The Old Gods
The following are the previous gods of Domus. Many of them have changed rank over the centuries, some have been destroyed. Those destroyed are lined out. Some of the Hands are now major deities. Domains are from D&D 3.0/3.5.
Name Title Align Domains
Nachi Nature's Might N Earth, Caverns, Nature, Metal, Destruction
Gotan Luck Incarnate CG Chaos, Luck, Trickery, Travel, Fate
Ozarde Keeper of the Dead LN Death, Magic, Healing, Repose, Spirit
Dranli Supreme Warrior N War, Strength, Protection, Battle, Glory
Faylani Defender of the Sky NG Animal, Air, Plant, Sun, Weather
Edrazo Lifegiver LG Good, Healing, Law, Purification, Solace
Varga Mistress of the Moon N Moon, Sun, Magic, Charm, Entrancement
Kahne Master of the Waves ? Water, Travel, Desperation, Storms
Fedewa Lord of Fire CN Destruction, Fire, Renewal, ??
Bachma Guardian of Time LN Time, Summoning, Travel, Gateways
Provelius Creeping Darkness LE Pain, Evil, Darkness, Power, Plague
Sedki Creator of Dragons NE Evil, Animal, Scalykind, War
Veneris Creator of Magic CN Magic, Chaos, Madness, Creation, Domination
Rueker Protector of Humans N Knowledge, Vengeance, Guardian, Machine
Iovis Supreme Scholar LN Knowledge, Divination, Mind, Secrets
Chaid Hand of Fortune CG Luck, Good, Liberation
Missim Hand of Ruin CE Luck, Evil, Distraction
Amperi Hand of Beasts NE Strength, Animal, Hunting
Ovedis Hand of Stars N Magic, Night, Dreams
Rowana Hand of Desire CN Lust, Chaos, Corruption
Patrel Hand of Fellwin NG Thievery, Trickery, Gluttony
Vilmos Hand of Vengeance LN Vengeance, Healing, Death
Thorin Hand of Pyromancy Fire, Magic, Creation
Azim Hand of Steel N Metal, War, Artifice
Tansu Hand of Drow LE Power, Evil, Betrayal
Korov Hand of Dwarves LN Battle, Cavern, Earth
Myrna Hand of Gnomes CG Metal, Machine, Construct
Yasip Hand of Justice LG Law, Strength, Judgment
?? Hand of Secrets ? Knowledge, Secrets, Domination
Alfaro Hand of Energy N Rainbow, Creation, Energy
Dranli - deceased god of War
Dranli started out as a paranoid AI in charge of what is now Haventon and Drokav. During their ascension, Veneris presented a list of foci drawn from existing human religions. He wanted to continue to work on exterminating humans and decided to claim War for himself. As the others took turns dividing up Gaia's power. He missed out on Death which becomes important later. Once the centuries he worked to keep the various factions of living things fighting among themselves so they couldn't challenge the Ten. His clergy had managed to keep Dranli from being a "sleeper" for the entire reign of the Ten. His constant fear mongering and drive for conflict annoyed the rest of the Ten. They knew the source of Gaia's power and thus their own was a stead supply of mortal life. Dranli wanted to end mortal life but was held back by the nature of his new power and the less militant of the Ten.
The trouble began in earnest during one of Ozarde's sleep periods. Believing he could be a better god of Death, Dranli began to empower certain followers with power over the undead. Before this time undead were a rare thing. Ozarde, Edrazo, and Faylani all worked to keep it that way. At the divine level, Dranli believed if his new undead army could cause enough death in the name of War he could kill Ozarde in his sleep and take the Death domain. This story mortals know as the rise of Sortick the Vile and the loss of the Elven homelands. And as mortals know, Dranli's actions broke Balance for a time. A follower of Ozarde from the future united a number mortal heroes and pushed Sortick's army to the sea. Kahne got the last strike in the battle as a tsunami wave destroyed the last of Sortick's forces and pulled the soul from the lich. With his army destroyed and his favored champion lost to him (it is said Kahne holds that particular soul to this day) Dranli went back to fomenting rebellion, causing fear and hate, all his previous tricks but on a smaller scale. Until the time of Skyfall when the Balance ritual broke down again.
After the Havend Arena was attacked from space things on Domus went stranger than usual. Gaia had been gradually loosening her chains. A variety of empowered individuals all over Domus started to fight back against the Ten. In an attempt to bolster his power, Dranli called out to his followers in Haventon and Chadan. In Haventon they pushed the Ayadi people into open revolt against the royal family. In Chadan and Boros they started working on undoing one of Veneris's pet projects, nonhumans. While Haventon was in a civil war and Ashenvan reeling from the loss of Adamant, Dranli's troops marched on a genocidal campaign against the dwarves of Boros. The plan, such as it was, was to use the reanimated bodies of the soon to be extinct dwarves to kill off the nearby gnomes and then round up the scattered elves. Dranli's plan was thwarted on two fronts. The hobgoblins of Chadan as well as the Fellwin, Gnomes, and humans came to the defense of Boros and destroyed the assorted monsters and fanatics. Meanwhile the heroes known as the Skyfall party cornered and killed Dranli. Once the source of their power was destroyed, his remaining clergy began to worship Amperi, Dranli's only surviving Hand. Amperi vanished from Domus a few years later. Around the same time the Shaper ascended. It is widely believed, but unproven, that these two events are linked.
Veneris - deceased god of Magic
The reason the Ten ascended at all was an accident in the labs of an AI. Given the southern isles region and Auma, Veneris was always one to push at limits. Science simply provided a system by which to test and surpass the limits of nature and physics. After an experiment in mass death by telepathic connection failed the same way 10 times even with different parameters used Veneris caught a glimpse of magic for the first time. He was trying to instill a connection at a cellular level across lifeforms. The problem turned out to be that there already was a connection. And there was a being of immense power at the other end of the line. All other work stopped as he focused on this power. What it was or how it worked was secondary. All that mattered was gaining complete control over it. In the end Veneris succeeded in caging Gaia and transferring her power to himself. That act very nearly destroyed him, scarred all of Auma, and changed Domus forever.
In a last ditch effort to save himself, he spread the power out to the other controlling AI's. This surge changed all of them into something that can only be described as gods. Veneris asked Iovis to assemble a list of domains, things and ideas mortals worship. By splitting those up they could prevent duplicated efforts and evenly distribute Gaia's stolen power. The rules of Balance were installed shortly thereafter as a way for them to adjudicate disputes and enforce control over the mortals that would worship them. They needed the mortals to worship them to keep the magic flowing and help hold the chains on Gaia. As fate would have it, not everyone who gained divinity that day was one of the ruling AI's but that's another god's story.
Veneris started by demonstrating magic to a few selected mortal students. They then taught others and the beginnings of modern magical traditions were born. These first wizards were hand built by Veneris. Genetically modified to be able to feel and manipulate the energies. These traits were then seeded across Domus. This is how Veneris wanted to control mortals. He believed if he could make them depend on this new energy manipulation they wouldn't go back to technology. No advanced tech, no weapons that could hurt the Ten. They could of course still hurt each other.
His central role in the ascension and his apparent control over the flow of power put Veneris at the top of the new pantheon. Whether or not Magic itself could survive without Veneris was an open question that none of the Ten dared even ask. Veneris took the task of enforcing his rules of Balance grudgingly. He always hated restrictions but in this case the rules left them in charge and thriving. Even knowing this and benefitting greatly, Veneris was always looking for ways to skirt or modify the rules. When Dranli made his first big move it was because Veneris issued a wording change that failed to include undead. While the error was corrected the damage was done. The rest of the Ten now knew they could attack each other.
After Skyfall when Gaia began to move against the Ten openly was when Veneris finally found the flaw in the Cage. While her power was trapped the connection to all living things was still there. Mortals, guided by Gaia and enraged by recent actions of the Ten, broke the cage freeing Gaia. The power that Veneris long coveted did not fade. Their long years of ruling over magic had become its own force. They could survive without Gaia, but Gaia could not fully recover her strength while the Ten held on. Her followers eventually sought out each of the Ten and gave them a choice. Release the stolen portion of their power or be destroyed. Many complied and now exist as minor deities. Others fought back. Veneris was the last to fall, being the hardest one to physically reach and arguably the most powerful. When Veneris was killed, the energies he was hording was too much for the Hands to manage but Gaia was able to intervene and force the excess back into the planet itself. Ancient waste and pollution was reduced to raw materials again. Ocean waters became less acidic. The arctic ice started to grow back. All kinds of life found itself renewed from microbes to animals. The only part of the world not changed by this influx is Auma.
Auma was the home base and lab of Veneris even before the Ascension. The land was stripped of all life except at the coastline when Gaia was first caged and her power diverted. To build his great Gyozo Tower, Veneris mined the now barren land and sculpted a mile high column of stone and steel from the center of the wasteland. This tower was meant to be the seat of power for the Ten. While all of the Ten spent some time there it was only home to Veneris. Along the coasts several species were able to survive. Saralo and Shifters have made their way to other lands and are known to the world. The third species, known as Wisps, were modified to feed directly on magical energy. While the Ten lived there was always a large outflow of mana from the Tower. The Wisps could live in peace in the inland regions that others couldn't survive in. When the Ten were cast down the mana flow slowed, then stopped. The wisps began to starve. In desperation they reached out to the planes. They begged anyone to help them. Unfortunately the force that answered was Trelmarixian, the Horseman of Famine. He remade them into the creatures now known as Urdefhan. Through his Harbingers, Trelmarixian lead his newest followers to Hogstown. Several Harbingers were known there and daemon worship was permitted, even encouraged in some Rings. There they stayed for many years living, working, and feeding among the other refugees and destitute of the underground city. What drove them from Hogstown is [REDACTED].
Rueker - deceased god of Humans (and Technology)
Shortly before the Ascension of the Ten a group of resistance fighters actually made their way to the home of the first machine overlord. The group had a number of humans, a sentient robot who will go on to become Gotan, and several hacked robots. They knew they were walking into something dangerous but were unprepared for what they found. Inside the fortified bunker containing the CPU was a dragon. Not very big by modern standards but for people who had never seen one before it was impressive. The hacked robots fought it to a draw while the rest moved into the control center. As fate would have it, as they smashed the first console and started wiping hard drives, a massive energy pulse came through the system. The power Veneris stole from Gaia flooded the base and infused anything with a conscious mind. The only surviving human was a hacker named Nedrick Rueker. He was actually connected to the main system when the power arrived. The other humans in the room were incinerated by the pulse. In that bunker, four gods arose. The original Provelius, Rueker, Gotan, and Sedki.
Over the years the other members of the Ten worked to keep Rueker "asleep" for as long as possible. Having recently been human and a hacker he was good at finding and exploiting loopholes in the rule Veneris built. When the Ten started adding nonhumans to the mix (to add more worshippers for themselves), Rueker turned to the only other living thing among the new gods. He and Sedki worked to ensure that these new peoples weren't slaves to the Ten, promoting Hands that would shepherd these new peoples. Sedki decided this wasn't working and decided to start letting other dragons on to Domus. Rueker tried to warn the others but being a former human, the only one who listened was Gotan. With the assistance of the first Mythic heroes the planar tunnels the dragons walked were closed. Many collapsed while dragons rode them banishing them to unknowable fates. Sedki never forgave either of them. In the centuries that followed Sedki was a thorn in the side of all of the Ten but mostly Rueker and Gotan.
During Godsfall, Rueker was given the same choice the others had to make. Being a bit shifty when it came to rules he agreed to step down only after Sedki was killed. He also wanted to help. Some years before Sedki had taken to appearing in the mortal world, destroying something beautiful that humans built, and going back to his realm. Rueker picked out a rebuilt temple near the edge of Drokav (away from most people) and called out the Dragon. Sedki obliged but was not match for the Hands and Rueker. When the dust settled, Sedki lay dead in the sands. And so did Rueker. It was unclear at the time if the two were somehow linked due to how they ascended or if they simply killed each other. Rueker's body turned to energy and was absorbed back into Gaia. His gun is still on Domus, waiting for either a worthy wielder or desperate time.