Creation Myths and Pantheons

My current campaign is in a region that is culturally isolated from others. Their gods are different than the other gods, and they've had a touch of contact with those "others".

I envision the gods as having dominance over the temporal world where their believers are, and setting up means to hedge out other gods from influencing their areas. When two cultures go to war, those influence areas start smacking into one another. The gods are thus also not omnipotent or omniscient.

I greatly enjoy creation history. For my campaign, this was the number two thing after the seed idea for the culture.
Haraivan History, Legends and Myth

The truth of most of the ancient past is known to the clerics and historians of the later times. The fact that their accounts differ from one another doesn't mean they aren't true. :)

John
 
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I don't have a creation myth for the current campaigns; I've done a couple in the past, but didn't much feel the need to in the ones being played now.

I'd like to do something on the scale of Glorantha, where there are a number of creation myths that are both true and mutually exclusive but it makes my head hurt :)
 

I try to build around three myths, creation, life and death. Each group will have domains as seen fit. I then place gods in as needed.

Think of it as a family tree, creation is the root and build attachments.
 

alsih2o said:
i have a basic creation myth that has been interpretted several ways by different races and cultures..all the gods in my world are sjy objects, the 2 sister moons are primary, followed by the sun and then the various stars :)

"sjy objects"?

Either that's a typo or a TLA that I don't understand. Could you clarify?

Oh, and...

*bump*

because I want more stories. :)
 

Mercule said:


"sjy objects"?

Either that's a typo or a TLA that I don't understand. Could you clarify?

sky objects, sorry :)

"gods" in my world are "the luminaries" celestial bodies, if one is valorous, evil, famous or brave enuf one can actually become a star upon dying.

for more info, if anyone cares, here are some of the stars and constellations that rule the world-

Simus the uncaring- the north star. writes the story of everything on his tablet, which is the earth. he is true nuetral, and has given up on affecting events, leaving the earth in the grasp of his children.

Fespa- the academic moon. Fespa is large and glows with a yellow light.she is NG and favors academics, collectors, rulers, writers and mages. she is the patron saint of all who seek to learn.

Kalin- the artist moon. Fespa is smaller then her sister and glows with a reddish tone. she is NG and favors builders, artists, performers, and storytellers. she is the patron saint of creation and creators.

Balcla- the sun. errand boy to Fespa and Kalin he streaks across the sky every day, the bright flames coming from his boots of fire and speed lighting the entire sky. LN

Zodiac signs:

The Leash- Balclas 9 dogs lie in the south sky, the represent the man and the nine alignments.

Fift- the boar. fift represent nature and wisdom. he rest high in the southern sky, perpetually hounded by the leash.

Vanpo-the sailor. Vanpos ship can be seen in the red blotch in the eatern sky, sailling across the sea in seach of new land.

Bebe-the sea. Bebe is the giant red sea Vanpo attempts to cross. she pities Vanpo for his endless quest and sings to him.

Passul-the archer. Passul was an early hero. when men were not numerous or spread across the good earth Passul fed them with the skill of his bow. upon his death Passul was honored with spot in the western skies where his bow can still be seen during most of the year. he attention payed to Fespa and Balcla began to eat at him and he attempted to organize a rebellion to steal Fespasspot in the night sky, when Fespa discovered his plan she beat him back with her flail and it took him 3 months to return to his spot in the sky, since that time Passul has always fallen below the horizon for 3 months every summer, during this time most see it as unlucky to take game with a bow.

i even have a slightly p-kitty inspired luminary-

In a previous experiment Fespa created another being for her father to watch, Vanpo. Vanpo was a brave and handsome cat who travelled the land freely and found great pleasure in exploring all of the lands of the tablet, without concern for the boundaries set up by the sister moons. When the 12 eggs hatched and moved forth on the earth Vanpo found great pleasure in sailing them around, place to place. He took nearly every race to so many places that they became lost, unable to find home. When Kalin awoke and saw what her sisters creation had done to all the beautiful races, and how he had violated the boundaries they had set she lured him into the great red sea and when he was there testing his sail she flung the entire sea into the sky where Vanpo the explorer still plies his sail, looking for new lands.

well, i said loosely :)

lots of others exist, but these are the ones that most people worship or look to. if anyone is up to it i would appreciate critique of the pantheon, good or bad :)
 
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this is the beggining of the story, how people got to this land...

On a glorious spring morning 253 years ago the 3 learned sons of Paraskus the merciful set out on a quest to obtain gifts to obtain gifts to impress their father. Idein the mage, Lastel the hunter and Maissen the Moongazer each set forth down the Motherriver with a fast ship and a large and loyal crew. 6 smaller ships sailed in support of the young princes, each laden with the provisions and protections that the princes would need for the journey.

On the 7th week of this journey the vessels and their princely cargos made to the open sea, rounded the western horn and made for lands unknown. They ushered bravely past the last permanent settlement of the great kingdom and set for the southern islands determined to conquer and collect in the name of their father and homeland. Following the wisdom of the ages, they knew to never leave the sight of the shore gulls, for the broad expanse of the waters held terrible horrors that had swallowed every ship that wondered beyond the terns eyes.

All passed well for the princes under the guidance of Felspa and Kalin, the sister moons until the passing of Felspa into darkness in the 2nd quarter of the year. At this point, when the artist Felspa was hidden from men’s sight, they each had a dream. In the dream their father, Paraskus, stood in the mother-river as it turned to blood. His brow was heavy, and as he opened his mouth to speak his teeth fell into his hands as maggots and crawled away. His eyes turned, his flesh swelled and as he fell on the river his hair loosed and spread towards them in a great wind. The princes, startled awake, found their ships captured by this wind, forced in a rage to the open sea. The great wind tossed the waters violently and pushed the ships at unmatched speed thru day and night for nearly a week. Many on the ships claimed visions of terrible, dark lands belonging to the horizons, but none could steer the ships for the lands, or find them on any map.

On the 7th day, as Balcla, younger brother of the moons, rose in the northern sky all of the ships but 1 found themselves in a quiet bay. Setting foot on the new earth the expedition found strange new plants, odd animals never before encountered and eyes peering towards their tenuous foot on the delta.

after that comes 253 year of historyleading up to "now" that is written up, but for space and boredoms sake i will spare you :)
 
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Are the popular legends true?
Only the recent past. The further back, the more hazed. Everything prior to 10,000 years is a myth.

Are there conflicting stories depending on who you talk to?
Yes.

Are any of the myths wholly right (or wholly wrong)?
"Wholly" right? No. Not a one. Indeed, a major campaign element is discovering the truth.

Second, has anyone worked with geographically, culturally, or otherwise completely separate pantheons in the same world?
No.

Do you use multiple gods having domain over the same attribute (the sea, death, etc.) or are they simply different names and perceptions of the same entity?
The creation myth has it that the deities destroyed themselves, so there are no gods.

The truth, however, is far worse. There are, indeed, five entities that are "true gods". These embody Creation, Fate, Chance, Hope and Despair. There are others that claim godhood, but are actually just super-powerful beings that live off of mortals in a manner of parasites, using the faith of fools to empower their goals and aims.
 

I have already started a thread that addresses my world in particular over here.

I'm going for a pantheon that is more like family to the mortals than deities. The worshippers refer to their gods as sister, brother, mother, uncle, etc. There is great familiarity with the gods. Respect is paid when respect is due.
 

Mercule said:
This is a topic for you DMs with homebrew worlds (and those players playing there). It's kind of a two-part thought.

First, how many of you have actually come up with full-fledged creation myths (realities?) for your world? Are the popular legends true? Are there conflicting stories depending on who you talk to? Are any of the myths wholly right (or wholly wrong)?

>Yes on all counts. ALL the legends are true - even the contradicting ones...

Second, has anyone worked with geographically, culturally, or otherwise completely separate pantheons in the same world? Do you use multiple gods having domain over the same attribute (the sea, death, etc.) or are they simply different names and perceptions of the same entity? If they are different, how can two beings have dominance over a single aspect of nature? If they are the same, why might one culture view the deity as evil and another good (eg. if Pluto and Anubis are the same, why is one a jailer and the other a guard)?

> *G* Every one of my human cultures has it's own pantheon, and while two of them have Gods that share basic "settings", and nobody is quite sure if they are the same guys or not, and two others developed from the same base culture, no two cultures have the same Gods - cultures that is, not countrys! Not the same!
Add to that the fact that my elves have a montheism based on the various sects of christendom, and one of my human countrys adapedt that religion to found their version of catholicism, the fact that the Orcs claim their God kicks everyone elses Gods all the time, the fact that everybody else thiks the humies are just nuts, AND the fact that there is a whole Pantheon that no one worships, but every one has heard of ("The Demon-Gods of the North, foul spawn of Chaos, Father of All and Nothing"), you could think that the heavens and hells of my cosmology are rather stuffed - and you'd be right!

-Alla

edit: Der.... _Pluto_ is a deity, Plato is a philosopher.
 

I've got a lot of ideas and such about cosmogony in my head, and haven't really written enough of it down yet.. it's a fairly straighforward system I think, somewhat of a variant on the dead god trope with a lot of deception and such thrown in.

Rather than repost what I've written here, if you want to read it, here's some of it:

Myth of Sarnau

(and now an end to such shameful pluggery!)
 

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