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How do you handle Nergal?
I don't believe we've used Nergal. I didn't import the pantheon wholesale, just kind of cherrypicked the ones I liked/the ones I needed for a particular slot. For example I grabbed Atargatis because I specifically wanted a deity of civilization and protection. The addition of merfolk to her portfolio (and the resulting in-setting backstory of her being the first and progenitor of the race) was an adaptation to add more of the real-world Atargatis to the setting.
I might keep the Paizo version of him, where he's a lesser demon lord of sun and heat, or I might just ignore him entirely.
Weather for my boy's birthday tomorrow is looking to be nice - sunny and in the 70s. Woot! And for his party on Sunday it's looking better - just a slight chance of rain, cloudy, but in the mid 70s.
here's hoping he had a wonderful day.
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How do you handle Nergal?I don't believe we've used Nergal. I didn't import the pantheon wholesale, just kind of cherrypicked the ones I liked/the ones I needed for a particular slot. For example I grabbed Atargatis because I specifically wanted a deity of civilization and protection. The addition of merfolk to her portfolio (and the resulting in-setting backstory of her being the first and progenitor of the race) was an adaptation to add more of the real-world Atargatis to the setting.
I might keep the Paizo version of him, where he's a lesser demon lord of sun and heat, or I might just ignore him entirely.
Personally, I wouldn't; it's really an intense insult to him.
He wasn't one of the better gods, and in general his violent domains tend to be the most focused on, but Nergal wasn't actually evil. In fact, the hymn to him describes him as heroic and hints that he fought against the enemies of good even while still being lord of the underworld. And his title, "the Burner," was a reference to what he did to outdated teachings. He was also known for safeguarding humanity's gardens, among other beneficial things, making him one of the more unusual gods of knowledge.
Pretty much, he was incredibly violent, incredibly capable of destruction... and quite possibly a great ally to humanity.
Overall, he's a complex deity, and actually was depicted as being amazingly powerful. And while he was violent and destructive when he passed judgement, he still wasn't actually evil. Plus, it seems that he encouraged people to keep to updated knowledge instead of clinging to knowledge that was outdated.
And, to be honest, he tended to scare people. The Hebrews, if I read my history right, were afraid of him to some degree. That's why he has a special entry in the Bible and is the origin of his depiction as a demon... and was definitely intended as an insult.
How do you handle Nergal?I don't believe we've used Nergal. I didn't import the pantheon wholesale, just kind of cherrypicked the ones I liked/the ones I needed for a particular slot. For example I grabbed Atargatis because I specifically wanted a deity of civilization and protection. The addition of merfolk to her portfolio (and the resulting in-setting backstory of her being the first and progenitor of the race) was an adaptation to add more of the real-world Atargatis to the setting.
I might keep the Paizo version of him, where he's a lesser demon lord of sun and heat, or I might just ignore him entirely.
I prefer to make up my own gods. I do draw inspiration from those that came before the and have no problem with filing the serial numbers off some of the popular and even more obscure gods to an extent.
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Sounds fun!
(Are you sure you don't want a ghost rat or yappy dog swarm?)
No! No no no please don't bring up yappy dogs around Orthos. We still have to be nice to the lady with the chihuahua in KM.
Yeah, probably won't use him then, or if I do he'll be revised somehow. I think we've filled all the pantheon holes right now, but the deities in our setting are designed to be variable, so that won't be a set thing.
Yeah, probably won't use him then, or if I do he'll be revised somehow. I think we've filled all the pantheon holes right now, but the deities in our setting are designed to be variable, so that won't be a set thing.
Do they retire or come back in other forms like hogfather?
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Yeah, probably won't use him then, or if I do he'll be revised somehow. I think we've filled all the pantheon holes right now, but the deities in our setting are designed to be variable, so that won't be a set thing.Do they retire or come back in other forms like hogfather?
Amusingly I'm actually in the middle of reading that.
It depends on the deity, really.
Some retire, passing on the mantle to a successor chosen by them or by their superior, one of the five Aspects (Arete, Aspect of Good; Braghain, Aspect of Order; Ahriman, Aspect of Evil; Xaos, Aspect of Chaos; or Mazuda, Aspect of Creation). The deities of storms, war, and death (not Ireshkigal - her official position is goddess of Souls) all passed their positions on to a chosen set of descendants, pretty much simultaneously.
Others have their powers taken from them for some reason - such as Athene the former goddess (or Avatar, as they're referred to in-setting) of Craftsmanship; her hatred and envy of her rival Arachne got her position revoked and given to Arachne instead. She dwindled in a half-divine state for a while, and would have eventually faded back to mortality if she she later hadn't ended up being given the position of Avatar of Envy and reborn as Irshya, goddess of harpies.
Others were destroyed - the first Avatar of Wrath, for example, got obliterated by its successor, and the defeat backlashed throughout history, erasing all memory of its name.
It's designed to be a very variable set of roles, and almost all of the deities are ascended mortals of some sort. So for those who achieve high enough or prove themselves in a particular role, there's a potential for divine participation at some point post-campaign.
I prefer to make up my own gods. I do draw inspiration from those that came before the and have no problem with filing the serial numbers off some of the popular and even more obscure gods to an extent.How do you handle Nergal?I don't believe we've used Nergal. I didn't import the pantheon wholesale, just kind of cherrypicked the ones I liked/the ones I needed for a particular slot. For example I grabbed Atargatis because I specifically wanted a deity of civilization and protection. The addition of merfolk to her portfolio (and the resulting in-setting backstory of her being the first and progenitor of the race) was an adaptation to add more of the real-world Atargatis to the setting.
I might keep the Paizo version of him, where he's a lesser demon lord of sun and heat, or I might just ignore him entirely.
I do a little of both, really. A lot of our deities are whole cloth - mostly because they're based on old characters of ours, mortals who excelled in a particular role and ascended.
Others are loosely based on a real-world origin. For example, Khemost - our Avatar of Torment, Mad Science, and Metamorphosis - is very, very loosely taken from the Mesopotamian deity Chemosh. Mostly just what's left of him is the name, which itself is twisted; there's very little otherwise taken from the original.
Then there are others, such as Echidna from Greek Mythology, which have somewhat the same purpose and role - she's still the Mother of Monsters and patron of strange and warped creatures, but her backstory's completely different (instead of a banished Titan, she's a mutant Fey princess who was tempted out of her Court; also I'm pretty sure she's not Evil). Same deal with Athene/Irshya and Arachne - I just changed the ending, really, and made Arachne less arrogant and more... well, Lawful Good, simple as that.
And then there are some who were changed very little, mostly because I was happy with how they were originally depicted when I found them and didn't need to change a lot in the adaptation.
Speaking of the Moore's....I hope to see them this weekend.
HELLS YEAH!!!!
Orthos, I do something similar with the mantles bit.
Basically, a mortal can mantle a god... as in, take over the position. They gain the domains and powers, but also take the name and responsibilities. As such, the names themselves tend to be unchanging... but the gods themselves can change drastically in personality from incarnation to incarnation.
This gets interesting in that some of the mantles, such as Nergal's, have since gained personality and their own will... those mantles choose mortals for them and act as guides for those mortals.
Back from work.
Apparently there were some problems and the boss ordered all the used stock that we were packing for the last week or two back to testing...
We will have to pack it again once it comes back from testing.
Yay.
I prefer to make up my own gods. I do draw inspiration from those that came before the and have no problem with filing the serial numbers off some of the popular and even more obscure gods to an extent.How do you handle Nergal?I don't believe we've used Nergal. I didn't import the pantheon wholesale, just kind of cherrypicked the ones I liked/the ones I needed for a particular slot. For example I grabbed Atargatis because I specifically wanted a deity of civilization and protection. The addition of merfolk to her portfolio (and the resulting in-setting backstory of her being the first and progenitor of the race) was an adaptation to add more of the real-world Atargatis to the setting.
I might keep the Paizo version of him, where he's a lesser demon lord of sun and heat, or I might just ignore him entirely.
I do a little of both, really. A lot of our deities are whole cloth - mostly because they're based on old characters of ours, mortals who excelled in a particular role and ascended.
Others are loosely based on a real-world origin. For example, Khemost - our Avatar of Torment, Mad Science, and Metamorphosis - is very, very loosely taken from the Mesopotamian deity Chemosh. Mostly just what's left of him is the name, which itself is twisted; there's very little otherwise taken from the original.
Then there are others, such as Echidna from Greek Mythology, which have somewhat the same purpose and role - she's still the Mother of Monsters and patron of strange and warped creatures, but her backstory's completely different (instead of a banished Titan, she's a mutant Fey princess who was tempted out of her Court; also I'm pretty sure she's not Evil). Same deal with Athene/Irshya and Arachne - I just changed the ending, really, and made Arachne less arrogant and more... well, Lawful Good, simple as that.
And then there are some who were changed very little, mostly because I was happy with how they were originally...
Cooool.
In my campaign setting the gods are quite dead. Killed in public for all to see by their treacherous/oppressed creations, the dragons, during the Divine War. Before they perished, the gods created something that would allow them to help their priests while they are reforming their semi corporeal bodies, and it is this semi aware entity that grants spells. Since the only ones who were alive during this war are a few truly ancient elves - old even by their own people's standards - most faiths are fragmented. The greater gods of th the Shattered Pantheon are usually split along a specific line with respect to the god in question. For example, Aina is either the Herald of the Dawn and is Denoth's(god of the sun and head of the pantheon after his father, Wune, stepped down) wife/servant/friend, or she is the Daughter of the Sun, and is Denoth's daughter by a goddess who's name has been lost to time.
Orthos, I do something similar with the mantles bit.
Basically, a mortal can mantle a god... as in, take over the position. They gain the domains and powers, but also take the name and responsibilities. As such, the names themselves tend to be unchanging... but the gods themselves can change drastically in personality from incarnation to incarnation.
Sounds interesting. Our names aren't locked in like that, so if a deity changes, the whole thing changes. Takes some adjusting for the church, especially in the Creation Aspect, who has Avatars under her of all alignments, unlike the other four whose Avatars are at least tied to each other along one axis.
Think of each Aspect as a single religion unto itself, and each Avatar under them as a particular denomination of that church. So the Aspect is more like "Christianity as a whole" and then the Avatars would be "Catholicism, Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons, etc. etc. etc.".
It's a bigger event when a new Avatar takes over an old one's job than when a completely new role is created, though that latter is becoming more and more rare as time goes on for obvious reasons.
Orthos, I do something similar with the mantles bit.
Basically, a mortal can mantle a god... as in, take over the position. They gain the domains and powers, but also take the name and responsibilities. As such, the names themselves tend to be unchanging... but the gods themselves can change drastically in personality from incarnation to incarnation.
Sounds interesting. Our names aren't locked in like that, so if a deity changes, the whole thing changes. Takes some adjusting for the church, especially in the Creation Aspect, who has Avatars under her of all alignments, unlike the other four whose Avatars are at least tied to each other along one axis.
Think of each Aspect as a single religion unto itself, and each Avatar under them as a particular denomination of that church. So the Aspect is more like "Christianity as a whole" and then the Avatars would be "Catholicism, Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons, etc. etc. etc.".
It's a bigger event when a new Avatar takes over an old one's job than when a completely new role is created, though that latter is becoming more and more rare as time goes on for obvious reasons.
The reason the names are locked in is because there is some overlap; some domains are used by multiple gods. As such, the names are tied to the domains and the overall personality of the god's role. It also tells you who you can expect to aid you as you adjust to the role.
For example, Nergal and Ereshkigal are tied. As such, someone who replaces the current holder of one of those mantles can automatically count on the other to help them adjust.
That's not to say that it's not a big deal... typically, mortals gain these mantles while in the middle of doing something important. Nergal's mantle tends to pass on to people fighting against evil, usually right after they've decided they will do anything to stop that evil.
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I prefer to make up my own gods. I do draw inspiration from those that came before the and have no problem with filing the serial numbers off some of the popular and even more obscure gods to an extent.How do you handle Nergal?I don't believe we've used Nergal. I didn't import the pantheon wholesale, just kind of cherrypicked the ones I liked/the ones I needed for a particular slot. For example I grabbed Atargatis because I specifically wanted a deity of civilization and protection. The addition of merfolk to her portfolio (and the resulting in-setting backstory of her being the first and progenitor of the race) was an adaptation to add more of the real-world Atargatis to the setting.
I might keep the Paizo version of him, where he's a lesser demon lord of sun and heat, or I might just ignore him entirely.
I keep a mixed bag, creating my own deities while also taking old ones and giving them my own spin.
I create my deities from scratch. No reuse of real world deities unless I am writing/GMing something somehow related to real world (including cosmologies that potentially include Earth, like Amber).
No! No no no please don't bring up yappy dogs around Orthos. We still have to be nice to the lady with the chihuahua in KM.Sounds fun!
(Are you sure you don't want a ghost rat or yappy dog swarm?)
Somehow I missed this post.
I don't think I could stand more than one dog like that in KM.
Maybe your next critter could be a bunny swarm? (Not Safe for Anyanka/Jimmy Carter link)You would never know they are coming until it's too late! They would have like a +30 stealth at least
In order to pass safely through Bunny Swarm-infested territory and free the prisoner Carrot Top, the entire party must don disguises...
In order to pass safely through Bunny Swarm-infested territory and free the prisoner Carrot Top
... why would you want to?
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In order to pass safely through Bunny Swarm-infested territory and free the prisoner Carrot Top... why would you want to?
Sacrifice for Cthulhu. Threaten to sacrifice him to Cthulhu and Cthulhu backs down just to avoid dealing with his "jokes."
{casts Heal on CH using turnip as material component}
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Afternoon, all. What did I miss?
Funny you show up when we're talking about gods.
{casts Heal on CH using turnip as material component}
Somehow I don't believe that will have the intended effect.
At least it wasn't a radish.
At least it wasn't a radish.
Radish is much better and useful plant than turnip!
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We ran out of those after the new guy sacrificed the last one to Vecna.
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{fondly recalls the adventures surrounding the 2e Penultimate Parsnipron Parade}
Afternoon, all. What did I miss?Funny you show up when we're talking about gods.What's so funny about that?
*finger hovers above the red button labeled "smite"*
why nothing. Nothing at all. Have I mentioned you look nice today? Is that a new robe?
Guess how much I wrote today :(
No cake, no presents...
At least I am not getting older this year.
Did I miss a birthday announcement?
Did I miss a birthday announcement?
Nope. There was no announcement.
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Interview Monday!
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Interview Monday!
Have fun!
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Interview Monday!
Good luck!
Did I miss a birthday announcement?Nope. There was no announcement.
Well happy birthday anyway =)
Interview Monday!
Woooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Now to bed... Internet supplies seem to be reaching critical levels... And there are eight days remaining until new allowance is provided. I might need to reduce my internet activity for some time to avoid overpaying :/
Interview Monday!
Break some legs!
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{casts Heal on CH using turnip as material component}*starts blowing turnips out of his nose*
I can use these...
Updates on hold tonight on my blog.
And, Drejk, happy birthday!
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Happy birthday, Drejk!
I made a blog entry for you. :)