The Aetheric Concordat
There is more than just Chaos in the Warp. Countless small gods have coalesced from concepts or worship over the galaxy's long history. Few of them have survived the coming of Chaos. In terms of power, small gods range from a match to a single aspiring greater daemon, to the strongest handful being a match for an Exalted. Lacking the raw power of the 5, blessings and servants from such gods are fewer and usually less potent. However, as they are free of Chaos' taint, they are able to express both the positive and negative of their domains and aspects. However, the warp is a dark and dangerous place. Those who would choose principle over survival often have to make that choice sooner rather than later.
Life for a god is dangerous, a never-ending effort to escape the attention of the Ruinous Powers and fight off what daemons decide to bother with them. This has resulted in a vicious culling of the ranks of the divine. What few gods that still live tend to possess either useful insanities or at least limited ability for rational action. However, few gods are what mortals consider "sane". The combination of manias and desperation can make small gods as dangerous to approach as any daemon. It matters little to a mortal if they are being devoured out of malice or necessity. Through ruthlessness and skill they have carved out niches where they can survive, at least for a time. Vermin gods taking shelter in what holes they can find.
This changed with the raid on Nurgle's domain. A vast number of these minor divinities were used as a
catspaw, striking at Nurgle's holdings in his moment of distraction, seizing resources and unguarded worlds. While unable to
hold them, Ugruer the merchant god brokered deals and rapidly sold them off to the servants of the other chaos gods for a great deal of power. What was expected to be a bloody series of raids was instead an overwhelming success; even the gods themselves were caught off guard by the synergy of combining so many different domains born powers. The alliance that emerged from this was both far more visible and far more potent than any had anticipated. What was to be an ablative distraction had emerged onto the galactic stage, a nascent power in its own right.
Now they struggle to survive, to carve out a niche of their own, to rise above being mere vermin scrabbling for survival. So far, they have done surprisingly well, repulsing the first few attempts by Nurgle to quash them. Hunters and crusades that could have crushed a dozen cowering gods found themselves no match for coordinated and aggressive opposition. However, the rotting court is growing wise to the nature of their foe, and soon they will face not overconfident hunters of vermin, but a true counter strike from the forces of plague. If they weather this last crucible, they will have proven themselves too thorny a prey to casually quash, and may well become a minor power in the galaxy,
if.
Named gods.
The concordats numbers in the low dozens, but we have a solid understanding of only some of them. Those below ard gods that have been analyzed to at least some extent.
Zahhak: the mercurial devouring goddess. Zahhak is a bizarre creature that seems to feed on other warp entities rather than worship, primarily daemons. Her exact abilities are hidden by a campaign of deception thousands of years in the making. She has dueled exalted daemons in the warp and lived, and it seems that no creature in existence is immortal in her jaws. Her greatest asset, however, is her mind. Whatever madness afflicts her it is one she manages well, enabling shockingly rational strategic planning, as well as an unsettling skill at manipulating the madnesses of her fellow divinities. Her power and skill at manipulation have seen her emerge as a major player in the Aetheric Concordat, setting long term strategic goals as well as acting as handling negotiations with external entities. She has spoken at length about the power of cooperation, and advocates symbiotic relationship with mortals, despite the blood of worlds on her hands.
Ugruer: an old,
old god, Ugruer is the god of greed and trade. He is a primal god who remembers the days before the fall of the Aeldari Dominion. His domains ensure he has a decent amount of power, but his nature leaves him of little use in a direct fight. However, his ability to buy and sell on a conceptual level has greatly facilitated coordination among the gods. Allowing power to be easily moved and bartered between members. He is closely aligned with Zahhak and has come to see the Concordat as an extremely promising long term investment through her subtle manipulations. While he is of little use on the front lines, he is one of the most important gods in the Concordat, as his presence makes power a far more liquid commodity, and makes it far easier to transport goods to mortal holdings.
Sophont: a machine spirit that somehow ascended to godhood, Sophont has hidden itself in the Materium, incarnated in countless iterations in the avatar mainframes of its terminal worlds. Its vast armies of automata and fleets of autoships have become one of the Concordat's most potent realspace assets and its terminal worlds are becoming key locations in their efforts to preserve their mortal followers. What's more, Sophont is a god of technology. While it is loathe to give knowledge unearned to mortals, it has been pressured into begrudgingly releasing a technological package to the mortal followers of the Concordat.
Qhaysh: A religious goddess of serenity and harmony formed from the belief of a number of humans. Her creation was a plot by the Aeldari to create a deity that could hard-counter the forces of Khorne. After discovering that the Warp reverts to its original state as the Realm of Souls within her aura, the Aeldari began instructing Qhaysh in the use of psychic powers. To gods used to the content turbulence and tearing of the warp, the zone of calm Qhaysh creates is a restorative oasis of safety, something she takes advantage of to counsel her fellows from letting their tempers get the best of them. In recent years, she has been forming an extremely strong working relationship with Faust and Auralvic.
Zaghâsh: Zaghâsh is a god of death and fire, formed from worship and the ritualistic mass-suicide of many of his followers. He maintains an afterlife and has an extensive history of fighting the forces of Nurgle. He has adopted a warp entity he calls Grim, which takes the form of a three-headed dog.
Emerlyn: A transcendent goddess of assassins. Moral and sane by the standards of minor gods, she has survived up until now only because of her youth. Her relative sanity and useful domain have seen her do well in the Concordat, though her nature as a god of assassins drives her to avoid the spotlight. Since joining the Concordat she has been focusing heavily on expanding and protecting her followers.
Ilfeliare: A sun goddess that has survived partly thanks to her home field advantage - a star - and partly incarnating in the Materium with an avatar, which she uses to rule her polity as its head of state. Her polity is very advanced in the fields of plasmatics, fusion, and astromancy. She forms a pantheon known as the Firmament with the two gods Karzarot and Zuntîram.
Karzarot: A vengeful storm god. He embodies both the storm itself and its calm eye; the latter aspect has allowed him to build a positive relationship with his followers and other deities. He is capable of creating warp storms and allowing safe passage through them. A Space Marine chapter descended from the Traitor Legions swears loyalty to him. In recent years he has swelled their number, by offering a standing bounty on traitor gene-seed to other gods.
Zuntîram: A Xenos god of the earth who's tied very strongly to his homeworld. This tie gives him an immense home-field advantage and lets him freely incarnate in the Materium, but it also means he can never leave his world. His original worshippers are extinct and is now worshipped solely by humans. His world specializes in the creation of metals, gems, and other minerals via psychic and non-psychic means.
Hagal: Human transcendent god. He consumes the souls of all his worshippers upon their deaths, makes extensive use of runes, and has declared war against Chaos. He has survived so far primarily because of his youth, but also because he was lucky enough to keep his original mortal body post-ascension, which he uses as an avatar to permanently manifest in the Materium. In recent years he has been working to create a unifed system of wards and runes, to enable the various gods to more easily work together, an endeavor faust has been a great help with.
Gatta: Goddess of guns. She represents both the creation and usage of guns. Her domain is very popular and her worship has been spreading extremely rapidly, however, she is targeted by both Nurgle and Khorne for destruction - the former for raiding his worlds, the latter for being a war god. She is perhaps the youngest of the gods, born very shortly before the raid on Nurgle's domains. As a technology goddess, she has been at the forefront of the development of new weaponry for both mortalkind and the gods. Her most ambitious project is a joint group between her, Faust and Ilfeliare. The creation of a weapon that fires hyper dense plasma from the heart of stars. A weapon so potent, Zahhak herself would be needed to power it.
Faust: a goddess of friendship, Faust has always been ill-suited to the hostile galaxy she has found herself in. Her powers are primarily based around enhancing others and moving between those she holds dear. Her fortunes have vastly improved since the formation of the Concordat, ensuring she has others to help and fight beside. She is one of the most universally beloved gods within the Concordat thanks to her domains and personality, a fact that greatly assists in her role as the Concordat's internal diplomat. She has recently formed works closely with Qhaysh and Auralvic. Aside from her diplomatic efforts, she is of great use to near any project involving more than one god, leaving her time in high demand.
Auralvic: a xeno god of law and justice, his birth was hastened to assist with the raid, and doing so was one of his first acts. Since then his followers have benefited greatly from their god, catapulting them from a minor race just beginning to spread out into their home system, to a technological peer to some petty forge empires. The god himself has found his domains have given him a valuable niche, allowing him to act as a fair and natural arbiter among the various gods of the Concordat. In his close working relationship with Faust and Qhaysh has served him well, the support of the two most beloved gods giving his rulings a fair deal more sway than they would otherwise have.
The Colonel: a god of unknown origins, the Colonel's power is that of scars. Wounds he takes heal into scar tissue nigh instantly, and each one provides protection from further attacks of that nature. His blows leave scars upon the very souls of his foes, scarring and lessening whatever aspect of them he seeks to strike at. These powers have made him much in demand as a counter to the most potent daemons of Nurgle. While he often lacks the power to slay them, he can leave them crippled and weakened for the other gods to lay low. His hatred for the Lionsmith is legendary, and its cause obscured by the linked gods' mutual amnesia.
The Lionsmith: a god of unknown origins, the Lionsmith's power is that of creation. He can easily create potent servitors from raw warpstuff, including ones that act as seeds from which he can be reborn if slain. While a potent personal combatant, he is most valued for his ability to create custom built servitors, including ones to allow another god to survive its destruction, albeit at great cost. His servitors are often used in Concordat strike forces, acting as specialists or counters to specific daemons of power. His hatred for the Colonel is legendary, and its cause obscured by the linked gods' mutual amnesia.
Yharim and Yharon: Technically two gods, a brutal warlord, and his draconic steed, but their stories and deeds have become entwined to the point where in many ways they are a single divinity. Together they are one of the most potent gods in the Concordat. As a God who ascended through a religious ritual, they remain moderately rational. Utterly ruthless and driven by a thirst for power, Yharim seeks rulership of the Concordat, building a power base on the back of the two gods sworn to him, the enslaved smith god and the hired mercenary lord. He is wise enough to know civil strife would doom them all, so for now, he bides his time, ferreting out weaknesses of Zahhak for a showdown he suspects will be inevitable. Already he has found cracks in her facade of overwhelming power, hints of limits and vulnerabilities. But she is not blind to his ambitions. While neither dares act openly while the Concordat is at war, more than a few gods worry about the inevitable clash should both survive.
Zaeed: the sellsword god of mercenaries. Zaeed's origins have been lost to the mists of time, and his power is difficult to judge. The vast majority of his might is poured into his legions of servants. While weak in combat, no other god possesses anywhere near his number of servitors. What's more, their nature of mercenaries makes calling them forth simple, as the bulk of the payment can be given after the summoning. Zaeed has done extremely well in the Concordat. Countless gods purchase his services, enabling him to swell their ranks and might. His endless armies of mercenaries serve as the primary warp forces of the concordat. They can be called forth into realspace or march upon the battlefields of the warp. So far, he cleaves to his contract with Yharim, though as his power grows, some begin to wonder if he will remain a junior partner in the pantheon much longer.
Valanar: an enslaved smith god of great skill and power, his tale is a tragic one. For centuries he survived on commissions and patronage until he took a commission from Yharim, a simple helm to replace one lost in battle. Years later the god returned, his helm split and his head bleeding. Accusing the smith of treachery, he blamed his wound upon a flaw in the helm and enslaved the smith in punishment forevermore. Many suspect there never was a flaw, or that Yharim himself forced it into the helm to ensnare the smith. But whatever the truth, he has been forced to act as the pantheon's armorer ever since, equipping Zaeed's mercenaries in fine arms and armor, and allowing his new overlord to profit immensely by selling his services. Valanar yearns for freedom and is ever looking for proof of his lord's treachery.
Bulwark: a xeno god of fortresses and defense, he is one of the two surviving gods of a region known as the Caligo Expanse. He has formed a close pantheon with Ruick. In ages past, he bid his followers create hidden fortress worlds in the sunless reaches of the expanse, to hide and always be ready to flee, to respond to hunters by creating fortress worlds faster than they can be reduced. The resulting death by inches drew Nurgle's attention and trapped his followers in a downward spiral they lacked the aggression to escape. However, the Concordat in recent years has made a push into the expanse, repelling a major
Nurgle assault. He has benefited greatly from the concordat, selling his expertise at fortifications to many, even as the expanse's population explodes as many gods send settlers to create hidden holdings in relative safety.
Ruick: Bulwark's partner, Ruick is a god of the frontier and its exploitation, be it establishing mines, terraforming worlds, or paving the way for further development. It was his help that allowed Bulwark's fortress makers to always be able to raise new fortress worlds before old ones were torn down. Much like his partner, he has benefited greatly from the Aetheric Concordat. His ability to terraform and purify worlds of taint has enabled him to gather a great deal of power by selling his services, and as the expanse is made safe, massive waves of expansion have fed his domain. Most critically, technology purchased from Sophont has been enabling the settling of the expanse's plentiful rogue planets, opening up a near endless frontier for exploitation and settlement.
@Durin not sure if this really counts as an omake, but I figured I should put who the small gods are all in on spot. gods created by myself, anders110, doomed wombat and shard.