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.