Knutra - Goddess of Tempest

Domains

Tempest, weather, the sea, destruction, vigilance, discipline, transformation, wrath, beauty

Alignment

Chaotic Neutral

Name

Knutra, The Ice Queen, The Challenger.

Appearance and depiction

A female dwarf with green hair and tentacles instead of legs.

Artifacts and weapons

Usually the gods have one or more signature weapons that they wield in battle. Their followers usually emulate them by wielding the same weapons in mortal wars. Deities often possesses artifacts as well, which can be everything from a magical crown to winged boots.

Examples: Thor's Hammer and his carriage drawn by goats.

Companions

Deities sometimes have companions that often act as extensions of themselves. The companions can be created directly by the deity or adopted for some reason.

Example: Huginn and Muninn, Odin's ravens.

Symbol

A wave in front of a mountain.

Worshippers

Knutra is the mother of all dwarves, but not a kind one. Most of the time she is worshipped with fear rather than reverence.

Way of worship

How is the deity worshipped? Is it worshipped in churches? How is the church organized? Is there a pope who is the sole leader or a council of leaders? Does the religion have an official leader at all? Is worship done through prayer, sacrifice or rituals? Are there any customs born from the faith? Are there rules or consequences to breaking these rules? Does the religion have a bible or religious texts?

Examples: Itereo, God of travelers does not have any organized religion. Anyone who needs to travel might worship Itereo. Shrines of Itereo are placed by roads all over the country. An unwritten rule dictates that offerings for other travelers are placed upon the shrine and any traveler in need can freely take anything on the shrine. Taking offerings due to greed and not need, is a severe offense in the eyes of other people and is it said that Itereo will curse their travels.

Stories & Fables

Claiming the Land

In The Myth of Creation it describe, that in the earliest days of Atozia, there were only land, but with the creation of Tempest, the seas were created and flooded much of the world. It is believed Knutra purpose is to reclaim it all and drag everything into the volatile seas. It is believed that she gave the dwarves legs so there could infiltrate the land and go where she could not.

The Creation of the Dwarven Species

A Cold Birth Knutra created the first dwarves by making the sea hit the mountains over and over again, eventually creating dwarves from the mountain rock. Knutra loved her children with an intense passion, and she wanted them to conquer the world. She envisioned making a species of people hard as the rock from which they sprung, and therefore her newborns were left to fend for themselves without her guidance. In the harsh world of The First Age, the dwarves went to the mountains for shelter, but the storms of Knutra found them anyway calling lightning and earthquakes everywhere they went. Many of the dwarves perished, their souls unclaimed by The Ice Queen, as they were deemed unworthy.

The Resistance At a certain point the dwarven species was facing imminent destruction by their own creator, and the few that were left buried deep within the mountains to escape Knutra's wrath. In the heart of the largest mountain, they found a huge jewel. The jewel was larger, brighter and more beautiful than anything the dwarves ever laid eyes on. In defiance of their benevolent mother and through sheer skill and determination, the dwarves began cutting the gem into shape. They poured every ounce of their physical and mental forces into their work as they religiously began believing they could create their own salvation. They began praying and their work became their worship, and soon their hands seemingly moved by themselves, cutting something from the jewel, that none of them had a clear vision of. Their faith and determination at last bore fruit, and when their work was done, a new deity was born: Drahôtek - God of Mountains.

Knutra's Repentance Drahôtek - God of Mountains became the protector of the dwarven species, and with his calm, stoic wisdom, he gave the dwarves many gifts, making them flourish and rise up against Knutra. At first Knutra was filled with wrath, about to curse Drahôtek and launch an assault, but the feeling soon subsided and was replaced with both pride and regret. Knutra saw, that her children had finally found their footing in Atozia, and had become stronger than she had envisioned. Unfortunately through her rough measures in making the hearts of the dwarves strong, they had also made them hard, planting pieces of resentment and distrust - especially towards her. As a gesture of deep regret, every dwarven soul has since been allowed entry to her realm Kharybdiz - The Turmoil Vortex in the afterlife. This gesture has since been referred to as Knutra's Repentance.