D&D General Forgotten Realms: Real World Gods Still Present in the Old Empires

[cbwjm]

(including the non-accurate "Horus-Re" name that gives me OCD, lol).

I wouldn't say this is really non-accurate given that Ra is alternatively spelled Re, though admittedly I much prefer the spelling Ra.

 

[Zeromaru X]

I wouldn't say this is really non-accurate given that Ra is alternatively spelled Re, though admittedly I much prefer the spelling Ra.

The non-accuracy is that, in mythology/old Egyptian religion, the fusion of Horus and Ra is called Ra-Horakhty (or Re-Horakhty). Not Horus-Re. That's a horrible inaccuracy that gives me OCD. The 2014 PHB had the name right. I don't know why they have to use the inaccurate name in the new books, lmao.

 

[cbwjm]

The non-accuracy is that, in mythology/old Egyptian religion, the fusion of Horus and Ra is called Ra-Horakhty (or Re-Horakhty). Not Horus-Re. That's a horrible inaccuracy that gives me OCD. The 2014 PHB had the name right. I don't know why they have to use the inaccurate name in the new books, lmao.

Ah, gotcha. I'm fine with that to be honest, naturally I don't know why they went with Horus-Re but maybe they wanted to make a point that it was still Horus who had absorbed Ra's power.

Not surprising that they would keep the older name in the new books since that's the name used in previous editions. They've got plenty of names wrong or altered, I've already mentioned (pretty sure in this thread) that Silvanus was the name of Roman god, not Celtic (from what I can tell, they probably should have used Sucellus, a celtic god that was represented holding a mallet like FR Silvanus). I assume in some cases they just liked a specific name better and it's stuck.

Side note; is Gilgeam meant to be Gilgamesh?

 

[Zardnaar]

Ah, gotcha. I'm fine with that to be honest, naturally I don't know why they went with Horus-Re but maybe they wanted to make a point that it was still Horus who had absorbed Ra's power.

Not surprising that they would keep the older name in the new books since that's the name used in previous editions. They've got plenty of names wrong or altered, I've already mentioned (pretty sure in this thread) that Silvanus was the name of Roman god, not Celtic (from what I can tell, they probably should have used Sucellus, a celtic god that was represented holding a mallet like FR Silvanus). I assume in some cases they just liked a specific name better and it's stuck.

Side note; is Gilgeam meant to be Gilgamesh?

Gilgeams based off Gilgamesh iirc or is an ascended Gilgamesh iirc.

Its ambiguous afaik if 5E Gilgeam is the same one as pre 4E Gilgeam.

 

[cbwjm]

Gilgwams based off Gilgamesh iir or is an ascended Gilgamesh iirc.

I think I've just assumed it was something like that because both names start with Gilg.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think I've just assumed it was something like that because both names start with Gilg.

I checked his Powers and Pantheons write up. He didnt use the alias Gilgamesh.

Wiki says something slightly different may have been a later addition or wiki authors opinion

 

[Zeromaru X]

Gilgwams based off Gilgamesh iir or is an ascended Gilgamesh iirc.

"Downgraded Gilgamesh" would be more accurate. Gilgeam is a "manifestation" of the actual Gilgamesh, kind of a mortal, independent avatar given autonomy and a measure of the actual god's power. Due to the Imaskari barrier blocking Toril from "not-Earth", all the Egyptian and Assyro-Babylonian deities had to create such manifestations to be sent on their own to Toril to help the not-Earthlings the Imaskari had kidnapped and brought there (or their descendants, actually).

Over time, most of these manifestations died or returned to their main selves in the Outer Planes. Only Gilgeam remained, and he eventually went mad, was killed by Tiamat, returned as a mummy, destroyed again, and now returned one more time as a demigod of dubious origins.

 

[Zeromaru X]

I checked his Powers and Pantheons write up. He didnt use the alias Gilgamesh.

Wiki says something slightly different may have been a later addition or wiki authors opinion

Well, I checked my copy, and he does use that alias

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I am unsure what is going on with the Forgotten Realms gods. Maybe there is some quiet restructuring.

Enlil is unmentioned even tho his presumed location is mentioned; his involvement or absence notable. Bahamut is unmentioned. I might have suspected that the Dragonborn insertion into the Forgotten Realms setting, was being targeted.

But then even elven Corellon was unmentioned, except in passing as a name drop for Orc "lore".

Is there a step away from "statting" gods? The references to the Forgotten Realm gods are a simple list. Most of the descriptions are about the Humanoid adherents, including how divine magic works in this setting, rather than about each god per se.

Is 2024 undoing the earlier editions having "race gods", like elf Corellon, gnome Glittergold, dwarf Moradin, etcetera, and by extension Bahamut and Enlil as race gods of Dragonborn.

If Corellon does make a future appearance they will probably be in the context of a multispecies religious tradition.

If any of these gods are mentioned, are their adherents just the one species, or are any species intended?

They referred to Chessenta as worshipping Alien Gods & Demigods, then only really mention an example Tchazzar & Entropy.

Traditionally Chessenta really worship a mix of Faerûn & Mulan Gods, Tchazzar being an extension of Tiamat & Entropy either being an extension of Shar or a Primordial that ate like half of Chessenta.

I will say its been hinted at Chessentans also worshipping special hero Demigods, but that never seemed to get elaborated on.

Also they only mentioned a few of the Mulhorandi Gods as examples, its clear its nit intended to be the whole list.

Between not exploring the Demihuman, Mulan, and Draconic Gods in the Gods chapter, I would not take a lack of mention of individual Gods as being they aren't there anymore. They expect the FR wiki to do ALOT of the heavily lifting in lore terms. The digital version literally links to the FR wiki as if it was an extension of the books themselves.

The funny thing is I was expecting these book to make the SCAG redundant, but instead it feels like the SCAG feels like it should have been the 3rd book of the Ultimate Bundle, as it covers a whole bunch of things these books don't and vis versa. Like Demihuman Gods, Southern nations like Dambrath, Halruaa, Luirien, Durpur, etc..., as well as mentioning Zakhara and Kara Tur.

There is no reason to believe Enlil isn't still there. Heck maybe he's trying to get enough favours from other powerful Gods to rebuild his Pantheon.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The "racial gods" all come from early Dragon magazine articles about Greyhawk, and Greenwood just rolled them into his pastiche merrily.

Probavly, but I am not referring to the enumeration of God's, but how they are viewed as interacting with the world.

Doesn't it drive you nuts who spell check has a monotheistic bias, you clearly were trying to say Enumeration of Gods plural, but the spell check got you. It used to do that to me, till I beat spellcheck defiantly into submission.