The Gods of Erylia

Initially, I wanted to make my first World Building Wednesday post be about death and resurrection in the world of Erylia. However, while thinking about that, I realized that an important stepping stone for that discussion is the gods.

Why These Gods?

Erylia is a little on the lower end of high fantasy. The gods aren’t beings that are known to walk among mortals. To some, they aren’t even believed to exist at all. However, those who are of divine faith, do believe in a number of gods, and pray to them for various reasons. For the setting, I chose to go with the Gaelic pantheon provided in the D&D books. Without getting too far into it, two main factors went into the decision to use the Gaelic pantheon over the standard D&D pantheons.

Years ago, as a teenager, I discovered a large multi-game MMO Community. I joined them and gamed with them heavily for quite a few years until life made it hard to play MMOs like I used to. They are The Gaiscioch. Though I don’t play with them regularly anymore, I went through a lot with them in my formative years. After joining The Gaiscioch, I came across a band with a sound I had never heard before. I grew up a metal head, and still am. One day, I stumbled upon Eluveitie, a folk metal band known for singing in Gaelic.

So What’s The Pantheon Then?

The pantheon currently follows the standard pantheon as listed in the Player’s Handbook. So that you don’t have to look that up, here is a list of the gods, as well as their basic information.

Tables don't work well on this site, so this is the structure for each gods line.

Name - Realm - Alignment - Domains - Symbol

The Daghdha - God of Weather and Crops - CG - Nature, Trickery - Bubbling cauldron or shield

Arawn - God of Life and Death - NE - Life, Death - Black star on gray background

Belenus - God of Sun, Light, and Warmth - NG - Light - Solar disk and standing stones

Brigantia - Goddess of Rivers and Livestock - NG - Life - Footbridge

Diancecht - God of Medicine and Healing - LG - Life - Crossed oak and mistletoe branches

Dunatis - God of Mountains and Peaks - N - Nature - Red sun-capped mountain peak

Goibhniu - God of Smiths and Healing - NG - Knowledge, Life - Giant mallet over sword

Lugh - God of Arts, Travel, and Commerce - CN - Knowledge, Life - Pair of long hands

Manannan mac Lir - God of Oceans and Sea Creatures - LN - Nature, Tempest - Wave of white water on green

Math Mathonwy - God of Magic - NE - Knowledge - Staff

Morrigan - Goddess of Battle - CE - War - Two crossed spears

Nuada - God of War and Warriors - N - War - Silver hand on black background

Oghma - God of Speech and Writing - NG - Knowledge - Unfurled scroll

Silvanus - God of Nature and Forests - N - Nature - Summer oak tree

The world of Erylia is always growing and I am always thinking up new things or tweaking them. Because of this, this list may change or grow as I flesh out more of the lore behind some of these gods. One bit of insight is that I have added in some angels, which aren’t given in the books list. In the Erylian Epic, one of the players is an Aasimar, descended from the angel Cosain. Cosain couldn’t be the only angel, so others were added. Dioltas, Caillte, Ceartas, Slanaitheoir.

What’s To Come?

To begin talking about some parts of Erylia’s lore, it was important to at least introduce the gods to you. Next week, I will go over some of the changes I have made to death and resurrection in Erylia, which some of these gods play a part in.