Gogism

Gogism, known to its native followers as the Faith of the Many Gods, is a polytheistic religion native to the Aurelian Jungle and the Icarian Commonwealth that resides there.

In the beginning, there was only one. His true name has been lost, for to say it was death, but now he is called Gog, and he is the God of Gods. He created the lesser Gods, whose total number is unknown. These Gods are the Gods of our ancestors and their ancestors. They have true power among those who believe in them, but cannot their sway is limited in heathen lands amongst nonbelievers. But as long as there are people that worship them and keep the faith, they will watch out for their people. The most important and most well known twenty of the lesser Gods are as follows:

The Original Eight

 * Forxune (symbol: Pickaxe): Goddess of minerals and the earth
 * Created the rocks and minerals as the foundation of the world. Sometimes called the mother of the Gods, for she was the first created by Gog and the foundation upon which everything of the other Gods was built.
 * Tritalu (Trident): God of the oceans
 * Filled the land created by Forxune with oceans. He is believed by many to have two natures: one dispassionate, and one benevolent towards humans that he developed after their creation. His original oceans were treacherous and poisonous to mankind, and once he realized this evil he had done against mankind, his personality split, and the new half tried to right the wrongs of the old by creating the lakes, rivers, and other freshwater bodies. It is for this reason that oftentimes sailors pray to the more compassionate freshwater side of Tritalu, even when out on the great salt seas.
 * Diritl (Shovel): God of the soil and the sand
 * He created the topsoil, sand, and gravel, for he thought the rocks and the waves were too hard and too soft, respectively. Without him life would have been impossible, but he is jealous of Forxune and Tritalu for taking the recognition for creating the basis for life that the later Gods created.
 * Grot (Axe): God of the grass and the forests and all the plants that cannot be eaten
 * Brought basic life to the world of Forxune and Tritalu
 * Maloca (Hoe): Goddess of farms and crops
 * Sister to Grot, sought to expand upon his creation and pave the way for animal life.
 * Shaputl (Shears): God of livestock and shepherds
 * Falani (Fishing Rod): Goddess of fish and sea creatures
 * Younger sister of Tritalu, she adored his creation and was sad to see the seas go bare and uninhabited while life on land flourished. She asked Forxune to help her with this endeavor, and Forxune created living rock, coral, to make the oceans beautiful and to feed the fish she would create.
 * Farsuari (Spyglass): God of fate and future
 * He has three eyes and is the only God other than Gog who can see into the future. Known for his wisdom and good judgment. He is the only one of the Original Eight that did not create something for the world. He lives as a guide for Gods and men alike.

The Warrior Four

 * Imperitl (Sword): God of fighting and conflict
 * Creator of mankind, he wanted his creation to conquer and dominate the creations of the other Gods who he felt superior to. Into humanity he poured his strength, ambition, and ability for violence. He is the least liked by the Original Eight Gods, who feel like he usurped their authority and trampled on their creation when he made mankind.
 * Walquan (Shield): God of defense, protection, and security
 * When the other Gods began to fight back against mankind and his brother Imperitl, he came to their defense and prevented the annihilation of both man and God.
 * Cusi (Crossbow): God of killing things from a long distance with pointed sticks
 * Cusi is the patron of archers and hunters, especially fortress defenders
 * Qusi (Bow): God of killing things from a long distance with pointed sticks but at a faster rate and with greater precision
 * Twin to Cusi, Qusi is also a patron to archers and hunters. He always tries to outdo his brother, and therefore attracts more high-skilled archers who prefer the longbow to the crossbow

The Eight Gods of Men

 * Gharos (Flint & Steel): God of fire and of the underworld
 * Gharos created fire for mankind to use, conspiring with Imperius against the Gods of plants. His creation proved too powerful, however, and the fire burned through the world, taking him and many humans with him. The fire reached an empty space below the rocks created by Forxune, and there he was doomed to reside for eternity.
 * Wlagar (Warped fungus on a stick): God of the creatures of the netherworld
 * Brought down in Gharos’s hubris, he was also stuck in the underworld. He created the exotic life there, in a twisted imitation of the overworld which he loved. Gharos and Wlagar are two of the Gods with the fewest rivalries due to their exile and absence from overworld politics.
 * Malqui (Carrot on a Stick): God of human travel
 * Brother of Wlagar. Malqui created the nether portal so that he could rescue his brother from the underworld and bring him home. Unfortunately it turned out that Malqui himself was the only god capable of moving between realms, and Wlagar and Gharos remained trapped. The portal proved to be useful for humanity, though, who were able to harness its power and travel between the under- and overworlds freely.
 * Maywa (Lead): Goddess of guidance and holy understanding
 * Interpreter of the Gods’ wills, guide to humanity. Hated by many of the Gods (kind of a Karen lol). Is in unreciprocated love with Cusi.
 * Tlotih (Name Tag): Goddess of cities and mountains and all named features
 * While Tlotih trespasses into the territory of some of the other Gods, she nonetheless has a place in ensuring that everything has value and a place in the world. Since every person and every town and city has a name, any person can pray to her and she will listen.
 * Chiccha (Bucket): God of transportation and trade
 * Chiccha is the most down to Earth of all the Gods. He knows that, as great as all the gifts of the Gods are, they aren’t all given to people exactly where they’re needed. He is there to support everyone in one of the most universal tasks of mankind: moving stuff. Husband of Tlotih.
 * Voygos (Compass) God of exploration, navigation, and cartography
 * Friend of Tlotih and Chiccha, Voygos is somewhat similar to Maywa in being a guide to humanity, though the two are rivals. While Maywa believes that only through the Gods can humanity survive, Voygos seeks to help mankind to help themselves.
 * Chrownosh (Clock): God of time and change
 * While he cannot see the future like Farsuari, Chrownosh can to a small extent control the passage of time, and he is also a keeper of knowledge and lost wisdom. He was the last of the great Gods to be discovered and worshiped. While Gods of the harvest and the sea were obvious to mankind, it took a long time for civilization to evolve and for scholars to develop who were capable of understanding Crownosh’s purpose and abilities.

Worship and sacrifice
If you wish to make a sacrifice or offer homage to improve next year’s harvest, you should not sacrifice this year’s harvest. Maloca does not help your plants grow so that you may burn them in offering. The gifts of the Gods are not to be squandered. Instead, you should make an offering of the bounty given by another God, especially a rival of the one you seek to appease. Maloca dislikes Forxune for creating a world of rock in which Maloca’s crops cannot grow, and despises Gharos for their fire. If you want Maloca’s blessing, you should sacrifice valuable minerals or perhaps live for a month without a fire in your hearth to keep you warm. But be careful that you sacrifice the minerals outside the sight of Forxune, or you will incur her wrath. This is the way of worship of the Many Gods. You must always tread carefully and plan your actions in advance to avoid causing strife with an important God. And every God is an important one.

The greatest kind of sacrifice that can be offered to the Gods, and especially to Imperitl, is that of a foreign religion or God. It is also the most difficult, and is reserved only for times of great strife and when good relations with the gods must be restored in order to avoid calamity. This has only occurred once in recorded history, when the Icarian people all but wiped out foreign faiths within the Aurelian jungle in an attempt to get the Gods to stay the spread of a disastrous plague that killed up to a quarter of the population in certain communities. Since that incident, worshippers have been mostly tolerant of other faiths, especially those that make up a significant minority of the population and whose eradication or conversion would cause significant internal strife.

Dark Gods
There are malignant deities as well, many of them twisted and evil mirrors of the benevolent Gods. Their identities are less well known, for very rarely are they worshiped and any homage given to them is done with as little contact as possible. Unlike the kind Gods, the only way to stay the wrath and disfavor of the Dark Gods is to give them what they want, in greater magnitude than you ask that they spare you. For example, to get Garesh to protect you from disease, you might have to infect two of your neighbors with the plague, poison a well, or salt a field. Worshipers of the dark Gods bring ruin with them wherever they go. The four greatest of these Gods are as follows:


 * Garesh: Dark God of famine and disease
 * Wroplar: Dark God of war and desolation
 * Distrism: Dark Goddess of floods, storms, and other disasters
 * Refrek: Dark God of pain and death

No guide exists, or is likely to soon exist for the worship of the Dark Gods. The greatest collection of their worshippers is in a volcano city built as a distorted mirror image of Icari Tol, and composed largely of criminals and other undesirables exiled from the city. The rest of the contents of this manuscript are, therefore, the most comprehensive guide presently available on the worship of the twenty primary Gods created by Gog. While it would be ideal to maintain the favor of all the Gods, such is impossible for even the most devout monk or priest. Sacrifices must be made, both to the Gods and of the Gods if you are to earn the favor of those that matter most to you.

The Seven Steps
Every ten years, it is typical for the devout of a village to walk the Seven Steps. This is a ritual of faith and sacrifice to the Original Eight Gods, sometimes known as the First Gods, the Great Eight, or the Creators, depending on which interpreter is speaking of them. It is called the Seven steps rather than the Eight because the Gods must be led to believe that they are not being shorted, so each God is told that it is their gifts not being used for sacrifice. The only God who cannot be deceived this way is Farsuari, so he is given the greatest respect and sacrifices to appease him and to buy his complicity to keep our duplicity from the other Gods.

The seven steps begin where the God of Gods did, with Forxune. While a sacrifice to Forxune would ordinarily involve shorting Imperitl, it is necessary that the Seven Steps remain a closed loop, with no insult given to the Gods of War (the Warrior Four) and the Gods of Men. Therefore Diritl is the best choice of a rival of Forxune. Most of these sacrifices will in fact be based on their animosity and the two belligerent sides that developed, creating the only schism of the Original Eight.

Begin by traveling to the shrine of Forxune, deep underground, where she can see you, but the other Gods are blinded by the thick rock. Offer dirt, coarse dirt, sand, red sand, gravel, and clay. Flatter her with praise about her creation. As the most important of the Gods, she is also the most vulnerable to flattery. Assure her that you like rock much more than dirt, and that none of the other deities can compare to her creation and skill. Display the many fancy things you have created using her rocks and minerals, but do not sacrifice them. While some interpreters may say differently, I must warn you against showing a shovel in her preference, especially one made of stone or minerals. It is my opinion that she does not appreciate seeing her creation used to compliment Diritl’s. Some have argued that it is a good thing to show how we may use Forxune's gifts to clear away the "stain" Diritl has placed atop her world, but it also raises the question of what happens to all the dirt and sand that is gathered using these tools, since not all of it is sacrificed to Forxune and she is no fool to forget that question. Try not to bring any glass down with you, either. To test his theory contrary to mine, an interpreter of a neighboring tribe once led a group down to Forxune, bearing many shovels and digging tools, planning to show their commitment to fighting Diritl, all in the hopes of improving their chances of striking gold. I do not know what they said or how it went, only that it took twenty men ten days to break through the rubble and clear the entrance to her shrine, and that by then the bodies had already begun to decay. The path of the Faith is a narrow one.

Next proceed to an ocean or river to offer praise to Tritalu. Oceans are preferable, as they are where Tritalu is strongest and the other gods are weakest. Some may suggest fresh water, as that indicates Tritalu’s tender side, but see last when it comes to incurring the wrath of a God as strong as Forxune or Tritalu. In this case an entire village was decimated by a sudden flood because Tritalu’s tougher half was insulted that the village people took a short and easy trip down to the river rather than showing their dedication by traveling kilometers to reach the salt sea. Never make a God feel shorted by your dedication, or your town and your people will suffer.

Tritalu’s greatest dislike is of Shaputl, who created animals not dependent upon his salt water oceans. He feels that Shaputl is ungrateful of what he has done, while Shaputl dislikes that Tritalu created oceans that prevent her animals from reaching the whole world. The best sacrifice to Tritalu involves drowning, so the recommended method of offering is to take a herd of livestock, drag them to the ocean, and drown them in the fury of Tritalu’s waves. The added benefit (and danger) is that Tritalu is something of a doting older brother, and appreciates that the offering will feel Falani’s fish. Be careful to avoid sharks and vicious dolphins during this kind of offering. While it may seem cruel to drown the animals, slitting their necks beforehand would both draw a larger number of sharks due to the blood and short Tritalu of some of his satisfaction. Neither would be good for your health.

Diritl is the next step on the path. His rivals are clear, and Forxune is the clearest of them all. The greatest risk is in ensuring that the other gods unfriendly to Diritl do not see the sacrifice. Unlike Forxune and Tritalu, his domain is much smaller. It is vital that the domains of Forxune, Tritalu, Grot, and Falani be avoided, so the underground, the oceans, the forests, and the rivers are off limits for sacrifices to the God of Dirt and Soil. A large farm is an ideal space, for such a place has thick, rich dirt, is far from the eyes of the other four, and is a humble setting, likely to be overlooked by the proud Forxune and Tritalu, but within the gaze of Diritl, who cares for the crops his soil supports. Offer in sacrifice the greatest minerals brought up from the rocks of Forxune. Offer amethyst crystals, iron and gold, diamonds and emeralds, even rare quartz from the under realm. Diritl requires little to be pleased, he disdains praise and glory for the simple fact that Forxune and Tritalu adore it. He is still an important God to please, though, for upon his soil and sand must be grown every crop.

Grot is the fourth God and the only one of the first eight to independently side against Diritl (Falani doesn’t count because she is related to and entirely dependent upon Tritalu and Tritalu came before Diritl). Grot’s trees can grow on even the rockiest terrain, his weeds through the barest cracks in cobblestone. He has no need for dirt. It is the rocks and the water that give life to trees. While offerings against Diritl are an option for worshiping Grot, it is somewhat difficult to execute. Despite Grot’s repeated claims, trees and plants do need dirt to grow, just not quite so much of it. It is therefore very difficult to create a shrine within the sight of Grot but outside the realm of Diritl. Fortunately, Grot is a God that is usually just happy to see their creation shine, and so in most cases the best way to please Grot is to plant trees. Your village can simply spend several hours or days planting trees. While it is nice to do this near his shrine, it can be done anywhere because Grot can always see his trees and he knows what is happening to them. Never show an axe or flint and steel or torch during the worship of Grot. While he can accept the chopping of trees most of the time, it is still less than pleasing for him and it leaves entirely the wrong impression when you’re actually going to worship him. Fire is never okay with Grot. Outside the Seven Steps, anything of Gharos’s creation is an excellent choice to sacrifice if you wish to please Grot.

Fifth amongst the Gods and possibly the most useful to mankind is Maloca, Goddess of Agriculture. She shares the same rivalries as Diritl and therefore can be worshiped in much the same ways, though she cares more about rocks than minerals. In fact, if you are willing to do the Gods out of order, the Seven Steps can actually have only seven steps, if you offer sacrifice to Diritl and Maloca at the same farm shrine.

Next is Shaputl, who would be very displeased to know what you’ve done to that herd of livestock you drove off earlier. Fortunately he has a rather short memory and a sufficient sacrifice of fish from Falani will always expedite that process of forgetfulness. Shaputl thinks that Falani is a bit of an imitator and that animals going in the ocean and breathing water instead of air is just unnatural. Wlagar is an even better option to sacrifice against, outside the Seven Steps. Even though most animals have no interest in eating seaweed, kelp, or cod, Shaputl is happiest if you just throw their offering right into a livestock pen or a field where animals gather. At the very least it can put more nutrients into the soil, I suppose?

Falani dislikes all of the Gods that put life on land. She feels like Tritalu’s creation is so much better than Forxune's and is of the opinion that anyone who supports her instead of Tritalu is a fool. She’s relatively easy to please, so you just need to go to a relatively barren stretch of coast (ideally rocky and not sandy) and throw animals, trees, plants, crops, anything living really, into the water. This is fortunate because if you are suffering from a shortage of food, you can sacrifice trees and grass instead, or if you want to avoid causing any dispute with Grot so you can harvest more trees, you can just throw more crops in. Falani doesn’t even care if the crop is blighted, so long as it’s alive or was alive.

And now for the last step on the journey: Farsuari. You need not travel far to reach him. He is everywhere and everywhen. He has seen your sacrifices and seen the reactions of the other Gods. He is not omniscient, as the God of Gods is, but he is close. We don’t fully know why, but he usually hates animals and hates Shaputl. He is known to start smiting animals if he thinks there are too many together. It is usually good to bring animals to him for sacrifice, but he will not always accept them. He is the most communicative of the Original Eight, and he will sometimes have specific tasks he wishes you to fulfill rather than ordinary sacrifice. Oftentimes he will tell you to give an extra sacrifice to one god or another. Why he does this and what purpose each task fulfills, we have never known, only that if the mission goes unfulfilled or the god unappeased, bad things soon happen. It is said that the first seven Gods may have made the world, but it is the eighth who keeps it running.