The Pondarac Pantheon
Structure
Throughout the majority of the Ponderac religion, each individual deity has its own ways of self representation. In all cases, the leader of the entire Ponderac religion is also the leader (Archminister) of The Kingdom of Baal. All instances of leaders from individual deities are known as Archbishops, which than flow down to the individual deities teachings and structure of order.
Mythology & Lore
In the beginning, existence was naught but chaos. Everything was nothing, and concepts walked upon scorched landscapes that stretched to time immemorial. Upon these concepts was pure evil, for they languished in eternity for all their deeds. They swarmed, devoured, destroyed and consumed each other and all the cosmos without any form of containment. Life was impossible, for only death remained.
But for a single moment in absolute destruction, where nothing could live, came life. Brother and Sister of creation, Tutella and Venichis appeared, and structured armies made of angelic beings and magical beasts pure of heart, and the desire for life amidst the destruction of all known things.
The armies of good and evil fought against one another for eons before they revealed the barren wasteland of, Pondera. sitting atop a mountain of demon corpses was Rahet, the god of unfortunate demise. He approached the divine before the first beam of light throughout creation came into being. This became Calpricis Aufor of the Sun. Standing between death and the arrival of the gods behind him, he spoke to Rahet. "You seek to kill that which has killed countless. Yet life has not found a way until this moment. If you allow them to live, your appetite for destruction will be sated eternal one."
Accepting this argument, Rahet turned and walked away from the light, leading down his own path throughout the cosmos. Calpricis turned to Tutella and Venichis and gave thanks for allowing life to flourish in the world again. He promised his own hand to help fight against the demon hordes, allowing them to rest to plan for battle.
Venichis took it upon himself to research a spell, the first spell, that would destroy the hordes of demons and allow life to flourish freely, while Tutella took it upon herself to bolster the power of their armies, and protect the land of Pondera.
In her travels, she found the wind, grasped it, and brought it before her brother. She asked him to create a weapon to protect the world. And so, Venichis created the first Elf, Vivere the god of elves. Vivere bowed before the two gods, and promised to protect the world.
Noticing no change in the war with the new god promised to their word, Tutella traveled even farther and found mountains so vast and wide, she believed the spirit of the mountains could protect all things as equally as the wind. She brought before her brother again a vast boulder, asking him for another weapon to protect the world. And so, Venichis created Olänn, the ancestral Dwarf king. He bowed before the two promising that his mountains would be enough to fend off any foe, and would protect the world no matter the cost.
Vivere was not happy with this prospect, and decided to prove that his mountains would fall eventually. Olänn demanded proof, and brought Tutella into his mountains to find additional weapons to fight against the ongoing horde, not waiting for an answer from the newly formed elf god.
Yet again, Tutella saw the horde approaching the world, with no new resistance on their part, and the forces of good could not gain any ground, but would not give any ground either. So into the ground she went with Olänn to find a new source of power for the gods to try and use to their advantage. In the deepest pits and caves within Grott they found rivers of molten rock, and flame. Tutella grabbed this flame, and brought it yet again before her brother. Olänn found that his mountains were quickly being turned to sand, and most of the earth had been covered by the torrential blasts of sand from the two gods fighting one another.
Bringing the flame to her brother, she was to ask him again to create a weapon strong enough to defeat the demons, when her brothers research lit itself into flames from the sheer intensity. Frightened, Venichis grabbed the flame from her hand, and created Paratel the god of Gnomes. The sheer intensity of his nature forcing Venichis away from him, and setting his clothing aflame.
His research, and his clothing ruined, Venichis spewed the first curse at Paratel , claiming that though his intensity and passion burn stronger than any other, his kind would forever be cursed to feel the consequences of their passion sooner than any other. Paratel ran into the ground itself, far away from Venichis' wrath, and created The Mountains of Flame.
Tutella looked upon the world that she tried to improve, to find a place for all life, and all those within. She found everything even more barren than when she and her brother first arrived. Mountains were spewing ash and soot a thousand miles, creating poison through the air. The air was blowing upon the mountains and making them crumble into dust and sand, coating the world again as a barren heated landscape. And finally, the mountains would constantly rumble and grow to outpace the weakening of their structure, and causing everything to destroy itself when it could be placed. Seeing her work, Tutella wept.
It was from this first tear that Venichis brought to life before her Taganum the god of Halflings. Taganum made no promises to Tutella, but instead listened to her weep, and stay by her side, as the rest of her tears flowed into the deepest of valleys, creating the oceans and rivers of the world.
The water washed away the sand, leaving fertile soil in its wake, took the poison from the air and instead collected it into clay beneath the waters. The mountains shook less, and the air quieted its buffering against the mountainsides as the earth began to calm.
Tutella noticed the world starting to really form itself, and ceased her crying to find the world stronger than ever. Taganum went about the world planting seeds, and sprouting grass wherever he stood, and the world became vibrant. Tutella saw that the world was starting to become more protected than ever, by the balance of the gods being maintained, but that it was still not enough against the demons.
Tutella reached her hand into the water, and pulled out the clay that was born just beneath its surface. Made from the earth of the world, forged in the fire of destruction, spread through the wind of life, and finally, collected by the waters of chaos, she brought it before her brother again.
This time, Venichis touched the clay of the world, and it bore no god. But instead it was baked into itself. Breaking open the clay revealed Samel, the first man, the first mortal, and the greatest power, and detriment known to the divines ever since. It was upon that moment that Tutella truly became the first mother.
She laid her eyes upon this mortal creature, and decided her mission in life was not just protecting the existance she and her brother came to be upon, but to protect all those who could not protect themselves. Mortals, she knew, were no match for the devouring hordes of demons throughout the world. And so, she let man grow, and wander off into the world, allowing them to grow into what they were meant to be.
It was than that Tutella sought the same knowledge as her brother, as they slaved away for a thousand years while the battle for existence raged above them. The gods that were created from the four elements slaved away and created the races they were destined to preside over.
Vivere created the elves by planting the seeds of creation within the hollow of a tree, which burst forth the first mortal elf. Olänn dug deep into the earth, finding metal, and using his willpower and massive anvils that mortals call mountains, to pound out the first of the mortal dwarves. Paratel used his insight instead of magic, and simply split a part of himself to create the first of mortal gnomes. And finally, Taganum made a trade of food to Vivere for their seeds of creation, and planted them within the earth, to which grew the first halflings.
Humans took much longer to grow from the first. From the moment of their birth they had little protection from the elements that raged on above. They had to grow quickly, and adapt faster than any other race, growing to hundreds by the first thousand years. The humans spread throughout the world, as the world was still new, and though the gods could see everything upon their world, their focus was turned to the ever turning battle of the sky.
It was this distraction that allowed a pair of demons to pass through. Uglid the demon, posing as a harmless mouse, made his way to the earth. He came unto man and spoke at length of evil. Tainting the soul of man for every one he spoke too. The second was Ladisus who concealed with him orcs, as he fell onto the northern pole of the world. The orcs worshiped their savior, and granted him the strength to rise to godhood. With that, Ladisus prepared for war against the other gods.
Tutella found evil was starting to crumble from behind the nearly impenetrable army that she and Venichis had brought to the world, and so she begged her brother, among all things that this reality must be protected at all costs. She was willing to give anything, so long as it could keep lock the demonic hoard away forever.
Venichis did find one spell to help, though he warned it would destroy the power of all gods. Tutella accepted this, pointing to Ladisus who was destroying the world by flanking the heavens and destroying countless beings with mere swings of his fists. She was willing to pay any price.
Venichis warned Tutella that he did in fact have a spell, turning the powers of sight, and forsight into formidable weapons against the demonic horde, locking them away for eternity. As she was willing however, he brought fourth two items.
First he brought forth a curved blade of several angles for which he placed in her left hand, and a bowl into her right. Taganum brought with him a drink made of a hundred years, of the grapes from his fertile land, and poured it into her bowl. Tutella drank from the bowl, than removed her eyes using the curved blade, and placed them in the now empty bowl.
Venichis lifted the bowl to the heavens and spoke the first ritual upon the earth. One eye vanished, and reappeared in the sky, in its bold white glory. The glow pushing back every demon in the cosmos into a single point. The seccond eye vanished and reappeared in the sky of a startling green. This coalesced on the point where all demons were gathered, and banished them into The Abyssal Realms.
With the endless hordes defeated, the magical creatures that fought to protect the world fell from the sky, and took their place among the world wherever they desired. Calpricis Aufor of the Sun stayed in the sky, patroling the world in case his services would be needed again, moving across the sky from east to west.
Vivere captured Ladisus with bindings made from iron, forged by Olänn in his mountain halls, with a chain so strong that nothing could break it. And Venichis cursed the risen demon due to his insolence, and his crimes against existance. So, instead of the destruction he was bound to create, his bindings changed his destructive ways.
He would be stronger than any other god, of this there was no way to change. But instead of damaging life, to live. Instead, he gave life, and took their wounds upon himself, that was to be his eternal life, and torture. Tutella wears a simple rag over her eyes, for she is blind to the sight of humanity, and yet her sightless eyes watch over all upon the world to protect all under her gaze.
Centarial Crowning
After the great demon war, Tutella gathered all creatures before her, and the gods to discuss the state of the mortal realm itself. Only the humans did not have full representation, and as such, Taganum swore to speak for them as well as their own people. The world was vast, and crowded, with a growing number of mortal races that, though their expansion was slow by mortal means, to the divine, their population explodes in the simplest blink of an eye to every corner of the world.
Tutella called before her the races for the simple task of spreading throughout the world enough to protect it, as much as they had when they lived in the sky. The Dragons who came as the first warriors alongside angelic beings and the gods themselves, approached Tutella. Three of them, named Chromnis the Irridescent, Průhledná of the Sands, and Pollux the Opaque. Chromnis, of his incandesence asked that the dragons maintain leadership over magical creatures throughout the day. So that they may bask, and be strengthened by Calpricis and his mighty glow from above. Průhledná demanded that the dragons maintain leadership over the magical creatures of the world at night, so that they may best defend the world that is not gazed upon by Calpricis from above. The two, shocked by the others demand of where dragons should belong, fought one another before Tutella. But were quickly grabbed by Venichis and thrown to the ends of the world so that they may not fight before Tutella herself ever again.
Standing before Pollux, Venichis looked down upon the dragon and asked him what he wished to do to protect the world. Pollux looked the god in his eyes and spoke that he only wished for dragons to have the choice to fight, as they had already done so for a thousand years. He wished to allow choice, and free thought to his race, weither to protect, or be selfish for each individual.
Venichis moved by this simple request, instead gave Pollux the power to do just that for all his kin. And with this new power, Pollux vanished without a trace from the halls before Tutella. Tutella asked that the same power be applied to the other two dragons before them. Venichis agreed, and gave half of the power that Pollux had to Průhledná and Chromnis.
After the dragons, the creatures of life came before Tutella herself, asking for a world they could call their own. The mortal races were far beyond their comprehension, because death was all they were destined for. Tutella understood their plight, but asked why they needed a realm of their own, when they were so needed to maintain themselves in the world. Freedom, is what they wished, as the dragons did. But a freedom away from the death of the world.
Hearing the plight of freedom, his heart wrenching in the heavens, Calpricis turned his heart and his heat from the world for only a breath, causing the first eclipse. He spoke to Tutella, and took her hand so she may see his passion for the plight of the creatures of life. And offered a comprimise. They shall be able to be seen and heard, and help in the plight of the divine against the endless hordes upon creation. Their true home taking place between the layers of the divine realms, within The Great Forests of Vitium.
Understanding his plight, but also needing a great protector of the dark, Tutella offered her own comprimise as well. And her word was final. Those born from life itself, those may be called the Vita, and during the last moments of the day when Calpricis is watching over them, they may travel between Vitium, their home, and the world itself, so that they may keep the balance of the world, and protect it when Calpricis cannot.
The Vita were overjoyed by this, but other creatures of life did not accept this freedom. Instead, they cast off their own lives, and left, finding a different place to live, under the rule of Rahet and those who he commands. They left, proclaiming themselves the Noxa, and determined that they will bide their time and rule over all things in the end.
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