a change had come over him, transforming Caemon into the very thing he hated: a vampire. He fought, and sometimes resisted his hunger for the blood of mortals, but from that night when he first realized what he had become he became a hunter of vampires, feasting on their flesh and blood whenever he managed to catch one.

He is despised by Nightfang Orcs for rejecting their ways, he is despised by Nightfang Masters for being their most dangerous foe, and he is despised by himself for being the very thing he hates most.

Cool so how many levels in Edgelord does he have?

[White Blade]

I was not invited to participate in your worldbuilding, but I was inspired. Feel free to reject this fan fiction.

Caemon The Despised
With the coming of spring there were but a dozen of his formerly great tribe still alive. But Caemon was not one of their number. They reviled him for destroying their masters, leaving them defenseless against the masters of other tribes, and the settled folk upon whom they could no longer prey.

In the winter, as he had consumed the flesh of vampires to survive, a change had come over him, transforming Caemon into the very thing he hated: a vampire. He fought, and sometimes resisted his hunger for the blood of mortals, but from that night when he first realized what he had become he became a hunter of vampires, feasting on their flesh and blood whenever he managed to catch one.

He is despised by Nightfang Orcs for rejecting their ways, he is despised by Nightfang Masters for being their most dangerous foe, and he is despised by himself for being the very thing he hates most.

It seems likely that the nonstop consumption of vampiric flesh would transform someone into a vampire, and it seems likely that Caemon would probably kill a bunch of vampires if he is able to resist being eaten by vampires.
There are a few issues though:
1) One vampire per tribe. Vampires are incredibly resource intense. They can provide full course meals every night to mortals, but it is very (very) hard for them to game their sustenance needs for life-force. According to Libris Mortis, they must succeed on a DC 25 Will Save every day or suffer Wisdom damage. Most vampires try to find something they can energy drain repetitively with restoration, but even that has its limits. A normal Nightfang vampire goes through a dozen victims a month.

2) The Qaenite religion is very anti despising people. Caemon remains, the vampires he hated are dead. It would actually be quite odd, in my opinion, for Nightfang orcs to resist him after his success at decapitating their leadership. All hail the new vampire, same as the old vampire. Now, he might be despised by other Nightfang bands, but that too is ultimately irrelevant - The Nightfangs range across a variety of lands, serving as functional bandits, but they seldom congregate except by consent. Ultimately, what would probably happen to Caemon (if he were a character I were writing) is that he would find himself freshly become what he himself despised and that everyone else was just fine with that.

3) Technically speaking, vampires need graves. This has been one of the main limiting factors of the growth of vampiric power generally, one which the Scourge negated by taking hold of a dwarven necropolis.

Cool so how many levels in Edgelord does he have?

Don't be rude about attempts to contribute.

[LudicSavant]

I see you liked my format

[brian 333]

It seems likely that the nonstop consumption of vampiric flesh would transform someone into a vampire, and it seems likely that Caemon would probably kill a bunch of vampires if he is able to resist being eaten by vampires.
There are a few issues though:
1) One vampire per tribe. Vampires are incredibly resource intense. They can provide full course meals every night to mortals, but it is very (very) hard for them to game their sustenance needs for life-force. According to Libris Mortis, they must succeed on a DC 25 Will Save every day or suffer Wisdom damage. Most vampires try to find something they can energy drain repetitively with restoration, but even that has its limits. A normal Nightfang vampire goes through a dozen victims a month.

2) The Qaenite religion is very anti despising people. Caemon remains, the vampires he hated are dead. It would actually be quite odd, in my opinion, for Nightfang orcs to resist him after his success at decapitating their leadership. All hail the new vampire, same as the old vampire. Now, he might be despised by other Nightfang bands, but that too is ultimately irrelevant - The Nightfangs range across a variety of lands, serving as functional bandits, but they seldom congregate except by consent. Ultimately, what would probably happen to Caemon (if he were a character I were writing) is that he would find himself freshly become what he himself despised and that everyone else was just fine with that.

3) Technically speaking, vampires need graves. This has been one of the main limiting factors of the growth of vampiric power generally, one which the Scourge negated by taking hold of a dwarven necropolis.


Don't be rude about attempts to contribute.

Feel free to adapt or ignore the character and his story as you like. When I read your bit about the Nightfangs I was inspired to write it.

[White Blade]

I see you liked my format

I did! Would you like me to put in credit for you?

[noob]

Don't be rude about attempts to contribute.

Well since when edgelords are a bad thing?
There is many well known stories made by great authors with edgelords.

[White Blade]

I’ve realized that Ludic’s format doesn’t include the basic player format, so here’s Qaenah’s short form:
Qaenah
The Widow, Eldest, The Unbreakable, Lich-Witch
Symbol: A phylactery, or a black square
Domains: Cold, Competition, Darkness, Death, Deathbound, Decay, Endurance, Evil, Hunger, Necromancy, Pestilance, Pain, Suffering, Thirst, Undeath, Watery Death
Portfolio: Desperation, compromise (especially moral), weakness, old age, fear, suffering, endurance, survival, perspective, wisdom, equanimity, silence, rationing, triage, undeath, necromancers, survivors, hunters, elders, and (some) healers.
Favored Weapon Quarterstaff
Unbroken Qaenah has buried lovers, children, and fathers but she remains in the face of all tribulations. Blessed with great perspective, Qaenah counsels her followers to be strong in the face of all circumstances, to never accept death as inevitable, and to accept the world as it really is without complaint.

And I will try to get up the short line like you find in complete divine, but the notebook sell is: “NE Tough as nails survivor goddess of undeath”.

[Jonagel]

Just read this and your new post (Adammah) -- everything sounds great!

Looking forward to future posts =)

[Dusk Raven]

I really like the format as well, and I'm tempted to adopt it myself. Of course, my problem is that I don't actually have that much info to write - I'm still in the process of getting the ideas fleshed out, as well as figuring out what gods I want in the first place.

Also, I like the "Every deity should be one people would actually worship" premise. It's also something I've been working on in one of my own settings - mostly because in that setting gods really need followers, and so each of their philosophies and worldviews needs to be things people would willingly subscribe to. Thankfully, humans are capable of holding a great number of different perspectives...