I have classified the @Pagan Gods into two categories: The Lesser Gods and the Greater Gods. I shall begin with a discussion of the Lesser Gods, as they are more specific to the various races of Arcanum, and serve to aid in the understanding of the Greater Gods, which shall be described afterwards. There is a Lesser God for each of the known sentient races, and they invariably embody those virtues within us that make our peoples unique.
The Lesser gods are further classified into three distinct groups: Noble, Neutral, and Darker. The nomenclature is my own, and is based on the general characteristics of the god described.
Before the advent of existentialism, the elven people were mostly mystics who worshipped natural deities. The most powerful of those deities was @Ter'el, god of the Trees, who later came to embody wisdom. @Ter'el was both blind and mute, and could only speak through the wind in the leaves of autumn, who cried tears in the showers of spring, and who passed thunderous judgment in the storms of winter. Early offerings to @Ter'el included the best fruit of the harvest, but in time became the small wooden statues known as Li'tani, or Houses-of-the-Soul. Such idols were carved once a year by elven shamans, and were said to hold the true essence of the owner.
Once a year the Li'tani were thrown into the fiery altars of @Ter'el and burned to ash. By doing so, the elven people thought that @Ter'el had purged them of all impurities and pettiness. A new Li'tani was obtained from the elven shaman, and a new cycle could begin again.
@Geshtianna has been a central figure in human Paganism for as long as their history has been recorded. Human mythology claims that @Geshtianna was once a mortal woman who was so beautiful that she was made into a god by the moon and the sun, who could no longer bear to be outshone by something so far below them, and so raised her up to the heavens. Humans believed that @Geshtianna would smile down upon them at twilight, when the sun was setting and the moon was rising, and that her love and beauty were manifested in the springtime, between winter and the long, hot days of summer. The festivals to the goddess were a time of great celebration, wrought with music and drink, as well as various rites of physicality and fertility.
Offerings at the altars of @Geshtianna were usually @Passion Root, which came to be thought of as an aphrodisiac and was often used during the festivals, like in the @Temple of Geshtiannain @Stillwater.
Very little is known of dwarvish religions, although there is great speculation that the dwarves have a long tradition of philosophy. The dwarvish Clan Wars of 600 years ago quite possibly were started because of a conflict of philosophical beliefs. Regardless, the ancient dwarven god @Alberich has always weighed heavily in dwarvish lore. According to the oldest dwarvish myths, it is upon the spine of @Alberich that @Arcanum rests, and the dwarves are his first children who are privileged to live within him. @Alberich is the most ancient of things, and loves those who are slow to anger, deep of thought and hardworking. He sings to his children in the shiftings of mountains, in the roar of volcanoes, and whispers to them in the still air of long forgotten caverns, deep underground.
To the altars of @Alberich, dwarves bring chunks of @Lava Rock. To them it represents his anger, which can be terrible, but which is cool and light when all is well with his children.
Little is known of the @Bedokaan. Lizard-like creatures that travel in nomadic tribes, the @Bedokaan have lived within the swamps of the Dark Fens for millennia. Sir Warren Purrington, the famous 16th century gnomish explorer, left perhaps the only true account of them or their ways. The following is an excerpt from "Fauna and Specie of the Darke Fens."
"I've discovered a most unusual tribe of creatures, covered in scale and slime, who call themselves the @Bedokaan. Apparently, they've never seen any of what I'd call the 'civilized races', whether gnomish or otherwise. They have language, and the most elementary beginnings of culture, but besides that seem altogether wild and ferocious. Their simple religion revolves around deities they call the Snake-fathers, one of whom is a being named @Makaal, the god of the Hunt. Before their daily outings to find food, @Bedokaan warriors kneel before the altar of @Makaal, and offer small pieces of something they call @Heartstone, which looks to be some form of rough diamond or crystal. Where they get them, I've yet to ascertain.
@Bedokaan warriors believe that the offerings to @Makaal give them speed when hunting their prey. Truly, these are a primitive people."
@Halflings have always been fond of trickery, so it is no surprise that one of their most important ancient deities was @One-Armed Bolo, the one-armed god of Thieves. @One-Armed Bolo was known for his cunning ways, and his love of all things precious and beautiful. Legend tells that @One-Armed Bolo was so skilled at thievery, that he once stole the shadow of Progo, who was @One-Armed Bolo's stepfather and god of the Storm. Unfortunately, @One-Armed Bolo was careless, and was noticed by Progo. As punishment, Progo cut off one of @One-Armed Bolo's arms; in retaliation @One-Armed Bolo stole his stepfather's soul, tore it in half and Progo dropped dead. Lightning, it is said, represents the skillful cut of Progo, and thunder his death roar.
@Halflings used to offer rings at the altars of @One-Armed Bolo. Rings, they said, reminded them of the price that @One-Armed Bolo paid for his carelessness, as well as the skill he still possessed in his remaining hand. (See @Bolo's Bag of Halfling Rings )
@Gnomeish history is well guarded, as are their most ancient beliefs and traditions. But a visit to any @Gnomeish household will reveal at least one of their religious traditions...one will invariably find a golden statuette, or likeness thereof, of @Kerlin, the Golden God. @Kerlin was the oldest of the gnomish pantheon, and all other gods were sprung directly from the palms of his hand. He sung the world into existence, and the sound solidified into great veins of gold and silver.
@Kerlin wanted only those things made of his words, and so gnomish offerings were always of money, usually of the small, ancient @Gnomeish coins known as @Mnura.
@Shakar was an ancient god, worshipped by almost all @Orcish tribes before the Age of Legends. @Shakar was a frightening creature, with the head of a ram, four arms, and the tail of a scorpion. For many years orcs sacrificed their first born to @Shakar, who demanded the first and best of everything. @Orcish lore says that @Shakar changed his mind about the sacrifices when he saw that the @Orcs were truly warlike and then demanded only the finest weapons as offerings. Traditionally, these were bone-handled knives and swords...bone to represent @Shakar's great horns, and tempered steel to represent his will. Weapons such as @Shakar's Hornblade and @Shakar's Horned Knife.
Often an itinerant adventurer will discover the ruins of an ancient orcish tribe, and invariably they will find such bone-handled weapons among them. The @Orcs were very serious about their god, and they carried such weapons to remind them of his ferocity.
The @Ogre god @Torg is still worshipped by the more primitive ogre tribes, and was earliest of the @Ogre deities to survive the Age of Legends. @Ogre lore tells that @Torg was the father of many children, and that long ago there were many gods to rule over the @Ogreish people. As time passed, @Torg saw that his children had forgotten what it meant to be ogrish, and slew them all. From the bodies of his children he pulled their still beating hearts and ate them, bringing into himself all the best parts of them, and threw the rest into the sea.
@Torg is known as the God of the @Ogre Heart, and every year the @Ogre tribes who still worship him eat the hearts of hunted stags (@Stag Heart) in deference to him. The bodies of the stags are thrown to the western sea, where the ogres lament @Torg's lost children, and praise his strength and wisdom.