Old Gods

Before the Third Wish, there were no gods as we know them. There were powerful beings, but those beings were indifferent to our worship and our faith. They only responded to bargains, bargains for anima, knowledge, or other bits of Mortal life. They were angels, devils, and elemental spirits, as well as those who had transcended mortality to become one of those beings.

After the Wish, those beings scrambled to form bonds with mortals, for faith brings power not just to mortals but to the denizens of the astral plane as well. And in return, those beings, now called "gods", granted mortals a taste of their power. They gained power from the Great Mechanism in proportion to their worship (unlike modern ascended, who gain power directly from faith but do not have the connection to the mechanism). And there were many such. Hundreds upon hundreds, squabbling for influence in the astral. They ranged in power from the greater gods, worshiped across the continents, to the local deities of a village or household. And even mortals joined their ranks--the God Emperors of Quan Pei and those worshiped by the Imperial Cult among them.

Known Old Gods

Categories

• Major gods (four total) were worshiped worldwide and had very broad domains. Three of them were of the First Heroes; the last (Serak) was their mortal enemy, the sister of the Red Fang.
• Intermediate (or regional) deities were worshiped by groups in particular regions and had little or no following outside that region. Some of these cross over into racial pantheons. Significant overlap in domains here, including with the major deities.
• Minor deities were generally worshiped alongside the others. Their domains were much smaller. These include those of families, village patrons, and all the more obscure ones. Many of them had little more power than a strong mortal.

Listing of Gods

This page describes the deities that existed before the Cataclysm. This is not a complete list.

Name	Domain	Alignment	Symbol	Rank
Nocthis	Night, Mystery	Lawful Neutral	Two crescent moons, one red, one white	Intermediate
Culann	Weaponry, Honorable combat	Lawful Neutral	Sword and axe, crossed, points downward.	Minor
Pealar	Sun, Light, Law	Lawful Neutral	An 8-rayed sunburst	Major
Golden Aspects	Creation, Preservation, Fate, Destruction	Neutral	A crossed circle	Major
Maelek	Redemption, Atonement, Rebirth	Lawful Good	A face, one side smiling and the other frowning with a tear	Minor
Rainbow Serpent	Cycle of life, Eternity	Neutral Evil	A serpent in rainbow colors, eating its tail	Intermediate
Sera'is	Song, music, harmony	Neutral Good	A harp, with a woman's body for a column or pillar	Minor