Pombo the idolater took a stick and suddenly turned iconoclast.
—Lord Dunsany, The Book of Wonder
Each clan has its patron god. By definition, this is the terrestrial god of that clan’s lands and spiritual parent to all, from feudal lord to starving commoner, who live in that region. Thus that region’s inhabitants also form its god’s cult. Much like the Sword Princes manage little land themselves but levy taxes on the clans, few pray directly to the First and Hundredth, but they take a tithe of all prayer meant for the clan gods.
But the Ninety-Nine are not just local deities. Before they were the Uema or Iachi gods, they were gods of forge-fire or enduring life, celestial divinities who supplanted the court of earthly spirits that originally presided over the lands around Ama-Ni-Traya. Thus while every clan has farmers, artisans, and merchants, its patron’s nature and interests color its internal culture and its role in the Vanehan whole.
Mentioned Gods
Here are some gods that either are mentioned in Across the Eight Directions or were proposed in the server.
- Jieke Blooms-in-Winter, under whose auspices Clan Iachi produces wines renowned throughout the East
- Megemi Ironhilt, patron of Clan Uema and their smiths
- ?? the daimyo of summer rains and witness to secret contracts, who may be Clan Datei’s patron
- ?? the gateless key, god of opening and closing and unexpected visits
- A former terrestrial garden deity who joined the Stars during their conquest, and hopes to expand into a more celestial portfolio involving beauty or poison
Whence They Descended
Some theories as to what the Ninety-Nine’s deal is and why they banded together to rule this chunk of Creation. I have not made up my mind on which, if any, of these is true. I’m happy to leave the mystery unresolved until and unless it comes up in play, but shared portfolios may pull one way or another.
- A clique originally with purviews related to dragon lines or harnessed/beneficial elemental manifestations that saw the geomancy of Ama-Ni-Traya going haywire in some calamity and decided they could do better extrajudicially.
- Disenfranchised gods with portfolios related to human endeavor that were reeling in the wake of civilizational collapse after the great Contagion, who saw an opportunity to seize a site of power and carve out a realm and prayer on their own terms. Better to rule on earth than serve in Heaven.
- I had a third one that implied a smaller, more tightly-knit original group which possibly swelled its ranks with recruits poached from the spirit court they usurped, and in any case still ended up with the 99 number being very much metaphorical, but I forgot what it was