Vatun, the Great God of the North, is the Suloise god of the barbarians, cold, winter, and arctic beasts. He's also Dalt's brother.
Vatun is worshiped by barbarian tribes in the frigid lands of the North. Though rather popular among the Suel barbarians of the Thillonrian Peninsula, Vatun was not worshipped in the Suloise Imperium.
Clergy
Vatun's priests are charged with aiding their tribe in battle, helping their people survive winter, and healing the injured members of their community. The most capable priests seek the legendary Five Blades of Corusk, which will free Vatun if the five are united. Their favored weapon is the battleaxe.
Vatun's priests preach that cowardice is to be despised, and that Telchur's faith is to always be opposed, preferably with violence. They are also foes of devils and those who serve them.
Vatun's imprisonment has made it more difficult for his priests to use their magic. In order to prepare and cast spells, they need to be within ten feet of a burning flame, no smaller than a torch.
Vestments
Priest of Vatun wear similar clothing to members of their barbarian tribe. However, almost all wear a large polar bear fur cloak.
Temples
Vatun's clergy are too scattered to have any temples. Instead, they consider their own torches and lodge-houses temples.
Festivals
Vatun's clergy celebrates a midwinter festival, though they do it in a much different way than much of the world, choosing to keep a night-long vigil by bonfire.
Winter is a time for culling the weak so that the strong may survive. Snow shall cover cowards and they shall be forgotten by all. The people of the north are the true survivors and will inherit the world when the Great Winter comes to cover the land.
Vatun appeared as a huge Suloise man with a beard of snow and ice, and frozen fog coming from his mouth. He wears polar bear skins and carries Winter's Bite, a battleaxe made of ice.
Vatun's only allies are his brother, Dalt, and the Suel god Llerg. His enemies include Telchur, Iuz and the archdevil Belial.
History
Legend says that some time after the Invoked Devastation and the Rain of Colorless Fire, when the fleeing Suel houses of the Fruztii, Cruski, and Schnai had settled the Thillonrian Peninsula, a great barbarian empire was created by the warriors of Vatun, hailed as "the Great God of the North." Vatun himself was said to have granted the title of "Fasstal of all the Suelii" to the king of the Cruski, a title which made the bearer preeminent among all the nobles of the Suel, and granted him the authority to pronounce judgement on any member of the Suel race. This great empire, if it did indeed exist, lasted only as long as the first fasstal's lifetime.
About the same time as the Battle of a Fortnight's Length (-110 CY), Vatun was imprisoned by priests of Telchur, who were perhaps aided by Telchur's associate Belial. Vatun's imprisonment is said by some to have caused the fall of the barbarian empire.
In 582 CY, Vatun was said to have finally returned to Oerth, appearing on the Thillonrian Peninsula. Vatun successfully united the Frost, Ice, and Snow Barbarians, along with the natives of the Hold of Stonefist, and led this great force to invade Tenh, an event which kick-started the Greyhawk Wars. However, it wasn't long before this "Vatun" was revealed to be the demigod Iuz, and the alliance soon fell apart.
As of 591 CY, the real Vatun remains imprisoned. His brother, the god Dalt, constantly searches for ways to free him.
Mythology
The Departure of Vatun
Some legends claim that Vatun was betrayed by a companion deity. Others blame Telchur entirely. There is also a myth that says the barbarians proved unworthy of their patron, so he withdrew of his own accord.
It is said that when the Five Blades of Corusk are reunited, Vatun will return and recreate the barbarian empire of old.
