Monday, May 1, 2017

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 14

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 beloved goddesses for the setting, Seramesh, the Lady of Gnomes. Before i get started on Seramesh 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.  

Seramesh, Mother Gnome

History

Before the War, Seramesh was an adventuring cleric who travelled with the same adventurers that Grath did.  A devoted cleric of a goddess of redemption and the sun, she wandered her homeworld righting wrongs, building temples and supporting her friends.  When the call came, she travelled with her friends.  
During the War, She spent her time battling alongside her friends and the many new allies they’d made.  The war was hard on them, and by its end, she and Grath were the only survivors of their original party.  She’d made friends with a rougish halfling named Lucky, and had incorporated herself and Grath into a larger party of heroes.  Eventually the war ended and she was deeply shook by the loss of so many of the people she’d called friend and family.  
After the War, Mourne pointed out the plight of the Gnomes of the world (alongside the Dwarves and the Halflings) and Seramesh felt the call to act.  Alongside Mourne, and Lucky (and Theris) she rallied the Gnomes and gave them something they’d lost.  She gave them a sense of hope for the future.  

Relations with Others

Seramesh is one of the softest spoken deities in the pantheon.  She makes very few waves and listens to the rest of the gods and goddesses with an open mind.  It’s rumored she spends much of her time attending to the Slumbering King, which gives her a greater access than most others.  She, like Mourne and Lucky, has an abiding distate for Pureheart regarding the slavery of the Gnomes.  

Relations with Servants

Most of Seramesh’s servants spend their times watching over the widely dispersed population of Gnomes in the world.  Each of her servants has an internal struggle over their responsibility to watch over the Gnomes in their charge and to find ways to help them with their struggles.  Seramesh often rotates her servants to different areas to keep them from developing favorites.

Relations with Mortals

Seramesh understands the mental turmoil that engulfs her children.  The war did horrible things to them and they’ve slowly started to work their way out of that shell.  It’s a long drawn out struggle, and most Gnomes are the same worrisome, ever frustrated sentients that they came into this world as.  Her clergy are constanly giving encouragement and positivity to the rest of their kind while struggling with their own internal doubts.  

Unusual Sayings

“Worrying isn’t a solution, You have big brains, use them”  Seramesh knows that her people need encouragement, but she also wants them to be self-reliant.  She teaches them to think their way through their problems rather than letting worry take root.  










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