Would love some input on my Homebrew Pantheon.

[Kristivas]

I've done a little revising and decided to make it a little more simplistic. Before reading, I'd like to go ahead and answer some "Frequently Asked Questions" that I've gotten from here and from friends that have seen this.

I went back to 3.5 alignment, since basically everything else is 3.5 in the thing. It actually helped in sorting the gods.

Names, places, and portfolios are subject to be changed. I really kind of wanted to streamline it, but still keep the Celestial Conflict theme. Any suggestions here would be helpful. Especially if there's a neat way I can condense or should expand.


1. Why haven't the other gods just stomped the Black Queen into oblivion?
When the Black Queen betrayed the Unbound, she did so by murdering her rival in the Rule of Order. Said Rival's power was taken and used, and one of it's primary uses was to Curse the two factions to be unable to decisively act together against her. In-fighting on ways to deal with her as a threat added to the already massive amount of problems she inflicted with her plan.

They're not helpless against her. They can fight back, they just can't seem to cooperate, organize, and do it as a unit without it dissolving into a poop-storm of failure.

2. What are special about The Black Queen's Demigods, why don't the other Gods have them?
The second thing she did was to imbue her 10 most powerful followers, creating immortal (well, they can be killed, but not naturally) beings out of them. These were called the High Necrolords, and they ruled over Connoleath for the better part of the 600 years before the Pale Warden's Ascension. With the power they were imbued with, they were able to create Demigods with the Queen.

Demigods are far more powerful than mortals, but far less than Gods. Alone, almost any true God would give them easy rear-stompings. However, when you put all 6 together, they're immensely badass. Add onto that the fact that the Queen is currently the single-most powerful deity (due to the amount of portfolios and such she scrambled up), and the Queen's Court ain't nothing to mess around with.

All power in the Queen's Court is basically given to her, though her children each do have a single domain. A Priestess of Ice would worship the Queen through Siia. The factions in my homebrew are intently tied together and dependent on those within their little group.

Other Gods don't have them because they've been unwilling to murder another God, or sacrifice a chunk their own power, to create something capable of siring a Demigod. Most God + Mortal couplings just result in a very fortunate mortal.

3. Why isn't the Pale Warden in the Rule of Order?

To join one of the factions would mean to be constrained by the curse (and "pantheon politics", which he's not much of a fan of). As it stands, the Warden is really the only God that can effectively work against the Queen. He has no "faction rules" to abide. He's not restrained by the curse.

The problem for the Warden? The Queen would stomp him one-on-one. Currently, he's working against her powerbase - all of the mortals she forcibly converted when the Necrolords were running things and her more powerful followers. He's biding his time and picking his battles, trying to cripple her while trying to stay alive.

4. Rule of Order has the Magic god/Unbound has the Nature goddess - They automatically win, right!?

No. The Lord of Power can't restrict magic to his own followers or only those of a similar alignment. Folks that worship the Rule of Order gods can still experience love and passion. Nature is basically everywhere. The gods aren't the absolute controller of these forces. They're stewards. They try and keep their domains and portfolios controlled to the best of their ability. That's why you'll see plenty of Unbound-worshipping Mages or Rule of Order-worshipping Nature lovers.


The format's like this:
Name |gender| [Alignment] - portfolio
(granted domains)


The Rule of Order (ideals/cosmic)
Kavon the Sun Lord |m| [LG] - Sun, Fire, Healing
(Sun, Healing, Purification, Fire)
Velin the Silvertongued |m| [LE] - Lies, Greed, Thievery
(Secrets, Greed, Trickery, Thieves, Illusions)
Zanthaon the Tyrant |m| [LE] - Tyrants, Conquerers, Nobility
(Tyrant, Domination, Nobility, Law, Strife)
Viasera the Steel Lady |f| [N] - Battle, Courage, Tactics
(War, Strategy, Strength, Honor)
Gultandon, Lord of Justice |m| [LN] - Justice, Truth, Retribution
(Justice, Retribution, Inquisition, Truth)
Kale Valathoss, Lord of Power |m| [LN] - Magic, Knowledge
(Magic, Balance, Meditation, Knowledge, Oracle)
Kora Valathoss, Lady of Trade |f| [NG] - Commerce, Trade, Civilization
(Trade, Civilization, Crafting, Creation)
Graal'v, Lord of the Deep |m| [NE] - Underdark, Mining, Earth
(Metals, Cavern, Earth, Runes)
Kelsethsavan the Skylord |m| [NG] - Air, Luck, Storms
(Air, Change, Luck, Storms)


The Unbound (emotions/natural)
The Aura of Joy |m/f| [CG] - Beauty, Love, Passion
(Beauty, Passion, Love, Pleasure, Family)
The Life Giver |f| [CN] - Nature, Animals, Fey
(Animal, Plant, Renewal, Fey, Life, Water)
The Lady of Shadows |f| [NE] - Shadows, Murder, Fear
(Shadows, Fear, Murder, Poison)
The Bloodletter |m| [CE] - Hatred, Destruction, Chaos
(Chaos, Destruction, Hatred, Wrath, Torment)
The Huntress |f| [CG] - The Hunt, Wilderness
(Hunting, Wilderness, Skill, Spiders)
The Wanderer |f| [CN] - Time, Travel, Dreams
(Music, Travel, Time, Dream)
The Reaper |gn| [N] - Death, Fate
(Death, Destiny, Fate, Repose)
The Lady of Night |f| [N] - The Moon, Mysticism
(Moon, Mysticism, Rune, Lust)
The Unchained Mind |m| [CN] - Psionics, Willpower
(Mentalism, Force, Mind, Meditation, Evolution)


The Black Queen's Court
The Black Queen |f| [CE] - Necromancy, Pestilence, Undeath
(Pestilence, Decay, Necromancy, Undeath, Darkness, Slime, Envy, Evil)
-Poma, Princess of Suffering |f| [CE] - (Suffering) demigod
-Jorl, Prince of Famine |m| [E] - (Hunger) demigod
-Grel, Prince of Madness |m| - (Madness) demigod
-Siia, Princess of Ice |f| [CE] - (Cold) demigod
-Muur, The Serpent |n/a| [E] - (Scalykind) demigod


The Pale Warden
The Pale Warden |m| [LG] - Protection, Freedom, Vengeance
(Protection, Endurance, Freedom, Hope, Vengeance, Good)

 

[Tovec]

The Rule of Order (ideals/cosmic)
Kavon the Sun Lord |m| [LG] - Sun, Fire, Healing
(Sun, Healing, Purification, Fire)
Velin the Silvertongued |m| [LE] - Lies, Greed, Thievery
(Secrets, Greed, Trickery, Thieves, Illusions)
Zanthaon the Tyrant |m| [LE] - Tyrants, Conquerers, Nobility
(Tyrant, Domination, Nobility, Law, Strife)
Viasera the Steel Lady |f| [N] - Battle, Courage, Tactics
(War, Strategy, Strength, Honor)
Gultandon, Lord of Justice |m| [LN] - Justice, Truth, Retribution
(Justice, Retribution, Inquisition, Truth)
Kale Valathoss, Lord of Power |m| [LN] - Magic, Knowledge
(Magic, Balance, Meditation, Knowledge, Oracle)
Kora Valathoss, Lady of Trade |f| [NG] - Commerce, Trade, Civilization
(Trade, Civilization, Crafting, Creation)
Graal'v, Lord of the Deep |m| [NE] - Underdark, Mining, Earth
(Metals, Cavern, Earth, Runes)
Kelsethsavan the Skylord |m| [NG] - Air, Luck, Storms
(Air, Change, Luck, Storms)


The Unbound (emotions/natural)
The Aura of Joy |m/f| [CG] - Beauty, Love, Passion
(Beauty, Passion, Love, Pleasure, Family)
The Life Giver |f| [CN] - Nature, Animals, Fey
(Animal, Plant, Renewal, Fey, Life, Water)
The Lady of Shadows |f| [NE] - Shadows, Murder, Fear
(Shadows, Fear, Murder, Poison)
The Bloodletter |m| [CE] - Hatred, Destruction, Chaos
(Chaos, Destruction, Hatred, Wrath, Torment)
The Huntress |f| [CG] - The Hunt, Wilderness
(Hunting, Wilderness, Skill, Spiders)
The Wanderer |f| [CN] - Time, Travel, Dreams
(Music, Travel, Time, Dream)
The Reaper |gn| [N] - Death, Fate
(Death, Destiny, Fate, Repose)
The Lady of Night |f| [N] - The Moon, Mysticism
(Moon, Mysticism, Rune, Lust)
The Unchained Mind |m| [CN] - Psionics, Willpower
(Mentalism, Force, Mind, Meditation, Evolution)


The Black Queen's Court
The Black Queen |f| [CE] - Necromancy, Pestilence, Undeath
(Pestilence, Decay, Necromancy, Undeath, Darkness, Slime, Envy, Evil)
-Poma, Princess of Suffering |f| [CE] - (Suffering) demigod
-Jorl, Prince of Famine |m| [E] - (Hunger) demigod
-Grel, Prince of Madness |m| - (Madness) demigod
-Siia, Princess of Ice |f| [CE] - (Cold) demigod
-Muur, The Serpent |n/a| [E] - (Scalykind) demigod


The Pale Warden
The Pale Warden |m| [LG] - Protection, Freedom, Vengeance
(Protection, Endurance, Freedom, Hope, Vengeance, Good)

Based on a quick look: Much improved. I'll look at each individual god later, hopefully you will give us more on them as well. But yes, this seems more focused.

1. Do I have too many factions?

Not anymore, two main ones with two non-members. Very reasonable and manageable.

2. Do I have too many deities?

I don't think so, I will look more later.

3. Is there a better way, in your opinion, I could set this up?

This will depend on more details about the gods themselves. I like the current setup. I would consider a different name for the unbound as they are still bound to one another but that is the only comment so far.

4. When you looked at the info below, did anything specifically rub you the wrong way?

I would still create a new distinction, called independent, and then have the black queen and pale warden as the only two members. I would give the pale warden a posse to help him, that's about it for now.

5. Did I get anything right? Compliments are always welcome as well! (I know "right" is subjective.)

I'm glad to see the changes that were made. Merging or at least excising the nature spirits, having two factions as opposed to three (well three plus) really makes it manageable. You can now see an us-vs.-them dynamic going on.

6. If you were discarding things, what would you toss?

Now? Nothing.

7. Likewise to #6, what would you keep?

Now? Everything. Though, I will get back to you on the individual gods later.

8. Any suggestions or comments you just want to throw out there?

Are there any other gods you are not including, and other demi-god-races; Giant ancestors of gods, cyclopses for Poseidon, etc.? I'm guessing those likely don't really matter in the grand scheme, I was just wondering. So far I think you have a great start but you.. or rather we.. need to see more of it, how things are interconnected. Also, the next step, I think, is to work on cosmology, but that will largely depend on your setting/world as that goes.

 

[Kristivas]

I would still create a new distinction, called independent, and then have the black queen and pale warden as the only two members. I would give the pale warden a posse to help him, that's about it for now.

The Warden can't have a posse. As cool as I think it would be to give him one, I also think it would throw off his whole "Only myself and my faithful standing against the tide of Darkness." theme. I know it's cliche', but I love that underdog thing.

I'm glad to see the changes that were made. Merging or at least excising the nature spirits, having two factions as opposed to three (well three plus) really makes it manageable. You can now see an us-vs.-them dynamic going on.

Thanks. To be honest, the first time I read all the replies, my knee-jerk reaction was to rant "why does no one see how awesome that is?!" After actually spending a little time thinking about it, I realized that it actually wasn't that awesome. It was very complicated before. By cutting out the Spirits and merging the Balance guys into the other two, it was just a better way to do it. It allows me to keep the two main factions, do my Queen vs. Warden thing, and not be insanely confusing. I just needed fresh perspective.

Are there any other gods you are not including, and other demi-god-races; Giant ancestors of gods, cyclopses for Poseidon, etc.? I'm guessing those likely don't really matter in the grand scheme, I was just wondering. So far I think you have a great start but you.. or rather we.. need to see more of it, how things are interconnected. Also, the next step, I think, is to work on cosmology, but that will largely depend on your setting/world as that goes.

Other gods? Not right now. I'd considered some for Demihumans and all that, but then you're talking Faerun-amounts of deities. Instead, I think I'd just rather them go by different names. An Orc would see The Bloodletter completely differently from a human, in both name and appearance, but the hate and carnage would all be the same.

I will indeed post some more details. Might even put a blog together for all of my stuff after I have a sufficient amount written. About the names, the faction names and some of the deity names themselves, I'm working on them. The faction names are placeholder right now, so Unbound is getting changed. All of the detailing comes in as I get my base firmly planted.

I did have an idea for a second, smaller group of Eastern-type gods for another Continent, but that's a long ways off if it ever happens.

My biggest problem was keeping the gods' ideals in line for their alignment, their factions, and their domains/portfolios. If some are awkward or weird, I'm all for suggestions on corrections.

Again, thanks for the reply. I appreciate the advice.