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Alright your probably asking yourself why does this exist?
To that I say why not?
There's been a lot of discussion about gods going on by the time of this post and I figured having a thread discussing which of them would make interesting pairs (be it of a romantic or platonic variety) would serve as good parallel to the "how would you change the Pathfinder deities" thread. Also, I firmly belief that any decent fictional pantheon of gods needs plenty of interesting interpersonal relationships to really make itself come to life and while I think the Paizo has done a good job so far having the community throw out their own ideas wouldn't hurt. So, here goes;
Erastil and Gozreh are said to be cordial friends in Inner Sea Gods but I think having the two major nature gods be a bit closer than that would definitely spice up two deities who, if the "Least favorite gods" thread can be believed, aren't exactly popular. Perhaps in some ancient age the two were a family of sorts, ala Torag and his brood, which is how Erastil gained the portfolio of family in the first. Having their union be broken up because of philosophical difference in regard to how nature should be treated would also add some dimension to both of their faiths and could explain why Erastil is LG while Gozreh is N. Also, having Erastil the so-called conservative god be in a romantic relationship with a deity that's a man half the time would probably put to rest claims of him having a socially regressive mindset.
Iomedae and Apsu. Iomedae gets a lot of criticism for being boring (which I don't necessarily disagree with) and I think that her reputation could be improved upon if other aspects of her paladin identity would be expanded upon. Paladins are heroic crusaders sure, but they're also traditionally supposed to be chivalrous icons of courtly romance as well. Making Iomedae be something of a romantic softy that tries to court a dragon (weird I know) would give her an added dimension that would likely humanize her in people's eyes. Make their epic courtship about Iomedae showing mildly racist Apsu that humans are indeed worthy of notice and that perhaps he should get involved in mortals affairs that don't relate to preparing to fight his son Dahak. I mean, come on, Inner Sea Gods already hints that Peace Through Vigilance is their son. Expanding upon that just makes sense, right?
Shelyn and... well everyone. Seriously, why is that Cayden Cailean is the only god that actively tries to hit on her? Desna, Sarenrae, Iomedae, Abadar, and Calistria should all have mentions in their myths about how they tried in their own unique ways to win her heart. Desna tries to win her over with interesting stories about her travels, Abadar creates a perfectly symmetrical city in her name, Sarenrae does an amazing dervish dance...
That kind of stuff would be great!
Anyways, that's all I got for right now so throw any ideas of your own, people. Go crazy.
Besmara, obviously.
Wait, what was the question?
Good one.
The question, if it could even be called that, is basically asking which gods do people think would be more interesting if they had some kind of relationship (romantic, platonic, whatever) that isn't currently there in the "canon".
Nocticula and Desna?
Shub-niggurath and Lamashtu?
Sifkesh and Zon-Kuthon?
A staunch paladin deity with a qlippoth-lord?
Nyarlathotep and himself?
Folca and a +5 holy weapon, repeatedly?
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I feel like Kurgess is a pretty desirable deity, being the god of sportsmanship and athleticism he's probably pretty ripped. One canon romance, if it could be called that, is Zyphus, the god of accidental death, trying to court and corrupt Naderi, the goddess of romantic suicide, into a more deathly and evil deity. While it's certainly not the cheeriest romance, it exists. I feel like the Eldest are all kinds of sought-after, maybe with the exceptions of Ng and Imbrex. The Green Mother alone has an entire section of her palace dedicated to killing those who try to court her.
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I feel like Zyphus is a pretty desirable deity, being the god of sportsmanship and athleticism he's probably pretty ripped iheard zyphus has an eight pack.
thanks simon
One canon romance, if it could be called that, is Zyphus, the god of accidental death, trying to court and corrupt Naderi, the goddess of romantic suicide, into a more deathly and evil deity. While it's certainly not the cheeriest romance, it exists.
you ever hear of that website suicide girls
One canon romance, if it could be called that, is Zyphus, the god of accidental death, trying to court and corrupt Naderi, the goddess of romantic suicide, into a more deathly and evil deity. While it's certainly not the cheeriest romance, it exists.
That's a neat idea, Simeon. Definitely has twisted tones that echo the Hades and Persephone myth.
Speaking of creepy death gods does anyone have any thoughts who Pharasma would pine for. Besides Shelyn I can't think of anyone.
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That's a neat idea, Simeon. Definitely has twisted tones that echo the Hades and Persephone myth.
Agreed. This is exactly why it's my favorite canon romance. The metaphysical beings that represent Romantic Melancholy and Existential Grief walking hand in hand can inspire all kinds of stories, even if most of the written material focuses instead on Naderi fleeing from Shelyn.
does anyone have any thoughts who Pharasma would pine for?
Honestly, the Urgathoan Cleric in my campaign likened Pharasma to an ancient spinster librarian whose only love in existence is snuffing out the joys of mortals. And frankly I agree with that assessment.
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Well it's already been mentioned that canonically Desna, Sarenrae, and Shelyn are lovers.
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Well it's already been mentioned that canonically Desna, Sarenrae, and Shelyn are lovers.
Where was this mentioned? A triad of that significance seems like something worth mentioning in Inner Sea Gods, however, one line in her section about relationships with other deities says:
The Eternal Rose has loved many minor and major deities, but refuses to bind herself to any of them and has borne no children.
Furthermore, it mentions that Sarenrae believes her good-intentioned, but naive. Desna isn't actually mentioned at all.
I can't see Pharasma having a relationship with anyone really, if you go on the tweaking deities thread I suggested fleshing out her and Zyphus by meshing their back story together.
Making her the god of birth and fate and him the god of death true neutral lovers, but overtime Zyphus became corrupt by loss (maybe groetus whispered to him). So she stripped him of his domains and banished him leaving him the pathetic shell of his former self now only the patron accidental death. Either that or Zyphus is the ghost of her former lover who she obliterated.
As for others I can imagine Calistria and Abadar having this like love/hate dance where they flirt and then fight and the f#+# and stuff.
Lamashtu and Abadar crack pairing!
not technically a god but close, arshea is the empyreal lord of freedom, physical beauty and sexuality and also androgynous and pretty much described as perfectly beautiful - so probably would have been in various short relationships with many other deities
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I always thought Shelyn and Brigh would make a cute "odd couple". Shelyn's an all-loving artist type, and Brigh's a shy science nerd. Brigh's also canonically closer to Shelyn than any other deity.
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Shelyn and Brigh would go together in a very Celtic, useful things should also be made beautiful kind of way. Good idea Brewbird.
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Well from the lore all religions ship Calistria with their deities...
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From canon:
• Arshea and Lymnieris are very close, with Arshea paying frequent visits to Heaven's premiere brothel.
• On the other end, there's Noctictula and Socobenoth's incestuous relationship.
• There's that Shelyn/Sarenrae/Desna threesome we've read about every so often.
• Lamashtu and Pazuzu had an affair for a while; it didn't work out.
• Alternately, Dispater's marriages seem to have be amicable.
• It's hinted that Iomedae may have done it with Apsu.
• Everyone loves Shelyn. How that love is expressed, however, can get disturbing.
• And then there's Faylana and her missing husband...
But we're here to talk about what we want to see. So what do I want? Well...
• Andoletta and Erastil seem like the kind of family values types that'd get along with each other. In fact, I find it rather odd that neither of them are married.
• Olheon and Damerrich work in the same building, and you know how shippers interpret that sort of thing.
• Naturally, I ship Arshea with just about everybody, but recurring parings are:
-- Zohls. There's something appealing about intellectual getting sexytimes.
-- Besmera. She's described as lusty, and I'm sure Arshea'd love to play pirate's booty with her -- and her sea monsters. (Consensually, of course.)
-- Calistria. Sort of. I can see them having an arrangement where Calistria "kidnaps" technically-willing people into her dungeon for Arshea to "rescue." And other such kinky things.
• Asmodeus and Bensozia. Yes, I know that was in 3.5E, it still makes for an interesting adventure seed.
That's what I've got at the moment.
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Zon-Kuthon and Naderi:
"I know what Loss is. I know the pain of an evaporated love. I know what it is to have lost closeness with Shelyn. Let me show you how I deal with it."
Shelyn and Mahathallah:
"Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge"
Pulura and Tolc.
I'm Alaskan. Watching the aurora over pristine snowfields is the only explanation I'm going to offer.
Soralyon and Black Butterfly.
Two rather serious weirdos, one relatively fixed, one forever in motion, both with an appreciation for keeping the right kind of secret...
Ashava and Erastil.
Among those listed as Ashava's worshipers are "the bereaved," and she seems to be on the responsible side of the chaotic alignment spectrum. It wouldn't be a lifelong pairing or anything, and might even remain platonic, but I kind of see Erastil wishing he could make it work, and growing from the realization that he can't.
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Gorum and Besmara.
Moloch and Szuriel.
My mind works in strange ways.
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You aren't kidding. Also from cannon "Lymnieris often hosts the empyreal lord Arshea at his home, and when he is present, the festivities here take on an unrivaled intensity."
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Trelmarixian and Vorasha
Trelmarixian and whoever Vorasha or literally any meladaemon has paired with
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Groetus and...
Groetus.
Because you gotta do something while waiting for the end of the world.
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@Kasoh: That is awesome.
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Urgathoa and Ghlaunder undoubtedly enjoy each other's company.
Incidentally, I found a headcanon that would make Urgathoa considerably more popular as a deity. On Cinco de Mayo, I caught a performance of Astrid Hadad, as both a curator of the history of Mexican culture and an incredible cabaret act. In particular, her performance of Viene la Muerte/Los Agachados (Here Comes Death/The Crouching) shows the enjoyable dichotomy of death and gluttonous celebration quite well. Note the quick costume change at the 4:42 mark. In the great concept of "let us celebrate today, for tomorrow we are dead" combined with reverence of ancestors for guidance makes this a particularly compelling combination.
"Our past is horrific. Our present is chaotic. Fortunately, there is no future." - Astrid Hadad
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Asmodeus x His Ego
The most canon of all pairings.
Arshea and Besmera in a BDSM relationship.
The setup's tricky, as Arshea wouldn't want their scene hurting anyone. Maybe it's being "kidnapped," maybe it's "sacrificing" themself for a coastal settlement. However it happens, Arshea gets made into pirate's booty, ravished by Besmera and her sea monsters. How the (up to weeks long) scene ends varies in as many ways as it begins
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Well, apparently Erastil used to be married (or at least romantically involved) with Fandarra, as they may have fathered both stone giants and dire bears back when he was called "Estig the Hunter." But Erastil moved up to being the god of villages and small towns and moved on from all that blood sacrifice stuff, while Fandarra decided to stay behind. I kind of wonder what things are like between them? Is it like an awkward exes thing? It's a little off-topic, but I'd really like to see what Erastil thinks of Minderhal. In the modern day, I find it weird that Erastil and Andoletta AREN'T an item, though I suppose Andoletta might just feel like that time of her immortal life has passed. Though now I kind of want Erastil trying to convince her that that isn't true like something out of a romantic drama.
I really like the little hints that Iomedae and Apsu got it on to produce Peace Through Vigilance, and that similarly Desna and Cayden Cailean are the parents of Kurgess (and thus Kurgess is basically Disney's Hercules). Personally, my thoughts on it would be that Iomedae would be all chivalrous courtly lover to an at first bemused but then increasingly flustered Apsu, and that Kurgess was made when Desna finally got tired of Cayden Cailean hitting on her and tried to turn the tables thinking he'd get scared (because Cayden knows for a fact that she's got a metric ton of baggage) only to be pleasantly surprised when he was all for it and proved that he can be a pretty sweet guy underneath all the booze and bravado. I imagine it didn't really work out full-time for either relationship, but both pairs are still sweet on each other.
It's kind of funny that Torag is the only one of the major deities who is definitively married and has children, actually.
Ragathiel and Vildeis are definitely a match made in Heaven (get it?); they probably find each others' endless lust for the blood of evildoers unspeakably hot. Although I suppose either one might also find some attraction to Damerrich.
This thread seems to want Arshea to be sleeping with every good deity out there, and while I definitely agree with that, I'd like to make the case for Ashava. Her love of dance would easily appeal to both Sarenrae and Shelyn, and her beauty shines in the light of the moon and stars, so Desna or the Black Butterfly have probably watched her perform a lot from afar.
Oh, and I definitely want Arqueros to have a bodyguard crush on Olheon. If it isn't obvious, I like the Empyreal Lords a lot.
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It's kind of funny that Torag is the only one of the major deities who is definitively married and has children, actually.
I do find it odd that Erastil, the god of people marrying and settling down, and Pharasma, the god of mothers and birth, and Shelyn, the goddess of free love, are all childless and / or single.
Tweaking the setting to make Pharasma something of an 'All-Mother' figure, and some of the other unaffiliated gods who don't already have set parentages, such as Abadar and Gozreh and Calistria, her children, would certainly change her flavor, and help to give Golarion's 'Big 20' more of a pantheon feel.
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It's kind of funny that Torag is the only one of the major deities who is definitively married and has children, actually.
I do find it odd that Erastil, the god of people marrying and settling down, and Pharasma, the god of mothers and birth, and Shelyn, the goddess of free love, are all childless and / or single.
Tweaking the setting to make Pharasma something of an 'All-Mother' figure, and some of the other unaffiliated gods who don't already have set parentages, such as Abadar and Gozreh and Calistria, her children, would certainly change her flavor, and help to give Golarion's 'Big 20' more of a pantheon feel.
I think the point is to keep the major gods all on relatively even footing with each other by making sure that none of them directly owe their existence to each other, and thus none of them get to play the divine "I'm your parent, put your toys away and go to your room" card.
In every pantheon, the children are subservient to the parents. Torag's children, you'll notice, are all minor gods or demigods who are almost exclusively worshiped by the dwarves. In fact, Torag's wife and children usually aren't mentioned even when Torag is discussed unless it's relevant. If you're going to give the big 20 any children, that's probably a better way to handle it than making Pharasma the Overgoddess. Maybe make the Psychopomps her own children, which makes the ones who went evil more heartbreaking for her.
So maybe make it a known fact that Kurgess is the result of Desna and Cayden Cailean having a fling, and that Iomedae and Apsu really did have a thing going on that fizzled out because they're too busy, and maybe after things with his ex-wife didn't pan out Erastil got together with one of the Emypreal Lords (and by one of them I mean Andoletta) and had some celestial kids together who know Grandmother Crow as MOTHER Crow.
After all, there are countless dead/forgotten/just not really well-known divinities in Golarion's multiverse. Like that minor goddess on the Plane of Fire that married Dispater and gave birth to Ragathiel.
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Gorum and Besmara seem a natural pairing. Maybe throw in Sekhmet just for the hell of it. The lovers' spats would be a thing to behold. I have this image though, of Gorum being unable to swim, especially in all that heavy armor, and therefore not wanting to go sailing with Besmara.
Ragathiel and Vildeis. The reason he's so wrathful is because of the way his beloved mutilated herself when she saw evil. Now he's on a crusade to wipe it all out.
Milani and Kurgess are apparently pretty close, and share an origin as ascended mortals.
Then again, Milani is said to be on good terms with Erastil. That'd be an interesting pairing; the staid, traditional, ancient god with some very definite ideas about gender roles and the rebellious young upstart.