Non-Imperial Deities of the Fourth Age

‘Immaruu faleact Arkon iirat!’ (approx.: ‘Arkon’s light shall shine on your path!’)

- Oghre religious chant

‘I piss on your gods! When I’m done with you, your spirit can go tell them just that!’

- Ran’Garr, Orc mercenary

Naturally, Imperial gods are not the only ones worshiped in the Riven Realms. Religious beliefs and deities are as diverse as the inhabitants of the lands themselves.

'Many thought the continent and its inhabitants dead but at length, survivors began to crawl out of their hiding places and faced a land that no longer welcomed them. Magical anomalies, the fallout of The Calamity, as well as changed and twisted creatures now shared their home. Terrible beings entered through the cracks in the tapestry of reality and ascended to rule over the natives. In time, these new powers rebuilt the fallen Empire in their own image, and the Riven Realms, godless and vengeful, rose from the ashes. The inhabitants of the land now eke out a living under the crushing rule of the new Empire. The continent itself constantly resists our every attempt at building a cozy home for ourselves.'

- Agos, old wanderer

For a long time after the Calamity, most of the continent was engulfed in arcane storms that made large regions completely uninhabitable. Most survivor communities spent decades and decades underground or in isolated areas. Around four centuries after the cataclysm, much of the magical anomalies became less intense or mysteriously withdrew to certain regions and have remained there ever since. Some of this may be attributed to the Twelve and their reappearance (and they have certainly taken the credit – in the name of the Emperor of course). At any rate, the inhabitants of the continent started the slow process of repopulating and resettling. However, this proved extremely difficult and time-consuming as the land was practically unrecognizable and filled with danger.

'The Riven Realms, they call it. A fine, poetic name for something as rotten and twisted as our land has become. It was not always so. The Old Empire - the oldest and noblest society created by humans - spanned almost the whole continent of Xeryn, the Cradle of Man. But after thousands of years of progress and incomparable achievements, inevitably, the Empire began to fall into stagnation and decadence. [...] The subjugation of weaker realms; the enslavement of whole nations; the strip mining of foreign resources; the oppression of Imperial citizens; war on several fronts; genocide… Eventually the gods could not tolerate such horrors done in their name. Foretold by a slew of divine omens, they descended upon the Empire to right its wrongs. In a chain of dreadful events that became known as The Calamity, they destroyed the Empire in a matter of days.’