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Bas-Lag is home to numerous deities and other powerful beings. Many of the city-states each worship their own collections of gods and godlings. Bas-Lag is also home to other beings that, while not necessarily gods or godlings, are significantly more powerful than normal creatures and monsters.

Common New Crobuzon deities[]

Crawfoot[]

Crawfoot may or may not be the primary deity of the cray race, although many humans seem familiar with him. The tales concerning Crawfoot have been gathered into a collection called Crawfoot's Chronicles. One tale explains how Crawfoot instigated a conflict with beings called "Batskins," and another tells of his dealings with the "Conch Assassins." He knew the deities Darioch and Salter.

Dahnesch[]

The garuda worship no gods, but they do have a "devil-figure" named Dahnesch. According to an unnamed scholar, he "may or may not be a real eidolon".

Darioch[]

Darioch is a male god who seems to promote peace and goodwill, based on the behavior of some of his nuns. He likely has some link to Jabber, as their names are sometimes invoked specifically together.

One True God[]

The "Godmech Cogs" are a largely harmless, yet very dedicated religious sect with a doctrine of the mechanized cosmos. They believe in the "One True God." The symbol of the religious is a set of interlocking wheels.

Palgolak[]

Palgolak is a deity of libraries and knowledge, depicted as a jolly fat man (or sometime vodyanoi,) sitting in a bathtub that floats mystically across the cosmos' infinite dimensions, observing and learning. It is believed that anything learned by a follower of Palgolak is also known by Palgolak himself, a quality that gives his worshipers desire for knowledge. He's mostly worshiped by humans and vodyanoi.

Salter[]

A figure mentioned in the Crawfoot Chronicles. He apparently had enough power to face a horde of "Batskins," if he had only been present at the time.

Sanshad[]

One of the "Clock Gods," belonging to a religion popular among the humans of Shankell. Their religious icon is a timepiece whose hands point to a different god at each hour. Sanshad is the "sun god" at the 1 o'clock position.

Solenton[]

A god lesser known than Jabber, but still the recipient of the occasional prayer for protection.

St. Jabber[]

Jabber is regarded by legend to be the founder of New Crobuzon. Jabber disappeared after a Torque storm hit New Crobuzon, announcing to his followers that he was going on a quest to find the source of the storm. Jabber is by far the most widely known and worshiped deity (or perhaps just a religious figure) of New Crobuzon. His name is very frequently invoked as a curse or general exclamation, and the title of "Saint" is usually omitted.

Khepri deities[]

Traditional[]

Artspitter[]

Artspitter, or possibly "the Artist" seems to be the matron goddess of khepri artists.

Broodma[]

"Awesome" Broodma seems to be the primary mother goddess of the khepri.

Nurse[]

This goddess tends the sick and injured.

Tough Sisters[]

These three guardian gods protect the khepri; one fights with hooknet and spear, one with crossbow and flintlock, and one with the khepri stingbox.

Strange gods[]

Air Harvester[]

A minor "strange" god worshiped by some khepri, adopted after the khepri migration to New Crobuzon.

Elyctric Devil[]

A minor "strange" god worshiped by some khepri, adopted after the khepri migration to New Crobuzon.

Insect Aspect[]

"The gloomy doctrine of Insect Aspect was that khepri women were cursed. Some vile flaw on the part of the first woman had consigned her daughters to lives encumbered with ridiculous, slow, floundering bipedal bodies and minds that teemed with the useless byways and intricacies of consciousness. Woman had lost the insectile purity of God and male."
— Description of Insect Aspect doctrine.

An obscure khepri deity, the Insect Aspect focuses on the males of the species. Women who pledge themselves to this deity live only to care for the mindless males of the species.

Wingsister[]

A flying khepri god, to whom some would apparently pray in an attempt to gain flight.

Tesh Deities[]

See: Tesh Religion

Although most Teshi, such as Ambassador Spiral Jacobs, are not religious, certain Teshi follow the philosophy and religion of the Manifold Horizon. Followers of the Manifold Horizon worship a variety of "Moments", something between gods and locations.

The Briarlands on the outskirts of Tesh were home to a monastery of monks who follow the Manifold Horizon. Prior to the monastery's destruction by New Crobuzon slave-assassins during the events of Iron Council, there were a variety of monastic orders.

Powerful Beings and Miscellaneous[]

Ghosthead[]

See: Ghosthead or Ghosthead Empire

While the Ghosthead are not deities, they were more powerful and abstract than the other races that inhabit Bas-Lag. Their command over Possibility gave them extraordinary power.

Weaver[]

See: Weaver

Weavers are gigantic spider-like beings, who exist in multiple dimensions at once. They are able to see, traverse across, and manipulate the fabric of space-time, as easily as a normal spider interacts with its own web. They are unpredictable and dangerous to most mortal races, as their ways are completely incomprehensible. For example, the Weaver in Perdido Street Station has a penchant for, among other things, scissors and removing peoples' ears. Weavers speak in poetic torrents, never ever pausing, only slipping in and out of audibility. Their conscious and subconscious are one, and their thoughts are entirely emotional and dream-like, and always voiced – a Weaver's mind thinks only in external monologue.

In the Anamnesis section of Iron Council, Judah Low and the other railway workers witness a Weaver one night. One old man is instantly driven to madness from the spectacle, becoming a spider prophet.

Construct Council[]

See: Construct Council

The Construct Council was an agglomeration of Constructs in a gestalt entity. Up until its destruction by the New Crobuzon militia, the Council worked to swell its numbers and expand its knowledge by infecting more and more constructs with its AI-like programming.

Czar of Hell[]

See: Hell

The Czar of Hell is the unseen leader of Hell, an extraplanar kingdom. While its power is unknown, it apparently commands an entire plane of existence and possess the power and knowledge to contact other planes.

Avanc[]

See: Avanc

The avanc is a legendarily large extraplanar sea organism which, while possessing no unusual powers, is different enough from ordinary lifeforms on Bas-Lag that it cannot be considered a normal creature or monster.

Veruline[]

The "Veruline Order" was active in New Crobuzon, and was comprised of "monks" and "missionaries," implying that they worship some deity. They attempted to clean and repair tattered portions of the city, and ran the Veruline Hospital.

Other entities[]

The opening of The Scar makes reference to "Presences somewhere between mollusks and deities" on the deep ocean floor. Later, temples to the "moon and her daughters, to thank them for the tides" and "to sea gods" are mentioned. The grindylow are also said to have their own gods.

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