Gods in the T&M Universe

[jeriendhal]

Well, since I made the mistake of mentioning another diety besides Death/Thanatos in the Tez & Maria (and occasionally Andrea) Universe, it probably behooves me to try and figure out a proper pantheon for their home. Please keep in mind this goes against my instincts for lazy worldbuilding, which generally can be summed up as Rule 1) Use someone else's universe, Rule 2) If you absolutely must try to be original, do the minimum needed to keep the story moving. It's worked for me so far (aisde from the whole "Never been published for money aside from Pyramid" thing.)

So anyway, here's some Collected Thoughts on the Gods

Ground Rules

1. While there are several species in the T&M-verse, Humans, Elves, Ogres, plus at least three (currently unidentified) others and their half-bred ken, there are no "species specific" gods. Everybody worships the same gods. They may emphasize the power of one over the other, they almost always use different names, but they're basically worshiping the same dieties.

2. There are no Evil Gods (tm). Much like the Greek/Roman pantheons, there are gods you probably want to avoid (say, any of them, if you catch 'em in the wrong mood) none of them are outright malicious. Even Thanatos is basically viewed as a neutral force (despite the tendency of some of his worshippers to go for the whole blood red wall hangings and skulls motifs)

2a. As a corallary, there are no outright evil species in this universe either. Elves are generally regarded as a bunch of pricks by everyone else, and Ogres are seen as dim and easily provoked, but there aren't anything like the stereotypical D&D Orcs.


Known Gods

The Lifebringer: God of renewal, birth, springtime, warm & fuzzy kittens, ect. Generally viewed positively by everybody.

And yes, I deliberately used a name similar to "Lightbringer" just to confuse things with Lucifer. :)

Death/Thanatos: God of Death & Entropy, winter, ect. Regarded as neutral in general. Occasionally seen as evil by a signifigant percentage of the world.


Possible Gods

The Trickster: Because there's one in every pantheon. :)

The Bastard: No, not that one, I'm just using the name as a placeholder because the idea is similar to what LMB presents in her Five Gods world. Generally the god who takes up the leftovers no one wants.

There may be more than this, but I'm hoping to keep the pantheon small. I'm trying to avoid having a new god crop up around every corner like you'd find in Ankh-Morpock (or your copy of Dieties & Demigods)

Comments

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Why is the pantheon small and where do gods come from? These are the questions that in being answered will provide a lot of information for coming up with the gods.

Since they are universal I suspect they exist independently of any race's beliefs, otherwise every race and locality would have its own gods. This further implies that either the gods do not need worship or that the present gods have ruthlessly consolidated their spiritual territory to wipe out competitors. E.g the Lifebringer might have once just been a elvish god of fire and has wiped out any god with a raison d'etre too similar to his/her own.

Are gods necessary for the functioning of your universe or are they rather like a gardener who just neaten things up and takes an interest? That's a really critical question to answer. If gods are just hobbyists then if someone killed a god, like Death, people would go right on dying. It just wouldn't be organized anymore. Personally I think it more interesting if gods are not necessary. Otherwise they're personifications of concepts or something and cannot really have an end or a beginning.

Further Godly Ideas:
Wyrde: A god of fate or destiny. Think of this as you the writer. You set things up so they'll come out in an interesting way. What if your characters know you exist in some way. Interesting, no? He does not direct everything, but he makes things come out in INTERESTING ways. Also god of luck, chance, etc.

Almia or Charity: Goddess of benevolence, self sacrifice, the forgotten, etc. A possible name for The Bastard taking care of all the leftovers. An overworked god always trying to make sure that things come out well for good people, animals, etc. Some call her the goddess of hopeless causes since she is always short of being able to do everything she would like.

Smed: Because there's got to be a god who fixes things. Civilization, craftsmen, blacksmiths, etc. A maker of beautiful things as well as useful things. He is as likely to be the patron of the fop who appreciates great craftsmanship as the craftsman himself.