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 Untheric and Mulhorandi pantheons
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  19:09:07  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Poll Question:
Just a quick poll, because I'm curious what people think.

In 5E, many culled Faerunian gods are "back" in some sense - revived, restored, or reborn in some way (e.g. Bhaal, Eilistraee, Mystra).

For a long time now, Unther's pantheon has been almost entirely decimated/destroyed, and Mulhorand's pantheon has been culled or partly merged into the Faerunian pantheon. Would you like to see the gods of Unther and Mulhorand restored?

Choices:

yes
no
don''t care one way or the other

(Anonymous Vote)

"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer

Eltheron
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740 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  19:10:52  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
My vote is yes, because I believe that diversity of gods/pantheons promotes overall diversity and choice in cultures - it can only benefit DMs and players (more options, not fewer options!), so my vote is a very strong yes.





"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer

Edited by - Eltheron on 07 Sep 2015 19:11:20
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore

USA
1268 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  19:45:44  Show Profile  Visit Delwa's Homepage Send Delwa a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I voted yes. I had just started reading up on that region a couple years ago, and I enjoyed it. Still need to get my hands on some 2e sources to dig deeper, but I digress. That whole region gave me my SG-1 / Realms mix mash idea, and I'd like to see it restored to continue that without having to bend canon too much. If not, oh well. I'll keep trucking.

- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!

"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  19:56:07  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yes because more detail, conflict, and intrigue is always more interesting than the same generic, universal, blandness.

Plus I already brought them back for my campaign, and then merged them into a super pantheon to rival the Faerunian Pantheon.

I have often wondered where the lost gods of Unther went (the ones that Gilgeam drove away).

I also find the concept of contested pantheonic regions intensely interesting (from a faith mechanics point of view) and I believe that Thay and Chessenta, and even the Shaar could have a whole extra layer of untapped intrigue yet to be discovered because of it.

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Irennan
Great Reader

Italy
3802 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  20:12:54  Show Profile Send Irennan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron

My vote is yes, because I believe that diversity of gods/pantheons promotes overall diversity and choice in cultures - it can only benefit DMs and players (more options, not fewer options!), so my vote is a very strong yes.








Yes. I personally don't have much interest in those regions, but that's basically the reason why I voted yes.

Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  20:40:13  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm a bit of an oddball, with the divine thing -- I want the gods to be as they were during 2E/3E. No divine soap operas, no bizarre culling of pantheons, no "Human deity X is really racial deity Y!", no "there's too many deities, so let us introduce a couple new ones!" -- none of that. By the same token, though, I like Leira and the Dead Three remaining dead, and my theory that Bane 2.0 is really Xvim.

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eeorey
Seeker

Bulgaria
96 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  21:10:54  Show Profile Send eeorey a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Mulhorand is... was damn it, one of my favorite locations/nations in the realms and I would love to have it back, gods included.

One issue however remains with that pantheon, will we see Re return and relieve Horus-Re from his duty as a leader of the Mulhorandi gods and take his previous place or are we gonna continue having Horus merged with the essence of Re? I personally am torn, though to be fair I slightly prefer to have the old Re come back.
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 07 Sep 2015 :  23:31:12  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by eeorey

Mulhorand is... was damn it, one of my favorite locations/nations in the realms and I would love to have it back, gods included.

One issue however remains with that pantheon, will we see Re return and relieve Horus-Re from his duty as a leader of the Mulhorandi gods and take his previous place or are we gonna continue having Horus merged with the essence of Re? I personally am torn, though to be fair I slightly prefer to have the old Re come back.


Excellent question. For myself, I'd prefer Horus and Re as separate entities. It's also possible that WotC could bring them back as separate, but also provide stats/info on their combined form - as they do with Angharradh in the Elvish pantheon. That'd be kinda cool, as maybe there would be times when they need to combine for certain things.


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer
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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore

1842 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  04:43:12  Show Profile Send The Arcanamach a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I voted yes largely for the same reasons Eltheron did. However, I prefer my gods in the background (no divine soap operas as Wooley says). Instead, I prefer clerics struggling to understand the signs their deities send them and (sometimes) getting it wrong. I also like heretical religions and strange ones as well (that strange cult that amputated themselves from the Eregon books, for instance).

I have a dream that one day, all game worlds will exist as one.
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Demzer
Senior Scribe

873 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  09:00:49  Show Profile Send Demzer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I voted yes. Many here covered the basic reasons (i.e. more variety = yeah!) but i would like to touch on the "soap opera" theme.

I'm probably all alone in this camp but the Mulhorandi and Untheric deities were the ONLY ones for whom the "soap opera" angle was partly justified. I mean: they have had manifestations and incarnations running their empires since the start, they have whole lines of directly-related descendants (not just seven chicks, frigging family trees), they are big families and they have way more personal relations with each other than almost any other divine being on Toril. On top of that, after the ToT (yeah yeah whatever), they were forced to confront themselves with the rest of Faerun's pantheons (outside of the Bast-Mask cross-pollination), with an ocean of possibilities.

What would Isis do with Sune and Bast/Sharess allied and encroaching on her portfolio? What would Thoth do at Mystra's court? Would Nephthys be more friendly toward Waukeen, Kelemvor or Jergal? And what about Anhur and Tempus? Is Tempus willing to split is power even more, after letting Garagos roam free and sponsoring the Red Knight? And a nice catfight between Bast and the Red Knight wouldn't be lovely? Horus-Re and Lathander? Best Buddies? Enemies? Would Horus-Re try to re-use Amaunator's name to get more foreigners faithful? Horus-Re and Bane? Would a good tyrant be tyrant enough for Bane? Should we start talking about Osiris weird quasi-undead divine state? Velsharoon would probably be very interested, right? And all the nastiness Seth may have had in store for everyone this side and that of the Inner Sea? And let's throw Assuran/Hoar, Tiamat, and the last vestiges of Ishtar, Ramman and Gilgeam into the mix, just for fun.

Instead all we got was ... BOOM ... cya. A shame.
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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore

1842 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  11:59:23  Show Profile Send The Arcanamach a Private Message  Reply with Quote
@Demzer: It's not that I mind the gods forming alliances and plotting against each other...I just prefer THEY actually stay in the background. You're correct about the Mulhorandi pan though, they did have a canon history and direct tie to Toril by actually residing IN Mulhorand. But even they remained in the background as much as possible and acted through avatars on occasion. I think that's pretty good considering their actual 'divine selfs' were in residence. Now all I'm saying is that those deities that reside on the outer planes shouldn't be making MUCH use of their avatars on Toril.

But that's just me and how I run my games (which is never, since I have no one to game with and very little time to do it anyway).

I have a dream that one day, all game worlds will exist as one.
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  12:49:21  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
IMHO, the answer isn't so simple. Thats why I couldn't vote.

Its definitely not 'yes' or 'No', but at the same time, I DO care very much.

For me, the perfect solution would have been for them to use the Sundering to reboot to Ed's Realms, and get rid of all the RW derivations. However, I still want the Old Empires to have their own pantheon and magic - I just want the gods to be tweaked so they weren't so in-your-face recognizable. That means new names (and one or two could be very similar to the RW ones), as well as adjusting their portfolios (like we had with Tyr).

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  14:54:13  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

IMHO, the answer isn't so simple. Thats why I couldn't vote.

Its definitely not 'yes' or 'No', but at the same time, I DO care very much.

For me, the perfect solution would have been for them to use the Sundering to reboot to Ed's Realms, and get rid of all the RW derivations. However, I still want the Old Empires to have their own pantheon and magic - I just want the gods to be tweaked so they weren't so in-your-face recognizable. That means new names (and one or two could be very similar to the RW ones), as well as adjusting their portfolios (like we had with Tyr).


What would be the point of getting rid of the RW derivations/deities for Unther and Mulhorand? They ARE from Earth, literally imported human slaves for both Unther and Mulhorand - so having the Babylonian and Egyptian deities make sense.

No, what you're describing is partly what they tried to do in 4E, which is to wipe them away and replace them with generic woo-woo garbage.

The Realms is big enough that it can handle a few RW imports. Some people even like them. It even historically connects the Realms to Earth, which is part of the whole point of the Realms.


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  14:59:36  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by The Arcanamach

I voted yes largely for the same reasons Eltheron did. However, I prefer my gods in the background (no divine soap operas as Wooley says). Instead, I prefer clerics struggling to understand the signs their deities send them and (sometimes) getting it wrong. I also like heretical religions and strange ones as well (that strange cult that amputated themselves from the Eregon books, for instance).


I'm in full agreement that I'd want all of the gods much further in the background and acting distantly through omens, portents and signs. Definitely also cut/minimize the god drama soap operas because they're just horrible in "real" time.

I'm definitely for bringing all the Untheric and Mulhorandi deities back, but I wouldn't want them tromping around as living avatars. I'd want them in the outer planes, just like the rest of the gods, with no planar barrier this time around. It's kind of cool they had the living god-kings thing in their past, but after the weirdness of the Orcgate wars, all of that needs to recede into history.

Having them as options for Untheric and Mulhorandi priests, though? Absolutely!


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  15:08:49  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well I did a fair bit if research into this region and you could explain away quite a bit of the real world analogies with realmsian explanations. Also using the idea of chosen (I must now wash my mouth out) it is entirely possible the barrier disappeared centuries ago and only Gilgeam chose to keep a hugely powerful avatar present at all times.

Of course that's only true for an alternate version but it doesn't appear to break anything.

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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  21:45:46  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Over the past few weeks, Ive come to a conclusion.

I'm no longer really part of the FR fanbase. I'm not saying I'm not a fan, I'm just saying that I don't think I'm the same page as most folks anymore. I used to wonder why so many 'regulars' have drifted away from CK over the years. Now I know...

Its just too tiring to have to constantly defend opinions, when opinions should never really have to be defended... thats why they are 'opinions'.

Some folks seem to take umbrage that people disagree with them, and will attack anyone who does. Must be tough going through life acting like a five year old. Adults don't argue with children... they just walk away.

Those of you who actually matter - you know where to find me.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  22:57:43  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

Over the past few weeks, Ive come to a conclusion.

I'm no longer really part of the FR fanbase. I'm not saying I'm not a fan, I'm just saying that I don't think I'm the same page as most folks anymore. I used to wonder why so many 'regulars' have drifted away from CK over the years. Now I know...

Its just too tiring to have to constantly defend opinions, when opinions should never really have to be defended... thats why they are 'opinions'.

Some folks seem to take umbrage that people disagree with them, and will attack anyone who does. Must be tough going through life acting like a five year old. Adults don't argue with children... they just walk away.

Those of you who actually matter - you know where to find me.


Seriously? Didn't you just go on a really rude tirade in another thread towards me, while flapping your arms about being a "tuff guy" New Yorker and needing to have a thick skin?

You certainly are capable of dishing out rude behavior, but you sure whine and call people names when they disagree with you.

Who's acting five here?


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer

Edited by - Eltheron on 08 Sep 2015 23:09:39
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  23:27:26  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Markustay, Eltheron wasn't making a personal attack, you put forth a third option as your opinion and Eltheron merely put forth his opinion on your third option.

Surely as find Gentlemen and ladies we can get along in our shared interest, moving beyond misunderstandings?
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 08 Sep 2015 :  23:32:01  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Gyor

Markustay, Eltheron wasn't making a personal attack, you put forth a third option as your opinion and Eltheron merely put forth his opinion on your third option.

Surely as find Gentlemen and ladies we can get along in our shared interest, moving beyond misunderstandings?


Thank you for saying this. I don't even remotely see how he's taking my disagreement of his post as some kind of personal attack.

Yeesh.


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 09 Sep 2015 :  00:14:23  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
C'mon, guys, can we tack it down a notch or three?

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see
Learned Scribe

235 Posts

Posted - 10 Sep 2015 :  22:19:18  Show Profile Send see a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I am completely against the existence of "separate pantheons" in any setting where the gods are real. As I've said before, geographic or racial variance in who (for example) is the goddess of the moon is strikes me as absolutely ridiculous, converting godly domains from areas of power to mere themes or even just mascots. The Old Gray Box adding 1st edition Unearthed Arcana pantheons (as opposed to the original DDG racial patron deities) to FR's deities list was a bad idea, and the adding of regional pantheons (with Kara-Tur, the Old Empires, and Maztica) was an even worse one (especially since it came with excessively-faithful direct cultural imports from Earth for the new regions).

So, my approach would be rather different. I would have Unther be under a tyrannical god-king like Gilgeam - but mine would be a son of Bane. And I'd have Mulhorand have an entire group of semidivine rulers, too; indeed, Unther would be the part of Mulhorand that was separated off as a separate domain by the son of Bane, originally one of these joint princes of Mulhorand. All, probably, the children of Siamorphe on their mother's side, and each of the princes a powerful cleric of his or her father. And if you wanted rain in Unther, you'd pray to Talos, since he's still the god of storms.
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 10 Sep 2015 :  23:33:41  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by see

I am completely against the existence of "separate pantheons" in any setting where the gods are real. As I've said before, geographic or racial variance in who (for example) is the goddess of the moon is strikes me as absolutely ridiculous, converting godly domains from areas of power to mere themes or even just mascots. The Old Gray Box adding 1st edition Unearthed Arcana pantheons (as opposed to the original DDG racial patron deities) to FR's deities list was a bad idea, and the adding of regional pantheons (with Kara-Tur, the Old Empires, and Maztica) was an even worse one (especially since it came with excessively-faithful direct cultural imports from Earth for the new regions).


I'm all for people doing what they prefer in their own games, no question there.

But I'm puzzled by this belief (which many share) that having different pantheons for racially and culturally different regions is "absolutely ridiculous". I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious why some people believe that it's so awful.

After all, the ancient real world had clearly distinct and separate pantheons, which served them in terms of stories, morals and religious beliefs specific to their cultures.

It's the Romans who tried to say things like all "father deities" were all some form of Zeus/Jupiter, and tried to find "match-ups" for other deities across pantheons. Later philosophers spread the idea. The modern author Joseph Campbell loved the idea and ran with it in his books.

But in truth, most of the match-ups are only similar on a surface level. The stories of the different panetheons teach different things, and help define the culture. The German Alasiagiae are very dissimilar to the tripartite female deities (maiden-mother-crone, or the Norse Fates), but many philosophers try to kludge them together. Odin has a radically different purpose and activities than Zeus/Jupiter, as do most other gods. The Ahura Mazda of Zoroaster isn't at all the same as the Talmudic God, nor are Zeus and Para Bramh remotely similar. So why force it?

Honestly, I'm completely puzzled why people think it's "ridiculous" that different cultures have different pantheons. Is it a simplicity issue for you and your games, personally? Is it that you've bought into the Campbell theory? Is it something else entirely? What the logic?

This isn't an attack on anyone's method - I think whatever people do in their own games is exactly what they prefer to do. And the reality is for the Realms that even Ed and many current designers hold to this idea that different cultural deities are "really just avatars" of some kind of Iconic Primary Deity. I'm just curious why some feel that it's bad to have separate entities in multiple pantheons.


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer

Edited by - Eltheron on 10 Sep 2015 23:37:05
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Irennan
Great Reader

Italy
3802 Posts

Posted - 10 Sep 2015 :  23:51:57  Show Profile Send Irennan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by see

I am completely against the existence of "separate pantheons" in any setting where the gods are real. As I've said before, geographic or racial variance in who (for example) is the goddess of the moon is strikes me as absolutely ridiculous, converting godly domains from areas of power to mere themes or even just mascots. The Old Gray Box adding 1st edition Unearthed Arcana pantheons (as opposed to the original DDG racial patron deities) to FR's deities list was a bad idea, and the adding of regional pantheons (with Kara-Tur, the Old Empires, and Maztica) was an even worse one (especially since it came with excessively-faithful direct cultural imports from Earth for the new regions).

So, my approach would be rather different. I would have Unther be under a tyrannical god-king like Gilgeam - but mine would be a son of Bane. And I'd have Mulhorand have an entire group of semidivine rulers, too; indeed, Unther would be the part of Mulhorand that was separated off as a separate domain by the son of Bane, originally one of these joint princes of Mulhorand. All, probably, the children of Siamorphe on their mother's side, and each of the princes a powerful cleric of his or her father. And if you wanted rain in Unther, you'd pray to Talos, since he's still the god of storms.



Why do you find the existence of more than one deities that happen to be the embodiment or have influence over a given concept, ridiculous? Even setting aside cultural differences leading to different pantheons (and ignoring all those Ao's decrees, which we aren't even sure to still be true, after the Sundering), why should -say- Talos be the only entity to have influence over storms, or Lliira the only goddess of dance and so on.

In some cases, different gods of X may easily coexist, and peacefully so. Gods who are patrons of arts, or emotions, for example. It is even fitting for them to exist, as different cultures and races have different concepts regarding that kind of things. Definitely not ridiculous (especially if you consider that deities aren't associated with just 1 thing, but may stand for multiple concepts).

In some other cases, there can be multiple deities having influence over the same kind of phenomena. For example, there may be more than one entity capable of influencing the moon or the sun, and they may be in conflict over that, or they may come to an agreement and establish alliances (and, AFAIK, correct me if I'm wrong, in FR the gods of moon/sun don't carry those around in the sky, like -say- Apollo does, so the conflict is even lesser). Then you also have deities who are associated by their followers with a given concept, but in truth stand for completely different things (like Eilistraee and the moon).

@Etheron, where did Ed say that? IIRC, he is in favor of the existence of multiple lesser deities, and was what he aimed for when designing the Realms (and it is one of the distinguishing traits of the Realms).


Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.

Edited by - Irennan on 11 Sep 2015 00:17:18
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe

740 Posts

Posted - 11 Sep 2015 :  00:48:06  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

@Etheron, where did Ed say that? IIRC, he is in favor of the existence of multiple lesser deities, and was what he aimed for when designing the Realms (and it is one of the distinguishing traits of the Realms).

I don't actually know where Ed said it, or really even if he did. I do know that whenever this discussion arises, many "lore lords" have told me and others "that's how the Realms works" (i.e. many avatars of "War", Tempus and all the other war deities now "dead" for example, except perhaps for Garagos, but there's really only one actually real deity of War - and even the avatars don't know, supposedly, that they're just avatars).


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer
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Irennan
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Posted - 11 Sep 2015 :  01:45:54  Show Profile Send Irennan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron

quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

@Etheron, where did Ed say that? IIRC, he is in favor of the existence of multiple lesser deities, and was what he aimed for when designing the Realms (and it is one of the distinguishing traits of the Realms).

I don't actually know where Ed said it, or really even if he did. I do know that whenever this discussion arises, many "lore lords" have told me and others "that's how the Realms works" (i.e. many avatars of "War", Tempus and all the other war deities now "dead" for example, except perhaps for Garagos, but there's really only one actually real deity of War - and even the avatars don't know, supposedly, that they're just avatars).





Strange. In one of his FR secretariat articles, Ed wrote that he envisioned the FR pantheon as populated by many lesser and even niche deities. It was the article in which he speaks about Mystra and the chosen, saying that he had to find a way to limit her power, in order for the other deities to not be overtaken by her. This leads me to believe that the avatar thing was not what he had in mind.

Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
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MrHedgehog
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Posted - 11 Sep 2015 :  22:15:00  Show Profile  Visit MrHedgehog's Homepage Send MrHedgehog a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I wouldn't choose to magically ressurect deities en masse
But if they are returning en masse then obviously so should Untheric/Mulhorandi deities
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sleyvas
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Posted - 12 Sep 2015 :  15:50:40  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
This is my personal take, so take it with a grain of salt. I'd like to see them return as a contested pantheon. However, I'd like to see them import several lesser deities from the Faerunian pantheon to become multi-pantheon deities. In doing so, they give these lesser deities more of a chance to survive and the ability to expand their influence. Why lesser deities? Because then they can kick them back out if they don't comply or seek to work against the Mulan gods. What deities am I talking about? Siamorphe as a goddess of "the divine right to rule" seems a perfect goddess to import. Other deities would be Valkur the mighty, Gwaeron Windstrom, the red knight, and possibly the nature deities Nobanion and Lurue.

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Gary Dallison
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Of course those lesser deities were more than likely meant to fail. The ogb mentions that minor deities rise and fall with great frequency in the realms. If however they could get enough worshippers in the old empires then why not migrate.

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see
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Posted - 14 Sep 2015 :  03:08:31  Show Profile Send see a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron

After all, the ancient real world had clearly distinct and separate pantheons, which served them in terms of stories, morals and religious beliefs specific to their cultures.


Sure. And none of these deities actually existed, so there was no actual problem with everybody having their own, because deities that don't exist don't have any actual attributes, so whatever their supposed areas of authority, they cannot actually come into conflict over them. If none of the deities of FR have actual existence in the setting itself, then there similarly isn't any problem. But when you start dealing with beings that supposedly actually exist and supposedly exercise authority, you get to a basic conflict.

There cannot be a different "President of the United States" for each cultural group on Earth. There can be a different president for each country, and there can be cases like the Swiss that have a plural executive, and such - but there's only one President of the United States able to discharge the power and authority of that particular office, and anyone who believes there's a President of the United States other than Barack Obama is objectively wrong. There are also five members of the Swiss council, and the membership of that council does not differ depending on your culture or politics or belief or what nation you're standing in, and anyone who believes in only one of the five is also wrong.

Similarly, there can be one Goddess of the Moon with actual power over the one moon, or there can be a committee of multiple goddesses of the moon exercising collective authority over the one moon, or there can be no goddesses with actual power over the one moon. If the first is true, there's only that one, and anyone who believes another is the goddess of the moon is objectively wrong. If the second is true, anyone who worships only one of them as "the" goddess of the moon is objectively wrong. And if the third is true, then the moon is just a theme or mascot, not a portfolio of responsibility and power; a "moon goddess" is just a goddess with certain trappings, like a Detroit Lion just has a lion on his helmet. (And that last, yes, I find ridiculous. I grant others might not, but I do.)

By race or geography can make sense in some cases; you can have a "goddess of human love in Faerun", if you like. But then she's still the "goddess of human love in Faerun" no matter what race you are or what location you're in. A hengeyokai in Kara-Tur might not pay much attention to her, but it would be for the same reason people in Anauroch don't pay much attention to Umberlee; it's not a "pantheon" thing, it's that her power deals only with things far away. If she really was "the goddess of all love everywhere", and a hengeyokai in Kara-Tur ignores her because she's a "human Faerunian goddess", he's an idiot. And if she's only the "goddess of human love in Faerun", and someone worships her as "the goddess of all love everywhere", he's also an idiot.
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Irennan
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Posted - 14 Sep 2015 :  03:46:56  Show Profile Send Irennan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by see

or there can be a committee of multiple goddesses of the moon exercising collective authority over the one moon If the second is true, anyone who worships only one of them as "the" goddess of the moon is objectively wrong.


To me, this seems to be the case in FR (Selune and Sehanine, Hanali and Sune and so on point to that. In 4e WotC went with the ''aspect'' thing, but that doesn't really make sense, as Sehanine and Hanali are inteloper deities. Currently, their mind seems to have changed again). There are also racial deities of some concepts, like love, reflecting their race's idea of that.

quote:
By race or geography can make sense in some cases; you can have a "goddess of human love in Faerun", if you like. But then she's still the "goddess of human love in Faerun" no matter what race you are or what location you're in. A hengeyokai in Kara-Tur might not pay much attention to her, but it would be for the same reason people in Anauroch don't pay much attention to Umberlee; it's not a "pantheon" thing, it's that her power deals only with things far away. If she really was "the goddess of all love everywhere", and a hengeyokai in Kara-Tur ignores her because she's a "human Faerunian goddess", he's an idiot. And if she's only the "goddess of human love in Faerun", and someone worships her as "the goddess of all love everywhere", he's also an idiot.


Torilian people worship deities from their in-world perspective, and they do not know what we know about deities. Someone who worships Selune may know very little about Sehanine, and vice-versa. Then there are deities who are related to a given thing, but are also about other different concepts (Selune and Sehanine are still examples). That's why there are different ''pantheons''. Even Ed said that pantheons are ''a purely mortal frame of reference, or way of classifying and speaking of divine beings they can never wholly understand.''

quote:
And if the third is true, then the moon is just a theme or mascot, not a portfolio of responsibility and power; a "moon goddess" is just a goddess with certain trappings, like a Detroit Lion just has a lion on his helmet. (And that last, yes, I find ridiculous. I grant others might not, but I do.)


Eilistraee is an example of this. Her followers associate her with the moon, because she usually appears by night, when the drow do not suffer the daylight, uses moonlight based magic and so on. However, as created by Ed, she is not herself a goddess of the moon. I don't see why this is ridiculous.

Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.

Edited by - Irennan on 14 Sep 2015 03:52:57
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Eltheron
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Posted - 14 Sep 2015 :  04:41:07  Show Profile Send Eltheron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by see

quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron

After all, the ancient real world had clearly distinct and separate pantheons, which served them in terms of stories, morals and religious beliefs specific to their cultures.


Sure. And none of these deities actually existed, so there was no actual problem with everybody having their own, because deities that don't exist don't have any actual attributes, so whatever their supposed areas of authority, they cannot actually come into conflict over them. If none of the deities of FR have actual existence in the setting itself, then there similarly isn't any problem. But when you start dealing with beings that supposedly actually exist and supposedly exercise authority, you get to a basic conflict.

Are you sure they don't or didn't exist? I wasn't aware of any way to verify the existence of deities.

But whether or not you personally believe is actually irrelevant. Those people from those cultures believed in them. And they did have attributes and defining characteristics. And they did often clash with other faiths, in so far as the peoples with different faiths clashed (or merged).

I grant that the Realms deities are verifiable (to a point). They grant spells, they sometimes send omens, dreams, visions, and so on. But if you play them in the way that Ed Greenwood plays them, it's not always the case that the faithful have everything right about their deities. Sometimes a priest will formally ask a question, and the divine response is unclear or challenges what the priest believed - sometimes what the entire faithful flock believes.

In any case, we know that for the Realms, cultures that work together may have different deities for Love or War, and those different deities work together or just don't clash. Other times, the cultures clash and two War gods might fight each other until one is killed. My point it: it's not so black and white as you're suggesting, even when the gods in the Realms are objectively real (but only to a point, unless you hang out with them in person, which is rare most of the time unless you're epic like Elminster).

There's no real reason, really, why two or more gods couldn't have exactly the same domains (and there were rules for that, btw). It's just that in the Realms, the "rule" of AO is that you can't have two deities in the same pantheon with the same portfolio. Deities from different pantheons can absolutely have similar/identical portfolios - which leads to deities sometimes clashing or learning to work as allies.


"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer
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