<~> Chapter 227"How are your studies ing?" Man asked as I set the book down for a moment.

  I scratched the base of my horn. "There's a lot of information to take in. I've already learned a lot. Some on the gods I hadn't heard of before, like Bollide, and more on the gods that others have mentioo me before, like Velenthel. It doesn't look like I'm even halfway through yet."

  She nodded. "There is a lot to remember. And most don't even know all of the minods."

  I rubbed my face before turning baan. "A librarian is helping me find a book to help me identify nguages for [Sightspeak]. He asked me if I would like to transte a book for him into English, my inal tongue. In exge, he said he would give us a copy of the book for me to transte and some payment for it. I'm not really sure what to look for, would you like to pick out a book that you think the two of us would both enjoy? Oh, and he said the more on or popur the book is, the better. "

  Man perked up at that. "Really? I'd love to!" She turo s over the books she had gathered but shook her head. "Let me go find something else, I'm sure I get something that would be great!" She excitedly jumped up ahe room, on the hunt for a book. Her enthusiastic reaade me chuckle.

  Raya and Mimi were sitting in the er together with a book between them. Raya was reading to her while she sat there staring at the pages without blinking. She was soaking up the information like a sponge. From a dista looked a little creepy but Raya hadn't noticed, she was just enjoying helping her out and treating Mimi like a little sister.

  I smiled at the cute sight a back to the book I was w on.

  Morkinnen, God of Love ay. This god is most often worshiped by oners, artists of different disciplines, beastfolk, prostitutes, and the occasional noble. Morkinnen is most ofteed as an attractive lithe human man, a handsome muscur human man, or a man of other various standards of beauty, varying most when appearing not as a human. While he takes many forms both in his depis and the rare times when he reveals himself to mortals, he always takes the form of a male. His personality is usually described as friendly, gentle, and g, however, he has been known to appear before people who do not share his beliefs, giving him a reputation of being argumentative ay. Though there are many stories of Morkinnen appearing before people, his priests generally sider most of these cims to be fial stories from ohat ot be corroborated. It is unclear how often he visits mortals in person but it is likely less often than Fortuna or Sorsette but more often than many of the ods. Morkinnen is most often associated with marriage, as a majority of oners and nobles are wed in ceremonies dedicated to him, hoping for blessings of sustained love. oners who would not normally have the funds to have a marriage ceremony are often supported by his church, either through waived tithes to his church for use of their venue and priests, or even through direct support through set aside for this purpose through donations. Morkinnen has no issue with polygamy or same-sex marriages and his churches have e into flict with govers or uhat ban these practices by perf these ceremonies anyway, eve is illegal or sidered morally reprehensible to do so. In such cases, he has even appeared in person to protect the new couple ahem escape from persecution, though that is exceptionally rare. Under no circumstances does this authgest that it is a good idea for you to be wed in a churorkinnen where it is unsafe for you to do so. Morkinnen protects few people in such cases and especially will not if this is doentionally to draw him out. Morkinnen's churches are also one of the feenly wele prostitutes, do not look down on them for their profession, and offer them services that other churches may deny. This makes Morkinnen very popur among them. Morkinnen's churches are among the most spread out of all the gods, and he most likely has the seost followers of all of the gods behihel. It is not unon for small towns to only have a siemple dedicated to Morkinnen, as his church's presence help support all of a town's weddings as well as offer services such as healing, though to a lesser extent thahel. Most towns that start as froowns with a temple dedicated to Bollide are ter repurposed to temples of Morkinnehey are abandoned for new pces to explore. As a result, followers of Bollide are weled into temples of Morkinnen as if they were their own followers and given any of the services a traveling priest or padin of Morkinnen may receive. It is not clear if this scheme was created by the two gods themselves or if their priests have e to an agreement indepe of the gods, but her god has stopped the long-held practid the two groups of followers sider themselves to be close friends.

  Morkinnen's se was rather long but it was one of the most iing so far. Half of his se had a lot to do with his church's symbiotic retionship with Bollide's churches. In a way that made Bollide more appealing as a potential ally and reduced his ces to be cooperating with the Tamin chur my eyes. Though, I suppose that if not even Sorsette knew which of the gods associated with the Tamin church, it's possible for Bollide to hide it from Morkinnen as well. It didn't seem likely to me though, even after my specution that this could be some kind of retaliation against the tribes of Zarcuda. It would be odd sidering Bollide's ties with the beastfolk outside of Zarcuda. It was also a bit ing that this se said that beastfolk were among his on worshipers but it didn't talk about Morkinnen's adversarial retionship with the Tamin church. They've been around for a long time so I'm pretty sure it was an iional omission. I shook my head and started to read the se.

  Tellis, God of the Harvest aermination. This god is most often worshiped by farmers, borers, adventurers, beastfolk, and oners outside of the major cities. He is always depicted as a beastfolk maher a horse-kin, bull-kin, ox-kin, or other beastfolk sidered to be reted to "beasts of burden," though emphasizing that aspect is sidered rude, especially among his followers. He is one of the more active gods in terms of giving his blessings and boons to others, but he rarely appears before anyone. In the few cases he has, it has almost always been one of his priests, padins, or anizational members of his temples. Unlike most of the ods sidered to be majods, Tellis has very few temples despite his retively rge number of followers. Instead, he accepts s and tithes for bountiful harvests and other boons from simple shrihat farmers set up heir crops. While a majority of his followers are farmers, other people find value in his other aspect, determination. A well-timed blessing or boon from Tellis push someohrough a dangerous trial as an adventurer or help someohrough an important deadline as a borer. Tellis looks favorably on people who push their limits to achieve something, even if it's as simple as pulling a plow through their field into the night.

  There wasn't much to say about this o's iing that the god of the harvest is a male in this world. Harvest gods were ofteed in pop culture as female fertility idols or simir things, Velenthel seems more simir to that than this male god of the harvest. This god seems like a god of w really fug hard. There isn't much here to tell me ossible retionship he could have with the Tamin church other than he himself is depicted as a beastkin, so they likely wouldn't approve. He seems more focused on mortals than most of the ods.

  Allerel, God of Justid Bahis god is most often worshiped by city and town guards, bounty hunters, elves, and hey are sometimes depicted as a human man with long bck hair and other times depicted as an elven woman with long blond hair. In human cultures, w enfort and justice are primarily handled by men, and in elven cultures, w enfort and justice are primarily handled by women, likely expining the divide in how they are represented sihis god isn't known to appear before mortals. Iher case, the depi is regional and the priests that follow this god even disagree internally on which is the true depi. Allerel has temples in every city that is rge enough to have an anized guard and most trials are judged by one of their padins or priests. Even in cases where someone else judges a trial, such as a mayor or here will always be a priest or priestess present to ehat trials are free from corruption or lies. Allerel is well respected among the on people, if not truly liked. Allerel is most loved by guards as the god is known to provide frequent blessings and boons to them, especially in dangerous situations. Allerel's justice is not quite as simple as following the w, it is more focused on fairness and truth rather than the justice of any specific offense. Crimes that be said to disrupt band increase inequality between two parties tend to be clear-cut in the church's view. Offenses such as murder, theft, destru of property, and viotion are always viewed as abhorrent to their church. For that reason, those crimes are nearly universally enforced evehe specific ws vary.

  Allerel is a god that seems like they would be quite ral at first g sidering her e to the w and nobles is s, that makes her a bit more suspicious to me than some of the others that I've read so far. Svery is often used as a punishment in this world and this god has no apparent e to beastfolk the same way others do which makes her seem like she wouldn't have any trouble fitting in with the rest of the Tamin church. The only thing that makes me pause is that the Tamin chures off as a violent group, so it would strike me as odd if this god allowed the Tamin church to do some of the things I've heard them do. I've been told they murder same-sex couples, but that would be against Allerel's 'justice.' I don't know enough of the nuance of her teags to e to any clusio.

  Kaerai, Goddess of the Hunt and Serenity. This god is most often worshiped by hunters and trappers, adventurers, elves, and martial artists. She is usually depicted as a tall and thin elven woman with blue-grey skin. The few times that she has appeared before a mortal, she was described as quiet and calm, only appearing to give instrus to her head priests when they needed her guidan her teags. Nothing else is known about her personality. Outside of elven-held nds, most of her temples o in major cities. Like Tellis, Kaerai also accepts tithes and s in exge for blessings at small shrihat hunters set up, redug the number of active temples that are necessary for her to offer blessings to her followers. Her first domain is rather straightforward, Kaerai gives many blessings and boons to hunters and trackers as long as the hunters know not to hunt their game to extin. This is one of the rgest responsibilities of her temples, to use their powerful sg magic to track the popution of edible game and monsters. However, the trag of monsters is for security purposes rather than maintaining a proper food source. Her other domain, serenity, retes to her teags about the mind, self-trol, aation. These teags go hand in hand to promote a huhat has both the skills and proper mio be effective in any situation.

  An iing goddess, she seemed like a mix of Artemis from Greek mythology and a yogi from a Indian traditions. There wasn't anything to go on in terms of any e with the Tamin Priests though. She has some e to the elves but that doesn't really say a lot sihe Tamin church isn't quite as hostile to elves as they are to beastkin.

  Ralethi, God of Smithing and Prote. This god is most often worshiped by smiths of all types, adventurers, soldiers, and other crafters. He is always depicted as a muscur human man with dark onyx skin. He occasionally appears before crafters while they work and gives them tips and suggestions to improve their craft. Despite his appearaen leading to ruined crafts due to the ued appearance of the god or through the resulting nervousness of the smith, smiths always find this to be a sign of good fortune. Ralethi is said to have a cheerful and boisterous personality, quick to ugh or to swear as his mood takes him. He usually has a temple in most major cities where smiths trade wares and information and where young men and women look for apprenticeships with more experienced smiths. His churches also offer talismans and other tools reted to his other domain, prote. The prote Ralethi offers extends to many different fields and his temples are a favorite among soldiers and adventurers looking to live lohan their fellows. While not eously expensive, many of the things the church sells be higher cost than other options, but they are known to be reliable and trustworthy. As expected, Ralethi favors people who protect others and fight on the front lines. A boon or blessing received from him is likely to save the life of the recipient many times over if they are intelligent about how they fight.

  Not much to say on this one, I'm almost surprised this one wasn't a dwarf based on the way things have been going. A god of smithing and prote is an iing bination. I wonder if Tenna could tell me more about how she sees him. There isn't much here that could rete to the Tamin church either. I shrugged a on reading.

  Felketh, God of Adversity and Strife. This god is only worshiped by demon cultists and other people with a preference for personal strength over morals. This god is rarely depicted with any specific avatar, instead, he is more associated with specifis of symbology such as eyes, waves, slimes, and demonic images. He is not known to appear before people, however, the only people he may appear before are uo share this information with others due to the nature of the people who worship him. Felketh is the god of demons and monsters, all demons and monsters are believed to be the result of his influe is appropriate to hat this does not include dangerous magical beasts, only mohat drop mana cores. It is also assumed that Felketh is responsible for the creation of dungeons, but despite the potential dahese pces have on nearby towns and cities, it is illegal in most tries to destroy these pces due to their value in exploiting them for their resources. Felketh's domains are adversity and strife, it is for this reason that there has been some argument from schors that Felketh pys an important role in strengthening the popuce through levels and mana cores. However, this idea is unpopur due to the sheer number of people who are killed by monsters every year. Despite having a small number of followers, Felketh is sidered one of the most powerful gods. It has been theorized that his power es from people unwillingly iing with his domains, from the number of mohat exist in the world, or both. Followers of Felketh may try to lure you with promises of demonic power or other ways of gaining strength, but these powers often e at great cost and the banishment from civilized society if discovered. It is heavily reended not to trust anyone who offers you such a deal and to report them to the local guards at all costs.

  No surprise here when it es to Felketh. In a way he's directly parable to Satan, even down to being the 'adversary' and his retionship with demons. It makes some amount of sehat it would logically follow that Succubi would ordinarily be associated with him, though this world's cept of demons is a bit... exaggerated. I'm gd that I don't have anything to do with him and I t this world lucky that they didn't get a psychopath instead of me... Lucky. Is this a ce or yet another iional nudge by Fortuna? I think I'm going to stantly wonder about being maniputed by her anytime anything works out in my favor...

  That covers all of the majods of this world, though there is a brief the bottom that reminds the reader that Erimikai, the God of War aru, was a former majod that perished he end of the War of the Gods and that he won't be covered in this book. I closed the book a aside. There was a lot to take in. Is it possible that the two others w with the Tamin church are minods? I'm not sure. I could look through the information on the minods too but I don't feel up to it yet. I'm going to need some time to digest all of this...

  Saine

  Hello! Another long one! We've finally reached the point where all of the majods have beeified and your specution for which gods are most likely to be behind the Tamin church truly start. As you probably recall, Fortuna is already firmed to be among the gods that are known to be helping the Tamin church. I hope I gave you plenty of options to sider! These two chapters were a pain to write. I was forced to solidify a lot of my pns for the future and nail dowly how I want some of these characters to be represented. Gods are always an iing aspect of writing to explore so I hope I did a det job of it. Thank you for reading!

  As a reminder, I'll be posting each story once a week from Ded until Dec 29th when I will resume my normal upload schedule. That means four less chapters of each story than usual this month. Umbral Feast will be posted on Mondays and Lilith will be posted on Wednesdays.

  Chey other story here: Umbral Feast

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