Gods of the Q'tari

Q'tari Gods:

The q'tari (rodentian) gods are among the oldest known gods, rivaled only by those of the bru'eth (elves). They also bear many similarities with the bru'eth gods...so much so that each species believes the other's gods are derivations of their own. Avatars of the gods have appeared infrequently, and their appearances are either questioned by those of other faiths or believed to be their own gods manifesting in a way familiar to another culture. What follows are the gods as the q'tari see them.

Brannok, God of War, Deception, and Resilience

Married to Anisa. Brannok usually has a slight, handsome figure for a war god, but he is also the god of deception. Modern art usually shows him as griseri. His signature weapon is a sickle, and he is often shown with one in each hand. A famous piece of art, one of the oldest preserved pieces, shows him with one hand forward as if to say “wait!” and the other behind his back, holding a sickle. Brannok is a major god with many followers.
Anisa, Goddess of Magic, Secrecy, and Moonlight
Married to Brannok. Anisa is often pictured like a ghost, semi-transparent and ethereal. As the goddess of magic, she is much revered, worshiped perhaps more widely than Brannok. Her aspect of secrecy and her association with her brother, the god of the night, only add to her popularity. Like her husband, she is often shown as griseri.
Tarkin, God of Loyalty, Devotion, and Healing
Tarkin, as a healer himself and as a being who values devotion, has spawned the most ardent following. This is particularly true among the primeri, who worship him almost exclusively, for they feel Pang is too great to be worshiped directly. Tarkin, and Pang for that matter, is usually pictured as primeri.
In the middle of the story of Corufu and Delak, a romantic, mythic folktale about lovers who ultimately cannot be together, Tarkin rescues a bleeding Corufu (who is a male from a raven-like birdfolk species) and delivers him, healed, to a grieving Delak (a male primeri mage). This undoubtedly the most well-known part of the story, always acted out if the myths are staged. As ther mage was primeri and Tarkin is also seen as primeri, it is no surprise that the primeri are the quickest to embrace their queer community. They are an insular lot, but no primeri is marginalized for their sexuality.
Tarkin is steadfast, calm, and loving. His signature weapon is a maul.
Revis “The Boneyard,” God of Death, Justice, and Equity
Revis is usually pictured as a skeletal q'tari or as a corpse with exposed bone. His holiday, held on the darkest night of the year, is the Night of Bones. The idea is that is a family puts out enough bones overnight, Revis will take those bones instead of theirs and will extend one family member's life by one year. The math never makes sense, families are of different sizes, the bones of small animals hardly seem like useful replacements for q'tari bones (and what would he use them for?) but people believe it anyway. “May Revis guard your bones” is commonly heard at wakes, as the spirit is supposed to be guarded by Pashi until Pang dies and is reborn, which will create a new world. When this happens, the spirits of the best q'tari will be reborn into new lives so long as Pashi guarded their spirits and Revis guarded their bones. There are sad tales in the myths of a soul escaping or being stolen from Pashi or a bone being gnawed on or snapped while Revis dealt with another problem.
That said, Revis is usually pictured as an average-sized, male q'tari. He is traditionally rattusari, but as he is often skeletal, it can be hard to tell, depending on the artist. As the god of both equity and justice in addition to death, he is also often shown as all the other species, and occasionally as a patchwork of the four primary subspecies.
Zerata, Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family
As q'tari families are extended and many live together under one roof, Zerata is an important and oft-worshiped goddess. She is almost always pictured as musari, and while that's often difficult to make out because the musari are not a genetically distinct species, the “honey hood” is seen almost exclusively among musari (a honey-colored head and neck on a body of another color or pattern) and Zerata is usually pictured with a honey hood on a black body with piercing green eyes. She is often seen embracing q'tari of all ages, a symbol of the closeness of family, but she always looks fierce, as though she is ready to tear apart anyone who threatens her people. “Zerata disown you!” is a strong curse reserved for those who destroy families. It may be used for anyone who murders, as they are almost always murdering someone who is part of a large family, but it is also often used for those who cheat on their spouses. Extra-spousal relationships are common and permitted culturally, but there is a process for it, and those who ignore the process and join with someone other than their spouse in secret may call on Anisa to hide them, but it's Zerata they're hiding from. Notably, adolscents often use the curse hyperbolically and hurl it at their parents for doing such things as refusing to let them go out with their friends until they finish a project for school.
As the musari are believed to be a younger species, where they can be considered a species unto themselves (their cultural isolation from the other subspecies, though it is not pronounced, will likely lead to this eventually), and this seems to be the case given Zerata's depiction in older art, wherein she appears as rattusari.
Meliana and Toredis, Married Gods (griseri-specific), Goddess of Beauty and God of Fashion, respectively.
These griseri gods do not feature in the standard mythic cycle, but there are many mythic stories of them among the griseri. Did the griseri obsession with appearance begin with these stories, or did the stories appear as the result of that obsession? The griseri would probably agree to the former while the other subspecies see it as the latter.
In their myths, the pair has a “reckoning” every evening after dinner. They sit quietly and talk about their days, and they often mend little problems in communication or perspective before they become larger problems. “A reckoning today keeps Zerata's wrath at bay” is a common griseri saying interpreted to mean “communication keeps a family together.”
Meliana and Toredis are both immaculate in appearance and behavior. Their perfect marriage is directly associated with their perfect appearances in the griseri myths. Meliana is white with red eyes, a sign of albinism also associated with Janfir and seen as lucky. (And with red or ruby eyes, it's usually fine, though pink eyes tend to be signs of decreased visual acuity.) Toredis is black-furred with green eyes. Unfortunately, griseri of less-favored coloration (gray or brown with black eyes is considered common and gauche, though these are genetically stronger, healthier colors than the merle coat or albinism, though the all-black rats are perfectly healthy...social standing has little to do with healthy genes and almost everything to do with appearance in griseri society) are not treated as well as other griseri though they have the same protections under the law.
Pang, Creator God, god of defense, order, and perhaps oddly, dancing. Particularly important to the primeri, but important to all the q'tari. Associated with the sun.
Pang appears as a primeri of indefinate gender. The night and the moon are divided male and female, but the day is Pang's. Pang is sometimes of indefinite form as well as gender, sometimes rat-like, often bear-like, and occasionally panda bear-like, though pandas are mythic creatures that no one thinks actually exist.
Pang is usually pictured dancing and is the patron god of dance. As the story goes, Pang was once mortal when the world was a cauldron of dreams and the gods and mortals could change places without much fuss if they lived enough lifetimes. He was dancing and drinking wine when he came upon a rattusari crying at the side of the road. He stopped to offer some wine and consolation, and had been there only a moment before an old, wise primeri shaman appeared walking toward them on the road. The shaman was known to be able to tell anyone how many lifetimes they had to live in order to achieve ascension. The crying ratkin became hopeful for a moment and pulled on the old one's robes. He said, “please, wise one...please tell me. My life is miserable. How many more lifetimes must I live to reach ascension?” The old primeri shook his head sadly. “seventeen lifetimes” he said. The rattusari became even more desperate and wretched, falling to the side of the road. “Seventeen? No, seventeen! I can't make it, it's too many!” Pang helped him sit up again, then looked up to the old shaman and offered him some wine, which the wise man turned down. Nothing more was said. Before he left the wise primeri looked to Pang, who was doing a little jig as a bit of wine sloshed from his jug. The wise shaman asked, “Would you like to know how many lifetimes it will be for you?” Pang smiles and said, “Tell me.” The wise one said, “Eleven hundred lifetimes.” Pang laughed and took a deep drink, then began to dance again. The only response he gave was, “Is that all?” and at that moment, he ascended to godhood. The old one, who was a god of The Dreaming himself, laughed and fell over dead, ending The Dreaming. Pang then created the world.
Lumaka, Goddess of Change, Emotion, Nature, and the Seasons
Lumaka is a powerful goddess. She is said to be Pang's sister, though no one knows their parentage. They just discovered each other as they made the world. It is said that when Pang ascended to godhood and decided to create the new world, Lumaka was already there, creating her own. Pang could not convince her that he was the creator, so eventually he stopped telling her and started asking her. He said, “Lumaka, I would like to create the q'tari.” He described the primeri and the rattusari. Lumaka said she was working on a similar project, and Pang could go ahead so long as he included her griseri. Pang agreed, and the q'tari were ready to be born into the new world.
Eventually, Pang made the mountains and the volcanoes, all the rivers, the deserts, the badlands, and the icy islands in the north. But Lumaka made all the forests and swamps and many of the world's creatures. Of the sapient species, Lumaka is said to have made the griseri, the gnomes, the elves, the cougari, the shamblers, and the naga. Pang made the lamia, the certilians, the dwarves, the valen, the manti, and the humans. Volumes have been written regarding how this perspective affects the various q'tari subspecies and their relations to other species.
Lumaka is nurturing, protective, and volatile.
Frida and Javon, The Twin Gods, the gods of stealth (Frida) and pathfinding (Javon)
Frida and Javon are extremely popular gods among the q'tari, as the q'tari tend to excel at stealth and all things dark and secretive. They are said to be the twin children of the gods Pashi and Corveres.
Frida is brown rattusari with black eyes, and her mere existence saves brown-furred rattusari from being overlooked completely in griseri society. She is strong, fierce, and has a sense of humor, often pulling pranks on her good-natured brother. Frida is also the goddess of humor and tenacity.
Javon is a white rattusari with a black hood and a black stripe down his back. He is the younger brother, it is said, by nine minutes. Javon is attentive, good-natured, and thoughtful. He is also the god of pets and bathing. And certainly bathing your pets. A favored q'tari pet is the scorgle, a creature that mimics scorpions rather poorly. It works in the wild, but it has only four legs and its a plant/animal hybrid that grows in the ground and pops free as the “fruit” of the plant. But they don't even need dirt to grow...they can also make their own tails flower and give birth to new scorgles that way. Fortunately, their breeding cycle is relatively slow and they are food for many other creatures in the wild. But with claws that are mostly for show, no venom, and a flowering tail, they are highly sought-after pets.
Pashi, Goddess of Darkness and the Night, Guide to--and Guardian of--the Afterlife
Pashi is a black rattusari with yellow-white eyes that shine like stars. She never speaks. As a result, she is also the patron god of speech disability, and by extension, all disability, as disability is not specifically assigned to any of the other gods. In the myth where she meets Corveres, he asks if she would like to her a song, and she nods in the affirmative, so he sings a song to her and keeps singing all night. At the end of several songs, he is the one who is enchanted with this quiet, statuesque rattusari woman and he asks her name. Pashi points to the night sky. The proto-q'tari word for night is “Pashi.” Corveres nodded, called her Pashi, and so she has been called ever since. It is also said that they developed thousands of hand signals to communicate over the years, and so was born the first complex sign language.
Pashi later explains that she is the night itself. She calls herself the night's avatar, and holds that all was once the night, before the stars, before the sun, before everything. She further holds, according to Corveres in the myths, who translates for her, that The Dreaming was, in fact, her dream. And as she is still present, she believes The Dreaming continues, though Pang holds that it has ended and a new era has begun.
Pashi is pensive, creative, respectful, and curious.
Corveres, god of art, music, and poetry
Corveres is a honey-colored rattusari with black eyes. He has particularly nimble forepaws with long phalanges. Corveres' name is used as a cheer in pubs across the Sticks and beyond, wherever there are q'tari. Some will says “cheers” in the common tongue, but most say “Corveres!” out of habit.
Mythically, Corveres is said to have talked a giant to death. It was about to crush him with a club, but he told it to wait, and then explained that there were rules among the gods for how to kill them, and that if he did not adhere to the rules, the giant would die in the act of killing. A simple swing of the club would not do. “Just a swing of the club” is a way to say, “it's not that easy” to this day. Corveres went into great detail regarding the supposed rules, and every time the giant got fed up with him, he came up with a new rule. Not wanting to leave and not wanting to defy the gods, the giant withered away and, months later, died. According to the myth, Corveres was on rule #6,471 at the time, a rule regarding the placement of one's thumb on the weapon of choice.
Corveres is a trickster god, and it is said he passed that on to his daughter, Frida. Corveres is eloquent, amusing, impatient (oddly enough, after making a giant listen to him for months) and fairly unethical, though he is always good to his family.
Minor gods:
Janfir is more of a mythic hero, but some versions of his stories end with his ascension to godhood, or his acceptance to a god's court as a personal bard, usually Corveres' court. However, given Janfir's constant flouting of authority, this seems an unlikely scenario despuite Corveres' followers enjoying the storybook ending. Another tale tells of “Pashi's blessing,” which has long been debated. Some say it just signifies death, as another point in the myths details “Pasha's embrace” when it is clearly death. Others say there is no way to equate the two words, and that a blessing would mean making Janfir invisible at will, using the precedence of a story about Janfir and a warren of rabbitfolk he was helping by saying, “Pasha blessed them with the cover of the night.” But is he insivible at will for eternity, which would imply godhood, or was it is a temporary gift for the mortal hero? These are among the debates that simmer in scholarly circles. Most q'tari just think Janfir died and became a god, end of story.
Podoro is a frog god who made it to the q'tari pantheon. There are small numbers of tribal frogkin who worship him still, and because it is said that he was rescued by and became friends with Revis, who had appeared to bring justice on the heads of those who had killed hundreds of frogkin for fun. Revis found Podoro, still alive, hiding under a dead friend. Revis took pity on him and granted him ascension, which was not a popular choice among the other gods, but he stood by the decision and by Podoro. Frogkin believe their deaths are milder than those of other species because Revis has a soft spot for them. This hasn't stopped them from suffering some terrible deaths, but the belief continues. Podoro is a minor q'tari god of friendship and grief.