Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run. If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it. Today i’m going to take a look at one of the more colorful gods for the setting, Pureheart, The Lady of Power. before i get started on Pureheart herself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.
Broadly speaking, the gods divide themselves into a variety of groupings and factions, but the grouping i am concerned about today is the old gods and the new gods. The Old gods predate one of the most important conflicts of the setting, the Fey War. These are the gods that originally found this world and shaped it to their designs and interests. They shaped the great forests and mountains, and populated the world with creatures in their own image. The first Gods to walk the world were the gods of Giantkind, the Fey themselves, and the three Elder Wyrms. A few other gods would appear after this first establishment, most notably Ahrimaius, the God of Creation. THese are the Gods of antiquity, and they made the world the way it was, for good or for ill.
The Fey War began as internal issue between a small fey enclave and their neighbors. It spiraled out of control to a level of violence and bloodshed that would haunt the old places of the world forever. At the darkest point of the war, when the Me’Ah’Chin hordes looked ready to take the fight to the Gods themselves, the eldest of the Fey Gods, Grandfather Oak, cast the most powerful magic anyone had ever seen. He summoned heroes and champions from across time and space to the Garden where Oak had planted his first seeds. He made them a simple offer. If they would turn back the tide of darkness and save the world, he would bestow upon the seeds of godhood, and make them the new gods of the world.
Heroes to the end, most of these people died during the war to liberate the world. Heroes from thousands of worlds and cultures fought, bled, and died in a distant land to save it from the most terrible monsters they had ever encountered. When the last battle had been fought, and the dead tallied, less than fifty of the thousands of heroes and champions were still standing. A few would succumb to lingering injuries sustained in the war, and their number would be diminished even further by a tragic incident.
The survivors returned to the Garden, and Grandfather Oak kept his word. Each hero or champion became the living embodiment of an idea or a race. One by one, the new Gods and Goddesses organized themselves, and set about the work of trying to heal the lingering damage the war had caused. Some places were never completely healed, and there are distant parts of the world that still think that ancient war rages….but that’s a story for another time.
Pureheart, The Iron Rose (The Bloody Queen)
History
Before the War, Pureheart was a Sorceress of singular capability. Rather than focusing on the destructive potential of magic, she focused on the power to bend the will and mind of her enemies and turned them against each other. She turned her will towards conquest, and before her thirtieth birthday, she’d conquered the known world of her home plane. She had sought power and dominion over the world, and when she had finally achieved that goal, she was called to the battlefields of the Fey War.
During the war, Pureheart turned her impressive magic against the Me’Ah’Chin in the most unconventional way. She brought the giants and their minions into the war against the Me’Ah’Chin by dominating one of the giant enclaves. The schism this cause in the society of giantkind led to the rebellion of the Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes, and they overthrew their giant overlords. Pureheart contributed arcane magic and expertise to dozens of battlefields and her giants were invaluable in shattering several Me’Ah’Chin bastions.
After the war ended, Pureheart took the concept of Power as her own. She’d chased powerin her own life, and with her ascension to divinity, she embraced it with her whole heart. The power to change minds, influence others, and bend enemies to friends, the power to dominate have been hallmarks of her Ascension. She considers herself the consort of the Slumbering King and works to advance his power alongside her own.
Relations with Others
Pureheart is a schemer without equal. She’s a subtle goddess in most of her activities but will become the most overt, irrational divine being if her schemes are revealed or overturned. She considers herself the head of the Royal Court in the absence of the Slumbering King, and “allows” Bannock to be the Steward in his stead.
She’s always up to something, and has befriended and betrayed most of the members of the Royal Court at least once. Most of the other Gods and Goddesses have accepted that Pureheart’s desire for power is something that drives her, and everything she does is a furtherance of that goal. They don’t hold it against her.
Relations with Servants
Pureheart has a small coterie of servants who serve as advisors to high ranking members of various groups, including the Halfling Bank, the Mournstone collective, and the Jumar clans. She’s elevated at least one of her ancient giant allies to a divine servant, and he spends most of his time gathering allies on other planes.
Relations with Mortals
Pureheart is a tricky thing for Mortals. She’s the Goddess of Power, and those seeking power and those seeking to hold onto it both pray to her for guidance and strength. There are dozens of mystery cults devoted to her across the world, and she has followers in courts and power bases everywhere. Her favorite past time with mortals is when a critical mass of her followers end up in the same power base, and she pits them against each other to see who plays the game best. That follower is rewarded with power and authority, and the losers are often dead or banished in disgrace.
Unusual Sayings
“Power is Blood. Hard to make, easy to lose” Pureheart understands best of all that Power can be an extremely temporary thing. It has to be guarded and stockpiled until it’s absolutely needed.
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