Assuming your homebrew setting has a pantheon of gods, what kind of tales do people talk about in regards to them?These can include but are not limited to:>How a God was created>Interactions between different gods, if any exists>Relationships between gods, family, lovers, enemies, that one guy they don't talk about.>How people are chosen by godsFantasy, Sci-fi, modern times are allowed, and try to be as creative as possible.
I'll start:>Sci-fi setting>As humanity developed Psionic abilities, the collective psychic energy humans produced also gave birth to psionic "deities" which can affect the material world provided the psyker in question adhered to their creeds.>While 99.99% of all "deities" are localized to their planet or solar system, there are 5̶ 4 deities who are worshiped near universally.>Helios, the God of Fire, Law, and Honor. Most religious societies worship Helios as he was the first God that made itself known to people.>Oshana, the Goddess of Water, Healng, and Fertility, considered to be the Wife of Helios, due to how soon she appeared after Helios>Orisme, the Wolf God of War, Strength, and the Hunt. Constantly bickers with the other gods for their supposed passivity. Favored by Raiders and Pirates across the Stars.>Jingzy, the Goddess of the Wild, loved by the Tribals of many worlds. She appeared only to the generations of colonists that lost their technology and knowledge and reverted to tribal behavior.
I was thinking about a Japanese setting pantheon. I haven't got too much- I was thinking the Chief Diety is the War God, but he acts also like a restrained lawmaker in peacetime. He himself isn't agro like say Ares is, but he represents the glory the people think can be attained in war. I was also thinking he'd be married to his own little sister because Japan loves incest (and divine incest is a common trop amongst many pantheons). I was also thinking about making a 'stealing fire from the gods' story in-universe. That the god of Foxes and Trickery decided to play a prank on the gods, training up a Fox Witch to bother them, and then seducing the Sun Goddess to grant mortals fire to fight off the Fox witch only to reveal that she was playing both sides the entire time and avoid all consequences because she's still the Sun Goddess' girlfriend after it. That said her stunt still put her on the outs with all the other gods making her much more active in mortal affairs, with a penchant for helping the underclasses (particularly thieves, ninja's and prostitutes), but still fucking with people if they get too big for their britches. This'd be used to explain why foxes are orange colored, why Kitsune have flame powers, and I think would justify her shrines being removed and in the wilderness from the other Gods. Don't know how to round out the pantheon. Would like to make some sort of yin-yang deal with the Sun and Moon gods. I know Susano-o the Japanese Storm God is an asshole (think about how many typhoons and tsunami's hit the country) and would like to keep that.
>>93419269Sounds based. Why are those gods specifically so widespread when others are more localized though?
>>93419217Generic fantasy setting but all of the gods and religions are named after musical references for no goddamn reason.
>>93423068The logic I'm using is that these four Psionic deities are theorized to have been created from some near universal-constants that almost everyone has an idea of - Life, Death, War, Ferility, Survival, Law, Order, etc. Meanwhile local "deities" originate from some portion of the planet or solar system. A God of the mountain, for example, who is said to grant his adherents masterful metallurgy skills, may have been formed from the legends of a particularly notable tetonic region. Thus only those people of that planet or Solar system are aware of that deity. Since space travel from one solar system to another can take a very long time, it is unlikely that that god will spread around, although not impossible.
>>93419217My current project technically has four pantheons of gods, one for each of the four elements. It's still in development, but I was thinking that the going story would be that long ago, when the material world came into being, the gods formed as their elements coalesced and took shape, and further shaped and developed the world, the animals and mortal races being a joint effort between pantheons after their solo attempts at creating creatures out of just their own elements only resulted in elementals. I just need to come up with some more things that a god can hold power over, since each god represents at least one thing in addition to their element, like one Water deity holding power over ships and sailors, or an Earth god that holds power over agriculture, etc., so I can come up with more personalized myths, and I should be set. I'd love to hear what you think.
>>93423258So a bit like JoJo Stands, but with gods?
>>93419269>the Goddess of the Wild>but not the Hunt, that's the War/Strength god that's not actually related to hunting in anyway1/10, would not recommend.
>>93419269Is the fifth god the Devil equivalent of the setting?
>>93419217How death came to be, and how winter ends, an excerpt:...One day [the sister] looked outFrom Mother Mountain’s armsShe saw the worldAnd didn’t like it one bit...Father Cloud loved his childrenSo he gave her everythingHe covered the sky with his beardHe covered the ground with snowNow it was darkBoth day and nightIt was so very coldEveryone was suffering...Mother Mountain watched thisAnd saw everyone freezingFather Cloud wouldn’t fix itBut she knew what to doShe snatched up this sisterIn her stony armsShe plunged her in a lakeAnd held her under...Back then there were thingsWe don’t have nowBut other thingsHadn’t been thought of yetShe had to figure outWhat happened to herShe was the firstShe was dead
>>93435335Seems like it cuts off a bit there. How does her death fix the endless winter?
>>93439422I didn’t want a mile long post. Father Cloud cries his eyes out because his daughter drowned and it washes away all the snow and spring comes. Also the Drowning Girl then becomes the goddess of death.
>>93419217primarily i just come up with a time and setting-accurate folktale/myth when dreaming, which I then write down in the morningother times I take a regular dream and change up it's details so it fits into the worldand lastly there are a few times I just come up with a specific tale with a specific moral while awake, because I have need of it at the moment (for example a prophecy is like this)
>>93419217>Make creation myth>Pantheon is created out of nothingness by the first concept>More concepts are created from nothingness >The absence of nothingness that shaped concepts becomes material>The material being perceived implies light>Concepts shift to embrace and shun light>As concepts create, more and more nothingness disappears>Generations slowly turn concepts into modern beings>Giants being the first since they were created from the greatest chunk of material>Other races follow>Handy racism primer by race and concept "bloodline" and age>All packed in semi-biblical saga>Fully descriptive verses>Only citations are three "Word of God" verses>Verse that uses "I am" cements egotistical, evil characters>Verse that uses "You are" cements good, altruistic characters>Verse that uses "We are" cements lawful, orthodox characters>Chaos discards said verses and embraces the unlimited potential of nothingness >Schisms and theology naturally followProbably my favourite creation myth I made, took about 5 A5 pages and a shitton of work to make something simple and consistent
>>93439724Okay, so does she die again every year to bring Spring again?
>>93445647No because it's either an allegory, or a way of explaining how the concept of yearly renewal (much like the concept of death) was invented at the dawn of time. Depending on what you believe. Technically there's another competing myth about Mother Mountain's continual renewal of the year with her ever-fertile womb, so you can pick whichever you believe in more. Or, if you're not ozrut, and you call Mother Mountain by his iaret name, Geb, you believe that it's his ever-flowing wellspring of life that refreshes his body and all the life growing on it each year (tended by the god of cycles, Ash, who, in ozrut lore is actually just a tree).
>>93447189Okay, thanks for clearing that up. Do you have any more myths for your setting?
>>93448473>woman with a torchI feel like I'm being baited.I do but they're kinda long-form for a 4chan post so this is just an excerpt:In this timeLands had powerForests were deep and darkAnd swallowed all soundThis girl said one day“I’ll go to the deaf forest"“I’ll make some noise there”That’s what she didIn one hand was red fireIn one hand was blue steelThis would always keep her safeShe knew both very wellThis forest was silentIt tried to steal her voiceBut she shouted so loud“I know you’re in there!”And it was in thereThis old oak was fat and tallTall from a thousand stolen soundsFat and greedy for moreIt reached for herBut she chopped all the branchesIt smothered herBut she burned all the leavesShe only took one swingAnd this old oak fellNo one heard of courseThis huge fight that happened
>>93448540Sorry, it's supposed to be a statue of Demeter, as the full file name says, I'm sure that you can guess why I'd use her as an example given the context of our earlier conversation. Thanks BTW.
>>93448616No prob. Most of the direct myths are in this oral tradition style, which is supposed to be a little like inuit call/response stories. The civilized races in the setting have more prose myths, but they're just conveyed to the players in summary like so:Apsu presents a mythological conundrum in that she was already present when Geb’s body became the earth. Certain schools of theology hold that the goddess is the sister of Geb, given form by this division of solid ground from water. Her staunchest adherents claim that she dreamed all things into being before time. Within recorded history, however, she was gravely wounded by the star which plunged into the Mor Dyfn. The most common image of Apsu is a silver iaret, in a white kalasiris, wearing a blue circlet or crown, with a bloody hole in her chest over her heart. In one hand she holds a scallop shell, and in the other a spear or trident.
>>93419217Test it.
