Alignment: Neutral Evil

Domains: Earth, Air, Fire, Water

The lord of the elements, this god jealously controls all of those domains on this plane. Not satisfied with his control on this plane, he is constantly warring with the elemental lords on their home plains in his quest to gain total control of the four elements. Any time an elemental being is summoned to this plane In’eth Xa is reminded of the realms outside of his control, and he is further angered. The priests of this god each take on an element and hold their own services. Often times these priests take on aspects of their element in attitude and body, as they become closer to their chosen.
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In’eth Xa is one of the most isolated gods of the pantheon, though this isolation is his own choice. The elemental god has managed to alienate every other god through his constant paranoid ravings and attempts to usurp control of all the elemental powers. He is not satisfied with his dominion over them in the material realm and constantly seeks to war with the elemental lords in their own realms. In this pursuit he has attempted to use, or enlist the help of gods in the pantheon he shares, systematically driving them all to indifference or to directly opposing his efforts due to his bad attitude and attempts to manipulate them to his own purposes. In’eth Xa has developed a persecution complex; he believes that all of the other gods are out to get him and steal his domains away. Berur’s influence over a few of the mountain realms is galling to In’eth Xa, and serves as proof in the god’s mind of the intent of all the others to destroy him. In’eth Xa only cares about the population of the continent insofar as how they draw on his power. He watches them as they harvest his metal for their weapons, draw his water from their wells, power their windmills through his wind and keep themselves warm through his fire. For these services he takes a harsh toll, and if his almost extortionist demands are not met he will send the disasters his domains allow to punish the offenders. Forest fires, tornados, floods, earthquakes are all his to command to enforce his petty whims and strengthen his war against the elemental lords. In this way the new population has strengthened him, now there are more that can do his work as well as provide him with tribute, warriors and priests. His paranoia has also grown from the influx of the new races because more people also mean more that worship the other gods. Now many of the other gods simply ignore In’eth Xa’s ravings and plots, as so far they have ultimately amounted to little, his constant war with the outer planes keeping him occupied and preventing him from doing serious damage to the material realm. There are few things that can draw his attention to the material plane. One such activity is the large-scale ritual summoning of creatures from the elemental planes. The Druid spell Elemental Swarm is one such ritual. Such rituals infuriate In’eth Xa, and he often sends his priests and minions to stop such activities and banish the creatures back to their home planes.

There are five main types of temple dedicated to the worship of In’eth Xa. One temple represents each element, and there is one style of temple that is available to the public so they may give tribute to the elemental god. Each elemental temple is located in a place where that element can be best experienced. Temples of Fire are found at the edges of volcanoes, wind at the top of high mountains, water immediately on (or in some cases under) large seas or rivers and earth in the deepest crevasses or caves. In these temples the priests that are the most in tune with their element hold the most power. In many cases these priests will take on aspects of their chosen element and at the most extreme priests can eventually become elemental creatures themselves. When this happens In’eth Xa takes the priest into his personal service, adding the priest’s strength to his armies that are sent to war with the outer elemental realms. The temples within the cities are manned by the lowest of elemental acolytes, there simply to provide guards so that none of the tribute is stolen. These acolytes often become glorified thugs and enforcers, carrying the word of In’eth Xa in order to extort more tributes from the local populace under threat of natural disaster. These temples are often viewed with distaste and hate, but those under their influence see little choice but to accede to the demands of the priests or suffer the consequences of In’eth Xa’s wrath.

Anyone seeking a quick path to power will worship In’eth Xa, thugs and enforcers and petty thieves all serve him in the public temples. These people are most often Neutral or Chaotic Evil, as their petty ambitions of power are exerted over everyday people. The more dedicated of In’eth Xa’s followers tend to follow a more lawful path, as great discipline is required to master an element and to eventually become one with it.

© 2003, Geoffrey Quick, All rights reserved.