Gods Of Chane
The gods are real, and their presence is woven into the fabric of the world. They do not walk among mortals or answer prayer directly, yet their influence is felt in all things: through signs, through the natural order, and through the sustained works of those who act in their name. Divine power reaches mortals through the Saints and through Threadlight, and by these means the will of the gods finds expression in daily life.
Each god governs one or more domains of existence: creation, death, nature, war, knowledge, and others. These domains are not exclusive territories. They overlap and intersect, and the boundaries between them are matters of theological interpretation rather than fixed law. Worship is correspondingly fluid. A farmer may honour Salorna for the harvest and Adûn for the strength to bring it in. A soldier may serve Cavall in the field and pray to Ord before a siege. Devotion is shaped by need, custom, and circumstance rather than singular allegiance.
The will of the gods is made manifest through the Saints: mortals who have transcended their limits through devotion, miraculous act, or sustained service to a divine cause. When a conduit calls upon divine power, it is channelled through a Saint rather than drawn from the god directly. Some Saints are living, though rare. Others persist as relics, spirits, or presences bound to sacred places. Worshippers may pray to a god or a Saint with equal expectation; the distinction is practical only in method, not in result.
All forms of supernatural power within Chane, whether classified as divine, elemental, psionic, or otherwise, draw upon Threadlight: the unseen current that runs through all things. Most people do not distinguish between forms of magic with particular rigour. Priest and mage alike are understood to draw upon the same force, shaped differently by training, faith, or instinct. Threadlight is treated as both natural and sacred, a fundamental property of the world rather than a gift that might be withdrawn.
Adûn
Domains: Creation, Life, Love, Protection
Adûn is the god of creation, life, honest labour, and steadfast protection. His teaching holds that truth reveals itself through work: that a person who shapes the world with their hands lives more honestly than one who hides behind words or coin. Farmers, masons, carpenters, and all who labour openly revere him. His priests build as they preach, treating craft as prayer made physical.
Knights and censors of Adûn uplift others through work and example rather than judgement. Strength, in his tradition, is demonstrated through service, not domination. He is brother to Cavall, and together they are understood to teach that truth and justice walk side by side, their boundaries close and often crossed.
Cavall
Domains: Life, Love, Protection, War
Cavall is the god of life, protection, justice, and the lawful order that keeps communities whole. His teaching holds that mortals cannot thrive where injustice is allowed to take root; a society that tolerates corruption becomes what his followers call a Wasted Land, where people live false lives beneath a surface of stability.
Priests of Cavall serve as watchful protectors, guiding without judging, for judgement belongs to lawful process rather than personal pride. Yet his censors and knights travel the wilds to dispense justice where law cannot reach. Brother to Adûn, Cavall holds that even the cruelest may be bettered. "Let the law judge," he teaches. "Let us forgive."
Cyrvis
Domains: Death, Fate, Knowledge, Trickery
Cyrvis is the enemy of fate itself: god of death, twisted destiny, forbidden knowledge, and treachery shaped into power. He is patron of those whom life has wronged, the bullied, the discarded, the humiliated, and all who whisper for revenge. His teaching holds that magic allows mortals to seize control, to impose their will over others, and to break the chains of destiny.
Brother to Nikros, Cyrvis is frail in form and spiteful in spirit, despising his brother's strength and returning the hatred gladly. His worship is dangerous and hunted; his temples lurk in cellars and dungeons where conspirators gather. To Cyrvis, love is weakness, and being hated is a sign of strength.
Kul
Domains: Knowledge, Life, Sun, Trickery, War
Kul, the Father of Flames, is the god of fire, creation, destruction, and the decisive will to act. His fire is both the blaze that consumes and the forge-heat that shapes, the flame that cooks food and the fire that cauterises wounds. Kul teaches that action is the essence of existence: thought means nothing without the strike that follows it.
It is said that Kul created the orcs in answer to his siblings' works. He does not desire worship and finds prayer distasteful; those who cry his name do so only to be seen, hoping their deeds prove worthy of his attention.
Nebular
Domains: Creation, Life, Love, Sun
Nebular, the Star Mother, is the goddess of creation, life, love, and the sun's sustaining radiance. She is revered as the great maternal force among the gods, the wellspring from which all living energy flows. Her light heals, warms, and orders, turning darkness into clarity and chaos into purpose.
To her priests, life is the enduring triumph of light over darkness, sustained by warmth and radiance. Those who pray to Nebular seek renewal, protection, and the quiet certainty that light begets life.
Nikros
Domains: Death, Fate, Storm, War
Nikros, the Tyrant, is the god of death, fate, storm, and the brutal right of strength. He teaches that power is the only true virtue, and that the strong were born to rule the weak. Many of his followers masquerade as devotees of Adûn, for both speak of strength, yet Nikros exalts domination where Adûn teaches duty.
His priests whisper to rulers hungry for control, turning them toward conquest and cruelty. Brother to Cyrvis, he despises him for frailty, insisting that treachery is the weapon of cowards. His worship is hidden and feared, yet secretly admired by bullies and despots. To him, weakness is a sickness to be purged.
Ord
Domains: Creation, Knowledge, Protection, Sun, War
Ord, the Maker and Engineer, is the god of creation, knowledge, protection, sunlit clarity, and honourable war. Patron of the dwarves, he teaches integrity, reliability, and devotion to an ideal. To treat one's opponent with courage and fairness is, for Ord, a mark of worthiness.
He values permanence and craftsmanship, asking his followers to build marvels and renew the world with each generation. While some cling to tradition in his name, Ord's truest teaching is steadfast innovation: that honour and discovery must walk together. His children are expected not merely to preserve, but to remake the world anew, faithfully and bravely.
Ovanor
Domains: Fate, Knowledge, Storm, Sun
Ovanor, the Stormrider, is the god of fate, knowledge, storms, and the guiding light upon open water. Sailors say he walks the crests of waves and rides the shoulders of tempests, revealing safe passages only to those who watch with clear minds. When fog blinds a ship or winds turn treacherous, a sudden break of sunlight is taken as his favour.
Ovanor cares little for law or politics; he aids any who fight to survive the sea's indifference. His worshippers pray not for calm, but for direction: "Ovanor, show me the path when none can be seen."
Salorna
Domains: Life, Nature, Storm, Sun
Salorna is the goddess of life, nature, storms, and the sunlit balance that binds them. She teaches that nature is a moral force, and to act against its balance is to commit wrong. Tilled fields and forests are equally natural; harmony, not wilderness, is her law.
Cutting a tree for shelter is right; felling one for convenience is a sin. Killing for food is natural; killing for sport is desecration. Salorna delights in the connection between mortals and the land: wheels turning in rivers, soil shaped by honest labour. Her censors punish those who hunt for sport or defile the natural order.
Val
Domains: Creation, Knowledge, Life, Nature, Protection
Val, the Noble Lord and First Among Equals, is the god of creation, knowledge, life, nature, and protection, and patron of the elves. It is said that he shaped the first celestials, the Aetherim, who in turn helped craft the elves after his design.
Val teaches that a thinking being's highest calling is the creation of art and the pursuit of beauty. He cherishes enchanted forests as reflections of the world as it should be. Disgusted by war, Val is believed to have turned from mortal matters entirely. It is by his command, some hold, that the Aetherim withdrew to Celestis when their work in the world was done.