Old world deities: Insectoj, the insect god
Old world deities, as illuminated by Osterix Volem, the Mask of Tooran
Insectoj, the insect god
Behaviors
Persistence and nagging.
Characteristics
Physical form can vary but often he takes the appearance of a swarm of locusts. Though many refer to him as "he," this god is both genders at times, and neither at others. He is also known for causing decay, erosion, and undermining of infrastructure, both social and physical, such as landslides or sinkholes.
Strengths
Power in numbers. Worshippers of the insect god number in the tens of thousands. Members of his temple are varied and vast, spanning the entire social strata, leaving no class or trade unrepresented.
Mythos
On a particularly hot afternoon during the harvest season, the first woman of the world, to whom some ancient text refer by the name Salvae or Salva, sank into a deep slumber in the shade. While she was asleep, a flying insect, possibly a beetle or fly—the ancient texts are unclear here, sometimes alternating between the two insects in a single manuscript—entered her body through her ear canal and proceeded to burrow into her womb where it deposited a trove of eggs. Inevitably, the larva hatched, which swelled the first woman's belly to astronomical proportions, wriggling and rendering her helpless.
When the offspring were ready to be born, they exited the woman's womb as human children and became the first denizens of the city now known as Tooran. The woman became the earth, possibly a correlation with the Great Mother of the southern desert, though that coincidence is unproven.
Notable worshippers
Scholars estimate that approximately one-third of present-day Tooranans are devotees of Insectoj, though the majority prefer to openly attend temples of Pesca or Falcun, two of the more socially acceptable houses of worship. Very few wealthy houses will admit to worshipping Insectoj, though rumor has spread recently of a young wife in a great northern estate openly wearing the god's colors, which are green and gray, in defiance of her husband.
You can learn more about the old world deities, such as Dovay the bear god, from the realm of the Masks, their rise and fall in popularity and practice by reading Unmasked and, soon, Unbroken.
