Gozreh

Gozreh

(Deity)

Titles

The Wind and the Waves;
Ioz'om, the Sky Father;
Hyjarth & Tourithia;
She Who Guides the Wind and the Waves
Shimye-Magalla

Adjective

Gozren

Realm

Nomadic (Universe)

Alignment

Neutral

Areas of Concern

Nature
The sea
Weather

Worshipers

Druids, explorers, fishers, hermits, survivalists, sailors, woodsmen, farmers

Edicts

Cherish, protect, and respect nature in all its forms

Anathema

Bring civilization to intrude on the wild, create undead, despoil areas of natural beauty

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Air, Animal, Plant, Water, Weather

Subdomains (1E)

Cloud, Decay, Growth, Oceans, Seasons, Wind

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Sanctification (2E)

None

Domains (2E)

Air, nature, travel, water

Favored Weapon

Trident

Symbol

Dripping leaf

Sacred Animal

All

Sacred Colors

Blue, green

Images of Gozreh

Source: Inner Sea Gods, pg(s). 68–75 (1E)
Divine Mysteries, pg(s). 62 (2E)

Alignment details are sourced from Inner Sea Gods and Lost Omens Gods & Magic 26–27. In Gods & Magic 26, Gozreh also had the alternate domains of cold and lightning.

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Gozreh (pronounced GOHZ-ray) is a dualistic deity of nature, a god of the storm and sky and also a goddess of the wave and surf. Born of the ocean's fury and the wind's wrath, Gozreh is a fickle deity.

History

Gozreh is an ancient deity, thought to have existed for as long as the wind has blown and the waters swelled. Their faithful are to be found in all places of nature, doing her will as they have for eons. They are counted among one of the deities who fought and trapped Rovagug in the defense of all creation.

Home

Being concerned with only nature, Gozreh ceaselessly wanders across the Universe in the form of waves or storms, keeping no permanent divine realm and caring little about other deities. According to a hypothesis, Gozreh is the deity with the most connection to the First World because of its primal life energy and wild nature, yet on the surface they seem as distant to the First World as other deities are, perhaps because Gozreh thinks that consistency in physics to govern nature is necessary.

Appearance

A depiction of the duality, and wrath, of Gozreh.

Gozreh resembles a colossal humanoid, often of Mwangi ethnicity, whose lower body trails away into a mass of roiling elemental matter. While the deity transcends gender in nature, in such depictions the gender presented depends on their aspect. Their feminine form is associated with the sea and resembles a beautiful woman with wild hair of sea foam whose torso merges with the roiling sea. Their masculine form represents the winds and clouds and resembles a weathered old man with a long white beard whose lower body melds into a storm cloud. At coastlines, images of Gozreh present these two forms reaching up from the sea and down from the heavens, whose fingers only barely miss touching each other in midair.

Relationships

Gozreh mostly remains neutral toward other deities, except for any who bring threats to their dominion. Despite this, they often come into conflict with Rovagug, Nethys, and Urgathoa over those deities' destructive or corrupting influences on the world. They are often at odds with Abadar over the encroachments of civilization on nature, yet cordial with Erastil and Desna. Erastil, in particular, is considered somewhat of a friend, due to their shared respect for nature. Followers of Gozreh also find they have much in common with those who follow Golarion's other major nature religion, the Green Faith.

In ancient days, Gozreh's followers sometimes came into conflict with those of Jaidi, who sought to harness nature to benefit society. In the later Age of Legend, Gozreh's worship began to overlap with that of Onos, who was believed to better understand and control the elements, especially fire and earth.

Providence

Gozreh's favor falls most on those who treat creatures, waterways, and the wilderness with respect. Gozreh shows their favor by the sudden appearance of a gentle breeze that carries with it the smell of blooming flowers, the unexpected sound of waves crashing on a shore, or dreams involving a specific, and unusual-looking animal. Those blessed by Gozreh find navigating at sea easier, can breathe underwater, and walk with such a light step from Gozreh's winds that some can fly.

Gozreh's wrath can be sudden and fickle. Polluting or otherwise spoiling the natural order draws Gozreh's displeasure, which manifests in the sudden appearance of extremely localized storms or other bad weather, being watched or hounded by birds or beasts, or the continuous taste of blood in one's mouth. Lightning seems to seek people who have been cursed by Gozreh, the waters seem to try to drown them, and those Gozreh most displeases are so shunned by nature itself that animals and plants fear or hate them on sight—even their own animal companions or familiars, who abandon them.

Servants

Nature and all its creatures are considered to be Gozreh's domain, but they favor seabirds, flying fish, and frogs. Xocothians are Gozreh's race of divine servitors. These dualistic outsiders resemble a combination of seabird and flying fish.

Unique servants

Gozreh's direct servants include:

Kraz'Tesh

This favored servant of Gozreh is an icy dragonfly-like creature.

Personification of Fury

Appearing as an ancient elemental, a fusion of wind and wave, Gozreh's herald serves her interests across the planes.

Saltbeard

This favored servant of Gozreh is a dour triton cleric.

Church of Gozreh

Worshipers

Gozreh is an ancient deity, having been worshipped by humans long before the alghollthus started meddling with the Azlanti. Many sailors and navigators trusted in Gozreh and followed their teachings at sea. Despite Azlanti technological and magical achievements, they never developed weather forecasts, and although they progressively found less reverence in nature (turning to the guidance of Jaidi instead), the weather aspect of Gozreh's faith remained strong. Gozreh's Azlanti priests were also granted the understanding of how a warming ocean could lead to a devastating hurricane.

Gozreh's many representations reflect their fluid gender, which attracts followers across a wide range of identities. The faith places little emphasis on marriage, with some worshipers choosing celibacy in isolation to focus on their communion with nature. They can also be blunt, if insightful, in manner and biased toward action over deliberation.

Gozreh is worshiped wherever nature is feared or held in high esteem, but their followers are most commonly found in the Mwangi Expanse, Vidrian, the Shackles, the Sodden Lands, the Steaming Sea, Thuvia, and Varisia, and among the Mwangi, Varisians, and gnomes throughout the Inner Sea region. Most sailors pay homage to them at least in passing, praying for safe passage on their travels, and Gozreh's clergy is expected to bless new crops during the planting season.

The Bonuwat people of the Mwangi Expanse worship a variant form of Gozreh, a janiform amalgam with Desna, whom they call Shimye-Magalla.

Vudrani people particularly worship Gozreh's female side as She Who Guides the Wind and the Waves.

Shortly after the appearance of the Eye of Abendego, a splinter-cult of Gozreh called the Storm Kindlers became convinced the Eye was a manifestation of their god. They flocked to the Sodden Lands, but were unable to cope with the harsh realities of life in the region and soon died. Their leaders wore magical masks that helped them navigate the flooded land, and some of these masks survive and are now worn by inhabitants of the Sodden Lands, who call them Goz masks.

Most cloud giants worship Gozreh as Ioz'om, the Sky Father, and believe that they are all descendants of the deity. Storm giants worship Gozreh as the father-sky god Hyjarth and the mother-sea goddess Tourithia.

Ikelek lizardfolk also often worship Gozreh, with druids being even more common amongst Ikeleks than most other lizardfolk cultures. Ikeleks use the power of their faith to help combat pollution, corruption, and monstrosities spawned from the Eye of Dread.

Clergy

Priests of Gozreh are rugged folk, and many are hermits. Most who interact with society do so serving on the crews of far-ranging ships, where they are known as gale-speakers and considered lucky boons to have aboard. Gale-speakers spend most of their time at sea and walk on land only to find another ship.

Gozrens also share a mutual respect with worshippers of Besmara, whose ships often bear shrines to both deities and often grant free passage to Gozren clergy.

The most reclusive of Gozreh's clergy live celibate lives of remote isolation far from civilization, living in forests, on mountains, or in caves on the shore to fully reflect on Gozreh's freedom from relationships. They also respect Desnans, whose stars are invaluable aids in their journeys and whose skies are considered the ultimate unspoiled wilderness.

Followers are expected to grow their hair or beards, and often braid in seaweed, natural items, and strands of white cloth. Some also mat their hair for months in order to carve it out as nesting material for small creatures; fewer even allow animals to nest in their still-attached hair.

Formal raiment is usually long robes of sea-green, storm-grey, or sky blue color, decorated with coral or pearls. Although most druids in the Inner Sea region are followers of the Green Faith, a significant minority of them worship Gozreh instead.

Temples and shrines

Temples of Gozreh are always open to the sky and often contain some sort of pool or open water at the heart. They often appear in out-of-the-way places and are typically built using only slightly worked local materials, such as driftwood and unquarried stone. Services and occasions vary from temple to temple, though most ceremonies involve offerings, prayers, and chanting. Some temples venerate either their male or female forms and portfolio, while churches in port cities most often worship both at once.

Shrines to Gozreh are also common aboard ships, as well as in coastal settlements where Gozreh is often venerated alongside Ylimancha.

Religious texts

Gozreh's texts are typically guides to natural life, almanacs of tides and such things, interspersed with chants and prayers and suggested offerings to the fickle deity.

Hymns to the Winds and Waves or Hymns to the Wind and the Waves

This book includes susurrant prayers, rules for personal behavior, and the respect of nature.

Holidays

Gozreh's followers celebrate Firstbloom on the vernal equinox and Currentseve on 7 Gozran. The spring month of Gozran is named in the god's honor.

Favored animals

Gods are often associated with certain animals, either because they possess a quality favored by the god, or because the god's faithful feel a special kinship to them. Unlike other deities who favor only certain animals, Gozreh favors all of them.

Due to being both aquatic and aerial beings tied to both the sea and rain, tidehawks are often considered favored creatures of Gozreh. There is disagreement among sailors regarding whether sighting a tidehawk is a good omen or a bad one, since the ocean, tidehawks, and Gozreh are all quick to shift between calm and fury.

References

Paizo published major articles about Gozreh in Racing to Ruin, Inner Sea Gods, Lost Omens Gods & Magic, and Divine Mysteries.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.