Nine Immortals

The Nine Immortals are a group of deities worshipped primarily in the Ni Fal Peninsula.

About
According to Ni Faleen lore, the Nine Immortals were once mortals who walked the Prime Material Plane shortly after it was formed (likely the First or Second Era). Each of them came to wholly embody a certain positive virtue: love, courage, creativity, knowledge, justice, prudence, compassion, diligence, and willfulness. Upon death, each rose to divinity, the result of their existence as the apotheosis of this qualities.

Over time, the legends of the Immortals grew, and shrines and churches in their honor sprang up among the more rural regions of the peninsula. It did not become a widespread religion until the Sixth Era, when a cleric of Fa Kuan named Tsunoi the Enkindler gathered a sizeable force of supporters and seized control of Vongjae. Tsunoi outlawed the worship of other deities, and mandated that all citizens of his growing nations (the Seinaru Empire) revere the Nine Immortals instead.

In 7e307, the Shogun Aozora Nobuhisa (also known as Aozora the Unifier) managed to bring the entire Ni Fal Peninsula under his control, including the pacification and absorption of the Seinaru Empire. However, the religion continued to spread, and in 9e114, Shogun Suguro the Pious made the Nine Immortals the official deities of the Ni Fal Shogunate (and made their worship the state-sponsored religion).

The Nine Immortals
The Nine Immortals are as follows:


 * Ai Chi'ing, the Immortal of Love
 * Chan Cheng, the Immortal of Courage
 * Ch'en Hsiang, the Immortal of Creativity
 * Chih Shih, the Immortal of Knowledge
 * Fa Kuan, the Immortal of Justice
 * Hsing Yong, the Immortal of Prudence
 * Kwan Ying, the Immortal of Compassion
 * Nung Chiang, the Immortal of Diligence
 * Shu Chia, the Immortal of Willfulness

Powers and Domains
All of the Nine Immortals have the ability to transform into Imperial Dragons. It is also generally believed that they can alter their own physical appearance at will, though like most deities, they have a natural form that they prefer. Each also possesses some suite of supernatural abilities related to their virtue, and can grant boons (as well as divine spellcasting) to their followers.

It is unknown where the Nine Immortals reside. Some devout worshippers claim they roam the world, testing mortalkind to see that their virtues still exist in the hearts and minds of the population.

Deific Status
The Nine Immortals are the source of much debate among religious scholars. They are not mentioned in the Faket Vamoupah, but Ni Faleen clerics have been known to be granted power by them. As a result, most current scholars claim that the Immortals are in fact demigods, likely under Vikyn (in particular, Bahamut) due to them often being depicted as dragons and the alignment of their virtues with his doctrine.

Interestingly, most other deities in Somara neither confirm nor deny the deific status of the Nine Immortals. Those that actually acknowledge their existence typically either do not elaborate or give conflicting reports on the Immortals. It is unknown why this is.