Thunder Deity aka General Thunder (雷將軍) or Marshal of Thunder (雷元帥), in chinese, known as Lei Gong (雷公).
Since the Ancient Era, he's one of the Natural Deities that all folks will respect and offered their offerings to.
In different Era, different form of Thunder Deity are being created and the most recent form that we know - the Bird Form, is strongly being influenced by the Classic - Feng Shen Fang aka Creation of Deities (封神榜).
In different Chinese Deities System contexts, different names are being added to Thunder Deity, such as General Deng (鄧將軍), General Xin (辛將軍), General Jiang (江將軍), Lei Zhen Zi (雷震子), etc.
So what are the task for him (雷公職責)?
His primary task is to create Thunder before any rain-pour or storm (震雷佈雨), follow-by, destroying any evil-entities that stayed in the Mortal World (除邪滅惡) and last, to punish those who are not filial, loyalty and upright (重罰不忠不孝不正者).
In Folks Culture (民間信仰), he's one of the Marshals that are being appointed to be the commandor of the Spiritual Armies (被封為東營元帥).
For Higher Res Pictures, please proceed to this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taoism_deity_singapore_2007/photos/album/1908187083/pic/list
