Category:Shemite Pantheon

The polytheistic Shemites have a penchant for gods and Shem goddesses. Each city state worships some obscene fertility god or goddess as its patron, trusting that the horrible, squat brass idols actually hold the essence and presence of those gods and goddesses. Most of these fertility deities are Earth Mothers of the sort common to agricultural communities. Crops grow because a male god mates with a female goddess. When the hot and dry summer arrives and the fields and meadows burn brown, they know the male gods are dying, but when the fields bloom in the autumn, their gods are resurrected. Thus it is in Shemite religions, the male consort is killed and reborn each year, coinciding with annual growing and harvest cycles.

Many Shemite rituals involve enactments of this sacrifice and rebirth in caricatured, symbolic manners that often include human sacrifice and sexual rituals. Indeed, even coming before these awesome and feared gods, humanity must show humility, often requiring worshippers to approach on their hands and knees in the nude.

Most of these deities are simple in concept with elaborate and curious ceremonies dedicated to their worship. The gods are given copper or brass forms by skilled artisans who capture their obscene, pot-bellied forms with exaggerated sexual features. These idols are believed to be the actual god or goddess in question. Although the temple districts of the towns usually have shrines to many of the gods, each city-state tends to identify closer with the aspects of one of these gods over all the others. These symbols of deific power then become the chosen patron. Bel, for example, is the patron of Shumir and Pteor is the patron of Pelishtia. The patron gods have more than just religious power; the patron also provides political power. A powerful king is believed to have the support of the patron, a weak one does not.