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Hey there. Just curious if anyone has any alternate names for the months in Golarion. I know what they are in canon but, frankly, they're awkward. I'm having a difficult time explaining to my players why the good people of Golarion would blithely pay their respects with names like Lamashan, Rova and Kuthona. The matter came up when a player wanted to know the name of her character's birth month.
"Uh, Lamashan"
"As in Lamashtu? The pregnant jakal-head goddess of hose beasts?"
"Yeah...I-"
"That's sick. It's October, lots of babies are born in October. It's also the harvest."
"I think it's named out of fearful deference, like 'Please don't hurt us Lamashtu'"
"You fearfully defer to gods like Poseidon, not frikkin' Lamashtu. Baby eating Lamashtu. Might as well name a month Satan-vember. What are the other months?"
"Well, the evilish months....Rova, Kuthona...maybe Neth"
*player looks up those gods*
"Ok, so the common people are twisted. Got it."
"..."
----
She upset me, but I agree with her. I'm creating new month names for my game, but I'd like to see if anyone has some good suggestions first.
Thanks!
Creative Director
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You can just call them September, October, November, etc, to be honest. That'd be a bit jarring to see in print (especially in read aloud text or in a Pathfinder novel), but at the game table, it's not jarring at all unless your group's REALLY into the role-play elements in the game.
Third Month, Fourth Month, Tenth Month works too. :D
The priesthoods of these deities and the deities exercise very real power on Golarion. They influence people and events. Golarion is not a 100% happy and good place. There is evil and there is chaos, death and destruction in the world. Even such evil deities have their place in the bigger scheme of things. One cannot deny their existence. By naming months after these "evil" deities there is a continual reminder of the role evil plays in the world, a declaration of steadfast vigilance by those who are good, and warning to those who would be complacent.
CJ
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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The priesthoods of these deities and the deities exercise very real power on Golarion. They influence people and events. Golarion is not a 100% happy and good place. There is evil and there is chaos, death and destruction in the world. Even such evil deities have their place in the bigger scheme of things. One cannot deny their existence. By naming months after these "evil" deities there is a continual reminder of the role evil plays in the world, a declaration of steadfast vigilance by those who are good, and warning to those to would be complacent.
CJ
Lesuit has a good point.
Of course feel free to call the months whatever you want in your game, but you could also come up with a compelling reason as to why the months are named as they are.
For example, "January" comes from the word Janus - god of the doorway, and was so named because January was the doorway into the year. "February" comes from the latin word februum, meaning purification. Perhaps the month Lamashan (or October)is so named because this is the season where plants begin to die back, as if they were fading in terror from Lamashtu's vile grip. (Or whatever explanation you like.)
Do what works best for you, but I say go with the flavor. :D
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Creative Director
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That is, in fact, the reason we named our months the way we named them. We did assign gods to months for a reason, but I was under the impression that the OP's concern was that it was too confusing to keep having to re-ask what moth Lamashan was when it might just be easier to say October.
Naming a month after the god of war is sick, too. It means that we must go to war once per year.
I will no longer use the name "march", as it is derived from Mars. It shall henceforth be called tranquilitis. Anyone who doesn't use that name I consider a warmonger and shall henceforth shun with disgust.
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KaeYoss, I agree to a point. I can see the desire to have a unified system. But you'll notice there is a logical reason for naming the month after Mars, who was hardly considered an "evil" god thousands of years ago. There isn't a month for Pluto or a day of the week for Loki despite their importance.
I use a 13 month year and the names are a modified versrion of the ones in the Kingdom of Kalamar. The year starts on the spring equinox.
The names are:
Renewal
Sowing
Ploughtide
Summertide
Early Harvest
Replanting
Transition
Autumntide
Late Harvest
Brewmonth
Frosting
Snowfall
Yearturn
Hope that helps.
These deities represents aspects of life. People don't worship all of those, they just acknowledge it.
If they place any significance on it, they don't go and praise, say, Lamashtu. They don't necessarily try to ward her off, either.
They remember those who fell victim to madness, monsters, or birth defects.
How's that bad?
Does Golarion have a zodiac? Maybe each month could be named for which constellation the sun is in.
If those constellations happen to be Lamashtu and the rest, all the better.
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Yeah go figure people would name month's after evil gods. Almost like naming your kid Seth, after Egypt's Set, an evil god.
Of course, Egyptians didn't consider Set to be Evil. The Setis are named for Set, after all. In fact Set was most notable to the Egyptians as a desert god, who controlled the sands and animals and heat. He represented power, which is why the Setis chose him and his name.
Lamashtu would be the most logical choice for the harvest month. Everything is dying, the world is beginning to wither and decay, there is uncertainty in the future. With natural food supplies dwindling, monsters will terrorize civilized lands more often, bringing even more fear into the season. Hunger and famine are more likely in the coming months.
Of course if everyone in your game wears shiny bells on their slippers and sings happy songs all the time and monsters are just misunderstood best friends, then it wouldn't make any sense at all to hold fearful reverance for Lamashtu.
In fact when you look at ancient religions the concept of good and evil is mostly portrayed in Christian beliefs. Other religions were more concerned with Law and Chaos, or nature and civilization than such quaint notions as good and evil.
Yeah go figure people would name month's after evil gods. Almost like naming your kid Seth, after Egypt's Set, an evil god.
The boy's name Seth \s(e)-th\ is pronounced seth. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "set, appointed". Biblical: the third named son of Adam and Eve. Eve said Seth had been appointed to take the place of Abel, killed by Cain.
-from http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Seth
Then again, I was born in the month of Hitlerary and I'm not ashamed to say so!
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There isn't a month for Pluto or a day of the week for Loki despite their importance.
There is a month for Juno, though, who tried to kill baby Hercules with serpents, and did everything in her power to destroy Aenas in his attempts to found a new Troy, and cursed dozens upon dozens of Zeus' paramours to fates worse than death.
And a day of the week for Odin, whose eight-legged horse Sleipnir is a metaphor for a coffin carried by four pall-bearers, who was the patron of the Berserkers, who lied and cheated and did awful things to anyone who opposed the Aesir.
(Also, Pluto and Loki weren't considered evil, either)
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She upset me, but I agree with her. I'm creating new month names for my game, but I'd like to see if anyone has some good suggestions first.
Suggestions on how to deal with this player:
1) Mockery. "And people with Devil-May-Care attitudes are Satanists! Oh, and people from New Jersey named their team the Devils! Those sick SOBs! And what about Red Hots, with their devil mascot! Twisted!"
2) Logic. Alternately, you could address things like the Babylonian calendar with its months dedicated to Nergal (God of War and Pestilence (associated with war)) and Dibbara, the God of (regular) Pestilence. Or Greece with its month of Hekatombaion, with its echoes of Hekate, the witch-goddess. Most pre-Christian calendars had a months, days, or holidays dedicated to "evil" Gods and Goddesses.
3) Compromise. A baby born in October in Varisia was born in Lamashan. A baby born in Galt, however, was born in Vendémiaire. A baby born in Casmaron, Rezber. Absalom Reckoning may be equivalent to Anno Domini, but hasn't achieved nearly the global prominence on its world due to the lack of a small-c catholic faith dominating the inner sea.
4) Logic, pt. II "Did the average person in 1050 AD Italy know that Tuesday was actually named for Tyr? Would the Celtic farmer in Scotland know why February was named February?"
5) Pleading. "Could you please disrupt the game in character only?"
6) Play Traveller.
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Yeah go figure people would name month's after evil gods. Almost like naming your kid Seth, after Egypt's Set, an evil god.The boy's name Seth \s(e)-th\ is pronounced seth. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "set, appointed". Biblical: the third named son of Adam and Eve. Eve said Seth had been appointed to take the place of Abel, killed by Cain.
-from http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Seth
Then again, I was born in the month of Hitlerary and I'm not ashamed to say so!
But of course, Egyptians pronounced Set as \S (e)-th\ as well :), a name predating but influencing the Hebrews...
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[propoganda-mode on]
Madness? Monsters? Nightmares? Oh, such terrible angry words. Lamashtu is indeed revered in such ways by the twisted orcs and other degenerate beastmen, such as orcs and gnolls, more animal than person, but not *all* servants of the All-Seeing Mother are evil or depraved or monstrous. Some of us are human, and pray to her for insight into the future, going on vision-quests to open our third eye and see what is to come, and learn from the events of the forgotten past. She is the goddess of female fertility, important to farmer and king alike, whether one seeks a healthy and prolific herd or a strong and wise heir.
Just as the Keleshites of Qadira twist the faith of Abadar into a thing of rampant mercantilism, and the feckless acquisition of material wealth at any cost, through the abuse of usurious rules and trade restrictions that give the wealthy and the greedy an unjust (but entirely 'legal') advantage over more honest and kind-hearted folk, so too do the gnolls and orcs twist and debase the faith of She Who Sees, the Thricewise Maiden, Mother and Crone who accepts all to her bosum, fair-featured or twisted of limb, with a mother's unflinching love.
[propoganda-mode off]
"And people with Devil-May-Care attitudes are Satanists! Oh, and people from New Jersey named their team the Devils! Those sick SOBs! And what about Red Hots, with their devil mascot! Twisted!"
That's nothing compared to the sheer evil that is committed each year on the evening before All Hallows' Day, when children formerly thought innocent strive to emulate the worst aspects of occultism and the darkest creatures out of legend - taking on aspects of vampires, werewolves, ghosts and a legion of other monsters in order to indulge in the Mortal Sin of gluttony!
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[propoganda-mode on]
Madness? Monsters? Nightmares? Oh, such terrible angry words. Lamashtu is indeed revered in such ways by the twisted orcs and other degenerate beastmen, such as orcs and gnolls, more animal than person, but not *all* servants of the All-Seeing Mother are evil or depraved or monstrous. Some of us are human, and pray to her for insight into the future, going on vision-quests to open our third eye and see what is to come, and learn from the events of the forgotten past. She is the goddess of female fertility, important to farmer and king alike, whether one seeks a healthy and prolific herd or a strong and wise heir.
Just as the Keleshites of Qadira twist the faith of Abadar into a thing of rampant mercantilism, and the feckless acquisition of material wealth at any cost, through the abuse of usurious rules and trade restrictions that give the wealthy and the greedy an unjust (but entirely 'legal') advantage over more honest and kind-hearted folk, so too do the gnolls and orcs twist and debase the faith of She Who Sees, the Thricewise Maiden, Mother and Crone who accepts all to her bosum, fair-featured or twisted of limb, with a mother's unflinching love.
[propoganda-mode off]
Love it!
Also, Asmodeus's religion is not likely evangelized as baby killers and cannibals. I expect their emphasis is Law over Chaos. With a sharp wit and keen eye, an adherant can advance his own needs, support his family and give them a lifestyle his parents could not even imagine.
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Creative Director
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Does Golarion have a zodiac? Maybe each month could be named for which constellation the sun is in.
If those constellations happen to be Lamashtu and the rest, all the better.
Golarion does indeed have a Zodiac. It didn't when we needed to name the months though, and now the month names are set in stone (as far as canon goes) so that's that.
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Also, Asmodeus's religion is not likely evangelized as baby killers and cannibals. I expect their emphasis is Law over Chaos. With a sharp wit and keen eye, an adherant can advance his own needs, support his family and give them a lifestyle his parents could not even imagine.
When a country is falling into anarchy, with the death of their god, the strict guidelines of even a diabolic faith can provide comfort. While roving gangs of looters prowl the streets of less disciplined countries, the streets of Chelaxian cities are strictly maintained with draconian (or, diablolic, in this case) curfews and punishments for unruly, disruptive or seditious acts.
Stories coming in from Andora would be fear-mongering tales of riots in the streets and hard-working and upright people dragged from their homes and burned by angry mobs of so-called 'free men,' which would only serve to strengthen the Chelaxian resolve to not let their proud land slip into savagery and 'revolution.' Seeing a rabble-rouser dragged off by a Hellknight patrol, or even summarily executed, wouldn't make a Chelaxian citizen fear for her life, it would *encourage* her, to know that the streets are safe, her family and their holdings are protected and 'the trains run on time.'
When diabolism is brought up, the Chelaxian of non-evil alignment may desperately try to rationalize it;
"Conjuration has a long history, and has served our nation well. Should we be risking the lives of Chelaxian sons when we could be throwing the endless and worthless hides of fiends at those who threaten us? Should our Conjurors instead be calling up *angels* and enslaving them to our will, diminishing the power of Heaven?"
"Fight fire, with fire. If evil threatens us, use the minions of evil to take the fight to them, and if they die in our service, it is still a victory for good, as there is less evil in the world!"
"We aren't 'serving' the devils, they come at the calling of our spellcasters and do their bidding. We are mastering them, and taking the best of their cleverness for our own use, while weakening and dominating the forces of evil! Tell me, what did the church of Aroden do to weaken the forces of Hell?"
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Creative Director
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I'll have questions about the Zodiac in PF14 for the next chat, Mr. Jacobs!
Golarion does indeed have a Zodiac. It didn't when we needed to name the months though, and now the month names are set in stone (as far as canon goes) so that's that.
Noted! The Zodiac/constellations are still VERY much in flux; we probably won't have anything definite nailed down for them for a year or so, in fact, but I can certainly answer questions! If only to say something like, "Hmm... I dunno!"
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[propoganda-mode on]
Madness? Monsters? Nightmares? Oh, such terrible angry words. Lamashtu is indeed revered in such ways by the twisted orcs and other degenerate beastmen, such as orcs and gnolls, more animal than person, but not *all* servants of the All-Seeing Mother are evil or depraved or monstrous. Some of us are human, and pray to her for insight into the future, going on vision-quests to open our third eye and see what is to come, and learn from the events of the forgotten past. She is the goddess of female fertility, important to farmer and king alike, whether one seeks a healthy and prolific herd or a strong and wise heir.
Just as the Keleshites of Qadira twist the faith of Abadar into a thing of rampant mercantilism, and the feckless acquisition of material wealth at any cost, through the abuse of usurious rules and trade restrictions that give the wealthy and the greedy an unjust (but entirely 'legal') advantage over more honest and kind-hearted folk, so too do the gnolls and orcs twist and debase the faith of She Who Sees, the Thricewise Maiden, Mother and Crone who accepts all to her bosum, fair-featured or twisted of limb, with a mother's unflinching love.
[propoganda-mode off]
Love it!
Also, Asmodeus's religion is not likely evangelized as baby killers and cannibals. I expect their emphasis is Law over Chaos. With a sharp wit and keen eye, an adherant can advance his own needs, support his family and give them a lifestyle his parents could not even imagine.
I love this too. If only Lamashtu's profile had some of this equivocation and propaganda. Her presence though, in Rise of the Runelords, doesn't allow for a lot of interpretation: she's the balls-out crazy babymama of marrow-chewing monsters, no ifs ands or buts. I'm all for a more subtle insertion of evil religions into civil consciousness (The Chelaxian Asmodeus is pretty solid), but the darker faiths of Golarion seem to lack that je ne sais quoi that makes their observances tolerable.
For example, you’re a citizen of a religiously tolerant city like Magnimar and a follower of Abadar. You witness your very pregnant neighbor paying tribute to Lamashtu in her garden. You have obligations, but do you have any rights? Can your local paladin or priest of Abadar (as the enemies of Lamashtu), supersede the wishes of this neighbor to insure the child isn’t born under Lamashtu’s provenance? Would “just a little Lamashtu, for luck” be ok?
It’s all well and good to say the evil gods are interwoven into the legacy of Golarion, but why wouldn’t servants of the good gods include cultural measures in their campaigns to fight evil? You’re the church of the god of civilization and you can’t manage to get the goddess of monsters (and the enemy of civilization) stricken from the regional calendar?
The world I play in is not all goodness and light (and shiny little bells), but I expect religion’s impact on culture to be at the forefront of a Renaissance styled game.
This is just the tip of my growing grumble with D&D and religion, where churches are just healing huts and evil temples are just battle maps.
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I love this too. If only Lamashtu's profile had some of this equivocation and propaganda. Her presence though, in Rise of the Runelords, doesn't allow for a lot of interpretation: she's the balls-out crazy babymama of marrow-chewing monsters, no ifs ands or buts.
I haven't read any of RotR (going throught it at the moment, so I would feel dubious doing so anyway), but I'm sure that a CE Gnoll worshipper of Lamashtu and a CN Human worshipper of Lamashtu would have *nothing* in common.
I try to think of most of the churches from a Human perspective, for in town use. Even Rovagug can have non-evil Clerics, and even I have trouble thinking of a good 'party line' for a non-evil Rovagug priest to follow. (Something about the world being flawed and broken, and it being Rovagugs sacred mission to destroy it, but the new upstart gods have stolen so much power and influence over this rotten corrupt world that they banded together and locked him up, so that they could cling to this wicked world and their ill-gotten power, denying the world the cleansing that it so desperately needs as part of the natural order of things!)
Being as Lamashtu is CE, and the vast majority of her worshippers are CE non-humans, I'm fine with her being painted with a broad brush as a cackling two-dimensional caricature. By playing a non-evil Cleric of Lamashtu (or Rovagug, or Urgathoa, or Asmodeus), I'd be the one making the exception, so it's more incumbent upon me to come up with a rationalization for why my character doesn't agree with the more evil tenets of the 'official church stance.'
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I can definitely seeing the servants of good gods having cultural tenets against the evil gods... problem is the evil gods fight back and undermine the work of the good ones.
Think of it like politics. A lot of people are firmly Democrat or Republican and consider the other side to be that Evil Anti-American Destroyer of the American Way (Sorry for those outside the US, best I can do... hope you understand). Yet the other side has their own propoganda machine running painting them as the good guys and that other party as the doomsayers and underminers of liberty and prosperity. Etc etc etc.
The problem is religion is even MORE that way.
Let's say Abadar's faithful gains the upper hand and ban evil religions. The people rejoice. "Yay!"
Lamashtu retaliates by causing deforming births and monstrous seiges. The people scream to "return the proper reverence to our Mistress Lamashtu."
The people assault Abadar's priests, and the city rulers, and the city devolves into chaos. Then the city rulers relent and allow Lamashtu's religion to be practiced again. The horde leaves and births return to normal.
It is all a pendulum... law vs chaos, good vs evil...
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Interesting point, and I can see the gods getting into territorial hissies, but shouldn't these be focused on their portfolios? Lamashtu and her followers probably couldn't give a fig about names and dates, or the trappings of civilized man. She'd save her deforming plagues as revenge for slaying her favored children, or settlements that cut too far into the back country.
Edit: This thread is giving me a yearning to create some superstitions. If observance of evil gods is woven into the fabric of essentially good cultures, it's probably through superstitions. "20 things goodwives do to keep good gods near and bad gods at bay". It could be an awesome roleplay tool , a way to represent characters as part of a religiously saturated culture without having to be devout. Hmmm.
Maybe the new gods and magic supplement has this information? I’ve considered buying it, but similar supplements (non-Paizo) are heavy on artifacts, avatars and prestige classes but light on integrating the ideas into a pantheistic whole.
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Even Rovagug can have non-evil Clerics, and even I have trouble thinking of a good 'party line' for a non-evil Rovagug priest to follow. (Something about the world being flawed and broken, and it being Rovagugs sacred mission to destroy it, but the new upstart gods have stolen so much power and influence over this rotten corrupt world that they banded together and locked him up, so that they could cling to this wicked world and their ill-gotten power, denying the world the cleansing that it so desperately needs as part of the natural order of things!)
Brother, this is in fact the beginnings of the Good News.
The World was meant to be perfect, a shining vision of the perfect Creator's vision of beauty. A garden of delight for all living things. The First World was almost perfect, death and shame and sorrow all but unknown. But not quite perfect - oh, sadly no. Rovagug was the Creator's helper, his duty was to perform the unfortunate task of sweeping away flawed Creations, returning their essence to the bosom of their Creator.
But lesser beings, other servants of Creator, they pleaded with their Master to save this First World. Was it not NEARLY perfect? Was it not filled with beings that could adore Creator in their simple, flawed ways? Creator, full of love for his servants and his imperfect creations, allowed this failure to stand.
The inhabitants of this world, while they did not know pain or sorrow, neither did they know love or loyalty. They did not adore the servants of the Creator. Then, the servants of Creator knew hubris. THEY would create a world; THEY would improve upon Creator's work. They created this dunghill of a Creation, filled with small and petty beings like themselves, and named themselves Gods. This, loyal Rovagug could not tolerate! He came down upon this abomination, and stood ready to rend it to shreds. In his anger and his shame at having allowed this, he was blind-sided, betrayed and trapped by the most treacherous Gods, and bound in eternal torment.
Creator could not help, for to reach this world, he would have to destroy the First World, and still in his boundless love he could not bring himself to end the ungrateful beings, who did not not even know Creator thanks to the treacherous silence of his servants.
Yes, my brother, this sounds like bad news all around. It is the worst news - Creator cannot save the loyal and true, Rovagug imprisoned by traitors; and disease, deformity, savagery, and death grow ever more powerful in the hands of the so-called Gods. Where, you ask is the Good News?
The Good News, my brother, is simple. Rovagug grows strong again. Rovagug stirs in his cell. Soon, the Rough Beast *will* shatter his cell, and then he *will* shatter this world, throwing the "Gods" down from their thrones, ending our suffering, restoring our essences to the cosmic whole. And when he has sundered this world, he will turn his attention to the First, imperfect, World and tear that down so that the Creator may at least reach his desire. And you and I, brother, the true Essential you and I, not this gross flesh or tawdry soul, but our True, Ideal Essence will become the building blocks of something so wonderful we cannot even envisage it.
ROVAGUG FTAGHN! IA! IA!
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The World was meant to be perfect, a shining vision of the perfect Creator's vision of beauty. A garden of delight for all living things. The First World was almost perfect, death and shame and sorrow all but unknown. But not quite perfect - oh, sadly no. Rovagug was the Creator's helper, his duty was to perform the unfortunate task of sweeping away flawed Creations, returning their essence to the bosom of their Creator. [SNIP]
That's just beautiful man, to take Rovagug and go all Shiva / Wyrm with him. Bravo!
Evil Anti-American Destroyer of the American Way (Sorry for those outside the US, best I can do... hope you understand)
we could give you some pointers.
Plus, I think it always helps to call the other guys communists. Or Nazis. Or communist Nazis.
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There is a month for Juno, though, who tried to kill baby Hercules with serpents, and did everything in her power to destroy Aenas in his attempts to found a new Troy, and cursed dozens upon dozens of Zeus' paramours to fates worse than death.
And a day of the week for Odin, whose eight-legged horse Sleipnir is a metaphor for a coffin carried by four pall-bearers, who was the patron of the Berserkers, who lied and cheated and did awful things to anyone who opposed the Aesir.
(Also, Pluto and Loki weren't considered evil, either)
No but they were certainly considered darker than the other gods. Considering Loki has a direct hand in initiating Ragnarok he is right up there with Hel. He is Chaotic in the extreme.
The ancient gods did all sorts of crazy, mean things.
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Even Rovagug can have non-evil Clerics, and even I have trouble thinking of a good 'party line' for a non-evil Rovagug priest to follow. (Something about the world being flawed and broken, and it being Rovagugs sacred mission to destroy it, but the new upstart gods have stolen so much power and influence over this rotten corrupt world that they banded together and locked him up, so that they could cling to this wicked world and their ill-gotten power, denying the world the cleansing that it so desperately needs as part of the natural order of things!)Brother, this is in fact the beginnings of the Good News.
The World was meant to be perfect, a shining vision of the perfect Creator's vision of beauty. A garden of delight for all living things. The First World was almost perfect, death and shame and sorrow all but unknown. But not quite perfect - oh, sadly no. Rovagug was the Creator's helper, his duty was to perform the unfortunate task of sweeping away flawed Creations, returning their essence to the bosom of their Creator.
But lesser beings, other servants of Creator, they pleaded with their Master to save this First World. Was it not NEARLY perfect? Was it not filled with beings that could adore Creator in their simple, flawed ways? Creator, full of love for his servants and his imperfect creations, allowed this failure to stand.
The inhabitants of this world, while they did not know pain or sorrow, neither did they know love or loyalty. They did not adore the servants of the Creator. Then, the servants of Creator knew hubris. THEY would create a world; THEY would improve upon Creator's work. They created this dunghill of a Creation, filled with small and petty beings like themselves, and named themselves Gods. This, loyal Rovagug could not tolerate! He came down upon this abomination, and stood ready to rend it to shreds. In his anger and his shame at having allowed this, he was blind-sided, betrayed and trapped by the most treacherous Gods, and bound in eternal torment.
...
Poor wittle Rovie is just misunderstood *sniff sniff*
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No but they were certainly considered darker than the other gods. Considering Loki has a direct hand in initiating Ragnarok he is right up there with Hel. He is Chaotic in the extreme.
The ancient gods did all sorts of crazy, mean things.
[comic-book guy] Hrofni was a hack. Snorri had clearly established the characterization of Loki as a complex, richly-realized character, a trickster, sure, but a strong ally of his Norse kinsman, who brought many powerful gifts to his friends and family (such as Odin's horse, Sleipnir). But then fan-favorite Hrofni takes over and totally mischaracterizes him with that Death-of-Baldar arc, from which the character never recovered. From then on, even after Hrofni was long off the book, Loki was malevolent, and drawn as some two-dimensional mustachio-twirling bad-guy with the depth of a shallow puddle.
Worst. Character. Assassination. Ever!
And don't even get me started on that whole Secret Ragnarok Crisis 'event!' [comic-book guy]
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There is a month for Juno, though, who tried to kill baby Hercules with serpents, and did everything in her power to destroy Aenas in his attempts to found a new Troy, and cursed dozens upon dozens of Zeus' paramours to fates worse than death.
And a day of the week for Odin, whose eight-legged horse Sleipnir is a metaphor for a coffin carried by four pall-bearers, who was the patron of the Berserkers, who lied and cheated and did awful things to anyone who opposed the Aesir.
(Also, Pluto and Loki weren't considered evil, either)
No but they were certainly considered darker than the other gods. Considering Loki has a direct hand in initiating Ragnarok he is right up there with Hel. He is Chaotic in the extreme.
The ancient gods did all sorts of crazy, mean things.
Yep, Chaotic... the old gods were more drawn between Law and Chaos than Good and Evil. Their entire societies were that way as well.
Many of the basics of medievel society would likely be considered evil by today's standards. But they were more interested in survival against the chaos of nature, than the niceties of a good society.
Very very very few classical deities would be considered good.