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On Broken Gods and Dead Gods

Posted on December 26, 2023

The Gods War pitted the cosmos against itself. Air fought with Sky, Water tried to drown Earth, and Darkness contended with Light.

At first the consequences of defeat was being broken into lesser entities that might reclaim the power of the original. Imagine this like a big Rune being shattered into smaller Runes. For example, when Umath was defeated his lesser parts became the Storm Gods Orlanth, Storm Bull, Vadrus, Humakt, Ragnaglar, and Kolat. All of these pieces became powerful deities in their own right, and Orlanth managed to reclaim Umath’s role.

When Yelm was defeated he broke into pieces – Yelmalio, Vrimak, Berneel Ashagorn, Oakfed, Kazkurtum, and Bijiif. At the Dawn, Bijiif returned to the sky as Yelm restored, although the other pieces retained their own identity in Time.

Those gods that were broken and stayed that way throughout thee Gods Age are still broken as part of the Compromise. Many of these deities were far too primal or far too distant to be “restored” by mortal deeds. There are some entities that were broken in the Gods War that might be restored by mortal deeds – for example, imprisoned spirits such as Firshala or even Wakboth.

I can think of only two examples of a deity killed in the Gods War being restored by mortal deeds – Nysalor and the Red Goddess. In the God Time there was a succession of Moon goddesses that rose and fell. Somehow the Seven Mothers managed to knit them together and incarnate them as a mortal woman who then took her own path to Goddesshood. Notably, this required Chaos to achieve. Nysalor’s own creation is also remarkable.

For those deities annihilated by Entropy or the Void in the Greater Darkness, not even this path is available. Vadrus, the Spike, etc. are lost to us.

Some claim Genert can be restored if his body can be resewed out of hyena skins so that the Copper Sands and the Chaos Wastes are again covered by his body. Perhaps, although it is clear there are not enough hyenas in the world to do more than a fraction of this. That of course is why Issaries’s son was so cursed with an impossible task. This is as absurd as filling Magasta’s Pool so that the rivers no longer need to run downwards or raising the ancient Forge of Mostal.

What about the three stars from Orlanth’s Ring that were restored? Whether Orlanth’s Ring eight visible stars or eleven really makes little difference other than it suggests Orlanth is more powerful. This is just like the Red Moon becoming visible in the daylight sky.

So when did the Lunar elemental rune come into being? Did it exist in the God Time, with those prior moon deities? The Moon Rune is not generally accepted as a Rune outside of central Genertela. In Ralios and Fronela it is considered a Condition Rune not an Element.

Jeff Richard

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Broken Ring, Dead god, Forge of Mostal, Genert, Hyena

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