{Shimmerverse} Griffon Pantheon and it's history.

The Griffon Pantheon is much smaller then Equestria's own pantheon and most others. It has only six gods, all of which are attributed to one aspect: war. The griffons were a race of warriors even in ancient times. They never had much time or thought to gods in ancient ages as they spent most of their time just fighting and kill each other or other sapients, mostly warring against the pegasi. It wasn't until Discord's age that they received their favored gods.

Discord found the griffons useful as they were easy to manipulate and direct to locations and enemies whenever he so wished. They were a great tool, but even with his nature, he wanted to make sure that they would stay at least on a controllable level without having to rewrite them entirely. (Which he found to be a boring concept.) So Discord created four gods to watch over the griffons: Slaanesh, Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle.

Each of them were to control sections of the griffons to keep them under control. Unfortunately, the griffons favored one over the others. Khorne received most of the worship while the others only gained minor support in less populous sub-races of the griffons. This fervor only grew after Discord’s defeat and the four gods were the only major powers still aligned with Discord that weren’t dead, imprisoned, or had joined other gods. This was mostly because the griffons were far too numerous and powerful at the time to try and defeat them all and most nations were still weak after fending off Discord.

Khorne was unable to further this war after the other three gods overruled him, finding other reasons to not continue the war. This upset Khorne, who brooded to himself. Quickly enough, he gained favor of the major sb-race, the eagle-lion griffons, under his wings and planned to oust his fellow gods. This would take time since his followers tended to fight one another for the sake of conflict.

This culminated in the Great Griffon Purge, where Khorne’s followers were finally united under one leadership. All of which were of one griffon race wishing to ‘purge’ the griffon weakness. Something many thought to be the reason that the griffons weren’t the dominant race on the planet. So Khorne’s champion lead his horde to slaughter the other griffon sub races and destroy any followings of the other gods. The first ones were the followers of Slaanesh, who fell quickly and died upon Khorne’s very own sword.

Nurgle’s were next. Another easy victory as not many griffons followed Nurgle. He was far too… peaceful, in his own sick way, for the griffons. It wasn’t the disease, it was the caring tone of his that irked them. So he died the same as his brother/sister/flowing gender relative.

Tzeentch’s sub-race of owl-snow leopards took a nasty hit but unlike his brothers, he had a plan. Hiding away many of his followers, they struck time and time again with their magics. While Khorne had enough griffons to make up for any losses, Khorne was pissed. He hated his brother for using magic, something he utterly despised. It was weak and only for cowards. However, he had to concede that he couldn’t defeat his brother any time soon. He could if he pressed, but he wanted to spread his war to the world. So he came to a deal with his brother.

Tzeentch would stick to one part of the Empire and train chaos warlocks and such for the army. Tzeentch accepted for he had no choice. Even with all his planning, there was one fatal flaw. He had far too few followers and the majority of griffons held nothing but contempt for his ways. So he submitted to his brother.

As this was happening, the secretary bird-cheetahs split off and declared themselves independent. The hunters were able to adapt and outmaneuver Khorne’s forces and thus secure the coast of Northern Afhoofica from invasion. They also rejected the forces of chaos, taking in many other gods that were local or from afar, including Celestia as a sign of peace and efforts to contain the griffons.

This did nothing but upset Khorne. His elation of victory and anger at not a whole victory turned his eyes to the Flutterponies. A race of pacifists who strove for love and unity. Khorne saw his first conquest in the upcoming war. His bloody path through the Flutterpony heartland was what sparked The Grand World War, something that rage for over a century until his defeat.

Khorne remained in power, but had to concede territories to other powers and his loyalist royalty were replaced by those that favored Equestrians and the like. This didn’t apply to the populace however, and even though the royalty favored more ‘peaceful’ terms, this didn’t stop them from continuously probing and skirmishing with every one of their neighbors in acts to claim new lands.

Khorne had four daughters: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Each of them focused their wartime efforts on one section of the year and lived their lives for war. While Khorne is known for his bloodthirstiness, his heart has a soft spot for his girls. Which is one of the reasons he found Celestia more… amicable after she started to take them under her wings.

Some have thought this was manipulative of Celestia, but given the nature of Khorne, many were alright with another god easing Khorne’s wrath. So now he finds her an acceptable companion on occasion.

As well as regularly attends meetings with other war gods to curb his more aggressive tendencies. Meetings set up by and encouraged by Celestia herself no less. He has found them entertaining.

Tzeetch is just planning something. He won’t tell, sometimes, possibly. Maybe. He loves to gloat about his schemes and he is always winning in his own mind. Or losing.

He is a very wishy washy sort of fellow.

Comments

[NobodieZ]

Great work.