Real world pantheons: Who would you stat as an Overdeity?

[Buufreak]

I've been running down alot of gods and godlike figures, and started to notice that many pantheons have the idea of a king god, but then they also have a figure that this god gives reverence to. For example, Zeus is king of Olympus, but he still adheres to and even fears the Moirai. So besides the aforementioned Sisters of Fate, who else would fit into this Overdeity category?

Editing in that I don't even want stats, just a simple question of who you would like to see, and maybe a why.

[EisenKreutzer]

Brahma from hinduism is a good candidate for a true overdiety (I'm excluding abrahamic religions because they are monotheistic).

[Uncle Pine]

You mean beside this guy?

http://i.imgur.com/geftOLl.jpg

[calam]

The demiurge and those that associate with it in gnostic christianity.

sometimes enlightened Buddha fits.

[Buufreak]

Brahma from hinduism is a good candidate for a true overdiety (I'm excluding abrahamic religions because they are monotheistic).

Well, I kinda assumed the idea of pantheon excluded monotheisms.

[EisenKreutzer]

Well, I kinda assumed the idea of pantheon excluded monotheisms.

So did I. Though you could argue that Catholicism, atleast medieval Catholicism is sort of a pantheon of saints with the Holy Trinity as a triumvirite of overdeites.

[Tiri]

So did I. Though you could argue that Catholisism, atleast medieval Catholisism is sort of a pantheon of saints with the Holy Trinity as a triumvirite of overdeites.

It's 'Catholicism', actually.

[legomaster00156]

I'm not sure this thread is totally kosher with forum rules on religious discussion.

[EisenKreutzer]

It's 'Catholicism', actually.

So it is. I have no idea how those Ses got in there.


I'm not sure this thread is totally kosher with forum rules on religious discussion.

We're not so much discussing religion as we are listing deities.

[Red Fel]

Editing in that I don't even want stats, just a simple question of who you would like to see, and maybe a why.

You cried out in horror?

[Buufreak]

So it is. I have no idea how those Ses got in there.



We're not so much discussing religion as we are listing deities.

Definitely this. I don't want to argue who is right or wrong, I don't really want anyone to do that. I just want a list of what history has to offer.


You cried out in horror?

... Did I?

[EisenKreutzer]

... Did I?

You just summoned Red Fel. It happens. Just don't move. His vision is based on movement.

[Red Fel]

... Did I?

If you didn't, you will.


You just summoned Red Fel. It happens. Just don't move. His vision is based on movement.

My sense of smell, on the other hand, is based on fear.

And cookies. Mostly the fear, though.

[JNAProductions]

Just a reminder to look over the forum rules.

[Jay R]

Because I couldn't justify putting Jupiter over Odin, Odin over Vishnu, Vishnu over Sredni Vashtar, etc., I invented my own.

There are two gods called together The Uncreated. Separately, they are The Lord and The Lady, and nothing is known about them.

Their first children were the sun, the earth, the oceans, and the winds. These four are either the creators of our world, or the stuff of which it was created - it's not clear which. They are, of course, the essence of the four earthly elements, the embodiment of the elemental planes, and the structure of the world. There is a fifth one, representing the quintessence, but since that cannot exist on our changeable and imperfect world, he/she has no influence here.

They have an abundance of names. The Sun God, for instance, is known as Apollo, Aten, Ra, Tonatiuh, Surya, Helios and many others. Similarly, every earth goddess is known to be the true earth, born of The Lord and The Lady - even those with known other parents, or those with no parents, like Gaea. Attempts to question the logic of this are met with the sacred chant, "Hakuna heigh-ho fragilistic bibbidy chim-cheree," which has been variously translated as, "It is not wise to question these mysteries, which are beyond the knowledge of our world," or "Die, you heathen scum, die!" In practice, there is no significant difference between the two translations.

The children/creations of these four are the only gods who will answer prayers or interact with the world directly. They include all the pantheons that have ever existed.

Except Lovecraft.

The Lord and The Lady have been identified as the embodiments of Good and Evil, or Law and Chaos, or Male and Female, or Light and Darkness, or any other opposing concepts.

Wars have been fought between those who believe they represent Good and Evil, and those who insist on Law and Chaos.

Wars have been fought between those who believe The Lord and The Lady hate each other with a hatred surpassing any passion on earth, and those who believe that they love each other with a love more true than any mortal could ever know.

Wars have been fought between those who know beyond all doubt that The Lord is Good and The Lady is Evil, and those who know beyond all doubt that The Lord is Evil and The Lady is Good.

All of the above will be available knowledge to the players. Here is what they will not know.

No arcane or divine magic will successfully find out any fact about The Lord and The Lady. I have three answers, all completely true, and mutually incompatible.

1. The Lord is Fate, and The Lady is Luck. Neither can exist without the other, and each action in the world, from a sneeze to the fall of an empire, is a victory of one of them over the other.
2. They are Yin and Yang, and the heart of each beats in the breast of the other. They represent complementary, not opposing, forces. Each is in fact all of the universe except the other, but neither one represents any specific principle (not even male and female), and whichever one represents goodness in one situation might be the evil in another. Together, they represent wholeness and balance
3. They are the Creators - the mother and father of the world, which they birthed and/or created for some great purpose which is not yet fulfilled.

No mortal can comprehend the true nature of any god. Therefore the image, history, and culture of any god are the simple stories people tell themselves about the gods, to comfort themselves into believing they know something.

Do you believe that your god is a Norse, hammer-throwing warlike thunder god with a red beard? Then that's what you see in your visualizations, and those are the aspects that your god shows to you.

So do you create the gods by your belief, or does the god who most closely resembles your belief respond to your prayers in the form you expect, or are they merely your own hallucinations that always occur as a side effect when invoking divine magic? One wise sage, Chicxulub the Philosophical, actually asked this question. He is said to have discovered the true answer after sixty years of study, prayer, and meditation, on March 23, in the year 643.

Incidentally, the largest impact crater ever discovered is the Chicxulub crater, which appeared on March 23, in the year 643. (Many have entered this crater to explore it. None have returned.)

Oh yes, and the fifth child of The Lord and The Lady, representing the Fifth Element? It turns out that he's not the stuff of the heavens, but of the hells. His children and descendants are all the demons, devils, and daemons. His creations are the evil spirits of the underworld. No, he's not out to conquer the world or destroy it or anything of that sort. He just likes to see war, strife, and pain.

[Buufreak]

Because I couldn't justify putting Jupiter over Odin, Odin over Vishnu, Vishnu over Sredni Vashtar, etc., I invented my own.

There are two gods called together The Uncreated. Separately, they are The Lord and The Lady, and nothing is known about them.

Their first children were the sun, the earth, the oceans, and the winds. These four are either the creators of our world, or the stuff of which it was created - it's not clear which. They are, of course, the essence of the four earthly elements, the embodiment of the elemental planes, and the structure of the world. There is a fifth one, representing the quintessence, but since that cannot exist on our changeable and imperfect world, he/she has no influence here.

They have an abundance of names. The Sun God, for instance, is known as Apollo, Aten, Ra, Tonatiuh, Surya, Helios and many others. Similarly, every earth goddess is known to be the true earth, born of The Lord and The Lady - even those with known other parents, or those with no parents, like Gaea. Attempts to question the logic of this are met with the sacred chant, "Hakuna heigh-ho fragilistic bibbidy chim-cheree," which has been variously translated as, "It is not wise to question these mysteries, which are beyond the knowledge of our world," or "Die, you heathen scum, die!" In practice, there is no significant difference between the two translations.

The children/creations of these four are the only gods who will answer prayers or interact with the world directly. They include all the pantheons that have ever existed.

Except Lovecraft.

The Lord and The Lady have been identified as the embodiments of Good and Evil, or Law and Chaos, or Male and Female, or Light and Darkness, or any other opposing concepts.

Wars have been fought between those who believe they represent Good and Evil, and those who insist on Law and Chaos.

Wars have been fought between those who believe The Lord and The Lady hate each other with a hatred surpassing any passion on earth, and those who believe that they love each other with a love more true than any mortal could ever know.

Wars have been fought between those who know beyond all doubt that The Lord is Good and The Lady is Evil, and those who know beyond all doubt that The Lord is Evil and The Lady is Good.

All of the above will be available knowledge to the players. Here is what they will not know.

No arcane or divine magic will successfully find out any fact about The Lord and The Lady. I have three answers, all completely true, and mutually incompatible.

1. The Lord is Fate, and The Lady is Luck. Neither can exist without the other, and each action in the world, from a sneeze to the fall of an empire, is a victory of one of them over the other.
2. They are Yin and Yang, and the heart of each beats in the breast of the other. They represent complementary, not opposing, forces. Each is in fact all of the universe except the other, but neither one represents any specific principle (not even male and female), and whichever one represents goodness in one situation might be the evil in another. Together, they represent wholeness and balance
3. They are the Creators - the mother and father of the world, which they birthed and/or created for some great purpose which is not yet fulfilled.

No mortal can comprehend the true nature of any god. Therefore the image, history, and culture of any god are the simple stories people tell themselves about the gods, to comfort themselves into believing they know something.

Do you believe that your god is a Norse, hammer-throwing warlike thunder god with a red beard? Then that's what you see in your visualizations, and those are the aspects that your god shows to you.

So do you create the gods by your belief, or does the god who most closely resembles your belief respond to your prayers in the form you expect, or are they merely your own hallucinations that always occur as a side effect when invoking divine magic? One wise sage, Chicxulub the Philosophical, actually asked this question. He is said to have discovered the true answer after sixty years of study, prayer, and meditation, on March 23, in the year 643.

Incidentally, the largest impact crater ever discovered is the Chicxulub crater, which appeared on March 23, in the year 643. (Many have entered this crater to explore it. None have returned.)

Oh yes, and the fifth child of The Lord and The Lady, representing the Fifth Element? It turns out that he's not the stuff of the heavens, but of the hells. His children and descendants are all the demons, devils, and daemons. His creations are the evil spirits of the underworld. No, he's not out to conquer the world or destroy it or anything of that sort. He just likes to see war, strife, and pain.

I like it. It definitely gives me a good place to start from.


Just a reminder to look over the forum rules.

I thank you for the reminder, however if this was as big a deal as some were making it out to be, and we were going by the very letter, then Villain Comp 15 would have been completely shut down as that was discussing an important event taken directly from real world main stream religion. And yet, here we are, and trophies were indeed handed out.

[JNAProductions]

I thank you for the reminder, however if this was as big a deal as some were making it out to be, and we were going by the very letter, then Villain Comp 15 would have been completely shut down as that was discussing an important event taken directly from real world main stream religion. And yet, here we are, and trophies were indeed handed out.

*Shurg*

Well, it never hurts to reread them anyway. :P

Outside that, I don't have much to contribute-I'm not an especially religious person myself.

[BWR]

Just a reminder to look over the forum rules.

We aren't talking about real world religions, just RPG interpretations of gods based on real world religions. Since this has been accepted as part of the game since day one, and there haven't been mass bannings any time someone chimes in on a "What would a priest of Thor/whoever do?" discussion, this should be alright.
If only we were allowed to use that excuse for real world politics. "My current campaign is set in a version of modern day X that is identical to the real world up to today. Now let's talk about the political situation in that game..."

Anyway, I think Brahma is a pretty good choice as long as you don't go with a version born from Vishnu or Shiva. On the subject of monotheism in polytheistic settings, mostly I get the impression that monotheists don't deny the existence of other gods, just deem them unworthy compared to the Truth. al-Kalim (not-Mohammed) and his Eternal Truth (not-Islam) and his followers from Mystara are a perfect example of this. There are those that deny the divinity of all gods but their own (the Athar in Planescape, for instance) but it's kind of hard to gain much traction with such ideas when all the evidence screams that you're wrong.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: "Real world" in the thread title pretty much puts this entire thread in Inappropriate Topic territory. Please keep in mind that discussions of real world religions are out of bounds for this forum. You can talk about completely fictionalized versions of real world deities and religious, but be very careful to keep it completely about the fiction. Bringing in the real world religious content as a reference or for any other reason is still inappropriate.