Derevan

Derevan is the god of many things in different regions, but he is ubiquitously known for being the god of stone. He was the most worshipped god all throughout the era of Derevan. The belief in Derevan originates from the tale of Hirshavar, a Klishlim sheperd.

The Tale of Hirshavar
It is said that Hirshavar was a sheperd from the Nirius Mountains, a member of the Klishlim tribe. One day as he was herding sheep, he saw a cliff face begin to melt into a statue, a statue of Derevan himself. Below the statue, on a stone prism, the following was inscribed: "I am Derevan, god of these mountains and stone itself. Thou shalt worship me, for I shall bring thine flesh eternal shelter from the plagues of the weak. I shall provide thou with thine needs, so long as thou speakest of me, so long as thou art loyal to mine wish,". Hirshavar indeed spread the word of Derevan, and by showing people the statue, people believed in him. Massive stone statues of Derevan were erected in cities. Hirshavar would forever be known as the founder of a religion, and instigator of an era.

Common Beliefs
In the era of Derevan, most believed that Derevan was god of shelter, stone, patriarchy, and often of water or food. More recently, some cultures have believed him to be the god of dragons and, occasionally, magic. His form was most commonly the form found in the statue that Hirshavar found in the Nirius Mountains, but some, mostly the peoples north of the Nirius Mountains, portray him as a dragon with a human head.

The Sighting of Derevan
It is believed that Derevan once left the High Plane and descended onto Orrimael. After days of prayer, he descended onto a hill south of Nerrod and summoned seven statues. He then sent these statues to attack a Jedlan invasion force sent to conquer Nerrod. The force was defeated with only two statues left, but there were many fragments of statue strewn accross the battlefield, and there were many nomadic shepherds who claimed to have seen the statues, and one even claimed to have seen Derevan himself.

History
The tale of Hirshavar takes place in the ninth century of the dry era. By the second century of The era of Derevan, the belief in Derevan was firmly grounded in Nerrod. Over the next two hundred years, the belief in Derevan spread to all of the Korlazam peninsula, the eastern Gedeom valley, and northward into the Jallir Forest. In 340 ED, Derevan was the most worshipped god in all of Orrimael.

In the year 437 ED, everything changed. Birinac, god of Lightning and Justice, descended on Eldrai and destroyed all idols of Derevan, and killed anyone who owned the idols. He burnt down the temple with his magic, and declared Eldrai to be his city. Thunder storms were widespread in Orrimael, with lightning striking at abnormal frequencies onto temples, statues, and worshippers of Derevan. The cataclysm of 563 put an end to this. In the high plane, Derevan forced Birinac to stop killing people because they worshipped other gods, and hold up true justice in the earthly plane. Regardless, Derevan had lost millions of followers in those 24 years, and thousands more worshipped Birinac.

Derevan maintained his influence until Kain, a city that worshipped Birinac, conquered Mersis, a city that worshipped Derevan, in 782. All of the citizens in Mersis were forced to worshop Birinac, and the worship of him became more common than the worship of Derevan in the Valley of Gedeom.

About 350 years later, in 1136 ED, Omdor officially converted to the worship of Gildicial, the only god recognized by the Omdoran Church. It was on this day that the Era of Derevan ended, and the third era began. However, Derevan is still worshipped in the Jallir forest, and, to an extent, in Skallim and Vilirund.