Gob

Gob is the sole diety of The Underkingdoms, center of its worship, and, like Anghara, an oddity of divinity. Gob has been made manifest by the collective faith of the Goblins of the Underkingdoms, with his nature and patronage both shaping and being shaped by the goblin understanding of Pre-Baghar Culture ruins throughout their domain. Though a Lawful Evil deity, he is seen as a saviour, protective (even paternal) figure, and avenging angel by the goblins that worship him. In many ways the rites and rituals associated with Gob mirror, satirize, and parody the rituals often ascribed to the Almighty, the central god of the Bastonian Pantheon, from which other inspiration was drawn. His faithful gain access to the Trickery, Knowledge, Arcana, and Twilight domains.

History

Owing to the unusual reality of Gob's appearance, the complex origins of the Goblins themselves, and the relatively modern innovation of administrative clerics in the Underkingdoms, the origin of Gob is poorly understood. For most of the understood history of Ahren, he has been a non-factor, influencing only his loyalists among the Goblins, and steadily growing in power with the proliferation of his church.

Relationships

For the Goblins, Gob is the one true diety - they ascribe the divine spellcasting of other clerics to pure charlatanism, an amusing accusation given the number of charlatans within even his own church heirarchy. The orcs have some tales of him appearing in the Bardo to interact with - usually as harassment - various members of the Orcish Pantheon, though these legends may be ahistorical.

Appearance

Gob appears as a massive and outsize goblin some ten feet high (several times the ordinary size), of truly progidous girth, unaffected physically by his morbid obesity. He is usually depicted in the same rich raiment as the Great Goblin, or occasionally in stranger clothing and headdress consistent with carvings by the Pre-Baghar Culture.

Realm

While standard models of cosmology would place Gob's realm in Hell, in actual fact no such realm is documented. Goblins - especially his faithful - assert that his realm is in Heaven. Some think this may actually be literal and that his realm is in the Astral Plane, which would make him the only such god recorded. Some scholars suggest his realm, if it exists at all, would be in the Bardo, given that other gods-by-faith such as the hero-gods of the Orcish Pantheon ultimately find their realms there.

Providence

As a general rule, Goblins, at least those living in the Underkingdoms, ascribe all things they see as good to Gob's providence, and most things they see as bad to Gob's justice.

Servants

Gob has been known to send minor devils to his mortal servants to provide assistance.

The Church of Gob

The Church of Gob is an influential socio-political faction in the Underkingdoms, in addition to being the proper name for the assembled worshippers of Gob, both lay and clerical.

Worshippers

All Goblins worship the Almighty Gob. While a few outcast goblins raised outside the Underkingdoms may follow other gods, this rule holds generally true.

Clergy

Priests of Gob wear fine clothing and show of their ranking by rapidly increasing the complexity of their ornamentation, adding brocade, rings, chains, and increasingly ornate implements as they move up through the ranks of the church. Church membership is strictly heirarchical, and recognizes two classes of clerics - a male-only order of pastoral priests and a mixed cohort of supportive clerics who assist in non-leadership capacities with these pastoral duties. Ultimately, the goal of any aspirant is to be promoted from the supportive cohort (the orders minor) into the orders major, ultimately hoping to join the Red Masters.

This latter faction is the administrative heart of the church, and its members, though nominally still pastoral, are mostly concerned with the court intreagues central to the heart of the church, ultimately culminating in each necessary election of a new church primate, the Great Goblin. Very few of these clerics become adventurers.

Temples & Shrines

Much like Goblin settlements themselves, the temples and shrines to Gob can range from the humble, bordering-on-impovrished dugout chapels common in more isolated communities on through grand cathedrals to rival anything in Bastonia or the cities of the Clans of Magnus. Most accounts of these temples would place the Temple of the Saints Below Stone in Siem as the most fabulous and opulent of all such temples, and for good reason, as it's both the central temple of the religion and the location at which members of the Red Masters gather to honour promotions into their own ranks or imbue the Great Goblin with such powers.

These temples, internally, strongly mimic the architecture of the churches constructed in Bastonia, with a cruciform internal layout in the public areas. They also tend to include extensive private warrens and apartments for the priests and ministers that service them.

Holy Texts

Gob's holy texts are known simply as The Book of Gob and comprise a mismash of "revealed testimony" attributed to the god himself, goblin legends, and interpretations of the Pre-Baghar Culture.

Church History

The Church of Gob is central to the history of the Underkingdoms. Given the universiality of worship throughout the Underkingdoms, and the dual status of the Great Goblin as both head of the church of gob and king of Greater Siem, church clerics are usually the best choice for diplomats between the various underkings. Such officials, known as Legates (a term stolen from the elves), are probably the most numerous single occupation to appear in the history books of the modern underkingdoms.

Holidays

Gob's worship is full of holidays, occurring roughly monthly, which usually call for celebrations best described as debauched, involving feasting, drinking, fertility rituals (and the attending aftermath), and, more often than not, violence.