Difference between revisions of "JesseLowe/CalrushanWoodSpiritCourt"

Latest revision as of 21:27, 8 June 2010

• Back to Calrushan Wood

Court Roster

Ancient Spindle

Ancient Spindle is the patron god of White Pines as well as of weaving -- specifically, weaving the bark-cloth that is a staple of Calrushan Wood's economy. His portfolio has expanded to include all aspects of its production, including harvesting the raw material, dying it, and so on.

Worship of Ancient Spindle is in prayers and the like, usually at small shrines. His temple, in the center of White Pines, is also his home; the inner sanctum is closed off to all mortals. He has two festivals, one in Resplendent Earth and one in Descending Wood. He is also the most distant of Calrushan Wood's gods from his worshippers, and his worship has been in decline for a decade -- though the weaving industry has not suffered for it.

Ancient Spindle's consort is Sidia; their ties are strong. He is cordial to all other gods of the Wood.

Aum Choh

Aum Choh is Calrushan Wood's resident Forest Walker. He is strongest in the wester part of the wood. He is a gentle but unyielding guardian of the forest. Every year, on the 3rd of Ascending Air, those who worship him honor him in a small ceremony; in some villages, this is a festival. During this ceremony, those who live off the bounty of the forest ask his guidance in what trees may be harvested and which must be left alone. In the first month of Earth, trees that may be harvested sprout red blossoms -- even non-flowering trees -- while those that must not be harvested sprout white blossoms.

The fate of those who disobey Aum Choh's injunctions is unpleasant.

Bogdash

Bogdash is god of trade in Calrushan Wood and among the Shanidar Nomads, as well as north as far as the Gossamer Stockade and as far west as the River of Five Bells. He is a conniver. Worship of him is in the form of sacrifices from every transaction by a proper merchant; usually this is a small portion of the merchandise if burnable, or prayer strips and incense if not. Bogdash looks favorably on the Guild and its associated clan. The merchants of Calrushan Wood hold a festival in his honor every 7th of Descending Fire.

Bogdash is cordial to Ancient Spindle, unfriendly to Sidia and Aum Choh, and friendly to Churning Foam and Legate Oblius.

Sidia

Sidia was born the child of a mortal woman and the pre-Contagion god of Calrushan Wood's animal life. After the Contagion, she was raised to godhood herself at the intervention of Aum Choh, who was deeply impressed by her efforts to care for the wood as a whole. She is the goddess of the deer that roam the wood. Taking a page from the book of Ahlat, Southern God of War and Cattle, she is encouraging the domestication of one species of deer by the people of Calrushan Wood in an effort to expand her power. The riding deer (similar to the one from Princess Mononoke) are still in the earliest stage of domestication, but at the current rate, they'll be a fixture of Calrushan Wood's villages and cities within a century. They are not as sturdy as horses, but they are swift and sure-footed, and make excellent mounts in the forest.

Friends of the Court

Ah Song

, lion dog and guardian of the Sun-Bourne Glade

Churning Foam

, god of the Arkos River

Legate Oblius

, god of the road between White Pines and Akita City

Elemental Court

The White Pine King

King of the Wood, the White Pine King is a bastard. Unless five men and five women are sacrificed to him on the last day of Calibration, he will slay one family a month for the following year. If propitiated, he grudgingly tolerates humans in the eastern portion of the Wood, where his power is strongest, but demands weekly sacrifices and prayers. Thankfully, he is not too difficult to outwit, but his wrath when outsmarted is legendary in its ferocity.

Clever Weaver

Clever Weaver is a wood spider who is the White Pine King's closest advisor. It is he who watches the Calibration sacrifice, and when he is not whispering in the King's ear, he is leading mortals to their (usually fatal) misfortune. He accounts it a great accomplishment to lure a village into starvation on his advice. However, he is also keenly perceptive and knows many secrets of the Wood, and the exceedingly clever -- or lucky -- have prospered by listening to him.

Stosh

stosh is the local heavy in the water elemental community, and master of Cedar Fountain. He is a spring spirit, and is not usually concerned with mortal matters, being absorbed in root and soil and water.