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[Zhavier]

I would like to see a Trickster god, not necessarily selfish or spiteful, simply prone to a bit of chaos and subterfuge. The god of clever solutions.

[Azedjinn]

Hello,

 

This is my first post on this forum and I hope my english will be as good as possible. I'm very excited about this project.

I didn't took the time to read everything on this topic but I see a lot of interesting ideas.

Here is my modest contribution:

 

1) The concepts:

-ancient and young gods

- Seven aspects: ancient gods who are mostly forgotten but not completly inactive. They are related to the beginning of the universe

-immortals: young gods are related to civilization concepts and are very active and worshiped.

-races don't have a specific pantheon but some will have an affinity to a specofoc god.

 

2)Ancient gods represent the primal forces of the universe, from the older to the younger they are:

-the Aspect of the void, from who everything emerged. He's the most neutral and apparently inactive. His doctrine would be inspired from taoism. He is also the representation of all the interraction and interdependencies betwin gods.

 

-Aspect of light, twin of the aspect of shadow and father of the aspect of life. He emerged from the void. He is related to light (ofc lol), vision, day, neutral

 

-Aspect of shadow. She is the mother of the aspect of death. She emerged from the void. She is related to darkness, night, rest.

 

-Aspects of earth (and sky) emerged from the first union (eclipse) of light and shadow. He is related to landscapes, rocks, hardness, quakes and especially to mountains and volcanos.

 

-Aspect of sky emerged from the first eclipse. He is related vertigo, swiftness, wind, shouts and storms.

 

-Aspect of fire emerged at beginning of the second eclipse. She is related to heat, purification, destruction and balance through renewal.

 

-Aspect of water emerged at the end of the second eclipse. She is related to cold, seas, lakes and chaos.

 

-Aspect of Life emerged at the beginning of the third and last eclipse as the masterpiece of all the aspects. Aspect of life is related to emotions, activity and above all desire.

 

-Aspect of Death emerged at the end of the third eclipse. Her existence introduced strange new concepts to the aspects: good and evil. Considered as an abomination for some aspects, as the perfection of balance for others. She is related to strife, rancor, mourning, quietness (rest of the dead) and fate.

 

Never had the aspects been so opposed against each other. A schism appeared and a strife started. At the end the aspects were all wounded and weakened. From their blood and tears emerged the immortals, divine incarnation of their feelings, their strife but also their reconcilliation and their rancors.

At the end of the strife, the aspects agreed to never create new aspects and they withdraw from the world.

Nonetheless they changed, influenced by the feelings and emotion induced by the two youngest aspects. Only the void and the four elements remained totally neutral.

The manifestations of the aspects (light, shadow, life and death) are hidden. They deceive and inflence the immortals to achieve their individual goals:

-restore their strength by killing immortals who inherits from them

-acquire the power of other aspects by killing immortals related to them

-restore the "balance" according to their own will, like destroying all the immortals, or make all the aspects to disolve themselves completly by creating more immortals.

-destroy all the mortals and build a new world WITH the immortals

-...

 

3)Even if The immortals may be the the result of the strife, they are independant and smart enough to deceive the aspects.

Only an immortal can kill another immortal. They can grow more powerfull by killing each other.

The power of an immortal directly depend of the number and the souls strengh of its worshipers.

Immortals can command inquisitions to decimate their enemies follower, or convert them with force or deception.

A legend amongst the immortals state that the one who grow strong enough can become the ultimate and omnipotent aspect.

But some the immortals are also attached to their worshipers and love them. Influenced by some aspects, many alliances were born betwin immortals to counter the most powerfull ones. Some immortals sometimes fell in love with mortals and procreated with them (the absolute sin amongst all immortals and aspects). The children of this unions are still mortals, but their soul is tainted by their divine ancestry, which gives them the ability to kill an immortal and therefore becomming an immortal.

 

Here are some example of immortals:

-Godess of healing (good, water, light)

-God of protection (good, earth, life)

-God of war (chaos, destruction, fire, death)

-God of knowledge (void, light, shadow)

-Godess of vengeance (evil, shadow, night,death, fire)

-God of Order (light, fire, )

-Godess of fertility (light, water, earth, life, heat, good)

-God of tyranny (evil, death, earth, sky, destruction)

-God of art (water, sky, life, void, good)

-Godess of justice (light, fire, purification, sky, law)

-God of madness(shadow, void, water, chaos)

-Godess of wild nature (earth, forest, mountain, water, life)

-God of wrath (sky, thunder, tempest, fire, earth, volcanos, quakes, death, evil, chaos)

-God of magic(void, life, death, chaos)

...

 

I hope those few ideas could help you.

I improvised this in two hours, sorry if it isn't enough detailed.

If ever this idea interests you and you want me to detail it, mail me. I'll be glad to help!

Thank you Obsidian for project eternity. As I knew you will fund it with kickstarter, The hope I lost for rpg when Dragon Age 2 was released has reborn

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I like weird-sounding titles and spheres of influence. Things that don't really make conventional sense - some of them perhaps become obvious to the initiated, some of them remain inscrutable. Something like this:

 

"Z'Chetne, the Lone Walker of the Thorny Path, He Who Bears the Molten Crown and Resides Over the Ruined Fortress, Architect of the Black Marble Corridors and Weaver of the Thousand Tapestries of Night".

 

Or something less byzantian, but still quite mysterious, like "Sealer of the Silver-Framed Doors and Vanquisher of the Devouring Flame".

Edited November 28, 2012 by aluminiumtrioxid

[ZazuV]

Well I'm into Greek myth and all that and I've done a lot of reading on Greek gods and their relation to the Roman ones. It would be interesting to have something similar to that situation though it might go a bit overboard if you take into account all the minor gods.

 

Janus (Roman god of beginnings and transitions) could be an interesting one to modify to fit into the Eternity world.

 

Also, to have possibly animal counterparts (or gods taking the form of animals themselves) may be something to look into. It could affect the way animals in the world react to your party.

[Jitawa]

I like most of what I've seen so far (on the wiki) about gods. I always get a kick out of visiting the home "domain" or area of a deity, even if only briefly. If worship of the gods is more lax in this day and age, it would be interesting to see what becomes of their plane.

[vinceb]

What about a... Goa'Uld like god, a lost pantheon to a false god (or set of gods). The false gods were pretending to be superior to establish dominions over mortals but have been overthrown XYZ years or decades ago, who knows might still be some remnants or cults leftover for dinner.

[TwinkieGorilla]

Do you have any crazy or wacky ideas for gods? Share your ideas in this forum thread!

 

[Infinitron]

In Nomine Prosper

Edited November 28, 2012 by Infinitron

[islan]

Here's one I've been saving to use in D&D but have yet to get around to it:

 

The player meets a Fallen God, one that is barely more than a spirit. The god is pretty mysterious and wears a mask, and needs the player's assistance to revive himself.

[Calmar]

I would like the numerous gods work like a true pantheon, not like an assortment of different opposing monotheistic cults put together. The gods could represent different aspects of the world and life.

 

Humans, elves, dwarves and the other peoples and cultures could also worship the same gods (in differing incarnations ) instead of there being a god of war, or death, or nature for each race.

[Atreides]

• A god of passion/freedom/impulse/fury - What do you do when there is no Justice in the Law?
  
• A god with a vision for a "chosen" people - generations of social and genetic engineering, ideas of purity and how things "should be". No unarmed shaolin monks in euro-centric PE etc.
  
• A god of deception - ironically anti-theist patron who manipulates but denies existence and hides the traces
  

[Gyges]

Ask me about monsters and i have four pages of 12-sized font on a very special type i created over the course of a few months for a rp-world. It has inspiration from everywhere but mostly from my field as a biotech.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Gyges

[IchigoRXC]

I would like a God who has secretly murdered another and taken up their mantle with no one realising (Pretending to be two different gods). The god then uses their new found power to set about wars between the two sets of worshippers, feeding off of the soul energy released from their deaths.

[Blackstream]

Here's my idea

 

 

Zahra, Goddess of Creativity - There is nothing she loves more than an original idea or creation. Her realm could be confused with the realm of chaos as it's impossible to ever really know what's going on as everything is a surprise, often using preconcieved notions against the viewer, and also constantly shifting, as once an idea is known, it's no longer creative to keep using it. As such, it's more of a fluid astral realm of the mind, versus an actual solid physical realm. Dreams are thought to be one of her finest creations and even possibly a glimpse into her world.

 

She employs agents that people commonly refer to as muses to spread her brand of creativity to the world. Any artist out there who has an idea 'just come to them' will often say a prayer of thanks to her or her muses.

 

Occasionally a truely brilliant and creative person is born to the world who is just on a completely different level. Think of the 4 year old classical piano masters of our time that write their own songs. It's said that those people are born when the goddess herself visits the world. Why she visits is a mystery, but some think she just gets bored, while others think there's some greater purpose. Either way, it's suspected she doesn't even have a hand in bringing about the genius births, it's just that her mere presence causes amazing things to occur.

 

 

Also to fit the theme of your game, with hard choices and all

 

A god that demands a life of complete non-violence, no matter what. No killing or harming people, other races, animals, or even insects. Plants can only be eaten if you can do so without killing the plant itself (leaves, fruit, etc). This god claims to protect his people that perfectly follow his tenants, and anyone that perishes was actually a heathen. This could be a setup to a village under attack that refuses to protect itself, and you have to decide whether to try and convince them to do so, to kill the other side yourself (and possibly risk a curse), or just let things play out and see what happens.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Blackstream

[DeathQuaker]

How about the god of Stories? He/she would be influencing the world to create good stories.

 

I'm not sure it would be right for Chris Avellone to write himself into the game...

 

 

In more seriousness, as far as gods go, I am all for "whacky" and "sober" alike, but I hope that there is a reasonable, easy to remember number of gods in the pantheon. It is far too easy to get carried away and create Zax the God of Coat Racks and Sally the Goddess of Scones and Jam and Ekiel the God of Chattering, GIggling Girls Who Irritate You on Public Transit, but you can easily end up with dozens and dozens of gods who end up being impossible to work into the setting truly meaningfully and are difficult for all but the most zealous of fans to keep track of and remember.

 

I'd rather have, for mere example, six gods that are interesting and easy to remember and play a notable role in the game's backstory if not gameplay story, than 30 gods who are largely indistinguishable and make my eyes glaze over from trying to remember them all. Even if these completely hypothetical six gods are "typical" -- say, a nature god, a city/civilization god, a war god, a love god, a trickster god, and a death god -- you could still portray them in unique and compelling ways. (NOTE I do not think Obsidian should make only six gods per se, I'm just using that as an example. The general gist is sometimes less can be more.)

 

I think in fact what makes a unique pantheon is less the weird and bizarre portfolios, and more how the gods protect their portfolios and spread their teachings. I'd love to see some tropes averted -- rather than have a typical "flighty Aphrodite" sort of love goddess, have one who takes her role of guardianship of love deadly serious, or one who combines her portfolio with something OTHER than the typical beauty, etc. etc. I always liked the idea of Ishtar, who was goddess of both love and war, but that doesn't get repeated/reused very often. Or have a kindly death god who shepherds souls gently to their rest rather than the usual inexplicably blary scary undead monster that fantasy death gods often are. A reluctant war god who mourns the death of soldiers even as he sends them into battle; a god of civilization who favors the underworld and black market as essential to perpetuating civilization more than government or above-board mercantilism, etc. etc. Not that everything should be "opposite" to what is typical but just that these things can be played with. I did like one poster's idea that a god might often represents both sides of their portfolio "coin" as it were.

 

On another, separate note, I've liked some fantasy worlds where some cultures have holy warriors and priests of saints/ascended humans rather than actual gods. I think that's also an interesting take, especially if they really do get divine power from their patron, because it suggests other mortals can ascend to some form of divinity, whether typical or atypical.

[DeDaL]

I would like to see how the gods influence culture and day-to-day life. How small ceremonies are incorporated into people's life to correspond with gods' wills.

 

Examples:

 

- A wandering god. He/She takes on a form of a stranger and travels about watching people. They don't really indulge in mortal folk's life, yet they take serious offence at being treated poorly. As such, since one never nows if the stranger they met is a mortal or an unforgiving god - it created a culture of conversation, which demands newly met people to be polite and humble to each other.

 

- A god of battles. Since there are not many celestial wars, the favorite pasttime for this one is watching mortals' conflicts and battles. It has become customary to pray to this god before a large or important battle or before an important duel to gather the god's attention so that he could savor the fight from beginning to the end. Neglecting doing so, or instead calling for god's attention to some small insignificant or not-very-entertaining battle might upset the god, invoking his wrath.

 

- Reapers. It is customary to perform small gesture-like rituals upon dead bodies so that Reapers know to come and take away the soul into the Cycle of Rebirth, or something. Leaving many dead without Reaper-blissing might make them reanimate or pile up to attract reapers' attention later, when they will be busy with these particular bodies and neglect deadmen elsewhere. Trying to interact with the soul of dead might make reapers angry.

 

And such. Gods must not only mingle into mortals' business but also affect mortal's civilisation by simply be known to exist.

[Hormalakh]

I think a lot of people are forgetting that the gods have a huge role in the game. We have a god-touched race too, so keep in mind that it would be nice to introduce some gods that would fit a certain god-touched race that you'd like to see.

 

Demon god - demon-touched.

Chaos god - chaos-touched

Dead god - dead-touched

etc etc

 

it's tough to create a monotheistic god paradigm with god-touched races.

[LegioCorvus]

I like the duality concept of gods. Such as, the god of war is also the god of friendly competition. Or the god of platonic love is also the god of lust. The god of wisdom is also the god of debauchery. Stuff like that.

 

Failing that, I would find it hilarious to have Jeff, the god of biscuits. (Some people might get the reference.)

[Zaigo]

Ok, so here's a couple more ideas:

 

A lesser, warrior-like god that has abandoned godhood and lives as a hermit, but not because the god "hated" his/her godhood. The reason for living in isolation is because the technical (and magical) advancement of mortals has lead to point where mortals have simply outmatched the said god's capabilities (better weapons and armours, more devastating spells).

 

A god that simply hates his/her godhood and, being unable to die, sleeps and waits for some sort of end of the world (while not necessarily trying to destroy it him/herself).

[Nuwisha]

I've always felt that settings needed a god or goddess that is simply beyond comprehension, but is still a prominent force in the world. To this end, here's an idea I've been working on for my own home-brew pantheon on and off for a couple years now.

 

The Zen.

 

Zen is a being of true unpredictability. Zen should not be confused with other beings that are wild and uncontrollable for the sake of being wild and controllable; Zen simply finds that the best way to reach a destination is to take every road leading to the desired end. Genderless by choice, Zen is both a male and female power at once, and he is an embodiment of paradox just as much as she is a rational, logical entity. Her logic and reason is what he hides from all others, not her actions themselves. To this end, Zen is unknowable by mortals and other deities, whom are likely to see only unpredictability or madness. Zen is precisely what he wants to be, when she wants to be it-- but her appearance will always serve one of his ends, as countless and unknowable as they are. In time, he may declare a love of a set form, but until then, she will remain as ever-changing as his nature demands her to be.

 

Zen is many things. Understandable and predictable are not among them. She is not wild, reckless, or rebellious. He desires to see her ends met by whatever path he needs to take to see them achieved; being limited by the perceived boundaries of reality is only a minor difficulty to Zen. Nobody-- perhaps not even Zen herself-- knows exactly what his reason is in shaping creation or anything within it. Some may believe that it is to create and shape things that exist outside of the knowledge of other spirits-- how could even an all-knowing being know what is unknowable? Such quandries form the core of what Zen is, and what Zen has yet to be within creation-- the everything... and the nothing.

 

Portfolio/Domains (if such things are relevant): Artifice/Creation, Chaos, Knowledge, Madness, Order

 

Associated Rituals: Zen has no key rituals associated with him, though many will invoke her name as a charm to encourage change-- most notably from bad luck to good. "Zen's Blessing" can be considered either a boon or a curse, depending on the context of its usage. While Zen has a surprising amount of worshippers from all ranks of creation (for she asks little of her followers, making her one of the easiest gods to worship), there is a curious prominence of geniuses and madmen in her congregation, and it seems that those of great wit or intelligence are drawn to Zen's existence as a moth to an open flame.

[Buddhist]

Amoggrah, Horned God of Rage, Confidence, Domination and Hatred

 

Amoggrah is the patron God of Warriors. Right before battle, many soldiers would invoke Amoggrah in occult rituals, soon becoming possessed by an unquenchable bloodlust and rage that would allow them to perform unspeakably violent acts in battle and show a level of courage and bravery that they would otherwise not possess. Worship of Amoggrah was soon outlawed among formal armies, save for certain individuals. Soldiers who invoked Amoggrah became completely uncontrollable in the course of battle, resulting in troops that officers couldn't command and didn't discriminate between friend and foe when they had met the enemy in battle. The punishment for Amoggrah Worship among most militaries is castration.

 

Katero, God of Schemes, Deception, Murder, Crime and Outlaws

 

Katero, a kind of trickster God, is not welcome within the pantheon. Infamous among his brethren for kleptomania and being blamed for the elaborate murder of two gods and the rape of another, Katero is forever on the run from his kin, hiding among their ranks or among the mortals below. Mortals who invoke Katero tend to be on the fringes of society, either as thieves hoping for a successful heist, a fugitive praying to go unnoticed, or an assassin who prays for the quiet death of his prey. Similar to Santa Muerte among latin american criminals.

[rjshae]

• Lastly, the picture is from an early test environment area using temporary art assets. The red shapes represent collision geometry that will block pathfinding and line-of-sight. The light blue/greenish color represents the walkmesh geometry which determines where characters can walk. We use this area to test tech features that we are building. For example, we are using the cemetery in the lower left to test out complex party pathfinding. If you look carefully, you can see two test characters in the picture.
  

That's good, but... in IWD I often ran into pathfinding problems because of the large party size. Collisions occurred when I tried to move the entire group along a narrow path, causing half the party to take the long way around. I hope the developers are going to test for that case; using just two characters may not reveal the problem.

[Breads]

I would love to see some kind of god related to thievery. Maybe not straightup THE GOD OF STEALING but a god that loves gold, appreciates cunning, and reward avarice. There are no direct alters to him or out and out priests of his order, but if you follow his "tenets" then eventually he gives you a sign.

 

I've also always had a soft spot for lesser gods that represent various niches in the world that are less obvious but still everpresent, for example:

 

-The god of baking

-The god of board games

-The god of blacksmiths

-The god of falconry

 

Although as I type this I'm starting to feel like it would be better to just wrap those ideas into larger gods, like the god of fertility would also happen to have a lesser baking aspect only worshipped by a loaf-cult in the grassy lowlands of some kingdom.

[Sacred_Path]

A god of technology/ innovation who is at odds with numerous other deities (i.e. of nature).

 

Also a Trickster is pretty much mandatory

[Nonek]

The God in the Cup: Somewhat of a trickster deity born from the discovery and consumption of alcohol, his/her remit includes revelry, lust, fertility, inspiration and the health that comes from using alcohol to purify water. A very ancient and pervasive being who might actually look kindly upon the drunkard, and whose worship though frowned upon as rude and uncouth by the more moralistic and city born, is heartily embraced by country folk. Beer/cider/mead/wine blessed in his name is proof against poison and is commonly used at sowing time to annoint the fields and wish them strength and vigour as they grow.

 

A more natural Dionysus.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Nonek