Help me develop a mythology

[Tonguez]

2. The Landsman. - I agree that Farmer (and Rancher) should be taken out and Miner I'd actually put under Builder. This leaves 'Loggers' from your list which can logically be roled in with Rangers, Hunters, Explorers to create the Wilderness based 'Explorer' Archetype some have mentioned

6. The Lawmaker & 7. The Lawbringer. I'd include as a single Lawbringer Paragon - the 5 gods were the original Lawbringers who sat in judgement of humanity (Lawmakers) and then enforced their judgement (Lawbringers). The Paragon inherited this right of Judgement

The Learned. I'd change the name to Teacher and move Explorer as discussed. I'dd also add both Priest and Navigator (if you have lots of water). Navigators are included here because they spend time looking at the Stars which in your campaign idea with its astrological theme looks like being a scholarly and sacred occupation

This Gives us

1. The Builder. See above.
2. The Landsman. Representing those who seek out the Wilderness as Hunters, Druids, Loggers, Explorers, Rangers
3. The Teacher. Representing those who preserve, expand, and pass along knowledge -sages, scribes, teachers, priests and navigators .
4. The Soldier. Representing those who take up arms in defense of their communities -guards, town watchmen, militias -
5. The Artisan. Representing those who create works of beauty - musicians, painters, sculpters, weavers,
6. The Lawbringer. Representing those who create and enforce laws to maintain the established order - nobles, mayors, councilmen ,sheriffs, judges, jailors and executioners

and other ideas
7. The Hearth Wife Representing those who care for and nurture others - Mothers, midwives, healers, doctors
8. The Shepherd Representing those tend to others - Fathers, farmers, shepherds, priests
9. The Fisher Representing those that sail the oceans - fishermen, sailors, shipwrights and shellfishers. Also Patron of natural Disasters from Typhoons to Earthquakes
10.The Rogue Representing those who rely on their wits and skills and are not afraid to challenge to status quo - Children, thieves, merchants, diplomats, tricksters, poets, bards and scorcerers

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

you could create a negative and positive aspect of each archetype.
The Lawgiver can be the ruler and fair judge, but he can also be a Tyrant.

The Soldier can be a defender but also a bully.

The rogue can be the embodiment of skill and luck, but also chaos and lawlessness.

just Ideas.

 

[Delemental]

See, this is why I love EnWorld... so many good ideas in only a few hours.

Let's see if I can address some of the issues raised...

Why are all the Paragons positive members of society? Some negative archtypes, such as criminals ect, are a part of society also.

True, but the thought was that the Paragons are an invention of the common people, and they would only pay respect to 'legitimate' parts of society.

I'm a little confused - are these Paragons supposed to be Gods? Servants of Gods? Or just archetypes like the characters shown with classes in the PHB?

If they aren't Gods, could you tell us a little more about the Gods?

The Paragons aren't gods. They aren't even real people. They just kind of came into being as part of a collective mythology. An example would be if some kid asks his dad "why do I have to learn to read?" Rather than saying "so you won't be ignorant", Dad would take his son aside and tell him the tale of how Vandor the Scholar came to a village one day to teach the villagers how to read, and the one villager who refused to learn ended up meeting with misfortune because of it. It's that sort of thing.

Of course, the likelihood of all the various races independently creating identical myth structures is slim, so I imagine there was some subtle divine influence in this process. The gods probably hoped not only to encourage the prosperity of the individual races, but to promote interracial relations by giving them a common reference point.

As for the gods themselves, it's a fairly structured system. There are five major deities, and each represents a particular race (except humans, who have no primary deity), alignment axis (the primary goddess represents neutrality), and element (except for the primary deity, who represents magic).

you could create a negative and positive aspect of each archetype.

This I like - each of these Paragons can represent a darker side. Tales of this aspect of the Paragons would serve as cautionary tales to those of good bent, while those of a less benevolent nature would look upon them as inspiring.

As to the other suggestions: I agree that The Landsman could be broken up. When I first started making this list I was being too specific (one Paragon for farmers, one for shepherds, one for miners, etc), so I needed to group some into broader categories. Perhaps if I kept farmers, miners, and loggers under The Landsman (ie, those who work with the earth) I could incorporate the others (ranchers, shepherds, hunters, fishermen, horse breeders, butchers) into a "works with animals" type.

I also agree that sailors need to be included, I was just having trouble figuring out where. One idea that strikes me from reading Tonguez suggestion would be to split up various roles. I could put fishermen in the "works with animals" category, navigators in with The Scholar or The Teacher, and officers fall in with The Leader. Regular sailors would probably need to be in some sort of general laborer category.

Perhaps that's what I need, a "catch-all" Paragon for those whose role is non-specific, but still important. The sailors, the wagon drivers, the laborers, the maids and servants, the sewer workers, lamplighters, rat-catchers, etc etc. Basically, the grease that keeps the cogs of society moving along. This could be the category where the roguish types fall in; the darker side of this part of society - instead of the grease, they're the bits of sand and grit.

So, here's a revised list:

1. The Builder. Paragon of those who create finished goods. Smiths, carpenters, masons, craftsmen, cobblers, coopers, tanners, engineers. Negative aspect: ?

2. The "Earth Person" (I'm looking for a better term than 'Landsman'). Paragon of those who work with the earth. Farmers, loggers, miners, explorers, rangers. Negative aspect: those who abuse the land

3. The "Animal Person". Paragon of those who work with animals. Ranchers, shepherds, breeders, hunters, fishermen, butchers. Negative aspect: those who abuse animals

4. The Scholar. Paragon of those who preserve, expand, and pass along knowledge. Sages, scribes, teachers, priests, wizards, navigators. Negative aspect: those who hoard or destroy knowledge

5. The Lawgiver. Paragon of those who create and enforce authority. Nobles, mayors, sheriffs, judges, advocates, jailors. Negative aspect: those who abuse power

6. The Soldier. Paragon of those who take up arms in defense of community. Militias, town watchmen, guards, warriors. Negative aspect: those who fight for money or as conquerors

7. The Artisan. Paragon of those who create objects of beauty to inspire others. Musicians, painters, poets, sculptors, weavers, jewelers. Negative aspect: those whoe works demoralize instead of inspire

8. The Hearthguard. Paragon of those who care for other people. Parents, servants, healers, midwives, priests. Negative aspect: those who take advantage of their fellow beings

9. The Layman. Paragon of those whose work goes unseen. Common sailors, maids, laborers, sewer workers, rat-catchers. Negative aspect: those who prey on society for a living

10. The ??. Paragon of those who make connections. Merchants, diplomats, messengers, teamsters. Negative aspect: those who spread misinformation or break connections

 

[nameless]

Looking at your 10 paragons, I can't help but think that they are all very lawful-oriented. Nothing wrong with being lawful, but adding a little chaos to the mix might liven things up. So here's my proposal:

10. The Hero. Paragon of those who change the world. Adventurers, emperors, freedom fighters, philosophers, and explorers. Negative aspect: those who change the world for the worse, or for their own gain

The Hero contrasts with the Lawgiver in that he breaks down the structures of society to make way for new ones. He fights the negative aspects of the Lawgiver (abuse of power). The Hero is the check against authority.

 

[physics_ninja]

You also might want to look at tarot cards. The 13 major arcana are about as iconic as you can get.

 

[robjh]

Our group is playing under a new DM (new to us, not to D&D) who is running a homebrew world. There are elements of the world that haven't been fully developed, and the DM's given me permission to work on some ideas. I'd started in on a calendar system, which has been adopted. However, in the process I started developing part of the myth structure of the world; I was basing part of the calendar on star constellations, and it led to me trying to assign stories to the figures depicted in said constellations. The problem is that I'm having trouble getting the ideas to solidify. I know in general what I want, but I'm waffling on details. I'm hoping that by presenting it here for feedback/suggestions, I'll get to the point where it comes together.

Something I see happening a lot in D&D Campaign Worlds is a style of a "unified mythology", where everybody is under the same set of gods and the only cultural differences are which of those gods are worshipped. In the real world mythologies, however, every society had their own pantheon, mythology, and cultural religious expressions. So a richer world setting would probably include a lot of different pantheons, each for a different region.

Anyway, it might not address what you need exactly, but there is a modular pantheon available in PDF format for free, called the Diadamon Pantheon . I'm not completely satisfied with the work as it is written, but it's probably good for use in some less-visited neighboring land where a quick pantheon needs to be generated.

 

[Sarellion]

Perhaps the point of view between different cultures varies but the gods/paragons are the same.

In my homebrew I assumed that there is only one big set of gods. So there is one god of the ocean, one god of the sun and so on. But each culture has its own view of them.
The god of the sea is also the god of the afterlife in lizardmen mythology and is portrayed as a sea serpent. The elven faith calls him by a different name, portrays him as a dolphin and the afterlife is linked to another set of gods.

So you could shuffle around some finer points of their portfolios. Nomad people will protray the earth paragon as the exolorer and their sessile neighbours will only know him as the sowman.

An interesting idea could be that you include one forgotten paragon. Something like the free thinker/rebel, someone who questions the gods and authority or so.

 

[cdtaylor_nats]

I noted from the first post that the calendar is tied to the constellations. This could suggest that the God refered to by a constellation could have some abilities dependant on the time of year. For example a Winter constellation/god would have aspects of cold.

You could make this more interesting by having the time of year aspect powers vary geographically. It may well be that at some latitudes a constellation is a summer constellation and in others a winter one. Some constellation/gods might be unknown in some places. One of the adventuring hooks could be the discovery of new gods if you travelled far enough.