PDA

View Full Version : A Different take on a few gods....



Blackhawk748
2016-12-31, 11:12 PM
Iv been working on a setting in which races don't get an alignment tag, just societies. As is my usual method i started with how this place came to be, and to that end i started with gods. In this world the Drow, Orcs and Wood Elves are all descended from the same god, and thus share a pantheon.


Kalvar is the Great Father of the Drow, Orcs and Wood Elves. He created the first Drow and Orcs at the dawn of known time. The Drow, preferring the underground caverns, claimed them for their own, while the Orcs claimed the hills and mountainous forests. Things where good for some time, but Kalvar was lonely. As he walked the world of his people he met the lovely Valerica. She was a Drow beauty beyond compare and was an artist of unparalleled skill. In fact, it was her signing which originally attracted her to him. Kalvar was happy, but a complication would soon arise.

Kalvar was walking the surface, taking a break from the endless caverns that his Valerica loved so much, when he came across an Orc maiden under attack by a dire boar. This maiden was named Shagar, and she was an accomplished warrior, so when Kalvar "saved" her from the boar she was a bit insulted, and made that fact abundantly clear to him. To make things up to her, he would have to slay three similar boars and present them at her clans table in a week. The challenge amused Kalvar and so he set off to find the beasts. A week later Kalvar appeared at the door to Shagar's home with six boars, and a week long feast began. Kalvar spent much time with Shagar and enjoyed her company, too soon the party was over and he returned to the caverns and his lovely Valerica.

However this wasnt the last time he saw Shagar, he would periodically visit her when the caverns would become too oppressive, usually returning after a few days, but he began to feel as if he was doing something wrong. Until one day he left the caverns and didn't go to see Shagar. When he didnt come to Shagar's home, she began to worry, so she set out to find him. After more than a week Valerica set out to find him as well, and it didnt take long for the Drow maiden to run across the Orc maiden. The two quickly realized that they where both looking for the same man and set off together to find him. They spent weeks looking for him and in that time they both realized that the other felt deeply for him, neither one said it, but they knew it.

Eventually they found him, sitting on a ridge, waiting for them. When they got to him he begged their forgiveness, as, while he loved them both, he had betrayed both of their trust. The two women looked at one another and laughed, then kissed their love. They told him it was no crime to love them both and that they loved him as well. The three were married a few days later and Lolth and Gruumsh were born the next year.

Kalvar looks like a cross between a Drow and an Orc, he has dark grey skin, small tusks, and his black hair is kept tied back. It is said that he still walks the world, disguised as a Drow or Orc. The two women ascended to Kalvars plane upon their deaths.



Lolth is the firstborn daughter of Kalvar and Valerica and she is the patron goddess of the Drow. Her purview is building, cities and civilization in all its forms. She encourages the Drow to create "webs" and this is evident in the layout of their cities and in how they expand their trading influence.



Lolth's younger sister is known as The Free Spirit and follows after her mother as the patron of Artists. She blesses art in all its forms, though dancing holds a special place in her heart.



Selvetarm is the Black Knight, the God of Honor and the Champion of Lolth. His purview is protection and honorable combat.



Gruumsh is the Eldest son of Kalvar, he traded his eye for the knowledge to guide his people. Basically he's Orc Odin.



Yurtrus is the Shepard of the Dead and the Protector of the Cairns. He shepherds the souls of the fallen onto the wheel of souls.



Ilneval is the Warmaster and the Eternal Raider. He guides the people in the ways of war.



Lutnic is the Great Healer, the Hearthmother and Goddess of the Home. She is Gruumsh's wife.



Genlen is the Eternal Wanderer and the Father of Wood Elves. Genlen started his life as a Drow caravan guard who would occasionally take trips to the surface world. He fell in love with the forests and began living on the surface. In time he began to convince others to live there with him. Eventually his native city began to get angry at the loss of citizens and sent people to bring them back, however they got wind of this and they left for parts unknown. Eventually their true origins where lost to the mists of time and the new Wood Elves began to credit Genlen with their creation. Now a god, he simply kept quite, unsure if the Drow still held a grudge.

After several millennia the Drow and Orcs eventually met their Wood Elf cousins and Genlen met with his fellow gods. He approached them with concern but was embraced with open arms. Since then the Wood Elf gods have been accepted into the greater pantheon.



Syldi Moonbow is the Lady of the Moon, Dreamwalker and the Seer of Stars. She was a great seer in her time and she has since ascended to a goddess.



Syltris is the Lady of the Hunt, Beast Mistress, and Guardian of the Wilds. She protects settlers in the wilderness and helps to guide those afflicted by Lycanthropy.





Vhaeraun is known as the Great Betrayer, The Father of Lies, the Usurper and is the brother of Lolth. Back when Lolth first became the patron goddess of the Drow, Vhaeraun attempted to steal the power of his father. However, he was unaware of Gruumsh's newfound foresight and as such Kalvar was aware of his son's plot. Kalvar was able to easily stop his son and cast him out into the Scar, where he still resides plotting his revenge.



Shargaas called The Mad, Lord of Darkness and God of the Damned, is the god of the insane and murderers. No one is quite sure where Shargaas came from, but he claims the souls of all evil and foul people.



Vaxidor called The Beast, The Great Ravager and The Lord of Wolves is a mad wood elf and was the one who drove Lycanthropes mad. Now all those not under the protection of Syltris feel the tendrils of Vaxidor's madness.

Pronounceable
2017-01-01, 12:53 AM
Neato. Regular elves being offbrand drow is novel, I like. Why call them wood tho, if there isn't any others? Or at least I'd expect "wood drow" seeing how elf isn't a thing (unless it is a thing and handiwork of other gods).

Kalvar: A bit of a mythical feel with the notZeus there. I think a drorc would look silly but why not. Seems much nicer than usual head gods, I generally expect a lot more douchebaggery with top dogs. He's good and I assume new cos google hasn't heard of him.

Lolth: Civilization is an important divine domain that sometimes get overlooked or just lumped into head god's domains. Didn't expect it on Lolth, she's always seemed more concerned of mystical instead of practical, but it does fit.

Eilistraee: Not much different from usual, except for lack of warfare. The usual is good though. Strange to see these two without Vhaeraun or Corellon hiding out somewhere.

Selvetarm: Suppose it's only natural for him to rise to the occasion without V or C around.

Gruumsh: He's always been Odin actually. Old DnD staple Grumps is just the demonized facade monotheist missionaries were trying to sell to Odin's actual worshippers back in the day to convert em.

Yurtrus: Is either misspelt or you decided to slightly rename him. Either is ok. A Kelemvor figure is fine and fitting the rest of this seriously unvillainous pantheon.

Ilneval: The role of regular god of war would fall to him if Gruumsh is less angry here, yes. I'm hoping he's not just orcThor tho, that'd be boring, there's always a gorillion of jock war gods in all settings everywhere.

Luthic: Not much to say about Orcdalla, she's fine here.

Genlen: Another original or too obscure for google. Also Reverse Corellon (plus the odd traveller), another novel take. Another peaceful and calm god lacking in dramatic conflicts.

Syldi Moonbow: Sehanine is an elven staple under any name and is good. Why change only half the name tho?

Syltris: Artemis+Luna, a neat combo I like for another original. I'll bet 10 bitcoins you're a Sailormoon fan and didn't think anyone would catch this. Pay up...

Verdict: It's a calm and happy pantheon lacking entirely in dramatic and explosive conflicts. Gonna guess you'll be focusing on interpantheon action or an exceedingly earthly setting that gods don't meddle much with. Following their mothers' example, I don't see any of these nice folks causing any sort of trouble for/with mortals so far.Also, Syltris needs to be a catgirl for full effect.

Blackhawk748
2017-01-01, 01:29 AM
There are normal elves, they're just descended from Dragons. The Wood Elves lost their dark skin and so look an awful lot like them, so others started calling them Elves.

Kalvar is an original, yes.

Yurtrus was a misspelling, which has been fixed.

Syldi had her name changed cuz i dont like her overly complicated usual first name.

Syltris: Actually im not and thats entirely unintentional lol

The lack of conflict will be dealt with by the Betrayers. Its one god from each race that is a colossal jerk, and i just havent gotten to putting them up yet.

Newtonsolo313
2017-01-01, 12:50 PM
This looks like a great potential setting that i would like to see more of. the existence of the betrayers looks like a great way to create evill cults and the differences in the gods look like a great way to make sure that the players use there IC knowledge not OOC knowledge. Although i feel you may need to change up the racial features to reflect the different origins of each species, it would be strange if wood elves got a fey ancestry racial attribute for instance.

Darth Ultron
2017-01-01, 04:28 PM
Is there any reason your using the old names? Why not give all your gods new, unique names? Why call a god a well known name like ''x'', if your just going to say ''it is just x's name and noting else''?

You could have Wovana the Weaver of the shadow elves, for example.

Blackhawk748
2017-01-01, 04:46 PM
Is there any reason your using the old names? Why not give all your gods new, unique names? Why call a god a well known name like ''x'', if your just going to say ''it is just x's name and noting else''?

You could have Wovana the Weaver of the shadow elves, for example.

Cuz most of them still have a fair bit of their old selves in there. The two that got changed the most would be Lolth and Yurtrus. Lolth is still the patron goddess of the Dorw, still has that spider fixation and still wants her people to succeed but is no longer enforcing Stupid Evil and has, in general, chilled out. Yurtrus really just dropped the whole Plague thing and is now just a Death god.

The betrayers changed the most honestly. Really im using the names because thats where the ideas for them came from and i felt it may help.