My main setting has four primary gods, demigods they create, spirits, and some big gold dude. While named/interpreted in a number of ways, no matter where you go they are quite recognizable in the broad strokes.
The Gods:
Aspects of reality that have sentience these beings are beyond the concepts of 'power'. They may spawn more divines limited by mortal faults (demi-gods) but no new full gods can come into existence, or can any be removed.
Spoiler: Thamos, the Creator
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Thamos - Maker of the World (in historical context), Scholar King (in present), Bright Phanos (by southerners and Varac's followers- not a good name)
Alignment: NG
Symbol: A sun in-between the pages of a open book.
Portfolio: The Sun, Knowledge, Magic, Higher-Ideals
Common Worshippers: People who value structure, the progress of civilization, or simply goodness in authority.
Home Plane: The Throne
Description: The youngest of the four gods, Thamos appeared in myth for the first time when he took the Throne from Varac in a surprise attack (thus creating death) to end his Gray Age. It is said that he made the world due to loneliness among the other gods (who did not appreciate the newcomer), and that he taught animals how to walk on two legs as well as magic right after(creating most of the races).
He is distant out of fear of other gods taking the Thone were he to loose focus, yet still deeply cares for mortals and sends many servants to act as intermediaries and guides. He is the source of all higher thought, the will to overcome baser urges or selfish desire, as well as the architect of civilization. While Thamos sees civilization as a needed tool that must be maintained, his passion is with research and discovery, something he spreads across the world.
Clergy/Temples: Clerics to Thamos take on many forms, but the stereotypical version would be a woman in white/blue robes carrying around her spellbook as she smites uncivilized creatures raiding a town, heals the sick, or gives lectures to children.
Favored Weapons: Magic, but in leu of that a staff.
Spoiler: Ahlys, the Demon Queen
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Ahlys - Heart of All, Lady Love (by her followers), Demon Queen (by her enemies), the Lady (by most folk who don't want to be on here bad side), the Fair and Horrifying Ailah
Alignment: CE (she frequently accepts CG clergy)
Symbol: A heart, followers are encouraged to add personal flare to this.
Portfolio: Emotions, War, Fire, Demons
Common Worshippers: Love-struck youths, passionate anarchists, pyromaniacs, warriors, elves, demons
Home Plane: The Hells
Description: Second of the gods, Ahlys has had turbulent relationships with all of her fellow deities since ancient times. It is by her design that elven kind brought about the Crusade which snuffed out uncountable sentient species, and despite Thamos's best attempts he failed to truly have them learn the error of their ways; it was only by Ahlys will that the elves let go of their hate and embraced shame.
As the heart of all things, it is by her will that all mortal creatures feel the way they do; a fickle thing that can turn sour or sweet in an instant. Ahlys loves to see strong emotions run through the world, no matter the source. She glorifies the hero who feels in his heart he is doing the right thing or fights out of love, she also glorifies the demons who slaughter and torment others for laughs. Ahlys is the patron of lovers, with many poems being written about how Lady Love brings people together. Yet most don't wish to acknowledge the toxic love that Ahlys also represents, and can only give silent prayers and offerings to perhaps have the Lady to avoid such love (people are absolutely terrified of Ahlys because of this- she can and frequently does mess with people's hearts).
As source of emotions Ahlys is also the mother and queen of all demons (who are embodiments of extreme emotions or desires, which in this setting includes eladrin for positive emotions/desires).
Clergy/Temples: Most civilized land heavily discourages the open practice of worshiping Ahlys, but none dare ban it's practice entirely and often are forced to rely on some number of shrines in every major city to appease the goddess. Youths frequently go to these shrines in hopes of gaining good luck finding love, while others come to perhaps heal broken hearts. Clergy at these shrines tend to be charismatic, empathetic, and insightful. They typically wear the local style of commoner clothing, but with better materials dyed red.
It is an open secret that the majority of Ahlys's worship does not come from these shrines, but instead from secret underground anarchists, demon cultists, debased hedonists, and worse. While those who work in the open may be tolerated, these kinds of worshipers of the Queen of Demons are often exterminated on sight when uncovered.
Favored Weapons: Whatever is the most popular weapon in the region the cleric hails from.
Spoiler: Jahk, the Beast
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Jahk - the All Beast, Urahk the Inner Eye (by Orcs), Lord of Frost (by northerners), Master of the Unseen Jungle (by southerners); [and a lot of other titles, they have more than any other god due to representing all aspects of nature]
Alignment: TN
Symbol: Jahk rejects symbols made to represent them. Artists use a multiheaded beast.
Portfolio: Nature, Inner-Power, Psionics
Common Worshippers: Tribesmen, farmers, travelers, individualistic individuals, psionic practitioners, orcs
Home Plane: Unknown (Jahk's body is thought to be both the Moon, the lush plane of life Gaia, and also a beast with all species heads)
Description: The All-Beast was the third god to come into existence, their innumerable maws clashing with Ahlys during the first hunt. Myths of their involvement in the events of the world are few beyond the making of the world, the creation of dragons, and the sinking of the first city. They are a very private god that sees the world being in a prosperous state that does not need it's involvement, frequently responding to prayers for better weather with even harsher conditions.
Jahk is said to believe that all mortals must strive to find their own potential, as all things are gifted with the power they need to survive if they just try. Animals understand this, but sentient races have thoughts clouding their mind from the power each is born with. The All Beast offers no path nor aid to this goal (anymore), mortals already knew of Jahk's gifts before Thamos's meddling; they simply need to remember.
Clergy/Temples: Jahk offers no magical powers to mortals, yet their worship is common simply out of fear and respect for the All-Beast. Those who do dedicate worship to Jahk often are psionic practitioners who study the inner power hidden in mortals. Ancient temples to Jahk can be found abandoned in places of great natural wonder or brutality from the brief time when Jahk spoke to mortals frequently to remind them of the power within.
Favored Weapons: Natural weapons
Spoiler: Varac, Death
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Varac - The Shadow, the Gray Tyrant/Ebon King (in the beginning), Eye in the Dark, the Once and Future King
Alignment: LE
Symbol: Skull with glowing eyes (old)/All-Seeing eye in darkness (modern)
Portfolio: Death, the Dead, Darkness, Nobility
Common Worshippers: Nobles, undead, power-hungry politicians, necrophiliacs
Home Plane: Varac (he's the plane of the dead itself)
Description: The Once and Future King Varac was the original god to come into existence and ruled the Gray Age before the other gods appeared. When he was dethroned Varac was slain by Thamos, banishing them to be beyond the realms of the living never to return. Spiteful, embarrassed, yet still believing in their own superiority, Varac pronounced that Thamos may have the Throne, but all would eventually return to the Ebon King's rule; thus death was invented and all condemned to die. Despite this, Varac was too weak to stay conscious after pronouncing his curse and went into a deep slumber that lasted a thousand years.
During Varac's slumber a number of power-hungry individuals (called Ur-Priests) learned how to tap into the power of death and founded empires of undeath with it. Varac's awakening has made this practice impossible to replicate but existing ur-priests (liches and vampires) have been seen to retain their power.
In the modern era Varac is perhaps the most active of the four gods, making deals with mortals who are afraid of death, founding holy orders to spread his iron grip over countries, letting blights of undead spread across lands that do not build ornate temples to him in major cities (especially capitals, Varac demands a temple with an onyx throne in each, a demand most states comply with). It is only with Varac's permission that mortals may return from the dead, something that Varac uses to extract favors and long term service from adventurers. Due to this it is commonly known that Varac has a cold, alien personality, but one with a deep sense of fairness and willingness to keep to both the word and spirit of any agreement he makes.
Clergy/Temples: With the passing of the Ur-Priests, Varac's clergy has had to dramatically change in fairly recent history. Graveyards are tended to by priests of Varac, who guard the rest of the dead diligently and have taken on the role of those who bless the newly dead in funerals. Onyx jewelry is needed for the holy symbols of Varac, who often wear new in-fashion clothing dyed gray. Temples were previously very rare for Varac, but with the god's awakening new constructions of elaborate modern temples are being made across the world. It is a common feature for these temples to have an empty onyx throne when possible, to represent the authority of the Once and Future King.
Favored Weapons: Natural Weapons (Ur-priests)/Rapier (Modern)
Demi-Gods:
Powerful children of the gods, these beings govern some aspect of reality but are not sentient aspects like their divine parents. Many demi-gods have been born over the history of the world, though most are now dead with empty temples and tales left behind. A limited list is presented for attention sake, but there are more options for players and new demi-gods can be created if needed.
Spoiler: Hades, Lord of Excess
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Portfolio: Undead, Hedonism
Favored Weapon: Dagger
Divine Parents: Ahlys and Varac
The vile spawn of the shadow and queen of hell, Hades has inherited none of his mother’s love for the world and none of his father’s emotional stability. He self-aggrandizes himself as the god of the self, espousing a dogma of selfishness and undeath. Very few besides the politically weak and greedy necromancers worship him.
Spoiler: The Violet Lady
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Portfolio: Sorcerers, the Violet Moon
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Divine Parents: Thamos, Ahlys
Not much is known about this enigmatic demi-goddess, yet it is common knowledge that she is the head of a mystery cult that gathers when the violet moon is full. Patron of sorcerers many claim that she is the reason why sorcerers appear at all, blessed or cursed by her at birth.
Spoiler: Marduk the Inventor
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Portfolio: Inventions, spontaneous creativity, 'extreme' field testing
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Divine Parents: Jahk and Thamos
The only child of the light of civilization and wild nature, Marduk is a creature of the earth and forge. Also known as the Inventor he likes to create new weapons and mechanical devices then test them out in the most extreme fashion possible. This is not very productive, or scientific, making most of his work not very useful for civilization’s development. Both his mother and father seem to favor him, and he has a strong following among both dwarves and nilbogs.
Spoiler: Ba'al the Murderer
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Portfolio: Murder, assassins, drow
Favored Weapon: Scimitar
Divine Parents: Ahlys
Ba’al is the lord of murder, both accidental and premtive. He is one of the most favored sons of Ahlys, which is something he mentions to nearly everyone at every meeting. Ba’al acts impulsively upon his whims (which often leads to muder), bluntly speaking what he is thinking and normally being unable to think of complicated lies. Those that worship him take on a ‘friendship’ with the demi-god, being far more casual with their relationship than most outsiders would assume from the god of assassins.
Divine Spirits:
Existing throughout the world are innumerable lesser divine spirits that represent various natural features and concepts. While not powerful like demi-gods, most of these sentient aspects of the world share the true-gods inability to die. Most creatures that are CR 15 or higher have only a single example of their species, a being which acts as a divine spirit in the setting (I use an E8 setting). I've only had one player play as a cleric of these beings and admittedly rarely include them in my games.
Examples of a few spirits:
Maharaja - The father of all Rakshasas he is the Lord of Tigers and a member of the Unseelie Fae. He lives deep in the untamed jungles of the world, rarely stepping out into the civilized world yet still desiring the comforts it provides. Information and illicit good flow into his lair like water down a stream.
The Lady of the Lake - Near the golden capital there is a large lake which sits unnaturally still, a mist covering it most of the year. Magic cannot see what lies below the water and those that dive into the lake rarely return; but those that do are gifted with the power of foresight and a champion of the Lady to act as a bodyguard.
Dust-Beard - On the Burning Isles this spirit is known for their grumpy attitude and harsh rebuke of those who follow Ahlys or try to bring more water or greenery into his barren domain. Thri-Kreen and dust-born (mortals born with a connection to the plane of dust) are known for being able to appease Dust-Beard enough to get him to open up, and for promises to bring blessings of dust to other lands he has given mortals the power to turn anything they touch to dust and burn the land with harsh desert winds.
Great Grandum:
A notable figure in history, Great Grandum was an extreme anomaly born at the end of the Crusade. Born a mortal human he was gifted with as of then unseen power. He was basically a magical Chuck Norris. He forged an empire which to the modern day bears his name; his decedents gifted with heightened capabilities beyond normal mortal limits. While he is long dead and gone his power was so strange and his impact on history was so massive that cults to him have been formed in his empire. Typically these cults are lead by a descendent of Grandum who bears enough of his golden magic to shock and wow crowds.
Re: Share your pantheons!
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