Any gods of penitance?

Voadam · 27th February 2009, 05:10 PM

I was reading through the Old City section of the Pirate's Guide to Freeport last night and noted their jail has a little area with a shrine to the god of Penitance where clergy are given the opportunity to exhort the incarcerated to repent of their sins and reform their lives.

The Pirate's Guide is statless and uses generic names for deities so it can be slotted into various campaigns.

While gods of the sea and war are pretty easy to slot into most pantheons, gods of penitance seems hard to get correspondences for.

The closest I can think of would be St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel from Greyhawk who has the whole no backsliding aspect of his views.

FR has the martyr god Ilmater, and Nehwon has Issek of the Jug, but they are not really a good fit for penance IMO.

Can you come up with any others? Real world pantheons (I can't think of anything appropriate from the Greek pantheon for instance) or other D&D or third party pantheons?

Wolfwood2 · 27th February 2009, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voadam

I was reading through the Old City section of the Pirate's Guide to Freeport last night and noted their jail has a little area with a shrine to the god of Penitance where clergy are given the opportunity to exhort the incarcerated to repent of their sins and reform their lives.

I think that "God of Penitance" is a pretty narrow concept. Really, any God that emphasizes justice and societal bonds could work here. In the Greek pantheon for instance, I could see prisoners being called on to reform in the name of Hera. She's all about family bonds and motherhood and taking your role in society.

**Henry** · 27th February 2009, 06:47 PM

Usually, you're looking for gods whos spheres include suffering or pain -- Ilmater, I would counter-argue, is a PERFECT god example for penitence. The Flagellants in the real world would have agreed with some of Ilmater's tenets (though probably burning people who actually worshipped him as heretics

). In other mythos, look for other deities who either suffered wrongly as targets for prayers for penance -- Perhaps Osiris from the Egyptian Panthon, or Tyr from the Norse pantheon? (On second thought, Balder?)

thecasualoblivion · 27th February 2009, 06:58 PM

I have to second Ilmater from the Forgotten Realms. If you're looking to co-op something from another source, Ilmater is very close to what you're looking for. My self-loathing pentitent Drow worshipped Ilmater for the reasons you describe.

Rechan · 27th February 2009, 07:18 PM

Third vote for Ilmater. His name popped into my head when I read the thread title.

Although I agree with an above poster that any god of Justice will do. Justice implies that the guilty will be punished justly. But with most notions of Justice there is a role for the guilty - the guilty to accept their punishment, the guilty to reform (after they get out of jail, for instance). "The right thing to do" is important here - to a Justice god, there should be a reason for, say, a criminal to turn themselves in.

Part of Justice is it being a fair and right punishment. Part of Punishment is the acceptance of guilt and acknowledgement of wrongness. Jail isn't just about keeping the bad people securely away from society, but it's about forcing someone to reflect on the magnitude of their crime, and paying back society for their crime. "Paying the price".

So any god who's about Justice can very well stand for the process that happens after the judge hands down the sentence.

(Additionally, a god of Justice is likely also the god of the Unjustly Accused. An innocent man being punished for a crime he didn't do would be best served praying to a god of Justice, hoping that true justice will come, especially in payment for the price he has paid for something he didn't do. Justice is eroded and discredited when the innocent are punished along with the guilty.)

Voadam · 27th February 2009, 07:54 PM

Ilmater doesn't seem to fit for me because his suffering and martyrdom are to better others, not out of self punishment or self betterment. I see a lot of people with a need to punish themselves flocking to his faith for the flagellations etc. but doctrinally that is not the purpose of those flagellations IMO. I don't see the Ilmater church going out to harangue and exhort prisoners.

I guess I'm looking more for gods interested in having people live as they should civicly.

Voadam · 27th February 2009, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfwood2

I think that "God of Penitance" is a pretty narrow concept. Really, any God that emphasizes justice and societal bonds could work here. In the Greek pantheon for instance, I could see prisoners being called on to reform in the name of Hera. She's all about family bonds and motherhood and taking your role in society.

I agree I'm looking for the role fit rather than penitence specifically.

Hera I don't think works, I don't see the spheres of women, motherhood, marriage or political power matching up to societal role upholder in a criminal justice context outside of something like criminalizing adultery. I think you have to go to something more obscure like Dike the greek goddess of temporal justice I just found after googling around some pantheon sites. Themis and Nemesis don't really fit as those are more divine justice and relations to the gods order rather than to man's.