Even before I had set about creating the world, I had decided that I was going to run a variation on the old trope adventure of rats in the cellar of the local inn. And with this I introduced a new race and deities into the world.

The twist that I decided to run with was that the rats had been feeding upon the mead that was being brewed in the mead hall in Joonsvyk. Over time the rats gained sentience from the mead and began to worship the brewer and his wife as gods. This brought into existence, Brennig the Mead-Father and Merin the Ale-Mother, and the race of sentient rats, the Ratkith. And the major source of conflict for the adventure, a cult based around a fallen Devil that loved wine, Milner. Along with this I introduced Joona, the namesake for the town as a deity. So with this I had the first four gods of the setting.

The adventure started off fairly well, the party didn’t groan that loudly when the owner of the mead hall asked them to pay for their meals and would give them a discount by helping them with an issue in his cellar. When they found the “rats” were tapping the pipes and not really stealing anything other than mead from the hall, I was presented with an issue that I hadn’t been prepared for.

They wanted to know about the fight between Milner and the other gods of Coldreach. Not how did the Ratkith come to be, not more about the town or its inhabitants (that I actually spent time on) but a fight that happened 700 years ago in the world. So I was left with two options, come up with it later or just spit out something that sounded plausible and see if they bit.

So I did, I spun from whole cloth that the devil Milner once ruled over Coldreach with an iron claw, a group of adventurers and their lantern bearer faced off with him in his realm, The Vineyard, and it was the Lantern-bearer Joona that struck the final blow slaying Milner and freeing the people of Coldreach. And it was good, they dug the story and got on with the dungeon.

They met the Ratkith (Milner cultists) and found their first Ratkith PC (the dungeon took two sessions) and now I had new things to spin and explain namely how deities worked in my nascent universe, which i will expand upon next time. I knwo this is a bit short so I have posted the cliff note versions of the initial gods of Coldreach below. Feel free to use them if you’d like in your game just please cite this article/website if used in a public setting.

If you have questions or want to chat about Pathfinder, I’m on the Tweets as @lilstone621.
Thank you for reading.

New Gods of Coldreach after the Fall of Milner
Joona (NG) – Goddess of the Dawn and clear skies. Often helps travelers herself, when she feel necessary to send an envoy she will send a lantern archon or wisp. Appears as a plain cloaked traveler with a lantern to lead people through the worst of storms or those that are impossibly lost will find themselves outside of their favorite inn. Appearance is that of a young human maiden with golden braided hair, full with the blush of youth.
Holy Symbol – A Silver Lantern
Favored Weapon – Spear
Domains – Sun, Good, Travel, Weather

Brennig, the Mead-Father (LG) – Recently deified by the ratfolk that worship him in Joonsvik. Human Druid in life. Appears as a plain clothed man with an apron and long beard. Watches over his descendants and enjoys the zeal of the ratfolk and their discussions regarding brewing.
Holy Symbol – A carved frothy pint of mead.
Favored Weapon – Brewers Paddle (Great Club)
Domains – Animal, Good, Earth, Plant

Merin, the Ale-Mother (CG) – Partner and spouse of Brennig. Lakanna Barbarian Skald in life, settled down with Brenning after Joona slew Milner. Characterized by bawdy songs and free flowing drink. Deified by the ratfolk of Joonsvik. Appears as a large Lakanna woman wearing furs with wild flaming red hair. Has revealed herself to some of the people of Joonsvik to warn of the impending devil uprising but no one can see her unless they are drunk.
Holy Symbol – A pewter flagon, either normal sized or pendant sized. (Often full sized for normal use)
Favored Weapon – Great Sword
Domains – Water, Good, Community, Healing

The Steel Warder (Original name unknown) (LG)- aka The Watcher. – Human Fighter in life. The warder led the fight against Milner 700 years ago and was there to take the hit for Joona just as she struck Milner down with his spear. His wounded body was fused to his armor in the resulting surge of divinity that elevated Joona, Brennig, Merin, and Tala to demigod status. He chose to stay where the battle had taken place in case Milner ever rose again. He built the Bastion atop the Vineyard of Milner as a first line of defense in case the Devil-Lord ever rose again. He rarely appears as he currently stands at the Gates of the Vineyard. His avatars take the forms of Iron Golems or a Divine Long Sword.
Holy Symbol – A broken steel shield with an eye emblazoned on it.
Favored Weapon – Long Sword
Domains – Law, Glory, Protection, Strength

Tala, the Laughing Shadow (N) – Human Rogue/Shadowdancer in life. Tala is the new god of thieves and and those who work in the dark. Youngest of the Slayers of Milner, Tala was responsible for stealing the key to Milner’s Vineyard and shooting Milner in the eye, giving Joona the chance to drive The Warder’s spear into Milner’s heart. She appears to her followers as a masked woman with deep black eyes. Of the five, Tala is the most likely to take an active role in the events of Coldreach, as she feels that impassive deities risk more by being passive.
Holy Symbol – Veil
Favored Weapon – Shortbow
Domains – Trickery, Luck, Liberation, Darkness

Milner (LE) – The Rotted God – A Devil lord that manifested his home, The Red Vineyard, in the wilds of Coldreach hundreds of years ago. He enslaved the Lakanna and humans that inhabited Coldreach and spread his tyranny far and wide held back only by the Gods of Balance – Faldwyn, Dorama, and Gorn. Milner was brought down by Joona the guide with the spear of the Steel Watcher and his Vineyard was sealed within a grape seed by Dorama and buried beneath the grounds of the Bastion.
Holy Symbol – A bunch of grapes with horns.
Favored weapon – Cestus
Domains – Evil, Law, Decay, Plant