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2007-05-22, 09:47 PM
I need some ideas for my hb world. Specifically about what sort of supernatural powers deities would grant to their followers.
A bit of background: All deities are racial and territorial. A deity can only gain power from a certain race on a certain portion of the planet. Deities actually feed on mortals' feelings, thoughts and beliefs. They are psionical parasites so to speak. Most are confined to feeding on certain things (imagination, love, hate, anger, happiness, zealotry, greed, fear, obsession, excitement, mental peace, sexual attraction, insanity, so on and so forth) but all of them can feed on a willing mortal (prayers/deeds done in his name, worshipping, etc). Most deities define their religion's tenets in such a way to maximize their "food". Such as the goddess of war, who'd like you to break someone's legs rather than praying to her all day at the temple.
Anyone can pray to any deity. Deities hear all prayers directed at them and can choose to answer (like Greek mythology, an athlete prays to Apollo just before the race to grant them speed, and Apollo might listen). Deities like prayers (especially ones that don't ask for anything, but merely showing respect), and remember them even if they haven't responded. Someone who regularly prays to a god and lives by the tenets of the god, has a much greater chance of prayers being answered. Also a prayer might be answered if it'll advance the deities agenda somehow.
Some people dedicate themselves to a certain deity, effectively becoming clerics. Such people are almost guaranteed of their prayers being answered from their god, but other deities never respond to them. Such dedicated people are also granted supernatural powers suiting their god's disposition. These special granted powers are what I need ideas about.
I'm primarily interested in human deities, and there are 4 of them:
God of Peace (Kahan): Your typical monotheism god of mercy, love, peace, order, etc. Promotes himself as One True God, refuses to acknowledge other gods. The Empire, which controls more than half human population considers him as the One God. Non believers and followers of other gods are heretics that must be eradicated. Primarily feeds on order and peace. His "clerics" are typically the people who get real academic education in Empire. They act as the Empire's officials, judges, bureaucrats, lawyers, and all kinds of white collars. They are granted no powers.
Goddess of War (Hon): A rather violent goddess who thrives on competition, be it sports or war. She advocates conflict, survival of the fittest, constant training and perfection of self. She despises weakness and demands her followers to be strong. She feeds mainly on anger, competition and lust for power. Her followers are always very powerful warriors who view themselves as the greatest. Their church hierarchy is strictly militaristic. They are granted supernatural combat prowess in combat that increases exponentially as combat goes on. A follower of Hon who has been fighting for more than a few minutes is virtually invincible, unless facing another powered up Hon follower.
The Bitch Goddess (Siyelos): A fickle and untrustworthy goddess, Siyelos is the goddess of luck, sex, greed, wealth, lust, treachery, depravity and all around nastiness. She's possibly the strongest of human deities because she has ample "food" at all times. But she's also jealous of her own power and rarely answers any prayers. She's despised and adored at the same time. Her followers can be anything from a simple farmer to a crime lord. The church of Siyelos is possibly the second strongest criminal organization (primarily dealing in slavery and drugs), with high ranking members who are effectively godfathers. There's a huge amount of conspiracy and strife going on as befitting the church of the goddess of treachery, which is the way she likes it.
The Goddess of Mind (Miner): A distant and elitist goddess, Miner is the patron of art, magic and science alike. She values all things mental, from battle tactics to engineering, mathematics to music. She insists her followers be intelligent, calm and rational. She responds to all prayers, as long as the mortal is worthy and result will be pleasing to her. As such, she'll provide inspiration to a great poet for his epic tale, or a cunning battle plan to a brilliant general, but not inspire an idea to earn some money to an ordinary beggar who needs a little bit of money not to starve. She has very high mental standards when it comes to accepting dedications, and has a very low number of followers.
Still reading? Good. What I need is some flavorful ideas for granted powers fitting these deities' personalities. I'm not using DnD, and game balance is not a concern. So an average follower war goddess beating the crap out of hundreds of ordinary men is no problem. What sort of solid benefit can the goddess of mind provide to her precious few dedicated followers? How would the Bitch Goddess screw with her followers while granting them a serious boost? Is the God of Peace not granting any powers a good idea?
A bit of background: All deities are racial and territorial. A deity can only gain power from a certain race on a certain portion of the planet. Deities actually feed on mortals' feelings, thoughts and beliefs. They are psionical parasites so to speak. Most are confined to feeding on certain things (imagination, love, hate, anger, happiness, zealotry, greed, fear, obsession, excitement, mental peace, sexual attraction, insanity, so on and so forth) but all of them can feed on a willing mortal (prayers/deeds done in his name, worshipping, etc). Most deities define their religion's tenets in such a way to maximize their "food". Such as the goddess of war, who'd like you to break someone's legs rather than praying to her all day at the temple.
Anyone can pray to any deity. Deities hear all prayers directed at them and can choose to answer (like Greek mythology, an athlete prays to Apollo just before the race to grant them speed, and Apollo might listen). Deities like prayers (especially ones that don't ask for anything, but merely showing respect), and remember them even if they haven't responded. Someone who regularly prays to a god and lives by the tenets of the god, has a much greater chance of prayers being answered. Also a prayer might be answered if it'll advance the deities agenda somehow.
Some people dedicate themselves to a certain deity, effectively becoming clerics. Such people are almost guaranteed of their prayers being answered from their god, but other deities never respond to them. Such dedicated people are also granted supernatural powers suiting their god's disposition. These special granted powers are what I need ideas about.
I'm primarily interested in human deities, and there are 4 of them:
God of Peace (Kahan): Your typical monotheism god of mercy, love, peace, order, etc. Promotes himself as One True God, refuses to acknowledge other gods. The Empire, which controls more than half human population considers him as the One God. Non believers and followers of other gods are heretics that must be eradicated. Primarily feeds on order and peace. His "clerics" are typically the people who get real academic education in Empire. They act as the Empire's officials, judges, bureaucrats, lawyers, and all kinds of white collars. They are granted no powers.
Goddess of War (Hon): A rather violent goddess who thrives on competition, be it sports or war. She advocates conflict, survival of the fittest, constant training and perfection of self. She despises weakness and demands her followers to be strong. She feeds mainly on anger, competition and lust for power. Her followers are always very powerful warriors who view themselves as the greatest. Their church hierarchy is strictly militaristic. They are granted supernatural combat prowess in combat that increases exponentially as combat goes on. A follower of Hon who has been fighting for more than a few minutes is virtually invincible, unless facing another powered up Hon follower.
The Bitch Goddess (Siyelos): A fickle and untrustworthy goddess, Siyelos is the goddess of luck, sex, greed, wealth, lust, treachery, depravity and all around nastiness. She's possibly the strongest of human deities because she has ample "food" at all times. But she's also jealous of her own power and rarely answers any prayers. She's despised and adored at the same time. Her followers can be anything from a simple farmer to a crime lord. The church of Siyelos is possibly the second strongest criminal organization (primarily dealing in slavery and drugs), with high ranking members who are effectively godfathers. There's a huge amount of conspiracy and strife going on as befitting the church of the goddess of treachery, which is the way she likes it.
The Goddess of Mind (Miner): A distant and elitist goddess, Miner is the patron of art, magic and science alike. She values all things mental, from battle tactics to engineering, mathematics to music. She insists her followers be intelligent, calm and rational. She responds to all prayers, as long as the mortal is worthy and result will be pleasing to her. As such, she'll provide inspiration to a great poet for his epic tale, or a cunning battle plan to a brilliant general, but not inspire an idea to earn some money to an ordinary beggar who needs a little bit of money not to starve. She has very high mental standards when it comes to accepting dedications, and has a very low number of followers.
Still reading? Good. What I need is some flavorful ideas for granted powers fitting these deities' personalities. I'm not using DnD, and game balance is not a concern. So an average follower war goddess beating the crap out of hundreds of ordinary men is no problem. What sort of solid benefit can the goddess of mind provide to her precious few dedicated followers? How would the Bitch Goddess screw with her followers while granting them a serious boost? Is the God of Peace not granting any powers a good idea?