Slavic Pantheon

[Random Goblin]

A Slavic Pantheon for D&D

Greater Deities

Svarog, the Smith of Creation, Lord of the Universe, the Bright One - symbol: a triangle with an anvil, hammer, and tongs surrounding a white flame – N –air, artifice, creation, fire – warhammer (not actively worshipped)

Perun, the God of Thunder, the Striker - symbol: a six-spoked wheel – CG – air, good, strength, weather - greataxe (very worshipped in Novgorod)

Svantovid, the Strong Lord, the God of War and Prosperity, the Four-Faced Lord of the Seasons - symbol: a white horse – LN – earth, strength, sun, war - longsword

Dazbog, the Giver God, the Sun Personified, the Clear-Sky God – symbol: sun surrounded by twelve stars - LG – good, law, protection, sun – mace (Russians are the Grandchildren of Dazbog)

Volos, the Horned God, the Lord of the Underworld, the Bearded Shepherd - symbol: cow skull with horns – CN –animal, chaos, death, magic – scythe (patron of bards)

Stribog, Grandfather of Winds, the Scatterer of Wealth – symbol: whirlwind – CE – air, chaos, evil, weather - whip

Matka, Moist Mother Earth – symbol: the earth itself – NG – earth, good, healing, animal, plant – quarterstaff

Mokushka, Goddess of the Ocean, Mother of Rain – symbol: breast-shaped stones – N – healing, knowledge, magic, water - spear

Simargl, the Seven-Headed God, Guardian of the World Tree – symbol: a griffin – LN – law, plant, protection, strength - greatsword



Lesser Deities

Triglav, Three-Headed God, God of War and Pestilence – symbol: a snake bent into a triangle – CE –chaos, destruction, war - morningstar

Belobog, the White God, Lord of the Waxing Year – symbol: walking stick – NG – good, luck, travel - quarterstaff

Chernobog, the Black God, Lord of the Waning Year, Lord of Death – symbol: black crescent moon – NE – darkness, death, evil – scimitar

Lada, the Lady of Flowers, the Goddess of Love – symbol: linden tree – NG – charm, good, luck – dagger

Demigods and Semigods

Leshy, the Green Man – symbol: cudgel – CN – plant, magic, trickery – club

Poldunica, Lady Midday – symbol: skull with rays like the sun – NE – death, evil, trickery – scythe

Koschei, the Deathless – symbol: flaming pin – LE – evil, fire, magic – dagger



Sources

http://hometown.aol.com/HPSofSNERT/Gods.html
http://www.geocities.com/cas111jd/slavs/index.htm

 

[BOZ]

cool!

 

[Random Goblin]

Glad you like it.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Nice pantheon. Different from the PHB norm, but with a few "cognates".

 

[Random Goblin]

Nice pantheon. Different from the PHB norm, but with a few "cognates".

Like how Dazbog bears a striking resemblance to Pelor?

 

[Jakub Kubička]

Wrong on so many accounts.
Veles is Definitely lawful. He is not a god of death. More like trade. He is married to Mokosh, with her they have Kids that are gods of Agriculture. He is the keeper of deals, god of practical jokes and Magic, animals, nature. He was tricked by the first witch into granting her powers.

Polednice and Lešij are both běsi, more like beasts than demons. Definitely way less powerful than any lesser deity.
As for Sim-a-Rgl the twin deities. The most commonly appear together one is always human, the other is always an animal. (Most commonly hawk, Horse or hunting dog) Think Lady hawk situation. But it is not a curse, it is more like a convenient way to take care of their bussiness.

Matka - means mother, it is not a name. and you seem to confuse her with Mokoš. Which literally means Moist earth. And even though Svarog and Lada created the first people and recreated us 4 times over. Mokoš is seen as the mother of all, she has the godliest offspring and she gives us food. grants us souls and with help of Veles guides us through Underworld to another incarnation in Jav or to the afterlife, In Prav if you were good, In Náv, the land of mists and beasts, if you were bad.

Svantovid as a god of war would have weapons, that slavs are known to be great with. Meaning a spear and board and longbow. The later version would have sabres.

Lada is a greater diety.

As for Běloboh and Černoboh. Which literally mean White and Black god. They are not even deities. More like Christian propaganda. Marking Perun as Good and Veles as evil. (just because he has antlers on his cape)

Stribog is definitely not evil. He does not care enough.

Dažbog would-be god of resurrection. He was tricked by his wife Morana (goddess and literal mother of Death) into going to Náv and "rescuing" her from Kostěj. He was caught. and nailed to a rock, and the only way, to save him, was to let him die, and then rebuild in the palace on Alatyr.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I think I read somewhere that Czernobog (as it was in the article) translates as "dark-haired god", and that Christians made up the idea that there needed to be a bright-haired counterpart? Anyone else heard this?

 

[Orius]

So....

Does Chernobog have anything to do with thread necromancy? Or is that more Baba Yaga's thing?

In addition to the thread necromancy, the original post was focused on 3e mechanics. The game's up to 5e now and there are differences in the mechanics of how clerics and gods work. Not that that matters too much, it's not a problem to discuss either the 3e rules or updating the ideas to 5e, but it's probably not a good idea to cross the streams.

 

[J.Quondam]

So....

Does Chernobog have anything to do with thread necromancy? Or is that more Baba Yaga's thing?

Especially interesting in the OP are the reference links, one to AOL, the other to a Geocities page.
Talk about necromancy!

 

[loverdrive]

I think I read somewhere that Czernobog (as it was in the article) translates as "dark-haired god", and that Christians made up the idea that there needed to be a bright-haired counterpart? Anyone else heard this?

Keep in mind that there's approximately zero known things about pre-Christian Slavic mythology (and what is known is mostly about Baltic Slavs), and there's a lot of "material" on it that is basically fanfiction. Also, Slavs are, to put it mildly, a diverse bunch, so it's almost impossible to say anything definitively.

As of Czernobog, the name translates to "black god" and Christian historians indeed hypothetized about the "white god", Belobog, but I think it's a quite solid hypothesis. The names Czernobog and Belobog are, probably, nicknames for other gods, though.