Pantheon of the Nine Deities

The Nine Deities:
Deity of Peace - Health, Harmony, Collaboration, Non-Violence, Resolution
Deity of Strength - Protection, Order, Might, Combat, Leadership
Deity of Fortune - Abundance, Luck, Wealth, Destiny, Adventure
Deity of Nature - Growth, Balance, Cycles, the Seasons, Connectivity, Weather
Deity of Passion - Love, Sex, Desire, Inspiration, Creativity
Deity of the Scythe - Death, Ending, Transition, Decay, Change
Deity of the Sage - Knowledge, Magic, Insight, Curiosity, Memory
Deity of the Sun - Light, Fire, Hope, Justice, Heroism
Deity of the Moon - Shadows, Secrets, Intuition, Subsconcious, Mystery


"Though each of the nine deities in the Pantheon of the Nine Deities possesses a name, their names are entirely unknown to mortals, who do not question the necessity of this: to them, it would be disrespectful to scribble or utter or even think the sacred name of a deity, as if to try to cage such an ancient and powerful being in such a small container as a word. These followers are content to call a spade a spade, and so each deity is simply know as The Deity Of whichever facet of the Nine they are, and then everyone can be sure that no one ends up confused or smited. It's extremely practical and quite ingenious, though a certain close-minded colleague of mine has quite rudely attempted to present it as proof of the mortals' simplicity.
As in reality, the Nine all hold equal power, none above the rest, to maintain the balance of the World. While some mortals still choose to follow a single deity or have a favored few, as would be expected, there are many who worship all the Nine and the World, and will pray to whomever best fits their situation at hand. I've noticed commoners and small town citizens make up a good bit of that group - people and places that can only afford the one church instead of a whopping nine or ten. Another good bit are in a third group of folks that just don't seem to care much, are indecisive or conflict-avoidant, or do whatever their friends and family do.
Of course, the equipoise of the gods is not upheld among the larger mortal factions and their machinations. At the political level, each vies for power in its own way, some more successfully than others (notably the churches of Peace and Strength hold distinct sway). Again, at the commoner level we find many of truer faith and stouter heart. The archpriests and holypeople who gain magic from their deity are obviously pious enough, though archpriests are a political position chosen by the Sovereign from a religious group and thus cannot help but act somewhat less enlightened than they might prefer. But the true culprits are many of the Elders, the higher-ups and bureaucrats of the churches who have no faith or magic whatsoever, just an inflated sense of self-importance and an ability to stoop very low indeed. All of these bad sort are stationed together in Istinis, riling each other up and playing out their personal dramas amongst themselves, while completely removed from the outside world of Svira, upon which their actions take a toll.
This is not to say there are no good eggs among the bunch. Several of the archpriests do their best to be honorable and true to their deities' values, as much as they can in the cutthroat environment. And as I previously mentioned, most of the holypeople are deep and true in their faith. Though, can one really call it faith when the deities are real and known? Perhaps the mortals are less aware of this fact than we are. To not know a name is to give its bearer an air of mystery - a fact that has never been lost upon members of the Courts."
report submitted by Brigid Truetongue of the Erudite Court