Author Topic: Religions? (Read 4726 times)

Kassil · « **on:** February 26, 2003, 09:09:18 PM »

So - what religions fit how into this world?

If I offered up some of the deities I've concocted, would you feel like adjusting, integrating, or adapting them?

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #1 on:** February 27, 2003, 12:18:02 AM »

Surely! The more the merrier! I actually hadn't gotten around to creating a religion/mythology yet anyway. (PS - I will get the geography posted. Soon. I promise.)

Kassil · « **Reply #2 on:** February 27, 2003, 09:18:26 PM »

How's this for a rough outline?

A goddess of light, warmth, and the harvest.
A god of darkness, cold, and wisdom.
A goddess of the hearth, also associated with cooking, sewing, pottery, and similar family crafts.
A god of war, honorable and just.
A god of war, cruel, crafty, and brutal.
A mad god, patron of the aberration races.
The god of the forests, patrons of all the races of the forest, of druids, and of the rains and mists.
A goddess of magic, and attendant demigod of mages.
The gods of the elements.

No gods of good, evil, law, or chaos - people attribute such to the gods, but they don't really care. Worship is worship - and they sometimes appear in different incarnated forms to different groups and races.

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #3 on:** February 27, 2003, 09:36:25 PM »

I like that so far. Maybe the mad god could also be patron, or thought to be responsible for lunatics as well. Another thought: maybe the elemental gods should be separate from the rest of the pantheon, since they represent the closest thing to the raw power of nature. Possibly first-generation dieties. Um... there should probably be at least one diety associated with death... maybe a godess of natural death and a god of violent death. Maybe the good god of war should be in charge of righteous wars, strategy, and defense, and the other in charge of the rest of it. Twins maybe, or just different aspects of the same god.

Kassil · « **Reply #4 on:** February 27, 2003, 10:00:54 PM »

Eriol and Tyrin are archenemies - perfect echoes of each other. Eriol is the good god of war; a youthful, handsome fellow, with a great flamberge as his weapon. Eriol is a broad, swarthy warrior with a scarred visiage and a blacksteel greatsword.

Eriol is the chivalrous and noble of the two, lord of honorable combat, duels, and just combat, patron of justified wars.

Tyrin is the dark lord of iron, champion of victory at any cost, father of cunning in war, the one haralded by the vicious and brutal warriors, and the one held responsible for the restless undead of the battlefield...

Kassil · « **Reply #5 on:** February 27, 2003, 10:05:26 PM »

The mad god drives people insane - or so it's said, since madness is an aberration of the mind, rather than the body.

The elemental gods and the humanoid gods are two different breeds; the gods of humanoids are born of hopes and dreams of the mortal races, and the mad god of their madness, tc. The elemental gods are born directly of the elemental forces themselves, independent of any worship.

Kassil · « **Reply #6 on:** March 27, 2003, 12:53:06 PM »

Merril - The Mad God, Father of Chaos, Worldbender, Soulbreaker

Long ago, when even the eldest races were young and the oldest of ods were just stirring, one of the fledgling gods of the humanoids reached too far into the primal chaos and seized onto something he shouldn't have. What it was remains unknown, but the effects of it are plain even to this day. Merril, once the patron lord of a beautiful and artistic race who once were matches for the elves, has lost his sanity. His fractured awareness has deformed him over the eons, and in turn his divine power has echoed down upon his race, creating a vast array of strange, twisted lifeforms - all claiming to be part of a single race.

Still, madness often brings unexpected insight, and all of those who follow Merril - whether members of the 'race' he is patron of or people who seek the hidden secrets of madness - benefit from this, often achieving incredible insights that leave sane minds dumbfounded in the elegant simplicity of them.

Merril honestly doesn't see himself as a villain of any kind, and tries to help those he feels need his aid. Unfortunately, his madness has even warped his divine power, and wherever he touches, some form of madness erupts within a day's time - ranging from as simple as the animals in the region switching patterns from day to night and vice versa, to as extreme as the very fabric of reality twisting askew until impossible things occur. Fortunately, most of these outbreaks are temporary and go back to how they were before the god's touch after a time. Those which linger are often regarded as regions of nightmare, to be avoided at all costs...

Kassil · « **Reply #7 on:** March 27, 2003, 01:08:18 PM »

Khirsah - Shadowlord, Stormshadow, Nightbearer, Darkbringer, Truthseeker

A dark god of the night, Khirsah is held to be responsible for darkness, cold, and the secret wisodm that lingers shrouded in darkness and mystery. Of all the gods, his origins are the most mysterious - perhaps on purpose, given his reputation of stealth and secrets. Still, it remains well known that this mysterious god often chooses to take the form of a great dragon born of darkness and mist, jealously hoarding his secrets and power and only bestowing them in dribs and drabs to the worthy.

Oddly enough, even though he remains the patron of darkness, Khirsah holds no part with what mortals term evil - or with what they term good, choosing to remain neutral and gather mysteries from both sides to himself. Perhaps the only being who can convince him to side with one or the other for even a brief time is his beloved - the goddess Cally Kari Shokka, the patron goddess of light, wamth, and the harvests.

When he chooses to interfere in mortal affairs, Khirsah's presence can be noted by a supernatural cold or unnatural darkness briefly touching an area, and leaving behind some peculiar item or clue to those near it as an answer to their questions.
When provoked to anger, the victims of this god's wrath are rarely seen again - and those who are strangely have no shadows beneath their corpses.

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #8 on:** July 16, 2003, 11:31:54 PM »

I'm more or less trying to make this different than the stereotypical view. Therefore, traditional gender roles as applied to dieties might be reversed.

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2003, 12:06:10 AM »

The only things that would be older than the gods so far as I know would be the Primals. The Primals were the first elemental forces. All elements and elementals sprang from them. The Primals usually don't take much interest in divine politics. And yes, the gender-reversal thing of mine still applies. Fire is female, earth is male, water is female, and air is male.
As for things the gods fear, I may have just the thing. There exists a sword called Bane, as in the bane of existance. It was forged in the early mists of prehistory, some said by the gods themselves in order to discipline one of their number. It will kill anything. Especially gods.

Dragon Lord · « **Reply #10 on:** January 17, 2005, 09:17:26 AM »

I quite like the idea of switching gender for the traditional gods/godessess so war/death is female (actually Morrigan, a celtic war diety, was female) and life/healing/fertility is male.

As for the Primals - perhaps they should be genderless, after all they exsited before the gods and probably represent the primal forces of nature ather than the emotions or desires of men (or other mortals).

Maybe a similar logic follows for the Elementals since they do not depent on worship for their existance.