Hello everybody, Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
I’m back with another Eberron video.
This time I’d like to explore one of the major religions of Eberron The Sovereign Host.
The Sovereign Host represents a pantheon of deities within Eberron.
This is in contrast to the other popular religion, the Silver Flame who worships no deity but
is more of a calling, a devotion to a principle.
The Sovereign Host is similar in this regard where clerics don’t communicate with their
deity directly such as what happens in other settings like the Forgotten Realms.
Instead a cleric’s magic seems to come from the raw faith they have in the Sovereign Host,
and it’s ideas.
Worshipers of the Sovereign Host are called Vassals and can be found across all of Eberron.
There is no central hierarchy, which means various groups are able to worship how they
please and practices differ between them.
The Sovereign Host is composed of nine gods, or fifteen depending on how you want to look
at it.
These gods are said to hold power over every mortal life on Eberron.
These gods are ever present within the world of Eberron.
When nature offers you food from the land that is the gods doing.
The gods are nature and civilization, to be praised in all aspects of mortal life.
The saying goes “As is the world, so are the gods.
As are the gods, so is the world.”
The gods are both independent and also part of a greater whole.
It is in this thought that one worships the Sovereign Host as a whole rather than devoting
to a particular deity.
However if a deed falls under particular deity’s portfolio one might give a prayer thanking
them specifically.
Hoping that Onatar will bestow his favor upon a smith's work and aid him in the creation
of a weapon or tool.
In the doctrine of the Sovereign Host it is stated “The Sovereign Host is one name,
and speaks with one voice.
The gods are the letters of that name, and the sounds of that voice.”
But some Vassals do tend to favor particular gods.
It’s like it’s written in their doctrine to see them all as a whole but human nature
seems to want specifics rather than generalities.
The priests that focus on a particular deity can perform rituals to any deity; they just
specialize in the rites of a particular patron.
There is another section of deities in Eberron known as the Dark Six.
The Dark Six were originally part of the Sovereign Host but have since separated in an event
known as The Schism.
The Host banished the Six for their evil ways and schemes against other gods.
Despite being banished they are still gods and still hold sway within the world.
To this end some Vassals may pray to these Dark Six under certain circumstances.
It’s best to think of The Schism as a disowning.
Your uncle’s cousin’s sister twice removed.
The Sovereign Host had no power to remove their divinity and so the gods are still present
in the world just not considered part of the nine.
It is with new research that the Nine and Six might not be the separation of Good and
Evil.
That in actuality it’s a separation of Nature and Civilization.
See two of the “good” natured deities reside over nature, the other seven reside
over civilization and culture.
Similarly two of the evil deities reside over civilization.
It is this thought that the divide between the nine and six is actually the divide between
the natural world and the culture of intelligent beings on Eberron.
On a symbolic level the Sovereign Host will dominate the world, and hold greater power
than do the Dark Six, for so long as civilization thrives.
If the world falls back into a dark age, and intelligent creatures must return to hunter
gathering societies, the balance of power might shift to the “Dark Six.”
I find this interesting; and ultimately it’s up to you and your game how the Nine and Six
operate within Eberron.
Within the world of Eberron faith alone powers a cleric’s magic.
It is their act of devotion that fuels their spells, which is in contrast to Forgotten
Realms where a clerics magic is given to them through prayers directly from their deity.
It is theorized that Eberron created the gods by creating the world.
That the Sovereign Host and the Dark Six were accidental by products of Eberron’s creation.
They are literally the children of creation.
Some other theories say that the Sovereign Host came from other worlds to Eberron, or
that the sheer faith in these beings is what brought them to be.
The later two are not as popular theories with Vassals of the Sovereign Host.
Vassals take time honoring and thanking the gods for the life they have.
They believe that the spark of life, their soul, is a tiny sliver of the divine.
This is what separates them from other mater in the universe.
When a creature dies their body goes to the afterlife of Dolurrh.
This is a realm devoid of divinity, a place where the Sovereign Host holds no sway.
It could be viewed as tragic to spend your lifetime worshiping the Sovereign Host with
bleak view of the afterlife without them.
But by honoring the Sovereign Host it is hoped that they will grant you happiness, in this
life and the next.
Being a magically inclined cleric of the Sovereign Host is not as prevalent as one might think.
There are plenty who worship the Sovereign Host and plenty who become priests, but to
hold magical powers due to your faith is a special thing.
Clerics aren’t exceedingly rare, but they are special to Eberron.
Both clerics and priests perform an array of rites and ceremonies.
From small prayers daily, to marriages, births, and various festivals throughout the year.
Even funeral rites are part of a priests duty.
Spread the good word of the Host and bring others into the flock.
The Sovereign Host is a popular religion within Khorvaire, and is not tied to a specific house
or nation.
During the Last War many faithful of the Host simply fought alongside their nation.
Those not willing to fight focused on issues of the faith.
All sides of the faithful agreed to avoid damaging temples or shrines to the Sovereign
Host, even within enemy territory.
The gods of the Sovereign Host are as follows.
And I’ll do my best not to butcher these names, but by this point you probably know
who I am.
Arawai “The sovereign of life and love.”
Aureon “The Sovereign of Law and Lore.”
Balinor “The Sovereign of Horn and Hunt.”
Boldrei “The Sovereign of Hall and Hearth.”
Dol Arrah “The Sovereign of Sun and Sacrifice” Dol Dorn “The Sovereign of Steel and Strength"
Kol Korran “The Sovereign of World and Wealth”
Olladra “The Sovereign of Feast and Fortune” Onatar “The Sovereign of Fire and Forge”
And that’s it for today.
I really like the idea of a Warforged Cleric of the Sovereign Host.
But really any character would be interesting.
I think it’s a neat world view to have for a character in Eberron.
Worshiping these aspects of civilization and nature, powering your spells through raw faith.
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