Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 6198313" data-attributes="member: 3400">One option is to create one god for each race/major ethnic group and then give them a portfolio (or set of portfolios) that reflect major cultural values. For example, include a god for the elves, dwarves, halflings, human ethnic group 1, human ethnic group 2, human ethnic god 3, and orcs. The elven god is also the god of archery, hunting, and nature. The dwarven god is also the god of mountains and craftwork. The halfling god is the god of the hearth and agriculture. The orc god is the god of war, famine, and pestilence. Human ethnic god 1 represents a sea-faring culture and thus is the god of the sea and trade. Human ethnic god 2 represents a nomadic peoples of a broad steppe region and thus is also a god of the sky (there's a lot of sky in the steppes) and horses. Human ethnic god 3 represents a settled culture with lots of cities and social structure and thus also is a god of chivalry, cities, and rulership. And so on....You may be able to keep a lid on the number of gods this way but also enable a lot of cross cultural worship - humans blacksmiths putting dwarven blessings on their forges, orc hunters offering a bit of their kills to the elven god, and so on...The reason I thought of this is with some D&amp;D-ish pantheons, gods may come from certain ethnic groups, but they don't always seem to indicate why that ethnic group found them important. The Greyhawk gods always felt a bit weird because of this, at least until Len Lakofka started detailing the Gods of the Suel. Then it started to make a little sense.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="billd91, post: 6198313, member: 3400"] One option is to create one god for each race/major ethnic group and then give them a portfolio (or set of portfolios) that reflect major cultural values. For example, include a god for the elves, dwarves, halflings, human ethnic group 1, human ethnic group 2, human ethnic god 3, and orcs. The elven god is also the god of archery, hunting, and nature. The dwarven god is also the god of mountains and craftwork. The halfling god is the god of the hearth and agriculture. The orc god is the god of war, famine, and pestilence. Human ethnic god 1 represents a sea-faring culture and thus is the god of the sea and trade. Human ethnic god 2 represents a nomadic peoples of a broad steppe region and thus is also a god of the sky (there's a lot of sky in the steppes) and horses. Human ethnic god 3 represents a settled culture with lots of cities and social structure and thus also is a god of chivalry, cities, and rulership. And so on.... You may be able to keep a lid on the number of gods this way but also enable a lot of cross cultural worship - humans blacksmiths putting dwarven blessings on their forges, orc hunters offering a bit of their kills to the elven god, and so on... The reason I thought of this is with some D&D-ish pantheons, gods may come from certain ethnic groups, but they don't always seem to indicate why that ethnic group found them important. The Greyhawk gods always felt a bit weird because of this, at least until Len Lakofka started detailing the Gods of the Suel. Then it started to make a little sense. [/QUOTE]

Verification