Heheheh. It'd be neat to run a campaign someday that simply uses the Ultima set-up with just Order and Chaos in conflict..... Order associated with the Virtues (Sacrifice, Valor, Humility, Compassion, and Truth I think, I could be off on one or two), and Chaos associated with freedom, wanton behavior, and such.
My campaigns often have a variety of religions elements; some animist faiths, some pantheistic faiths, an occasional monotheistic or dualistic religion, a philosophical society here and there, and some cultures that blend elements of these, such as an animist faith that also recognizes one or more deities and perhaps a handful of saints.
Anyway.... For campaigns that make use of deities..... Well, keep in mind that any or all of these could just be different aspects of a single deity. I.E. in 3E Deities & Demigods, there's a sample sun goddess that has a creator aspect, a destroyer aspect, and some neutral aspect, with various churches and cults dedicated to different aspects and different parts of those aspects.
Generally, you may need patrons of.....
Death/Destruction
Life/Nature
Magic/Knowledge
Luck/Fate/Chance/Time/whichever
Trickery
Creation/Elements, or one for each element, unless already part of the nature deity
For a minimalist pantheon (rather than a single deity, or at least, rather than a single deity with a single broad aspect) there'll generally be 1) a deity of life, nature, creation, the elements, agriculture, fertility, light, and the joys of living; 2) a deity of death, destruction, war, villainy, blight, storms, entropy, emptiness, darkness, and waste; 3) a deity of magic, knowledge, power, mystery, and possibly also of fate and time; 4) a deity of trickery, revelry, games, debauchery, festivities, passion, ingenuity, and possibly love; and possibly a few other deities encompassing some of those things or other, more extraneous concepts; generally the role of a fate/luck/chance/time deity will be part of the deity of magic/knowledge or the deity of trickery, or perhaps luck, chance, and such may be separate of all deities, simply a force generated by the existence and interactions of those deities and through the free will of mortals.
Likewise, the role of a creator/elemental deity may be subsumed by the nature/life deity. Generally, goodly folk will esteem the deity of life/nature, while also loving the deity of trickery/luck and the deity of knowledge/magic, while despising the deity of death/destruction; the trickster deity and/or the sagely deity may also be hated or poorly regarded, as perhaps annoying or sinister in some way, such as Loki in the Norse pantheon or Coyote amongst some Native American faiths. At the same time, though, those deities may be revered or respected even as they are disliked by some or many; for is not Loki cunning and funny, Coyote witty and lively?
So anyway, a 4-deity pantheon could be an interesting minimalist one to work with; a benevolent deity of Nature, a spiteful deity of Destruction, a spunky deity of Hedonism, and an ominous deity of Secrets. Nature and Destruction clash regularly on principles of good and evil, while Hedonism and Secrets clash on principles of chaos and law.
At the same time, Nature shuns the strangeness and manipulative ways of Secrets, while respecting the way that Secrets hides the natural laws and safeguards reality against Destruction. Destruction itself courts Secrets and respects its power, but at the same time is envious and hateful that Secrets commands such power while sharing so little and not helping against Nature. Secrets respects the role that the others play in fate and keeping the world interesting, acknowledging the determination and zeal of both Nature and Destruction, but can't fathom the aimless and wanton nature of Hedonism, while also finding the singlemindedness of Nature and Destruction to be boring and repetitive. Secrets appreciates the occasional ways in which Hedonism spices up life with randomness, but also finds it annoying at times, while respecting Hedonism's indifference and capacity to enjoy life regardless of anything. Hedonism, meanwhile, enjoys the variety of things to do and experience as a result of Nature, yet can also find pleasure in random destruction, trickery, and hijinks with Destruction. Hedonism enjoys puzzling over the mysteries of Secrets, but finds the fellow too dull and unwilling to let Hedonism in on the joke or truth of things. Hedonism also finds Secrets to be annoying in its codifying and classifying of everything, its tendency to meddle and interfere in Hedonism's fun, and how Secrets hoards everything. Nature appreciates Hedonism's zest for life and the way Hedonism encourages life, but finds Hedonism to also be often self-destructive in its drives and too often helping Destruction inadvertantly, and worse, sometimes even actively helping Destruction on a lark. Destruction enjoys the wanton and insidiously self-destructive nature of Hedonism's excesses, but is also annoyed by how much Hedonism enjoys things and mocks everything, and how Hedonism makes life more enjoyable for others, leaving a difficult job for Destruction to drive them towards madness, gloom, and villainy.
Just some ramblings, heheh.....
