Help designing deities

[FreeRangeOyster]

I'm attempting a "top-down" design for my new campaign setting. Cosmology and religion are vitally important to the history and present state of the world. The "present" in this world takes place about five hundred years (this may change) after the gods had to leave the world in a hurry, leaving the Aspects to care for it in the mean time. Skipping all the history of that, I need help with the Aspects.

The Aspects are not gods, they are not even really sentient. They are more like semi-sentient forces. For most gameplay purposes, they work as gods: divine magic comes from them, people offer their devotions to them, they have celestial servants left to assist them by the departing gods. I really liked the Sun/Moon influence in the Giant's worldbuilding articles, and the people of this world are similarly affected. Everyone of the major races is born with a mark showing their affiliation with a certain Aspect.

I need help to make sure that (1) there is enough diversity in the Aspects, (2) that they are balanced, and (3) that they are interesting. I also would appreciate help establishing the appropriate domains. I assigned them once, but I don't like what I ended up with.

So, without further ado, I give you the Aspects:

Justice
Mercy
Light
Darkness
Artifice (order and construction, especially artificial or imposed)
Wild (chaos, dynamism, nature)
Creation
Destruction
Luck

[martyboy74]

How serious do you want these to be? I'm assuming that the god of Artifice propbably shouldn't have crippling OCD.

[Triaxx]

Actually, that would be kind of interesting. An obsession with corners, as in there shouldn't be any ever, would make for some very interesting buildings.

Or the god of mercy being cruel and vindictive, just to have a reason to grant mercy.

[TheThan]

Actually, that would be kind of interesting. An obsession with corners, as in there shouldn't be any ever, would make for some very interesting buildings.

Or the god of mercy being cruel and vindictive, just to have a reason to grant mercy.

That make some sense, however it is a bit counter intuitive.

What I think you should do is decide on what gods you have, decide what they take care of (for instance a god that takes care of the sick and elderly, children and small cute pets) then give them domain powers that reflect what they are in charge of. Then just turn them into your aspects. Since you already have all the fluff (or at least a bunch of it), that’s all you really need to do.


The last world I created I went with an opposites approach. For each driving force in the world, there was an opposite driving force. This keeps the world in balance. For instance, gods of love and hate, or gods of life and death, I could have created a whole lot of these but I kept it at I think 12 or so gods. This way I eliminate some of the more trivial gods and kept those it down to ones that make sense and have a strong tie to the psychology of the world.

[Vaynor]

Hmm, I'll take Destruction. Lemme edit it in, expect it within 10 minutes.

Ragnus Omari
The Destroyer, The Bloody One, He Who Kills
Aspect: Destruction
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Symbol: A bloody axe
Domains: Destruction, Evil, War
Portfolio: blood, destruction, death, war
Favored Weapon: Battleaxe

Ragnus Omari represents a deadly force, destruction. He finds joy in wars, happiness in death, and glee in murder. His most common form is a all man, reeking with the smell of death. Where his face should be are glowing red eyes shrouded with a dark blackness, and blood drips from his mouth as if it were saliva.

During battles he is often seen, and often dismissed as a vision of fatigue, riding a huge rotting black horse, coated in blood. It's mane, tail and feet course with fire as it flies through the air, screaming a deathly whinny. These battles are often attributed to him, and sacrifices are made in his honor when his followers battle.

Ragnus is overly happy for an aspect of destruction. Some call him insane. They die soon afterwards.

http://www.elfsar.com/Elfsar_Art/Kade_Elfsar_Variant_Cover_Color4.jpg

[Lemur]

Question: What supplements, if any, do you, or are you willing to use in this setting? The core domains are fairly limited, and I'm not sure they really offer much to certain concepts. It would be useful to know if we're allowed to use splatbooks when looking at domains.

[dead_but_dreaming]

If you want them to be non-sentient (which is a nice idea, btw), you shouldn't consider them people. Instead, each of these forces should come with a description of what kind of emotions and sensory input they convey. They should not have any kind of physical presence, but some places (planes) could be strongly influenced by them. Each one of them could atract a certain type of creatures (angels, fiends...), acting as heralds and servitors.

[FreeRangeOyster]

OK, sorry it took me so long to get back to y'all, things have been nuts IRL. I really appreciate all the feedback! So go my responses:

dead_but_dreaming, you hit what I was looking for right on the head. I hadn't really thought of the idea of having areas affected by them. I like that. The idea of attracting servitors is close to what I had in mind -- the gods assigned certain servants to the aspects when they left. Thus all servants of the Aspects are celestials of some kind.

TheThan, the idea of just building a god and then adapting to the fluff doesn't quite work -- there are gods, just absent, and the Aspects are like their regents. I'm glad you like the dualistic aspect.

Vaynor, I like it. It won't really work for the Aspect of Destruction, which has no personality, but Ragnus would make a fabulous Chaos Lord, one of the Great Enemy's high commanders. The army of the Enemy is chaos perverted by evil, and he fits the bill flawlessly. The Chaos Lords are practically demi-dieties anyway. Did you do that artwork yourself?

Lemur, I hadn't really thought of that. Thanks for bringing it up. I'm pretty limited in my resources -- all I have are the core books (I have old editions of various books, but those don't really count.) and Savage Species. I have access to others through friends and family, but not at the drop of a hat. So I guess my response is, "Anything, as long as you can post the description, or hook me up with the original."

martyboy74 and Triaxx, like I said, the Aspects don't really have consciousness. But don't despair, I have another outlet for your twisted creativity: their servants. Come on, if you're in constant communication/communion with a force like that, you're going to bug out a little. Can you come up with some quirks that the servants of each Aspect would develop? This is a fairly serious setting, so nothing to goofy or over the top, but enough to get the point across. Yes, OCD would be suitable for Artifice. No, crippling cases of it would not be.

[Triaxx]

Justice
* Very like Miko, but Justice comes no matter how high or low in the power structure. Tendency to off monarchs.
Mercy
*As before, cruel, vindictive, but ultimately merciful, even if it only means killing quickly.
Light
*
Darkness
*
Artifice
* obsessed with a particular element of design, corners, windows, and so on. Feels they shouldn't exist, or should be the only thing. Very weird cities.
Wild (chaos, dynamism, nature)
* sloppy, messy, very natural. Chosen familiar is pig, or some variant.
Creation
* builds lots of things, but never much useful, since what an adventurer would call useful, would destroy, which isn't what creation is about.
Destruction
*lots of double edged swords, curses. Powerful weapons, with a steep penalty.
Luck
* obsessed with gambling, coin tosses, die rolls (DnD in joke if you want a moment of levity), card games. bets for very high stakes.

[Vaynor]

Vaynor, I like it. It won't really work for the Aspect of Destruction, which has no personality, but Ragnus would make a fabulous Chaos Lord, one of the Great Enemy's high commanders. The army of the Enemy is chaos perverted by evil, and he fits the bill flawlessly. The Chaos Lords are practically demi-dieties anyway. Did you do that artwork yourself?

Thanks. And no, I googled it.

[Maerok]

Elbren Kelgrix
Lord of Coins, Father Entropy, The Chancer
Aspect: Luck
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Symbol: A hand hefting three silver coins into the air
Domains: Luck, Chaos
Portfolio: Luck, gambling, entertainment, probability
Favored Weapon: Dire flail

Elbren Kelgrix is the personification of luck and entropy. If it has even the slightest chance of happening, he knows the absolute odds; to the Lord of Coins, all outcomes are possible and he often lands his coin flips on the edge rather than heads or tails. Sometimes, his coin will simply appear in another plane and the Far Realms is quite littered with the outliers of his probability manipulation.

Kelgrix was the first gambler, introducing a bet to the other aspects as what the final word in existence would be. He has been the sole inspiration for every game, even the grim ones. In his domain, one often finds themselves trapped within these games for eternities; these maze-like games often mimic life itself to the point where a few have lived to their dying day before finding out.

A second 'divine gamble' has been put out recently; if someone can surprise the Chancer himself, then he would relinquish his title. This task is nearly impossible, as the Chancer himself has seen every probable outcome. Yet perhaps the day may come when even Father Entropy himself falls victim to his own chaotic luck; even the best of luck turns sour.

In addition to his divine gambles, Elbren also makes more subtle bets with mortals. Often he will disguise himself and offer bets at outrageous stacks. Succeeding in his masked contests will bring great reward but failure comes at prices worse than death. He delights in competition and often pits multiple 'contestants' against each other for objects of great power.

[Lemur]

Thanks for the response. I'm not comfortable assigning "good" and "evil" descriptors to any of the aspects, since I assume you'd know better than I would about how you want to deal with good and evil in your world. Chaos and Law are for me, easier to define, however.

Here are a few from my perspective. I may write up some more later. You might be able to glean some ideas from them.


Aspect of Justice
Justice is focused and determined.

Characters with the mark of Justice gravitate towards lawful alignments, and often seek professions involved in politics, authority, or law enforcement in some way. They do not easily give up, and are willing to devote all they have to a cause they believe in. Honesty, straightforwardness, and a serious demeanor are common traits. They also have a tendency to think rigidly, being prone to tunnel vision, and often are only able to see the world in a single perspective.

Justice is usually at odds with Wild. In addition, Justice doesn't always see eye to eye with Mercy and Luck.

Domains: Law, Protection


Aspect of Light
Light is energetic and intense.

Characters with the mark of Light tend to be outgoing and cheerful. They may be more talkative than other people would like them to be at times, but are generally well liked for having friendly demeanors. They tend to do well at getting people of different types to work together, and are often found in diplomatic or leadership roles. They also have some affinity for artistic pursuits. However, they are prone to being overly-optimistic, and may not take notice of important details as a result of being overconfident.

Light has a continual difficulty understanding Darkness, and tends to push it as far away as possible. Light is usually on good terms with Creation.

Domains: Sun, Healing, Fire


Aspect of Darkness
Darkness is quiet and brooding.

Characters with the mark of Darkness often go unnoticed by most. They are quiet, often shy, and are typically seen as gloomy depressing by others, particularly those of Light. They are, in fact, more prone to despair and depression than others, although by no means are all of them so. They generally value survival over concepts like glory or valour, and their actions are often seen as cowardly. However, by keeping fear close to their hearts, they can keep their heads cool even when others have long since succumbed to terror. They are often cautious, and sometimes too hesitant to act. Being pragmatic, subtle and tending toward amorality means they don't often have many friends, but they can be very effective when put to test.

Darkness has trouble dealing with Light for extended periods, and tries to avoid it.

Domains: Trickery, ?? Core only doesn't leave much options. Darkness and Drow (maybe rename Drow to something else) are fitting choices from Forgotten Realms/Spell Compendium, if you can access them.


Aspect of Wild
Wild is unpredictable and alert.

Those marked by Wild are often quirky or off-beat in one way or another. They are very much in tune with their surroundings, and although they may not fully understand the why and how of everything around them, they are good at determining the what and when. Civilization doesn't like Wild very much, and Wild returns the sentiment. Wild marked characters are usually live in the wilderness, or as nomads (like gypsies- or wandering adventurers). They can be savage and inconsiderate of others at times, primarily seeking to fufill their own desires at the expense of others. Still, they rarely abuse nature as a result, and often live in greater harmony with the natural world than most others can manage.

Wild often gets in trouble with Justice.

Domains: Chaos, Animal, Plant, Travel

[Innis Cabal]

well as written i see Darkness more as a TN or CN
wild-CN all the way
Light- CG
Justice-LN

[FreeRangeOyster]

Lemur, right on. Some of it isn't perfectly in line with my plans, but I still haven't given all the info in my head. Maerok, this won't work for the Aspect of Luck (it has no personality), but I like this guy for one of the original Gods. I knew there was one neutral (the others were Good of one variety or another), and now I found him. Thanks!

Here are some more tidbits for people to play with: the contrasting/counteracting pairs are Justice and Mercy, Light and Darkness, Wild and Artifice, Creation and Destruction, and Luck stands alone. I've avoided setting up any Aspect that is inherently good or evil - the Chaos Lords and their minions are evil (mostly), but the Aspects are as neutral as I could make them while keeping things interesting. The LN paladins of Justice, for example, are called Justiciars, and do some pretty heartless things at times. I don't see how Mercy could be anything but CG, but if anyone can find a way to shift it toward neutral, speak up.

I have compiled a lot of the info I've come up with so far here: http://www.kayuda.com/workspace/id/458 You may need to poke around a little to get a feel for how Kayuda works and find everything. Anyone interested in helping with other aspects (bu-dump ting) of this project can PM me -- if you create an account with Kayuda (it's free), I can give you access to the workspace. There's a lot to do for this and I would welcome the help!