A Pantheon Presented Plainly

A Premade Pantheon Presented Plainly

All gods know ladies cannot resist a sexy swan

Hello there my lovelies,

Today I present to you a pantheon of gods. These gods are the standard gods I have in most settings. The topic of gods in mythology and fiction is a subject you could write a PhD on, so I shall try and keep this post concise and focused. I will describe my philosophy, as to how to design and use gods in a setting as well as an overview of how religion should integrate into any crafted world.

The Tea-Sets Theology List

1. The gods are distant beings. They rarely directly interact with the world. Their followers bring change in the world; they do not.
2. There should always be something unsettling or uncanny about them. They may be worshipped by millions of beings but should always be something that puts you at slight unease when you delve into them more deeply.
3. Their domain (what they are a god of) is rarely intuitive. If their nature can be summarized neatly in one sentence, then there are hidden aspects to the god that require further explanation.
4. Direct communication with them should almost never happen, maybe at most only a handful of times in a grand campaign. This should only happen in moments of the direst need (to heighten drama), or only in the most sacred of places.
5. There should always be followers who are zealots. That takes their beliefs beyond the reasonable, to the extreme. Violence and cruelty are done too often in the name of religion.
6. The gods are rarely malevolent, but also not entirely benign.
7. The vast majority of people in our world claim some form of religious belief. This should be the same in any other world.
8. Settlements should nearly always have some place of worship, be it a cathedral, temple, or shrine.
9. Reward devotion; it doesn't have to be a big reward. A splash of holy water here, or a one-time bonus to a roll there. Roleplay of a devoted follower should pay dividends.

Aresstus
Dominion: Freedom and Revolution
Appearance: A series of interlocking rings constantly revolving. Upon each ring are a multitude of eyes. Each eye is restless, looking and observing.
About: Aresstus demands freedom for freedom’s sake alone. As a result of this, Aresstus is the patron of the oppressed, imprisoned, and enslaved. The followers of Aresstus often act with moral certainty that their actions are for the good. The darker flip side to this god is the spirit of pure anarchy and rabid individual sovereignty that it inspires in its most zealous followers. All government is a form of oppression, in the eyes of its followers. All authority figures are corrupt, and all institutions are rotten to the core, and therefore they must all be taken down and destroyed. Aresstian anarchists constantly foment unrest in all civilizations in a holy crusade to bring to an end all forms of rule. So that peoples of all kinds may stand as equals in the utopia of noble savages that only Jean-Jacques Rousseau could dream of.

Batt
Dominion: Change and Catharsis
Appearance: Batt appears as a colossal floating black pyramid. On one face is a great unblinking eye that carefully surveys all that it sees. A hundred thousand black tentacles from its base grasp and reshape anything within reach.
About: Batt never communicates in any meaningful way. Batt is the representation of change and entropy. Batt does not favour any outcome over any other, it just desires that the status quo is overthrown. Very few people worship Batt directly, they do not need to as change is a constant in life. However, Batt is also the bringer of catharsis. Those who have lived through turbulent times in their life are said to receive its blessings. The clarity of thought that comes with overcoming personal upheaval.

The Grave Warden
Dominion: Peace in death
Appearance: The Grave Warden takes the form of a heavily robed human, with an oversized hood large enough to hide all of The Grave Warden’s features. A single large brass bell is extending from the sleeve of one of The Grave Warden’s voluminous sleeves. The Grave Warden will ring this regularly to call the dead to its side.
About: The ignorant call The Grave Warden the god of death, or the god of the dead. The Grave Warden is invoked to protect the dead in their eternal rest. The symbol of the brass bell is found throughout graveyards, tombs, and mausoleums. Undeath is abhorrent to The Grave Warden. To interfere with the ultimate fate of a living being is to defile it.

Ling-Gol
Dominion: Ambition, Architecture, and Obsession
Appearance: Ling-Gol is usually depicted as a city with a grand cathedral at its heart. Upon this cathedral is an unblinking, ever-searching eye.
About: Ling-Gol is the god of the academic and craftsman and is otherwise known as the Infinite City because worship of it inspires complexity of thought beyond rational bounds. Ling-Gol’s followers strive to achieve great things, but the obsessiveness it inspires in its followers can become all-consuming for the most zealous. Yes, Ling-Gol’s acolytes do create great things, but often at the cost of their minds, or family and friends.

Lumina
Dominion: The sun, Wisdom, and Healing
Appearance: Lumina takes two forms. First as that of the sun. The second is that of a golden-haired woman with an irrepressible smile. Usually depicted in traditional dress or mirror-like armour.
About: Lumina is the most accessible of all the gods. Her appearance and creed is clear and understandable. Therefore Lumina is not just the goddess of the sun but also civilization itself, as the sun gives life to the land, to the crops and respite to the weary. Her worshippers are largely charitable and seek to better themselves through good deeds and words. However, her most zealous followers are often struck blind by staring too long into her glory. She is beautiful and kind, but she is also smothering and all-encompassing.

Nyla
Dominion: Lies and Pain
Appearance: Nyla takes one of two forms. The first is that of the moon, the second is that of an old matronly woman, white of hair and sad of smile.
About: Nyla has two sides to her. One is a being that revels in the shadow of human nature, the manipulations, the lies, and the cruelties. The other side of her is someone who understands the pain people do to each other, and the damage lies inflict. She offers understanding and soothing from this suffering. For the few of those who do worship her, they consider her the most human of all the gods.

Orchidnidus
Dominion: The duality of nature
Appearance: She takes the appearance of a giant blossoming flower or that of a young woman with vines for hair. She is heavily pregnant, and her hands are covered in blood. One hand rests upon her belly, the other carries the decapitated head of a foe.
About: Also known as the Red and Green Woman. Orchidnidus is the goddess of nature, who revels in the stark truth of the natural world. She represents the duality of nature, one side that creates and fosters life, and the other side which is about brutal, pitiless survival. Orchidnidus creates life, but she also destroys it; such is the cycle of nature.

Verus
Dominion: Bureaucracy and Law
Appearance: Verus takes the image of a great green obelisk covered with all the laws of all nations. Verus also occasionally takes the form of a jade-green animated statue. He wields books and scrolls as great weapons of war.
About: Verus is sometimes referred to as the god of complexity or thought of as a sadistic god, as nothing is more labyrinthine or as frustrating as dealing with the processes and vagaries of institutions. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Verus loves and understands humanity in a way that perhaps only Nyla can appreciate. Systems and laws exist only abstractly, and this fascinates him. His followers seek to create the perfect system, a streamlined and frictionless organization. Perhaps it is more precise to call Verus the god of efficiency.

Conclusion

Crafting a pantheon of gods is an excellent way to really stamp your personality onto the setting, both the gods and the relgions following them wil add flavor and depth to your world. Use my gods or my guildlines as you like,or steal as you want. Just remember, keep them distant, keep them a bit weird, and make thier followers sometimes VERY dangerous.

Much Love,
The Civil Tea-Set