[Information] On the Nature of Divine Magic and Cosmology

[Icereach]

-Gods and other Divine Beings-

Divinity on Yallek is largely a matter of relative power. In short, any being can ascend to divinity on this plane, if it is powerful enough. While some factions have sought desperately to hide this fact from the world at large, and have been entirely successful on Sol, many sects scattered across Caravan and Linder keep the truth alive.

This gives rise to a veritable kaleidoscope of pantheons and religions with various levels of cosmic influence. Listed below are some of the deities confirmed to have influenced Yallek directly in the past:

The Pawn - Perhaps one of the best-known gods on Yallek, the appearance of the Pawn on any battlefield strikes fear into the side daring to oppose him. He is a master of conventional strategy and if he has ever suffered defeat to mortals, no word of it was ever recorded for history. Of average height and spare of build, he would go unmarked if not for his companion - the Pawn always appears with the Rook at his side.

The Pawn is more accurately a legendary hero than a true deity, lacking little more than a scattering of cults dedicated to his name. These generally pray to him only in their darkest hours, hoping the Pawn will arrive to turn an unwinnable battle in the other direction. The truth is that despite his constant intervention across Yallek, especially in battles that seemed hopeless before his arrival, he has revealed his motives to none. Save, perhaps, the Rook.

The Rook - Known as the right hand of the Pawn, the Rook is a martial entity venerated by those pledged to shed blood in another's name. The Rook takes material form as an exceptionally athletic humanoid nearly nine feet tall, dressed in gender obscuring armor a century out of date. Their head and face they keep covered at all times. While their great two-handed club Castle has acquired legendary status of its own, the Rook is known to be equally proficient in all forms of melee martial combat.

The Rook doesn't have a unique religion, instead playing a secondary role in the mythology of the Pawn.

The Undrowned, Gerdy Waterlogged - According to the Church of the Seatamer, Gertrude was born in the earliest days of Yallek, to the primordial peoples that then walked the land. She was the first to encounter the sea in its young and volatile state and hers was the first heart it stole. Further, she knew the waters intuitively, and spoke their language, foreign to all others.

Her people became the first mariners and she was revered among them. According to her sacred text, however, she was eventually called upon to face an indescribable evil known only as Orcus. Though she was victorious in her battle, she succumbed to her wounds and passed away.

The Church of the Seatamer carries above-average political weight in seaports and harbors. Cynics claim they function more as a guild than a faith (and should be taxed as such) and they are not far wrong. In exchange for faith and tithing, the Church offers training in the ways of the sea. Unlike many more self-important faiths, adherence to other concepts such morality and righteousness vary widely among followers of Gerdy.

Scorned Heart - Nearly every culture manifests rumors of beings similar to Scorned Heart. Deranged killers that strike suddenly and ruthlessly, slaughtering everyone within their range upon being summoned in some ritualized fashion. They are often portrayed as mindless, driven only by a thirst to kill and characterized by their proficiency with such. Scorned Heart is supposedly a man some seven feet tall and impossibly thin. Despite his slender size, conventional weapons seem to bounce right off of him. He's most known for murdering his victims by ripping their hearts from their chests with his bare hands.

The Cult of the Scorned Heart have grown in power since their earliest days, though they still move within the darkest shadows. Scorned Priests crave personal power above all other things, their faith in Scorned Heart secondary to their belief in his efficacy. Their rituals are often bloody, and mothers across Caravan scare their children with tales of being snatched by Scorned cultists in the night.

Golden Aldion Brightsword - Herald of the Golden Church and Divine Emporer of the Sol Empire, Aldion Brightsword began his life as a peasant in war-torn Falm. He attributed his rise to power to serving as a direct conduit for a still greater being known as the Golden. With the aid of his companions, who would eventually become his generals and then his reagents, he solidified the broken provinces of his home continent into a unified Sol.

The Golden Church embodies ideals mainly centered around community and civic order. Their clerics are known as Voices, their paladins as Blades, and both serve as the highly martial arms of the clergy. They enforce order strictly and dispassionately, the rule of law absolute for everyone beneath the Empror's Rule. Zealotry is often frowned upon, though never reprimanded outright.

Custom Deities: Players are encouraged to create their own faiths and customs for this game. After all, nearly anyone can become a god on Yallek. Consult with the DM to ensure these concepts fit within the established world, then give as much or as little detail as you like.

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-Divine Magic-

Unbound Casters: While an undeniable pantheon of divine beings rules the cosmology of Yallek, divine casters are not strictly bound to these deities to power their casting abilities. Instead, divine casters are powered by their faith in ideals and draw from the same mystic source that the gods and other practitioners of magic use. This is collectively known as The Source by most scholars.

At character creation, divine casters may choose from up to four core Pathfinder domains (or subdomains). These are used to represent aspects of a character's fundamental self. In addition, they are granted access to domains representing their alignments. Neutral alignments may choose either Good or Evil, and/or Law or Chaos as appropriate. Characters are bound to these chosen domains for the rest of their career, even should their ideals or alignments change during the course of play, except as noted below. They then choose which of these domains grant additional abilities and domain spells based on their character class. If a character should take levels in another class that grants them the ability to select additional domains, they are still restricted to these (up to) six domains to choose from.

While this does allow for greater freedom and diversity of divine magic, it comes with a large caveat. Characters are permanently bound to these domains* and casting restrictions still apply. For instance, a Lawful character that becomes Chaotic during the course of play can no longer cast domain spells from the Law domain, or use abilities granted by the Law domain, unless and until they regain a Lawful alignment. Further, divine casters that continually violate their ideals as they relate to a particular domain can be temporarily or even permanently barred from casting spells or using abilities from that domain. As an example, divine casters with the Community domain may be banned from accessing it if they continually and regularly take actions that sow division and disunity within a community. Such restrictions are made on a case-by-case basis and will come with warnings from the GM that players are treading on thin ice.

*It is possible for a player character to change their domains through a long and difficult process that will eventually see them losing access to domains and gaining access to others throughout play. However, this is reserved for extremely rare circumstances solely at the DMs discretion.

While deities do not control the flow of magic to divine casters, players that choose to align themselves with particular deities are at risk of divine punishment from those deities for violating the tenants of their faith. Note that while most characters are beneath the notice of those that rule the cosmos, players should not see this as a free hand to flaunt the ideals of their chosen faith. If a god or goddess of Yallek does take notice of a character for such violations, they rarely waste time with a slap on the wrist.

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-Planar Guide-

Yallek's unique location within the infinitely over-lapping planes makes it particularly difficult for outsiders to access. However, this same phenomenon makes it equally difficult for those on the native plane to reach the others it connects to. Spells used to permanently transport characters to other planes of existence fail entirely. Similarly, beings from other planes can only access Yallek when summoned.

This tenuous connection also makes characters with the [Native Outsider] subtype extremely uncommon. If recognized for what they are, they cannot help but draw attention, not all of it good.

Yallek is connected to fewer planes than other campaigns, some of which are changed from more standard settings. Players should understand that planar matters on Yallek are shrouded in deep mystery; scholars slave their entire lives for less new knowledge than could fill a single page. Not all of that which is presented here would be available to a lay character.

The Transitive Planes
Purgatory [Astral] - Though in many ways it functions as the traditional Astral Plane, Purgatory has one defining characteristic unique to Yallek. It is the place where all common souls end up when their bodies die. This is not a commonly believed truth, nor a comforting one. Many faiths promise an afterlife envisioned entirely differently.

Note that this is merely the final resting place for common souls. Not all gods were strictly living when they ascended to supremacy, though each has kept their secret to themselves.

Path of the Mind [Ethereal] - The Path of the Mind serves in most ways as the Ethereal Plane save that it does not connect to the Shadow Plane. Additionally, the Path of the Mind is most often trod by those recognized as gods. Even the kindliest of divine beings rarely countenance a mortal on their exclusive highways.

The Inner Planes
The Inner planes remain unchanged from normal play save that travel to them is impossible from Yallek.

The Outer Planes
The common man knows nothing of the outer planes: it is a subject so esoteric only the most researched of scholars could name its two realms. Even then they would struggle to tell you much more than that the inhabitants of the two realms are eternally at war with the other. This war, however, is the product of the displacement of their two realms. Their inhabitants' natures oppose, and their planes were never intended to touch.

Citadel [Heaven] - The home of the Lawful and Neutral Good aligned extraplanar beings such as angels and archons.

Bastion [Hell] - The home of the Lawful and Neutral Evil aligned extraplanar beings such as devils.

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-Summoning-

Spells used to summon entities work on Yallek the same as they do in other campaigns. Monsters may be summoned from planes unconnected to Yallek so long as the spell does not require the caster to have knowledge of the monster beforehand. It should be noted that knowledge of the Planes is extremely rare on Yallek; players should expect significant difficulties with such tasks as divining the true names of outsiders.

Knowledge [Religion and Planes] checks may be used as a measure of intuition about a subject or forming a reasonably educated guess, as well as to represent any hard facts a character may know.

Additionally, all forms of temporary interplanar travel (including spells such as Summon Monster, Blink, or Astral Projection) and long-distance Teleportation run the risk of catching the attention of beings most characters would rather avoid. The pathways between realms are purposefully empty and jealously guarded.