God Write-up: Kabajij the Fox

Kabajij
The Lord of Chaos, The Fox, The Rose King, The Trickster
Greater God
Symbol: A fox with fire for a tail, A rose
Home Plane: Arborea
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Chaos, Cunning, Insight, Joy, Romance, Trickery
Worshipers: Bards, Jesters, Lovers, Philosophers, Inventors
Cleric Alignments: CG, NG, CN
Domains: Chaos, Charm, Good, Trickery
Favored Weapon: “Flamedance” (dagger)

Ortho is hardly the only world that has legends about the Fox but it is one of the few that have him so prominent. Unfortunately, the prominence is the constant vehemence that the Harmonium attempts to pile on the deity's image.

Honestly, Kabajij finds this really most tiresome.

Kabajij recruits his worshipers from the clever and insightful in the world. He prefers his clerics to be individuals that respect the rights of others to believe as they may. Freedom to learn and grow as one sees fit is the highest virtue of The Rose King's Faith. Most of his present-day clerics on Ortho are individuals who hide their faith and spread its dogma without overtly showing their membership in Fox's faith. As a Lord of Trickery, it is no sin to hide one's faith if it avoids trouble from the unenlightened and stupid.

Fox's clergy attempt to spread the view of the importance of Freedom, Love, and Tolerance despite the fact the censorship that covers most of the OCA's provinces. They often hide their views between the lines of works and rely on the censors being too boorish to understand what they are really saying. Many storytellers and printers have been martyred in the course of spreading their views but it has done more to undermine the OCA than weapons ever could have.

Fox has many villages where he's honored and cultures that he's still worshiped openly in. These tend to be isolated communities but are well versed in keeping their religious practices secret. A surprising amount of 'heathen' literature is passed around by scholars under the guise of 'historical review' and 'harmless mythology.' Some teachers have even begun resurrecting the 'dead' religion of Fox from the notes they've compiled.

Fox's actual religion is rather pleasure focused. Members of the faith are expected to live life to the fullest with denial being something that isn't to be celebrated in. They have shocking views on everything from food to sexuality. They draw the line at anything that harms others and discourage lives that lead to nothing but shameless self-indulgence. Nevertheless, it is the chief view of the faith to encourage happiness and joy amongst the peoples of the world.

A famous rite of Kabajij is The Great Fox Hunt where the fox is released rather than killed at the end of the ceremony. It is a religion with many festivals that often consist of feasting, dancing, song, and merry-making. Formality is discouraged and prayer is considered to be a private matter in the faith. The sacred colors of Kabjij are brown and oranges. Typical sacrifices to The Rose King are offerings of berries, nuts, and flowers with bags of cemeric coins.

The religion has few formal Temples but those that exist tend to be sacred natural places rather than buildings. Kabajij has a Druidic Sect in addition to his clergy and they tend to divorce themselves totally from OCA life rather than attempt to live within what they view as a hopelessly corrupt society. Neither Clerics or Druids proselytize the religion but only answer questions by those aleady interested in learning about the faith.

History and Relationships: Kabajij is an ancient god that stems from the early days of the Multiverse. A creature of Primordial Chaos that came to the planet Ortho and decided to add his essence in bringing forth life and creation from the reality that was still forming. Slowly, but surely, Kabajij set himself up above the universe and started weaving together various life forms.

In a great irony, Didairdin was originally a cruel and brutal god that Kabajij protected the people of Ortho from. During the ancient conflicts of Law versus Chaos, Kabajijand his elves did battle against the vicious tyrants that were Didairdin and his orcs. Didairdin's redemption gave Kabajij hope that they would be able to reconcile their two pantheons and their vastly divergent ways of life.

Ultimately, this proved impossible as their varying views on good were made irreconcilable by the fact that both had evil members in their pantheon. Didairdin supported the rise of the Harmonium and attempted to create a world that was entirely without evil. The end result was many of Kabjij's beloved races were completely destroyed with much of the planet remade into a repressive oligarchy.

Kabajij is saddened by the horrors perpetuated by the Harmonium but lacks the utter hatred that Chal and Lanamin have build up against the Lords of Order. Kabajij doesn't believe that the Harmonium's worst excesses reflect the wishes of the better members of the Lords of Order. However, he tends to view their unwillingness to openly condemn the Harmonium's darker side as deeply shameful. They tend to view his protection of Namaneil and Ghanalim with similiar disgust.

As the Pantheon Head of The Lords of Chaos, Kabjij's word is law on most matters. Even his rebellious children of Namaneil and Ghanalim will obey him on nearly any matter. Kabajij doesn't exercise this authority often and would prefer to let people come to his way of thinking by persuasion. Ina is the only one who willfully disobeys both pantheons but Kabajij supports her efforts to try to reconcile the two pantheons (even if he thinks its' a pipe dream).

Kabajij is worshipped on countless worlds and is a tremendously powerful god. Ortho is just one of the many planets under his purview. He is allied with Corellon Lantheon and the Seldarine, Garl Glittergold and the Gnomish Pantheon, plus the Fairy Court. Were he ever to become truly angry then he could rally them in retalliation against the Harmonium for the genocides conducted against their people on Ortho.

The Harmonium's Take: The Harmonium has done it's best to portray Kabajij as a malevolent figure. An insane and cackling Trickster that is interested in driving the world to ruin. They are swift to draw parallels between The Fox and evil gods like Loki or Gra'azt. Propaganda that paints the god interested in tricking people out of their souls and dragging them off to Pandemonium are all very common legends.

The Harmonium has rather shot itself in the foot in this regard as their version of the legend has combined with existing folklore to create a rather harmless creature in the minds of most peasants. Foxes are considered creatures of sensuality and secret wisdom as much as avatars of evil. It has been especially problematic for Werefoxes whom the Harmonium suspects (rightly) continue to worship their divine patron.

Nevertheless, many hard core Harmonium believers tend to react with disturbing vehemence toward Foxes as bad omens. They also gain a rather peculiar anti-intellectual bias due to the Fox's patronage of questioning.

The Dark: Kabajij is in fact just as much the trickster the Harmonium claims he is and will target those in authority for his pranks. But generally he targets those who are already abusing their power. He is not a malevolent creature, though the Temple of Saeduenical and Rialondru would say otherwise. He is wise, clever, and generally has the best of intentions for Ortho. He believes the Lords of Order have abused their power to an extent where for the safety of all they need to be removed from the pantheon at risk of stagnating the world.

What would appall the Harmonium most is the fact that they've done very little to stamp out the memory of Fox on Ortho. Countless festivals still honor him, even if the reason behind them is lost. Furthermore, countless pockets of his worship still exist all across Ortho. Many otherwise 'decent' Ortho citizens offer secret prayers to Fox to ward away evils. Where he's not particularly loved, he's still feared.

Ironically, Fox is fairly certain the Harmonium is doomed. The shifting of Nemausus is part of what he considers the Balance reasserting itself. He is patient and intends to pick up the pieces when the OCA destroys itself for its fanaticism. This might be the thing that would horrify the Harmonium the most, they're not even considered worthy adversaries for the ancient power.

Dogma: Live, Learn, Love, and Dream is the whole of the world's meaning. The world is meant to be a happy and beautiful place rather than one that's filled with sadness and horror. Those who insist that ideas are to be feared and oppressed are fools. Worse, their efforts are fundamentally meaningless and self-destructive. The truth cannot be denied and no one can stand against its power. Question everything and grow from this experience.

The worshipers of Fox are patient and believe in cycles. The Harmonium's six hundred years of domination will eventually come to their own ruination. They hold that their small mindedness will ultimately be their own undoing and only seek to hurry it along when they feel it won't bring further hurt to others.