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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5994901" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 290: December 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Bright sun, mother earth: Now let's see what gods were worshipped around here before christianity came along to homogenise everything. This is a fairly messy one precisely because of all the people travelling over the region and cross-pollinating as they went. So there's a ton of overlapping portfolios, different aspects of the same idea, and retellings with the serial numbers filed off to sort through, and try to get a coherent picture out of. Let's hope they can get some good game material out of it. </p><p></p><p>Dazhbog is the slavic sun god, and like most sun gods, is considered both powerful and benevolent. After all, it's not as if you can live without him. His clerics do all the typical clericy things, healing and being judgemental and generally trying to keep a community from falling apart, or maybe going into the world to be generally do-goody. You'll have no problem playing them. </p><p></p><p>The Death Crone is one of the more unpleasant gods of death out there, killing people and collecting their souls through trickery and sadistic methods. Her clerics are very much in the scheming witchy mould, not to be trusted, but sometimes, you've just got to make that bargain. You'd better hope like hell they don't kill your mum and marry your dad, because that's almost bound to lead into a rather unpleasant fairytale situation. </p><p></p><p>Gabija is the goddess of home & hearth, which means her clerics tend to be stay at home sorts. Of course, if some horde were to come sweeping through, burning, killing and raping as they went, a good extended vengeance quest might give them an excuse to stay out for a while. I'm sure a GM could arrange something like that. </p><p></p><p>Jarilo is the god of fertility, in particular the sort that leads to people doing stupid things while pursuing sex. Yeah, I can see how that would be a perennially popular prayer niche. No atheists in foxholes and all that. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> Adventurers love a god that asks them to do the things they would have done anyway. </p><p></p><p>Jurate is the goddess of the Baltic sea. She cries amber, and lives in a palace made of it, which implies some pretty epic heartbreak in the past, and not being able to let go. Immortality can suck when you don't change with the times. </p><p></p><p>Lunt-Ater is a second sun god. As the god of the steppe nomads, he has a greater emphasis on exploration and knowledge than farming and rulership, but he's still basically one of the good guys. His symbol is the Gander, which is definitely interesting from a linguistic PoV. I never really noted geese for their curiosity, but I guess stereotypes differ in different countries. </p><p></p><p>Meness is the baltic moon god, and like most moon gods, is a roguish sort with a changable personality and a wandering eye. The sun may be relatively reliable, but the moon is always showing up in different parts of the sky and changing appearance. It doesn't have to be that way, of course. If we lived in a solar system where the moon was perfectly aligned with the solar plane, while the sun was prone to flares and power fluctuations, the opposite would be true in most myths, and there'd be a lot more eclipses. </p><p></p><p>Mokosh is a female fertility & earth god. After all, it takes two to tango. This is one of those archetypes that show up over and over again. The male sky god on top, and the female earth one underneath. It's like they've never heard of reverse cowgirl. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> </p><p></p><p>Perun is the god of thunder. He's somwewhat more responsible than Thor, but still has a terrible temper, and the tendency to smite people who piss him off from on high. You wind up letting them have positions of responsibility because it's more trouble arguing than it's worth. </p><p></p><p>Rod is the appropriately named god of fertility, IYKWIMAITYD. Unlike our previous fertility gods, he's a fairly responsible sort, with secondaries in knowledge and protection. Not all male fertility gods are deadbeat dads. Just enough to give the rest a bad reputation. </p><p></p><p>Saule is our third sun god, this time female. As she's from the northern regions, she's valued when she's around, with childbirth, weaving and music among her secondary aspects. The sun's effects differ widely based on lattitude, so it's not surprising different cultures have different perspectives. </p><p></p><p>Stribog is the god of winter, and as winters tend to be harsher in eastern europe and russia than the coastal places that enjoy the gulf stream, he's pretty cruel and domineering. His clerics similarly tend to take charge in winter, being cruel for the sake of "necessity" and then bugger off the rest of the year, which is a good setup for adventurers, as both protagonists and antagonists really. </p><p></p><p>Svantovit is the god of war, and prosperity as well, curiously enough. So clerics who take up the kill 'em and take their stuff lifestyle seem very appropriate indeed. Goes to shows how perceptions of war have changed over the years. Now it's only considered good for the economy if it's happening somewhere far far away, and you're selling the arms to other people. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> </p><p></p><p>Svarog is the god of celestial fire and the heavens, technically not quite a sun god, but in the same general area. He's still in the lawful good camp though. People tend to be well disposed towards creator gods for some reason. </p><p></p><p>Svarozic is the corresponding god of earthly fire, keeping people warm in the dark and making food much more palatable. Once again, strongly in the good guy camp, if not as inclined to go out adventuring. For all it's risks, we still keep using fire on a regular basis, because it's worth it. </p><p></p><p>Ukko is another sky creator god, but not specifically a sun god this time. He has a flaming sword, which certainly sounds familiar. It's almost as if myths might contain a grain of truth jumbled by time and successive storytellers. The question then becomes why beings capable of space travel would use souped-up swords instead of ballistic weapons? I guess you've got to conserve mass if you want to make those long flights through the cold gulfs of space. </p><p></p><p>Volos is the god of horned herd animals and crops. As these are pretty damn crucial to the average man's survival and prosperity, he's also wound up as the god of trade and wealth. You can bet he'd have some disagreement with a god who thinks wealth is best obtained by force rather than negotiation. </p><p></p><p>So this collection has plenty of interesting information, a couple of new domains, and tons of stories that you should follow up on. It really reminds us how much more complicated real world gods are than ones that are built to fit into neat little slots in a pantheon created all at once. Even the Realms doesn't have quite that level of depth despite 20+ years of building. Reality wins again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5994901, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 290: December 2001[/U][/B] part 3/7 Bright sun, mother earth: Now let's see what gods were worshipped around here before christianity came along to homogenise everything. This is a fairly messy one precisely because of all the people travelling over the region and cross-pollinating as they went. So there's a ton of overlapping portfolios, different aspects of the same idea, and retellings with the serial numbers filed off to sort through, and try to get a coherent picture out of. Let's hope they can get some good game material out of it. Dazhbog is the slavic sun god, and like most sun gods, is considered both powerful and benevolent. After all, it's not as if you can live without him. His clerics do all the typical clericy things, healing and being judgemental and generally trying to keep a community from falling apart, or maybe going into the world to be generally do-goody. You'll have no problem playing them. The Death Crone is one of the more unpleasant gods of death out there, killing people and collecting their souls through trickery and sadistic methods. Her clerics are very much in the scheming witchy mould, not to be trusted, but sometimes, you've just got to make that bargain. You'd better hope like hell they don't kill your mum and marry your dad, because that's almost bound to lead into a rather unpleasant fairytale situation. Gabija is the goddess of home & hearth, which means her clerics tend to be stay at home sorts. Of course, if some horde were to come sweeping through, burning, killing and raping as they went, a good extended vengeance quest might give them an excuse to stay out for a while. I'm sure a GM could arrange something like that. Jarilo is the god of fertility, in particular the sort that leads to people doing stupid things while pursuing sex. Yeah, I can see how that would be a perennially popular prayer niche. No atheists in foxholes and all that. :p Adventurers love a god that asks them to do the things they would have done anyway. Jurate is the goddess of the Baltic sea. She cries amber, and lives in a palace made of it, which implies some pretty epic heartbreak in the past, and not being able to let go. Immortality can suck when you don't change with the times. Lunt-Ater is a second sun god. As the god of the steppe nomads, he has a greater emphasis on exploration and knowledge than farming and rulership, but he's still basically one of the good guys. His symbol is the Gander, which is definitely interesting from a linguistic PoV. I never really noted geese for their curiosity, but I guess stereotypes differ in different countries. Meness is the baltic moon god, and like most moon gods, is a roguish sort with a changable personality and a wandering eye. The sun may be relatively reliable, but the moon is always showing up in different parts of the sky and changing appearance. It doesn't have to be that way, of course. If we lived in a solar system where the moon was perfectly aligned with the solar plane, while the sun was prone to flares and power fluctuations, the opposite would be true in most myths, and there'd be a lot more eclipses. Mokosh is a female fertility & earth god. After all, it takes two to tango. This is one of those archetypes that show up over and over again. The male sky god on top, and the female earth one underneath. It's like they've never heard of reverse cowgirl. :p Perun is the god of thunder. He's somwewhat more responsible than Thor, but still has a terrible temper, and the tendency to smite people who piss him off from on high. You wind up letting them have positions of responsibility because it's more trouble arguing than it's worth. Rod is the appropriately named god of fertility, IYKWIMAITYD. Unlike our previous fertility gods, he's a fairly responsible sort, with secondaries in knowledge and protection. Not all male fertility gods are deadbeat dads. Just enough to give the rest a bad reputation. Saule is our third sun god, this time female. As she's from the northern regions, she's valued when she's around, with childbirth, weaving and music among her secondary aspects. The sun's effects differ widely based on lattitude, so it's not surprising different cultures have different perspectives. Stribog is the god of winter, and as winters tend to be harsher in eastern europe and russia than the coastal places that enjoy the gulf stream, he's pretty cruel and domineering. His clerics similarly tend to take charge in winter, being cruel for the sake of "necessity" and then bugger off the rest of the year, which is a good setup for adventurers, as both protagonists and antagonists really. Svantovit is the god of war, and prosperity as well, curiously enough. So clerics who take up the kill 'em and take their stuff lifestyle seem very appropriate indeed. Goes to shows how perceptions of war have changed over the years. Now it's only considered good for the economy if it's happening somewhere far far away, and you're selling the arms to other people. :p Svarog is the god of celestial fire and the heavens, technically not quite a sun god, but in the same general area. He's still in the lawful good camp though. People tend to be well disposed towards creator gods for some reason. Svarozic is the corresponding god of earthly fire, keeping people warm in the dark and making food much more palatable. Once again, strongly in the good guy camp, if not as inclined to go out adventuring. For all it's risks, we still keep using fire on a regular basis, because it's worth it. Ukko is another sky creator god, but not specifically a sun god this time. He has a flaming sword, which certainly sounds familiar. It's almost as if myths might contain a grain of truth jumbled by time and successive storytellers. The question then becomes why beings capable of space travel would use souped-up swords instead of ballistic weapons? I guess you've got to conserve mass if you want to make those long flights through the cold gulfs of space. Volos is the god of horned herd animals and crops. As these are pretty damn crucial to the average man's survival and prosperity, he's also wound up as the god of trade and wealth. You can bet he'd have some disagreement with a god who thinks wealth is best obtained by force rather than negotiation. So this collection has plenty of interesting information, a couple of new domains, and tons of stories that you should follow up on. It really reminds us how much more complicated real world gods are than ones that are built to fit into neat little slots in a pantheon created all at once. Even the Realms doesn't have quite that level of depth despite 20+ years of building. Reality wins again. [/QUOTE]
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