The Gods of Masada

Divine Power in the Current Age

The gods of Masada are real but diminished. Scholars and priests debate what caused this divine weakening: some say it was punishment for mortal hubris, others claim the gods withdrew after some ancient betrayal, and a few whisper of a cosmic wound that has never healed. What all agree upon is that divine power, while real and present, flows less freely than in the tales of old.

Divine magic still works, but inconsistently. Clerics must maintain stronger faith to channel weaker miracles. Some days prayers go unanswered not from divine displeasure, but seemingly from divine absence. This has made personal devotion more important than organized worship; a single fervent believer might receive a blessing that an entire congregation cannot summon.

Religion in Daily Life

Common folk know the gods are real. They have seen miracles, suffered curses, and witnessed divine intervention. They pray carefully, understanding that divine attention is precious and limited. Most households maintain shrines to 2 or 3 deities: typically Matra for prosperity, a professional patron (like Durek for soldiers or Arven for merchants), and a regional deity tied to local concerns.

Prayers are transactional but respectful. People make offerings before requests: bread for Matra before asking for health, weapons for Durek before battle, written names for Thul at funerals. When prayers are answered, the debt must be repaid through service, spreading the faith, or greater offerings. Divine favor ignored or squandered may never return.

Cities maintain public shrines where travelers can make offerings. Rural areas often have crossroads shrines honoring multiple gods. Only major deities like Matra have large temples, and even these are practical spaces where worship happens through action rather than ceremony: courtrooms, hospitals, markets.

Clerics and Divine Magic

Clerics are rare in the current age. The gods cannot empower many servants, choosing instead to vest limited power in devoted few. Most clerics serve for life; abandoning a god who has invested power in you often proves fatal to both parties.

Clerical magic requires genuine faith and active service. A cleric who merely goes through motions receives nothing. The gods test their servants constantly through withheld spells, divine silence, or dangerous tasks. Those who persevere might receive visions, direct intervention, or permanent blessings. Those who falter lose their powers, often dramatically.

Different gods empower different numbers of clerics. Matra, as the most widely worshipped, maintains the largest clergy. Smaller gods like Lanivar might have only a dozen clerics across all Masada. Some gods, particularly the evil ones, prefer warlocks and pacts to traditional clerical relationships.

Major Deities Expanded

Matra Hearthborn: The Sacred Flame

Matra is the most widely worshipped deity in Masada, serving as the state religion of New Antioch where her Sacred Flame burns eternally in grand temples. In rural areas, she is the goddess of the hearth, the shared meal, and the open door.

Typical Worshippers: In Antioch, citizenship requires service at her temples. Elsewhere, innkeepers, cooks, midwives, and the poor form her core faithful. Military field medics carry her flame in portable shrines. Refugees seek her temples for sanctuary.

Divine Pacts: Matra's clerics take vows of charity. They may own only what they can carry and must feed anyone who asks. In exchange, they never suffer from hunger or cold, and their healing spells are particularly potent. Breaking hospitality laws while serving Matra causes immediate loss of all divine powers.

Sample Prayer: "Kindly Flame, we share this meal in your sight. Let our hearth warm the lost, our bread feed the hungry, our door shelter the weary. The flame that warms one warms all."

Regional Variations: In New Antioch, elaborate ceremonies mark state occasions with sacred flames carried between temples. In the Concordat, her worship is quieter: a pot of eternal stew in taverns, bread left on windowsills for the hungry. The Maw of Korath forbids her worship as weakness.

Durek the Bound: The Iron Oath

Durek commands respect across all warrior cultures. His temples are training grounds where combat itself becomes prayer, and broken weapons left at his altars seal vows of peace or mark conflicts resolved.

Typical Worshippers: Veterans, mercenaries, city guards, and professional soldiers. Also oath keepers of all kinds: marriage witnesses, contract negotiators, and diplomats who arrange truces. Noble houses that value honor often dedicate second sons to his service.

Divine Pacts: Durek's clerics can never break their word; doing so causes physical agony and loss of speech until atonement. In return, they can sense oath breakers, force others to speak truthfully in formal duels, and their own oaths carry supernatural weight. Many serve as neutral arbitrators in disputes.

Sample Prayer: "Iron Oath, witness this vow. My word is my blade, my honor my shield. Let my deeds speak louder than words. In silence and service, I am bound."

Regional Variations: New Antioch's legions swear oaths before his iron altars. The Concordat treats him as patron of the Shieldbands. In the Broken Teeth, his worship focuses on blood debts and vengeance oaths rather than honorable combat.

Thul of the Wet Pages: The Grieving Book

Thul ensures no death goes unrecorded and no life is forgotten. His clergy maintains the most extensive libraries in Masada, documenting not just deaths but the stories of common lives.

Typical Worshippers: Librarians, historians, genealogists, and cemetery keepers. Also the grieving, those researching family histories, and communities trying to preserve their traditions. Adventurers seek his priests to research ancient ruins or forgotten enemies.

Divine Pacts: Thul's clerics gain perfect memory but must record every death they witness and attend any funeral they encounter. They cannot refuse to record someone's final words. In return, they can speak with the recently dead, access memories from written records, and their documented words become nearly indestructible.

Sample Prayer: "Grieving Book, record this name in your eternal pages. They lived, they mattered, they are remembered. Until the last star falls, let their story endure."

Regional Variations: Major cities maintain Thuline Libraries where family records stretch back centuries. Rural priests travel circuits, updating village record books. In New Antioch, military service records are kept in his temples. The Concordat uses his priests to verify ancient oaths and treaties.

The War Touched

Durek the Bound

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Order, War
Symbol: Iron warhorn with a nail through it

Durek is the god of oaths, honor, and martial discipline. He teaches that words are cheap but deeds are eternal. Warriors invoke him before battle, and his blessing aids those who fight to keep their promises. His clergy oversee duels of honor and the swearing of military oaths. Temples to Durek function as training grounds where combat itself becomes prayer. Breaking an oath sworn in Durek's name causes the oath breaker to lose the ability to speak until atonement is made.

Dogma: "Let your blade speak truths your tongue cannot. Honor is proven in action, not proclamation."

Saerta the Hidden Blade

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Trickery, Death
Symbol: A folded knife

Saerta is the goddess of necessary betrayal, espionage, and rebellion against tyranny. She teaches that loyalty to a corrupt cause is itself corruption. Spies, rebels, and underground movements pray to her for protection and success. Her clergy operates in cells, with members knowing only their immediate contacts. There are no public temples to Saerta; her shrines are hidden in basements, behind false walls, and in abandoned buildings.

Dogma: "The blade that strikes from within cuts deepest. Sometimes betrayal is the highest form of loyalty."

Gorran the Steadfast Bell

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: War, Order
Symbol: A cracked iron bell

Gorran is the god of strength, conquest, and domination. He teaches that might makes right and that the weak exist to serve the strong. Tyrants, slavers, and those who rule through fear worship him. His temples host gladiatorial combats and trials by strength. His clergy maintains strict hierarchies based on physical prowess; challenges for position are settled through combat. The sound of bells marks the beginning of battles fought in his name.

Dogma: "Power is truth. The strong take what they will; the weak suffer what they must."

The Wild and Withering

Serenna of the Grove

Alignment: Neutral Good
Domains: Nature, Life
Symbol: An oak leaf wrapped in silver thread

Serenna is the goddess of the wilderness, sacred groves, and the harmony between civilization and nature. She protects wild places and those who respect them. Rangers, druids, and rural communities worship her. Her clergy maintains sacred groves and mediates between settlements and the wild. They bless hunters who take only what they need and curse those who destroy nature for profit. Her holy days align with the seasons.

Dogma: "The forest remembers every kindness and every cruelty. Take only what you need; protect what cannot protect itself."

Thalhaz of the Blooming Rot

Alignment: Neutral Evil
Domains: Death, Nature
Symbol: A black mushroom

Thalhaz is the god of decay, disease, and entropy. He represents the darker side of nature: blight, plague, and uncontrolled growth that consumes. Necromancers and those who spread disease worship him. His clergy cultivates dangerous fungi and spreads rot where they deem it necessary. Rural communities placate him with offerings to keep their crops safe. His touch brings both fertile soil and devastating plague.

Dogma: "All things rot. From decay comes new growth, but first must come the dying."

Ellanir the Wandering Wind

Alignment: Chaotic Good
Domains: Tempest, Trickery
Symbol: A windblown feather

Ellanir is the god of travel, change, and freedom. He watches over merchants, wanderers, and all who journey far from home. His clergy never settles in one place, instead traveling between communities to share news and blessings. Crossroads serve as his shrines, marked by wind chimes and traveler's signs. He grants safe passage to those who aid fellow travelers and curses those who prey upon them.

Dogma: "The road changes all who walk it. Stand still and you stagnate; move forward and grow."

The Hearth and the Hunger

Matra Hearthborn

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Life, Light
Symbol: A sacred flame

Matra is the goddess of hospitality, community, and the hearth. She is the most widely worshipped deity in Masada, especially in New Antioch where she is the state religion. Her clergy maintains eternal flames in temples and teaches that civilization is built through shared meals and mutual aid. She blesses those who feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Her greatest festival occurs on the winter solstice, when all doors must remain open to those in need.

Dogma: "The flame that warms one can warm all. Share your bread, tend your fire, and civilization endures."

Iskava of the Burning Veil

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Death, Knowledge
Symbol: A mourning veil

Iskava is the goddess of loss, longing, and unrequited desire. She offers solace to the grieving and the lovelorn. Widows, spurned lovers, and artists worship her. Her clergy provides grief counseling and maintains memorial shrines. Her temples offer sanctuary to those overwhelmed by loss. She teaches that pain from loss proves the value of what was lost.

Dogma: "To mourn deeply is to have loved truly. Loss teaches us the worth of what we had."

Vereth the Devouring Root

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domains: Death, Nature
Symbol: A rose with thorns that form a spiral

Vereth is the goddess of obsessive love and consuming desire. She represents passion that destroys both lover and beloved. Her worship is outlawed in most civilized lands. Her cultists practice binding rituals that create unhealthy codependency. She appeals to those whose love has turned to dangerous obsession. Her blessings always come with terrible prices.

Dogma: "Love consumes. Let it devour you utterly, for in consumption comes the only true union."

The Rememberers and the Buried

Thul of the Wet Pages

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Death, Knowledge
Symbol: An open book with tear stained pages

Thul is the god of memory, history, and the honored dead. He ensures that lives are remembered and deaths are properly recorded. Historians, librarians, and funeral directors worship him. His clergy maintains vast records of the deceased and oversees funeral rites. Every temple contains archives where family histories are preserved. He grants perfect memory to his most devoted servants.

Dogma: "Death is forgotten, not when the heart stops, but when the name is spoken for the last time."

Nirseth Inkbound

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Knowledge, Trickery
Symbol: A black quill

Nirseth is the god of secrets, blackmail, and forbidden knowledge. He hoards dangerous information and teaches that knowledge is power to be leveraged. Spies, blackmailers, and corrupt officials worship him. His clergy trades in secrets, maintaining networks of informants. His temples function as repositories of dangerous knowledge, accessible only to those who pay the price, usually secrets of their own.

Dogma: "Every secret is a weapon waiting to be wielded. Knowledge has value only when others lack it."

Elaruun the Vault Eyed

Alignment: True Neutral
Domains: Knowledge, Grave
Symbol: An eye within a keyhole

Elaruun is the god of prophecy, dreams, and hidden truths. He grants visions to those who seek them, though his prophecies are often cryptic. Oracles, mystics, and those seeking guidance worship him. His clergy practices divination and dream interpretation. His temples are built underground, where seekers sleep to receive visions. His prophecies always come true, but rarely in the way expected.

Dogma: "Truth lies beneath the surface. Dig deep enough and all secrets are revealed."

The Crowns and Chains

Valtric Hollow King

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Order, War
Symbol: An empty throne

Valtric is the god of legitimate authority, regency, and governance in absence. He maintains order when rulers fall and legitimacy when thrones sit empty. Regents, bureaucrats, and provisional governments worship him. His clergy preserves legal codes and maintains continuity of government. His temples house archives of laws and treaties. He grants authority to those who rule in another's name.

Dogma: "The throne endures though the king may fall. Law exists independent of those who enforce it."

Zerach Chainfather

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: Order, Death
Symbol: Interlocked chains

Zerach is the god of contracts, debt, and binding obligations. He enforces all agreements, regardless of fairness. Lawyers, moneylenders, and slavers worship him. His clergy oversees contract negotiations and debt collection. Breaking a contract sworn in his name brings terrible curses. His temples function as courts where contracts are witnessed and enforced.

Dogma: "A word given is a chain forged. All debts come due; all contracts must be honored."

Ashura Flame Tongue

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domains: War, Tempest
Symbol: A burning sword

Ashura is the goddess of destruction, scorched earth warfare, and annihilation. She represents war without purpose beyond devastation. Nihilistic warriors and those who seek complete destruction worship her. Her clergy exists only in warbands that raze settlements and salt fields. She grants power to those who promise to destroy rather than conquer.

Dogma: "Some things must be destroyed so thoroughly that even their memory dies."

The Shifting and the Shattered

Star Eater Celyx

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Arcana, Tempest
Symbol: A fragmented star

Celyx is the god of wild magic, planar instability, and magical chaos. He governs magic that has broken free from control. Wild sorcerers and those touched by magical accidents worship him. His clergy consists of mages who have survived magical catastrophes. His temples exist partially in multiple planes simultaneously. He grants power that is unpredictable but potent.

Dogma: "Magic seeks to be free. Control is illusion; chaos is truth."

Vess of the Shattered Glass

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Trickery, Twilight
Symbol: A broken mirror

Vess is the goddess of shapeshifting, identity change, and reinvention. She helps those who must become someone new. Changelings, spies, and those fleeing their past worship her. Her clergy helps people disappear and create new identities. Her temples contain rooms of mirrors where worshippers can see themselves as they might become. She grants the ability to alter one's appearance and manner.

Dogma: "Identity is a choice, not a prison. Become who you need to be."

Tolvir the Broken Glyph

Alignment: Neutral Evil
Domains: Death, Knowledge
Symbol: A cracked rune

Tolvir is the god of curses, harmful words, and malevolent oaths. He weaponizes language itself. Those seeking to curse their enemies worship him. His clergy specializes in creating curses and binding oaths that harm those who break them. Speaking his name carelessly can draw his attention. He grants the power to make words into weapons.

Dogma: "Words have power to heal or harm. Choose them carefully, for they cannot be taken back."

The Just and the Unforgiving

Ilvar the Measured Hand

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Order, Death
Symbol: Balanced scales over a sword

Ilvar is the goddess of impartial justice and necessary execution. She ensures that justice is served without emotion or favoritism. Judges, executioners, and lawkeepers worship her. Her clergy administers justice according to the letter of the law. Her temples function as courts where silence is maintained except for verdicts. She grants the ability to detect lies and see through deception.

Dogma: "Justice requires neither anger nor mercy, only action."

Kashem of the Red Script

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domains: War, Death
Symbol: A blood written scroll

Kashem is the god of vengeance, blood feuds, and retribution. He ensures that no wrong goes unpunished. Those seeking revenge worship him. His clergy maintains records of wrongs that require vengeance. His temples contain walls inscribed with the names of those who owe blood debts. He grants the power to track those who have wronged you.

Dogma: "Every wound demands answer. Blood calls to blood until the debt is paid."

Ibris of the Single Weight

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Order, War
Symbol: A scale with one weight

Ibris is the goddess of absolute justice and uniform punishment. She teaches that all crimes are equal and deserve equal punishment. Harsh judges and moral absolutists worship her. Her clergy administers justice without consideration of circumstances. Her temples are stark halls where all defendants receive identical treatment. She grants immunity to charm and compulsion.

Dogma: "One law, one punishment. Context is the enemy of justice."

The Tithe and the Lie

Arven of the Open Hand

Alignment: Lawful Good
Domains: Life, Order
Symbol: An open hand holding grain

Arven is the god of fair trade, generosity, and community prosperity. He ensures honest dealing and mutual benefit. Merchants, traders, and civic leaders worship him. His clergy oversees markets and trade disputes. His temples serve as neutral ground for negotiations. He blesses those who deal fairly and curses cheaters.

Dogma: "Prosperity shared is prosperity doubled. The hand that gives is never empty."

Numor the Notched Coin

Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Domains: Order, Knowledge
Symbol: A coin marked with notches

Numor is the god of contracts, business arrangements, and oaths. He witnesses and enforces all formal agreements. Merchants, lawyers, and diplomats worship him. His clergy notarizes documents and witnesses important agreements. His temples store copies of significant contracts. Breaking an oath sworn in his name brings financial ruin.

Dogma: "A contract signed is a sacred bond. Let your word be your wealth."

Tressa Hollowmint

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Trickery, Twilight
Symbol: A false gold coin

Tressa is the goddess of counterfeiting, confidence games, and beautiful deceptions. She governs lies that appear valuable. Con artists, counterfeiters, and gamblers worship her. Her clergy teaches the art of deception and helps create convincing forgeries. Her temples appear wealthy but are furnished with clever fakes. She grants the ability to make worthless things appear valuable.

Dogma: "Value is perception. A beautiful lie is worth more than an ugly truth."

The Dreamt and the Damned

Velas the Velvet Eye

Alignment: Neutral Good
Domains: Death, Twilight
Symbol: A closed eye

Velas is the goddess of peaceful death, merciful endings, and restful sleep. She eases suffering and grants peace to the dying. Hospice workers, healers, and the terminally ill worship her. Her clergy provides end of life care and assists with peaceful deaths. Her temples offer sanctuary to those seeking rest. She grants the ability to ease pain and bring peaceful sleep.

Dogma: "Not all endings must be struggles. Sometimes the greatest mercy is a gentle farewell."

Korrul of the Deep Choir

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Knowledge, Tempest
Symbol: Intersecting pipes

Korrul is the god of madness, underground spaces, and hidden patterns. He speaks through ambient sounds and architectural acoustics. The mad, urban explorers, and sewer workers worship him. His clergy interprets meaning in random sounds and maintains shrines in basements and tunnels. His temples are built in underground spaces where strange acoustics create his "choir."

Dogma: "Wisdom hums in the walls. Listen to the spaces between sounds."

Maze Weaver Ysh

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domains: Knowledge, Trickery
Symbol: An ever changing maze pattern

Ysh is the god of confusion, paradox, and enlightenment through disorientation. He teaches that being lost is the first step to finding truth. Philosophers, madmen, and mystics worship him. His clergy creates elaborate puzzles and mazes. His temples are designed to confuse, with layouts that change regularly. He grants immunity to confusion while inflicting it on others.

Dogma: "To understand, first become lost. The straight path teaches nothing."

The Dead and the Waiting

Tharn Beyond the Door

Alignment: Neutral Good
Domains: Death, Grave
Symbol: A door slightly ajar

Tharn is the god of death's threshold and peaceful transitions. He guides souls from life to death. Funeral directors, grief counselors, and the dying worship him. His clergy provides last rites and death doula services. His temples feature symbolic doorways representing the passage to death. He grants the ability to ease the dying process and communicate with the recently deceased.

Dogma: "Death is but a doorway. Fear not the passage, for you do not walk alone."

Molgrin Whitejaw

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domains: Death, War
Symbol: A skull with multiple jaws

Molgrin is the god of undeath, cannibalism, and the denial of peaceful rest. He creates and commands undead. Necromancers, ghouls, and cannibals worship him. His clergy raises undead and practices ritual cannibalism. His temples are hidden in graveyards and catacombs. He grants the ability to create and control undead.

Dogma: "Death is not the end of hunger. Rise and feed, for appetite is eternal."

Lanivar of the Waiting Flame

Alignment: Neutral Good
Domains: Death, Light
Symbol: A single candle

Lanivar is the god of the forgotten dead and unmarked graves. He remembers those who die unmourned. Battlefield chaplains, grave diggers, and historians worship him. His clergy seeks out unmarked graves to provide proper rites. His temples maintain eternal flames for unknown dead. He grants the ability to speak with the dead and find unmarked graves.

Dogma: "Every life deserves remembrance. Light a candle for the forgotten, that they might find peace."