Gods of the World: The Lightless

The Lightless are the wardens of secrets, shadows and symbols. They preside over everything that must be hidden, withheld or disclosed for a greater purpose. As a polymorphic deity, the Lightless are generally represented as an amorphous figure with long necks and multiple heads, sometimes hidden behind enigmatic masks. They are said to have had multiple mortal incarnations throughout history, with the original form dating back from the Great Birth in the beginning of time and space.

The deity is surely ambiguous and ambivalent in its domains and purposes, which leads to a variety of followers from sometimes entirely opposing factions. This may implicate, for example, in the emergence of conflicts between those that wish the safekeeping of a certain piece of object or information whose disclosure might be too dangerous, and those that wish to destroy it for the same reason.

The Lightless are also connected with the transience of life, the withering of memory and the ultimate passing of all things, with its theologists pointing that everything that is tends inevitably towards the Great Void, in opposition to the Great Birth that once originated them. Their priests are usually hired to undertake the sending of the dead in some cultures.

Symbols, signs and language are also believed to fall under the protection of the deity by many, as a means of both encrypting and decrypting meaning from conscious and unconscious communicative efforts from all beings. It is said that the Lightless have the power to lay down the shadows of the unknown but also to pull them away, in the pursuit of the veiled truths about existence.

The Numbers of Caribdis are some of the organized groups that are known to worship the Lightless. The Winged Darkness, an extremist sect connected to the Numbers, believe that the deity is not a many-headed entity, but a single-headed one. They seek to destroy any source or material that spreads lies and deceit about an apparent polytheistic nature of the god, as opposed to a god of many incarnations, as they themselves believe.

Source here.

Gods of the World: Tellabac

Tellabac, the Unstoppable Herald, is the warden of roads, merchants, travelers, trade, thievery and cunning, both on the Surface and in the Underground. She is generally depicted as a beast, half-humanoid female, half-horse, and is said to never have halted her stride ever since she achieved godhood. Tellabac favors wisdom and wit above all else: one of the main proverbs attributed to her is “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”.

According to folklore, Tellabac can sometimes be seen riding fast on different roads in the height of fateful events like wars or plagues, from whence derived the notion that ill news tend to travel faster than any other.

It is not known when thieves and other roguish types began worshipping Tellabac; some say she was once one of them, a master of lock and keys that could open any door or any chest. A very known tale in Malimar is that in which Tellabac convinces a chest to unlock itself and reveal its contents, from which perhaps the rumors became more widespread.

In general, she is regarded as a herald of news, good or ill, an opener of ways and a bringer of opportunities. She is also favored in all matters of treasure, trade or trickery, upon the belief that everything must flow and nothing should remain locked, trapped or hidden for long.

Image sources (from left to right): Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4.