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          <rev contentformat="text/x-wiki" contentmodel="wikitext" xml:space="preserve">= Gods =

== Clerics and Magic==

Clerical magic is rarely seen, and is every bit as secretive and mysterious as arcane magic. In Thule, clerics don’t pray for spells. Instead, they gain their magical powers when they are initiated into the deeper mysteries of their chosen deity’s worship. To put it another way, once a priestess of Ishtar is initiated into the secrets of Ishtar’s priesthood and invested with power, she gains the ability to use spells. What she does with those powers after that point is up to her.

Because priests can only be judged by the observable actions they take, it is far from certain that any given cleric is serving his or her deity faithfully. Priests, like all other mortals, are fallible and corruptible, and their magic has no special divine imprimatur that makes it holy or good. Magic in Thule is mysterious and not well understood, and Thule’s priesthoods are nothing if not mysterious.

== The Nine Powers ==

Most civilized Thuleans recognize a distinct pantheon of greater powers with wide influence and temples in the more important citystates. This group of major deities is sometimes known as the Nine Powers. Not all of the Nine are known in all cities; different priesthoods wield different amounts of influence from city to city. In fact, many Thuleans would argue about which deities are properly numbered among the Nine Powers, usually substituting a civic patron, a legend- ary hero, or (in some cases) an anthropomorphized version of one of the Great Old Ones.

=== Asura ===
 Goddess of Dawn, Messenger of the Gods, Flame of Atlantis
 Symbol: A crown or tiara with rays of sunlight 
 Alignment: Neutral good
 Portfolio: Dawn, fire, beginnings, inspiration 
 Favored Weapon: Spear

=== Herum ===
 Lord of Beasts, the Ape-God
 Symbol: Broken bones
 Alignment: Chaotic evil
 Portfolio: Beasts, savagery, rage, destruction 
 Favored Weapon: Greatclub

=== Ishtar ===
 Goddess of Love, Luck, and War
 Symbol: Eight-pointed star
 Alignment: Chaotic neutral
 Portfolio: Love, beauty, art, fortune, passion 
 Favored Weapon: Scimitar

=== Kishar ===
 Goddess of Grain, Mother of Rivers, Queen of the Gods
 Symbol: A sheaf of grain
 Alignment: Lawful neutral
 Portfolio: Agriculture, the earth, rivers, motherhood
 Favored Weapon: Light flail

=== Mithra ===
 God of the Sun, Lord of the Sky, King of the Gods
 Symbol: A sunburst and eagle
 Alignment: Lawful good
 Portfolio: Sun, justice, sky, rulership and dominion
 Favored Weapon: Heavy mace

=== Nergal ===
 God of the Underworld, Lord of War, King of the Dead
 Symbol: A black lion with a mane of flame Alignment: Neutral evil
 Portfolio: War, death, avarice, the underworld 
 Favored Weapon: Longsword

=== Set ===
 God of Night, the Great Serpent
 Symbol: Twin serpents
 Alignment: Lawful evil
 Portfolio: Night, secrets, treachery, poison, snakes 
 Favored Weapon: Short sword

=== Tarh Un ===
 God of Storms, Lord of Battle
 Symbol: A three-forked lightning bolt Alignment: Chaotic good
 Portfolio: Storms, sky, battle
 Favored Weapon: Battle axe

=== Tiamat ===
 Mother of Dragons, Goddess of the Sea, Queen of Chaos
 Symbol: A dragon skull with five horns
 Alignment: Chaotic evil
 Portfolio: Chaos, destruction, monsters, vengeance, the sea
 Favored Weapon: Morningstar

== The Great Old Ones ==

The Nine Powers are the gods of Thule, but they are not the only gods in Thule. Long before the gods of the human pantheon or even the myriad spirits of the natural world came into existence and assumed their places, primordial powers—evil, ancient, inhuman—came to the young planet and established their alien dominion over land, sky, and sea. Only the most fearless (or foolhardy) of sages study these crea- tures, but from these scholars a few terrible names are known.

Driven into hibernation in the desolate places of the world or exiled to the far reaches of time and space, the Great Old Ones hunger to return and reclaim what was once theirs. Some who bargain with these beings do so in search of power, some are degenerate tribes that cling to their monstrous gods, and some are vile cultists who pray for the end of all existence. Few indeed dare to name these Other Gods aloud, but that does not mean They are not worshipped. It is better not to pry into these matters, Majesty.

===Cthulhu===
 The Caller in the Deep
 CE

===Dhuoth===
 The Giver of Eyes
 CE

===Hastur===
 The King in Yellow
 NE

===Ithaqua===
 The Wind-Walker
 CE

===Lorthnu’un===
 Lord of the Golden Chalice
 NE

===Nyarlathotep===
 The Crawling Chaos
 CE

===Shub-Niggurath===
 Black Goat of the Woods
 CN

===Tsathoggua===
 The Sleeping God
 NE

===Yga-Ygo===
 The Dweller in Dreams
 NE

===Yog-Sothoth===
 Opener of the Way
 CE

== The Forest Gods ==

The idea of gods with human representations and human concerns is relatively new to the people of Thule, my King. Before the time of Atlantis, no one knew of gods such as Mithra or Asura. Even the old, primal deities—Herum, Set, and perhaps Tiamat— had no priests or houses of worship. In those years, humans worshiped only the unseen spirits of hill and field, beast and tree. The people of the cities may have forgotten their names, but the tribes of the jungles and the plains remember the Forest Gods, and they still pay homage to them.

Those who worship the Forest Gods are not priests or clerics. They are druids, shamans, or totem war- riors of one kind or another. Their magic is derived from the spirits of nature, not the power of faith or the divine intercession of the gods. In fact, tribal people are mystified by the rites and doctrines of the city gods; to the typical barbarian, gods don’t want anything from humankind—they just are. Honoring the natural spirits is simply good sense, since angering the spirit of the deer by failing to express gratitude for a successful hunt might lead the spirit to keep game away from the hunter in the future, while angering the spirit of the mammoth is a good way to get oneself killed.

Civilized travelers are sometimes inclined to treat druids and shamans with skepticism—after all, they have their own explanations for the mysteriesof nature and do not look at the world in the same way more primitive peoples do. But there is no doubt that shamans and other practitioners of nature magic deal with powers every bit as real and capable as the mystic forces harnessed by a wizard’s spells or a cleric’s prayers. It seems that for the wilderness tribes, believing is seeing. They perceive a world where every animal, every tree, every rock, and every stream possesses its own living spirit, and for them, it is so.</rev>
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      <page pageid="50" ns="0" title="Rogue">
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          <rev contentformat="text/x-wiki" contentmodel="wikitext" xml:space="preserve">Just ask anyone who spends an hour wandering the streets of Quodeth or Ikath—the cities of Thule are full of thieves. Beggars, pickpockets, cutpurses, muggers, burglars, and simple gangs of street robbers make it dangerous to set foot outside a well-guarded palace or city gate. Few of these vicious criminals could truly be described as heroes, but the boldest and most daring rogues become legendary for their exploits.

While individual rogues may win fame and renown, most Thulean city-dwellers see rogues as vicious gangsters. Large, ruthless, and well-orga- nized thieves’ guilds control whole districts in most of Thule’s cities. Not all rogues belong to a thieves’ guild, but many do, and there are significant advan- tages to being part of a big organization. A rogue who belongs to a guild always has a safe place to hide in her home city, a source of news and informa- tion when something interesting develops, and (in a pinch) allies or muscle who can back her up in case of trouble. Some of the more prominent thieves’ guilds include:

* The city of Marg is home to the Crimson Slavers, a ruthless alliance of slavers, merchants, and marauders.
* The Fangs of Set are an elite brotherhood of holy assassins based in the city of Ikath.
* The Golden Sea Brotherhood is a league of corsairs operating from the hidden city of Rime.
* The Red Furies are a guild of female thieves who control part of Quodeth’s old town.
* The most powerful guild in Quodeth is the Seven Knives, a small army of thieves and assassins who control much of the town.</rev>
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