Tanya- God of Evil and Chaos

        Tanya appears as an attractive man or woman who seeks to help those
in need.  Tanya gives the person whatever they desire, and befriends them.
Over time, however, Tanya requests things from her friends.  At first it is
little more than practical jokes or tricks, but it slowly escalates.
Eventually Tanya forces her friend into a position where they are
responsible for a death.  At this time, the person becomes a slave of
Tanya, and begins to cause even more mischief.
        Tanya's purpose is to sow evil and discontent.  The more chaos she
produces, the more powerful she becomes.  Tanya has been through many
cycles of waxing power, but has always been stopped by heroes who could not
be corrupted.  These heroes then eliminated her Priestesses,  and Tanya
lost power.  Always, however, there has been enough of her left to
continue.  Worship of Tanya is illegal almost everywhere on Alden, and
anyone found to be a follower of Tanya is sent to be purified.  Those few
who become priestesses of Tanya usually must be destroyed to eliminate the
threat.
        Tanya has created a race of magical Blancka Birds who serve and
protect her priestesses.  These birds look like large crows, and have been
trained to attack and blind enemies.  They also have the magpie affinity
for shiny objects, and steal what they find.  Somehow they are able to tell
the difference between real jewelry and imitation.  Tanya's priestesses are
also able to control normal birds, and even possess them, so as to use
their eyes and ears to spy on others.

Askanya-Goddess of Death and Murder

        Askanya is the evil sister of Papincolae.  Whereas Papincolae
preaches love and caring, Askanya preaches death and murder.  Most of
Askanya's priests are born to the role.  Askanya's servants are marked with
a purple starburst birthmark before birth.  The Celias Sect of Papincolae,
is made up of lay women who travel the countryside acting as midwives.
When the find a child who carries the "Mark of the Beast", they ease them
from life.  For this reason, no Celias member may be a true priestess of
Papincolae.
        In addition to the Mark, priest/esses of Askanya are invariably
very attractive.  They use their attractiveness and natural charm to rise
to positions of power, from whence they can rain down death and destruction
with impunity.  They also sometimes set up bands of cutthroats and
assassins who worship Askanya in their own way, by killing innocents.  Each
priest/ess of Askanya beyond puberty must take an innocent life during each
full moon.


These are called quiet gods because they do not have enough followers to
empower the God with the ability to grant spells.

Insmae- God of the Deformed and Crippled, The Beggars God

        Insmae is a recently reborn god who is unable to communicate.  The
belief in Insmae is based upon a defaced statue which the crippled members
of the city have uncovered.  Apparently all that remains of a once
flourishing religion is a single mangled statue.  The belief is that once
there are enough followers, Insmae will be healed, and will in turn heal
all of her followers.  The only characteristic shared by all followers of
Insmae is that they are deformed in some way.  Some have been mangled by
war or accident, others were deformed at birth, and still others are not
physically deformed, but are mentally twisted in some way.

Shansmare- God of Travelers and Orphans

        Shansmare is a dying god.  Shansmare was once a flourishing god,
but many temples have been sacked and priests killed.  There remains but a
single temple along the road leading east from the city.  Donations made to
this temple are used to support an orphanage in Bramhill.  Shansmare
protects those travelers who give donations  from bandits and other mishaps
along the road.  Of course, this is getting more and more difficult, as
belief wanes.

Minor Gods

        There are other gods for almost any aspect of life.  Some people
even have their own personal gods.  Of course, these gods are usually quite
weak, and are unable to grant special abilities.