Tionma - God of All Living Things

 Tiomna is the God of All Living Things. With Blizria, the Goddess of All Demons, he is the father of Tona, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures (explored a bit here) and Tinma, God of Non-Living Lives. He probabkly has a a few other children, either via mortals or other goddesses. My pantheon was limited and based on the miniatures I was getting at the time, and there is no reason there cannot be other deities out there (in fact, there will be the Silver Lady from a friend's homebrew at some point I am hoping!)

Tionma, as with all the deities, can choose any form they like. He is most often associated with that of a young man, a crown of stars across his brow, and raven wings. 

Being the god of all living things means he also sees all living things when he chooses. Having a wandering eye, he is the father to dozens if not hundreds of half-godlings across Cidri. Some know their father, most do not. And often they posses no godly powers other than an affinity for life. Most would be considered charmed though, and good fortune does seem to smile on them. Though some seemed cursed, especially when Blizria finds them: their lives seem full of imps that cause nothing but minor problems.

Tionma also recognizes the full circle of life, and has no qualms in culling the sick. He often takes on the appearance of Death itself for those he has favored or despised. He wanders the world, far from the planes of the deities, and often can show up as a peddler with charmed tokens to aid those he wants to, or harm those he dislikes.

One of his favorite forms is that of an old man and a travelling bar: a large tent where he can create small meals and share his souza, a drink from the dream times to share in his patrons dreams, and to help them in some way. Or to punish them depending on his mood and the person. 

This "pop-bar" has mystical signs on it, and the smell of fresh food cooking. It will often show up when a person is unsure of what they should do, and as they drink the souza they will fall into a deep sleep and have dreams that Tionma shares and can direct to aid that person. It can show up anyplace but cannot be found again after the person awakes, usually in their own beds or campsite. 

And yes, the mystical pop-up bar is a series I just finished, and enjoyed. About a 500 year old person trying to assuage 100,000 grudges to save her unborn child from a cycle of painful reincarnations. It told the story over 12 episodes, which was really good for drawing out the past and how it fit in the present. It allows for great character development that you cannot do in a single 2 hour movie. And it ended with a complete story of redemption and hope. I thought I'd try to squeeze that concept into my world somehow. 

And realize I may want to see if and how we can use these deities in games. What's the use of having a lot of background information if it never gets used? In using the pop-up bar idea and his other forms, the characters could:

• be in the wilderness searching for something or someone and come across the bar. Tionma will give the characters dreams to help them know where they need to go
• the pop-up bar could be in the middle of a settlement or city, an innocuous tent with the sounds of fresh meat sizzling on a grill and an old man humming to himself. If they drop in, they could receive a token for good luck: lets the player re-roll 1 die 1 time.
• could be a patron: an appearance by his younger form and asks for the characters to go on some quest
• an NPC may remember this pop-up bar and how good fortune came his way. the players could see about a quest to find the bar. 

And what sort of temples would a god of life want? In my early charts, Tinma, his son via Blizria, is the god most druids tend to pray to. Tona, his daughter, is the patron goddess of female wizards and magic users (I had just bought some female wizards at a guess!). His temples would be full of life: both animal and plant. Large and small statues celebrating life. Sacrifices would be non-living things: jewels, precious metals. The clergy may be getting rich off of this but as long as they do no active harm Tionma seems to not notice. Some temples may just be waiting for a skilled thief. So some additional ideas:

• you are getting paid to find the thief who made off with a substantial amount of gold from the temple
• there are rumors of an abandoned temple of Tionma that is still full of gold and jewels. Perhaps guarded by large predators. Or perhaps not even abandoned but used by one of Tionma's off-spring, one who may have some god-like powers or spells.
• And if there is a character who deals with demons or imps (which is always a risky thing in The Fantasy Trip!), perhaps Blizria via an avatar wishes the group to do something to one of Tionma's temples: rob it, desecrate it, or take out the clerics
• a temple has been desecrated and needs to be cleaned up. The local clerics will pay very handsomely for that.
• a temple has been getting too greedy and affecting the lives of those in the neighboring villages. The characters are hired to "talk" to the cleric in charge. There could be hints from Tionma himself that this is a good thing to do.

And finally, in looking over some of my other posts, I realize there are no real evil deities. I tend to live in a PG-13 world and want just the good things, but I think I do need to have some evil in my world for the characters to fight against, or be a part of if they want. Part of this was when I finally started playing this as an RPG, the group I was GMing for was a father & his children. So I kept it well within safe limits, especially as one was a girl maybe 8 or 9 or so. And the father is both very protective and very large, but a good friend and I did not want to do anything that would upset anyone.

But the other group I've played with are are adults, and most like a grimmer game. So I'll see about something a bit darker perhaps in the future.