Monday, November 3, 2014

Crazy Goobers

Chaotic Good is where things start getting weird in my pantheon. I had to figure out what "chaotic good" even means before I could really figure out what makes sense for a couple of CG deities.

I think to some degree it helps to note that each deity in each alignment focuses a little more on one alignment axis than the other. For instance, Waymon is more Good than Lawful while Decchio is more Lawful than Good. Likewise, Milana is more Good than Neutral, and Palindae is more Neutral than Good.

So, here we have Kiryn, who's more Chaotic than Good, and Tas, who's more Good than Chaotic.

The God of Balance, Kiryn, is a controversial figure in my pantheon. I've heard several times that, as a god of "balance" he should be neutral, but I think his alignment is appropriate in the context of my mythology. That said, he is the only good-aligned deity known to have actively worked toward the downfall of good-aligned societies for the sake of this "balance," so even other good-aligned deities question him sometimes. As the deity with the most knowledge of what "the Plan" entails, though, the other good-aligned deities generally trust him to do what needs to be done, which almost always involves helping the forces of light in various, mostly-unseen ways.

As such, though, Kiryn is generally alone in his endeavors. He's known for concocting needlessly(?) elaborate plans to bring balance to the realm. His following is small, and he never has more than one active cleric at a time. Lawful deities are generally the most powerful, building social constructs and civilizations to gather and maintain power. Kiryn's specialty is causing these constructs to fall apart through the actions of small groups or, sometimes, a single person. Kiryn is the only deity whose power is disproportionate to his number of followers.

In my first campaign, the party's primary cleric for the vast majority of the campaign was a cleric of Kiryn; a dubious honor at best. The deity's inconsistent assistance and tendency to ramble tested his cleric's faith more than once. Still, the party's actions resulted in the collapse of at least two governments, so clearly Kiryn's hand was at work all the while.

In my second campaign, though there were only three gods in the realm (none of which were Kiryn), this curious deity influenced the campaign heavily in the guise of a mysterious character called Daniv. When a powerful wizard named Vinad achieved a limited divinity through a powerful ritual involving a sacrificed virgin princess, a holy relic, and the soul of a "dead" deity, Vinad took Kiryn's place on the pantheon in exchange for his mortal face. The result was an ineffective immortality for Vinad, but Kiryn managed to use his power to preserve the soul of the sacrificed princess and use Vinad's old face to influence the world once more. And so, "Daniv" poked and prodded until a group of adventurers figured out the secret and destroyed Vinad for good, resurrecting the princess in the process.

Kiryn's role in my current campaign is as yet unknown to the players.

Other other Chaotic Good deity is the God of Happiness, Tas. Named for the Dragonlance character Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Tas represents art, music, and everything else that spreads joy in the world. Tas is one of the most subtle deities in my pantheon, having no specific following and no desire for one. Many artists and creatives show thanks to Tas when they feel a creative spark, but just as many do not. In the time of my second campaign, when there are only three deities, it's not clear if Tas is truly gone or if he's just being as subtle as he's always been. Certainly joy and happiness still existed in the realm at the time, but how much of that was Tas's influence?

Every tip offered to a performer is a donation to Tas's church, and offerings to Tas are accepted at most any inn or tavern where they keep something called a "bard jar." Money tossed into the bard jar can be used by traveling performers to pay for their room and board.

Tas has yet to play a significant, direct role in any of my campaigns.

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