Discussion: Pantheon

[brainface]

well, I GUESS they shouldn;t blow up their own culture. ;)
(i must've missed a post somewhere...)

i think i'd be more a fan of the civil-gods not visibly protecting cities. like, the worship of civil-gods leads to a well-organized society, which leads to a well-trained militia, and that protects the populace. A tribe following a totem god wouldn;t stand a chance against a city, and the totem god itself might have a chance of dying if it attacked a city head-on.

[Xeviat]

About Deities and Demigods: I'm liking this developing idea of the Totem gods being relatively mortal. Perhaps DR 0 or 1 is the limit they actually need. Making stats for these Totemic Deities will actually be important for this setting, because they may or may not actually make it into combat with or along side the PCs.

When Ishmayle is ready to take a vote on the ideas thrown out here, I'd like my suggested (or was it originally Nate's?) idea of having each totem related to a domain, and several totems grouped together as religions.

As for the empire's faith, I think it would be fun and unique if they did worship ideals, but there was actually no true deity of their worship. What I mean is that they might believe in entity X, but entity X would be their own creation, not a real entity. Think of science's views on real world religions for what I'm talking about. According to the PHB, clerics can worship concepts; and like the Totems, several aspects of this faith could be made to reign in clerics and make them choose from smaller lists of domains as if they worshiped a true polytheistic deity.

I'm going to have to read the concepts page and see where it's gotten itself to.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Eh, first of all, I won't be taking votes, I'll leave that to Turin.  Secondly, though I like discussing religion and the panthoen, I think we should really focus more on the core concept and ethos and theme more than anything else right now.  I'm probably going to refrain from messing with the pantheon for the time being so maybe we can get a bit more discussion going in the other thread.

[brainface]

Secondly, though I like discussing religion and the panthoen, I think we should really focus more on the core concept and ethos and theme more than anything else right now.

eh, i don't think they're necessarily separate things.

[Xeviat]

Yeah; if one of the paths for the Empire to control the outlying people is to kill their gods ... that's definately part of the theme.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Maybe,  but we haven't even set in stone that there is an "Empire to control the outlying people."  There really isn't an agreed-upon theme or mood (or ethos?) yet.  But I'm not trying to stop anyone from discussing religion, I just think maybe there should be a bit more focus on some other aspects...

[Túrin]

I agree with what Ishy said. Discussing the pantheon at this point might be a bit early, especially since you guys are working mostly off of an idea that hasn't been voted on. While I agree the idea of totem gods sounds fun, working on it now implies that we have decided on real, active gods that are present in the material plane, which excludes so many good options. I think that soon after the Core Ethos vote we will have a vote that goes something like "Will we have real or not-necessarily-real gods, will we have one or more pantheons, will we have one or more religions per pantheon, will the gods be present on the material plane, etc." I don't mind you expanding on the totem gods idea, but just remember that if any of those votes goes the "wrong way" your work will be for naught.

;) Túrin

[daggerhart]

i think the threads are actually working together in a good way.

considering the smae poeple are posting in both, i doubt we're going to develop an entire pantheon that we can't use.

this isnt the 'pantheon' thread,  its 'discussion pantheon'...  we're just keeping all this stuff out of the ethos thread.  for organization's sake.

[daggerhart]

what is the general consensus concerning the 'current idea', which i define as this;

large gov. w/ organized religion, worshiping anomorphic gods.  and is trying to re-gain it's previous glory by re-unifying it's previous land.

*city-state-fort-tribes, that normally worship / seek protection from a totem god.  want to exist outside of the large gov, due to individual reasons.

*wilderness &/ ruins of lost-large-empire, in-between the two.

*psionics also exist...  location: unknown.

...

if i've un-sucessfully described the 'current idea', please offer your summary.  ..  i'm jsut trying to keep the ball rolling.

also, if you're against this idea (and actually care about the community world ;) ),  please[/b] tell us.

[Soup Nazi]

large gov. w/ organized religion, worshiping anomorphic gods. and is trying to re-gain it's previous glory by re-unifying it's previous land.

This is great. I can come up with numerous ideas to flesh something like this out. Numerous open-ended adventure ideas

city-state-fort-tribes, that normally worship / seek protection from a totem god. want to exist outside of the large gov, due to individual reasons.

Also wonderful. Although this needs a great deal of detail to make it come alive. Is it religious differences, the inability to maintain an empire of it's previous size, encroaching enemy forces, or political differences that have broken apart the empire, and left these city-sates as inependant islands who have to fend for themselves?

wilderness &/ ruins of lost-large-empire, in-between the two.

I hadn't read that yet, or I missed the implication. Lost civilizations seem almost standard in both the real world and fantasy worlds though. What kind of lost empire are we talking about? So long as it remains interesting this can be good, but it has the potential to be boring if not done well.

psionics also exist... location: unknown.

Being the huge psi-fan that I am, I whole-heartedly hope psionics become a big part of this setting.

-Nasty-

[Numinous]

Ok, can someone describe anomorphic gods?  I do care about this setting as it seems, and I want my 2 cents in.  I don't necessarily want to hijack the world, but it is my earnest desire to run a game in this setting someday.  currently however, I am quite lte for school, maybe I'll write you all a nice summary paragraph when I get back or in my computer class.

[daggerhart]

ok, we've been saying it wrong...

amorÃ,·phous
Pronunciation: &-'mor-f&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek amorphos, from a- + morphE form
1 a : having no definite form : SHAPELESS b : being without definite character or nature : UNCLASSIFIABLE c : lacking organization or unity
2 : having no real or apparent crystalline form :
--------------

when you're talking about  gods, i guess it means 'normal' .  :)

[daggerhart]

sorry, that last 'summary' post i made should have been in ethos.  
it wasn't stricly religion.

im gonna re-post if no one minds.  (balls rolling and what-not)

[Numinous]

OK, I was leaning more towards a standard humanoid deity pantheon for the bad-ass empire, but whichever the vote swings...

[daggerhart]

OK, I was leaning more towards a standard humanoid deity pantheon for the bad-ass empire, but whichever the vote swings...

i think we're talking about the same thing...    a standard pantheon is an amorphous one, isnt it?

just like in real life, if you mention a god's name, you can conjure an image of the god, but really they don't have 'true' form.   (or this is how i see it.. i may be wrong.)

but basically what im saying, is that i agree with you.  i think the civilized people should have a standard pantheon.