LFG: Looking For Gods

[BRC]

Alright, so, I'm working on a Seafaring campaign. Homebrewed setting because premade stuff is for Chumps, and one of the players wants to make a cleric.

At which point I realized I had no dieties.

Part of the Setting is that there was a big, psudo-european continent that was shattered by a giant earthquake, much of it was flooded. The remaining landmasses were mostly conquered by the Meridian empire, which is now trying to conquer a large collection of island nations, the Leauge of Free Cities. The League is very sea-based, with a focus on Magic. The Empire is in a state of Proto-Steampunk.

In the middle is the Spotted sea, full of islands, most of the Islanders worship various anamanistic spirits, though I do have Witch-doctor esque characters planned, so if somebody actually knows things about Voodoo it might be cool to base it off that (I'd prefer not to throw on the Hollywood Voodoo buzzwords, that's a little Cliche).

Also, the PC's are pirates, so maybe a patron saint of Pirates could be applicable.

[Jokasti]

Alright, so, I'm working on a Seafaring campaign. Homebrewed setting because premade stuff is for Chumps, and one of the players wants to make a cleric.

At which point I realized I had no dieties.

Part of the Setting is that there was a big, psudo-european continent that was shattered by a giant earthquake, much of it was flooded. The remaining landmasses were mostly conquered by the Meridian empire, which is now trying to conquer a large collection of island nations, the Leauge of Free Cities. The League is very sea-based, with a focus on Magic. The Empire is in a state of Proto-Steampunk.

In the middle is the Spotted sea, full of islands, most of the Islanders worship various anamanistic spirits, though I do have Witch-doctor esque characters planned, so if somebody actually knows things about Voodoo it might be cool to base it off that (I'd prefer not to throw on the Hollywood Voodoo buzzwords, that's a little Cliche).

Also, the PC's are pirates, so maybe a patron saint of Pirates could be applicable.

Are you asking for deities, or asking how to make deities?

[BRC]

Are you asking for deities, or asking how to make deities?
Asking for them. Or just ideas for them.

[Jokasti]

Asking for them. Or just ideas for them.

Well, there could be a god for each island, a god of pirating, and a god of storms, to name a few that you might need.

Do you want stats and numbers, or names, and ideas?

[BRC]

Well, there could be a god for each island, a god of pirating, and a god of storms, to name a few that you might need.

Do you want stats and numbers, or names, and ideas?

Anything people feel like giving me. Everything from "You should have a god that covers Pirates" to a full write up, story and stat block.

[Tavar]

Well, considering the seabased nature of the game, Sea gods will be important. How about a Trio of Sea Gods, one NG, one N, and one NE. The NG would represent the positive aspects of the sea, the N would represent the pure elemental nature of it, and the NE would be the destructiveness. Actually, wait, better yet, one deity with 3 aspects. Clerics must choose one aspect to Worship. Sound good? Give me a bit and I'll come up with a more fleshed out story/domains list.

[FrostBringer]

If the PC's are pirates, maybe they could worship a patron of thieves (not very different) but if your looking for something more "pirate-ish", then how about this...


Krake
Greater Deity
Chaotic Evil
Portfolios:Sea, Fear, Monsters
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Water, Destruction
Home Plane: Material World
Flavor: Pirates respect only what they fear, and all pirates respect Krake. The embodiment of the dangers of the ocean and plight of seafarers, no proper seamen sets voyage without paying a sacrifice to appease the God of Sea Beasts. Krake changes shape from a terrible Colossal Krakken, to a Mammoth Great White Shark, or another suitable Sea Monster of tremendous size. As myth goes, all sea monstrosities originated from Krake's terrible loins, and as such has the power to command any Sea beast.
Cleric Training: Krake has a great following among the intelligent evil sea creatures, including the Sahuagin and the Koa-Toa, but he also has a sizable human sect as well. While there are a few deranged and Evil clerics of the angry god, most are Chaotic Neutral, and try their best to keep Krake's attention to matters of the deep ocean, allowing ships they ride on to be assaulted far less than any other pirate or merchant vessel.

Just a side note, the word Krake is a Scandinavian word designating an unhealthy animal, or something twisted. I hope you can use this.

[Lapak]

A god (or gods) of wind is going to be at least as important as the god or gods of the sea, and is suitable for further two-faced (or multi-aspect) shenanigans.

Actually, given that the sea is both a source of sustenance and destruction, and the winds can bring you where you're going or destroy you or just die out and leave you stranded? I think a good theme for your campaign would be for ALL gods - or maybe all greater gods, if you want lesser deities for specific trades like piracy - to be multi-aspected.

* The God of Wind, who has an aspect of travel and trade, an aspect of destruction, and an aspect of indifference.

* The Goddess of the Sea, who has an aspect of growth/sustenance/life, an aspect of indifference, and an aspect of Death.

* The Goddess of Fire, who has an aspect of healing and protection, an aspect of crafting and creation, and an aspect of raging destruction/vulcanism.

* The God of Earth, who went mad with the massive destruction. Used to have aspects of life and strength, now has only aspect of Indifference and aspect of Chaos.

[BRC]

Ooh, I like the multi-aspected gods idea. Maybe the God of Piracy is technically the god of all sailors. In one aspect, he's a pirate, in another, he's a naval captain.

Edit: Maybe there is just one global pantheon, merely worshipped in very different ways in different places. On the mainland, Clerics of the sea god live on massive floating chapels. On the Islands, clerics of the same god are local Shamans who commune with their deity by wading into the sea and work out of small shrines.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

What about a NE construct deity, birthed from the concept of technology or adapting it to itself. The deity representing the consumption technology will do to the land and eventually to all life. The brass and steel giant that out to literally eat all life.
(This does not have anything to do with my views, just an idea for a malicious deity)

[BRC]

What about a NE construct deity, birthed from the concept of technology or adapting it to itself. The deity representing the consumption technology will do to the land and eventually to all life. The brass and steel giant that out to literally eat all life.
(This does not have anything to do with my views, just an idea for a malicious deity)
Ooh, "the Brass god", starting to be worshiped within the Empire, and perhaps by the Gnomes in their underwater mountain city (In this setting, Gnomes have a racial trait wherein they occasionally become incredibly worried about some threat, and work very hard to prepare for it. At some point in it's history, a Gnomish King got very worried about the continent sinking into the Sea, and made the mountain range the Gnomes live in watertight.

In one aspect, he's the benevolent giver of inspiration and progress. In another, he's a consumer who wants to remake the world in his image.

[Gossipmonger]

* The God of Earth, who went mad with the massive destruction. Used to have aspects of life and strength, now has only aspect of Indifference and aspect of Chaos.

I really like this. But maybe the benevolent aspect has become severely weakened, and travels the land in mortal form, old and feeble-minded. Could be fun.
Or maybe he/she has multiple mortal forms, because of the splitting of the land mass! I like that idea even more.

The neutral aspect of the sea could be a jealous hoarder of secrets (think sunken ships, etc).

Also, as well as the mainly elemental/physical gods suggested so far, how about some more abstract ones, with aspects split along law/chaos rather than good/evil.
For example, the god of celebration, or passion could have aspects as follows:
Lawful - Singing and dancing, all very PG stuff. Theatre, and other musey goodness perhaps.
Neutral - Not really sure. Friendly competition?
Chaotic - Drunken revelry, wench-mongering and other piratey excesses.

Or a god of protection could be:
Law - Justice, Authority etc
Neutral - uuuuugh, I can't do neutral. Maybe someone else has ideas.
Chaos - Vigilantism, Might makes Right, and so on.

Hope that at least provides some ideas to work with.

[Lapak]

Or a god of protection could be:
Law - Justice, Authority etc
Neutral - uuuuugh, I can't do neutral. Maybe someone else has ideas.
Chaos - Vigilantism, Might makes Right, and so on.
Neutral/Protection could be a god of Concealment. He doesn't care whether you were good or bad, he doesn't care if you break the law or enforce it, and he doesn't punish or harm the ones who might harm you. He just shields you from detection so that you do not suffer.

[deuxhero]

Grab 2 real pantheons, exagerate the characters of thier meembers, merge equivalent deities or similar features and profit.

For example one pantheon I had in my head for a bit had this guy.

Fulgur - God of thunder, giant killing, destruction, regeneration (after destruction, not trolls), gracious unchecked Latin names...
Fulgur is potrayed as a tall red haired humanoid with 4 arms and no shirt. in his 4 hands he holds *insert long weapon not decided with here*. Fulgur typically spends his time... to avoid moderation risks I'll say "imitating Zeus and the majority of the greek pantheon".

? - Fulgur's crazy yandere wife. God of fire and metal
In her first life, Fulgur's wife straved herself to attract Fulgur's attention. When he finally gave up and married her, her father, like anyone who had only been informed of their childs marriage post-hitch, was disproving and she thorough herself into a fire. Her reincarnationin now Fulgur's annoyingly presistant yandere groupie. She can fuse (think mecha) with him into a singular god of construsts.

[boomwolf]

You can try and go for the classic Greek pantheon, considering you are on islands setting, and they were invented on a rather island-centered area, they should fit.

Avoid if you don't want gods messing around too much, greek gods tended to mess around the mortal realm every week or so.

[Yora]

How about a Trio of Sea Gods, one NG, one N, and one NE. The NG would represent the positive aspects of the sea, the N would represent the pure elemental nature of it, and the NE would be the destructiveness. Actually, wait, better yet, one deity with 3 aspects.
Though the worship of a sea god is obviously discontinued for more than a thousand years, folklore of the people living at the North Sea treats it as having a kind of spirit. And though the sea is a provider of food, brings great riches through trade, and heavily influences all aspects of life, I've never heard any stories that would make it appear kind and nice in any way. :smallbiggrin:

Show proper respect and bring little sacrifices, and better be thankful that you are allowed to take fish from the sea and sail on it. If you aknowledge that the sea can do with you whatever it wants, it might not activly try to kill you.
But if you think you don't need to respect it or you're a good enough sailor to make it through every storm, it will just take you and your ship, never to be heard of again. Or your entire town, if it wants to.

I don't know how it is with other maritime cultures, but in northern europe, it follows the rule, that all spirits are infinitely more powerful than humans, don't care at all for mortals, and only try not to kill you because it pleases them. And NEVER try to piss them off by thinking they can't do anything to you. :smallbiggrin:

[Shpadoinkle]

How about... a god of death, fertility, and bloodlust. One of the Celtic goddesses had the domains of death and fertility, though I don't recall her name. Let's call this guy Rillar, and he's basically the nature deity, although less in the "elemental" nature sense and more in the "circle of life" sense.

Rillar, Greater Deity
-TN (somewhat NE leanings)
-Clerical domains of plant, animal, healing, death, and war
-Either ally or rival to the elemental god(s). The elemental god(s) give the seasons thier aspect, while Rillar is the one who actually transitions one season to another, essentially deciding how long a given season lasts.
-For the most part he is indifferent to the doings of mortals or the rivalries of the other gods, he simply wishes to go about his work overseeing the balance and cycles of nature. As death is part of his portfolio, he takes particular interest in wars, however, and is said to be the one who granted mortals thier capacity for bloodlust. Soldiers sometimes refer to bloodlust during a battle as "the touch of Rillar," and many barbarians invoke him when they enter a rage.
-Favored weapon is the spear.

[Chrono22]

How about four gods who correspond to the four directions of a compass, the seasons, and the winds? North wind, South wind, etc.

A god of navigation/constellations would also be a boon to travelers.

[BRC]

How about four gods who correspond to the four directions of a compass, the seasons, and the winds? North wind, South wind, etc.

A god of navigation/constellations would also be a boon to travelers.

Four Directions, Four Seasons, Four Elements...I like it.

[Godskook]

Part of the Setting is that there was a big, psudo-european continent that was shattered by a giant earthquake, much of it was flooded.

The earthquake was the result of the god-war. On one side was the established gods, old and set in their ways, almost comfortable with the more petty squabbling across the alignments. The other, some upstarts who wanted incredible change. Certain sea/underground faring gods among the latter group hoped to weaken the portfolios of the old gods with such a powerful earthquake. While these newer gods step into the forefront among the mortals as 'the appropriate gods to our new world', the old gods work hard to re-establish themselves.

[Violet Octopus]

What about a NE construct deity, birthed from the concept of technology or adapting it to itself. The deity representing the consumption technology will do to the land and eventually to all life. The brass and steel giant that out to literally eat all life.
(This does not have anything to do with my views, just an idea for a malicious deity)

That plus command of fire's destructive and steam-power aspects. Though I'd make it LE, to represent the imposition of an artificial order that is incompatible with life.

[Set]

Part of the Setting is that there was a big, psudo-european continent that was shattered by a giant earthquake, much of it was flooded. The remaining landmasses were mostly conquered by the Meridian empire, which is now trying to conquer a large collection of island nations, the Leauge of Free Cities. The League is very sea-based, with a focus on Magic. The Empire is in a state of Proto-Steampunk.

In the middle is the Spotted sea, full of islands, most of the Islanders worship various anamanistic spirits, though I do have Witch-doctor esque characters planned, so if somebody actually knows things about Voodoo it might be cool to base it off that (I'd prefer not to throw on the Hollywood Voodoo buzzwords, that's a little Cliche).

Also, the PC's are pirates, so maybe a patron saint of Pirates could be applicable.

For Voodoo, the best class to simulate a houngan would be the Binder. A pantheon of elemental themed Vestiges to serve as 'loa' would be ideal.

Pantheons can have themes, or be a cobblepot.

A themed pantheon might start with a celestial base (sun god, moon goddess, earth goddess, etc.), a familial base (father god, mother god, their children, the father god's brothers, etc.), an elemental base (fire, earth, air, water), etc.

You might want to start with archetypes, such as sky-father, earth-mother, trickster-uncle/child, maiden/mother/crone goddess (fates, norns, whatever), scribe of the gods, messenger of the gods, wounded god who gave of himself to save people (Tyr, as a mythological example), the wise old man (sometimes mixed with the Trickster, to make the wise fool), etc.

Sample archetype;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickster

[Darcand]

If I were going to brew up a Pirate Pantheon I think I might go with something like this.

The Captain. Principle deity, fills a role similiar to Odin or Zeus, grants a few domains shared by the rest of his pantheon, i.e. water.

The Helmsman. God of Air, Travel.

The Privateer. God of War, Strength.

The Rat. God of Stealth and Deception

The Kraken. God of Death. Opposed to the core pantheon, likely NE.

The Storm. Also a Death deity, but CN, and generally appeased with offerings.

[sciencepanda]

Something that also might fit is to do something based upon Caribbean Mythology.

The Loa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loa) from Haitian Voodou practices are already divided into several familiars, which can be roughly ordered by alignment and or portfolio, and there are many individual ones to choose from, if you wish to have them directly involved in the setting.