Popular Religions of Tidespace

          This is a slight misnomer, as some of the religions to be contained within this document are in fact most unpopular and widely shunned.  Most of the religions of Tidespace are in fact cults worshipping idols and such, there are actually very few gods in this sphere to begin with.  As a result, clerics are most uncommon and only Jalintas has common Clerical faiths.  First will follow a brief summary of specific gods, then specific worldly worships.  These specific gods are at least in this sphere, allied closely to their greater pantheons, (save for Halb and Bigala).

      The Gods
      Halb
          Halb is god of Life.  He was the first god created in this sphere and is generally considered the father of all gods.  Those few clerics who can gain his attention are true neutal, as is life.  His attentions are usually dedicated elsewhere however and grants few the power to wield his powers.  His twin, Bigala is the God of Death.  Both are equal in power to one another and are the only two gods of Tidespace to NOT require followers for their various powers, simply because everyone lives and almost everyone dies (as time -> infinity, almost -> " ").  When appearing to mortals, he takes the form of a pure white dove or a child.  He is considered arrogant by all (mortal as well as god) for his aloof manner.  However, those who manage to gain his attent have it fully and all his clerics have access to powers one level above their normal.  The union between Halb and Bigala created all other gods in this sphere.

      Bigala
          God of Death, Bigala is the twin created seconds after Halb.  Like her brother, she only allows followers to be true neutral, for death welcomes all into its open arms.  Her attention is a bit more easily gained however and she has followers on several continents.  Clerics of Bigala will try and bring down necromancers wheresoever they are found, undeath is an abomination to Bigala and it is advised against performing such acts near strongholds of her power.  Like Halb, his attentions are generally focused somewhere other than the Prime Material plane, though none can be certain where.  When appearing to mortals, he takes the form of a large, white rat or a tall, blonde man.  Much of the aloofness of these two gods is due to the fact that they need no followers for their own personal powers and as such care not for the realm of man.

      Xheetal
          First son of Halb and Bigala, Xheetal (pronounced ChE tal) is god of knowledge.  He takes the form of a small, golden Rastipede or a Raven with deep, strangely dark yet pure white, eyes.  He is one of the so called good gods, however knowledge is not good or bad so his clerics need only be lawful.  He takes an active role in the mortal world and is a close ally of the Seekers.  His temples are vast storehouses of knowledge and are open to all, however any admitted will be accompanied by a watchful acolyte.  Never has a book or scroll been released from a Xheetal temple and should adventurers try, there will most likely be a rather unsavory scene (involving lots of guards and maybe even an angry lightning tossing raven).

      Sjarka
          God of the Sea, Sjarka (pronounced Sarka) takes the form of a shark or a towering lizard man and is thusly associated with Sahuagin.  He is likely the most powerful of the childer gods in this sphere, for no other reason than The Great Ocean.  However, this has a side effect of making him the most busy god as well and his clerics prayers are always answered sooner or later.  Followers of the great Sea god are most often of Chaotic Evil inclination, however a few of the land based clerics are Chaotic Neutral.  Sometimes sailors make small prayers to him but few are answered and often those relying on such good luck measures end up washed ashore somewhere.

      Klautch
          God of sailors, seawise as well as wildspace wise (sometimes called the God of Wildspace too), Klautch rivals Sjarka in nearly all things.  He has a relatively small following, yet many of the spelljamming priests native to this Sphere are Clerics of Klautch.  These can all be considered to have the Spelljammer proficiency naturally ingrained in them.  Klautsch takes the form of a dolphin and can often be seen in wildspace or in terrestrial waters.  He can also sometimes be found in the phlogiston in close proximity to Tidespace, the colors amuse him greatly.  His followers are Chaotic neutral or good.  There are only several temples to Klautch throughout the Sphere, as most of his clerics are sailors themselves.

      Sivral
          Sivral is the god of mercantilism and trade.  He is probably  the most popular god as he stands for honesty and fairness for all.  He has major temples on all worldlets bar Aklann and often his priests act as agents for traders and such.  He takes the form of an inconspicuous, young man.  His followers are lawful to a fault and generally good.  They do however believe in the wording of the agreement as opposed to the spirit and any negotiations involving Sivral priests or associated persons should be watched carefully.

      Larjana
          The Lady of Night, Larjana takes the form of a giant, grey she bear.  She does not like the company of humans and most of her worshippers are goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs, though some humans DO worship her, they are more cult like and rarely possess clerical powers.  The assassins guild bears the mark of Larjana, and these are the few humans gifted with her favor, if only because they might perhaps find it in their duties to slay more humans.  Her followers are neutral or chaotic evil.  She is a close ally of Dukagsh and promotes Scro efforts in this sphere via one of her few human clerics, Namimsal Stoneflower, another trusted advisor of the Emperors..

      Milnak, The Dead God
          At one time, Milnak was a perfectly lively god, yet he was slain during the Faith wars in the final greatest battle of them all.  The only of the greater gods to be killed in the war, his death heralded a shocked peace time that has continued unabated for hundreds of years hence.  Many smaller gods were killed, but Milnak was brother Xheetal, created second by the pairing of Halb and Bigala.  He was god of guardians and duty.  It is very difficult to actually kill a god, so it is thought that mayhaps he could be revived with enough followers and time.  Nevertheless, none of his siblings care for the job of helping him and so his once vast temples lay in ruin and disrepair.  In his  glory he appeared as a silver dragon or black haired warrior.

      Cults
      Cult of the Flaming Fish
          This is a cult based primarily in Aklann, though with the advent of the Empire it has spread to wildspace as well as to the other worldlets.  They find it awfully difficult to compete with religions based upon true gods though, as they have no clerics and thus nothing to offer the people.  They have nevertheless spread quite a bit and if ever they gain the upper hand in the mostly Aklannish Empire, they could be trouble.  So far Emperor Fedral has resisted their attempts at being heralded as the official religion but they continue to lobby.  Several of his closest advisors are cultists and much of the navy and armed forces are as well.  It has been whispered that perhaps the Divine Creator of all gods is considering transforming the fish into a minor deity, though who has access to his thoughts is a total mystery to everyone else.  Most people think this is just a rumor created by the Cult leaders to keep followers flocking to them.

      Neowander the Heavenly
          Neowander was a high priest of Sivral many hundreds of years ago on the worldlet of Blackash.  His powers grew until he challenged his own god.  Needless to say he learned the error of his ways and was cast down, but just before death, he sent his three most loyal subjects out into the world to go about making him a god so that someday he could return and defeat Sivral and become the new god of trade.  Two of them perished in the rush from the great temple, slain by Sivrals true faithful.  The final servant, Holum Sandswift escaped however and went about building a faith.  He has since then succeeded quite well actually and Neowanders Cultists were some of the few who survived the Faith Wars.  As per the nature of things, Neowander is actually a weak deity, his followers trust in him that greatly.  The only actual difference between Neowanderites and Sivralites are their beliefs along the lines of trade.  The former trust in the spirit of the deal and are widely preferred over the latter.   This is probably the only reason they survived the faith wars, as at the time their human turned god was rather weak, now however he has grown in strength and his clerics are generally as strong as other faiths.  Found primarily on Blackash, they will nevertheless be found elsewhere too, mainly in order to defeat Sivral.  Anywhere a Sivral mercantile operation can be found, another slightly less organized Neowander based one will be as well.  The time of the Faith wars is long over though and battles between the two are now merely financial.  Neowander Clerics have access to spells as a cleric one level lower and until Neowander grows stronger yet, this penalty will apply.  For his part, Sivral is aware of this upstart and has been successful so far at keeping him down.

      Others
          There are several other religious cults, mainly local ones however and none as powerful as the top two.  Very few consist of anything evil, however a great void was left after the Faith Wars and plenty of small cults both evil and good rushed to fill the gap in Blackash.