Post by DM Quietus on Jul 8, 2009 2:57:06 GMT -5
Folding what I have (and more specifically, what I'm going to keep) into a single post here :
Elemental Deities : With there being a focus on the elements, and the interaction thereof overseeing much of what happens in Vethedar, it feels appropriate to give each a strong foothold in the cosmology. Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water should all be represented, each having their own values and attributes. On the Good versus Evil axis, they should all be considered Neutral; their alignments should differ solely on the Chaos versus Law side. One thing to note is that while these would feature heavily in an "uncivilized" area, with shamans worshipping whichever deity or combination of deities features most prominently in that area, the more civilized settlements would likely lean toward deities which pertain more to moralistic things than generic elements.
Appearance-wise, any of these deities might be seen in any number of forms; a humanoid form might be more commonly seen in those aforementioned uncivilized human settlements, while rarer human settlements, along with monstrous ones, might see them as a creature bearing more similarity to the raw material of the element, or even to a dragon made entirely from that raw material.
Fire : Able to rapidly change at a moment's notice, passionate, and entirely indiscriminate. Decidedly Chaotic.
Earth : Strong and stalwart, like the mountains. Definitely Lawful.
Wind : Beholden to no one, and extremely flighty. Chaotic.
Water : Flows freely, but only along defined paths. Easygoing, but likely lazy, always following the path of least resistance. Neutral.
Humanoid deities : These deities are strictly those perceived as having a humanoid form, and are commonly seen in worship in civilized areas. I will attempt to outline the standards, and then explore the ideas behind how to represent these in Vethedar, or how to subvert those ideas effectively.
The Twins : See the entries in the Religion subforum on "Arctus Suluna" and "Amia Suluna"; Arctus being the LE deity of strict order, war, and getting the job done, while Amia is the deity of healing, protection, and the harvest.
The Healer
Every Fantasy setting has its "Shiny" god. This is him. Or her, or it. The Light-Bringer, the Giver of Life, whatever it's generally called, has major focuses in healing/sun, and hates undead. They tend to be the major influence on Human realms, as they are open-handed with the healing of the sick.
Part of this, I'd like to subvert. Leave the healing to the Good Twin. Make the Good Twin female. This God is the God of Light. He stands tall and strong against the Darkness of the world, with the power of a thousand blazing suns. He is the epitome of aggression, tempered by valor and an expanded sense of honor. He believes in a fair fight, in which one doesn't take the opponent by surprise, but also believes in never holding anything back in eliminating the darkest evils of the world. In this way, he and his followers push back the shadows that threaten life in Vethedar, casting his Light into the furthest reaches.
This deity's followers will number more Paladins among them, comparably, to any other, as he is a very martial deity, and his tenets follow strongly after those suggested by the code of honor implied by becoming a Paladin.
The Evil One
In direct contrast to the Healer/Light Bringer god, is the Dark god. Here, however, I think I may leave this out. Rather than supplying a direct opposite to the Light Bringing god, any number of demon- or dragon- worshipping cults can take that role. Instead, a more generic deity of destruction (No less savage, but less specifically dark) will fit this role, likely played by a dragon. Likely a Red dragon, a tremendously old wyrm, who promises his followers that any who follow him, he can grant favor to, including the potential to be turned into a greater being than they already are. The price of this, of course, is to aid him in the destruction of what the world has become, and restore it to its primal - or as he puts it, true - state; ruled over by Dragons, with his followers being the gifted few among the human cattle.
This isn't to say that this deity is insane; Far from it. He is incredibly powerful, and seeks the destruction of current civilization through any means possible, but he doesn't expect followers to blindly attack any authority they see. Rather, he recommends the use of force only when one is certain they can win, and at other times, the use of guile to trick those same faces of authority into corrupting their own systems. A system forced into disorganization, after all, becomes weak if it was previously accustomed to a strict hierarchy.
The Provider
The Harvest goddess, the one who ultimately sees to it that her followers are cared for, is present in many different settings. In Vethedar, I may fold her in with the female half of the Twins; The male Twin sees tyranny as acceptable, and imposes strict order on his followers - the female disagrees, but isn't as strong a personality. She instead focusses on providing for the well-being of those that follow her, both physically as the Healing goddess, and materially, as the Harvest goddess. She doesn't actively work against her brother, but instead tries to temper the most extreme side of him, in essence working with him to provide protection for those she supports.
Outside of this, she in fact suggests that her followers try to find nonviolence solutions to their problems. A group of farmers, after all, needs every hand they can get to continue working with them, so taking things to blows at best can only foster feelings of ill will among supposed partners, and at worst, can end in death. This doesn't foster a lot of good will with her brother, as he feels strongly about a strict hierarchy, as opposed to groups working together beyond such things, but unless her followers flaunt the fact that they're not following the defined order of things, the two can generally get along amiably.
The moon/nature goddess
Typically, this deity is the provider deity; I don't want that to be the case, here. In fact, I would rather she be the opposite; A deity with a martial bent, who forcefully defends nature against the onset of humanoid races, who tend to destroy nature in an effort to "tame" it. Unlikely to be popular among humans in large numbers, she would see more worship amongst monstrous races, where she would likely be "re-skinned" to appear more monstrous herself, generally in the appearance of whomever it is worshipping her. Smaller communities of humanoids, however, might also see her as an example to be followed, of living in harmony with nature, rather than trying to subvert it for their own use.
Where humanoids intrude unwelcome into natural areas, and begin corrupting them, is where this deity's martial bent shows itself. Her followers - including many rangers and some barbarians - will defend these areas by force, occasionally refusing to allow outsiders in, if the area has been plagued in the past by overzealous human use.
Elemental Deities : With there being a focus on the elements, and the interaction thereof overseeing much of what happens in Vethedar, it feels appropriate to give each a strong foothold in the cosmology. Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water should all be represented, each having their own values and attributes. On the Good versus Evil axis, they should all be considered Neutral; their alignments should differ solely on the Chaos versus Law side. One thing to note is that while these would feature heavily in an "uncivilized" area, with shamans worshipping whichever deity or combination of deities features most prominently in that area, the more civilized settlements would likely lean toward deities which pertain more to moralistic things than generic elements.
Appearance-wise, any of these deities might be seen in any number of forms; a humanoid form might be more commonly seen in those aforementioned uncivilized human settlements, while rarer human settlements, along with monstrous ones, might see them as a creature bearing more similarity to the raw material of the element, or even to a dragon made entirely from that raw material.
Fire : Able to rapidly change at a moment's notice, passionate, and entirely indiscriminate. Decidedly Chaotic.
Earth : Strong and stalwart, like the mountains. Definitely Lawful.
Wind : Beholden to no one, and extremely flighty. Chaotic.
Water : Flows freely, but only along defined paths. Easygoing, but likely lazy, always following the path of least resistance. Neutral.
Humanoid deities : These deities are strictly those perceived as having a humanoid form, and are commonly seen in worship in civilized areas. I will attempt to outline the standards, and then explore the ideas behind how to represent these in Vethedar, or how to subvert those ideas effectively.
The Twins : See the entries in the Religion subforum on "Arctus Suluna" and "Amia Suluna"; Arctus being the LE deity of strict order, war, and getting the job done, while Amia is the deity of healing, protection, and the harvest.
The Healer
Every Fantasy setting has its "Shiny" god. This is him. Or her, or it. The Light-Bringer, the Giver of Life, whatever it's generally called, has major focuses in healing/sun, and hates undead. They tend to be the major influence on Human realms, as they are open-handed with the healing of the sick.
Part of this, I'd like to subvert. Leave the healing to the Good Twin. Make the Good Twin female. This God is the God of Light. He stands tall and strong against the Darkness of the world, with the power of a thousand blazing suns. He is the epitome of aggression, tempered by valor and an expanded sense of honor. He believes in a fair fight, in which one doesn't take the opponent by surprise, but also believes in never holding anything back in eliminating the darkest evils of the world. In this way, he and his followers push back the shadows that threaten life in Vethedar, casting his Light into the furthest reaches.
This deity's followers will number more Paladins among them, comparably, to any other, as he is a very martial deity, and his tenets follow strongly after those suggested by the code of honor implied by becoming a Paladin.
The Evil One
In direct contrast to the Healer/Light Bringer god, is the Dark god. Here, however, I think I may leave this out. Rather than supplying a direct opposite to the Light Bringing god, any number of demon- or dragon- worshipping cults can take that role. Instead, a more generic deity of destruction (No less savage, but less specifically dark) will fit this role, likely played by a dragon. Likely a Red dragon, a tremendously old wyrm, who promises his followers that any who follow him, he can grant favor to, including the potential to be turned into a greater being than they already are. The price of this, of course, is to aid him in the destruction of what the world has become, and restore it to its primal - or as he puts it, true - state; ruled over by Dragons, with his followers being the gifted few among the human cattle.
This isn't to say that this deity is insane; Far from it. He is incredibly powerful, and seeks the destruction of current civilization through any means possible, but he doesn't expect followers to blindly attack any authority they see. Rather, he recommends the use of force only when one is certain they can win, and at other times, the use of guile to trick those same faces of authority into corrupting their own systems. A system forced into disorganization, after all, becomes weak if it was previously accustomed to a strict hierarchy.
The Provider
The Harvest goddess, the one who ultimately sees to it that her followers are cared for, is present in many different settings. In Vethedar, I may fold her in with the female half of the Twins; The male Twin sees tyranny as acceptable, and imposes strict order on his followers - the female disagrees, but isn't as strong a personality. She instead focusses on providing for the well-being of those that follow her, both physically as the Healing goddess, and materially, as the Harvest goddess. She doesn't actively work against her brother, but instead tries to temper the most extreme side of him, in essence working with him to provide protection for those she supports.
Outside of this, she in fact suggests that her followers try to find nonviolence solutions to their problems. A group of farmers, after all, needs every hand they can get to continue working with them, so taking things to blows at best can only foster feelings of ill will among supposed partners, and at worst, can end in death. This doesn't foster a lot of good will with her brother, as he feels strongly about a strict hierarchy, as opposed to groups working together beyond such things, but unless her followers flaunt the fact that they're not following the defined order of things, the two can generally get along amiably.
The moon/nature goddess
Typically, this deity is the provider deity; I don't want that to be the case, here. In fact, I would rather she be the opposite; A deity with a martial bent, who forcefully defends nature against the onset of humanoid races, who tend to destroy nature in an effort to "tame" it. Unlikely to be popular among humans in large numbers, she would see more worship amongst monstrous races, where she would likely be "re-skinned" to appear more monstrous herself, generally in the appearance of whomever it is worshipping her. Smaller communities of humanoids, however, might also see her as an example to be followed, of living in harmony with nature, rather than trying to subvert it for their own use.
Where humanoids intrude unwelcome into natural areas, and begin corrupting them, is where this deity's martial bent shows itself. Her followers - including many rangers and some barbarians - will defend these areas by force, occasionally refusing to allow outsiders in, if the area has been plagued in the past by overzealous human use.
