Aphelion's divine pantheon is sprawling and genuinely impossible to keep track of. There's a few key figures to note, but if you visit any given ves, you're probably not going to find a ton of overlap in who is being actively worshipped. The common mythos that ties it all together is that an unnamed cosmic wanderer created the universe and then tore the unknowable divine body asunder to birth the three Elder Gods at the beginning of time.

Kjelchaikhan (Kyell-shy-con) was born from the flesh and built a molten Aphelion. He is the progenitor of the masculine.
Tsenmaer (Sen-mare) was born from the blood and built Aphelion's oceans. She is the progenitor of the feminine.
Archaeos (Ar-kay-os) was born from the ragged bones and built Aphelion's atmosphere. They are the duality of feminine and masculine.

The Three are unfathomably powerful, but not omniscient entities. They are the first to admit that none of them can be perfect, as They are only pieces of the divine body. The Elder Gods keep busy with their respective projects and are usually not very interested in mortal affairs.

In keeping with Aphelion's monomyth, the birth of the Elder Gods rendered the divine body down to nothing but sprawling offal, which would then become little squirming things— the first mortal creatures. And if those mortals learn nothing else from the creators of their world, then they must know that Aphelion was not built for them. No mortal creature was built by divine hand, and behaving like you were is a very good way of getting removed from the ecosystem. But hey, no pressure.

In the following eons, a multitude of less powerful gods were created, spawned from natural processes, or were worshipped into being by the sapient mortals. This includes but is not limited to: Kalakay, god of linear time, Bartamus, god of war, and Death, the god with 1000 faces. The name is self explanatory.
This middle level of the pantheon is home to a wide spectrum of deities who often have little in common, and there's a long and convoluted history of them trying to establish some sort of hierarchy. While the Elder Gods seem largely content to let everyone fight among themselves, occasionally a heavy hand is needed to correct course if, say, someone goads the mortals into 7 years of devastating warfare for the sake of amassing power. That sort of behavior is discouraged.

As far as mortals go, a few of them have achieved apotheosis to become saints, who are both the weakest of the gods as well as the most invested in mortal affairs. These are the godkings, the folk heroes, and other significant figures who have been judged responsible enough to bear divine burdens. It's quite difficult for saints to physically manifest, so they tend to show up only during times of great crisis and catastrophe. Examples include Saint Kolja, the liberator of Itas, and Saint Basia the Bullrider, a heroic Tirken figure who protected the wild aurochs from extermination. There are hundreds, if not thousands of saints, and they are considered "regional" gods whose influence is tied to a specific region or culture. It's very rare for any given saint to be worshipped outside their realm of influence. Also, any saint who is no longer worshipped will go extinct and whatever happens in the mortal afterlife will then happen to them. All this in mind, actually cataloguing all saints is an exercise in futility. Some have tried, and all have failed. So don't bother.

There are holes in the monomyth. Every vesian culture knows the birth of the three Elder Gods, but there are blistering theological arguments about some sort of "fourth god." The theory proposes a fourth Elder who rose from the corpse of Creation, and who scorned the project Aphelion. This entity believed it could surpass Aphelion, and thus created a new realm. The new realm in question was a catastrophically flawed place that paled in comparison to the Aphelion project. Not even the eyes of Creation looked upon the fourth god's efforts. A "realm behind the sun," as it were.

And yet, this deity felt so prideful of what it had made that the fourth god swore to unmake Aphelion. It would squeeze the spirit out of Aphelion for its own project and thus draw the eyes of Creation toward the shadow realms. So confident in this idea, the fourth god openly boasted of its plans. The Three held council and came to the unanimous conclusion that the fourth god could not persist. It came down to the cruel hand of old Kjelchaikhan to strike the fourth god down. And when He did, He tore the thing out of time entirely. All past, present, and future of the fourth god turned to dust in an instant. In the wake of the execution, the only remaining memory of this dead entity lay with the executioner Himself, and His beloved son, the Time God Kalakay, who still held the strings of that extinguished timeline. Supposedly.

The story is one that Kjelchaikhan Himself swears by, and He speaks these words to His priests as divine truth. The Land God, however, is known for the art of the lie, something He does for His own unfathomable amusement. Most of the mortal ves understand this story as an allegory on how the Shadowside realms may have come into existence. The only other witness to the event, Time God Kalakay, has refused to comment on the subject. When asked, he will simply reply that his Father loves to tell stories.

The Grenvellan home island is the heart of Rhodinean trade and maintains great relationships with Ypsen, Amasa, and Uir. Kenor and Grenvel have a strong trading relationship, though diplomatically, things have been dicey ever since the Commonwealth took mainland Amasa in 14,375 VE, over a century ago. Grenvel and Valbaara's relationship has been hostile ever since the rise of the Third Empire. Grenvel enacted a full trade embargo on Valbaara after the violent annexation of Tirkau in 14,468 VE, and they were forced to sign an armistice after the Empire annexed Itas in a mere six days in 14,479 VE. In the ensuing 24 years, Grenvel has been sowing deeply-rooted spy networks in Valbaara as they prepare for war to reignite.

Ypsen, with their population on the downturn, begin to mobilize en-masse to stave off an unexpected Valbaaran invasion in mid-14,502 VE. They sacrifice land for time and trap the Empire in highly defensible terrain surrounding Bitter Wells, Devil's Tower, and the nearly impassible central wastes. Highly industrialized Grenvel begins feeding equipment and volunteers into Ypsen, including the exiled heir to the Itasean throne, Prince Johann. Grenvel and Amasa begin conducting military and naval drills with each other. The Kenoran Commonwealth realizes how miserably outclassed its own navy is and begins overcompensating ship building production. Not all of these vessels are up to scratch. Unfortunately, a recent purge of military and administrative officials has the entire Commonwealth on shaky footing, so a few crappy boats don't immediately ring any alarm bells. Meanwhile, the Valbaaran propagana machine is running at full clip to drum up recruitment for the war with Kenor that no one can talk Magnus IV out of. Rhodinea is a tinderbox, and that dumb bastard is enrolling in Fireballs 101.

Meanwhile, the Uirean king nervously begs Grenvel's navy for protection guarantees, because most of the country is uninterested in engaging with the concept of "government." All they can offer in return is meager arms shipments from the lightly industrialized south. The Grenvellan Royal Counsel decides this is a good enough excuse to petition parliament for a larger naval budget.

A better answer: The Third Valbaaran Empire is young and its Emperor, Magnus IV, is even younger. He's got a lot to prove if he's ever going to step out of his father's long shadow. Magnus III kept himself busy annexing Tirkau, Itas, and most importantly, a large portion of the Golden Plains, before keeling over dead and leaving the entire empire to his cringe idiot son. Now our boy Magnus IV has his eyes on the prize- the rest of the Golden Plains. It is worth noting that by the time the war begins, Imperial forces have already been bogged down in the deserts of southern Ypsen for months, in what can only be described as a vanity campaign.

The war starts in the year 14,503 VE when Valbaaran forces march south into northwest Kenor. But little does the Empire realize, the rest of the continent has been very busy catching up with Valbaara's military tech over the past decade. Kenoran fortifications stop the Empire in its tracks, and both sides start digging in. Then everything else starts falling apart in very dramatic fashion. The Kingdom of Itas decides to stop being annexed and opens another front in the north, so Grenvel declares war on Valbaara in the interest of getting their territory back. That gives annexed Amasa some funny ideas, so the home islands declare war on the Kenoran Commonwealth. Ypsen, Grenvel, and Amasa form a coalition called the Triumvirate of Nations, which leads to Ypsen and Grenvel declaring war on Kenor, and Amasa declares war on Valbaara. So much for being home by the solstice!

Biological sex is a matter of mortal affairs. Gender is a matter invented by divine, sexless entities, so any ties between gender and sex are, naturally, constructed by the mortal mind. All of this to say, the ves in particular are a highly egalitarian species when it comes to sex and gender roles. Switching sexes entirely is the sort of thing that was ironed out quite early in vesian history, and in fact sex changing techniques were invented by multiple cultures who each arrived at the process independently. Most of it is based in very ancient magicks that ves have been practicing for tens of thousands of years, and so surgical intervention is pretty much unheard of. Most important of all, any change to one's sex can be reversed entirely. So if you commit to installing that penis, it'll be a few months at most before you can switch back if it doesn't suit you. No pressure.

All of this in mind, while wholesale changing gender from one to another (ex: male to female as we understand it) is not especially rare, what is more common is altering one's sex characteristics for reproductive purposes. Which is to say, a man swapping out his penis and testes for a vagina and ovaries for the sake of having children with a male partner is the sort of thing that is commonplace enough that no one would give it a second thought, past or present. And since these are foundational stones that all vesian cultures have been built upon, you'd be hard pressed to find any culture that stigmatizes same-sex couplings or considers childbearing to be a woman's role.

On top of all of this comes the divine gift— birth control through arcane means. The gods gifted the ves in particular with a simple, foolproof method of preventing unwanted conception and the explicit instructions to control their own population growth. Clearly, the gods wanted to prevent a repeat of the reska incident, and as a result, the only children born into vesian society were born on purpose. While social and societal pressures certainly exist, there are no accidental pregnancies in vesian culture.

In summary, you have a group of people who never learned to value one sex over another, who never learned to draw clear lines between a man's roles versus a woman's roles, and who have divine examples of what exists outside a male-female binary. All of which is to say, gender is made up and sex can be altered in any way that suits you. Good luck and have fun.

In the history of the planet Aphelion, mortal animals have had sapient awakenings no less than five times. Sapience marks the period when an animal began to speak directly with the gods, and as such were divinely charged with the responsibility of their existance. The sapient animals are held to far higher standards than the typical animal. While the simpler creatures live in a state of blissful ignorance, the sentient animals are held responsible for their roles in the ecosystem.

Ves: The most common of the sapient animals are the ves, who dominate Rhodinea. They have spoken with the gods for over 14,000 years, and they are especially aware of their roles as animals. They're the third species to have an awakening, so they have plenty of mistakes to learn from. They were also gifted methods of effective popluation control by the Elder Gods, so the vesian popluation has never had to contend with the issues of unwanted children or unchecked population growth. Though terribly flawed, the ves do their best to live up to divine expectations.

?????: A species so foul in their behavior that they have had their name taken. They were the first sapient animal to walk Aphelion, and they are all gone now. They left behind incredible monuments that have since been reclaimed by time. Cities buried under the dunes, statues worn down beyond recognition. This species has a long and storied history on Aphelion that is no longer spoken. Scholars have given them many names- the first, the unknown people, the early sapients, and so forth. Not a single divine sees fit to speak of their ultimate fate.

Reska: A satyr-like species who came after the early sapients. They were taught many lessons incurred by their predecessors, but even that was not enough. The reska were a truly animalistic species, despite their language and culture and understanding. They fell into destructive behaviors early, and this took root in their societies. The reska fell into hedonism and unchecked population growth, and they began to threaten Aphelion's ecological stability. When confronted by the deeply offended architects of their world, the reska decided they did not fear the wrath of the Elder Gods. And for their hubris, they were banished from Aphelion entirely. They were forced to take refuge in the Shadowside realms, where they continue their cancerous growth. The reska began to take on two distinct forms in their new transient home realm, and they continue to engage in their destructive behaviors to this day. With no one left to stop them, they have ventured into very dark territories.

Olegarths: The olegarth is the fourth species to speak with the Elder Gods, and they have changed little since the first year. Though they are capable of intelligent thought and complex language, they choose to live the animal lives that their ancestors did. If not for their their worship practices and ability to speak the divine language, it would be easy to mistake olegarths for non-sapient animals. They have a low understanding of the arcana, and they only use magic to improve their day to day existance. They are well-favored by the Elder Gods for their naturalistic role in the ecosystem.

Terons: The newest sapient animal to awaken on Aphelion. This is a race of winged humanoids who live a largely arboreal existance. They are extremely social and live in large migratory flocks. They fly from one portion of their tropical continent to another, depending on the movement of prey and predator. They have extremely primative stone-based technology, and they are still firmly anchored to the native foodweb. The terons met with the ves exactly once before the Old Tsenmaer took action to keep the two species separated. To this day, the terons have an oral tradition of the great white-sailed creature that once visited their homeland.

Whether built by the spiteful hands of a dead god or a strange byproduct of an ultimately unknowable universe, Shadowside is a difficult place to describe. Unlike Aphelion, a single, well-constructed planet that enjoys a stable existence under the light of Sun and Moon, the Shadowside Realms exist "behind" the sun. It's best to think of them as existing on another plane of the same universe. Not the sort of place you could simply travel to. In fact, getting from one plane to the other is only possible through arcane means, and even then getting from Aphelion to Shadowside is significantly easier than the other way around. Any Aphelion natives who manage to get into Shadowside unprepared may find themselves stuck there permanently. In fact, this is precisely why the species known as reska are the main inhabitants of the Shadowside Realms. After their banishment from the project Aphelion, the reska spread out into the many dark corners of Shadowside to continue the exact behaviors that earned them banishment in the first place. They cling onto the margins and build their little societies when and where they are able.

It is difficult for the mortal mind to grasp the construction of Shadowside, and even harder to map out, so any visual depiction you might see is understood to be wildly oversimplified. Maps of Shadowside will show the group the most stable island realms upon "pillars" based on common properties and natural laws. It is far easier to traverse between realms on any given pillar than to go from one pillar to another, so prepare accordingly. Between these pillars are the "filaments," usually depicted as strung between pillars. The realms within these filaments are much less stable and prone to unraveling, snapping, or being flung away from the entire system altogether. Though things might seem stable on first impression, there's no telling if or when that realm will begin to crumble, if its physical laws will change, fun stuff like that. Not the sorts of places you'd want to stay long term. Naturally, travel between filament realms can often be limited to merely the neighboring realms within that filament. This can make getting back to where you came from exceptionally difficult if you don't have a good guide. There isn't a lot of documentation on how to get around the filament network, but it is possible.

If you ever find yourself on a detached realm, good luck. As the designation implies, these are "freefloating" realms with absolutely no connection to any other realms. They can seem nonsensical, frightening, hostile, and entirely unstable on a fundamental level. If you're ever lucky enough to find yourself in a detached realm, you probably won't be lucky enough to find your way off of it. It's been done, of course, otherwise no one would know about these places at all. It's thought that detached realms may be "flying around" not unlike wayward comets, and when they "collide" with other realms, that's when a brief window of travel is possible.

You may wonder, what does any given island realm look like? Of course, it depends. Pillar realms may be stable enough that they come to superficially resemble Aphelion. Mountains, cities, prairies, seas, those sorts of landscapes. All of this without a sun or moon in the sky, bear in mind. These realms will know daylight, it will not come from a sun in any way that a mortal creature will understand. It's best not to dwell on that for too long. And of course, the less stable realms may or may not be submerged in eternal, suffocating darkness, a darkness that knows and hates. Or maybe not. You'll just have to visit and find out!

And for the curious, it's worth bearing in mind that the gods do not interfere with Shadowside whatsoever, bar that incident with the reska. The Elder Gods believe that they have no influence in Shadowside and thus would find themselves powerless if they ever traveled there. In so many words, they're scared to go. If there's any sort of divine influence in Shadowside, then it is probably just as horrific and unfathomable as you'd expect.