Faith of the West Marches
The Faith of the West Marches is a widely followed religion in the western part of the continent of Eloras. The West Marches worship a Stonefather, Lord Eloras, after whom the continent is named. Around the Stonefather is the Dawnmother, Divine Lady Altias, their children, the Gods, and their grandchildren, the Demigods. The Demigods are children of Gods and mortals, and some of the royal families of Eloras claim blooding from the Demigods.
The Gods descend from the Chaotes, unfathomably old beings of immense power and inscrutable motive. The Chaotes are sometimes called the Old Gods, and the mortals pray to the Gods that they are forever able to hold the Old Gods at bay.
There are many creation myths across the continent but one of the most common in the west is that the Gods created the Mortal kin-lines of Human, Dwarf, Orc, and Elf to be warriors against the Old Gods in a long-ago war with the monstrous former deities.
Humans: Cunning and bold, the humans were the skirmishers of the gods, people brought from the land to fight fiercely against the Chaotes before returning to the land.
Dwarves: Wise crafters, miners and smiths. These folk were created to be the forge of the gods, creating weapons for their human and elf armies. The Dwarves are often said to feel the strongest call to home, and are ferocious if reluctant fighters. They dig their holes and feed their forge- and hearth-fires, but when duty calls will stand shoulder to shoulder with their comrades, albeit reluctantly.
Orcs: Ferocity and honor. The orcs were the scouts of the gods, traveling the land in bands called husks. It was said in days of old, an orcish warrior could sneak behind enemy lines and slay the foes of the gods, then be back to their husk before the bodies had gone cold.
Elves: Said to be touched equally by the gods and the faerie, the elves were, along with their human counterparts, also skirmishers. Elves and humans mingled and formed bonds, and their mutual kin became known as half-elves.
Small orcs tended to band together and because their traits of smallness and shyness made it easier for them to survive on the fringes of the great armies of the gods, eventually over time they became goblins, who still skulk at the edges of the light. Because their prudence is mistaken for cowardice, they are often shunned by the bolder warrior races of the gods, but they survive as always they have. Similarly, the Gnomes were once small elves, but developed their own cultures and kept the faith with the armies of the Gods, holding the line against impossible odds.
No one is quite sure which of the gods created halflings, who in all particulars look like humans but half the size of humanity. They appeared when the victorious armies of the gods returned to the world after the battle to subdue the Chaotes, and acted as though they'd simply always been there.
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