Gods & Demons

Authors: Flosha, logx, Avallach
Written: 28.07.2020 - 10.09.2024
Last update: 24.09.2024

Content:

Gods of Myrtana

Flosha, 09.09.2024 - 10.09.2024

I will at first deal with the gods based on the source material and in form of loose historical and etymological reflections. From our source material as listed in the introduction to our lore, we know the following names of gods:

• Ra [C] and Innos [G]
• Beliar [G] aka Vandras [A], Gotha [C] & Kasakk [N]
• Adanos [G] aka Adrastos [A] & Cyvanis [A]

Mike came up with three names. One of these initial names was Ra, the others remain speculation. But we know that Innos, Vandras, most likely Beliar and Cyvanis (and perhaps Adrastos too) were suggestions from Filler (Mattias Filler was the most important story-writer responsible for the main plot besides Stefan Nyul and Mike). He did not suggest just three names but made a whole list of potential names.

Innos, Adanos and Beliar came later from Filler. One of these three names was one of mine, but I do not remember which one. […] I believe Innos I had called RA before.

Mike does not remember much, but we now that it was Filler came up with the final names of the Gods, except for one from Mike, which was kept. And we know that it was not Innos, as his name was Ra.

And since we know that Ra was one of the original names from Mike (which still appears in the Comic), we could also speculate that “Gotha” may be one of his names, as it also appears in the Comic.

“… in Gothas Namen…”
“… in the name of Gotha”

It is mentioned in a similar way as Beliar or Innos in the game and since Ra was the name for Innos at the time, Beliar seems most likely. It remains speculation, as Gotha could as well be interpreted e.g. as a saint. But if he is one of the gods, and if we can identify him with Beliar, and since we know that one of the final names by Mike was kept and it was neither Ra nor Gotha, we can speculate that the original names by Mike were…

• Ra
• Gotha
• Adanos

This also fits insofar as that Adanos is still Mikes favourite god that he has chosen to use as a nickname (and the New Camp his favourite camp).

It may also be that Adrastos was Mikes suggestion which has then been changed into Adanos, but it remains speculative.

Mattias came to me and said: “The names of the gods are crap, we need to redo them…” So he did. Mike Hoge, interview with Dmitriy, 30.12.20

Innos and Ra

Flosha, 09.09.2024

… the highest god Ra [C]

Innos gab den Menschen die Macht ihn zu hören und zu ihm zu sprechen. Er gab ihnen die Macht große Wunder zu vollbringen. Und er nannte sie Magie. Mit dieser Macht konnten die Menschen die Welt frei nach ihrem Willen gestalten. Es gab keine Grenzen, die Innos ihnen aufzeigte. Und so hatten die Menschen Teil an der göttlichen Schöpferkraft. [G]

Die wenigen, die sich dankbar zeigten, stellte Innos über alle anderen.
Diese Menschen wurden alsbald verehrt und gefürchtet und wurden Priester genannt. [G]

Innos der Gott des Feuers und des Gesetzes.
Wahrer der Ordnung. [S]

Etymological Reflections

Innos: I think that Filler may have developed it by taking the word sun in German (Sonne), turning it around into Ennos and then just replacing the E by an I, because it sounded better; with the intention to replace Ra due to its historical connotation, while keeping the association with the sun. But we could also interpret it as being derived from “innocence”; absence of guilt, inability or absence of intention to harm. Latin in (“not”) + nocens from noceo (to hurt); being innocent means “not to hurt”, very much like the sanskrit Ahimsa (which means non-harm, most often translated as non-violence).

I am the rising sun, the light, and the life

Ra: The name just means sun in ancient Egypt, where Ra was the God of the sun and the creator, of which most of the other gods were thought to be descended from. The Pharaos claimed themselves to be descendants of Ra by which they justified their rule; which is exactly what Rhobar II. is doing according to the Comic.

In Gothic, Ra is only mentioned in the Comic, where Rhobar II. is described as…

[…] the proclaimer of the faith into the three gods and representative of the highest god Ra [C]

He is characterised here as the highest god, while the “three” gods of the myrtanian cult are also mentioned. Ra can either be meant to be one of these three, just the highest of them. Or he could be thought of as a divine absolute standing above and beyond the three gods. We can think of Ra as another name, an older name for Innos (which it most likely was) and as to be identified with each other, but we can also imagine him as a god on his own. The one source that would suggest them being based on two different concepts, are the four symbols from the ancient temple.

Ancient Symbols of the Gods

OtWaMaskSun.tga, OtWaMaskFire.tga, OtWaMaskWater.tga, OtWaMaskMoon.tga

Avallach: In the Ancient Temple there are four stones with symbols, which we associate with the gods. A golden or yellow 8-armed star or sun for Ra, a red or orange flame for Innos, a purple moon for Beliar and a blue droplet for Adanos.

Identification of Innos with Ra

flosha, based on ideas by Avallach

In Phoenix we combine and harmonise these two possible, but conflicting explanations of Ra and Innos (Ra as the former name of Innos, being identical with him, as well as Ra as a divine Absolute that the other three gods originated from), by explaining it through a historical, religious development within Myrtana.

We imagine Innos as a nordic god, which was primarily worshipped in the northern lands. He originated as a god of war, of law and fire. While Ra is a god originating from the ancient civilisation of Varant, the creator, with an emphasis on light, the sun and illumination.

In order to propagate the cult of fire (whose priests originated from the (not yet divided) priests of the ancient civilisation but split into different cults from there), the priests of fire have started to identify Innos with Ra in their preachings since a few centuries. But it was under the reign of Rhobar I. that this identification was brought to an end and that the two gods finally merged in the public perception. Rhobars establishment as a quasi divine ruler and the declaration of his realm as a successor of the first empire, proven by bearing the holy insignia (the Sceptre of Varant), was the final seal of this fusion.

In course of this, the traditional aspects of Innos, of fire, law and war, have become the prevailing attributes in the general understanding of the god, while the aspects of Ra have experienced a decline. Among scholars who learned the older language, the old name Ra is still in use (as in the example of the royal judge in the Comic), but most often used interchangeably with Innos. A simple solution by which we do not have to explain the speech of the judge in the Comic as any mistake.

But while the Cult of Myrtana identifies Innos with Ra, some heretical movements refuse this identification; similar to the gnostics they see Innos, as worshipped in the cult of the three gods, as a malevolent lesser god and demiurg in difference to the divine Absolute.

This way, by not refusing or simply ignoring Ra as mentioned in the Comic, but appreciating both names, we have developed the lore much further.

Summary

• Innos is characterised as the God of Light, Life, Fire, the Sun, Law and the Maintenance of Order.
• He created the Universe or the Universe originated from what he is thought to be.
• He is thought to have given Mankind the Divine Gift and is said to have taken it away again from all others than the Priests (a notion from a book that was written by a priest of fire and is to be seen in the context of the ideology of the cult).
• He is connected to the Mages of the Circle of Fire.
• The metaphor of Children of Fire is used, which implies a potential metaphor of Innos as a Father.
• He is identified with Ra and described as the highest God by the royal judge.

Beliar, Vandras, Gotha or Kasakk

Flosha, 09.09.2024

Beliar Gott des Todes und der Dunkelheit.
Herrscher der Nacht. [S]

Beliar - also known as Vandras from an earlier version of the Lore of the Gods and as Kasakk in the novel - is the god of the death, god of darkness, creator of the night, responsible for punishment and the shadows. He is not meant to just be “the evil”, nor was Innos meant to just be “the good”.

Mike: This was also one of those internal conflicts. […] “He will go to Beliars realm” does not mean to go to hell, but just to go into the realm of the dead, was my original idea. That is what I wanted to have. Mike, 30.01.2021

Etymological Reflecfions

Beliar: Belial or Beliar are Hebrew and speculated to stem from two roots, which mean as much as “without” and “to be useful” or “of value”, resulting in a literal meaning of “worthlessness”, “uselessness” or “ruin”. It has also been interpreted as “never to rise”, like a downward movement or “wicked”. In the scriptures, Beliar is used as a general phrase of despise. A “son of Beliar” is just a characterisation as “a worthless, wicked, useless” man.

In the Talmud it is explained as “without the yoke” or “yokeless”. In this context we have to think of yoga, which also means yoke, in the sense of union or unification (of life, just as the yoke unites two bulls); Beliar would then be the opposite, the Disuniter, ayoga; which again we could interpret in a metaphysical sense in the context of a disjunction of body and soul upon death, for which Beliar is responsible.

In my idea of the lore it has always been so, that this God-Satan story does not exist in the religious world of Gothic, but all the gods were important. And there were specific attributes ascribed to them. And insofar it should be the so that Beliar too had his followers. Mike, 30.01.2021

In one of the Dead Sea scrolls, titled The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, Belial is characterised as “the leader of the Sons of Darkness”, which are also described as the army of Belial.

You made Belial for the pit, angel of enmity; in darkness is his domain, his counsel is to bring about wickedness and guilt. All the spirits of his are angels of destruction, they walk in the laws of darkness; towards it goes their only desire.

In the “Rules of the Community”, Belial is described to control a large number of demons, but demons which are “specifically allotted to him by God for the purpose of performing evil”. Belial is here “established as the force occupying the opposite end of the specrtrum of God”.

In the Fragments, Belial is “sometimes presented as an agent of divine punishment and sometimes as a rebel”. In the fragments it is also written that..

anyone who is ruled by the spirits of Belial and speaks of rebellion should be condemned as a necromancer and a wizard.

Since Beliar has been chosen as a name inspite of all its historical background in real life religion, it is clear that this can not be the reason for giving up Ra either. It would seem like an obvious reason to avoid the usage of a name with too many real life associations, but as this was not the case with Beliar, we can conclude that Ra was discarded for purely stylistic reasons.

And apparently, in case of Beliar, they either may not have known all the associations with real life religion, may not have cared or it may have known them very well and liked these associations.

Belial also plays an important role in modern occultism such as in the writings of Aleister Crowley in Goetia (1904). In The Book of Belial (one of the four books of the so called Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey), the name is explained to mean “without a master” (just as the word anarchy), and symbolises “independence, self-sufficiency, and personal accomplishment”. In this sense he is like an anarchist god; a god of those who need no god as an authority, but grants them full authority if he receives the necessary worship and sacrifice.

As to where they may have gotten the idea for the name, if not from the original historical sources listed above: Mike mentioned in interviews that he was inspired by Dungeon Keeper from 1997. In the expansion The Deeper Dungeons, Belial is the name of the final level. Filler may have known this too. Beliar is also mentioned in Paradise Lost, the epic poem by John Milten. And “Paradise Lost” is one of the names in the list by Dieter Hildebrandt that is speculated to be a list of potential names for Gothic.

Vandras: In Sanskrit, vandra means to praise, to worship. Based on vandra from Old Norse vondr, meaning wander or roam, it could mean as much as the “wanderer”. Van in Sanskrit has the meaning of “sound”, but also “to serve” and “to honour”, but also “to be distressed”. Vanaya means “to act”, “to hurt”, “to kill”. It could also be speculated to be somehow related to the Vandals, which in a moderng meaning, in the sense of “vandalism”, are associated with destruction due to their sack of Rome in 455. Since about the 17th century during the Enlightenment, the Romans were idealised and the Goths and Vandals were blamed for the fall of Rome. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vandal has been described as “willful destroyer of what is beautiful or venerable”. Etymologically it may also be derived from the Proto-germanic root wand- (water). See Old English wendelsǣ or Old High German wentilsēo (meaning vandal-sea - the mediterranean sea). Also Vendras, spanish for “you will come”, from venir (to come). Or Romanian vandras, “a tramp”.

Gotha, TODO!

By summarising all of these findings and by putting all of those meanings together in a way that serves the lore, we could characterise Beliar/Vandras to be a vagrant, always wandering god, who wants to be worshipped and will bring destruction and distress when not being praised, when not being accepted, when not followed during his wandering into the night and as such a wanderer he may be well associated with the moon; he is the disuniter who brought the night and death as a necessity of life. See lore of the gods for more.

Kasakk: Sanskrit kasakka, “tie firmly”. Kazakh was speculated to originate from the fusion of different clans, such as “Khaz” and “Sak”. Kaz or kas means “free”, “brave” and “man” in all turkic languages. In our moraic and orcish etymology, “ak” means as much as “from” or “descending from”. Kasakk could in this sense mean as much as a “free descendant”.

This part about Kasakk is written by Avallach:

Kasakk is only mentioned in the Gothic Novel (Sleeper’s Ban), and he is the only deity that is mentioned there. He appears to be the deity of the realm of the dead, similarly to Beliar from the game.

[…] until they go to Kasakk’s realm at some point, simply because they forget to eat or breathe or drink or whatever.

Despite being a dark god, he appears to be the only one worshipped by people in the story, drawing parallel with Crom from the universe of Conan the Barbarian.

“In Kasakk’s name, leave me alone please!”
[…] “thank Kasakk they are not organized.”
“He really deserved it, in Kasakk’s name.”
“Kasakk put copper on the eyes of three of our men.” [they died]
[…] “by Kasakk’s stinking heap!”
“For Kasakk’s sake, let’s get out of here.”
“Kasakk, Kasakk? Right, there was this little god, I remember.”

Adanos, Adrastos or Cyvanis

Flosha, 09.09.2024

Adanos Gott des Wassers und der Gerechtigkeit.
Waagschale der Menschheit. [S]

Adanos saw, that the humans were dying and that it was the will of Beliar. And he said: I will not stand against the will of Beliar, but I will give humankind the power of healing. [G]

Adanos is the god of balance, he stands for healing, work, knowledge, curiosity, courage and is represented by water. This aspect of “balance” between the two forces of Innos and Beliar, like the water that fills up evenly without distinction, always horizontal, always flowing down, was among Mikes original ideas.

Adanos was associated in the scriptures with diversity (which we may interpret as different tribes, cultures, nations), with knowledge (which we may interpret as the development of self-consciousness and intellect), with curiosity (which we may interpret as the driving force of exploration) and with courage (which we interpret as to conquer and rule the world (nature) “given” to them). At the same time he was associated in the Sequel with justice.

Etymological Reflections

Adanos: Sanskrit Ada has several different pronounciations, all coming with a different meaning:

Ada, eating, devouring.
Ādā* means “to receive, accept, take, resort to, seize, take hold of”, also “to imprison”.
āḍa (आड).—f An obstinate resisting or insisting upon: also a point maintained of opposition or difficulty.
ada (अद).—a Half.
adā (अदा).—m The airs and arts of coquetry. Fund. Income.

TODO: Also look up Adonis, adenoid.

Also see anos (years, age) and “ad”? Sanskrit adhi “near”, latin ad “to, toward”; from this also Old English “aet”, or modern English “at”. Ad-anos would then mean as much as “near time”, “at the time”, “at the age”, which could be interpreted as the god of the presence or the god of time.

“ad- Motion or direction to; reduction or change into; addition, increase, or intensification.”

Also see ada+nos. Nos, latin “we, us”. Adhah, sanskrit “down, under, below”, from there Adhara, “ground, foundation” and Adhana, sanskrit “without possessions”. Ada+nos could then be something like “below us”, “under us”, or “the foundation of us” or “we without any possession” or whatever.

In Hebrew, Adha means “ornament”.

Adrastos: Greek mythology, Ἄδραστος (“Adrastus”) may mean “the inescapable”. A king of Argos. Adrastus was mentioned in the Iliad of Homer and has been depicted in art already in the 6th century BC; there is too much to write about him, but not much that seems relevant for the god in question.

Cyvanis: [TODO]

Relation of the Gods

Zusammen bilden sie die göttliche Dreifaltigkeit.
Den Ursprung der Welt, ihren Weg und ihr Ende. [S]

Innos brought light, Beliar brought the night. Both brought life that couldn’t exist without them both, according to the lore of the gods. Beliar brought death, the negation of life. And Adanos, inbetween, brought healing.

This is also expressed in form of the “Will” of the gods as ascribed to them in the scriptures.

The Will of the Gods

Flosha, 13.06.2024

Die Worte Innos: Und möget ihr nicht verstehen, so zweifelt nicht an den Worten der Priester, ihr Tun ist gerecht und weise. Denn ich bin die aufgehende Sonne, das Licht und das Leben. Und alles was da wider der Sonne, ist wider mir und soll verbannt sein auf immer und ewig in die Schatten.
Die Worte Adanos: Arbeite und lebe, denn der Tag ist gemacht dafür, dass der Mensch arbeite. Suche das Lernen und Wissen, auf dass Du es weitergeben kannst, denn so bist Du geschaffen worden. Wer aber müßig und faul, der soll verbannt werden auf immer und ewig in die Schatten.
Die Worte Beliars: Wer aber handelt unrecht und gegen den Willen der Götter, den will ich strafen, den Körper mit Schmerz, Leid und Tod, den Geist werde ich aber zu mir nehmen auf immer und ewig in die Schatten. [G]

Summarising the words of the gods, the first volume of the Lore of the Gods (ingame series of books) is stating that Innos and Adanos want those to be banished into the shadows who act against them. The words of Beliar are not presented as being in any kind of conflict with the words of Innos or Adanos, but are confirming them:

“But who acts unrighteous and against the will of the gods, he I shall punish.”

This characterises Beliar as the god of execution (of justice) and death. He is a dark god, not an evil god. And that is how Mike had conceptualised him.

At the same time, Adanos accepts the will of Beliar that what has a beginning has to end, that what is born must die.

Adanos saw, that the humans were dying and that it was the will of Beliar. And he said: I will not stand against the will of Beliar, but I will give humankind the power of healing. [G]

Thereby standing inbetween, he mediated between life and death, rise and fall, blossom and withering, glory and ruin.

Divine Justice

All of the three gods are associated in the sources with justice, but in different ways. Innos is associated specifically with the law. Beliar is associated with punishment (of those who act against the will of the gods), he is therefore associated with the execution of the law. And Adanos is associated with justice in the Sequel, but in a sense of balance, of equality (in case of unjust inequality).

In the context of justice, the fire is seen as “cleansing” and being “just” in that it burns everyone the same - unless he is innocent (in this context, think of the Feuerprobe).

In the context of Innos as a god of war, see the sword of Gomez, called Innos Zorn (“Wrath” or “Rage” of Innos). In religious contexts there is the concept of “gerechter Zorn” (just wrath), that is often attributed to saints or god himself. It may be Innos who is thought to be angry, who wants rage; while Beliar is the one who is executing it in form of punishment in accordance with Innos’ will.

In the Sequel, Innos is specifically linked to the law and the maintenance of order, while Adanos is linked to justice, and called “Waagschale der Menschheit” (scale of mankind), not in the sense of weighing them, but in the sense of keeping mankind in balance between the two forces of light and darkness, order and chaos.

Time & Change

As Innos and Beliar are seen to be responsible for day and night, the day and night cycle may be seen as a constant flow between the dominance of these two aspects. Allegorically the sun may be seen as being born at dawn and wins over the darkness and that the darkness is just there to reveal the light, for it to “stand out” (which is the literal meaning of existence). The night may be seen as a veil thrown over the world at dusk to bring silence.
Dawn is like the rise of Innos, Dusk like his conscious retraction. Innos and the day are associated with activity and work, while the night for most people is associated with inactivity and rest - but just as important. But since Adanos is associated with work we could as well see Innos/Ra as a static absolute, that plants the light, the seed of life, in the womb of the night, while Adanos is the dyanmics that evolves from their union.

Adanos could be imagined as playing a role in the transition between day and night; as if he helps at dusk and dawn (imagine the image of the sun rising at the horizon from the water at dawn or sinking down into the earth at dusk), Adanos playing a mediator role or being responsible for this exchange to bring balance.

In this way, Adanos may also be associated with time and change in general. For the magic in our universe and our understanding of the Elementary Arcanum, this may play an important role, as water may have to be involved in any kind of change including movement and transmission.

TODO: Add metaphors regarding other cycles (year, seasons etc.)

Beyond Good & Evil

In the manual and also at some places in the design documentation, the writers used to fall back into a simplified good/evil dichotomy. But to do the early ideas justice (and just in order to tell a better story, a more meaningful drama), it is very important to us neither to see Innos and Beliar as representing good and evil, nor to confuse the role of Adanos accordingly, as a balance between good and evil. All of the gods have both positive and negative aspects to them.

The “fire” of Innos comes both with the positive aspects of warmth and its essential role in the cultural evolution, as well as with the negative aspects of destruction. The “sun” of Ra can give rise to life or may bring drought and burn the soil.
Beliar may bring death, but he also brings rest, silence and calmness.

And while the healing of Adanos may seem as a movement that brings something that is nearing death closer to life again, a vivifying force, there are “negative” aspects to it as well: A man may be healed and thereby be spared of dying (for now). Another man may have to die in order for others to heal. An organism may have to be destroyed to rescue the whole. Both within the individual human body as well as within society, healing is not a purely “positive” force, it is a struggle between forces; those organisms who destroy the body are fought against and eliminated. In the same way, priests of Adanos are not only focusing on healing, or rather: They too may fight and destroy, if they think that destruction is needed for healing. In this way, Adanos is helping Beliar, as he willingly gives “into Beliars hands”, carries into the Shadows, what opposes Innos light.

Innos was not meant to be just “good”, just as Beliar was not simply meant to be “evil” and Adanos is not the balance between good and evil; Innos is order, Beliar is chaos, but they both are needed, they are all “part of the equation” (Mike).

Adanos should be about a more complex form of balance as in the philosophy of yin & yang, that are both necessary. Innos and Beliar are indeed about a duality, a duality like light and dark, of activity & passivity, of giving and receiving; but they are both needed and form a “unity of opposites”.

Just as the ancient indian cults of the gods as all these aspects of Brahman, the Absolute, is hard to grasp for the western mind and widely misunderstood as a “polytheism”, yin & yang, while about a duality, are not about a contrast of mutually exclusive forces, they are one, the two sides of a coin or a wheel (think of the wheel of the dharma). And it is Adanos who lets the wheel roll, taking care that it doesn’t fall unto one of the sides.

If the documentation says otherwise, then we see this as a regression for simplicity’s sake in the context of the internal design docs, that Mike had wanted to avoid to present as such in the game; and in any way has to be avoided by us, due to how Gothic was defined.

Common Fantasy is very simple […] divided into black & white, good & evil. Fantasy is neat, clean and colourful. GOTHIC is different. […]

The simple good/evil structure of the gods that the official successors developed Gothic into, is exactly what Gothic and Gothic Fantasy is not meant to have, it is what Gothic was meant to be opposed to, it is one of the reasons that Gothic Fantasy was invented, as a fantasy approach against a clear good/evil dichotomy.

Therefore it doesn’t matter what some official publications of the publisher or even some of the notes in design documents may say - a clear good/evil dichotomy must be avoided at all costs.

Gods in Relation to Men

Flosha, Hagen & Delvin
11.09.2024 - 15.09.2024

In order to design the gods in Phoenix in a coherent way and get a better picture of their role in the kingdom and their meaning for the people in Myrtana, we tried to imagine in which cases, for which themes, problems and so on, they turn and pray to which god. Or in other words: How gods and men relate.

Because by believing in different gods they clearly imagine the gods to have different responsibilities and may be seen as patrons of different professions and estates. So we asked the question: For what purposes and in which situations will people pray to or worship the gods, including Beliar?

As discussed in divine law, we associate Innos with the aspect of “legislation” (giving of the law) and therefore legislators, Adanos with the “judiciary” and therefore judges (in the particular meaning mentioned above - the royal magistrates of the New Empire are Innos focused) and Beliar with the executive and thus executioners.

Innos is associated with and responsible for light, creation, the sun and its warmth, thus the people of Myrtana pray to him for everything related. That the sun may shine and protect them from cold (hard winter - disfavour of Innos), that the fire of the home may never extinguish, that no fire may break out in or lightnings struck the village, that light might fill their thoughts (overcome vice), dreams (no nightmares) and bodies (in form of children, as creation is associated with Innos and light, with which children - below a certain age - are associated too).
Accordingly, those professions that are working with fire a lot, use to turn to and are traditionally associated with Innos, but also those crafts which “create” the basic structures of their cultural world (builders). As he is associated with law and order, so he is with order and structure in general.
Since he is thought to have given men the ability to see, to speak and to hear and “enlightened” the related senses, we associate him with music, the spoken word, singing, poetry and language in general as well as those professions which are primary driven by communication, such as trade.
As he is also associated with war he is of course revered by all kinds of warriors.

Adanos is associated with water and healing; so he is with health and all related professions. They pray to him that they may stay healthy or become healthy again, that wounds may heal, that it may rain enough, with fertility of the soil (and women), with floods that the people hope to be spared from, with travel, travelers and innkeepers (just as Adanos carries the waters safely through rivers to the sea and is always in motion) and naturally with all professions dealing with water.
Due to his association with equality and the water as a measure and its evenness, he is also associated with measures in general and revered by those who experience inequality, such as slaves and beggars.
And due to his relation with knowledge he is associated with science, the written word (which connects the world of thoughts to the manifested) and all kinds of scholars.
And due to his association with curiosity and diversity, he is also associated with the finer arts and crafts, such as painting (water) or weaving, as well as with those who produce variety in form of tailors (individual clothes) or dyers.

Beliar is associated with the night, the shadows, the moon, with dreams, the imaginative, and with death and demons. So he is revered by all who deal with death (hangmen, gravediggers), with those who operate at night and those who hide. Thieves and the haunted, those who try to escape or those involved in shady business. He is prayed to by those who seek revenge; those who are cursed or want to curse; those who are afraid or want others to fear them; those who are in sorrow or completely abandoned or banned. He is also associated with harvest due to its traditional associations. As Innos is associated with the spoken, Adanos with the written word, so is Beliar with the unspoken, unwritten, with all hidden thoughts, feelings and ideas, and with silence. He is associated with occultism (in the sense of dark, hidden practices) as well as with anarchy and chaos. And - very importantly - he is associated with mining, as the miners work in the dark, seeking for hidden ore (literally “stars of the earth” in the old language) in the shadows.

As can be seen, some professions or estates we linked to two or all the three gods, depending on the perspective and the situation. A potter deals with water as much as with fire. A nightwatchmen carries fire through the night, but may also hope for the moon to appear. A gladiator may pray to Innos for victory in battle, to Beliar for a merciful death in case of loss, to Adanos if he is a slave who hopes for freedom.

It should be obvious, that the assignment of the professions is only meant to be a general tendency and a traditional association; there can be several reasons for why one may prefer and pray to another god for particular, individual reasons.

It should also be obvious how poor all of these aspects have been developed in the Gothic universe, missing so much potential storytelling that was implied by the premises of the gods but never found expression in the game.

TODO: Add additional reasoning for the assignments

Demons

TODO: Sleeper, Archdemons, Demon names, Demon masks etc.

Demons in Relation to Men

TODO