Gods for a Homebrew

[The Professor]

So I'm getting ready for a Homebrew Starfinder game for when it comes out. And in my Universe I want to have a Pantheon of gods that are found all over the Galaxy. The Idea is that there is only a few gods, but are worshiped differently based one the culture of the planet. So I am trying to come up with a List of Archetype for my Gods. Anyone willing to help?

[Zarukir]

Trickster gods are always good. Gotta have someone to blame when things go wrong, right?

[The Professor]

Zarukir wrote:

Trickster gods are always good. Gotta have someone to blame when things go wrong, right?

I could even have the Avatar of the Trickster show up. Give him a one letter name.

[thecursor]

Off the top of my head...

The Maw (CE), Domains: Evil, Darkness, Chaos, Void Favored Weapon: Gravity Rifle

Born from the nuclear fires and gravity pulses of the very first black hole, the Maw is worshiped throughout the known universe as the God of Void, the lord of consumption, the eater, the biter, the madness of men's souls. The Maw may or may not be a true divinity, some even claim that he's merely a sentient thought form or a delusion that's taken on a life of it's own. His worshipers are very real and they are all unequivocally insane. The Maw spreads his teachings across the outer rim and into the minds of isolated pockets of civilization that are cut off from the major space lanes. The Maw's followers give their lord offerings of cannibalism. wild blood orgies, and sacred scarification. The Maw's church attracts few Technomancers, Mystics, or Mechanics as these professions represent the forces of order and civilization. Soldiers and Operatives fill his ranks while Envoys spread the word of his unholy message. A rare few Solarions worship The Maw's Black Hole aspect.

Pulse (NE) Domains: Evil, War, Madness, Trickery Favored Weapon: Monowhip

She is the whisper on the waves, the voice in your ear, The Goddess of Signals often manifests as the crackling static of the Universe's background radiation or as living radio waves. Life in deep space can be lonely, sometimes soul crushing. Many a subspace radio operator has lost his mind listening to the sound of the Pulse whispering into their ear. These desperate fools often worship their chosen goddess by committing deliberate acts of sabotage that wound their crew mates or sow discord among the harmony of the crew. Pulse cares little for prayers or bent knees but she does enjoy the sound of anger and hate. Anytime whispers, gossip, or stealth leads to war or conflict, then Pulse is pleased. Pulse worshipers often hire themselves out as assassins or professional thieves and thus they are almost entirely made up of Operatives or Envoys. A rare few Mystics preach for the Pulse as well.

Radium (LE), Domains: Fire, Law, Evil, Artifice Favored Weapon: Null Blade

There is only one true law and that law is the inevitability of physics. Lord Radium is the fury of nuclear fire and the swift movement of gravity. Radium cares little for empathy or sentiment or even life itself. Radium only cares about his laws, his impenetrable, unavoidable rules that can never, ever be changed. Because of his unflinching attitudes towards rules, Radium has a special dislike for faster than light travel and his followers must beg his forgiveness after every intersteller flight, though it's doubtful he is so generous with his pardons. Radium's vile influence finds it's way into the hearts of administrators and military men who demand absolute obedience. Soldiers and Solarions follow his unflinching order, while more than a few Technomancers also count themselves within his vast scientific army.

Father Gremlin (CN), Domains: Artifice, Chaos, Luck, Trickery Favored Weapon: Light Hammer

He is both hated and loved, cursed and praised. Father Gremlin is the twisting, laughing, spirit of Murphy's Law. A pure spirit of total chaos. Supposedly he was born in the engine of the very first machine, after the very first malfunction. Now Father Gremlin roams the spaceways, leaping from computer to computer, machine to machine, a living malfunction that has divine powers. Among space farers and captains, he is a nuisance. An unholy devil that kills indiscriminately. But to scientists and computer programmers, he's the king of the happy accident, the cutting edge of innovation. Technomancers and Mechanics are especially favored by his blessings, while Androids draw Gremlin's ire, he hates the idea of a machine that talks back.

Prime (N), Domains: Destruction, Knowledge, Protection, Travel Favored Weapon: Rail Gun

It is claimed that if you examine the Pi sequence long enough, you will eventually find every number that has ever existed. Every password, every math problem, every phone number. A grand sequence that essentially explains the universe in a single beautiful numerical expression. This is mathematics, the force behind all things in the universe and the embodiment of this expression is the sexless, faceless being known as Prime. Prime is the pure expression of neutrality, neither good nor evil but always fair. The Faceless Spirit of Mathematics that never harms but also never truly helps. Prime's followers often try to delve deep into their master's numerical depths in the vain hope of uncovering the secrets of the universe. Prime's Church is filled with Technomancers and Mystics who exalt the holy work of never ending research.

I'll invent some more tomorrow night at work.

[Simeon]

Dotting to submit something later.

[Simeon]

Solara (NG) Domains: Sun, Protection, Fire, Good, Healing. Favored Weapon: Morningstar
For nearly every world, its sun is the source of light and life. Solara is the personification of that. The light that nurtures the crops and warms the body are all touches of her shining hand. Most world venerate some aspect of her, save worlds baked by intense radiation or denizens that dwell beneath the earth. Her faith preaches that all those who are touched by the light of the sun are holy, and should be respected as such. Solarions are generally the most devoted members of her church, as their abilities are viewed as a blessing. Envoys generally serve as preachers of her holy word, and soldiers act as defenders of the faith.

[Pryllin]

Dragonstar had this exact concept and worked it awesomely.
They had 12 gods but I can only remember some...
They had the Father, the Mother, the Warrior, the Stormlord, the Merchant, the Magus, the Destroyer, the Trickster.

My own world had 9 gods- 1 for each alignment; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Dark, Life, Death and Magic.

[The Sideromancer]

Wow, you guys have small pantheons. When I did this, I made sure any given domain had at least two deities of differing alignments. Result was 22 for core only, many more as more domains/subdomains were brought in.

As for my personal submission,

Rosen, God of quantum entanglement and wormholes* (LN)
domains: Law, Travel, Knowledge, Void, Luck
Subdomains: Fate, Portal, Memory, Thought, Stars, Loyalty
Favoured weapon: meteor hammer

The Binder knows information is the true currency of the universe, and seeks to keep his assets safe by making a whole that cannot be disrupted by any one of its parts. This extends not only to matter, and many of his followers have rode the chains between points of space and time. Often content to safeguard his stake, Rosen makes little mark on the other deities, though he will not turn away those seeking to share in his data hoard. As such, his worshippers are often technomancers or mechanics seeking to improve their craft, as well as the occasional mystic.

*certain theories put them as effectively the same thing

Edit: forgot regional differences.

A more spacefaring civilization would emphaisze the wormhole or communication aspect, but a more sedentry one would be invoking him for quantum computing. Could easily be invoked as a prophecy god (see this wikipedia article for the general idea) by those inclined to believe in fate. A slightly more out-there option is as a god of contracts.

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

The Professor wrote:

So I'm getting ready for a Homebrew Starfinder game for when it comes out. And in my Universe I want to have a Pantheon of gods that are found all over the Galaxy. The Idea is that there is only a few gods, but are worshiped differently based one the culture of the planet. So I am trying to come up with a List of Archetype for my Gods. Anyone willing to help?

Congratulations...you've sorta invented the Dragonstar Pantheon :) The teachings of the Pantheon are that the native gods of each planet are essentially reflections of the Twelve. After the Dragonstar Empire assimilates a world the clerics of that world gradually convert to one of the Twelve that best fits their beliefs.

That material might be up your alley.

[Tacticslion]

Dot.

[The Sideromancer]

I should stop thinking about this and get some sleep...

Argenta, goddess of metals (CG)

Domains: Chaos, Good, Destruction, Artifice, Earth
Subdomains: Metal, Radiation, Catastrophe, Whimsy, Alchemy, Construct
Favoured weapon: Heavy Pick

Revered as a provider by organics and a creator by others, The Forgemistress is nonetheless feared for the power of her creations. She often works in the hottest stars, driving the primitive elements towards her chosen and varied domain. When this is done, and the newly formed metals can no longer be further forged, they are scattered so that fledgling worlds may use her gifts. A great many civilizations owe their lives to the protection bestowed by flowing metal withing the planet, but a few have been lost when a star has made enough iron to supernova.

Cultures that live in low orbit think of her as a protector, blocking the harsh solar wind. Those in darkness thank her for the enduring power within the heaviest of metals. Bu those who have taken the force of either that power, or a supernova detonation, curse her name for carelessness.

She takes a varied lot of worshippers, from the mechanics who enjoy tinkering with her lighter creations, to those solarions intent on the power of a nova.

[thecursor]

The Forge King (LN) Domains: Fire, Law, Artifice, Earth Favored Weapon: Flamethrower

Fire, Steel, Power. Order. These are just a few of the things that the Forge King demands from his followers. But most importantly, he demands obedience. The God of Metal and Machines prefers an ordered universe that obeys his laws of steel and fire. He beckons his worshipers to give up useless emotions in favor of cold logic and to ignore petty friendships so they can embrace the grip of the machine. Many of the Forge King's most devoted servants even upgrade themselves with cybernetic enhancements that remove their doubts, their fears...and their humanity. Technomancers and Mechanics worship The Forge King with incredible vigor.

Xenus (CG) Domains: Animal, Good, Chaos, Travel Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike

Racism is a fact of life in the Universe. People tend to fear strangers and in a galaxy of trillions, there are far too many strangers. For this reason, Xenus the Faceless Friend has made it his mission to befriend everyone. Followers of Xenus believe that all life seeks to help all other life and thus there are no true foes. The conceive of Xenus as a huge, disgusting monster that seems fearsome at first glance but is actually kind and polite. He spreads his kindness from planet to planet, encouraging diversity everywhere he travels. Xenus prefers to travel without weapons and encourages his followers to embrace those far different from themselves. Mystics and Envoys make up the bulk of his worship while Solarions, a far more ordered and serious minded group of adventurers, prefer to avoid Xenus' worship.

More to come.

[The Professor]

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

The Professor wrote:

So I'm getting ready for a Homebrew Starfinder game for when it comes out. And in my Universe I want to have a Pantheon of gods that are found all over the Galaxy. The Idea is that there is only a few gods, but are worshiped differently based one the culture of the planet. So I am trying to come up with a List of Archetype for my Gods. Anyone willing to help?

Congratulations...you've sorta invented the Dragonstar Pantheon :) The teachings of the Pantheon are that the native gods of each planet are essentially reflections of the Twelve. After the Dragonstar Empire assimilates a world the clerics of that world gradually convert to one of the Twelve that best fits their beliefs.

That material might be up your alley.

I found This. I think I will use it as a base, and use some of the ones posted here to fill out the ranks.

Thanks for the feedback, and any more would be welcome.

[Pryllin]

So, here are my notes for my 3.5 pantheon which was supposed to only have 9 Gods

PELOR of Bytopia
Warrior of Light, The Shining One, Lord of the Sun
Lawful Good God of Light
Domains: Good, Law, Sun, War
Favoured Weapon: Mace
Favoured Race: Humans

ELDATH of Elysium
Lady of the Lake, Goddess of the Singing Waters, The Healer
Neutral Good Goddess of Water
Domains: Good, Healing, Protection, Water
Favoured Weapon: Net
Favoured Race: Merfolk

EHLONNA of Arborea
Mother of Life, Ehlonna of the Forests, Goddess of the Woodlands
Chaotic Good Goddess of Life
Domains: Animal, Healing, Knowledge, Plant
Favoured Weapon: Longsword
Favoured Race: Elves

MORADIN of Arcadia
Stonefather, King of the Mountain, Lord of Might
Lawful Neutral God of Earth
Domains: Earth, Law, Protection, Strength
Favoured Weapon: Warhammer
Favoured Race: Dwarves

BOCCOB of The Outlands
Lord of All Magics, Keeper of Wisdom, Sage of the Gods
Pure Neutral God of Magic
Domains: Knowledge, Luck, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Quarterstaff
Favoured Race: Gnomes

OLIDAMMARA of Ysgard
Master of the Four Winds, The Eternal Wanderer, The Laughing Rogue
Chaotic Neutral God of Air
Domains: Air, Chaos, Luck, Travel
Favoured Weapon: Shortsword
Favoured Race: Halfling

WEE JAS of The Grey Waste
Queen of the Dead, Collector of Souls, Lady of Sorrow
Lawful Evil Goddess of Death
Domains: Death, Destruction, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Dagger
Favoured Race: Undead

GRUUMSH of Gehenna
Lord of Flames, The Slayer, God of Battle
Neutral Evil God of Fire
Domains: Evil, Fire, Strength, War
Favoured Weapon: Spear
Favoured Race: Orcs

LOLTH of Pandemonium
The Dark Queen, Mistress of Poison, Lady of Shadows
Chaotic Evil Goddess of Darkness
Domains: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil
Favoured Weapon: Whip
Favoured Race: Drow

Then Dragonstar bought out its 12 generic gods which worked nicely so I added another 3 gods to my world to be discovered.

The Father------Light
The Lover-------Water
The Mother------Life
The Smith-------Earth
The Magus-------Magic
The Stormlord---Air
The Reaper------Death
The Warrior-----Fire
The Trickster---Darkness

The Judge-------Protection
The Merchant----Time/Luck
The Destroyer---Destruction

BAHAMUT of Celestia
The Protector, King of Justice, The Blessed One
Lawful Good God of Protection
Domains: Good, Healing, Protection, Strength
Favoured Weapon: Morningstar

CHRONEPSIS of Baator
The Watcher, Hand of Fate, The Keeper
True Neutral God of Time
Domains: Knowledge, Luck, Magic, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Scythe

TIAMAT of The Abyss
The Destroyer, The Serpent Queen, The Many
Chaotic Evil Goddess of Destruction
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Trickery, War
Favoured Weapon: Flail

[Tom Kalbfus]

What about the Greek Pantheon? They were used in Battlestar Galactica
What if they were real for the setting, rather than just believed in?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Kobol

"Lords of Kobol[edit]
Aphrodite – Connected with childbirth
Apollo – The Arrow of Apollo artifact will point the way to Earth
Ares – God of war. May also be used with "Mars", mentioned in the Season 3 premiere, "Occupation", as a Colonial holiday or day of the week known as "Mars Day." A gang known as the "Sons of Ares" are active in the black market on board the Colonial Fleet, though they have no apparent religious aspect.
Artemis – Starbuck offers prayers to Artemis
Asclepius – God of healing. In the episode "Escape Velocity", Lily, a follower of Gaius Baltar, prays to Asclepius after an attack by the Sons of Ares. The symbol Lily is praying too is a Caduceus which is commonly confused with the Rod of Asclepius, leaving it an open question as to whether the producers used the wrong symbol (a very common mistake, especially in the media) or in the Galactica universe Asclepius is actually represented by that symbol. Later, when Gaius enters a Temple on Galactica, he references Asclepius as using the blood of Aphrodite and Artemis in healing.
Athena – The Tomb of Athena on Kobol, reputedly where Athena is entombed, contains a star map to Earth. The Athenian Academy was a parochial private school in Caprica.
Atlas – The original story of Atlas held that he propped up Kobol, rather than Earth, on his shoulders.
Aurora – Aurora is the Goddess of the dawn who brings "the morning star" and a "fair wind".
Hekate – Goddess of the Underworld. Referenced in spin-off Caprica series. She is related to the Greek goddess Hecate, Goddess of the Underworld, Crossroads, and Magic/Witchcraft. The young of Caprica would holographically sacrifice virgins to Hekate in the Holoband V-world.
Hephaestus – The Caprica episode "Unvanquished" established that "Hephaestan" rebels existed on Geminon in opposition to the Monotheists.
Hera – The Gates of Hera on Kobol is where Athena jumped to her death, and where Hera witnessed it. Hera is also described as both wife and sister of Zeus by the oracle visited by Number Three on New Caprica. It is also the name given to the Cylon-human hybrid child Hera.
Poseidon – Poseidon is referenced by Gaius Baltar when speaking to a female follower, stating that worshipping one of the 'Gods' was useless and false.
Zeus (Jupiter) – Zeus is the husband and brother to Hera. Adama has been jokingly referred to as Zeus, as he is the father of Lee Adama, call-sign Apollo. In "The Passage", D'Anna says the husband of Hera is Jupiter. The Temple of Five was believed to contain an artifact known as the Eye of Jupiter, but the Eye was actually a nova of a star that was similar in pattern and shape to another nova formed 4,000 years before, which created the Ionian Nebula. The use of the term "Jupiter" and not "Zeus" for the episode name "The Eye of Jupiter" stemmed more from a legality matter involving a living person or property during the writing of the episode.[citation needed]"

Battlestar Galactica is an example of a polytheistic pantheon used in Sci Fi.

[Statboy]

I would stick to a pantheon that already exists. One of the biggest downsides of PF imo is that the gods were largely unknown to the players.

Starting with a pre-existing pantheon gives you players more familiarity with the gods from the start. Rick Riordan has made fiction books concerning Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse gods. At the end of each book is his glossary of gods from the pantheon the book is about. It's a good place to start, his early books were even really good, though his newer books have dropped in quality quite badly.

[Tom Kalbfus]

I generally like to create a homebrew myself. I think I may have been the one who suggested the name Starfinder in the first place. It seemed an obvious direction to go in, but I kind of like to contrast science fiction with fantasy using science and magic as opposites. One of my favorite books, was one written by Piers Anthony, called Split Infinity, perhaps you've heard of it, it concerns a planet of science fiction called "Proton" and a world that it is mirror image in the fantasy realm called "Phase". Each person who is a resident of Proton has his Phase counterpart.

In my Early days of roleplaying, I used a book called Deities and Demigods which had another title Legends and Lore, in it were the Pantheons of the Greeks, Vikings, Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, American Indians, Central American Dieties, Chinese, Japanese mythologies, and of course the Heroes of King Arthur legends. I kind of liked to use the Greek and the Norse Mythologies, The Norse gods were to me the most medieval. The Greek deities had to be reinvented a little to fit in a middle age fantasy setting, they embody some universal ideas however. I thought it was interesting that Battlestar Galactica used a polytheistic society in its setting, in conflict with a "Cylon God". It seems we have all the elements of that in Pathfinder. Of course in BSG, there were no human spell casters.

In the Phase/Proton novels where was a book called Juxtaposition, where basically the science fiction world and the fantasy one merged, this is kind of what Starfinder is, except on a larger scale than just one planet. Perhaps there are other people besides those from Golarion who woke up one day to find magic suddenly real.

[The Sideromancer]

Tom Kalbfus wrote:

I generally like to create a homebrew myself. I think I may have been the one who suggested the name Starfinder in the first place. It seemed an obvious direction to go in, but I kind of like to contrast science fiction with fantasy using science and magic as opposites. One of my favorite books, was one written by Piers Anthony, called Split Infinity, perhaps you've heard of it, it concerns a planet of science fiction called "Proton" and a world that it is mirror image in the fantasy realm called "Phase". Each person who is a resident of Proton has his Phase counterpart.

I never liked science and magic as opposites. If magic is a force in the universe, why can't it be studied and incorporated into technology?

As an aside, I'm familiar with Anthony, but only from the Xanth books, because I like puns.

[Tom Kalbfus]

Maybe you need someone with a soul to cast a spell or produce a magic item, machines without souls can't do it, so magic can't be mass produced.

[The Sideromancer]

Tom Kalbfus wrote:

Maybe you need someone with a soul to cast a spell or produce a magic item, machines without souls can't do it, so magic can't be mass produced.

What about machines with souls?

[Tom Kalbfus]

Maybe, Golems have souls, Zombies have parts of souls I suppose to animate them. If something has a soul it is alive in some way, an enchanted sword has part of a soul, that of the caster than enchanted it, that is why it costs experience points to make a magic item. A pure robot has no soul, though their is a chance that some deity may decide to give it one. AI machines are particularly vulnerable to this! That would be my rule.

[The Professor]

Statboy wrote:

I would stick to a pantheon that already exists. One of the biggest downsides of PF imo is that the gods were largely unknown to the players.

Starting with a pre-existing pantheon gives you players more familiarity with the gods from the start. Rick Riordan has made fiction books concerning Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse gods. At the end of each book is his glossary of gods from the pantheon the book is about. It's a good place to start, his early books were even really good, though his newer books have dropped in quality quite badly.

The idea for now is to use the Dragonstar Pantheon, but different Races will worship them in different ways. Like the Doran(dwarves) will worship Thor, but the while another Race would worship Hercules. This should give me lots of room to give each part of the Galaxy it's own flavor with out having to have more than 13 Gods.

[Matthew Shelton]

I say take the philosophical factions from Sigil/Planescape and stick with those (conflating the 'pre faction war' and 'post faction war' collections), where a divine-caster or average pious individual might more likely follow one of them instead of a personal immortal being. In a space-fantasy setting having these be preeminent would seem more futuristic.

[Elgarr]

Any technologically advanced race can appear God Like. Take Star Treks 'Q' for example. Spirituality aside, being able to bend reality to your will makes you god like.

[Tom Kalbfus]

If we were in a computer simulation as simulated human beings, it would be easy for programmers to program "miracles" for us and make them seem to us to be godlike. Technology can be "Magic" and "Magic" might jus be technology that we don't understand yet.