What are some broad categories for a pantheon of gods? Something more general than "God of a part of one type of weather"
So far I have Mind, Magic, and Nature.
What are some broad categories for a pantheon of gods...
Bentley Watson
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Justin Davis
If you want somwething more in-depth, I used this as a basis for my pantheon.
en.wikipedia.org
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Kayden White
The Jungian archetypes are interesting. I'm going for a pantheon of 7, but I might use some of them.
What did you use the Liminality concept for?
Jackson Johnson
A God of Travellers whose purpose includes being the intermediary between the mortal world and the Heavens/Otherworld/etc.
As befits such a god, he is seen as a hippogryph, a creature with features both terrestrial and aerial. A dragon, butterfly or a snakewoman with wings would work just as well for this representation.
Depending on how you make your gods, seven might represent all the archetypes. For example, a sun-god might also be seen as King of Heavens, fulfilling the roles of Sun and Leader. The Pariah, Jester and Shadow fit almost naturally. The God of Death might be two-faced and also govern life. This counterpart shares the same body, but is a female half and together they represent Balance in a Yin-Yang way. etc etc etc.
Nicholas Watson
The simbology available goes quite beyond what a single person might think of.
I just thought that the life-death god/goddess might also be seen as a woman whose breath assumes the shape of a (male?) ghost which simply chokes someone.
While the scythe is a common motif, a god of death might be equally at place with a sword, because while a scythe harvests grain and thus provides food, swords are the only tool made only for killing.
Noah Gutierrez
Interesting.
Here's some more details on the setting I'm working on. The Gods aren't going to play an active role in the world, and aren't even recognized by a large part of the population. They were rumored to have existed eons ago, and granted Seven humans with extraordinary powers, based on what they were a deity of.
The original Seven died millenniums ago, but upon death, their abilities seek out and find another somewhere on Earth that is worthy to take their place.
With practice, they'd have an unlimited range of the abilities. However, the Champion (still looking for a better name than that) of the Weather deity might only think to use the Lightning aspects of his powers if he's from a region where thunderstorms are the primary weather phenomenon. That's why I'm looking for very broad deity categories.
Noah Rogers
>swords are the only tool made only for killing.
Jeremiah Gutierrez
>inb4 ancient Filipino death god wielding a yo-yo
Kayden Carter
The most fitting name for this is Avatar, bar none.
>An avatar (Sanskrit: अवतार, IAST: avatāra) is a concept in Hinduism and it means "descent", and refers to the appearance or incarnation of a deity on earth.[1][2] The term also generally refers to "alight, to make one's appearance" and is sometimes used to refer to any revered guru or human being.[3][4]
en.wikipedia.org
You could associate it with this:
en.wikipedia.org
If I understood it correctly, the person's mortal self plays a large role in his post-apotheosis self. So a gladiator becoming god of war could think of warfare of a theater, favoring the most spectacular warriors instead of the most lethal ones.
And the most long-lived incarnation would probably be the leader of the current pantheon due to being more powerful.
What prevents them from misusing their powers? Do they come with some sort of divine instinct which compels the Avatar to fulfill its role?
I assumed OP wasn't making a setting with firearms.
Landon Ramirez
A god of the material.
A god of the spiritual.
A god of the "Others"
Lincoln Young
Hmm. Does Avatar still apply when they are not deities themselves? They're still mortal, but have been granted great power, limited mostly by the imagination and social upbringing of the individual.
I was considering making War/Strength one of the powers. I like your example, a gladiator who inherited (the people granted these powers have become known as Inheritors) would indeed focus on more theatrical aspects of war.
Indeed, I was planning on the Avatar (?) of Mind attempting to gather and unite the various Inheritors from around the globe.
Nothing prevents them from misusing their powers, in fact they have often been in war with various civilizations and eachother over the centuries. I was going to try to find historical examples I could attribute to each Inherited power.
The setting is actually in 1977, with the US and Russian governments having captured and contained several Inheritors.
Josiah Myers
I like god of the Material. An intelligent user could allow for reality warping, while a less intelligent one might use it for brute physical attacks.
Levi Martinez
Past, Present, the Future, and, the Devil, Uncertainty.
All three take turns as King of the Gods in a cycle of eras.
The twins Here and There constantly play tricks on mortals.
Finally, the God of Oneself, who only represents selfish desires. There's no established orthodox doctrine as he is, by his very nature, exclusively personal.
Jaxon Sanchez
I say use Jungian Archetypes.
Also tin them to the rainbow. I know it sounds like power Rangers bullshit but any culture that worships 7 gods would tie them to a natural thing that always has the base 7 colors.
Red- War
Orange- Fire/Architect
Yellow- Judgement Patriarch
Green- Nature Matriarch
Blue- Magic
Indigo- Lover
Violet- Trickster Outsider
Aaron Bennett
>Hmm. Does Avatar still apply when they are not deities themselves? They're still mortal, but have been granted great power, limited mostly by the imagination and social upbringing of the individual.
Afraid I can't answer that, not the least because hinduism is quite plastic as religions come. This adds to its complexity.
en.wikipedia.org
>The avatar concept was further developed and refined in later Hindu texts. One approach was to identify full avatar and partial avatars; Krishna, Rama and Narasimha were full avatars (purna avatars), while others were partial avatars (ansha avatars).[32] Some declared, states Noel Sheth, that every living creature is an avatar of Vishnu.[32] The Pancharatra text of Vaishnavism declares that Vishnu's avatar include those that are direct and complete (sakshad), indirect and endowed (avesha), cosmic and salvific (vyuha), inner and inspirational (antaryamin), consecrated and in the form of image (archa).[32]
I changed my mind. The most fitting term seems to be "Incarnation(s)", which literally means "embodied in flesh". Not specific to any religion, could both mean Vishnu and Christ.
en.wikipedia.org
>Indeed, I was planning on the Avatar (?) of Mind attempting to gather and unite the various Inheritors from around the globe.
What for? Does it relates to the Noosphere in any way? Is it inventing the Internet for this?
Also, is this for a campaign or a story? I swear I have seen a rpg based on this premise somewhere...
And if it's 1977, makes more sense than a sword. I'll go as far as saying the AK-47 could be the symbolic weapon and the Incarnation should look bullet-ridden.
I can't quite pinpoint how, but reading some of the divine-like SCPs and Neil Gaiman's American Gods should provide some insights on "modern gods".
Charles Rodriguez
Incarnation works pretty well, but I think they'd be incarnations of the power, not of the Gods themselves.
Nothing quite as dramatic as inventing the internet, although I suppose I could use a more interesting motivation for him than what I had planned. I was just going to have him be upset that the governments had been keeping some of the Inheritors as prisoners or slaves, and he wanted to free them... If you have any other ideas for a motive for him though, I'd love to hear them (assuming this thread even stays alive)
It's for a campaign, using the 4th edition HERO system (Champions). I got the idea from a thread on here about 3 years ago, I'll post part of the original thread (the archive site I had it saved on is now defunct).
Like I said, the Gods themselves aren't likely to feature in the campaign, but it would be neat if the Mind Inheritor knew more about the plan the original Gods had, and the reason they created their Avatars in the first place.
Thanks for all the help by the way!
Cameron Edwards
I tried to go by abstracts and concepts rather than physical things. The idea was that the "god" is a manifestation of the Universe's perception of itself.
> Justice, defence of the weak
> Love, innocence
> Society, social interaction
> Honour and oaths (fallen and imprisoned)
> Physics, planar physics and anti-physics
> Process and construction
> Time and death
> Weaponry (deceased)
> Violence and hatred
> Insanity and slavery
> Decay, disease and untimely dissolution
> Nothingness
Connor Reed
Here's the original thread I got the idea from.
August 11, 2014
>The recycling thing could be that there's one only instance of each superpower, and that every time the person with that power dies, it gets inherited by someone else (maybe they're born like reincarnation, or it just transfers to some teenager or something). The players just discovered that they've inherited their powers, and have to deal with the legacy of their predecessors (stepping out of their shadow, proving that they're different, living up to their memory, depending on what the previous person was like). Some powers are always dangerous, so perhaps the government keeps those people locked up until they die, and then have to hunt down the 'inheritants' of those dangerous powers so they can be locked up, even though they're kids/teenagers. Might be a source of contention if the players find out, and rebel against the government, or maybe some of those guys break out and are pretty resentful at being locked up, so they try to take down the government and become somewhat sympathetic supervillains. Maybe some just want to disappear and live normal lives, but perhaps the players are tasked with hunting them down and capturing them anyway, possibly creating a moral quandary.
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I like these. I was struggling to come up with some that would be different enough, so that the game doesn't feel like the same thing over and over. Nothingness and Construction are pretty great and unique, I might use both of those.
Levi Morris
I always like the God of Fire being the king of Gods and the God of technology, since Fire is symbolic of the first time mankind learned how to harness nature.
Evan Scott
>Incarnation works pretty well, but I think they'd be incarnations of the power, not of the Gods themselves.
Works either way.
>If you have any other ideas for a motive for him though
I'm afraid that depends more on him than me.
Although, if we're talking about motivations... Ever wondered if any of these Incarnations are inspired by the pop culture surrounding them? Like some engineer Incarnation frustrated by the lackluster development of the space program? African Wars of Independence? Or, god forgive me, Disco?
en.wikipedia.org
>Like I said, the Gods themselves aren't likely to feature in the campaign, but it would be neat if the Mind Inheritor knew more about the plan the original Gods had, and the reason they created their Avatars in the first place.
That's what we have mythical or real yet mysterious things like Shambala, Patagonian Giants and Arkaim.
>Thanks for all the help by the way!
You're welcome. Very enjoyable, it was like when I first started making my own setting.
Charles Parker
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Easton Richardson
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Colton Hughes
Read the attached pdf and select a monster at random. Then invent a cult which worships it. The monster never shows up, just the cultists.
Carter Watson
you forget the flying guillotine - a noble weapon for a nobler age, basically a big wide deep hat with spring loaded blades that decapitated whoever had it placed on their head.
Adam Reed
Okay, so here's what I have selected so far.
>Nature
A South American tribal man dedicated to protecting his home from deforestation. Primarily uses his powers to beast-shape, and has united many local tribes against the invaders
>Magic
A young Russian woman, captured and trained by the Soviets since childhood to be an operative, and through rigorous "experiments", they helped her unlock a lot of her potential. Telekinesis, teleportation, summoning, and some low-level reality warping will be her primary abilities.
>War
A Japanese Assassin/Ninja, from a cult dedicated to the Inheritors of War. Focuses on honor, stealth, and tactics rather than displays of brute force.
>Weather
An American teenager tired of life keeping him down. He had been in training as an electrician, and doesn't have the mindset to expand beyond electric-based attacks.He's overconfident, brash, and is going on a joyride with his new abilities.
>Construction
Not sure on the personality or abilities for this one yet. Might make it an Italian filmmaker obsessed with American sci-fi movies, but that seems a little too cheesy, even for this setting.
>Nothingness
Not sure on the personality here either, but I want the abilities to be less offensive, and lot more harmful. Things like absorbing/canceling the PC's powers, and draining their physical attributes.
>Mind
I'm considering this one to be an immortal - it's still the same mind chosen by the Gods, and unlike the others, the memories transfer to each new Inheritor.
Ayden Wood
Made only for killing, not made only as a movie prop.
Hunter Fisher
Here.
>A South American tribal man dedicated to protecting his home from deforestation. Primarily uses his powers to beast-shape, and has united many local tribes against the invaders
I'm brazilian, might help here. Are his beast-shapes limited to real animals?
Not quite as dignified as the lawnmower.
Jaxson Baker
>I'm brazilian, might help here. Are his beast-shapes limited to real animals?
They were, but only because I was able to find a pre-made character that fit what I was looking for. Character gen in HERO system is a monster, it normally takes at least 5 hours to put together a well-built character.
Looking back at him, I'm going to have to completely redo him anyways to make him a threat to the PCs, as well as design his followers. So if you have any suggestions for fantastical creatures that would work well for his culture, I'd love to include them!
Bentley Butler
Most of these come from guaraní mythology:
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bizoruazul.deviantart.com
light-schizophrenia.deviantart.com
light-schizophrenia.deviantart.com
light-schizophrenia.deviantart.com
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light-schizophrenia.deviantart.com
Evan Sanchez
These are great! And way more interesting than just having him turn into normal jungle animals.
Alexander White
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Liam Walker
I use a selection of five rhyming elements I thought up back in high school, and added two primordial Greek Chaos style deities to get the creation myth down.
The five gods are the elements Blood, Bone, Blight, Blaze, and Brume, and each tie to different seasons, months, types of creature, and other such things. The two primordial additions are the original deity, ONE, and it's memory/ghost NONE.
I find it works for a heavy necromancy setting.
Camden Reed
I don't think you know what rhyming means