“Knowledge can empower those whom ignorance has crippled.”
Symbol: arcane rune
Alignment: True Neutral (High Balancer)
Portfolio: magic, knowledge, power, history
Worshippers: mages, historians, druids
Cleric Alignments: Any
Domains: knowledge, magic, travel, protection
Favored Weapon: the mind
Animal Totems: owls, desert tortoises
Ranking: highest
It is the responsibility of all who worship Agincoth, to learn. The accumulation of knowledge, and the analysis of accumulated knowledge, is paramount to survival. The need for knowledge and information can outweigh all other considerations, when weighed against the needs of the many, and the needs of the future. Magic is merely another facet of the universe, and should be studied.
The few remaining statues of Agincoth depict her as a mature woman in conservative robes, with braided hair wrapped around her head like a crown. The face is one of wisdom and experience, and the eyes have a touch of sadness in them. Prim and proper, the statues invariably have their hands resting together, right within left. One surviving painting that predates the Storm Wars shows her with gray eyes, tanned skin, and gray-streaked hair, together with white robes.
Agincoth was the first of the new deities on Gaeleth, and predates the Shield and the Prism Wars. During the Sister Worlds War, she arose from the battles like a specter of prophecy, lending strength to the wizards and warlocks that struggled to defend Gaeleth from the advances of both Brijanis and Jazed. An architect of Prophecy, she and her minions called forth the Oddity from the dark reaches of space, changed it, and enveloped Gaeleth within its reaches, creating the Shield. The gods of Jazed and the immortals of Brijanis worked against the Shield to make it more permanent, and Agincoth's victory became bittersweet, as she and her priests contemplated their new prison. For ten millennia, through the Prism Wars, the Shaping Wars, and then the Storm Wars, she searched for the knowledge to unlock the Shield, and escape the Oddity. The pettier wars between the Great Wars were of no consequence to her, for breaking free of the Oddity was her one goal; thus, among the other gods, she earned a reputation as ruthless and indomitable. The knowledge she secured through her priests and followers gave her considerable power over all others, and her Church was not above blackmail or promises of secrecy to maintain their abilities to search for knowledge.
During the Storm Wars, Agincoth's Disciples discovered the key to freedom – a combined spell cast among her priest-mages that would span five centuries, coupled with the key events of Prophecy. Orchestrating her plan through Brigain, she realized that the combined spell would be extremely sensitive to outside influences; the mages of Gaeleth would have to limit their spell casting for five centuries. Events during the Storm Wars convinced most mages that they would have to maintain their high standards of magic simply to survive, and protect the world from the ravages of further mage wars. Calculating what was to come, she feigned her own death beneath the blade of the God Slayer, and passed much of her considerable mantle on to Lul, one of her most devoted Disciples. Through Brigain, she ordered the other gods to limit her followers' magic. Bitter with the knowledge that there was no other way, Agincoth patiently waited, and watched. A few of her devoted followers – mainly druid-mages from the remnants of the Karatikan Alliance – continued to bring her information invaluable to the workings of her minions' magics. Lul also continued to slowly feed her information, as she waited.
Finally, an explosion whose magnitude was inconceivable to mortal minds destroyed most of Nabrol. The sheer force of the detonation rocked the planet itself, sending shockwaves through Gaeleth's mantle that would be felt for centuries. Another detonation, larger than the first, obliterated the heart of the supercontinent that was once Braven, sundering it in twain. As the aftershocks of earthquakes reverberated around the world, the ancient Towers that Agincoth's minions had constructed millennia before began to cycle up.
In the midst of the powerful spell, priests of the fallen god Nathel sought to use the energy to resurrect their Dark God. Nearly successful, only the intervention of the new god Arpelos saved all of Gaeleth from a nightmarish eternity trapped within the Shield with Nathel.
Though successful in her endeavor, Agincoth continues to maintain a low profile. As the Inquisition winds down, mages are once again rising to the challenge of knowledge, and faith in Agincoth is spreading among the believers like a firestorm. But the Goddess of Knowledge has another task before her, and her minions: successful in freeing Gaeleth from the Shield, Jazed and Brijanis can once again strike. For the first time in five centuries, Agincoth has a Chosen; and the new Chosen is troubled, for soon enough, the Second Sister Worlds War will begin.
For more information, consult the Master Plan history of Gaeleth.
Agincoth's Relic was lost to mortal eyes before the Prism Wars had even begun. The first of Gaeleth's gods to be tied down to the Relics, her first Chosen took it into the heavens, hiding it on one of the tiny moonlets that circle Gaeleth.
Currently, the Church of Agincoth is nonexistent. She has but one Disciple, to compliment her newfound Chosen. Though the Sebre Druids tried to maintain fragments of the Church in the face of the Inquisition, it is fractioned. Those that have taken the vows of knowledge and magic to become the followers of Agincoth have found that they can maneuver through the Church of Lul with secrecy, protected from the Inquisitors and the Seekers. In its prime, before the Storm Wars, the Church consisted of enormous libraries that served as nodes of knowledge. A vast library located within the heart of the Fort Rhythis served as the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Agincoth, where the Chosen and the Disciples poured over texts brought to them from as far away as the lands of Nathel and Seabrum Island. Powerful priest-mages, they ensorcelled the master library – the “High Node” – to protect it from time and desecrators. Priests of Agincoth could move with impunity, often accompanied by priests of Brigain, traveling where they would to gather whatever knowledge they could. Words of power from the Chosen could bring empires to their knees, or have swarms of dragons descend upon transgressors, should they refuse the knowledge the Church sought. When Avard Karatika died in the destruction of Fort Rhythis, molten magma from deep within the earth bubbled up to bury the High Node, filling it with obsidian glass and protecting the ensorcelled volumes for all time.