The Aran Pantheon

The religions of the Old Races and the nations they founded have a variety of deities and religious practices. However, scholars and theologians largely agree that these various religious traditions have far more similarities than differences. These include:

• Approximately 17 primary deities. The exact number occasionally varies by one or two and some traditions feature many “lesser” gods, demigods, or saints, but the core of the pantheon is approximately 17 deities
• These primary deities all correspond roughly with those deities from other Old Race religious traditions. Some aspects and spheres of influence are changed, omitted, or transferred, but most, if not all, of the deities are clearly variations of the same deities from other religions.
• At least some of these deities take special care and attention toward the race who holds the religious belief. Sometimes they are ascended members of that race, other times they merely take on the form of that race, though neither of these are guaranteed. What matters is that each culture’s religious tradition has one or more “patron” god(desse)s who watch over the majority race of that culture. In mixed cultures, there are often patron deities for each race. The key is that these patron deities are almost always the same throughout different cultures of the same race and very rarely does one culture claim a patron deity of another race in another culture.
• Anyone can draw divine power and contact such deities as they worship. Every pantheon and religious tradition has produced priests, clerics, paladins and others who demonstrate the ability to channel the divine power of a god of their pantheon. Similarly, miracles, curses, and other acts of divinity have been observed and attributed to every pantheon beyond reasonable doubt. In short, all of these gods exist as real and as tangible as any others.
  

These similarities have led theologians and scholars to believe the Old Races, or their precursors, must have, at one point, worshiped a single pantheon of deities. It is believed that, as the races expanded and cultures diverged, these methods of worship changed. They use the term “Aran Pantheon” to describe the broad category of beliefs and pantheons.
The Aran Pantheon is not worshipped directly as it is not really a pantheon. Rather it is the term used to collectively describe seven closely-related pantheons which are believed to share a common origin. As the Empire expanded throughout Arterra, they spread an official “neutral” state religion throughout the nations they absorbed. This religion, while originally believed to have been intended to be an Agindun-central religion, became more of an amalgamation of the most common themes among the variations of the Aran Pantheon. This was known as the Imperial Pantheon and is still the most commonly practiced religion in Arterra.
Different nations and cultures prioritize different gods or goddesses within the Imperial Pantheon, but the pantheon itself is used fairly unchanged throughout much of Arterra today, especially in regions with more racial diversity. Even in nations where it is not the primary religion, there are typically temples and worshipers present. In addition to the Imperial Pantheon, there are six other prominent variations of the Aran Pantheon:

• The Eastern Pantheon, most prominent in Éthnonakki, places Ambrus as the chief deity and, at its most extreme, does not even acknowledge the other gods and goddesses at all.
• The Western Pantheon, practiced primarily by the Beò, believes that all of the gods are fallen Orcish ancestors, though there are some variations on this that allow for the possibility of the gods being ancestors of other races as well.
• The Southern pantheon, most common among the predominantly Elven nations, organizes the deities into “houses”. The number and criteria of these houses varies from kingdom to kingdom, however.
• The Northern Pantheon is worshiped in Kokouspaikka and Zemlya Sneg.
• The Central Pantheon is worshiped by the Human Tribes and their descendant cultures. The gods of this pantheon are all typically associated with forces of nature and resemble the worship of the Primals.
• Finally the Wandering Pantheon is worshiped by the Dwarven cultures, especially those of the floating cities.

For convenience, all deities of the Aran Pantheon have their pages in their Imperial name and are referred to by that name throughout this website as this is considered to be the "default". They are referred to by other names when specifically discussing their equivalent from another Pantheon. Details about how each deity differs from the Imperial Canon is found on the deity's page and may also be found on the pages for specific cultures.

Type

Religious, Pantheon

Leader

Osric

Subsidiary Organizations

• Central Pantheon
• Eastern Pantheon
• Imperial Pantheon
• Northern Pantheon
• Southern Pantheon
• Wandering Pantheon
• Western Pantheon

Deities

• Adhelm
• Ambrus
• Anwen
• Aston
• Bardolf
• Blithe
• Brand
• Celestine
• Cicely
• Dunstan
• Eldred
• Ferrégine
• Hart
• Osric
• Sims
• Tolliver
• Twain