What if I made my gods all a little fucked up and capricious and at best ambivalent to mortals? What if they actively fucked with mortals lives for funsies? What if one of them was passively collecting followers so he could kill them? What if one of them had no higher aspiration than to die so they didn’t have to deal with mortals anymore? What if they turned a guy who tried to kill one of them into a god and said ‘this was the worst punishment we could think of’?
I was going to ask if there was any intentional naming schemes you used ie, Therivor, Eryndor, and Nyxalor all being knowledge deities and ending in ‘or’, and if yes what Iltheris, Vanoris, Caltheris, and Nytheris had in common, but when I went to check spelling there was new one (or maybe Injust missed them??). So, instead what’s going on with Lytheris?
To answer both of these, it was not intentional, for everybody created post ‘Oh, God there are so many V names what have I done!’ freak out I used a dice rolling name generator one of the people I play D&D made to help quickly name NPC’s, and just rolled a lot of 8’s for name endings.
That said if you wanted to pretend it wasn’t all just happenstance. Ili, Van, Cal, Ny, and Solvaris (and Ly) are all connected in some way to movement or travel.
Iltheris is known as the Wandering Guide, and helps people to find the paths towards mercy and forgiveness.
Vanoris the Wandering End is the god of journeys, migration, and impermanence. He is the travler who you meet at the crossroads that points you into the future.
Caltheris the Guiding Lantern is the god of luck and prophecy. He lights the paths of destiny so that mortals may find their way.
Nytheris, goddess of tides and storms, she neither helps nor hinders those who would sail her waters, only asks that they take no more than they give and show proper respect.
Solvaris is the Keeper of the Last Gate, the one who stands at the end of the road of life and ushers you into death.
And Lytheris, who is new because I have a problem, is the god of choice, of self-written fate, creation and luck. He saw the paths Caltheris had lit and said no, I will find another way, and did not wait to hear the response.
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Lytheris is what happens when you have a thought that doesn’t need to be fleshed out but you’ve been ruminating over your Selkie interpretation for three days and need a break from it and your brain goes ‘How do baby Gods come to be?’ followed by ‘What if Zaryx and Veliflare had a kid’. He’s still a tiny little thought experiment and I don’t know if I’m going to keep him or roll some of my ideas into Caltheris, or get rid of Caltheris and move the things I like about him over to Lytheris.
How many Death Gods are there and what are their attitudes towards life/dying/undeath? (Also I noticed two of the Neutral gods share domains of Grave and Order, are they related at all?)
There is strictly speaking a single Death deity, however both Ascyra and Vanoris also play their part in the cycle.
Solvaris, The Last Gate (TN), Guardian of the Afterlife and Inevitable Death
~All must pass through the final gate, no matter how they struggle~
Solvaris is the absolute force of death, concerned only with the passage of souls to the next existence. He stands guard over the final gate, not in judgement but to usher all those who's paths lead to him beyond into their afterlife, ensuring that all things come to their end.
Life is neither sacred nor meaningless to him, it is simply the road to death, one that all must walk. He despises undeath, for it is a denial of the natural cycle, and his followers seek to end those who escape his gate.
He has no formal temples but tombs and cemeteries are considered his domain. His priests are responsible for performing last rights, ensuring that souls move on without lingering. Offerings left at his shrines consist of items belonging to the dead, sent to guide them beyond.
Ascyra, The Radiant Cycle (LN), Goddes of Endings, Beginnings and Renewal
~All things break, but in their breaking, something new begins.~
Ascyra governs the cycles of life, death and rebirth, to her death is a transition not an ending. Life is precious, but it is not to be clung to beyond its time, those who defy their end disrupt the balance.
She is deeply connect to fate, ensuring each soul meets its destined conclusion, whether tragic or triumphant. Undeath is an aberration, but resurrection, if part of fate's design, may be permitted.
Her temples keep intricate records of births and deaths. Her priests act as midwives, and guides for the living, and morticians for the dead. Weaving is sacred in her worship, every life is a thread woven into a greater tapestry. Those who defy fate through undeath risk themselves being unraveled.
Vanoris, The Wandering End (LN), God of Impermanence and Controlled Destruction
~Nothing is meant to last forever. Let go before it becomes your undoing.~
Vanoris embraces endings as necessary and inevitable, ensuring all things eventually pass away. Unlike Solvaris, who governs death itself, or Ascyra who governs the cycle, Vanoris is the act of letting go. He values life but only as something that must eventually be release, he teaches mortals to accept loss and embrace change.
Undeath is an act of clinging to what should have ended, to him it is desperation not defiance. To be looked on with pity and compassion, not anger or rage.
Vanoris' followers perform rituals of letting go, burning objects, severing ties, and releasing burdens that have served their purpose. Destroying what has outlived its purpose is seen as mercy, whether is be structures, ideas or people.
Oscyra also plays a little in this space but in a more broad sense, and I wouldn’t consider her specifically connected to death. Ascyra is the inevitability of fate while Vanoris is the necessity of impermanence. Ascyra is the wheel that never stops turning, while Vanoris is a guiding hand and shoulder upon which one grieves.
