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While creating my little fictional world, I was allowed to conjure up many things and if you are to read Thoughts of Steel (or Fragments of the Coil which has several distinct and interesting worlds), then you’ll discover my brain children. One such thing that I put some effort toward was the set of gods that play an active role throughout Baronfall.

Here is a list of the gods/goddesses that come into play:

Malkor: God of justice and protection, he is worshiped by the vast majority of people in Baronfall. His sigil is a winged shield and a statue set in the King’s Temple portrays him as a knight clad in immaculate armor with nothing but a massive shield held in two hands set to ward off foes. At the onset of TOS, Phalax worships Malkor. Daria, who enters later in the book, is given the divine power to heal those even on the brink of death with the power given to her by the god of justice.

Espor: God of knowledge. He is known to most but only worshiped by few. Arlukent Seerden is blessed with the gift of foresight and the knowledge of many deadly, creative spells. He is given a task from Espor to assemble a force of others blessed by the gods to end the destruction the demons are sowing.

Hakmrid: God of fury. He is worshiped exclusively by the Deth Uk, a race of barbarians who dwell in the mountains, keeping to their archaic ways and excluding themselves from others. Despite Phalax’s lack of faith in this god, he is filled with power from Hakmrid, allowing him to shape steel that spills from a disk in his chest and to blast flesh and bone from his foes with a shout of pure emotion when in dire straits. The devotion the Deth Uk have toward their god and the blind need to follow the commands of their Keepers (those said to possess power to converse with Hakmrid) coupled with the larger size of the barbarians is a deadly combination that leads to a massive war in book 2 of the series. This religion is the only one mentioned in TOS that acknowledges the existence of demons and their appearance on Zepzier.

Arrick: God of coordination and accuracy. Arrick is widely unknown and definitely unacknowledged by even those who know of him. His message goes beyond just the physical ability coordination allows to an individual, focusing on balance in life and important matters as well. Chaetor is blessed by this god, allowing him the uncanny ability to fire bows and cast daggers with miraculous strength and precision.

Hellenia: Goddess of war. She is the decider of all battles and ultimate fate for all soldiers. While she is known across all of Baronfall, she is hardly worshiped and plays no role in allowing power to any individuals. Her presence as a goddess merely serves as a reminder to those who dive into a melee that fighting harder than the enemy will please her and perhaps result in their survival and the destruction of the enemy.

Belok: God of domination and suffering. Belok embodies evil and is often attributed as the sower of all misfortune and pain, although he is not the only malicious god recognized on Zepzier. He is not worshiped publicly, but still revered by most as fear of his wrath sits in the back of all people’s mind. He is mentioned by mortals only rarely as his very name is a bad omen. He converses with Vesik in Monolithic and is responsible for Vesik’s power and his monstrous transformation. Zeraskyr steals that power and eventually comes to worship Belok, although begrudgingly and only for his personal gain.

To read a bit more about these cool dudes and dudettes, read TOS. Follow along until book 2 if you’d like to meet a few of them in person and even watch as one or two are murdered by our own hero’s hand! And then, in book 3… Oh, I think I’m going to hang on to that surprise for a while…