The Old Gods
Mythology & Lore
The elder pantheon is strange in the sense that the gods and goddesses are not divided by singular qualities such as "love goddess", but are more of the nature of well-rounded humans, who have areas of special interests or skills. In this way, they do not correspond directly to other pantheons.
Divine Origins
Belief in the old gods has been around since before recorded history. It is theorized that the mythos stems from a combination of the prehistoric deities of the Gael, Karamin, and Alfwood elves. Howerver, due to human and "settled" halfling willingness to adopt the Faith of Caerwyn has those in recent history refer to the gods inaccurately as the elvish pantheon.
Worship
Worshipers are free to worship in their own right, but some commonalities amongst actives worshippers included ceremonies involving some sort of sacrifice and the burning of natural incense (such as sage, mistletoe, etc). Active worship, besides those especially devoted, tended to just occur when one was asking for a god/goddess's favor. It is rumored that the sacrifice required to earn the gods' favor was to sacrifice a living thing; however, most scholars believe this to be a myth rooted in anti-elvish racism. Either way, the modern requirement of sacrifice can be satisficed through various ways. A worshipper can sacrifice their time, their money (in the form of charity or simply abandoning coins), or anything else of significance. It is rumored that one can sacrifice their own blood, but breaking a blood oath may have grave consequences.
Priesthood
Although there isn't necessary a structured secular hierarchy associated with the old gods, those willing to dedicated themselves to the worship and teaching of the old gods are often treated with reverence and respect amongst the followers of the old faith. Communities with large enough populations will form de-facto temples of worship, the largest was found in Lochdomhan, before it was converted to a temple for Caerwyn.
Sects
Individuals tend to worship an individual god or goddess that they related to more than others. Occasionally, this individuality of the pantheon will lead to the development of a cult.
Type
Religious, Pantheon
Capital
Alternative Names
The old faith, the northern pantheon, the elder pantheon, the elvish pantheon
Permeated Organizations
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