Divine Trappings: Hilljack (Goblin) Deities

Nine years ago tonight (I’m trying to maintain a couple days’ buffer at least, but I’m writing this the night before it’s supposed to go up) I wrote Hilljack Deities of the Goblin Pantheon, as part of my work on Polyhedral Pantheons. I figure they’ll be a good testbed for exercising the new deity template.

TL;DR Not a bad idea, but when I started copying things from my Polyhedral Pantheons manuscript to here, I learned I don’t know nearly as much about these deities as I expected I do. The original writeups were fairly short and totally usable as far as they went, but they leave a lot of what the deity template asks about unanswered. In no way do I consider this a problem! Or rather, it identifies a problem so I can fix it, and that’s a good thing.

I show below the three I tried to copy over, in bullet point form (the ‘dd’ entries are fields I don’t have yet, it’s a writing trick I use to work around how Word ‘helps’ format things). They look fairly long on the page here, but when I lay them out (basic mode, export Word to PDF) I find the stat block fills a single column. At least, it does if I can keep it each element to a single line. I imagine that I’d need to either be aggressive in maintaining that, or accept that the stat block is likely to fill a page, leaving a small amount of space for the free text. I don’t yet know if this will be a problem.

Vorubec (Hilljack) Pantheon

Hilljacks (‘vorubec’ their own tongue) are the least nomadic goblins. The jhesiri are rampaging marauders that invade other lands and the kouzelnik live an itinerant, gypsy-like existence and are constantly seeking… something (called ‘jatemst’, but nobody knows what that is). The vorubec are happy to keep to themselves in the forested hills of the borderlands, moving from time to time as needed to avoid discovery.

Vorubec Deities
Deity	Sex	Alignment	Domains	Chosen Weapon
Kamenych	F	Neutral	Rune, Fire, Earth, Community, Magic	Staff
Mocny	M	Chaotic Neutral	Strength, Chaos, Animal, War	Battleaxe or Greataxe
Stetsi	F	Neutral	Luck, Trickery, Darkness, Water, Magic	Shortspear
Mazany	A	Chaotic Neutral	Trickery, Chaos, Luck, Weather	Nunchaku or Flail
Kapalin	M	Lawful Neutral	Water, Luck, Weather, Law	Hammer
Oblazek	M	Neutral	Earth, Rune, Animal, War	Kukri
Stvoren	M	Neutral	Animal, Strength, Darkness, Earth, Magic	Longbow
Chema	F	Chaotic Neutral	Darkness, Chaos, Luck, Animal	Rapier

 

At it’s base, the table above captures everything needed to use these deities in a D&D or Pathfinder campaign. Name (technically optional), alignment, domains, chosen weapon (relevant mechanically only for clerics, who are proficient with the chosen weapon of their deity).

Sufficient for play, not so much for world building. Let’s see what they look like if we expand on them a bit.

For reference, the older Hilljack Deities post has draft writeups of the deities, about 150 words each. I’ve included that text in the entries below to show what I’m starting from (and so the ‘fitted sheets’ have something besides just the stat blocks, the stat blocks are pretty dry on their own). Let’s see how much the new template changes things.

Kamenych

• Aliases and Epithets dd
• Theme leader of the vorubec deities
• Portfolios guidance and protection of the hilljack
• Domains Rune, Fire, Earth, Community, Magic
• Alignment Neutral
• Chosen Weapon Staff
• Symbol Burning runestone
• Motifs dd
• Manifestation rune-covered stone golem, often formed from her dolmen
• Holy Places
  • Locations dd
  • Altars dd
  • Shrines Dolmen-like structures in the village center
  • Temples dd
  • Grand Temples dd
  • Centers of Worship dd
  • Nationality dd
  • Realm dd
• Servitors
  • Heralds dd
  • Greater Allies dd
  • Allies dd
  • Lesser Allies dd
  • Summons dd
• Religion
  • Dogma dd
  • Tenets dd
  • Duties dd
  • Obedience At midnight, far from prying eyes.
  • Quests and Trials dd
  • Boons dd
  • Priests Nocvolaj, ‘nightcallers’
  • Followers dd
  • Rites and Rituals dd
  • Roles dd
  • Holy Text dd
  • Holidays dd
  • Aphorisms dd
  • Relations with Other Religions dd
  • Legends dd

This goddess of runes is the leader of the hilljack deities. Her will binds them together for their safety, and her uncanny powers provide guidance and protection.

Her shrines are dolmen-like structures, around which the vorubec build their villages. Ceremonies are performed atop the dolmen, and bonfires are typically lit at each ‘leg’, providing an eerie, flickering ‘underlighting’ to the event.

Daily prayers are offered at midnight, far from prying eyes.

Mortal servants of Kamenych are called Nocvolaj, ‘nightcallers’.

She manifests as a rune-covered stone golem, often formed from her dolmen.

Mocny

• Aliases and Epithets dd
• Theme Wild warrior of the vorubec
• Portfolios dd
• Domains Strength, Chaos, Animal, War
• Alignment Chaotic Neutral
• Chosen Weapon Battleaxe if mounted, greataxe if not
• Symbol Bear paw
• Motifs dd
• Manifestation human-sized vorubec barbarian wielding a battleaxe (if mounted on a dire bear) or a greataxe if on foot
• Holy Places
  • Locations dd
  • Altars dd
  • Shrines in bear caves, smoky and rank with the gamy smell of large animals
  • Temples dd
  • Grand Temples dd
  • Centers of Worship dd
  • Nationality dd
  • Realm dd
• Servitors
  • Heralds dd
  • Greater Allies dd
  • Allies dd
  • Lesser Allies dd
  • Summons dd
• Religion
  • Dogma dd
  • Tenets dd
  • Duties dd
  • Obedience at dawn, beginning of a bear’s waking period
  • Quests and Trials dd
  • Boons dd
  • Priests Lednived, ‘bears’
  • Followers dd
  • Rites and Rituals dd
  • Roles dd
  • Holy Text dd
  • Holidays dd
  • Aphorisms dd
  • Relations with Other Religions Older brother of Oblazek and Stvoren
  • Legends dd

This god of strength is the older brother of Oblazek and Stvoren, and a fierce warrior. He lacks the discipline and patience of his younger brothers, but is quite formidable when he joins the fray.

His shrines are found in bear caves, and when in use are typically smoky and rank with the gamy smell of large animals.

Daily prayers are offered at dawn, the beginning of the typical bear’s waking period.

Mortal servants of Mocny are called Lednived, ‘bears’.

He manifests as a human-sized vorubec barbarian wielding a battleaxe (if mounted on a dire bear) or a greataxe if on foot.

Stetsi

• Aliases and Epithets dd
• Theme cunning trickster of the vorubec
• Portfolios dd
• Domains Luck, Trickery, Darkness, Water, Magic
• Alignment Neutral
• Chosen Weapon Shortspear
• Symbol An empty cloak
• Motifs dd
• Manifestation darkly-clad vorubec, seen only in your peripheral vision
• Holy Places
  • Locations dd
  • Altars dd
  • Shrines created at need on mostly-still water from materials at hand, lasting until movement of water destroy
  • Temples dd
  • Grand Temples dd
  • Centers of Worship dd
  • Nationality dd
  • Realm dd
• Servitors
  • Heralds dd
  • Greater Allies dd
  • Allies dd
  • Lesser Allies dd
  • Summons dd
• Religion
  • Dogma dd
  • Tenets dd
  • Duties dd
  • Obedience at nightfall
  • Quests and Trials dd
  • Boons dd
  • Priests Nocnistin, ‘night shadows’
  • Followers dd
  • Rites and Rituals dd
  • Roles dd
  • Holy Text dd
  • Holidays dd
  • Aphorisms dd
  • Relations with Other Religions dd
  • Legends dd

This goddess of luck and trickery is possibly the most popular of the hilljack deities. She lacks the caprice and unpredictable nature of her sibling Mazany, and her cleverness and cunning are sought after by almost all vorubec.

Her shrines are temporary things created at need on ponds and mostly-still pools in moving water. They are crafted of deadfall wood and other materials at hand, and last until they are pulled apart by the motion of the water (usually a matter of hours).

Daily prayers are offered at nightfall, as might be expected.

Her followers are called Nocnistin, ‘night shadows’.

She manifests most often as a darkly-cloaked vorubec rogue seen just in the corner of your eye. How this is true when many are present is a mystery.

Fitted Sheets

Page captures of the three deities I started translating to the template. I’m going to need more content to full populate each stat block, but even with this simple layout I’m… not unhappy, at least. It’s rough but I think it can do the job.

Closing Comments

Today I learned. I think the template still is largely what I want, but also that until now, I don’t readily have what I need to populate it easily. I thought I had more at hand, but I really haven’t looked closely at the deity writeups since I put Polyhedral Pantheons together nine years ago?! (ouch!) and forgot just how sparse they are.

No worries! I accept this as validation that I need better tools to help me do these things. That is, Divine Trappings serves a purpose. I’ll take it.

Also, I’ll be looking for different topics for Thursday’s and Friday’s posts (‘J’ and ‘K’ days in the A-Z Blog Challenge), since I’d originally expected I knock out ‘hilljack deities’ after work today, and ‘jhesiri deities’ and ‘kouzelnik deities’ later in the week. I know now that isn’t going to happen.