Vaad, an ancient and mysterious creature who in the age of war since passed ravaged the mortal lands in his grief over the loss of his Kin at mortal hands, inconsolable until defeated and forced to retreat from the world where he has brooded on his loss ever since. So inactive has he been in the last age that an ignorant outsider might even question his existence, or wonder if indeed he was destroyed, and his people worship nothing but a memory, but his power does indeed persist in the world, and his mind has lost nothing of its potency, only it's direction.
God Name: Grandfather Vaad
Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Worshiped Vaad, Woadic Vaadyr. Grant us Mercy. Grant us our blood.
-Benediction of the Elder
Title: God of Psychics, The Great Eye, The Maelstrom
All matter is clay before the Focus. All life is scattered before the Storm. All Spells must perish before the Eye.
-Psionic proverb
Gender: Masculine
For dear was his care of the people, and he in the manner of men begat Vaagwen, blessed maiden, of his own blood.
-The tale of Vaagwen, 1:3
Alignment: Neutral Evil or Neutral, depending on how important you think activity is for an alignment.
"Men will mourn, as I."
- Vaagwen, 38:15
God Appearance: At rest, he is a mountain of dark flesh dominated by a massive eye, with endless reaching tentacles drifting away from his bulk.
Normally, when roused to action, his form reminiscent of a great swirling hurricane, a glowing spherical nucleus surrounded by a spiral of cyclonic tendrils.
Notably, in the war, he took the form of a giant bearing his usual shape upon its shoulders.
"What is this Sign? What is the mountain that the sailors have seen? And the lake of fire upon it, and the Forest in its wake?"
"That is He, and none other."
-Vaagwen, 20: 9
Personality: Melancholic, in a word. Before the war he was hardly the most active god, and after he has become even further removed. He is prone to long periods of semi conscious contemplation and difficult to rouse. He is however possessed of a terrible wrath that, once roused, is nearly indiscriminate and boundless.
"The Lord looked upon the city, and spoke a word to his displeasure. The word lay across the city from end to end, and the land buckled and burst. This word he spoke, and in his mercy, spoke no more."
-The Book of the Waking Eye, 22:8
Opinion of mortals: Passively grants boons to his people, showing only a distant and vague affection for them. Mortals are a largely unwelcome burden on his thoughts, and is tolerant only so much as his slothfulness prevents him from wasting the effort to silence a mortal intrusion into his perception. His worship is somewhat an act of pestering him in the hopes that he will take some action and not punish the impertinent annoyance too severely.
"Oh but look upon your blood in faith, and grant us to see."
-Psalm of Saint Cwych
God’s Domain: A featureless black sea and sky in which Vaad drifts in semi-concious meditation.
"The mind, between endless sea and endless sky, thoughts, the mind shadow, sweep across this sea like a great wind"
-The writings of Saint Cwych
"Long is the Day, and Long is the Night, and Long is the waiting of Annvn"
-A proverb
Avatar Name: Lady Annvn
Avatar Appearance: A huge figure of glistening alien marine life, replete with tentacles hiding much of her form, but at the same time with certain features that are distinctly feminine and humanoid. She has a human-like face, with her eyes and brow hidden.
Personality: Contemplative and graceful, slow to speak, but still far more active than her Lord. She is gentle and kind to living things, but like her God she is capable of being lost in terrible rages beyond consolation.
Magic Abilities: She is perhaps unmatched in her psychic abilities, and particularly skilled in unmaking the magic of other casters. Aside from this she is quite large, compared to a human, and could crush one easily.
"We must play the Game, you and I"
Hero(es): Decapitator Kyur
Rank/Reason:
This large cephalopod floats in midair, and somehow bears a recognizably harsh and intense countenance beneath a huge crested helm. He wields significant psychic might, which he uses to shield himself and lend supernatural power to his blows.
Of the Nobles, Kyur is singular among the warrior caste known as a Decapitator. For a people devoted to a psychic god, the mind is the source of power, and so the taking of heads is held in sacred respect. While his powers pale before the Avatar, he is feared among peers and lessers for the psionic slash of his tendrils.
Personality: Driven, focused, and practical for one of his kin, Kyur is serious and aggressive. Wether bidden by a fellow Noble, or called to action by the Lesser creatures, he pursues his given tasks unflinchingly, though he is not averse to subtle means of achieving victory. There is something of the Samurai in his demeanor.
Terrain Preference: The sea, seashore, and forests.
Name of Kingdom/Empire: The Hold of the Mighty
Capital: Angwyn
Major Cities: Shoal, Dwyfn, Bertilyk
Society:
[People] The mortal folk of the Deep Blood are often suspicious and hostile, a hard people, often fanatical in their traditions and intolerant of outsiders. They respect strength alone, and only strength superior to their own. They take well to farming, for their lore holds that all useful plants are gifts from their god, outgrowths of his very blood. They are at home in ancient forests, which they tend to carefully, as well as coastal environments. Some (perhaps a large portion) of the "Peasantry" live entirely under the waves, tending crops of sea life in a strange mirror of the surface peoples.
The Nobility of the sea go where they please, though most maintain a lair of some kind near enough to their lessers to extract tribute. In exchange, the nobility offer protection, permit the peasantry to gather food from the sea, and in the worst case, simply to abate their wrath, though abusive Nobles tend to find themselves outpositioned by their peers as much as in the human world. The Nobility of the land are more sedentary, taking the form of great trees and offering bounty to the peasantry in exchange for tending and tribute. There are a few great forts and cities of the small-folk ruled by chieftans and clergy of the deep faith, but most live in spread out villages.
[Economy] Xenophobic and isolationist, the Folk do not conduct much trade with outsiders. Their almost endless bountiful harvests of land and sea provide well for them, and so despite their gloomy and fatalistic appearance, they are a prosperous race. The Nobility hoard resources and treasures, which they trade to each other as favors and barter. The lands and sea are rich in Copper, both mundane and with supernatural qualities, which legends say comes from the blue blood of the Nobles, and the Grandfather himself.
[Politics] The Nobles maintain loose ties, most acting independently, Though there is a general understanding of who is superior to whom, and loyalties exist based on both favors and fear. Generally a Noble is only responsible for his own claimed area, and left to his own devices, though they may be called upon by an ally or superior for assistance. Nobles tend towards slothfulness and contemplation, in short they prefer to do as little as possible, they are lazy in the extreme.
Decapitators are the "Knights" or "assassins" of the nobility. Though there are very few of them, those that can call upon their service are the most feared among the Nobility.
The politics of the lesser folk are more clear cut. The lands of the Mighty are divided into given areas, ruled over ostensibly by chieftains who ensure that the villagers stay protected and any nobles remain appeased. The chieftains themselves owe fealty to the church, which dominates the few cities of the land, but are rarely called upon.
Other:
The men of these lands are in some ways primative, comparable to bronze age Celts, but in other ways peculiarly advanced. The firearm is not unknown to them, Forrest Nobles have in the past grown hollow shoots of strengthened wood, preloaded with propellant and bullet, to pass amongst their vassals. The little folk have themselves experimented with re-creating this weapon on their own.
The direct light of the sun is painful to those not of the Forrests, Noble and Lesser alike. While this light will not kill them by any means, they distain it for it's discomfort, and mercifully their lands are often cloaked in perpetual cloud cover.
The scale of the men varies as their overall form does, usually from place to place. Among them are men particularly diminutive in stature, Pygmys of three feet and higher, and men some three times higher.
Despite their relative primitiveness, men and Noble alike are quite adept with architecture, and the stone constructions of the cities are quite impressive.
