Shapers

The Shapers were the seven gods of creation worshiped on the world of Aramán. They received that name because, after they first manifested in this world, they changed the peoples they found on Aramán into new species such as orcs and elves, and set them apart on the continent of Pasitar.

History

Arrival

Some scholars have concluded that the gods are not as old as some other ancient beings, such as the fae or demons. Some say that before the gods arrived to Aramán, the world was inhabited by giants and when the gods arrived, they defeated the giants.

Death

When the orcs realized that their situation under their particular Shaper was more harmful than beneficial, they started creating weapons to attack that deity. In response, the other six members of the pantheon organized to help their divine peer, which caused some of their own followers to realize the gods they were worshipping cared more about the worst of their own than about their creations. This led to the Shapers' War, during which, one by one, the gods of Aramán were defeated and destroyed; Azgra was the first to fall, wounded by Shay's Blade. Rebels of other races created different special weapons to destroy their respective gods: humans created staves for spellcasters to wield against Tansul, halflings created sapient masks to enact a scheme against Rauwyn, and elves crafted a single arrow to fell Sylandri. During this conflict, many mortals stayed loyal to the gods throughout.

The Shapers were destroyed seven decades before the beginning of Campaign Four, and their fall has shaped religion, magic, and politics, and has created great questions about the fate of the souls and the afterlife. Magic, for instance, has become wild and unpredictable, while new religions are being created to replace the old.

Known Shapers

• Azgra, the Conqueror, Shaper of the orcs, god of war, conquest, and suffering
• Rauwyn, the Trickster, Shaper of the halflings, goddess of trickery
• Sylandri, the Green Mother, Shaper of the elves, goddess of life
• Tansul, Shaper of the humans, god of the sun, remembered as a false deity by the Candescent Creed
• Goddess of the Forge, Shaper of the dwarves
• Goddess of Magic, Shaper of the gnomes
• The seventh Shaper, Shaper of the beastfolk ^[presumed]

Trivia

• Brennan Lee Mulligan compared the seven Shapers to the gods of the Greek and Norse pantheon, in the sense that they are very powerful figures who, even if they help their followers, can't be seen as unquestionably good or moral, and are very capable of hurting mortals.
• The role of the Shapers in Aramán was always meant to be determined by whatever happened to Exandria after Campaign Three regarding the fate of the main pantheon. Thus, had the gods of that particular world been destroyed, Brennan would have had the deities of Aramán (or an equivalent of them) as figures still present in the world in some shape or form.
• In the world of Aramán full resurrections were something mostly present in legend, and always through the intervention of some deity. When the Shapers were alive it came to a point where they would actively refuse to grant their clerics spells that would allow them to revive the dead, even if they would normally have access to them.
• At one point a god fought in the Dahapshanee Wood.
• According to Bolaire Lathalia, the destruction of each of the Shapers, regardless of weapon, worked because it involved a seemingly mundane item used against something of celestial nature. According to him, the "weight of reality" in those weapons could potentially hurt the celestial servants of the gods as well.{