Theology in the New World
While the New World has it’s own gods and religous practices several of the largest Old World churches have a large presence, particularly back east.
Dawn, Prince of Heaven
Dawn, the Living God, The Sun Unsetting, Light and Crown of Heaven and Earth. They are the sun, all-seeing, life-giving, cleaving truth from falsehood. Once Great now Greater in their evershining dominion.
Dawn’s presence in the old world, particularly through the Dawn Sanctuaries is growing quickly. Some long for the day when every inch of the earth is covered in glorious sunlight.
His living avatar is known as the Spear of Dawn (sometimes the Dawnling as a derogatory), once a champion of the church now their messiah.
Dawn is depicted as a young man with long blonde hair and a halo, often clad in golden armour and wielding a spear.
Gravewarden, The Hierarch of Hell & Bane of Monsters
The Gravewarden’s church is small in the Old World, in cities it exists predominantly to tend pauper’s graves and make sure that all everyone is entitled to a proper burial. This is only partly an act of charity as they exist to ensure that the proper rites and rituals are followed to stop ressurection or the raising of undead. In the New World and the less developed parts of the Old World their other role is more apparent.
Paladins and licensed necromancers patrol the West hunting monsters and laying the undead to final rest, the most famous of these monster hunters are the Order of the Silver Bullet.
Gravewarden is depicted as both an old grave tender with a lantern and a silver bell.
Moon, Divine Physician
Once queen of heaven, now a festering astronomical body. Her church has been fractured by her fall, some see it as a rapture, others the precursor to resurrection. But what is certain is that she is waning, her deathgrip over night has frozen the deserts of the New World, and brought glorious unending day to the Old World.
Legends say that she once held the secret of immortality and that it was stolen from her by Dawn.
In the New World her church is split as well, between the First Peoples and the immigrant Old World church. While they have some contact with each other out of desperate circumstance, they are often at odds with eachother.
What will come of the Goddess dying in the sky is yet to be scene.
Moon’s depictions are many, the most common in the old world is of a simple village healer or city doctor. In the New world she is often depicted as a native elf with a stave or medicine-stick.
Coin, Bestower of Plenty and Collector of Debts
Coin, who once was plow, who once was field. A strange journey for a god across the changing human landscape. They are the Second closest to humanity who first decended to teach them the agrarian ways, who grew with them to see the first trade route and bank.
These teachings were not a gift however, a greedy god who’s tithe can be hard and the punishment for shorting it even harder.
Coin is often depicted as a banker or merchant, usually with a scale.
Dusk, Prince of Hell
The betrayer, who gave magic to mortals and killed the Father of heaven. His dominion over night is often linked to the mortal wounding of moon. Worship of him is banned in most of the Old World, his faithful driven underground. Some rumours of his dark court of demons and legion of blades in the dark are purely fictional and should not worry the faithful.
Minor Gods
- Old Faithful, the sixshooter, the boomstick. The god of Guns is a new god who’s impact is outstripped by their number of followers. Close to ascending to a proper god of death.
- Davy Jones - Once the scourge of seamen, now they find them selves unwillingly settled on the coast as fisherfolk, they turn to him for protection on the dark waters.
New World Gods
Coyote - Outsider & Worker of Evil
The figure on the edge of the firelight; connected to lycanthropes and beast-folk (these are said to be the offspring of coyote and moon). Coyote is a complex figure in New World theology, he is an outsider, a trickster and often the butt of a joke or victim of fable. But he is also a breaker of chains and hero of the downtrodden. His duality as a worker of evil and symbol of indominable will is puzzling for Old World theologians.
Coyote’s depiction is often just that of a Coyote, but at times he can appear as a strange old man or a figure at the edge of the firelight.
Thunderbird - Force of Nature
Thunderbird embodies the winds and the rains, they are the forces of nature. Revered in the mountains and mesas, they offer their followers home’s protection from the worst of it as long as it’s sacred places are ritually maintained.
Thunderbird is often depicted as a colossal bird or patterns of feathers. Some rarer depictions show them as a feathered native elf.
Rattlesnake - Wild Card
Rattlesnake is a figure similar to Coyote, though their role is different. Rattlesnake is sometimes a trickster and sometimes a bringer of omens. His worship is rare and not much is known about his history. Some links have been discovered between him and the various serpent peoples that are present in the Old World, but the lack of Naga or Yuan-Ti in the New World confuses this. Was he whorshiped by some extinct native people?
His depictions are relegated to small mentions in stories of other gods or in the bottom corners of depictions of others.
Mother Mountain - Force of Nature
An ageless, inhuman consciousness that thinks at the pace of nature. She was long ago worshiped by indigenous dwarves before their quiet retreat from the world. Earth quakes are said to be symptoms of her distrust of Old World influence.
Minor Gods
- Horse, friend of man and elf. A symbol of hard work and dutiful protection.
- Bees, the swarm is everywhere and it’s intellect has grown it must court with these old world invaders if it is to secure nectar for the hive.