Are all of the western continent and western gods evil?

[martinkou]

I can't help but notice all the western country names are evil. Even the mountain tells you to go away.

Also, their gods. Tiamat is obviously evil. Marduk isn't a traditional DnD deity but he looks evil too.

[ScottishDragon]

The empire of tears doesn't sound like an evil name to me.

[Zevox]

Marduk isn't a traditional DnD deity but he looks evil too.
Actually, if I recall correctly, Marduk is the basis for D&D's Bahamut.

Like the other pantheons, the western gods are basically a set of real-world divinities, just a more obscure set. The Mesopotamian or Babylonian pantheon, if I'm reading the entries in Wikipedia right. Which is where Tiamat comes from originally.

Zevox

[Soterion]

The empire of tears doesn't sound like an evil name to me.

Yes it is, they fight the Green Lanterns (http://greenlantern.wikia.com/wiki/Empire_of_Tears). Hence, they are evil.

[Katana_Geldar]

There's also the unnamed crowned goddess in a blue dress in charge of druids who might be Astarte, Anat, Asherea or Inanna. Rich! Give us her name soon.

[TheSummoner]

The Western Continent is an unstable place. Every year some new conquerers create or take over a kingdom and by the next year they've been destroyed by THAT year's conquerers.

Doesn't necessarily make all the people evil, but it would make them more common. This reflects nothing on the western gods.

[Optimystik]

Actually, if I recall correctly, Marduk is the basis for D&D's Bahamut.

Correct, although we have yet to know if this is the case in OotS.

However, OotS has metallics, and it's unlikely Dragon made them ("Whoever heard of dragons that can't breathe fire?") so the chances of Marduk being Bahamut are a little higher, to counter Tiamat. He is definitely a major deity in the West as well - he is listed by Shojo during his recounting of the major gods (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0273.html), and Redcloak has him speaking with Odin and Dragon, both leaders of their respective pantheons, in SoD about creating clerics.

[hamishspence]

There's also the unnamed crowned goddess in a blue dress in charge of druids who might be Astarte, Anat, Asherea or Inanna. Rich! Give us her name soon.

I hypothesised Ishtar, but there isn't that much association between her and nature.

Though there was that story where her sister Ereshkigal imprisoned her, and her tears were reflected in massive rains, and her temper tantrums massive storms, in the World.

On the other hand, I've seen it suggested, that it's the same deity given different names in different languages. Ishtar in Akkadian, Inanna in Sumerian, Astarte in Greek.

[Thrax]

I hypothesised Ishtar, but there isn't that much association between her and nature.

Though there was that story where her sister Ereshkigal imprisoned her, and her tears were reflected in massive rains, and her temper tantrums massive storms, in the World.

On the other hand, I've seen it suggested, that it's the same deity given different names in different languages. Ishtar in Akkadian, Inanna in Sumerian, Astarte in Greek.

It is the same goddess, though different nationalities that controlled Mesopotamia in their respective time periods named her differently and gave her a bit different personality, one more fitting to their nationality. Inanna was original Sumerian name, then called "Ishtar" or "Ashtarte"* by semitic invaders, after their own vaguely similar goddess that later merged with Inanna. Greeks couldn't really decipher her Babylonian name when they reached Mesopotamia, so they just called her their own way - "Astarte", and identified her with Aphrodite, for some reason.

* original semitic name could be either "Ishtar" or "Ashtarte" but given the nature of semitic writing systems, they could have write it as just "shtrt", with vowels being considered "unimportant", which produced several variations.

Mythology geek over and out. ;)

[hamishspence]

We'll have to wait and see what name The Giant picks- if that deity is ever named.

So- Marduk, Tiamat, and Unnamed Female Deity.

[Asta Kask]

They are probably the Babylonian Gods (Marduk isn't present in the Sumerian pantheon). Here's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_the_Babylonian_gods) a family tree with hyperlinks.

[Trixie]

I can't help but notice all the western country names are evil. Even the mountain tells you to go away.

The mountains were called so by elves who took all the good land in the north by force. If the name is evil, so are they.

[hamishspence]

It might turn out that the names are deliberately hyped up by the original owners to make them sound more evil and scary than they actually are.

The mountain range may have been named by the elves to discourage others from crossing into their territory.

[Bagelz]

marduk as based on the babalonian gods was the first "god-king" the youngest of pantheon who became the ruler of the pantheon. Possibly even a man who claimed to be a god in order to secure the throne via divine right.

marduk in dnd: in forgotten realms a dead god (killed by tiamat) who was a diety of justice (ruthless, eye for an eye type justice), and loosely allied with bahamut.
in other books he was a demon lord (related to baylors and fire)

[hamishspence]

In the 3.5 book Dragons of Faerun, Marduk is an alias of Bahamut. When Tiamat and "Marduk" killed each other, they both came back as non-deities, which only grant spells the way archfiends and celestial paragons do, rather than the way true deities do- and its only relatively recently, that they regained divinity.

This would suggest that the Manual of the Planes rules, for non-divine Bahamut and Tiamat, could be used for periods shortly after then.

[Fitzclowningham]

Marduk was in the AD&D Deities and Demigods book, as a Babylonian god. I don't have it handy, but I believe Ishtar was in there, too.

[Bogardan_Mage]

There's also the unnamed crowned goddess in a blue dress in charge of druids who might be Astarte, Anat, Asherea or Inanna. Rich! Give us her name soon.
I think it's Ninhursag. Queen and Earth Goddess, fits perfectly.

[Needle]

There's also Sandstorm from 3.5ed listing Babylonian Deities. Tough it may be innacurate with OotS verse, I think it can give us a slight idea...

Anu (LN), Anshar (NE), Dahak (CE), Druaga (LE), Enlil (NG), Enki (LN), Gilgamesh (NG), Girru (LG), Ishtar (TN), Ki (TN), Marduk (LN), Nanna-Sin (CG), Nergal (NE ; Fire Emblem's invading my mind...), Utu (CG)

And well, Tiamat is out of there because of being core and the like, but add her and... maybe someone else?