Gods of Starfinder, Part Two

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Gods are undeniable entities of immense power and in Starfinder, religion provides a measure of assurance that one will be taken care of in the afterlife. The people of the Pact Worlds venerate a multitude of gods and goddesses, but there are 20 deities who are widely worshiped throughout the system—the "core deities" of the Starfinder setting. We've revealed details on 13 of Starfinder's "core 20" gods so far (check the links at the bottom of this post if you missed one of the earlier previews)—now it's time to show off the rest!

First, let's look at some more deities who were worshiped on lost Golarion, and who remain popular in the Pact Worlds millennia later.

Abadar

LN god of civilization, commerce, law, and wealth

The Master of the First Vault is dedicated to spreading civilization, free trade, and the rule of law across the Material Plane, and his church, AbadarCorp, is one of the most powerful corporations in the Pact Worlds.

Besmara

CN goddess of piracy, space monsters, and strife

Once a minor nautical deity, Besmara seized her current power and position as her prize when she deposed another deity in a daring raid during the Gap.

Desna

CG goddess of dreams, luck, stars, and travelers

Desna and her faith have changed little since the pre-Gap era. The Song of the Spheres encourages her followers to believe in themselves, indulge their desires, experience all they can, express their inner strengths, and trust their instincts.

Urgathoa

NE goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath

Urgathoa's faith is shunned, if not outright banned, on most civilized worlds, but the undead inhabitants of Eox openly worship the Pallid Princess, who is said to be the universe's first undead creature.

Nyarlathotep

CE Outer God of conspiracies, dangerous secrets, and forbidden magic

Said to possess a thousand different forms, the Crawling Chaos is an Outer God and the prime mover in preparing countless worlds for the devastating return of the Great Old Ones.

Finally, let's look at two more of Starfinder's new gods, also widely worshiped throughout the Pact Worlds: Damoritosh the Conqueror and Ibra the Inscrutable.

Damoritosh, The Conqueror

LE god of conquest, duty, and war

Damoritosh is the primary patron god of the vesk, but the Conqueror's faith has spread throughout the Pact Worlds to mercenaries, soldiers, and warriors of all species. The vesk have always been a race of warriors and conquerors, and Damoritosh remains a pillar of vesk society. To them, war and conquest are woven into the fabric of the universe. One can choose to embrace this truth and secure a place in history with one's triumphs, or one can deny it and die a coward's death, scorned and forgotten. War requires sacrifice, however, and it is the duty of everyone in society to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to propel one's species—or culture, empire, kingdom, or world—to victory.

Damoritosh is a harsh deity, with no concern for freedom or comfort. The Conqueror demands soldier-like obedience from all who seek his blessing and pushes his followers to strive for victory at all costs. Courage is an admirable trait, as is a militaristic sense of honor and oath keeping, but the will to fight and the drive to win are far more important than such noble ideals as bravery or heroism. Damoritosh is uninterested in diplomacy, as force and military prowess can win far greater rewards in a shorter amount of time, but he also encourages the acceptance of a foe's honorable surrender to avoid wasting lives for no additional gain.

Ibra, The Inscrutable

N god of celestial bodies, the cosmos, and mysteries of the universe

The universe is a vast expanse of wonders. Ibra is a god of these marvels—distant galaxies, misty nebulae, all the spinning worlds that orbit countless suns, and the empty void that stretches between them. Science can explain all of these and more, but the magnificence of the cosmos knows no bounds, and there are always new miracles and mysteries waiting to be discovered, explored, and explained. Ibra itself is one of these cosmic enigmas. No one in the Pact Worlds knows what species first venerated Ibra as a god. It has no gender or defined physical form, and it's unclear whether Ibra is a deity who sprang into being when the universe as born, some alien paragon who ascended to godhood, or a personification of the cosmos itself.

Ibra's followers believe that one can find truth, serenity, and meaning in the beauty of the cosmos, but it is up to the individual to decipher the universe's secrets to discover these rewards. It is not Ibra's place to reveal the answers to creation's great questions, and the Inscrutable rewards those who push the boundaries of knowledge and science to explore the universe and bring its wonders to light. To Ibra, there is no law or chaos, no good or evil: only the questions raised by the shining light of a newborn star, the beautiful dance of heavenly bodies, and the perfect solitude of the comet as it hurtles through the dark, regardless of whether the answers to those questions are ever found.

And that wraps up the 20 core gods of Starfinder. But while these deities may be the most ubiquitous in the Pact Worlds, every culture has its own gods, traditions, and philosophies, each with their own widespread followings. All of these are fully detailed in the upcoming Starfinder Core Rulebook, but you can get more of a sense of what faith and religion look like in Starfinder by checking out some of our earlier previews on the Paizo blog, Beasts of War, and Major Spoilers!

Robert G. McCreary
Senior Developer