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This is an idea I had back when his Godsrain prophecy came out, and I only now realized I could actually, y'know, post about it here.
So obviously "hunting" and "farming" aren't as relevant to most people in Starfinder, as opposed to Pathfinder era. "Community" is always a thing, but he's a pretty old-fashioned guy, I don't think he's going to pivot away from those other aspects of himself.
But you know what kinds of people, in our world, have an interest in outmoded forms of food production? Not (just) as historians, but as skills they want to acquire for themselves, not out of any perceived need, just because they're neat?
I think Erastil is the god of historical re-enactors.
It'd also fit with his focus on "community"; it's a niche interest, and that builds stronger bonds between the people who share it.
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I had not thought about that, that he'd likely be more popular among groups of first settlers. Makes a lot of sense though, so thanks for mentioning it.
And through a process of free-associating which I wasn't actually able to keep track of the steps in it, I've come to the conclusion that he's one of the more popular of the "I'm going to start worshipping some obscure niche deity" gods in the Pact Worlds. Like, for people who specifically seek out something in order to be a bit counter-cultural, but they're not looking to completely go against society. He's old-fashioned and unfamiliar (exotic!), but he's neither harmful nor really weird.
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I like the suggestion about colonists, but I don't think Erastil has to lose as much as you propose. Farming will still matter in futuristic societies, unless every ounce of food is replicated/printed/nanofabricated directly from UBPs or harvested from dead sapients*. Any production that starts with growing a living organism for harvest should count as farming whether it's wide open fields and vinyards, hydroponics, a box of crickets recycling food scraps on a space station, or labs producing genetically engineered yeast and vat-grown meat.
He could insist on remaining the god of old-fashioned outdoor farming on planetary surfaces. Instead, what about branching out into the production of grown organ replacements? That's sort of like farming, it goes into someone's body, and the industry might have started with farming pigs or the like for xenotransplants. He could also branch out into bounty hunters.
* but this might involve hunting so...
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I also imagine he's frequently asking the more technologically inclined gods for help with his social media (I imagine Erastil would be on it mostly to keep in touch with family).
...Also, would not be surprised if his church ran a dating agency and/or matchmaking apps.
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It's very worth noting that the level of technological advancement we see at the seats of the galactic powers are far from universal. Additionally, we know that gods can reach out over interstellar distances and start followings on other planets.
There are plenty of places where things are more agrarian and Erastil might be worshipped under a different name with different trapping.
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I also imagine he's frequently asking the more technologically inclined gods for help with his social media (I imagine Erastil would be on it mostly to keep in touch with family).
...Also, would not be surprised if his church ran a dating agency and/or matchmaking apps.
The amount of information on off grid/frontier living on the internet has to be the definition of irony.
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I read Erastil's article on the Pathfinder Wiki and it seems his attitude (in that era) was very pro-rural, anti-urban. So if those values haven't changed then just take most of what I wrote and switch it to his daughter Halcamora instead. Maybe with that she might pick up enough worshippers to ascend to full divinity?
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I read Erastil's article on the Pathfinder Wiki and it seems his attitude (in that era) was very pro-rural, anti-urban. So if those values haven't changed then just take most of what I wrote and switch it to his daughter Halcamora instead. Maybe with that she might pick up enough worshippers to ascend to full divinity?
Obligatory mention that worshipers granting divinity is a D&D thing, not Pathfinder and Starfinder. No amount of worshipers will turn someone into a deity, nor make one any stronger. (Admittedly, with a possible exception for the goblin hero gods specifically working a little differently than other gods.)
That said, a bit of good news- Halcamora probably counts as having "full divinity" now! Moving away from the OGL also meant dropping a lot of the "quasi-deity" and "demigod" qualifiers. To the best of my knowledge, she's now just a deity in a lower weight class than some of the heavy-hitters.
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Good to know that, thanks. I have a long love for Planescape so that forms my default set of assumptions.
So what does decide if a deity is major or minor or demigod, and can they change?
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Good to know that, thanks. I have a long love for Planescape so that forms my default set of assumptions.
So what does decide if a deity is major or minor or demigod, and can they change?
Happy to help! For my part, I really enjoy Pathfinder's approach, since it means gods don't have to all share a motivation. (Worshipers are still useful as a way for deities to influence the world without provoking other divine intervention in response.)
Also, whoops... looks like I was completely wrong in thinking the remaster clearing the categories out! I see that all three categories are still mentioned in both the GM core and Divine Mysteries, so I'm sorry to have gotten that wrong. (And in fact, the empyreal lords are mentioned as being demigods, and I missed it.) I've done a little more reading, so hopefully this doesn't have any similar mistakes.
In Pathfinder 1e, the categories were gods, demigods, and quasi-deities. Deities offered 5 domains, demigods offered 4 domains, and quasi-deities anywhere from 1 to 4 (with the highest end being on the cusp of becoming a demigod). Gods never had combat statistics, demigods might have statistics (generally with mythic involved somewhere), and quasi-deities almost always had statistics (or if they didn't, simply lacked them for space reasons rather than power reasons). Demigods covered things like demon lords (Lamashtu being the sole exception as a full deity) and other similar power levels, like the empyreal lords, while quasi-deities were things like nascent demon lords. Moving from demigod to god was pretty rare, with examples including "Lamashtu killing a god to become one herself", "Nocticula's redemption, which also involved ascension to godhood", and "the sort of thing you could do post-Mythic level 20 if you wanted to leave the rules behind".
In Pathfinder 2, counting domains was dropped as a measure of power. Gods are beings with nearly unlimited power, demigods are still very powerful but either less than a god or they have their power in service to one, and quasi-deities are things like recently-ascended mortals, planar beings who have obtained a great deal of power, and so on. ("Major" gods versus "minor" are just a matter of power ranking and not official categories- Pharasma and Cayden Cailean are both full deities, but there's a clear difference in their respective power.) The distinction is also that there's no mortal way to kill a god, a demigod would be implausible for mortals to kill, and notable quasi-deities are in the territory of "upper end of a level 20 game's difficulty".
Quasi-deities becoming something more depends on the exact nature of their power. For some, it's just a matter of solidifying their power and quasi-deity is only a transitional state. Newly ascended mortals seem to have a gradual adjustment period of sorts on their way to full godhood, with examples like Aroden spending less and less time in the world, or mythic player characters with the Godling mythic destiny. Others, like nascent demon lords vying to become proper demon lords, have simply accumulated enough power to get close to becoming a demigod, but still need something to push them the rest of the way.
Long-time demigods becoming gods doesn't seem to happen a bunch. There are a few noteworthy examples like Lamashtu and Nocticula, or Arazni reclaiming her soul cage from Tar-Baphon, but it's always for specific, noteworthy, and character-defining reasons. Off the top of my head, Halcamora could perhaps become a full god by Erastil choosing to bestow his power on her and pass his duties on. Demigods do include some pretty powerful and widely-worshiped entities, too- the apocalypse riders are demigods rather than full gods, despite being practically in charge of one of the nine major outer planes. There's less focus on demigod-versus-god in PF2, since from a mortal perspective they do a lot of the same thing, and it's noted that demigods have enough power to provide for all their worshipers.
Hope that's helpful!
Almost sound like a thread about Space Amish.
For the gods stuff, it is useful to remember Pathfinder and Starfinder don't have "Over-Deities"