Gods

The gods of Illaria (with a lowercase 'g') are widely considered the most powerful beings in the world along with Primals and the Sacred Dragons who are believed to be gods themselves.

True Gods
In Illaria's beginnings there was a singular entity known as The Great One, a disembodied force which no one has been able to comprehend or explain, even the gods themselves are baffled by his greater purpose known as the Grand Design.   Below is a small list of the major gods and their attributes.

Arthum - The goddess of lightning; her other domains include chaos, freedom, and empowerment.

Benzast - The god of wind; his other domains include neutrality, logic, and justice.

Jeuno - The god of water; his other domains include healing, love, and artistic pursuits.

Minnaver - The goddess of fire; her other domains include passion, rage, and order.

Vallum - The god of light; his other domains include nobility, inner strength, and heroic deeds.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vorenn - The god of darkness; his other domains include deceit, despair, and power.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Zon - The god of earth; his other domains include physical perfection, courage, and warfare.

Demigods
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;">Demigods are considered any "god" or godlike being who came into existence either through copulation with a true god or through the divine will of the planet itself known as "faith." Below is a short list of the major demigods and their attributes. <p class="MsoNormal">Titans - created by the gods to forge the material planes, they are often worshiped by myopic craftsmen or those who's faith in the traditional gods has waned. <p class="MsoNormal">Sacred Dragons - created by The Great One to watch over mortals, eventually dragged into a great conflict to protect their charges from themselves.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The High Obhed - demigod of the forests with power over the primal energies of the planet; he is also a patron of dreams. His realm lies somewhere between the waking world and other realms. Followers of the High Obhed believe the roots of all worlds are connected.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:15.75pt;">Kiravhi - demigoddess of fate and fortune with power over time and the ability to see into the future; she is known as lady luck and is one of the most powerful demigods in existence having been formed by the force known as faith. Followers of Kiravhi are often gamblers of coin or life, blessed as lucky, and are ignorant to their own worship. <p class="MsoNormal">Adulzadul - demigod of pacts, agreements and bindings. Every culture holds reference to a creature that fulfills the wishes of the desperate. He maintains power using the paranoia of an unpaid debt. <p class="MsoNormal">Longknife - The first sword to ever be forged, said to have been created by a blessed blacksmith to slay nightmares. Warriors and soldiers often find themselves worshiping the swords of legends when they fear their own swords shall fail them. <h2 class="MsoNormal">Cosmology The cosmos of Illaria is comprised of 8 layers based upon the understanding of mortals as passed on by the gods through various texts and oral traditions.

The Voidfont - The Voidfont is an exterior plane of existence out of the reach of mortals until Vorenn, gave mortals the ability to command magic. The Voidfont is believed to be comprised of matter so volatile that mere thought can influence its shape, texture, or any of its other attributes. A more stable, condensed version of this substance is known as ethere, and is made available to those who cannot use magic through weapons, armor, and other items manufactured using ethere as a base, or as a coating.

Elysium - <span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">Elysium is also known as the Plane of Wisdom, the Plane of the Eternal, or simply Heaven. This plane was created by the gods as their resting place where they may hide from the prying eyes of mortals and work towards the completion of the Grand Design. Elysium is split into three castes.

<span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">The lowest caste is reserved for mortals who have proven their worth on the planet and have lived their lives furthering the Grand Design. Different cultures and religions have different methods for securing their place in this caste, but none of them can be confirmed nor denied by the gods.

<span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">The middle caste is populated by the Seraphs and Carios, soldiers and messengers of the gods and maintainers of the realm.

<span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">The highest caste is populated by the gods and is the center of their power, the City of the Gods, Zion. On this plane, the Will of the Great One is ever present, guiding the gods along their path to fulfilling the Grand Design.

The Eternal Horizon - <span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">The Eternal Horizon is a vast endless space thought to be the median that splits the gods and mortals. This space is populated with shining stars, various moons, and on rare occasions, other planets can be seen in the distance. No mortal has ever experienced the Eternal Horizon and the gods rarely tread there.

The Sky - <span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">The Sky is a shield that protects mortals from the destructive energies of the Eternal Horizon. In the sky, birds, clouds, and other manifestations of the aerial can be seen.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;">The Planet - The planet is the final form of the gods' design and the labor of the Titans who shaped it, Illaria. The planet is home to all of terrestrial life and the occasional extra-dimensional interloper.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">Hel <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Hel is also known as the Plane of Fury, and the Pits of Wrath. This plane was created by the gods to house the souls of the dead. Vorenn once maintained this realm, but abused his power by using the souls of the damned as weapons during the Dragon Crusades. Minnaver took over afterward as punishment for her part in the Dragon Crusade's escalation<span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">. Hel is separated into five castes ranging from people buried in unmarked graves, to traitors, and those who would see Hel rise above <span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;">Elysium. The deepest recesses of Hel are where Minnaver slumbers and retains tentative control over the whole of the Plane of Fury wresting control of the dead from the god of darkness, Vorenn who wages eternal war with her daemons with his fiends.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">Prime <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Prime is also known as the Primal Plane or the Primal Heart. It is here that the energies of the planet's nature well up and expel themselves into the Planet. It is because of these energies (which have become rivaled in power only by faith and the Voidfont itself, that daemons find vents or portals on to the Planet. Those who learn to harness these energies can use magic much like those who harness the voidfont, but because its source is the planet itself, it cannot be taken away or destroyed by gods or men unless the entire planet was destroyed. It is said that the Primals drew their strength from here, hence their name.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">Faith <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Faith is a mystical force that has only recently been discovered and is believed to be tied to the planet, mortals, and the gods themselves. When Vorenn broke the covenant between the gods that no mortal shall possess the powers of a god by granting the Highborne the use of magic, the Will of the Great One punished the gods by separating their physical forms and their souls in such a way that the gods would depend upon the mortal races for their power. Faith in this regard is the substance that makes up the chains of the gods, held by mortals. Faith is also known to bring about great miracles and is widely believed to be comprised of the sum of all mortal's hopes and dreams; though such assumptions are widely unfounded and even laughed at by most logical circles including the Emerald Tower.