Tesseran Pantheon
Contents |
Overview
The Church of the Reverence teaches that there are twelve gods: six Eternals and six Shadows. The gods are locked in an endless, dynamic conflict that creates and sustains the Great Wheel. The Great Wheel is the surface on which all existence rests, as well as the mechanisms and processes that run throughout the multiverse, from physics, chemistry, and biology to thought, emotion, and civilization. The Great Wheel includes the Weave of Magic (PHB 205).
Each of the Eternals has a Shadow, who is the opposite or inversion of the Eternal. Each Eternal constantly competes against the other Eternals and opposes its own Shadow. The energy of these engagements keeps the Great Wheel turning. It keeps the multiverse in motion and suffuses it with the energy of the Weave.
Some religious orders describe the Great Wheel differently. Instead of a conflict, they teach that the Great Wheel is more like a dance, a debate, or a choir. These so-called Unifier orders are a minority.
The Eternals are the Farmer, Tinker, Sovereign, Partner, Traveler, and Unraveler. The Shadows are the Ravager, Maniac, Tyrant, Parasite, Vagabond, and Devourer. The gods are seldom described as gendered. For example, a priest might say, "The Unraveler waits for us all. It has infinite patience."
The Church teaches a god can have many aspects or personifications, called Faces. Most Faces are personifications of specific races. For example, Moradin is revered by dwarves as a Face of the Farmer, while Bahamut is revered by dragonkin as a Face of the Sovereign.
While most religious orders acknowledge all the Eternals and Shadows, most focus on one or two Faces for one or two gods.
Symbols
The symbol of the Great Wheel is a hexagon. The hexagon can be represented with just six sides. However, it's often represented with a seventh line, stretching from the middle to the top point. This seventh line creates the impression of two doors: one to the upper left and one to the upper right. The Church promotes this version to emphasize the endless series of choices a person makes in life, and how their choices become part of the Great Wheel.
Each god is represented by a hexgram consisting of the Great Wheel with a mark beside one point. A circle indicates the Eternal, while a line represents the Shadow. Each Eternal is also represented by a hand gesture, as well as a glyph that symbolizes the gesture. Some folklore tells of hand gestures and glyphs for the Shadows, but the Church labels such knowledge as heresy.
Domains
Each Eternal and Shadow is aligned with two domains. A cleric or paladin may choose one domain from any of the Eternals or Shadows of their order.
Eternals & Shadows
The following are the Church's general descriptions of the gods.
[Design note about the Touchstones: These are deities that could be considered Faces of the gods (based on comparable personifications or areas of interest/influence), as well as beings that would be fitting avatars or followers.]
Farmer & Ravager
The Farmer is creation. It is the wellspring in the mountainside, the spark of life in a seed, and the volcanic formation of new islands.
- Gesture: pouring seeds
- Faces: Bountiful Lady, Moradin
- [Touchstones: Gaia, Demeter, Poseidon]
The Ravager is unchecked growth. It is noxious weeds, mutation, and cancer.
- [Touchstones: Dionysus (rampant)]
Tinker & Maniac
The Tinker is craft, invention, and commerce. It is the forge fire, the magnetic compass, and the bustling marketplace.
- Gesture: counting, perhaps bargaining
- When displayed in green, the Tinker's hexgram is a universal symbol for "crafter" or "crafthall" (e.g., blacksmith, carpenter).
- The smaller red dwarf star that lights Tessera is called the Tinker.
- [Touchstones: Hephaestus]
The Maniac is obsession, greed, and evil artifice. It is fool's gold, the finger on the scale, torture devices, and the slobber of madness.
- On Tessera, some plants grow unusually fast and/or large. Such plants are labeled maniac (e.g., maniac stranglevine, maniac oak).
- [Touchstones: Gollum, Smaug, Tamatoa (the crab from Moana)]
Sovereign & Tyrant
The Sovereign is benevolent and just leadership. It is tradition, law, and chivarly.
- Gesture: genorsity (or peacefully surrendering to manacles)
- Faces: Bahamut
- The larger yellow dwarf star that lights Tessera is called the Sovereign.
- [Touchstones: Zeus, Odin]
The Tyrant is wicked and capricious domination. It is force and meglomania.
- [Touchstones: Ganondorf, Joffrey Baratheon, Palpatine, Queen of Hearts, Sauron, Voldemort]
Partner & Parasite
The Partner is selflessness, collaboration, and civilization. It is charity, art, literature, philosophy, and other heights of achievement.
- Gesture: holding on to someone else to save them (a variation is clasping both wrists, in the style of soldiers shaking hands)
- When displayed in red, the Partner's hexgram is a universal symbol for "healing" or "aid" (e.g., a field hospital). (This is comparable to a red cross or caduceus on Earth.)
- [Touchstones: Apollo, Athena, Prometheus, Hippocrates]
The Parasite is selfishness and exploitation. It is the leech, the lickspittle, and the tapeworm.
- [Touchstones: Grima Wormtongue, Dolores Umbridge, Dracula]
Traveler & Vagabond
The Traveler is cleverness, improvisation, and adaptation. It is the funny trickster, the cunning magician, and the itinerant sage.
- Gesture: a basic spellcasting position (e.g., for Burning Hands)
- Tessera's one moon is called the Traveler and it has an erratic orbit (28-49 days).
- [Touchstones: Hermes, Gandalf]
The Vagabond is unreliability, unpredictability, and unaccountability. It is the raider, the pirate, and the murderous hermit.
- [Touchstones: Beetlejuice, Jareth (Labyrinth), Loki, Saruman]
Unraveler & Devourer
The Unraveler is the natural end to all things. It is the turning of the leaves, the wear of the millstone, and the final sleep of the elderly.
- Gesture: covering what was
- [Touchstones: Artemis, Hades]
The Devourer is unnatural or uncontrolled destruction. It is the sudden shattering of the wagon wheel. It is arson, bloodlust, and rape. It is the sack of cities.
- [Touchstones: Ares, Nothing (The Neverending Story), Ursula (The Little Mermaid)]
