Tuesday, August 6, 2024

My Homebrew World: The Cascades of Saints

This article is player focused lore for character creation. There will be a GM focused addendum providing additional information at some point. This article is also a bit of a work in progress, but I want my players to be able to use it (that means sorry for any blanks or more typographical errors than normally slip through this one man show).

There are many saints in the world, some obscure and relatively unknown in certain areas, others (and some we don't discuss because of that power that trumps the divine: copyright law. But I assure you that they exist too, at the game table). Saints are meant to provide a niche into which a player can shoehorn an odd cleric or archetype, while gaining the in game benefits of being associated with the Church and following the Nine rather than some other god. There is opportunity to collaborate on creating a saint for such players to follow. Given enough time, some retired or deceased characters may become saints in their own right.

St. Adelard

Title(s): The Sage, He Who Walked After Wontor
Alignment: NG
Domain(s): Knowledge, Travel
Associated Paladin Oaths: 

St. Adelard is said to have been a disciple of Wontor, so devoted that he walked the paths between worlds, seeking the great god’s knowledge. When at last he arrived at the gates of heaven, he was greeted as if by an old friend. Many followers of Wontor revere the saint and seek to emulate this journey in a spiritual, if not literal sense.

St. Adevalia

Title(s):
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths:

Story

St. Anne

Title(s): Lioness of the Faith, The Shield of Rosh-Haigar, Founder-Commander of the Holy Knights of the Nine
Alignment: LG
Domain(s): Justice, Knowledge, War
Associated Paladin Oaths: Battle, Conquest, Devotion, Eagle, Glory, Guardian, Safeguarding, Zeal

Saint Anne is a larger than life figure, said to have defended the holy city of Roshe-Haigar against some sort of great evil. The details are lost to time, but her order of the Holy Knights of the Nine makes up a major portion of the military strength the church can call upon.

St. Brirea 

Title(s): 
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths:

Story

St. Erstopholos

Title(s): Unknown
Alignment: Unknown
Domain(s): Unknown
Associated Paladin Oaths: Unknown

The story of St. Erstopholos is lost to time. Few devotees of his survive other than an isolated monastery in the mountains called the Light House of Morning Snow. Few have ventured there in many years, and none of its residents have ever come down to other settlements. What is told of the legend is that Erstopholos was martyred by the servants of a Demon Prince and his bones carried up to the monastery to be enshrined.

St. Heliodora

Title(s): The Radiant Star, Prophecier of 
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths: 

Story

St. Hurbert

Title(s): 
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths: 

Story

St. Lukricus

Title(s): Patron of Gamblers
Alignment: CN
Domain(s): Arcana, Avarice, Beer, Trickery,
Associated Paladin Oaths: Acquisitions, Mercy, Vengeance 

Unlike many Saints, Lukricus was not a cleric or a devoted follower of a deity. He was a great debaucher by all accounts, and most identified with the aspects of Culsani engaging in great excess, with none of the redeeming qualities of romanticism or love. But according to legend St. Lukricus won his salvation in a gambling contest with Cernunnos, in which he secured a promise from the god that he would ransom his soul back from the Devil Lord to whom he had lost it and grant him a place in the Heavens. Cernunnos dispatched great champions, including St. Brirea, to win back the scoundrel’s soul so that he could then rest in eternal bliss. Gamblers and those who live by fortune seek to emulate St. Lukricus’ cunning and guile.

St. Meynard

Title(s): The Scientist
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Domain(s): Arcana
Associated Paladin Oaths: N/A

Story

St. Navrejar

Title(s): The Reaver Priest, Northern King, Wrath of Tsovinar
Alignment: CN
Domain(s): Apocalypse, Dragon, Tempest, Ocean, Serpent, War, Wind
Associated Paladin Oaths: Ancients, Battle, Conquest, Devotion, Redemption

A devotee of Toutatis and Tsovinar, St. Navrejar was a northern raider who rose to be a jarl and a king of his people. Originally a cruel tyrant, he found religion when healed by a priest of the Church after contracting a terrible disease from the bite of a lycanthrope. St. Navrejar remained a raider, but was tempered by his experience, focusing his wrath upon monsterous peoples that raided the cities and towns of his jarldom. His tomb is in the Chapel of the Bastion at Vraugate. It is said he will rise to battle the creatures of the pit alongside Tsovinar at the end of all time. Raiders, sailors, and barbarians revere him for interceding to Tsovinar on their behalf. His followers recognize lycanthropes for bringing St. Navrejar to his rebirth, but loathe them, believing their condition is the result of the corruption of the endless Abyss and its Demon Princes.

St. Nithtari

Title(s): The Redeemed, Rebuker of Devils, The Gem Among Snakes, The Risen Angel
Alignment: LG
Domain(s): Atonement, Justice, Knowledge, Life, Light, Martyr, Mercy
Associated Paladin Oaths: Glory, Perfection, Purification, Redemption, Watchers

A tiefling woman, St. Nithtari stands as a symbol of transcendence. St. Nithtari rebuked her family in the name of the Nine. Her family were devoted disciples of Asmodeus. Nithtari was martyred by her uncle, the evil Lord Karcius, a powerful Illrigger said to have been dragged down to the Hells for his failures, but left to live on in eternal torment as a Dread Knight (Monsterous Menagerie). St. Nithtari herself is said to have so humbled Wontor that he persuaded Lucan to relinquish her soul from death and made her a Planetar angel of the Chorus of the Moon-Bathed Crescent. Thus some of her devotees revere both her aspects as a risen angel, and a martyred saint.

St. Orpheus

Title(s): Of the Iron Spike
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths:

Called St. Orpheus of the Iron Spike. Disciple of Tarin.

St. Protogonia 

Title(s): The Chained Scholar
Alignment: 
Domain(s): Knowledge, Prophecy 
Associated Paladin Oaths:

Story

St. Samira

Title(s): The Wise, Slayer of Liches, Most Holy Hierophant
Alignment: CG
Domain(s): Arcana, Travel, Speed, Trickery, Portal 
Associated Paladin Oaths: Ancients, Watchers, Zeal

St. Samira was a great wizard, trained in both the arcane arts at Uqance, the City of Mages, and a follower of Cernunnos. Samira is said to have discovered much deep magic and traveled to distant worlds searching the secrets of the Nine and the magical weave. Her final resting place is unknown, but her staff is kept in a shrine at the great Cathedral of St. Samira in Uqance, and her writings are part of the great arcane library also in the city.

St. Sucro

Title(s): Ashen-faced, 
Alignment: N
Domain(s): Death, Grave
Associated Paladin Oaths: Giving Grave, Vengeance

Sucro was said to be a grave-digger in the necropolis of Rosh-Haigar. His shrine and tomb are there, though he is revered by grave-diggers and those who have suffered great loss across the lands once claimed by the Empire and beyond. Little record remains of his life and legacy.

St. Selene

Title(s):
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths:

Story

St. Tedmund

Title(s):
Alignment: 
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths:

Story

St. Tevra

Title(s): Holy Lancer, Apprentice, Golden Crown
Alignment: CG
Domain(s): 
Associated Paladin Oaths: 

Born a poor child in Uqance, St. Tevra is said to have been cast a blessed coin by St. Tedmund as he rode through the city on his departure to slay the green worm Goavraynth. She almost spent the coin on a bit of bread and a warm drink, but instead her feet led her to a wheelwright's shop where she was apprenticed. Many years later she embarked on adventures, the details of which are lost to time, until she was knighted and made a Holy Lancer of the Order of the Nine. 

St. Valdra

Title(s): Blessed of Culsani, Cleanser of Orzberg, Patriarch
Alignment: Neutral
Domain(s): Avarice, Moon
Associated Paladin Oaths: Acquisitions

St. Valdra was a unique Patriarch of the Church by becoming an Archbishop after working through the ranks of the deaconry. A dedicated follower and cleric of Culsani throughout her career, Valdra took over the Archbishopric of Orzberg following the revelation that the clerics of the city had been corrupted by a vampire. Through this experience she was a fierce and pragmatic defender of the faith. Her fellow archbishops elected her to the Patriarchy upon the death of Horeshtus IV. She is credited for revitalizing and expanding the greatest cathedrals of the Church (though it is rumored that she did this by collecting indulgences, or payments for the sins of nobles and great merchants). Her followers dismiss any of this as hearsay, and instead focus on her expansion of the great Cathedral and monuments at Rosh-Haigar, the holy city of the Church.


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