Acos [AE-koes]

Yelm pantheon -- Celestial Court god of law

Acos was the prehistoric ruler of the Spike, and controlled all the activity of the ancient cosmos. When the universe began to fall apart, he was forced to turn against himself, as in the famous case when he made a ruling and found himself unjust. Thus divided, he fell and was a helpless husk when the Spike exploded, mercifully destroying him and all his old world forever.

Elf pantheon -- goddess of the woods

Aldrya is also mother of elves and dryads, who are her servants in the forests. In an ancient time referred to as the Green Age, Aldrya and the elves ruled all the world. She is now bitter about the loss of her preeminence, which explains why woods are intrinsically creepy to mankind.

Elves depict her as a tree with many different leaves and fruits upon her, humans as a beautiful dryad.

Aleshmara [ahl-ESH-mah-rrah]

Pamalt pantheon -- The Woman

Usually she is symbolized simply as an (actual) basket marked with her distinctive signs. Sand paintings show a sturdy old woman holding a large basket. More often she is symbolized simply as a basket marked with her distinctive signs.

Eastern pantheon -- First Woman

She is usually portrayed as a tall oriental woman wearing whatever fashions were popular when the painting was made. She always has a tall jar at her side. A never ending river of pure water flows from her left hand and a lock of her hair trails off into the golden heavens.

Lunar, Merman, Pamalt, and Troll pantheons -- mystic goddess of the secret Blue Moon, an Old God

Once per tidal cycle, Annilla plummets from the top of the sky dome (via the Pole Star gate), through the atmosphere and straight down Magasta's Pool. Concurrently, the tides precipitously fall from highest to lowest in a single day. At this time she can sometimes be seen by keen-eyed observers who know where to look and which spells to use. As a result of these sightings, Annilla is also called the Blue Streak in various languages throughout the world.

Annilla is represented by her Pamaltelan descendants as a blue orb; by the Lunars as an elderly blind woman in blue, with one arm behind her and leaning on a cane; and by the trolls as a smooth-skinned mistress troll holding a round stone in one hand and water in the other.

Eastern pantheon -- the founder of civilization

He is portrayed as a tall, straight-backed old oriental man, bearded and bald, leaning on a staff and holding an armful of scrolls. A Golden-back spider spins its unique web between his staff and the ground and a benevolent white cloud floats over his shoulder. A tiny man and woman each hold up one end of his simple robe.

Nearly universal -- goddess of nature; greatest of the greater gods

Her origin is unknown, though legends abound. She was unimportant until all the gods gathered together in the Land of Death, awaiting final annihilation by the chaos gods. As if they were merely puppets on a single set of strings, all the gods cooperated and aided Arachne Solara to fight entropy. Chaos metamorphosed, Time began, and the gods went about their old business.

Since then, Arachne Solara has intervened in the world twice. The first resulted from the making of the chaos-god Gbaji; the second when the Jrusteli overstepped the bounds of magic. Both times even the gods changed -- the faithful and the just escaped her wrath while the evil and heartless were destroyed.

Few beings actively worship Arachne Solara, for her spells are beyond mortal ken, and she does not respond to prayers and appeals. She appears when and where she desires. The results of her presence are sometimes benevolent and generous, at other times cruel and terrifying, but usually neutral and natural. She eats anything she catches in her web.

She is usually shown as a bloated black spider, or as a woman to the hips, mounted upon a spider's thorax and abdomen.

Eastern pantheon -- East Isles god of the island of Faranvogath

He is never pictured since his worshipers know him intimately through their connection to their plant.

Pamalt and Troll pantheons -- spider goddess

Among the southern humans she is depicted as a stylized version of the most deadly local species of spider, or often as the common steppe pack spider. Trolls carve images of her from a soft spherical rock -- a hole is bored for the mouth, and her legs are joined to clasp a victim.

Troll pantheon -- god of surface darkness

He is graven as a dark troll (never as one of the mistress race) with large eyes. His right hand is extended and his left hand holds a spear. He is usually carved from igneous rock.

Arkat [AR-kat]

Malkioni, Orlanth, and Troll pantheons -- ancient hero

Although he destroyed Gbaji, Arkat underwent unusual metamorphoses which alienated his followers. In the Second Age, political and magical enemies destroyed Arkat's empire. Membership in his cult was at first discouraged, then outlawed, and eventually became superfluous amidst the growing abuses of the Jrusteli God-learners.

Due to this persecution Arkat's cult went underground for centuries, but its remnants helped spearhead the destruction of the hated Jrusteli. Since then it has maintained a widespread, but scattered, existence.

Arkat is represented in many different forms. Western manuscripts describe him as a huge burly redhead and clothe him in sixth-century armor and fashions, including his coat of arms: a black shield with two gold crowns. Orlanthi barbarians depict the same man but carrying two swords and wearing barbarian clothing. Trolls carve images of him in marble, shaped like a dark troll but with prominent teeth, a heart shape on his chest, the sign of the Redstone Zorak Zoran temple on his back, and a bronze nail driven through him from head to foot.

Pamalt pantheon -- moonson, father of the Veldang, an Old God

The blueskins of the land of Zamokil now dance to Artmal once a year. They costume themselves in his image, donning straw wigs with animal horns, strapping on an extra pair of artificial arms, painting an eye on their forehead, and wearing woven grass skirts and leggings (a clothing fashion otherwise unknown in the region). In the city-states along the north coast of Zamokil, Artmal is portrayed as an enslaved god, emaciated and chained.

Orlanth and Troll pantheons -- grandmother of wealth

Among humans she is pictured as an ugly hag bedecked in endless necklaces and rings, and cloaked in robes studded with precious metals. Shining jewels, sparking flints, living stones, fossils, and numberless coins blanket the ground at her feet.

Among trolls she is symbolized as a bowl carved from granite. On the bowl's exterior are stylized ears stuffed closed with wooden or dirt plugs. The bowl's lip is ridged and sharp, and the bowl's interior has three to seven undulating lines in concentric circles about the center.

Chaos pantheon -- chaos god, the knowledge thief