Fantasy Pantheons
5 posts in this topic.
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How do you create your pantheons? Do you pull from other lore sets? Do you make a bunch of OCs and make them deities? Do you make a different pantheon for each culture/race?
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For me, I might loosely base a god from lore and give it my own twist. I try to make the gods have human attributes and attitudes, but set them apart as superior to humans. I don't personally want to go to the trouble of making a different pantheon for each culture/race. I'd make it that there is 1 pantheon, and different people either worship: a patron god, or a few gods, all of them, or none. For example, one race could worship a god of a pantheon, yet ignore the others.
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I typically choose a set of ideas, basing my Gods around aspects of humanity or the world (Valour, Honour, Chaos, Madness, Virtue, Mercy, ect). When making God's for certain cultures, I take into account the ecology of the land and the culture of the people. For example, a sea-faring civilization might worship a God of tides and winds, or give offerings to a God of Storms.
It totally depends on the project, but I generally don't make it clear whether the Gods exist or not. When I do, I like to give them personalities that conform to what they're a God of. It's generally fun to write characters that are detached from humanity-- You get to ask some fun questions.
I usually try to make the interaction between people and their Gods unique. Instead of simply having a Pantheon, where people choose a God and worship it, I might have two twin Gods, one of which the people must appease earn blessings, and the other which the people must ridicule and punish to avoid curses.
Any way, that's just a few thoughts on the subject-- Maybe we could set up a competition based around Gods and Pantheons. -
I made on primary set of deities and then smaller pantheons for each race. I sometimes draw from various mythos and lore sets, but usually I try to keep it original.
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In my fantasy universe, the gods try not to directly interact with humanity themselves. Because of this, no one is sure how many there are or even what they look like. However, the gods did send something to help humanity- the Guardians. These massive creatures look like a mixture of man and beast, and have guided humanity through chaos and into civilization. These beings held immense power and strength, so much so that one could only be slain by his fellow guardian. Almost all of these beings have faded into myth and legend, but some say that they will rise once more when humanity needs them.
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