Creating pantheons - gender ratios, and nature of evil?
Jyrki V. Puska
I've been working on creating a pantheon for my next campaign world.
Unfortunately, it is something that I haven't done before - until now I've
'borrowed' deities from various sources - and am having some unforeseen
trouble with creating my own.
I thought that I've almost completed the pantheon, but upon reviewing, I found
several problems:
- Most of the deities are masculine. This, in fact, (...for some reason...)
seems to be the case in the official settings too, but doesn't fit too well in
my campaign world where humans aren't the dominant race, and most races
(...especially dwarves, and to lesser degree, elves...) view sexes as far more
equal than humans did in our world during middle ages. In case that you're
wondering, there is only one large multi-racial pantheon in my campaign world -
ie. no separate human and elven pantheons (...although some deities do value
certain races more than others...), etc. - and most deities in my campaign are
in reality genderless (...except those who were one mortal...), but most have a
preferred form/gender that they use when appearing before their worshippers and
such; and are referred by that gender by mortals.
The masculine/feminine ratio of good deities is balanced, neutral is slightly
on the masculine side but not a major problem, but ~84% of my evil deities are
currenly masculine. -_-
- I seem to have created many more good and neutral deities than evil ones. I
was planning to make them more equal in number - with evil deities being overall
more powerful than good ones, but good ones working better together; balance of
power in a way. To me, it seems that evil is more limited than good or
neutrality - there are only so many deities that I can create without their
interests overlapping too badly. I mean, can you imagine an evil deity of birth
and renewal, or healing, or freedom, or joy and friendship, or... (...well,
actually, I can - but that'd be bit too abnormal; I'd just prefer to use more
'accepted' philosophical alignments...)
I corrected this and previous problems slightly by elevating a night hag that
very much resembles Baba Yaga into full godhood, as the deity of hunger,
knowledge, and dark magick. <grin>
...but still not balanced...
- ...and it seems that most of my evil deities are either CE or NE. *sigh*
....sooo... Any help? If anyone has ideas for evil feminine deities
(preferably lawful) that I could 'borrow', I'd be quite thankful. ^_^
Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
- Darkness/Loss/Nightmares/Despair/Fear
- Dark Magick/Undeath
- Destruction/Cold
- Disease/Pestilence
- Entropy/Oblivion/Anarchy/Heresy/Infinity (...don't ask...)
- Envy/Hate/Cruelty
- Hunger/Famine
- Greed
- Treachery/Deceit/Lies
- Murder/Poison/Assassins
- Oppression/Intolerance
- Power/Conquest
- Savagery/Bloodlust/Beasts
...have I missed anything that is commonly considered evil?
(...already have chaotic neutral god of thievery, and lawful good god of
death, btw...)
ba...@dmcom.net
>
> ....sooo... Any help? If anyone has ideas for evil feminine deities
> (preferably lawful) that I could 'borrow', I'd be quite thankful. ^_^
Well not sure what you want goddesses can be barrowed from many
different sources. http://www.pantheon.org/search.html might help you
find some goddesses that myth already have an aspect.
>
> Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
I will offer you ideas of how some could be female energy.
> - Darkness/Loss/Nightmares/Despair/Fear
This can be from a jelious wife, spuned lover (Hera comes to mind as one
example of a goddess that plauged women that Zues looked at). This as a
goddess of course could traget men as being unaceptible and to be
punished.
> - Dark Magick/Undeath
Considering that witches were considered evil, Dark magic(k) as a
femomene asspect should not be hard to do at all. For undead a vooduo
working could serve as a model, these are both male and female.
> - Destruction/Cold
Any example of an "Ics Queen", you might consider Naria as a template.
> - Disease/Pestilence
Well Lloth likes spiders so for pests you might take some of her
asspects. Typhoid Mary might serve as a start foe Disease. Add
together and shake well.
> - Entropy/Oblivion/Anarchy/Heresy/Infinity (...don't ask...)
One that seeks rest and peace, perhaps an elder goddess, mother of
others and tied of her kids fighting.
> - Envy/Hate/Cruelty
Envy and Hate certainly are female as well as male pasions, as for
cruelty you might look to BSDM, there are many that certainly enjoy
inflicting pain.
> - Hunger/Famine
Demeter when daughter was in Hades caused the world crops to fail,
however you are looking for something a little different. This could be
a goddess that considers the petty mortals as being a problem maring the
world. Perhaps some mortal killed her child with farming item.
> - Greed
Dimonds are a girl's best friend. Also can look to any high powered
woman willing to do anything to get what she wants.
> - Treachery/Deceit/Lies
This certainly is niether male or female. In fact in medieval times for
a female to succeed she had to use all to gain power. There are srories
of females using deciet appearing to be male in order to have power. Of
course any being a mistress would need to appear to be pure while
breaking rules/codes.
> - Murder/Poison/Assassins
Poison is also witch related, however there are examples of poison rings
often used by women because they never stood a chance of a sword to
sword fight.
> - Oppression/Intolerance
> - Power/Conquest
> - Savagery/Bloodlust/Beasts
You could also find women that have had such roles.
They have no bread, then let them eat cake.
Get unwashed masses.
The number of people controled.
Revenge in any of many ways, of course it is reported that for a female
to remain yoothful taking a bath in virgin blood was considered a very
good methord (that could provide to satify some degree of bloodlust).
Then there is Kali (goddess of thuggery).
>
> ...have I missed anything that is commonly considered evil?
> (...already have chaotic neutral god of thievery, and lawful good god of
> death, btw...)
Evil is often what the person believes to be evil. Foe each asspect you
have develped for good you can have an oposing that is evil. This does
not require an equal number of good and evil dieties, just as long as
the asspects are covered. Some dieties might have only one asspect and
others 4. You most likely would want to try to have a balance of ower
between these. What one god/dess can do can be reversed by another. In
effect all you need is a family or small comunity and just give then
divine powers.
--
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Neelakantan Krishnaswami
Jyrki V Puska <.@.> wrote:
>
> Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
> - Darkness/Loss/Nightmares/Despair/Fear
Iorya Lunarsa
She Who Never Lies
The Gazer into the Abyss
Legends say that the angels of the Silver City have compromised their
moral code just once, at the beginning of time. It is said that at
that time, men were strong and brave and free, and the angels felt a
terrible pity for them, for they knew that Menthera Lunarsa, the
goddess of the end of all things, would soon grow tired of the
finitude of Creation and cause it to pass away. So the angels
approached Iorya Lunarsa, and asked her to betray her sister. You are
the goddess of darkness and loss, they said, and we ask you to hide
your sister's omnipotence from her, so that the world of men might
live a little longer.
Iorya's price for her betrayal was half of Creation. The sun must go
out half of every day, she said. We will pay this, the angels said.
In that night the souls of men must come to my house, she said. We
will pay this, the angels said. Men must know fear, and their strength
must fail them, she said. We will pay this, the angels said. And
finally, Iorya said that one day her sister would see through her, and
Creation would fail anyway. And the angels agreed to pay this, knowing
that for Iorya their true payment was their despair at their own lack
of strength.
Iorya's priests, like their mistress, never lie, and their prophecies
are uncannily accurate -- though they always foretell inescapable
doom. Yet they are welcomed in every court, for like the angels men
would take the risk of bargaining with Iorya Lunarsa. And also like
the angels, they are afraid of angering Iorya to the point where she
will loose her sister from her bonds.
> - Dark Magick/Undeath
Gloriana
Queen of the Trooping Ghosts
La Belle Dame sans Merci
Gloriana is the ageless, beautiful, and merciless queen of the fairy
courts, she who rules over all the horrors of the night. The evil fae
and the undead fall under her rule, and she directs them to prey on
mankind. For that alone she would be opposed by the celestial hosts,
but she is particularly hated for her creation of the Trooping Ghosts.
Gloriana is the queen of the undead, and all the unquiet dead fall
under her command. This includes the ghosts of knights and heroes who
fell while doing battle against evil. These, she organizes into her
Trooping Ghosts, and uses them as her special order of enforcers.
Unable to defy her will, the spirits of heroes must perpetrate atrocity
after atrocity until their spirit is worn down. And when they are
broken, Gloriana sends their souls to Hell, receiving magical powers
from the Adversary in exchange for paying the Teind of souls.
> - Entropy/Oblivion/Anarchy/Heresy/Infinity (...don't ask...)
Manthera Lunarsa
The End of All Things
The Mother of the Abyss
Manthera is sometime called the Mother Goddess, and sometimes called
the Adversary. She is known to hate everything that lives, and is also
said to have given birth to the universe (sometimes, it is said that
she will one day give birth to it). Her powers and attributes are
guesswork, pieced together from fragmentary mentions in a hundred
different prophecies. It is known that she is somehow both the sister
and the mother of the goddess of the Night, Iorya Lunarsa, who
betrayed her and bound her.
Manthera is bound physically on Earth, in the highest tower of the
Spiral Castle. The country where Spiral Castle lies is kept in
darkness, and its location has been lost from every map, all at the
command of Iorya -- but even the dark goddess of the night cannot
completely keep the Adversary from working her will upon the Earth.
For though the Spiral Castle is on Earth, its foundations were laid in
Hell, and the demons lay their ears to it, listening for the messages
that Manthera taps out into the stones of the castle, and hurry to do
her bidding. They hear secrets from the Great Mother, and they learn
how to hasten the day when Manthera will slip free and shatter the
universe in her fury.
> - Hunger/Famine/Greed
Zunyaka
She Who Is Clad in Gold
The Drinker of Ruin
When Zunyaka appears on Earth, she manifests as a young girl on the
verge of adolescence, clad in the finest diamonds and the richest
cloth-of-gold, borne upon a litter carried by men of gigantic stature
who leave bloody footprints wherever they go. Wherever she appears,
the people hasten to sacrifice everything they own to her, for she is
the goddess of wealth and will not hesitate to deny it to anyone who
would keep anything from her.
Even when she does not physically manifest, her priests run what is
essentially a protection racket on her behalf. Her priests must
receive payments from the populace, and if they do not Zunyaka will
curse them so that their crops fail and famine stalks the land. You
might ask why exactly a divine entity would want mundane *money*. The
answer is pretty simple: power. With enough gold her priests can
topple kings and take over entire nations, all without any expenditure
of divine energy on Zunyaka's part -- as with everything else, she is
miserly in her expenditures of her miraculous power.
> - Power/Conquest
Malvera
Mistress of the Eagles
Imperatrix Mundi
Malvera is the Adversary's chief general, who leads the hordes of the
devils in battle against the Silver City, and who organizes and
commands the effort to free the Mother Goddess from her prison in the
Spiral Castle.
Despite this, she is known to be one of the most honorable beings
alive. In her mortal life, her husband was a knight of great renown,
who fell in battle and whose soul was taken by Gloriana. Malvera made
her way to Gloriana's Court and successfully bargained her husband's
soul in exchange for her own, and when she went down to Hell she found
that the Adversary, knowing that she would never betray her oath, gave
her her apotheosis and made her the general of the infernal legions.
Malvera commands the worship of those who would set themselves against
the world, and would dare all to win the prize. She is the Imperatrix
Mundi, the Empress of the World, who rules over the world of power
despite seeking its destruction.
> - Treachery/Deceit/Lies
Nyaya
The Serpent-Tongued Daughter
The Beautiful Seducer
One part of Iorya's price for her betrayal was that the firstborn of
the angels lay with her, and from that union Nyaya was the offspring.
Born from the corruption of the most noble of the angels, Nyaya was a
treacherous monster who lacked both the empathy of the angels and the
dark integrity of her mother.
Dealing with Nyaya is always tempting and always foolish. It is said
that she is the one who taught the demons how to lie. When she was but
three days old she travelled to Hell, and told the demon princes that
she would give them an ability the celestial host lacked: the ability
to lie. The demons accepted her offer, and soon discovered that their
new-found ability to deceive and betray meant that they could no
longer trust one another -- and that their ability to wage war against
Nyaya's mother Iorya was greatly reduced.
--
Neel Krishnaswami
ne...@alum.mit.edu
Chris Camfield
at http://www.pantheon.org/ has tons of stuff.
On Mon, 07 Apr 2003 19:17:17 +0300, Jyrki V. Puska <.@...> wrote:
>interests overlapping too badly. I mean, can you imagine an evil deity of birth
>and renewal, or healing, or freedom, or joy and friendship, or... (...well,
>actually, I can - but that'd be bit too abnormal; I'd just prefer to use more
>'accepted' philosophical alignments...)
Well maybe this would be more neutral, but you could have deities who represent
or control both aspects of something like this. The Greeks prayed to an aspect
of either Hera or Artemis at times of childbirth because these goddesses were
responsible for the deaths of newborns. Another possibility would be to have
two deities which are siblings, e.g. two goddesses related to agriculture, one
whose aspect is plenty and the bounty of the earth, and the other famine and
hunger.
The Greeks also had Hekate (goddess of nighttime, magic, etc)
the Erinyes or Furies (vengeance, pretty darkly so)
Kali of Hindu mythology was I think the goddess that the Thuggee cult of India
prayed to (murder/poison/assassins)
> - Savagery/Bloodlust/Beasts
Sounds like a vengeful nature deity. See: Artemis, for instance. I believe she
turned a hunter who saw her bathing into a deer, and then his own hounds tore
him to pieces.
> - Power/Conquest
Here's an interesting entry from Enc. Mythica I stumbled across just now:
Anath
by Dr Anthony E. Smith
Chief West Semitic goddess of love and war, the sister and helpmate of the god
Baal (Bel). Once she slayed all his enemies at a feast. She is a goddess with
four differing aspects: mother, virgin, warrior, and wanton. Though a "mother"
she was ever a "virgin". Her lust for blood, and or sex, was legendary. She was
worshipped throughout Canaan, Syria and Phoenicia. She was a popular goddess of
war and fertility. She was largely syncretized with Asherah and Astarte, and so
there is some confusion as to her myths and relationship to other deities of the
area.
Jankee
Charliss NE
Power: Lesser
Domains: Evil, Retribution, Strength and Suffering
Portfolio: Pain, Cruelty, Torture, Agony, Hurt and Torment
Symbol Description: A 12 headed whip with spine tipped ends.
History: Another one of the second waves of gods, Charliss came from the
afterbirth of hatred, the feeling of cruelty. She taught mento inflict pain
onone anotherand how to derive thier pleasure by causing pain in others. She
revels in torture especially inflicted on sentient beings. She is frequently
a lover of bayl, enjoying his work because it means that there will be more
pain and more torture. She also has a sometime relationship wind bandus as
well, although each brother is unaware of the involvement of the other. She
refuses to become involve in the war of law and choas, instead preferring
cruelty for its own sake.
Church: Charliss' church is well organized, her priest exsist all throughout
the civilized lands although her church is fairly small because she is
generally unpopular. Priest of Charliss do not actively hide thier faithbut
know well enough to be discreteabout thier patron godess.
Common worshipers: Torturers, Inquisitors, Assasins and Sadists.
Bayal: CE - Murder, Betrayal, Deception, Illusion, Lies, Assasins,
Assasination and Corruption
Bandus: LE - Strife, Hatred, Tyranny, Oppression and Fear
"Jyrki V. Puska" <.@...> wrote in message
news:9d539vsuedsg71gnk...@4ax.com...
Talen
>Greetings.
>
> I've been working on creating a pantheon for my next campaign world.
>Unfortunately, it is something that I haven't done before - until now I've
>'borrowed' deities from various sources - and am having some unforeseen
>trouble with creating my own.
>
> I thought that I've almost completed the pantheon, but upon reviewing, I found
>several problems:
>
> - Most of the deities are masculine. This, in fact, (...for some reason...)
>seems to be the case in the official settings too, but doesn't fit too well in
>my campaign world where humans aren't the dominant race, and most races
>(...especially dwarves, and to lesser degree, elves...) view sexes as far more
>equal than humans did in our world during middle ages. In case that you're
>wondering, there is only one large multi-racial pantheon in my campaign world -
>ie. no separate human and elven pantheons (...although some deities do value
>certain races more than others...), etc. - and most deities in my campaign are
>in reality genderless (...except those who were one mortal...), but most have a
>preferred form/gender that they use when appearing before their worshippers and
>such; and are referred by that gender by mortals.
> The masculine/feminine ratio of good deities is balanced, neutral is slightly
>on the masculine side but not a major problem, but ~84% of my evil deities are
>currenly masculine. -_-
Ah, something I found common when I did the initial brief for my
world. For what it's worth, the Pantheon of my game world is based on
The Great Balance, so there are (at last check) seven genderless,
seven male, and seven female. I may have to double-check that.
Now, before people go into stupid stereotypes, here are some evil
goddesses from my world that may give you ideas:
ADEBLEN
The Reveller in War, The Ravager, The Queen of Rape, the Savage Face
of Battle
Greater Inner God
Symbol: A white skeletal hand fused to a black and gold sword hilt.
Alignment: Lawful Evil.
Portfolio: War, battles, strategy, tactics
Worshipers: Warlords, Savage armies, Tyrants, Evil Warmongers
Cleric Alignments: LE, NE, LN
Domains: Domination, Hatred, Knowledge, Law, Planning, Tyranny, War
Favoured Weapon: Longsword
While Palescai brings to mind the image of a classic Paladin, astride
horse, lance in hand, longsword readied, and armour gleaming, Adeblen
embodies all that is foul in a battle. Terrorism, fear, heaping
bodies, charnel foulness, and the ever-present stench of death, all
are hallmarks of a deed well done to a cleric of Adeblen. She is a
harsh and cruel mistress, given to almost insane fury in battle,
despite her lawful alignment, and is not above exploiting more chaotic
forces.
Adeblen appears as a voluptuous figured, impractically clad
woman with a pair of longswords and a longbow. She is always
remarkably beautiful, after a harsh, angular fashion, and her hands
are always stained slightly with blood. Adeblen appears to be almost
naked on a battlefield, but she also knows the value of intimidation,
and always wears invisible armour. Her faith is on the rise amongst
the expansionists in Nbyana, who perceive her as a great goddess of
war and power. Particularly the Leopardmen of the Nbyana rainforests
revere her.
Adeblen's clerics pray for spells immediately after waking -
before eating or performing any other deeds. Adeblen demands absolute
dedication from her clerics, and demands to be the foremost in the
minds of any follower.
History/Relationships: Adeblen does not get along with her
brother at all. Palescai and Adeblen are rarely ever not at odds, and
they have never been known to cooperate. This is probably due to the
nature of their arrival in Cobrin`Seil's greater pantheon, as the
squalling, battling children they were. Adeblen does have a
surprisingly strong ally in the Fortuneseeker and she has been making
overtures in the form of an alliance or even a union with the
dispassionate one, Seit.
Dogma: To battle is to live. Nothing truly exists that cannot
be taken or owned by some form of battle, and there is no tactic that
is unthinkable, if the risks measure up to the reward. There is no
such thing as a gift - all things are claimed and taken. That which is
given freely will be taken freely by one stronger. In battle, victory
is paramount, and no concern may outweigh it. Do not become distracted
by lies like love or hope - they exist but to manipulate fools.
I've found that female war goddesses are surprisingly easy,
particularly in a world where genders are equal. After all, they're
just as strong as men and just as savage.
KHEI'SZEIYA
Lady of the Midnight Pits, Mistress of the Underdeep, Mother of the
Drow, Queen of the Deep Dwarves, Owner of the Deep Elves
Greater Inner Goddess
Symbol: A bat, wings spread with spider's legs and a scorpion's tail.
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Darkness, Drow, Deep Elves, Deep Dwarves, Pain, Murder
Worshipers: Drow, Deep Dwarves, Underdeep races
Cleric Alignments: LE, NE, N
Domains: Blood, Chaos, Darkness, Domination, Evil, Hatred, Lust, Magic
Favoured Weapon: Flail
When the god Edih walked the earth for a year, a month, a day, and an
hour, he suppressed his power, binding his divinity within himself in
a spark that nobody, not even he himself, could touch without slaying
him first. This step to humanity, he felt, would let him ascend to
godhood twice over, and therefore, become a mightier force than the
other gods combined. He was stopped in this goal by Ravid Godslayer,
but as he went to commit a rampage of destruction on the world in his
hubris, a simple street mugger stepped out from an alleyway and struck
him down with a blackjack. With his death, his divine energy was
released, and that mugger attained godhood, claiming the throne
deserted by Edih - that of darkness, of pain, of savagery, and of
murder. Rather than submit to a greater god, such as Erhymn, she
demanded the place on the Pantheon that Edih himself deserted, and was
granted it - but along with this power, she was granted the ails and
failings of Edih. Without worshippers, the gods universally forced the
upstart godling to dwell in the Underdeep.
Khei'Szeiya was not cowed or humbled by this treatment,
however, and she drew with her a fragment of the elven society of the
Crystal City, and a number of dwarven miners who toiled at the
mountain Grimspire itself. Whispering to them of power and
temptations, she took the seeds of the Drow and Deep Dwarven races.
Millennia later, Khei'Szeiya owns to power unheeded, and seems to
command a powerful pantheon of the Drow and their connected slave
races.
Khei'Szeiya appears as a harsh-featured Drow woman with human
ears and a scarred face. When she does appear, however, it is
typically in as ostentatious a manner as possible; the subtleties the
former thief once lived by have since been destroyed. Khei'Szeiya's
belief in her own superiority as a god has led to immense arrogance
and recklessness on her part, and in turn, the creation of the Deep
Elven race - the runaway fodder of war.
Khei'Szeiya's clerics pray for spells at midnight, when the
sunless sky no longer taunts and the stars themselves stud the body of
the lady of darkness in all her glory.
History/Relationships: Somewhat understandably, Khei'Szeiya
hates pretty much every other god and is hated by them in turn.
Specifically, she holds a true hatred for Erallabein Delfae, believing
him to have been the cause of her people's ultimate failings, and she
holds in her heart a deep and brooding lust for Palescai, longing to
corrupt the paragon of virtue. Palescai could not be more
disinterested.
Dogma: The Drow are everything. If you are a deep elf, thank
your mother-goddess that you may exist to serve. If you are a deep
dwarf, then thank your owner-goddess for your continued existence. If
you are of another race, prostate yourself before us, and surrender to
the might of the Drow that you may well be sacrificed quickly. To
resist the Drow is to court death. Women are superior to men, and no
man may ascend to a station above a woman. Men are toys and tools for
women to use and discard.
Khei'Szeiya is a favourite case because she is an Ascended mortal
whose mind couldn't handle it. She did go quite thoroughly nuts, and
ideas she had that were predilictions have since become utterly insane
dogma (she did prefer to be on top, as it were, and that has become
exaggerated to the point where men are simply not relevant).
<checks> <realises that these are the ONLY TWO female members of the
Evil pantheon and most of the pantheon's females are neutral> Aheh.
> - I seem to have created many more good and neutral deities than evil ones. I
>was planning to make them more equal in number - with evil deities being overall
>more powerful than good ones, but good ones working better together; balance of
>power in a way. To me, it seems that evil is more limited than good or
>neutrality - there are only so many deities that I can create without their
>interests overlapping too badly. I mean, can you imagine an evil deity of birth
>and renewal, or healing, or freedom, or joy and friendship, or... (...well,
>actually, I can - but that'd be bit too abnormal; I'd just prefer to use more
>'accepted' philosophical alignments...)
Actually, they could be great fun. Consider an almost druidic neutral
evil cult of birth and life that believe for every new life born, one
must die - and so deliver births of extreme difficulty and with great
prowess - but then murder a family member of the child.
Meanwhile, overlapping evil deities isn't a bad thing per se. It
prompts conflict.
Anyway, you might consider getting The Book of the Righteous, which
has an entire pantheon of Good and Neutral Gods - those who want evil
power instead worship Demons and Devils.
> I corrected this and previous problems slightly by elevating a night hag that
>very much resembles Baba Yaga into full godhood, as the deity of hunger,
>knowledge, and dark magick. <grin>
Very cool.
>...but still not balanced...
>
> - ...and it seems that most of my evil deities are either CE or NE. *sigh*
Really? Here, I'll throw some Lawful ones your way and see if they
fire the imagination.
THE FORTUNESEEKER
The Lord of Chance, the Great Improbability, He Who Does Play Dice
Greater Inner God
Symbol: A red pair of six-sided dice with black gemstones for pips
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Chance, failure, bad luck, misfortune
Worshipers: Gamblers, con men, thieves, liars
Cleric Alignments: LN, LE, NE
Domains: Charm, Corruption, Evil, Fate, Law, Luck, Lust
Favoured Weapon: Unarmed Strikes
The Fortuneseeker holds a delightfully unique presence on the
Pantheon. Evil and merciless, he pursues unrelentingly those he has in
his grasp - gamblers down on their luck, a man desperately trying to
increase his chance of survival - and yet, at some time or another,
everyone calls upon his name, hoping to see him smile back at them as
they turn over the cards. They may see him. They may not. But it is
extremely unlikely that he will be smiling.
The Fortuneseeker appears as a single, red and black, begemmed
and bejewelled right hand, invariably found on gamblers, card sharks,
or con men. He is often mistaken, in this guise, for a Demilich,
though he has a great many such creatures in his employ, plumbing the
depths of probability for those truly impossible things, finding them
in the Far Realms.
The Fortuneseeker's Clerics pray for spells at sundown or
sunrise - standing on the edges of night. While the Fortuneseeker is
capricious, he always follows rules - and random chance follows a
mathematical pattern that is a very faint aspect of the great Primal
Order itself.
History/Relationships: The Fortuneseeker has alienated quite
thoroughly the Black that Knows, but his most significant relationship
is the unquenched hatred he has for Palescai. Originally a humanoid
god, of no small strength and nimbleness, The Fortuneseeker met with
Palescai on an open battlefield in the primal days of the world, and
it was in this battle that Palescai was forever lamed. However, the
Fortuneseeker's body was smashed into thousands of pieces, each one
transformed by the shock into fragments of gold, and distributed all
around the world. Even as the Fortuneseeker seeks to regain his body,
he seeks to thwart Palescai, and the latter takes priority over the
former, no matter how much more advantageous it is for him to do
otherwise.
Dogma: Life is a game, and everyone is destined to lose it. It
merely matters how long you can keep yourself playing before that
happens. Chance, probability, mathematics, all are such primordial
factors and powers that a truly dedicated mind can master them, and
bend chance itself to one's will. Fate is a nonsense that fools see,
and it should be your goal to bring about such a thing should it be
seen to you. The dice are seductive, and games can be seen to taste of
lust and pleasure - indulge in such things, if they interest you, and
revel.
THE LORD
The Balanced one, Bringer of Justice, the Harsh Law, The Great
Deceiver
Greater Inner God
Symbol: A set of scales fronted by a sword
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Laws, vengeance, balance, deceit, lies
Worshipers: Tyrants, judges, common people
Cleric Alignments: LE, LN, NE
Domains: Corruption, Domination, Evil, Law, Nobility, Planning,
Tyranny
Favoured Weapon: Bastard Sword
In the primal days of the Pantheon, before the great Balance, a lone
godling seized upon the power of the words men used, and bent them to
a permanent disjunction. Now, woven into the fabric of mankind's
knowledge is the assumption that one thing is simply as it should be,
even as all the while it is not. The Lord, the Great Deceiver,
ascended to the state of Greater Godhood that day, and has since held
the position, the False Paladin ever-lying to the world around him.
The Lord is worshipped by many common people as a Lawful Neutral
deity, never realising the tyrant their god happens to be. All the
gods know of the Lord's great deceit, but beyond their own worshippers
and clerics they are powerless to inform others - the Great Deceit
remains embedded in the very fabric of Cobrin`Seil.
The Lord appears, at all times, as a tall, imposing, man with
a fine-trimmed black beard and warm, loving eyes. He typically wears
silver-enamelled full plate mail, and is rarely without his bastard
sword, though it is not unknown for him to appear without it. Given to
cordial speech and beautiful wordplay, he can appear for all the world
to be an ultimately good man, simply cursed by an inability to
adequately communicate, which leads to him being considered abrupt and
brash by those who are unwilling to give him a proper chance.
The Lord's clerics pray for spells at sunset, when the night
is not begun nor the day ended. He relishes this quiet lie, the
curious fact that people try to apply yes and no answers to a complex
- and yet simple - fact of life.
History/Relationships: The Lord is hated by all of the Good
members of the Pantheon. He takes all this offence in his stride,
excepting for El, who he does not consider a real god, and who he
considers a worthy - if inferior - foe in a battle of wits. For this
reason, frequently The Lord sees fit to put small challenges in the
way of what he sees as an amusing pet of a creature. In time, the Lord
believes he will reach out and permanently leash the Force Dragon,
mayhap using him as a steed. But that day has not yet arrived… not
yet. Beyond that, the Lord has forged strong relations with
Tan'Tarock, who disputes his position as a god of justice and law, but
is able to tolerate him given their common focus.
Dogma: Law is paramount. The suffering of people is necessary
to truly facilitate the unbending rules, and those that move beyond
rules or despite them must be removed as an example to others who
would flout the Great Order. Words are power, as is Knowledge.
Ambition is admirable - but blind ambition is a trait for blind
leaders.
> ....sooo... Any help? If anyone has ideas for evil feminine deities
>(preferably lawful) that I could 'borrow', I'd be quite thankful. ^_^
Well, there's Adeblen. ;p
> Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
> - Darkness/Loss/Nightmares/Despair/Fear
> - Dark Magick/Undeath
> - Destruction/Cold
> - Disease/Pestilence
> - Entropy/Oblivion/Anarchy/Heresy/Infinity (...don't ask...)
I like this one.
> - Envy/Hate/Cruelty
> - Hunger/Famine
> - Greed
> - Treachery/Deceit/Lies
> - Murder/Poison/Assassins
> - Oppression/Intolerance
> - Power/Conquest
> - Savagery/Bloodlust/Beasts
>
> ...have I missed anything that is commonly considered evil?
Consider this idea; someone once said that if races have pantheons,
who do Demons and Devils worship? Furthermore, I wouldn't consider
Beasts to be evil creatures, though, in the case of a god like Malar,
you could make a case for a corrupting influence.
Consider the value of an Evil Spin on common themes. The domains are
good places to start:
An evil god of storms and airborne disease
An evil god of animals who drives innocent animals to frenzies
An evil god of Chaos at the expense of _everything_
An evil god of Death (easy)
An evil god of buildings and construction - or, rather, an
evil god of Destruction who people pray to to shore up their walls.
An evil god of acids and stone, known as the Corroding One,
who is the brother of the god previous.
An evil god of Evil itself - a god worshipped by creatures
formed of inherent evil, and those creatures alone.
An evil god of Fire (kinda dull)
An evil god of 'good' - akin to the Lord.
An evil deity of healing who believe that everyone has a
lifespan of a hundred years and that which is given must be taken
away. During life, they heal you, but every time they heal you, they
remove a day from your life (and kill you if you accrue too many
days).
An evil deity of Knowledge who admires forbidden knowledge -
that which is hard to obtain - above all else.
An evil deity of the Law - a god who is the incarnation of the
ultimate tyrannies - the laws of physics. Possibly a god who destroys
nondivine magic.
An evil god of Luck, like the Fortuneseeker.
An evil god of Magic. Possibly the brother (and therefore
hated enemy) of the Evil deity of Law.
An evil god of Plants - one who has corrupted the flow of
nature and wishes to see plants overwhelm the world. The Hanging
gardens of Carceri spring to mind.
An evil god of Protection - who ward all things foul against
the criminations of the good. Say hi to evil Hospitalers!
An evil god of Strength (and possibly healing), whose body is
formed from the surgically reconstructed components of all those
strong who worshipped it in their lives
An evil god of the Sun - a god of deserts and starvation
An evil god of Travel - the roaming plague, as it were, one
who carries with him a curse of time and soothsaying
An evil god of Trickery, who wishes for nothing more than to
redeem himself and be good, but has so bound himself in his own lies
that he himself cannot see through them to what is good and evil.
An evil god of War (Ho hum)
An evil god of Water, who represents the crushing oceans and
treacherous sea paths, and who rides a seaborn chariot drawn by the
truly abhorrent things that sleep in the depths of the ocean's
canyons...
That's just a shortlist of ideas.
> (...already have chaotic neutral god of thievery, and lawful good god of
>death, btw...)
Heh.
--
Talen
http://shatteredreality.net/talen/
"Yeah, I took everything unrealistic out of the game. No
spells, no magic, no ki, no dice...
"I call it, 'Four Guys Beating Each Other With Sticks in
the Backyard.'"
- Arturick, Wielder of the Mighty Shovel
The Gurus love you
Bryan J. Maloney
news:9d539vsuedsg71gnk...@4ax.com:
> - Most of the deities are masculine. This, in fact, (...for some
> reason...)
> seems to be the case in the official settings too, but doesn't fit too
> well in my campaign world where humans aren't the dominant race, and
> most races (...especially dwarves, and to lesser degree, elves...)
> view sexes as far more equal than humans did in our world during
Even rather patriarchical cultures in our own history had quite a few
goddesses. One very common practice was that most deities were presumed
to be married. Thus, every god was paired with a goddess.
> Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
[Really Long List]
Oddly enough, from my reading of comparative religion and mythology, evil
"deities" were far more likely to be "all purpose badness" than split up
among specific portfolios. Individual demonic spirits might have a
specialty, but the big bads, the ones who could actually be a threat to
the gods, were much more likely to be generalists. Likewise, it seems to
have been very common for their either to be one big bad god and a bunch
of flunkies or for the "bad gods" to be essentially anonymous members of a
rival family or race of beings.
Justisaur
I agree here, IMC I have a bunch of petty gods, there's some who are
evil ( little e) and a couple of opposing families, and they all get at
each others throats now and again, but there's one really really
powerful EVIL god, who's out to destroy all the others. He was actually
two gods to begin with but they were both defeated, and through some
strangeness became one very nasty fellow. It's only because most of the
time the Gods in general get togeather and do their best to contain him
and make sure they aren't all destroyed that things go on at all.
I love the campain and the balancing act is fun, but just through
everything that's happened it isn't very playable anymore after so many
campains have altered everything.
- Justisaur -
check http://justisaur.tripod.com/well.htm for my encounter generator,
xp calculator, and other usefull documents.
Jyrki V. Puska
>Jyrki V. Puska wrote:
>> ....sooo... Any help? If anyone has ideas for evil feminine deities
>> (preferably lawful) that I could 'borrow', I'd be quite thankful. ^_^
>
>different sources. http://www.pantheon.org/search.html might help you
>find some goddesses that myth already have an aspect.
Interesting. That's quite an extensive collection of mythologies. There's
likely a lot of useful material 'hidden' on that site, though I'm somewhat
overwhelmed by the amount of info: might take a while to find the useful ones
among more than 6000 articles... ^_^;
...in any case, thanks.
>> Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
>
>I will offer you ideas of how some could be female energy.
Hm. The list was meant to show which areas I've already used in creating my
current evil deities, and would've preferred ideas for other aspects of evil
that don't overlap too badly with ones that are already on the list - but I've
received quite a few great ideas from your and other replies. I think I'll just
modify some of my current evil gods to be more feminine (...and lawful...) -
that'll at least fix two of my problems (not enough LE and unbalanced gender
ratio)... Thank you.
Jyrki V. Puska
>It has been brought to my attention that Jyrki V. Puska <.@...> wrote:
>
>> I've been working on creating a pantheon for my next campaign world.
>>Unfortunately, it is something that I haven't done before - until now I've
>>'borrowed' deities from various sources - and am having some unforeseen
>>trouble with creating my own.
>Now, before people go into stupid stereotypes, here are some evil
>goddesses from my world that may give you ideas:
>
>ADEBLEN
> Dogma: To battle is to live. Nothing truly exists that cannot
>be taken or owned by some form of battle, and there is no tactic that
>is unthinkable, if the risks measure up to the reward. There is no
>such thing as a gift - all things are claimed and taken. That which is
>given freely will be taken freely by one stronger. In battle, victory
>is paramount, and no concern may outweigh it. Do not become distracted
>by lies like love or hope - they exist but to manipulate fools.
>
>I've found that female war goddesses are surprisingly easy,
>particularly in a world where genders are equal. After all, they're
>just as strong as men and just as savage.
Valid point. ...and I already have an evil god who is quite similar to
Adeblen - shouldn't really be too difficult to just switch his gender. ^_^
<snip><HACK>
>Consider the value of an Evil Spin on common themes. The domains are
>good places to start:
Thanks! Some *great* ideas, though several of those I've already used - I've
created a lot of deities. Only a handful of major ones, but plenty of demigods
- sort of like the chinese pantheon: there are minor gods for just about
everything...
> An evil god of Death (easy)
True. I should've thought of that myself. -_-
I mean, I already have a lawful good god of death, because one of the basic
premises of the cosmology is that finding the 'True Death' is the only way to
escape the endless cycle of reincarnation and suffering. ...but lawful evil
goddess of death who purposedly misleads mortals so that they won't be able to
'escape' the cycle would fit right in... Hmm...
> An evil deity of healing who believe that everyone has a
>lifespan of a hundred years and that which is given must be taken
>away. During life, they heal you, but every time they heal you, they
>remove a day from your life (and kill you if you accrue too many
>days).
...that's an interesting concept...
> An evil deity of Knowledge who admires forbidden knowledge -
>that which is hard to obtain - above all else.
...already have an evil god of forbidden knowledge, occult, and swamps...
> An evil god of Plants - one who has corrupted the flow of
>nature and wishes to see plants overwhelm the world. The Hanging
>gardens of Carceri spring to mind.
...another interesting one...
> An evil god of Strength (and possibly healing), whose body is
>formed from the surgically reconstructed components of all those
>strong who worshipped it in their lives
...m-kay. Way cool. I'll definitely use that one; fits well in the
cosmology, too... ^_^
Raven Blackmane
rival hierarchies, one predominantly good and the other predominantly evil
(though neutral beings exist in each). The good deities, or "gods", and
their evil cousins, the "daedra lords", were once allies against a third
group of deities, but this alliance was torn asunder after they defeated
their rivals. Each of the gods is an elder sibling to one of the daedra
lords, and most often these pairs have portfolios that are opposite sides of
the same coin. Sex ratios are close to equal, with four female and five male
deities on each side of the pantheon. The small overall number of deities
(18 in all) allows me to give more attention to fully characterizing each of
them, since one of the hallmarks of this setting is that the gods actively
and personally interact with their followers.
>...have I missed anything that is commonly considered evil?
The portfolios of my daedra lords are as follows:
Tallakath (M): Sickness & Pestilence; NE
Suspira (F): Lust; CE
Revonos (M): Rage & Death, CE
Agemnos (M): Avarice and Self-Serving Ambition; LE
Ba'al (M): Prince of Daedra; Vice & Selfish Revelry; LE
Lilith (F): Queen of Dark Life -- old darker nature, the undead, the cursed;
Mistress of the Hunt; NE
Oblineth (F): Winter, Ice and the Void; CN
Klepnos (M): Madness and Folly; CN/CE (wavers depending upon whose company
he's in)
Nocturna (F): Dreams, Nightmares and Omens; mother of the Nine Fates; N
And, for comparison, the corresponding gods:
Akkala (F): Healing & Purity; NG
Velena (F): Love, Beauty, & Truth; mother of the Nine Muses; CG
Dokorath (M): Honor & War; LG
Dvalin (M): Weather; CN
Kammoloth (M): King of the Gods; Celebrations, the Vine, and the Hearth; LG
Artela (F): Queen of Nymphs; Goddess of Wilderness & the Hunt; Goddess of
Mercy; CG
Yajiit (F): Fire & the Sun; CG
Samekkh (M): Wisdom, Prophecy, & Light; father of the Nine Muses and the
Nine Fates; LN
Wvelkim (M): the Sea and its inhabitants; CN
If I ever need a deity with a more specific pantheon, I can always create
one from the ranks of celestial and fiendish nobility who are descended from
these 18 beings. I've also allowed a few apotheosized mortals to be adopted
into the Pantheon; Sakkan, the Mistress of the Arts, is one example, who was
accepted into service of Samekkh to coordinate the activities of the Nine
Muses (whose emotion-driven activities Samekkh finds distasteful).
Most of these portfolios you already had in your system, but you might
consider adding Lust, Madness and Nightmares if you're looking to round out
the evil side of your pantheon.
--RavenB
--
"...it is sometimes beneficial to contemplate, in thought,
as in a picture, the image of a greater and better world;
lest the intellect, habituated to the trivia of daily life, may
contract itself too much, and wholly sink into trifles."
-- T. Burnet, Archaeol. Phil. p. 68 (1692)
Talen
>On Mon, 07 Apr 2003, Talen wrote:
>>It has been brought to my attention that Jyrki V. Puska <.@...> wrote:
>>
<snipping ahoy!>
>>ADEBLEN
><snip>
>> Dogma: To battle is to live. Nothing truly exists that cannot
>>be taken or owned by some form of battle, and there is no tactic that
>>is unthinkable, if the risks measure up to the reward. There is no
>>such thing as a gift - all things are claimed and taken. That which is
>>given freely will be taken freely by one stronger. In battle, victory
>>is paramount, and no concern may outweigh it. Do not become distracted
>>by lies like love or hope - they exist but to manipulate fools.
>>
>>I've found that female war goddesses are surprisingly easy,
>>particularly in a world where genders are equal. After all, they're
>>just as strong as men and just as savage.
>
> Valid point. ...and I already have an evil god who is quite similar to
>Adeblen - shouldn't really be too difficult to just switch his gender. ^_^
Quite. Don't fall into the trap of fluting him to be 'feminine',
either - nobody said women can't don fullplate and wade into battle
with greatswords flashing.
(By way of explanation, Adeblen appears as an impractically-clad woman
in my world because she is Palescai, a Lawful Good god of justice and
whatnot's sister, and she does many things explicitly to piss him
off.)
><snip><HACK>
>
>>Consider the value of an Evil Spin on common themes. The domains are
>>good places to start:
>
> Thanks! Some *great* ideas, though several of those I've already used - I've
>created a lot of deities. Only a handful of major ones, but plenty of demigods
>- sort of like the chinese pantheon: there are minor gods for just about
>everything...
Sounds like my world. ;p
>> An evil god of Death (easy)
>
> True. I should've thought of that myself. -_-
>I mean, I already have a lawful good god of death, because one of the basic
>premises of the cosmology is that finding the 'True Death' is the only way to
>escape the endless cycle of reincarnation and suffering. ...but lawful evil
>goddess of death who purposedly misleads mortals so that they won't be able to
>'escape' the cycle would fit right in... Hmm...
Quite. What's more, the 'mother' image of a woman would fit well. You
could even give her some gross names like the Everspewing Womb. ;p
>> An evil deity of healing who believe that everyone has a
>>lifespan of a hundred years and that which is given must be taken
>>away. During life, they heal you, but every time they heal you, they
>>remove a day from your life (and kill you if you accrue too many
>>days).
>
> ...that's an interesting concept...
I know. I actually surprised myself with this post, and I'm feeling
that I should probably go out of my way to flesh some of these ideas
out more.
>> An evil deity of Knowledge who admires forbidden knowledge -
>>that which is hard to obtain - above all else.
>
> ...already have an evil god of forbidden knowledge, occult, and swamps...
In my world, we have The Black That Knows, _and_ the Demon Prince
Astaroth.
>> An evil god of Strength (and possibly healing), whose body is
>>formed from the surgically reconstructed components of all those
>>strong who worshipped it in their lives
>
> ...m-kay. Way cool. I'll definitely use that one; fits well in the
>cosmology, too... ^_^
I know, I quite like it myself. Makes Elves weird, doesn't it? ;p
--
Talen
http://shatteredreality.net/talen/
<Rothgefa> I am not claiming diminished responsibility, just
normal stupidity.
The Gurus love you
Fox Lee
> ....sooo... Any help? If anyone has ideas for evil feminine deities
>(preferably lawful) that I could 'borrow', I'd be quite thankful. ^_^
Feminine, or female? I have a couple of characters (not PCs, occourse)
who are currently in Talen's game world as very high level
demons/devil, who would probably translate very well into Gods. One is
a devil, obsessed with the consumption and destruction of innocence
(she has a companion demonic unicorn), who was so chaotic she became a
demon - she'd probably make a very good Chaotic Evil God (Goddes, if
you feel the need to call it that) of Savagery/Bloodlust/Beasts. I'm
sure Talen can give you more information on her if' you want it -
maybe you can even help us come up with a name for her ^^;
The other - her brother, in fact - is a Lawful Evil male Erinyes, who,
while certainly not female, is a hell of a lot more feminine than
most. He's generally very good for seduction, lying, and dominating
others - in the game world he's from, he seduced/kidnapped/subjugated
Tyr the archangel's personal protege. Tyr's not happy with him.
-------------------------------------
Fox Lee
http://shatteredreality.net/foxlee/
The girl your mother warned you about
Zero to Pervert in 0.03 seconds
First Prophet of Kaos
<snip>
>> Here are areas of interest of my current evil deities:
>
>I will offer you ideas of how some could be female energy.
>
>> - Darkness/Loss/Nightmares/Despair/Fear
>
>This can be from a jelious wife, spuned lover (Hera comes to mind as one
>example of a goddess that plauged women that Zues looked at). This as a
>goddess of course could traget men as being unaceptible and to be
>punished.
Bleah. This is the 'envy/hate/cruelty' concept. not Darkness/Lossetc.
For this one, just think Goth.
>> - Entropy/Oblivion/Anarchy/Heresy/Infinity (...don't ask...)
>
>One that seeks rest and peace, perhaps an elder goddess, mother of
>others and tied of her kids fighting.
This one is pure Eris. Tho more of a Chaotic Neutral concept IMBO (in
my biased opinion <g>) True instigator of the fall of Troy, if you
trace the greek myth back enough. (Tho technically, one *could* trace
even further and blame someone else.)
>> - Hunger/Famine
I'd stick to a genderless construct on this one.