Holy Symbols of the Prime Deities, by Claudio Pozas.[art 1]
The Prime Deities are the Creator deities who chose to stay and help the people of Exandria fight back against the Primordials during the Founding.[1] The Raven Queen is also typically grouped with the Prime Deities, despite not being a Creator.[2]
History[]
The Founding[]
The gods who brought life to Exandria are called Creators.[3] When the Primordials came to retake the world during The Founding, initially the gods didn't fight them, even collaborating with them to imprison Predathos after this entity devoured two deities, Ethedok and Vordo;[4] however, the tension with the elemental titans increased, and the gods disagreed on their course of action. Those who would later become the Betrayer Gods wished to let the world fall into chaos and destruction so that they could begin anew elsewhere. The Prime Deities chose to remain and to help their creations survive the onslaught and defeat the Primordials. They taught the people of Exandria arcane magic, so that they could defend themselves and build anew without direct aid from the gods. The people succeeded, destroying the Primordials and banishing the Betrayer Gods to planar prisons.[1]
The Age of Arcanum[]
The prevalence of arcane magic gave rise to the Age of Arcanum. It was during this time that a mortal practitioner of this magic developed the rites of ascension, challenged the God of Death, and took his place as the Raven Queen. This act inspired others, and the Archmage Vespin Chloras freed the imprisoned Betrayer Gods. They launched an attack on Vasselheim, and the Prime Deities joined with the people of Vasselheim to defend it.[1] The city survived, although with significant damage, but this fight began the long and terrible war that would be known as the Calamity.[5]
The Calamity and the Divergence[]
The war was between the Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods, and many of their mortal creations perished in battle. The world they had once created together was permanently scarred, and only a third of the population survived.
During the first century of the conflict the entire main pantheon accepted a truce to deal with Aeor and its anti-divine technology, and following a complex plan, several gods agreed to incarnate as mortal avatars to infiltrate the flying city. Despite their initial collaboration and attempt to neutralize the Factorum Malleus without dooming all the Aeorians, the Prime Deities (who had chosen to follow the plan despite discovering that the weapon could be used to destroy only the Betrayer Gods) discovered that Asmodeus had tricked them all, replacing Ioun's avatar and conspiring with the archmages and rebel servants of the gods so he could take control of the machine and use it against the Primes. Although he was stopped, the consequences of his actions made the destruction of the entire city inevitable, and after it, the Prime Deities, for the first time, wondered if interfering with Exandria at all was more harmful than helpful.[6]
Eventually the Betrayer Gods were banished again to their realms, and the Prime Deities reluctantly chose to leave as well, believing their involvement in Vasselheim had been a precipitating factor of the Calamity and that their continued presence could cause war again in the future. They built the Divine Gate, which prevented all of the gods, Betrayer and Prime alike, from physically entering the Material Plane. The Moonweaver and the injured Knowing Mentor were among the first to depart,[7] and the Changebringer and the Dawnfather in the weeks after that.[8] Years later, the Platinum Dragon and the All-Hammer were the last to cross, with the latter using his mortal-crafted keystone to finish the barrier.[9] The apparent departure of the gods from Exandria and the erection of the Divine Gate to bar their return would later be known as the Divergence,[10] and though there is a "year zero" marking the Divergence,[11] the apparent departure of the gods and the completion of the Divine Gate were somewhat separated in time.
The Return of Predathos[]
During the apogee solstice of 843 PD Ludinus Da'leth's plan to release Predathos from its prison culminated with the activation of his Malleus Key, releasing a beam of energy that started damaging the magical cage around Ruidus. While the process was very slow (possibly thanks to the sabotages made by Caleb Widogast, Beauregard Lionett and Bells Hells) the Prime Deities were still worried, and while they still provided power to their clerics, there was some level of fear and distance that mortals felt when contacting them.[12] When Fresh Cut Grass, a cleric of Avandra, interacted with her through the Commune spell, he saw for a moment distant silhouettes the Changebringer joined as her cleric's spell ended, suggesting the Prime Deities were gathering.[13]
A few days later the gods, frightened by the possibility of Predathos being freed from his prison thanks to Ludinus' plans, urged their mortal followers to prevent it;[14] many followers of Prime Deities were seen in Jrusar, presumably following the divine orders of joining the fight against the forces that fought to free the Red End.[15] Teven Klask, champion of Asmodeus, confirmed that the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods had declared a partial truce to deal with the common threat posed by the Red End.[16]
When Fresh Cut Grass asked Evontra'vir about the possible future in which the gods faced the worst outcome, the Great Tree of Atrophy showed them a vision of a lattice shattering and beings made of light and shadow (the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods, presumably) being chased away by the red light of Predathos.[17]
When Bells Hells returned from Ruidus after a mission they discovered that some gods, including the Moonweaver, the Duskmaven, and the Changebringer, had been sending their followers to fight in the Red Center, and trophies taken from them now adorned pikes in the excavation, displaying the symbols of their deities.[18]
When summoned by the Matron of Ravens and Bells Hells, both sides of the pantheon attended a meeting in which it was discussed the possibility of using the newly created Rites of Catatheosis to turn themselves into mortals to avoid Predathos. Although there was tension and hesitation (partially because of Tharizdun, although the Matron quickly clarified it would remain sealed), and some of the Primes were worried about their own status and the fates of their creations, they were persuaded to accept the idea, being told that by living in the world and being reborn several times, the distinction between deities and the enmities of the past would eventually be left behind. After that they all shattered the Divine Gate, and disappeared to be reborn as soon as the Raven Queen finished the ritual.[19]
Deities[]
All of the Prime Deities are good- or neutral-aligned.
| Name | Epithet | Alignment | Holy Day | Plane |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avandra | The Changebringer | Chaotic Good | New Dawn (1 Horisal) | None[20] |
| Bahamut | The Platinum Dragon | Lawful Good | Embertide (5 Duscar) | Celestia[21] |
| Corellon | The Arch Heart | Chaotic Good | Elvendawn (20 Brussendar) | Arborea[22] |
| Erathis | The Lawbearer | Lawful Neutral | Civilization's Dawn (22 Quen'pillar) | Astral Plane[22] |
| Ioun | The Knowing Mentor | True Neutral | Unknown | Endless Athenaeum[23] |
| Kord | The Stormlord | Chaotic Neutral | Day of Challenging (7 Misuthar) | Ysgard[24] |
| Melora | The Wildmother | True Neutral | Wild's Grandeur (20 Dualahei) | None[25] |
| Moradin | The All-Hammer | Lawful Good | Deep Solace (18 Unndilar) | Celestia[2] |
| Pelor | The Dawnfather | Neutral Good | Highsummer (15 Sydenstar) | Elysium[2] |
| Sarenrae/Raei | The Everlight | Neutral Good | Unknown | Elysium[2] |
| Sehanine | The Moonweaver | Chaotic Good | Unnamed (night of the decade's largest full moon) | Arborea/Feywild[26] |
| The Raven Queen | The Matron of Death | Lawful Neutral | Night of Ascension (13 Cuersaar) | Shadowfell[26] |
| The Raven Queen's predecessor[27] | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
Trivia[]
- The Pantheon of Exandria is taken from the Dawn War Deities, with the addition of Sarenrae, a Pathfinder deity. The Prime Deities are the good and neutral-aligned deities from this pantheon.[28]
- During the Calamity the followers of the Betrayer Gods used propaganda to encourage their people, telling them that different members of the Prime Deities had been killed, even though it wasn't true.[29]
- All of the Prime Deities have had some connection to a player character or relevant non-player-character in different campaigns.
- Since it is known that minor deities do exist in Exandria,[30] and that some of them were aligned with the Betrayer Gods,[31] it is possible that less important good or neutral-aligned deities are allied with the Prime Deities as well.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 12.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 24.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 11.
- ↑ See "Axiom Shaken" (3x43) from 3:02:19 through 3:04:50.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 13.
- ↑ See the events of Downfall.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 1:09:08.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 3:03:49.
- ↑ See "By Heart Alone" (E4x04) at 5:17:38.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, pp. 13–14.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 8.
- ↑ See "Far From The Others" (3x52) at 2:55:55.
- ↑ See "By Goat or By Boat" (3x56) at 1:08:39.
- ↑ See "Escape From The Past" (3x58) at 3:42:12.
- ↑ See "Reunited" (3x64).
- ↑ See "Bloody Flowers" (3x67) from 4:26:11 through 4:27:20.
- ↑ See "Roots Between Worlds" (3x74) at 3:29:31.
- ↑ See "Broken Roads" (3x92) at 0:58:18.
- ↑ See "A New Age Begins" (3x121).
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 21. Avandra wanders the Outer Planes but does not reside on any specific one.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 26.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 22.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 23.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 28.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 23. Melora wanders all the planes, but spends a lot of time on Arvandor
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 25.
- ↑ Vespin Chloras implied this god was one of the Prime Deities. See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 2:44:58.
- ↑ See D&D: Dungeon Master's Guide (2014), 5th ed., p. 10.
- ↑ See "Give and Take" (E4x01) at 0:15:01. The Iron Scorpion privately refers to Azmog's earlier cheery statements as propaganda at 2:08:27.
- ↑ The Chronicles of Exandria - The Mighty Nein, p. 182.
- ↑ The entry for the Arms of the Betrayers says "before the Calamity, eight of the Betrayer Gods" crafted those weapons, implying that at that point there were already more than eight deities on the Betrayer Gods' side. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 30.
Art:
- ↑ Holy Symbols of the Prime Deities, by Claudio Pozas (source). Used with permission.
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