What deities am I missing?

[Tonguez]

Well, the goddess of revelry was indeed supposed to cover that too, but two people have mentioned this now (you mentioned the trickster god and Starglim mentioned the god of thievery), so it probably does not fit as well under revelry as I initially thought.

Actually a goddess of revelry fits perfectly as a trickster god as the two have had a close relationship irl symbolism - the archytpe of the Wise 'Fool' (Jester/Trickster)

As to a god of theivery I'm a bit ambivalent and not entirely convinced that such is necessary. I personally can not think of any real world incident of a god of theivery (as opposed to a god that has stolen something).

For instance Veles was a Slavic god of earth, waters and the underworld, with associations to dragons, cattle, magic, wealth and trickery. Amongst hois deeds is stealing the cattle which belonged to the Thunder god Perun

Veles might be a god which theives could worship (Portfolios Wealth and Trickery) but he is not a god of theivery. As an interesting aside when swearing an Oath Veles was invoked as it was he who would punish oathbreakers with disease (this could be used to impose Honour amongst theives)

 

[Roman]

Actually a goddess of revelry fits perfectly as a trickster god as the two have had a close relationship irl symbolism - the archytpe of the Wise 'Fool' (Jester/Trickster)

That's reassuring - my initial conception was that they would fit quite well, but I grew uncertain after several suggestions to the contrary.

As to a god of theivery I'm a bit ambivalent and not entirely convinced that such is necessary. I personally can not think of any real world incident of a god of theivery (as opposed to a god that has stolen something).

IMO, thievery meshes well with trickery, so if trickery remains subsumed under revelry, than so would thievery.

For instance Veles was a Slavic god of earth, waters and the underworld, with associations to dragons, cattle, magic, wealth and trickery. Amongst hois deeds is stealing the cattle which belonged to the Thunder god Perun

Veles might be a god which theives could worship (Portfolios Wealth and Trickery) but he is not a god of theivery. As an interesting aside when swearing an Oath Veles was invoked as it was he who would punish oathbreakers with disease (this could be used to impose Honour amongst theives)

Interesting - thanks for that tidbit! :

I am Slavic (to be precise, I am Slovak), but I know essentially nothing about the pre-Christian Slavic religion and mythology. The one thing I can think of off the top of my head is the relic phrase, "Bodaj by Ta/to parom vzal!" It is still utilized when one is angry and basically means, "I wish Perun would take you/it!" Of course, "Perun" has become bastardized to "parom", but still...

 

[Set]

God of Destruction
God of Pain
Goddess of Death
God of Undeath
Goddess of Nature
God of Life
God of Work
Goddess of Revelry
Goddess of Love
God of Justice
Goddess of Society
God of Time
Goddess of Space
God of Rest
Goddess of Magic
God of Mind

A god or goddess related to fate/destiny could be a decent addition, although the god of time might cover that role.

The god of justice and the goddess of society might be easily combined into a single lawful diety. Said goddess could even be a god of craft and artisans, representing the fruits of civilization like some sort of synthesis of Hera, Athena and Hephaestus.

I've always been partial to limiting individual dieties to seven to twelve, and having each cover multiple bases (and transcend alignment, allowing for good and evil clergy of the same god to exist, and regard each other as heretics, allowing for those lovely inter-faith holy wars over doctrinal minutiae, in addition to the more traditional intra-faith holy wars...).

 

[Roman]

A god or goddess related to fate/destiny could be a decent addition, although the god of time might cover that role.

Indeed, the god of time covers that and I feel the portfolio fits quite well in this case.

The god of justice and the goddess of society might be easily combined into a single lawful diety. Said goddess could even be a god of craft and artisans, representing the fruits of civilization like some sort of synthesis of Hera, Athena and Hephaestus.

Well, I did not mention this, but in my current conception, the goddess of society is the wife of the god of justice. Other such inter-deity marital relationships include: god of time and the goddess of space; goddess of death and the god of undeath (thought there is a lot of marital infighting here ); goddess of nature and the god of life;

Clerics of a god or goddess within a 'marital pair' must select one domain from their primary god or goddess, but the second domain may be selected from either of the pair.

I've always been partial to limiting individual dieties to seven to twelve,

Yep, I like 'mystical numbers' too. If you count gods/goddesses within marital pairs as one, the number of gods is indeed twelve. If I added more gods, I would probably also arrange them into such pairs to preserve a 'mystical number', though number thirteen works pretty well too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One idea is to think up different people and say "who would this person worship?" If none of your gods seems like a nice fit, then you have a hole in your pantheon. If too many people are worshipping the same god, you probably should break up that god's portfolios.

Who would a farmer worship?
Who would a soldier worship?
Who would a sailor worship?
Who would a blacksmith worship?
Who would a scribe worship?
Who would a housewife worship?
Who would a merchant worship?

etc.

I would answer these questions before creating gods that only adventurers care about. I think most D&D pantheons are great if your goal is to create evil priests for the heroes to kill, but not so much if you want your world's societies to be even remotely recognizable.

I've never bought that most people on Oerth worship Pelor -- I just don't see what the commoners get out of it. I don't even know who they're supposed to worship in Faerun, since every god there seems to have the portfolio of Kicking Ass and Taking Names, which doesn't really appeal much to Farmer Brown, unless he's really interested in kicking Peter Rabbit's fuzzy little behind.

If your world doesn't have a god that midwives would pray to during a difficult birth or a god that a farmer would pray to for rain or that a downtrodden peasant would pray to in the hopes of a better life, you've got major gaps, IMO.

 

[Roman]

The system I used to initially come up with the pantheon was not asking who will worship who, but by asking what important concepts exist that should have a deity. Still, such questions are definitely helpful.

 

[Arkhandus]

Here are some suggestions, questions, and such regarding these.....

God of Destruction
You don't have a deity of creation, but you have one of destruction? No patron deity of creativity, inspiration, ingenuity, invention, craftsmanship, forges, or the like? Which of the others would cover such things? Is the god of destruction also the god of chaos, anarchy, betrayal, defilement, vengeance, or something?

God of Pain
Portfolio probably includes torture, interrogation, self-sacrifice perhaps, and...what? Is this also the deity of famine, disease, curses, poisons, weakness, aging, infirmity, infertility, deformity, senility, forgetfulness, confusion, madness, delirium, delusions, nightmares, dread, despair, fear, loss, sorrow, guilt, torment, envy, jealousy, spurned love, toil, domination, tyranny, retribution, or what?

Goddess of Death
Similarly, what in the broad scope of 'death-related things' is this the patron deity of?

God of Undeath
A narrow portfolio, to be sure. Is this also the equivalent of Charon, Hel, Cerberus, or anything else of the sort? Guardian of the underworld, or overlord of the underworld, or eater of dead souls, or the one who guides souls to their afterlife? Is this the guy in charge of who does and does not get to return via Resurrection or the like? Is he in charge of whether or not a soul is reincarnated eventually, or anything like that?

Goddess of Nature
Is this the goddess of the seasons, day and night, the sun and the moon, the stars, the yearly cycles, or whatnot? Is she the goddess of light and darkness? Or just the goddess of elements, plants, animals, fey, and such? Is she the goddess of decay, fungi, aging, natural deaths, natural poisons, or the like? Is she the goddess of agriculture, or is she against the conversion of natural terrain into farmland for harvesting? If she's the patron goddess of fey, does that make her the goddess of trickery, deception, playfulness, riddles, games, or something?

God of Life
Is this the patron of agriculture instead? Is this the patron of plants an animals and all things that live and grow? Is this the one who decides which souls may return to the mortal world via Resurrection, Reincarnation, and such? Is this the guardian of underworld (keeping the dead in and the living out)? Or what? Obviously this would be the god of healing, mercy, birth (? odd that a masculine deity would be patron of midwives, mothers, and such), and probably crusading against death. But would this be a pacifist deity? Would zest for life and general vivaciousness/enthusiasm/etc. be in his portfolio?

God of Work
Is this the deity of creation, craftsmanship, invention, and such? Is this actually the patron god of agriculture, or no?

Goddess of Revelry
Is this supposed to be the goddess of trickery and thievery? What about banditry, outlaws, tomb raiders, and such? Seems like this is probably your pantheon's deity of art, music, celebration, bards, stories, legends, debauchery, wine/ale/etc., and such, but.... Is this also the goddess of remembrance, funerals, and such? Is cooking part of her portfolio?

Goddess of Love
Now is this just the goddess of good love, or other stuff related to it as well? Marriage, birth, family, friendship, oaths, responsibilities? Lust, wild flings, debauchery, passion, zeal, devotion, artistry, creativity, inspiration, hope, or what? Is she the goddess of lost or forlorn love or anything as well?

God of Justice
Is this the god of retribution and revenge as well? Laws? Warfare? Discipline? Honor? Fealty? Truth? Tactics and strategy? Peacekeepers? Zealots? Guardians?

Goddess of Society
What exactly is she the patron of? Cities, roads, travel, business/trade, and rulership/governance I suppose, but anything else? Laws, family, protection, loyalty, wealth, prosperity, accounting, coin minting, jewelry, crafts, traditions, hearth and home, cooking, what? Is this also the goddess of tyranny, or cooperation? Are servitude, slavery, debt/indebtedness, obligations, responsibilities, duties, construction, civilizing wild territories/peoples, enlightenment, or other such things among her portfolio?

God of Time
Think this one you already covered, probably well enough, but is this the god of seasons, the stars and sun and moon, or anything else? God of counting and accounting maybe?

Goddess of Space
I take it she would also be the goddess of mathematics, geometry, order, science, absolute facts, portals, architecture, and such?

God of Rest
Don't know what to ask or suggest for this one, you seemed to cover it already

Goddess of Magic
Is this the deity of mysteries, secrets, history, scholarly pursuits, strangeness, madness, or other things? The pursuit of power? Or anything besides arcane magic or somesuch?

God of Mind
What exactly is this the deity of? Seems like some or many of his potential aspects would already be covered by the rest of the pantheon. Psionics perhaps, if you use them, but that could just as easily be part of the previous deity's portfolio, or that of some other deity.


Looks to me like you basically left out any clear deities of chaos and most of its aspects, strength or athleticism or warfare, archery, martial arts perhaps, competition, sport, games, gambling, knowledge/wisdom, travel, exploration, or the like. Illusions maybe? Change? Deception? Sneaking? Spying? Information? These can probably be folded into your existing portfolio if you just define the scope of each deity more clearly.

I may check Deities & Demigods later to see what concepts/forces/other stuff it mentions as common portfolio elements.

 

[Tonguez]

Another interesting Tidbit about Veles

Veles was the god most worshipped by peasants and in this aspect he was conceived as the serpent/dragon which emerges from its hole in the earth to climb the world tree whereupon he stole the cattle of Perun god of Thunder, War and Heaven and patron of Nobility (ie War chiefs). Perun attacked Veles and defeated him, whereupon Veles fell to earth as the rain bringing fertility to the earth (thus his association with water)

Perun is always worshiped on high places like mountain top shrines whereas Veles is always worshiped in lowland places. Thus the city of Veles sits below a cliff upon which stood a shrine of Perun (there are other incidents of this 'juxtapositioning' in other places)

Based on this
1.you can have Binary Pairs who are not Marital Pairs (siblings, parent-child, rivals etc)
2. Dieties who are worshipped in different places taking on different aspects
3. The social dichomoty between gods of the peasants and gods of the nobles and how they inter-relate

eg War God is the King of Heaven and worshipped by Warriors and Noblemen. His temples are built on hilltops and only Nobles are allowed to enter service (as clerics). However each year there is a Grand Festival which includes the Grand Procession when the Nobles and their Champions march through the streets towards the Arena wherein they display their athletic prowess. During this time the commonfolk are allowed to celebrate and to watch the spectacle

Rain God is the god worshipped by the common folk with simple folk rituals. His shrines are always found in gardens and feilds. He is the most popular of the gods and is a god of trickery, water, wealth. Rain God challenges War God and keeps him honest whereas War God keeps Rain god in line.

The two gods are brothers and together uphold the social order

 

[Roman]

Another interesting Tidbit about Veles

Veles was the god most worshipped by peasants and in this aspect he was conceived as the serpent/dragon which emerges from its hole in the earth to climb the world tree whereupon he stole the cattle of Perun god of Thunder, War and Heaven and patron of Nobility (ie War chiefs). Perun attacked Veles and defeated him, whereupon Veles fell to earth as the rain bringing fertility to the earth (thus his association with water)

Perun is always worshiped on high places like mountain top shrines whereas Veles is always worshiped in lowland places. Thus the city of Veles sits below a cliff upon which stood a shrine of Perun (there are other incidents of this 'juxtapositioning' in other places)

Based on this
1.you can have Binary Pairs who are not Marital Pairs (siblings, parent-child, rivals etc)
2. Dieties who are worshipped in different places taking on different aspects
3. The social dichomoty between gods of the peasants and gods of the nobles and how they inter-relate

eg War God is the King of Heaven and worshipped by Warriors and Noblemen. His temples are built on hilltops and only Nobles are allowed to enter service (as clerics). However each year there is a Grand Festival which includes the Grand Procession when the Nobles and their Champions march through the streets towards the Arena wherein they display their athletic prowess. During this time the commonfolk are allowed to celebrate and to watch the spectacle

Rain God is the god worshipped by the common folk with simple folk rituals. His shrines are always found in gardens and feilds. He is the most popular of the gods and is a god of trickery, water, wealth. Rain God challenges War God and keeps him honest whereas War God keeps Rain god in line.

The two gods are brothers and together uphold the social order

Very interesting indeed - BTW: are you Slavic or with Slavic roots that you know so much about pre-Christian Slavic mythology?

Good idea about non-marital pairs. If I do add more gods I will probably use it.

 

[Tonguez]

No I'm not Slavic, I'm Polynesian (Maori) with some Scots/Irish and Cornish ancestry- but I do have a degree Anthropology specialising in Mythology. I did an essay on 'Mythology as Social Charter' and the relationship between Veles and Perun was one of the examples I looked at.