Converting nonhuman deities “Complete Divine” style

[BOZ]

Converting nonhuman deities “Complete Divine” style

For my next project I will be working on creating something like a “web enhancement” for The Complete Divine, focusing on expanding some of the lesser-known gods of nonhuman races. I provided more details on what gods I’m using and why (and ones I’m not using and why) in this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94776

What I will not be doing (right now at least) is coming up with a set of stats like in 3E Deities and Demigods. What we will work on instead are the much easier and faster entries like those in The Complete Divine. Physical stats may come later, but for now I want to create a nice several-page book of information that DMs and players using non-standard characters alike can take advantage of. This is a long enough project, trust me – there are over 100 gods to work on!

If you do not have Complete Divine, don’t worry – I will be posting some examples and explaining what is what. Some of the information we write will be taking from older or current sources, while some information we will get to make up from scratch using educated guesses. If you have any questions, please ask.

Here are the gods I am intending on working with. We will be starting with a large number of deities found in the 2E Monstrous Mythology book. First of all are a number of gods who have been covered briefly in both The Complete Divine and Defenders of the Faith, that I would like to flesh out a little more:
Annam
Blibdoolpoolp
Diirinka
Eadro
Great Mother
Grolantor
Hiatea
Hruggek
Iallanis
Laogzed
Maglubiyet
Memnor
Merrshaulk
Panzuriel
Sekolah
Semuanya
Shekinester
Skoreaus Stonebones
Skerrit
Stronmaus
Surtr
Thrym
Vaprak

Besides these are quite a few deities who have not been used much since Monstrous Mythologies:
Muamman Duathal of the dwarves
Nebelun of the gnomes
Khurgorbaeyag, Nomog-Geaya, and Bargrivyek of the goblins
Grankhul and Skiggaret of the bugbears
Gaknulak of the kobolds
assorted goblinoid gods Kuraulyek, Meriadar, and Stalker
Diinkerazan of the derro
assorted gods of the Underdark: The Elder Elemental God, The Dark God, Maanzecorian of the mind flayers, Psilofyr of the myconids, and Gzemnid of the beholders
Karontor and Diancastra of the giants
Gorellik of the gnolls
assorted gods of the skies and seas: Jazirian of the couatl, Koriel of the ki-rin, Persana of the tritons, Quorlinn of the kenku, Remnis of the giant eagles, Surminare of the selkies, Syranita of the aarakocra, Trishina of the dolphins, and Water Lion and Stillsong who have no followers
“scaly” gods Parrafaire of the nagas, Ramenos of the bullywugs, and possibly Sess'innek of the lizardfolk (although technically he is a demon lord)
“dark folk” gods Cegilune of the hags, Kanchelsis of the vampires, Mellifleur of the liches, and the lycanthrope gods: Squerrik, Balidor, Ferrix, Daragor, and Eshebala
also the entirety of the sylvan pantheon (minus Skerrit): Titania, Oberon, Caoimhin of the killmoulis, Damh of the korreds and satyrs, Eachthighern of the unicorns and pegasi, Emmantiensien of the treants, Fionnghuala of the swanmays, Nathair Sgiathatch the pseudodragon, Squelaiche of the leprechauns, Verenestra of the nymphs and dryads, and The Queen of Air and Darkness of evil fey.

After them, there are also a number of lesser-known gods, including several gods from Dragon Magazine:
#63 – Dakarnok (kobold demigod)
#119 – Tapann (korred god) and Ravanna (rakshasa god)
#119 – Gods of the uldra
#124 – Krocaa (aarakocra god)
#155 and #236 – new elven gods
#214 – Neogi gods
#241 – The Forgotten God (yakfolk god)
Annual #1 – Dukagsh (scro god)

Alzrius tells me that there are four new elven gods in Dragon #251 – I do not have this issue handy just yet, but if you do please fill me in a bit on what can be found there.

Cildarith found a number of gods from White Dwarf magazine. Several were gods of races that did not transition over to mainstream American D&D, but the following were gods of races that did:
#39 – K'ooriall of the aarakocra, Ggorulluzg of the bullywugs, T'Ka-Boolk'na of the crabmen, and Phraarkilloorm of the dire corbies
#40 – Hrussiall'k of the firenewts
#41 – Kraada of the frostmen, Zrunta Mountainheart of the mountain giants, Klagg of the grimlocks, and Halnass and Quorggg of the lava children
#42 – Firffuffl'nnb of the norkers, Ullathimon of the skulks, and A'Gallamiull of the xvarts
Still not sure what to do with these, but we might just make use of some or all of them after we have gone through the others.

 

[Alzrius]

Not sure if gods from specific campaign worlds count, but there are a few non-human deities from the Birthright campaign:

Cold Rider, demigod of undead (and others who are power-hungry and evil)
Kartathok, greater god of goblin-kind
Torazan, demigod of orogs

The last demihuman god there is Moradin, but he's gotten all the coverage he needs. That said, these are all found (IIRC) in the Birthright boxed set, but have gotten write-ups in the playtest campaign setting over at www.birthright.net (the official fansite).

Also, not sure if you forgot, or just don't think they qualify, so I'll mention Blizzard, Talon, and Vertigo again; the Primal Rage demigods from Dragon #223.

Also, is The Dark God not included because he isn't a god of non-humans specifically?

 

[Filby]

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that the Cold Rider is an aspect or the remnants of the human god Azrai, and that Kartahok is an aspect of Maglubiyet?

As for the Dark God, I believe he's actually an aspect of Tharizdun.

Anyway... I seriously dig this, Boz.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that the Cold Rider is an aspect or the remnants of the human god Azrai, and that Kartahok is an aspect of Maglubiyet?

He is theorized to be the remnant, but still, Azrai is dead, so Cold Rider is his own deity.

As for the Dark God, I believe he's actually an aspect of Tharizdun.

No, that's the Elder Elemental God/Eye.

 

[Filby]

I'm still pretty sure that the Dark God was meant to be an aspect of Tharizdun non-specific to Greyhawk... as for the Elder Elemental God (properly Vilp-akf'cho Rentaq), I read a small snippet by EGG saying that originally it and Tharizdun were meant to be separate entities -- Tharizdun was a great ancient god barely being held back, while Vilp-akf'cho was a once-great ancient god now barely holding itself together. The idea that they were one and the same appears to be new to 3E.

Oh, and Re: the thing on the other thread about Muamman Duathal and Nebelun... Nebelun is indeed up for grabs; the god Gond in Faerun is worshiped by gnomes as Nebelun, but on other worlds, a different god uses the name. And Muamman Duathal is the same god as Marthammor Duin -- one is his name on Oerth (and other worlds), the other on Toril.

 

[BOZ]

Not sure if gods from specific campaign worlds count, but there are a few non-human deities from the Birthright campaign:

if they are really just aspect of other already existing gods, they are probably not that significant. i'd rather see ones that aren't just copies of something that already exists...

Also, not sure if you forgot, or just don't think they qualify, so I'll mention Blizzard, Talon, and Vertigo again; the Primal Rage demigods from Dragon #223.

hmm... weren't they from an arcade game? :\ i think we can leave those out.

SO, i'm glad you fellas liked the idea. which one(s) would you all like to start on?

 

[BOZ]

as to all the ones mentioned by filby... i think, for now, i will entertain treating them as separate entities. we can treat the MonMyth versions as "generic" any-world gods, even if they have slightly different aspects on specific campaign worlds.

 

[Filby]

Cool, sounds good to me.

Where to start? I dunno... maybe the giant gods?

 

[BOZ]

Giants, that is one place to start. Anyone have other ideas?

Could we get a list going of good general sources for these beings? Besides the more recent Complete Divine and Defenders of the Faith, there is of course Monstrous Mythology as I’ve mentioned. The next big book to deal with that source was Planescape’s On Hallowed Ground. Of course, there is also the place that started things off, the 1E Deities and Demigods.

Any other good general sources you can think of? I’m not asking for “well, this god appeared here, and these two appeared here” but rather “this book gives a bunch of details on the goblinoid and other evil humanoid gods” or “this one tells a bunch of info about most of the gods on your list”. We’ll get into the more specific sources for individual gods later.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm still pretty sure that the Dark God was meant to be an aspect of Tharizdun non-specific to Greyhawk... as for the Elder Elemental God (properly Vilp-akf'cho Rentaq), I read a small snippet by EGG saying that originally it and Tharizdun were meant to be separate entities

According to Monstrous Mythologies, its the Elder Elemental God that has Tharizdun as an aspect (something they reversed in 3E); IIRC, it says this at the back of the book, talking about non-human gods specific to campaigns.

I've seen nothing to indicate that the Dark God is anything like Tharizdun; On Hallowed Ground's god listing at the end of the book seems to make it pretty clear that they're wholely separate entities.

-- Tharizdun was a great ancient god barely being held back, while Vilp-akf'cho was a once-great ancient god now barely holding itself together. The idea that they were one and the same appears to be new to 3E.

I haven't heard the name "Vilp-akf'cho" at all before, that I recall. That said, the entry for the Elder Elemental God matches what you said for Tharizdun; that its a powerful force being held in check. It's the Dark God that's described as being an entity possibly dying; though since it's concern is with the break-down of all things, that might mean its doing fine.

the god Gond in Faerun is worshiped by gnomes as Nebelun, but on other worlds, a different god uses the name.

Not the only case for that on Toril; where one god uses the name of a similar one that isn't worshipped there. Ghaunadaur also uses the alias of Juiblex and (IIRC) the Elder Elemental God, but it's a distinct and unrelated deity altogether.

And Muamman Duathal is the same god as Marthammor Duin -- one is his name on Oerth (and other worlds), the other on Toril.

Just curious, where did you read this?