I've been wondering how heretical religions would play out in a campaign where the gods make their presence known by the granting and withholding of spells.
In the history of Audor:
The Toranian Empire conquered the kingdom of Audor. When the empire collapsed, a large number of Nobeni mercenaries were stranded in Audor. Switching allegiance to the Audorian barons, they were allowed to settle. But having been part of the invading armies, that kind of didn't help them on the dating scene.
So they bought brides from the Kosa plains across the mountains. These brides brought with them worship of a Kosaka goddess called Neyria, whose portfolios include the wind, love, fertility, and death.
After the war, everybody in Audor was ordered to "recognize" the god Odin as the Allfather and the Giver of Laws. The Nobeni worship a monotheistic god who does not permit worship of other gods, so they did the minimum and said "Yes, we recognize him. He's the guy with the eyepatch and the hair and the spear and helmet with the horns. We'd recognize him anywhere."
The Kosaka brides, on the other hand, were used to the idea of warriors swearing fealty to other warriors, going all the way up to the great god of the pantheon. And when the Judges said that, by the way, they were all freed of slavery, some of them started looking into this pantheon of Odins.
Now Neyria, goddess of love, wind, fertility, and death, is a lot like Freya, who is also a goddess of love, wind, fertility, and death. Some people might begin to think that they are the same goddess. Or different aspects of the same goddess. Or maybe they are related, like sisters or cousins. Or maybe it is all just a coincidence.
So how would this play out in a campaign?
Some thoughts:
1. In order to get divine abilities, characters have to use the name of either Freya or Neyria. This could be because they are different goddesses, or it could be a clarity of thought thing.
2. There might be a desire to mount an extra-planar expedition to resolve this issue.
3. Myths would probably be told that connect Neyria to the Asgardian deities.
Any other thoughts?
I'm not entirely understanding the question. What would the brides do? Wouldn't that be up to each individual? Some might convert to Freya. Some might say Freya is just Neyria by another name. Etc.
A planar expedition to ask a god what name it prefers? For real? Unless a whole lot of clerics are losing their spells suddenly why go to such trouble? And if they are suddenly cut off from their god and that's how they make their will known isn't that already the answer?
Or is it what would the gods do? Would they withhold spells from some followers based on their responses and not others? In that case I guess it depends on how much a god cares about their name and how much they care about spreading their portfolio. Is worship powering them? Do acts within their portfolio strengthen them or just the number of people that come to the temple and use the proper names and rites?
Me? I say when it comes to Pagans and Pantheons names are just a way of identifying primal concepts. Somebody worships a force for love, wind, fertility and death and calls it Neyria and someone else calls it Freya. The important thing is honoring that force and what it wants. Not what it wants to be called.
If that helps at all.
If there is a heretical god, maybe to keep it on the downlow that s/he is being worshipped, s/he only provides spells that are "subtle." I'm thinking some divinations, ones that give a bonus to rolls and stats (divine favor, shield of faith, bulls strength, bless). S/he would not grant spells that have an obvious visual effect, like healing, flame strikes, summonings, and the like.
I guess this kind of throws things into question.
In a fantasy game, people assume that the tales told of the gods are "real" within the context of that game. Odin did sacrifice himself for wisdom, and Loki did steal Sif's hair and then replaced it with gold hair made by the dwarves.
But now if some Kosaka chicks can just start telling stories liking their goddess into the Norse pantheon, and even worse, other Kosaka chicks are telling contradictory stories, then what are people to believe.
Of course, this is the Asgardian mythos, which already has the problem that it has such detailed descriptions of the destruction of the entire pantheon, that you have to wonder: was Baldur shot already, or is that in the future? If that is in the future, shouldn't somebody send an expedition up to Asgard to tell Frigga that maybe she should tell the mistletoe not to kill her son? But if that is in the past, then how come clerics of Baldur are still getting their spells?
People might start to wonder, what the heck is going on up there in Heaven?
I guess this kind of throws things into question.
In a fantasy game, people assume that the tales told of the gods are "real" within the context of that game. Odin did sacrifice himself for wisdom, and Loki did steal Sif's hair and then replaced it with gold hair made by the dwarves.
We do? I don't usually assume that. Unless the Gods are REALLY active I think most people in the world can understand a story might not be a biography and rather a fable meant to espouse the deity/religions beliefs and values. Did Odin REALLY sacrifice himself for wisdom or is that meant to tell us how far Odin will go/how much he values wisdom? Even as a cleric unless I'm in a setting where I can talk to Odin I don't really know but that's ok. It's not what really matters.
But now if some Kosaka chicks can just start telling stories liking their goddess into the Norse pantheon, and even worse, other Kosaka chicks are telling contradictory stories, then what are people to believe.
Well that depends on the world. If the Gods are active in some way then they'll let you know. If you say you have the backing of Freya but no spells....
Otherwise people are left to muddle through it just like the real world.So what's it matter to the God. If I'm a God of Love I don't care if people call me Fred or Nancy I just want to spread love. If I'm eternal and affecting the entire world then obviously people in different places with different languages will give me different names. Assuming I can speak every language why should I have a preference for one over the other?
Of course, this is the Asgardian mythos, which already has the problem that it has such detailed descriptions of the destruction of the entire pantheon, that you have to wonder: was Baldur shot already, or is that in the future? If that is in the future, shouldn't somebody send an expedition up to Asgard to tell Frigga that maybe she should tell the mistletoe not to kill her son? But if that is in the past, then how come clerics of Baldur are still getting their spells?People might start to wonder, what the heck is going on up there in Heaven?
Don't we already? Hence the saying God works in mysterious ways.
I've been thinking about this, and have come to the conclusion that I have to decide what the truth is, and whether or not to give the PCs a riddle. There are so many options in a D&D/Pathfinder world for dedicated seekers to seek the truth.
So I'll probably work my homebrew goddess into the Norse mythos. I had never really determined an origin for my goddess, so she could be from Gladsheim. The Norse had a tendancy to bring gods like Hod into existence, with nobody knowing where they came from.
If I had wanted to, I probably could do some sort of Trinity riddle. As a campaign secret, I have already determined that Odin and Hod are the same god. (This was suggested in one of the books I've read.)
But for my own goddess, I'll probably make her a sister of Freya.
An interesting concept could be that the 'mingling' of the divine portfolios by Mortal worshippers could bring Freya and Neyria into a form of contact. Both Goddesses might very well be individual entities, or alternatively Freya might have split a small portion off in eons past as Neyria in an attempt to bypass Ragnarok, an action Odin would be absolutely furious at and might even smite her down for (although he cannot actually 'kill' Freya as she must die in Ragnarok or he risks unbalancing the universe).
Alternatively, Neyria could very well be one of Freya's children, not much of a warrior and perhaps banished in eons past for some sin against the Aether and Vanir, thus her name was struck from all but the oldest and holiest records, ones that could not be burned to expunge her name or re-written to exclude Neyria's name.
On the other hand these brides could be setting the seeds of a 'War in Heaven' saga as two Pantheons tussle over who gets the worshippers, and the PCs get caught up in the middle of it as the Gods begin to maneuver their mortal followers for control of the material world.
Well given that the Norse pantheon has the Aesir and the Vanir who married in together, the Jotuns occasionally getting into the act with folk like Loki, and the Alfar also marrying in with Idunna marrying Braggi for example, well, there would be nothing terribly strange with a new goddess coming in over the hill from some other pantheon, and the big question in Valhalla would be "Is she single?"
There would also be some friction as Neyria would be seen as stepping on Freya's shtick, and it would be utterly like Loki to pull a play from Eris's playbook and inscribe an apple with "For the Fairest" and see if he couldn't get the two of them into a catfight. I mean, Freya's chariot is pulled by cats anyway. What does Neyria ride?
You as DM would have to figure out how all this played out, but I could see Freya and Neyria eventually coming to their senses after realizing their followers were dying because of crap Loki pulled and they could end up swearing sisterhood and then jointly going to kick his ass. Or, to be really Norse about it, have Neyria hand in marriage be offered to whoever kicks Loki's ass for them.
These are good ideas. There are some unnamed Vanir goddesses in Norse mythology, including one who is Freya's aunt. I can see that bringing Neyria into a situation with Freya, Frigga, Odin, and Jorth is liable to cause interesting things to happen.
It could be to avoid such friction that Neyria was sent out to the east, until such time as her followers were to be invited back across the mountains.