The Pantheon of Five Winds

Origins
In ancient times, before the dawn of the great city that now sits on the shores of the vast Purple Sea between the two great continents, a tribe of humans set up a fledgling homestead in the uneasy balance between the forces of nature that dominated the lands of those times, before the races bent the world to their will and imposed their ow uncertain order onto things.

These people believed their home had been built at the balancing point of the elements they believed built the world, and of the forces that had sculpted it from each of them.

From the south blew a wind of fire, warming the land and bringing the acrid smoke of one hundred volcanoes; from the North, where the great mountains lie, came a cool fresh wind carrying the scent of air, snow and frozen wastelands.

To the east lay verdant farmlands, its wind bringing the sent of freshly tilled Earth and the promise of a good harvest and full bellies for the winter. Finally to the west lay the ocean, it's wind bringing freah water smells, and a trade that would ensure the town grew.

The Gods are seduced
The town would indeed prosper, and quickly became the largest population centre in the known world; and therefore containing the vast majority of those who worshipped the Gods. Greedy for power, some Gods accepted the identification of them with one of the four winds and the stronger belief to which this led their followers. However, in so doing they became bound in the very concept of balance that the people of the world had created and trapped in elemental planes of their chosen kind.

Since this sort of restriction is far from a God's preference, many problems arose from disagreements and rivalry between the factions until, heeding the prayers of a few prescient priests in what was now the capital of a nascent kingdom and empire. many other members of the pantheon took it upon themselves to guard the gates between these "Prison Planes" that the people had created through their belief, in order to prevent those Gods now tied to a single element from upsetting the balance.

Oto and Monomar
This original city, known at the time as Oto; city of balance, had expanded its reach into the surrounding lands; establishing Morovir to the North, Kerivan to the South and Phandalin to the east. Trouble began to arise. The people of Phandalin split on a minor point of dogma and many moved their works to a nearby mountain range, establishing a great city there. Monomar; the city of statues. It too thrived, controlling enormous forests and farmlands on the other side of a great mountain pass.

Priests in Oto were troubled. Surely the establishment of Monomar had upset the balance. A circle cannot have two centres, after all. The fledgling nations went to war; Phandalin, the original town at least, was utterly destroyed in the conflict, although many towns have set up there since, meaning that original name has never been utterly lost. The forces of the two great cities held each other in an unsteady balance, neither holding the upper hand.

And rising to end this conflict, and nearly all life on the planet, came the Nameless Chaos.

The Great Desolation
Nobody knows to this days whence it came. Did the priests of Oto or Monomar summon it in desperate straits to end the war? Certainly today the blame is today entirely placed on the shoulders of the Monomarians as this is where it appeared first.

This Nameless Chaos fought for many days and nights with unlikely foes; two of the very few Gods who had not been seduced by the great power that had, in effect, trapped the other Gods into a struggling balance on their four winds.

These two were Equara, white haired Goddess of Change and the dark haired Raven Queen, ascended Goddess of Death. The battle continued for such time that the very land was changed by their conflict, and they were visible from many leagues away across the Purple Sea as they warred in the heavens above Monomar.

Somehow, nobody knows truly, the forces of ordered change won over the Nameless chaos, legend telling of the great Equara spearing the beast with her silver lance - a blow so strong it sundered the kingdom of Monomar, levelling the city and smashing its prized dominions, creating a crater that is now known simply as The Great Desolation.

Fivewinds
The people of Oto rejoiced. Most of the city and its population had been decimated in the apocalyptic events of recent times, but those still alive were left utterly certain of their ancient beliefs. Had the gods not just endorsed their primacy in the world by destroying their main rival?

It was in this time that the people began to enshrine new symbols into their worship; new gods into their central pantheon and new beliefs into their temples. A fifth wind appears on the shields and banners of the city as it rebuilt following the catastrophe. Split into two spiralling forms, the people of newly renamed Fivewinds came to set the wind of Change, embodied by Equara and the Raven Queen, as the central force into their canon. Their rulers inverted the symbols of Oto, placing the fire wind to the North and the Air wind to the south; an acknowledgement that the world had been forever altered.

For their parts the Goddesses of Change and Death merely laughed at the people of Fivewinds. Change and death are constants; they need not hanker after believers like the Gods of War, Wine or Harvest. They were not seduced by the promise of more believers and fell into no trap such as those of their brother and sister deities. They were touched however, in a distant way, and it is believed that they watch over the lands still in recognition of the beliefs of this

Modern Times
All these events played out over many centuries. So many in fact that many people have forgotten the foundation stones of their belief at this time. The walls of the God's prison planes are weakening and the protectors of the doors between these prison planes are having to work a lot harder.

To this end they seek to increase their power through gaining champions to prove their worth to the people and create new believers. Lolth and Thautam, guardians on either side of the fire plane that imprisons Gruumsh (one of the strongest gods), seek champions amongst the people of this world in their own ways. Lolth creates an artifact containing her intended essence; Thautam uses subtler methods to test several candidates. The other Gods, both prisoner and warden, are also seeking champions for the same reason. It is sometimes difficult to tell their machinations apart from simple fate.

And we must not forget that some Gods were never seduced. Weak as this means they are, they still carry divine and terrible powers with them. Much of the modern world is not as religious as it was in the times of Oto and Monomar, but one discounts the Gods at ones own peril.