The Sun Lich

 This is a campaign setting idea I've had for years but never got to use.  Perhaps you can have fun with it?

Edge of Darkness by Ben J

Long ago, a world was destroyed... mostly. A very powerful lich needed that world, and saved a portion of it. This chunk of planet (so this is now a "flat" world with an edge") drifts into space. The magic of the lich keeps the air in place. But the sun is gone. So the lich, grown to titanic size, uses a glowing gem on the tip of their staff and moves it in a circle around the world, mimicking the sun, giving it... life.

During the daytime, the light of the staff, much like the sun, makes it very hard to see into space.  But at night, when the staff is underneath the world, the lich is faintly visible, illuminated from bellow.  (Midnight is known as "the ribbing hour" as the angle makes some features more apparent).

The main religion of this world worships the lich as a sun god, and offer sacrifice, thus powering the lich.  Faithful elders often choose to end their lives this way.  

Thus, centuries pass, with the sun staff going round and round around the broken world; while the lich drifts in the cosmos, pondering its next move.  But what if things changed?  

Perhaps the lich is now ready for the next step of its plan, but demands far greater sacrifices to give itself the power to do so. 

Perhaps a heretical sect claims the lich was responsible for the destruction of the world, and only preserved a portion of it so it may use the inhabitants as fuel.  Perhaps these ideas originated from visitors from beyond this world. 

Perhaps the population doesn't know that the end of life ritual consumes the soul of the sacrificed - what if this dark secret got out?

Perhaps this is just background, a backdrop to whatever great idea you have for a campaign?  

Angels and Devils, Birds and Bats

 Ok.  Why do angels have bird wings, and devils bat wings?  This is a quite consistent depiction in art etc.  Why is this, what is going on?

From Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair ... Fourth edition", p 104, 1892

I have been pondering this for some time, and a sort of revelation came to me.  The situation is complex, but it can be boiled down to a simple fact:

Angels are birds.   Devils are mammals

Why is this significant.  And what *are* birds, really?  Birds are dinosaurs (seriously, look it up). 

Angels are the survivor of the meteor impact. They are a hyper advanced civilization, watching earth from far above in their sky-cities, the heavens if you will.  They have existed for millions of years, as they achieved *stability* - they do not change, they are "sustainable".  Maintaining the Status Quo, the Divine Order, is paramount.

Once the dust from the great meteor strike settled (if it was a meteor strike...), mammals became somewhat dominant on earth. The bird-angels became curious about this new form of life - advanced, but still nowhere near as advanced as they, of course -  and did some experiments. They created the devils, as a lark perhaps.  Gave them bat wings.  For a time, the devils lived in the sky cities in small numbers, slowly growing, seen as "lesser" than the Angels.

With time, humans eventually came to the scene.  The angels grew concerned - intelligent mammals, not under their control?  Could they become rivals?

So they started instructing them in "morals".  As Nietzsche pointed out, this morality was a "servant"  morality.  Not suitable for leadership.  Designed to control the humans.

The mammal-devils were horrified - they felt kinship with these humans.  They wanted to instruct the humans about freedom, self-determination.  They started agitating. 

The bird-angels were offended and cast the traitor devils out of their celestial bases; and started warning humans about not trusting the devil's words - their temptation would lead them to perdition.  But if humans were "good" they would go to the "heavens" - a lie, of course.

Preposterous some of you may say... BUT:  Who is said to be our secret rulers?

Lizard people. And lizards have the same origin as birds... it's an other conspiracy with a small nugget of truth inside. ;) 

The Ogre Mages and the Abattoir God.

This blog entry is based on the "curse as a class" entry by Bubbear Slug: The Abattoir God. I highly recommend you read it, but the tl,dr is this: A human is "chosen", slowly gains powers and becomes the Abattoir God, only to be later slaughtered and sacrificed by the cult members. A new one is then chosen - usually from among the cultist, but sometimes a random stranger.

This idea is too good to pass up, and here is how it would fit in Yoon Suin.

The Abattoir God's cult is ancient, and has its roots in Occidentalia, that mythical land far to the west. Its history is intimately tied in with the history of ogre-mages. The flesh of the Abattoir God is potent, and while the cultists eat much of it, they can raise significant funds by selling some of it to others. They also know that a member of the cult is not always chosen, and thus it is essential that outsiders also have access to the God-Flesh - only someone who has partaken in the Divine Flesh can be chosen to become the next Abattoir God.

About 1500 years ago, a mage, seeking to create a powerful servant, served head-cheese crafted with the brains of the sacrificed Abattoir God to an ogre. Pleased with the results, he repeated the experience. His two ogre servants, far cleverer and even tempered than a standard ogre, learned magic from him and served him well for several years. After a dozen years, they convinced them than a third member would serve him even better. They observed the procedure carefully, and after learning the secret, slew their master and left town with the third ogre. Thus was born the first three ogre-mages.

Knowing that God-Brain was essential to their propagation, one member infiltrated the cult while the other two worked to raise funds and located ogre candidates. During the next sacrifice, they purchased the entirety of the brain, and the number of Ogre mage jumped to almost a dozen. This persisted for several decades.

Over the decades, as the Authority's Church grew in power, the cult was displaced east, and the ogre-mage with them. Hearing of the greath wealth of Yoon Suin, and of the Rajah of Syr Darya's generous contracts to skilled mercenaries, the ogre mages manipulated the cult into crossing the mountains of the Moon (they were not so high back then) and entered Yoon Suin.

Because of the curse of Syr Darya, the cult moved south and east, and is no longer as firmly controlled by the Ogre Mages. They are desperately trying to keep the knowledge of the potency of the god-brain away from the Slug-men. So far they have succeeded, but they know it is but a matter of time.


Flesh of the Abbatoir God:

These are several reputed, rumored or speculated magical items that can be created from the flesh of the Abbatoir God. The following are mostly confirmed:

Divine sausage: Not only do these sausage fill the eater with divine strenght (treat as potion of fire giant strenght) they also have minor healing properties (heal 1d6 hp).

Hide of the god: Leather from the Abbatoir God is well suited for enchantment. That from a chosen one of dwarven background makes for particularly potent armor (+2 CON on top of other effects).

Bristles of the god: the coarse hair of the Abbatoir God is useful for brushes used to scribe magical scrolls with divine spells.  Ground in a powder, they can be used to make dust of sneezing and choking.

Headcheese of the God: As detailed above, elevates the mind to a higher plane and provides magic. A very well kept secret.  A potion made with cerebral fluid will grant the drinker an extra MD (1 use only).

Eyes of the God: No known properties, but the Ogre-Mages, as a diversionary tactic, keep spreading rumors that they are phenomenal. Sooner or later someone will find the way to use them properly.

The priests of the Vulture God are very curious about the Abbatoir God's flesh, but leery of consuming it or offering it as sacrifice.  What if they - or their God! - is chosen?  

Ogre Mage Template (not suitable for a PC, a bit too potent...)

For each template of Ogre Mage, your HP goes up by 2 and your strength and intelligence goes up by 1 each. You gain one Spell Dice (SD) and learn spells (see table below)

A: Large fame, +1 SD
B: Ogre weapon, +1 SD
C: Fast healing, +1 SD
D: Tough, +1 SD

Large frame: You gain +1d6 HP. You are 7 feet + 1d6 inches tall, and you grow another 6 inches per template.

Ogre weapon: Your weapon damage dice goes up by one step. An ogre dagger does 1d8 dmg, etc.

Fast healing: You heal 1d6 hp per hour of rest.

Tough: You reduce incoming damage by 1.


Spells: Roll a 1d6 at level 1, 2 and 3 to learn 1 spell (reroll if the same spell is obtained). At level 4, choose 1 spell and roll a 1d8 for another.

1: Invisibility
2: Fly
3: Polymorphe to humanoid form
4: Ogrify - inflict the Ogre Curse on a cruel child.
5: Charm person
6: Sleep
7: Gaseous form
8: Cone of Cold


Finally, the Abattoir God should not be confused with Rustok the God of Butchers. Takes the form of a blood-stained grey langur (a type of monkey), favored color is yellow, bones are his preferred sacrificed. The God himself is never sacrificed, oh no, and this whole abattoir "God" is heretical nonsense.

Thank you to Bubbear Slug for the original idea, and Unlawful games for further suggestions.

Edit:  some more writings on the Abattoir God (and other very neat cults), by a group of authors, can be found here.

Yoon Suin: Of Gods and Priests - the Vulture Priest

Yoon Suin has hundreds of gods , cults big and small.  In 5e this can be modeled fairly well with cleric domains and warlocks.  

In the GLOG, there are a few cleric classes floating around... but they tend to be generic and bland (in some cases, they are created begrudgingly by the author).  I don't think they fit the Yoon Suin Holyman very well.  I think instead it's much better to create a class for the priesthood of each god, as necessary - if a player really wants to play a holyman of Yato, keeper of secrets, or if they are facing a priest of the Elephant Demon of Hunger and Rage, create it!  Otherwise, keep it vague.  Not all priests will have classes that are suitable for adventure, but in the GLOG, balance is merely eyeballed, so even a priest with dubious powers can still contribute

The Vulture Priest

Embrace the ill luck of others oh mortal, because one day someone will relish in yours. 

With blackish robes and red collars, the Vulture Priests are an unwelcomed sight, lurking around, waiting for misfortune to fall - and it always does, sooner or later.  And from misfortune, opportunity.  As they grow in power their shoulders stoop, their neck becomes longer, their hair falls out and their nose become long and pointed.  The high priests of the Vulture God grow long wings, able to fly slowly but with little effort.  

For each template (ie level) of Vulture Priest, your perception goes up by 1, and your spell dice (SD) goes up by 1 (maximum of 4).  You learn 1 spell per level (see below).


A:  Iron Stomach, Temple Vulture,
B:  Scent
C:  Sense weakness
D:  Vulture merger

Abilities: 

Iron stomach:  You can eat flesh in any state and safely gain sustenance - it does not matter if it is spoiled, poisoned or curse.  This does not extend to other foods - moldy bread is a bad for you as anyone else - although eggs do count as flesh

Temple Vulture:  A temple culture chooses you as a companion.  You can communicate with it.  It will scout for you, but its reports are vague - it thinks like a vulture, and mostly reports about potential meals.  It will not fight for you but will defend itself if it can't run away.  It needs one ration's worth of food a day.  It will gladly eat your corpse.

Scent.  You gain the keen sense of smell of a vulture - you can smell and track living things, or dead things, by scent.

Sense Weakness:   When an enemy adjacent to you is struck by an attack (spell, sword, arrow...) and is reduced to 3 or less HP by the attack, you can immediately take a free attack against this enemy.

Vulture Merger:  A Temple Vulture merges with you (you still keep your companion).  You grow two long wings in your back.  You can fly somewhat lowly (speed 40 feet, ie 16) with poor maneuverability, but if the sun is up you can fly nearly effortlessly over great distances.  When the sun is down or indoors, you can fly a maximum of [CON] minutes.  Your preferred food is now raw flesh, and eggs are delicious.

The Spells.

At level 1, roll 1d4 to select your spell. At level 2, 1d6, level 3 1d8 and level 4 1d10. You can only learn spells of your god (with one exception...) and if you get a result you already had, reroll. You always have all your spells memorized.  To use other magic, you must use a magical item that supplies its own power - potions, wands etc.

1 The Wake
Range: 50 feet Target: [sum] creatures Duration: [Dice]
You share the blessing of your gods with others. Targets gain the capacity to eat and digest flesh as if they too had Iron Stomach (the end of the spell only means that they can't eat further, not that they will throw up what they already ate). Can be cast on herbivores.

2 Read the Entrails
Range: 0 Target: One body with guts, less than 1 week old Duration: 10 minutes
You poke around the entrails of a reasonably fresh body, and obtain a useful Omen from your god about a specific goal, creature, event or location.  Usable only once per body.

3 Invisibility to Predators/Scavengers.
Range: Self Target: Nearby predators/scavengers Duration: [sum]X10 minutes.
It's not that they don't see you, rather they don't see you as prey - they know your place in the game. A guard dog, sharks smelling blood, trolls, will all ignore you. They might not ignore your companions however.

4 Scavenge
Range: 0 Target: One fresh corpse (1 day) Duration: Instant
You eat a bit of a recently deceased corpse, and extract some life from it. You gain [dice]X1d6 from it. To sustain a 1dice spell, you need a corpse at least as big as a cat. 2D: goblin sized. 3D: human sized 4D: horse sized. A corpse can only be scavenged once this way - although the rest can be eaten the normal way.

5. Vomit
Range: 20 feet Target: 1 creature Duration: instant/[dice]
You vomit violently at a creature, and your strong stomach acids wreak havoc. Target takes [sum] dmg, and has disadvantage on attacks for [dice] rounds. After using this spell, you must eat [dice] extra rations in the day to avoid fatigue.

6 Dread Above
Range: 100 feet Target: 50 food diametre circle Duration: [Dice]X1d3 rounds
The vultures circle overhead, and opponents must save vs fear or feel like dead meat. Every affected creature must make a morale check, and suddenly running away feels like a very smart move. Foes that are affected but do not flee have disadvantage on all their attack rolls.

7 The Misfortune of Others
Range: 0 Target: self Duration: [sum]hours
Whenever a foe attacking you or your allies fumbles (in most system, rolls a 1 on the d20), your next attack against that foe is automatically a critical.

8 Heal Disease
Range: 10 feet Target: [dice] creatures Duration: instant
You share the Vulture's resistance to illness. Cure any food poisoning, food born illnesses, parasites or infected wound (including infectious bites). Does not work against air-born illnesses.

9 Part the Skin
Range: 5 feet Target: 1 immobile "skin" Duration: Instant
You part the skin and make a 2 foot long, 1 foot wide opening. For 1D, the skin can be something like a tough leather. For 2D, you could part a wooden wall. For 3D, you part an inch thick sheet of iron. For 4D6, you part dragon scales.

10 Mind Eater
Range: 0 Target: self Duration: Until used again
Eat the brain of a spellcaster, and learn one spell they have memorized (chosen randomly). You can now use this spell as you knew it, until you eat another spellcaster's brain. Also, regain [D] spelldice.

(Lastly, it should be noted that this is not playtested material. )

edit:  I did a few minor tweaks at the suggestions of the OSR discord group, which is, as always, very useful.

A deep history of Yoon-Suin

I think it's important to have a deep history - a "how did this place came to be" - for your setting.  This "deep history", or cosmology if you like, doesn't have to be detailed, you just need the broad outlines - but said outlines can be very helpful.  

 How do you come up with said outlines?  If you take a decision about your campaign (no elves!!), it can lead to a question - why is that?  "Because I don't like elves" is a perfectly fine reason for you, but sometimes asking what is the "in world" reason can yield interesting rewards.

The Yoon Suin book left many questions unanswered.  These questions led me to my deep history.  Some of these questions were:
- Why are there dwarves but no elves?
- Why is there *one* Topaz dragon.  Why is she there?
-  Why are there so many freaking gods?
- Why do people reincarnate?
- What are the Krakens up to? 

So here are my answers:  
(If my players are reading this, stay out!  That means you Po Befi!) 

1: A very long time ago, a powerful being, called Ikrum, decided to build the wheel of reincarnation - why people die and reborn in Yoon-Suin - for reasons only known to him. Spinning this wheel would require significant spiritual power.

2: To do so, he pierce a small, precise hole from reality into the "divine source". This powers the wheel. The spent divine essence then flowed into a great river, the God River. This is why gods are so plentiful, the river contains the essence of divinity.  Any two-bit spirit that plays their cards *just right* can become a god. However these are weak gods that require sacrifice to sustain themselves and their holy men.  They are often tied to a locale, and many spirits rejects being tied down thus.

3: Ikrum then wandered north and left Yoon Suin because he's not the most stable kinda guy. The *elves* left because they didn't want their elven souls reborn as a "lesser creature"

4: The dragons were *alarmed* by Ikrum's shenanigans but were unable to undo his work. To prevent his return, they have been growing the Mountains of the Moon ever since. This changed their nature, turning them crystalline.

5: The divine essence leached into the Gulf of Morrays where it was fed upon by the Krakens, who grew in power and cunning.  They wanted *true* power, to sample it at the source.

6: The arch-mage Enftebtemang grew alarmed by this, and vowed to block the Krakens from going up river to tap into the Divine Source directly.  To do so, he founded the Yellow City, and created a servitor race, the slugmen (see https://slugsandsilver.blogspot.com/2018/08/slugmen-biology.html for more details).  Allies of the arch-mage turned the surrounding jungle into an impenetrable nightmare to prevent the Krakens from simply bypassing the city.

7: Enftebtemang also asked the Dragons of the Mountains of the Moon for help. They agreed, and sent one of their own - the Topaz Dragon. However, she was chosen because she was vain and frivolous, ie more because she wasn't well liked than due to true competence.

8:  Many years passed.  Enftebtemang eventually ran out of life extending magic and passed away - but before doing so told the slugmen how to reproduce.  The slugmen grew numerous and indolent, and placed powerful wards amongst the Topaz Isles.  The Topaz dragon grew immense.   The Yellow City, being the only port connecting the Purple Lands to the rest of the world, became very important, and immensely wealthy. 

9:  Passage over the mountains is still possible near Sugh, which is how the ogre-mages gained access, but is becoming more difficult by the centuries - they are almost impossible today.  Sea travel, or risking the veins of the earth, is the way most travelers reach Yoon Suin today. 

I think that David McGrogan was *very wise* when he crafted the Yoon Suin book - it raises so many tantalizing questions that simulate the imagination. I'm not saying that what I wrote are the best answers - I'm not even sure they are *good* answer. But for me an many others, those answers are possible because of the fertile soil that is Yoon-Suin.

Grown in Darkness

The other day as I was surfing the internet, I stumbled upon this story:  

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190424-the-english-vegetable-picked-by-candlelight

In brief, someone discovered that if you forced rhubarb to grow by candlelight, it would force them to draw upon their resources and become much sweeter.  I'm not sure if I'm being a botany geek here, but this seemed remarkably like a... very Yoon-Suin thing to do.  Sure you grow bizarre vegetables in the dark in D&D but in the real world?  No way...  

And yet, here we are.

So in honor of forced rhubarb, I guess I have to force myself to write down a few ideas I had about the power of darkness in Yoon Suin.

First, yet another god!

Lyla, the dark soap mistress.  This peculiar cult is not very popular due to being... strange, even by the Yellow City standards.  The goddess takes the shape of an odd Beetle-octopus, and appreciates the sacrifice invertebrate.  The sacred color is black, and the cult takes the devotion to this color to an alarming extreme.  The priesthood is composed entirely of  human women who dye their skin black. The more advanced the holy woman, the deeper and more total the shade (teeth, eyes etc become black too).  Other cults consider this concern over color to be over the top. 

The high priestess has become so dark that she is but a silhouette, appearing not as a black shape but almost as a human-shaped hole in the universe (Look up vantablack to get an idea).  She is said to be one of the most powerful holy woman in the city, and slugmen sometimes pay great fees to consult her on various matters.  

High rituals of the cult includes sleeping in ink, sometimes for very long periods.  Other strange rituals include very long washing (most people aren't "holy enough" to withstand this, skin gets irritated, although certain slugmen say it is just *the thing* to get over an opium addiction).   Soap is seen as holy because it reveals (the sheen of soapy water gives substance and detail to very dark objects/people) , but also the soap is needed to keep dust etc at bay that would keep true blackness from being possible.  

Besides the high priestess, another cultist gained some notoriety - the would be successor, Chi Da Mat, was banished for her greed.  She relocated to Ras Bolon and quickly took over  the cult of the Black Lotus, a different goddess concerned with magic, women and the harvest.  She is said to wield not inconsiderable mystical and temporal power, and charges dearly for her services.

Second, a peculiar tea:

  

The unseen brew.

This black tea is grown in the shade, on steep northern slopes in Sughd that never seen the sun.  It is the harvest process however which is most particular - only on moonless night, cloudy if possible.  The harvesters are "honored" slaves, who are born and live in perpetual darkness, only coming out of their lightless halls to perform the harvest.  The same slaves perform the post-harvest processing, fermentation and packaging in complete darkness.  Each packet is carefully sealed against light contamination, and is sold for 10 rupees (2 gp) per packet (one packet being sufficient to brew one teapot).  

The tea is said to taste best if brewed and drunk in complete darkness, and is the preferred brew of cynics.  It is also used by serious-minded slugmen who wish to ponder "what could go wrong" with a project, as it blackens the mood and strips the drinker of unwarranted optimism.  It is also said to be a suitable base medium for various types of darkness magic.  

(edit:  this was in part inspired by the imperial silver tips which really should be part of yoon-suin anyway.  )

More Yoon-Suin Gods

I've been on the road a lot lately and don't have time for a complex post.  Since my first Yoon-Suin Gods sample went over so well, here are a few more!

I'll also introduce a few background elements in my version of the Yellow City

The Lord of Dread:  Nameless.   Shapeless.  Holy color is black.  Demands the sacrifice of fear (sweat).  His altar is the floor of the shop of screaming souls  (located in the Goblin Market), where fear is unwittingly sacrificed.  The proprietor and high priest is the grey faced, broadly smiling Fez-Wearing man, whom *everyone* instinctively gives a wide berth despite his friendly demeanor and small stature.  His wares - items haunted by ghosts or entrapping souls - are extremely valuable, but no one dares rob the place.

The Mantis, Mistress of assassins.  Color is dull green.  Secret shrine in the golden triangle, beneath the assassin stall in the Goblin Market.  From this shrine a hidden tunnel leads to a small dock, which allows the assassins to move about unseen).  This also brings river water to the shrine. )  Disdain of the Murder god.  Sacrifice of blood – the assassin's own blood only.  Her name is secret, and her holy colors are not shown.

(Note:  The Goblin Market is a creation of Dyson Logon.  As you can plainly see, (scroll down) this thing is *perfect* for Yoon-Suin.  My players *loooved* it).

Krodha, God of Murder and strength.  Depicted as large, angry ape.  Demands teeth.  Color is bright blue. Rival with the Mistress of Assassin, Garlok, the Elephant Demon and others.  Opposed by the Justice Toad and the swordsman GhostMaker, who killed their high priest following a bit of intrigue.  Current high priest is a fakir (monk) who believes that the previous high-priest was misguided, and that GhostMaker did the cult a favor. 

Vanuk, the retributer, aka "Justice Toad" by his detractors, as he is depicted as a toad.  A god of justice, particularly just vengeance and punishment.  Accepts sacrifices of the guilty, who's heads are crushed with a great hammer if their crimes are great, or only hand if said crimes are not.   Followed by many vigilantes and crusading paladins, who dress in dark green.  Holy men go out and dispense justice, sometimes indiscriminately.  The cult is quite popular.  Rumors say that the high priest owes a big favor to GhostMaker.  Vanuk's Temple of Judgement is in the Fish District, and not all those accused are found guilty.

Mugo, The King of Silver, who leads to fortune.  Depicted as a tall, bearded man with a silver crown.  He demands sacrifice of silver, some of those who do find great financial reward.  His priests are garbed in dark grey holy robes, lined with. Actually is Pfath the lord of scammers, a fly.  The entire operation is a scam, the "winners" are in on it.   His followers are mostly men, only accepts exiled slugmen.   Grants the Trickery domain.  If the cult of Vanuk finds out, there will be holy war.  Some members are arguing that it's time to fold but the money is so good... 

Qafo, the Lady of Drowning.  Goddess of floods, a snapping turtle.  Holy color is the silty yellow-brown of the flooding river. She demands human sacrifice to avoid floods, said sacrifices being drowned in the river (of course).  Her temple is in the Narrows, one of the most wretched district of the city.

Ghostmaker:  Not a god, but rumored to be followed by a host of ghosts, the souls of all those he has slain.  The best swordsman in the city, bar none (Fighter 20) and said by some to be the reincarnation of the sword-sage Metis, which he vigorously denies.  For a time, the high priest of Krodha engineered conflict between foes and Ghostmaker as a way to get rid of said foes.  This worked quite well, until Ghostmaker caught on made an example and got rid of the meddlesome priest.  (inspired by Kill Six Billion Demons , which you should read)

A few Yoon-Suin Gods

The Yellow City has hundreds of temples devoted to gods terrible and small.  Here are a few of them.

(as my campaign is in 5e, for some of them I will list the granted domain).

Yato, hoarder of secrets.  A small, cunning mole.  Wine red is his sacred color.  He demands the sacrifice of *hands* (any hands will do,  not just yours!).  Grants the domain of knowledge or trickery.  Prayed to by those looking to discover secrets and keep them for themselves.   Shrine on the Red Bank district.  (inspiration from The Gnole by Alan Aldridge)

 Parkij, the Crane of Hunger. Concerned with famine and endurance.  Holy color is this old yellowed bone shade.  She demands sacrifice of food (lots of it).  Stoic.  Temple is not too far from the Great Granary.  Every morning, they ritually curse the building.  Popular with the poor who which to rise above hunger.

Phtol, the lady of the dawn. Crane-aspected. Holy colors are pink and yellow.  Concerned with mornings and dreams. Demands the sacrifice of eels.  Her cultists have an intense dislike of the Crane of hunger,  but the followers of Parkij are merely contemptuous in return.  The two shrines face each other across an arm of the God River, with the shrine to Phtol in is the Old Quarters.   The boatmens who operate the multitudes of water taxis in the Yellow City know better than to ferry someone directly between the two shrines!  Domains granted are light or knowledge (dreams bring insight).  Given prayers by those who hope to wake up with insight or inspiration.

The Cosmic Snail, the God that Gets there in the end.   Followers are obsessed with endings, especially of things that have been going on for some time (such as the world).  Demands sacrifice of sweets.  Grants the domains of death or knowledge.  Their temple is very old and is in a spiral structure, with the inner chamber having the same diameter as the exterior (which is impossible).  Said temple is located in the Old Clay district, facing the Narrows.  The head priest from Sugd and came to the Yellow City seeking end of the world, and is a man of some power (level 9).  Priests are usually men, rarely slugpeople, and frequently stout and ugly.  This is not helped by the choice of holy colors, an unfortunate yellowish green.  While the cultists aren't law enforcers per se, they do not tolerate crap and are willing scrappers.  Frequent spiral motif in their iconography.  PCs involved in anything momentous in the city will often see them in the background, observing.  In fact, their appearance is usually the first sign that something serious is afoot. 

(inspired by this great illustration by Matthew Addams)

The Memory Tree:  This ancient pippala tree's leaves constantly move, even when there is no wind.  It's fruit is said to fortify the memory, allowing one to remember long forgotten facts, but also retain new knowledge.  Demands sacrifice of blood, which is poured directly onto the roots.  In the most holy of ceremony, a supplicant is tied to the tree for three days in in the heat and bled - if they survive, the god will impart a very important memory to them.  The holy men tending to the tree dress in pure white, and the tree is in the great arboretum west of the Granary District.  Grants the domains of Knowledge or Nature.

WoBek Jozefa: A donkey. God of swearing and of urgently telling people to stop before they hurt themselves or cause a scene.  Demands blood.  Gray is their holy color. Shrine in the Old Quarters

Garlok, Lord of Pain, "Towerface".  A demon.  His holy color is deep red and he demands human sacrifice.  Followers are vicious and violent (bullies at best, sadistic psychos at worse).  The temple is a garish and widely mocked mixture of a demon's head and small towers,  and is widely lauded as a masterpiece of architecture - as in it's suspected the architect's goal was to mock the demon *and* please his clients at the same time.  Located in the north edge of the Old Quarters.  Priests of Garlock are *not* clerics, but are warlocks (bladelocks frequently), as Garlock is a powerful fiend and not a true god. 

Concerted efforts by many to limit the Lord of Pain's influence in the Yellow City has been successful.  These efforts are two-fold.  One aspect is gently pulling away youth who are following him as an act of rebellion.  Second is much more muscular and involves limiting access to human sacrifice - most criminals are diverted to Vanek, the lord of Retribution,  most slave sellers will not deal with Garlok, and any kidnapping brings instant suspicion onto Garlok's followers.  Every generation or so things escalate and some kind of fight breaks out - usually nothing more than a bloody brawl but once a century or so can be a serious battle,  as some of the followers of Garlok can be quite powerful.  As the current priest is a man of power and ambition (warlorck level 11), such a conflict is looming.   Despite all of these issues, there still is a place for Garlok in the Yellow City, and his followers will gladly unleash havoc to protect their home.   Credits to Dyson Logos for the original idea 

Va Qabu, the little dog of sleep and clouds. He desires cheese for sacrifices. His followers are expected to paint their dwelling purple. A minor cult, kept alive by the fact it's popular with particularly lazy slugpeople. Shrine in the Golden Triangle district. Kalo Shofi is the high priestess - a rather influential slugwoman, as she runs the Golden Auction house.

Baakoo, the Lord of Light: Despite the imposing title, this is a minor cult of candle and lamp makers – he's the god of light making instruments, not light itself. His holy color is orange yellow (flame), and he takes the form of a brightly colored lizard. Sacrifice is fuel (must be plant/animal origin) that is burnt.  The modest temple is located on the Red Bank. Sole slugman follower is the "fireslug", Po Loma, from the Sea Star Company

Dyson, the Hoarder of Maps. An orang-outang, who demands the sacrifice of beer. The holy color is dark grey.  The shrine doubles as an archive, where many maps are collected. Domains granted are knowledge or Nature. Paid tribute to by both cartographers and those who depend on maps for their success/survival. 

From a game perspective, it may seem ... challenging to have so many gods... but it's actually freeing. You don't have to worry about duplications, or "why haven't we heard about this god before?!?".  The pantheon doesn't have to make sense - it's a crazy mish-mash, it's *all* good.  If a player wants a specific god, they can make one up.  They want a specific domain but aren't sure of the god?  Make up half a dozen and let them pick one.  

I have dozens more of these - if anyone *really* wants more let me know :)