Erastil
| Erastil, Old Deadeye | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Alignment | Lawful Good | |
| Divine Rank | God | |
| Pantheon | Golarion | |
| Portfolio | Families, Farming, Hunting, Trade | |
| Domains | Animal, Community, Good, Law, Plant; Subdomains of Archon (Good & Law), Family, Feather, Fur, Growth, Home | |
| Home Plane | Heaven | |
| Worshippers | Farmers, Hunters and Tradesmen | |
| Favoured Weapon | Longbow | |
Erastil is a Lawful Good god from the Golarion setting of Pathfinder. Erastil is also commonly known as Old Deadeye, the Stag God or Estig the Hunter. He is a fair-natured old codger, like the grandpa you wish you had, and likewise he values family above all else. Ol' Deadeye is one of humanity's oldest gods that are still actively worshiped in the Inner Sea region, and legends say that it was he who first created the bow and bestowed it upon humanity to help them overcome the challenges of a hostile world. Just how old is Old Deadeye? Well, just like grandpa went to war to fight those damn Japs before you were born, Erastil was also part of the war effort to seal the Rough Beast and trap him in the Dead Vault forever now, all before humanity really came in to being. It wasn't until ages later when Erastil really became popular once more with the humans, during the Age of Darkness, when those cocksucker aboleths summoned a magic meteor to sink Azlant, the center of human civilization of that era, to the bottom of the ocean.
In those chaotic dark ages communities of farmers and hunter-gatherers banded together to work co-cooperatively to rebuild from the ashes, following Ol' Deadeye's practical advice and guiding principles to survive. Though his faith began to wane with the growth of civilizations and cities once more, it can be assured that he is still shown reverence in any small farming community or in those wild areas that still remain. It is this conflict between modernity and practicality that drives a wedge between Erastil and Abadar. Some devotees of Erastil refuse to even enter cities because the lifestyle there is antithetical to the simple grounded living which Erastil would prescribe.
Given his "traditionalist" views, Erastil is surprisingly and thankfully the source of very little controversy - at worst, outside of people outright projecting their own politics and using him as a cover, complaints will center around his belief predetermined "place" for women, so to speak (and that has generated some relatively minor ire of course).
Given his Lawful alignment, however, while Erastil would believe in clearly defined gender roles, nothing indicates that he thinks inherently less of said roles or anyone who chooses to defy them - provided, after all, that hey're doing their part to maintain the community and keep it safe and thriving. It's worth noting that the guy himself isn't married, which would cause any hardline crusading on that matter (or most others) to look hilariously hypocrtical.
3.5 Golarion publications, the Gazetteer and Gods and Magic, give Erastil's nationality as Ulfen (Norsemen). How this works isn't clear since he predates the people and nation. If this is supposed to refer to how he's typically portrayed in art and visions, it still doesn't make much sense since his standard depiction has a stag's head.