Baatan Gods
The dark side to the Caelan's light, the Baatan gods were the faction of gods whom preferred to treat their mortal creations as playthings and puppets more than intelligent beings. This maliciousness was the primary reason behind their conflict with the Caelan, though many specifics have been lost to time. To them, that which they created was meant to be used and abused as they saw fit, with mortals being little more than fodder and feeding stock for the wishes of their creators.
In comparison to their Caelan and Intran, the Baatan gods have remarkably fewer followers in the modern world of Genaeth. This is due to both their antagonistic stance toward most mortals, and the fact that many modern governments and establishments are based around revering the opposing gods, making worship of Baatan shunned at best and illegal at worst. It is for this reason, many sages speculate, that so many of the Baatan deities have such a vested interest in drawing mortals in and taking their souls when they die. They require energy to survive, so they must consume the essence of their creations to make up for the lack of faith-based energy. However, this also allows the Baatan to split their powers more, as they have less of a need to spread their strength to their followers. Therefore, while most of the Baatan gods present at the Withdrawal anointed their three saints and moved on, the majority of them have created many more lesser gods in the following few millennia.
The Baatan gods reside within the vast and dangerous region referred to jointly as the Hells. Depicted as existing "beneath" the world of mortals, the Hells are tumultuous realms that lack the serenity and stability of their upper cousins. Before the gods left the mortal realm in the Great Withdrawal, the realms below were shattered in the final battle of the gods' conflict, resulting in nigh-infinite demiplanes and minor worlds being scattered about in a mass of hellish energy and chaos. The Hells are often depicted as a titanic, cosmic whirlpool, with the five realms associated with the Baatan gods present at the Withdrawal slowly moving about in rotations, set betwixt the numerous smaller fragments and far above the all-consuming Abyss that lies at the bottom.
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