I initially wanted to create a Gnome Paladin of Brigh (Clockwork lady come to life), but she's a neutral diety and therefore (as I understand it) can't have paladins.
I was trying to make a distinctly Gnome paladin. Gnomes are often chaotic, but they often pursue chaos *through* order, i.e. science or arcane arts. Even humor is built upon understanding laws, and bending them.
The principle I wanted to play with was that well-structure machines give rise to innovation. "Life births from Machines," be they clockwork like Brigh, or natural like Gozreh, or arcane like Nethys. But of course all those deities are neutral, hence they don't have paladins, and hence my dilemma.
If we knew the diety that give Brigh her divine spark in the first place (if that's what happened), that would be a good candidate, *except* I imagine it would likely be a chaotic aligned diety. Bummer.
So I'm looking for a diety that fits this Gnome's concept. The obvious options to consider are
> Sheylin - Patron of beauty that's enabled by order.
> Abadar - Patron of order, so long that it perpetuates order.
> Erastil - Patron of keeping people safe from the wilderness via community
> Torag - Patron of order and discipline
This post was initially super long so I just rewrote it, but important things to add:
Gnome has 7 int. So whatever the motto is, it has to be one this simple Gnome can grasp.
I.e. "Order is the cradle of freedom." Or "If the machine works, good things will happen."
I don't think there's an issue with you picking brigh. Paladin's in pathfinder are not tied to gods the same way clerics are. So long as your association doesn't cause you to break the paladin code then there's not a problem.
If you would prefer to stay within one step of a deity, I think Torag makes the most sense, as he is both LG and is a god of artifice. But the others you've listed are fine and could work with your concept.
Maybe Bharnarol, the Tempered Inventor, NG empyreal lord of creativity, invention, and persistence? I imagine his paladins would focus on protection of the inventors and inventions, while making sure that dangerous inventions will be locked up and guarded from getting into wrong hands.
Take a look at some of the Eldest (Fey gods, essentially). I know some of them are LG or close to it, though I'm don't recall any specifics.