Gods of the Ancients: Aetheria

This time, I thought I'd do a series on the Gods of the Ancients.  The Ancient Pantheon is worshiped by many people even though the worship is forced underground.  Pagans, as they are called, are not apart of the great Monotheistic religions that exist in the Caithness Isles.  Nor do they worship the philosophy of the Light.

Pagan worship is mostly centered around the Ancient deities, but can include the Old Gods as well.  The first visited is Aetheria.

AETHERIA
Aetheria of the Forests, the Creatures, and the Sky
Intermediate Deity
Symbol: Two cumulus clouds
Homeplane: Wilderness of the Beastlands and the Plane of Air
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Forests, woodlands, storms, flora and fauna, fertility
Worshippers: Wood elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, rangers, druids, hunters, farmers, and woodcutters.
Cleric Alignments: LG, NG, N, CG
Domains: Animal, Air, Good, Plant, Weather
Favored Weapon: Lightning Bolt (halfspear)

Aetheria is the Goddess of the sky and of nature.  She is revered as the personification of life and the wilds itself.  She is associated with the sky and is also associated with weather and storms.  The rain is thought to be the tears of Aetheria as she weeps for the loss of her beloved Justin.  Aetheria also cares for the beasts in the field and the beasts of the field are considered her creations.  Life is revered in the Aetheria cult.

Dogma
Aetheria is not that much different from the Greyhawk deity, Ehlonna. Aetheria is the great open sky and the provider of the breath of life to all.  She watches over all good people who love the forest or make their livelyhood there.  Forests and wildlands are sacred to her and her priests ensure that the wildlands are protected from destruction or overuse.  Storms are considered to be sacred by worshipers, since the rain is considered to be Aetheria weeping.  Rain is sacred, and if its not powerful enough, people pray to express their gratitude for it outside in the storm.

Aetheria's dogma is that her followers are to live in harmony with her creatures.  To respect the wilds, and taking only what is needful. Aetheria is thought to be the creator of all plants and animals in respect to the world and her followers are expected to respect the wilds.

Clergy and Temples
Aetheria's churches had suffered a schism during the pogroms in Caithness by Christians against atheists.  The schism has resulted in the Reformed Church of Aetheria and the Rustic Wild Church of Aetheria.  The Reformed Church is located in the Republic of Devonshire and Angland (despite that land's Laws of a National Religion).  The Rustic Wild Church is centrally located in the Nomad Lands and on Long Island but there are pockets of the Rustic Wild Church scattered in Northumberland and Caithness.

The Reformed Church builds temples and meeting houses for the followers.  While the Rustic Wild Church regards the open gaping sky as Aetheria's chapel.  The clerical attire ranges from the functional of forest green to diaphanous clothing of blue and white to being skyclad (that is, nothing at all).  The Reformed Church includes clerics while the Rustic Wild Church is made up of druids.  When being confronted by most anyone who would despoil the forest, the clergy tend to be gentle and firm.  If they continue, or they are being incredibly misguided, her clerics can be ruthless.

The Rustic Wild Church has built Wayshrines all over the Caithness Isles where pilgrims can pray for the blessings of Aetheria.  A typical Rustic Wild Church's meeting place is a statue of the Goddess in a glen with some benches and a stand from which the priest can read from the holy scriptures of Aetheria.   Temples to Aetheria built by the Reformed Church are circular and often include a huge hole in the roof.  Rooms are built for instruction of the faithful.  The instruction of the faith includes the sylvan language, the dogma of Aetheria, and the study of performing miracles in the name of the Goddess.

Steal this Superhero!!!

Okay normally I wouldn't do anything on this part, but . . . if you need a Superhero NPC for a Supers Campaign (and who doesn't), I present Ammon.  Use this guy sparingly by the way.  He's an NPC, there to be used as a plot device or as a source of inspiration for a set of low level heroes.

AMMON

Oh my King, said the royal sorcerer to Ramses the Great (Ramses the First), you and your descendants will be endowed by the God Amun-Re with the powers to control the elements.  You will soar as Horus the falcon soars and command the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire.

Thousands of years later, the amulet of Ramses the Great was found.  The great grandson of the Egyptologist that found it had strange dreams, dreams of his better self.  He then took the amulet and was transformed into Ammon.  As the descendant of King Ramses, young Drake Garion is heir to the power of Amun-Re.

 Powers:
Ammon is a Superman Analog that resembles the Silver Age.  He has the following powers:

* Flight.  Ammon is capable of flight.  He can propel himself to nearly ultimate speed.

* Strength.  Ammon has seemingly Superhuman Strength.

* Invulnerability. Ammon is seemingly invulnerable.

* Reality Bending Powers.   Ammon is able to bend reality to his will.  This power allows him to have his seemingly Super-human Strength, Flight, and Invulnerability.

* Weakness.  Without the Wadjet-Eye Amulet, young Drake Garion cannot become Ammon.  Likewise, without the Amulet, Ammon cannot become Drake Garion.

Costume: Ammon appears regally in a gold and white outfit reminescent of an Egyptian pharoah. The costume is mainly white with gold trim.  His hair is mid neck length, is dark brown or black, and his eyes lined with black ochre.  Ammon's face is also handsome.  He carries the Wadjet-Eye around his neck.  His body is royally handsome.

Template: Ammon is a Superman analog.  He should be played as a Silver Age Hero (1955-1979).  He doesn't have the ability to shoot laser beams, or have super breath.  But he uses his powers to fight for Truth and Justice.  In reality, he is the ideal Pharaoh reborn.

The Olympians visit the Atlantis Blog.  So far six of them have appeared:

From left to right:
* Aphrodite
* Athena
* Hestia

And the Boys.

From Left to right:
* Zeus
* Hercules
* Hades

These for a new set of morphs hot on the heals of Heavenly Bodies.  These morphs use Muscle, Elite, and Morph++ morphs for the girls, and Morph++, Elite, and the Freak 4 morphs for the boys.

Why won't people . . .

take 3D art seriously?

I mean seriously.  I sent my portfolio in to Wizards of the Coast.  And a colleague claims they do only the traditional arts.  Blah, blah!  I've gotten good enough to be professional at this.  Yeah!  A real PRO!  So, what to do . . .

New Character WIP

Okay, it's hard enough to sculpt a face with Morphs ++ in one night.  So this is a Work in Progress.   She's named after Ann, my dead girlfriend.  I'll be working on her skin maps later tomorrow.

:)

Desert Amazon by ~Atlantean6 on deviantART

Desert Amazon's lighting is much, much better than the image below.  I rendered the image below with a 12 hour difference (she was rendered in the morning).  Now, this figure is rendered at Dusk.

Desert Amazon

I think I still have to work on my lighting technique.  However, it's a reason to try the She-Freak in something inspired by Conan.  The Death Bringer!!

Another She Freak

She Freak freaked out to She Freak body 3 at .3 and She Freak body 4 at .7.  Hands and feet scaled to max and upper body scaled to max.  I'd say that's close to Jessica's proportions as the She Hulk.

Adventuring Party

An adventuring party. :)


Adventuring Party by ~Atlantean6 on deviantART

YES!! :D

She Freak test

This is the She-Freak.  Just testing her out with Rebelmommy's Adrinna head and texture.

Sent in my Portfolio to Wizards of the Coast

You know?

I just sent my Portfolio in to Wizards of the Coast. Well, really a link to a website. Why? Well, some of the stuff I do deserves to be on an RPG Book cover or in an RPG Book as filler or interior illustration.

Although I am limited as to what I can do since I don't model my own stuff, I can try to learn if I had the right programming (Carrara, Vue, and Cinema 4D first then upgrade all the way to Maya). Making the Dragonborn would be a challenge since I have to change heads on V4 and M4 and make some interesting textures. If at all possible, since seams would be bad for dragon skin. :)

Oh well, I'll just . . . cross that bridge. :)

Yuan-Ti Battle

Yuan-ti Attack by ~Atlantean6 on deviantART

Don't you wish you could see that in your Dungeons and Dragons books?