Soliciting ideas for an Adventurer's Pantheon

[TheStray7]

I am working on a high Fantasy Scion game where the characters are in a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy realm instead of a contemporary, cosmopolitan World based on our real one. This means I'm developing a pantheon from total scratch, and I'd like to get help generating ideas for myths involving some stock D&D Deity Archetypes.

Now, anyone who has played D&D knows that while there tend to be a bunch of gods around, they aren't often tied together as a particularly inter-connected pantheon -- there's not a lot of commentary about why a particular god is the God of [Thing], [Thing], and [Other Thing].

So I'm looking for some ideas for stories to tell.

The main Pantheon of the world I'm building consists of Nine Heroes who achieved divinity by defeating the previous gods, who are now known as The Seven Devils. This is the basic God/Titan split. While there are other pantheons around (a group of Primordials who actually created the universe but have largely withdrawn and left it to its own devices, a band of deities that represent elemental forces and are the forbearers of dragons, and a pseudo-Lovecraftian bunch of sentient nihilist stars that call to humanity to get help killing themselves and/or destroying the universe because they're in eternal agony since, you know, they're stars and thus eternally ON FIRE), the chronicle I'm working on is primarily centered on these deities and titans as a baseline. Since the Nine were basically people who followed the Mortal->Hero->Demigod->God path, I'm looking for some specific Mythic Events that really cemented them into their Callings and Purviews. What made The Goddess of Law and The Sun associated with Laws and Sun, essentially.

These are the gods I'm looking for help with:

• Morwyn, Goddess of Law and The Sun -- If you are familiar with Pelor from Greyhawk or Lathander from The Forgotten Realms, she's basically Gender-Swapped Pelor/Lathander
• Mynora, Goddess of Nature and Agriculture -- A "Mother Earth" sort who tends to be worshipped by Druids (D&D-style druids, mind, not actual druids)
• Syriia Amyra, Goddess of Love and Beauty -- An elven deity, sort of Aphrodite-like but more chill.
• Tinel Corellon, God of Knowledge and Magic -- your basic bearded wizard sort.
• Aeson Darmon, God of Wealth and Travel -- a wandering rogue sort of character.

The rest of The Nine I've got fairly well fleshed out at the moment, these are the ones I'm having the most trouble thinking up grand Myths for.

Suggestions are great! Questions are great, too, as answering them helps me figure out where I need to put more attention.

[TheStray7]

You might want an elder being who turned her back on both the seven and the other primordials. I see her as the primordial witch, a blend of Hecate, Baga Yaga, and Mother Goose. Sweet but seriously scary, the keeper of secrets not even fate or the primordials know, Grandmother who knows what you never could. Even her clerics are the objects of quests (she informs her clerics who they'll work for, they know better than to refuse).

I have used a character like that in this setting, a hag with 3 harpy "daughters", a coop full of cockatrices, and a general "we're all going to be pleasant here, or I'm going to eat you" vibe. She turned one of the PCs into a tree (not maliciously...it was to help rid her of the attentions of an Archfey). I didn't give her much of a backstory -- she was a "mysterious cottage in the woods" random encounter that turned out to be fairly memorable. I suppose her being a mysterious elder being keeping secrets the gods don't know would fit her.

[Astromancer]

You might want an elder being who turned her back on both the seven and the other primordials. I see her as the primordial witch, a blend of Hecate, Baga Yaga, and Mother Goose. Sweet but seriously scary, the keeper of secrets not even fate or the primordials know, Grandmother who knows what you never could. Even her clerics are the objects of quests (she informs her clerics who they'll work for, they know better than to refuse).

[TheStray7]

Three Impossible Tasks, while one would usually think of the Twelve Labors of Hercules, actually got me thinking about something else entirely - the Fenris Wolf of Norse mythology. As Loki's monstrous son, he was initially a pet in Asgard, though they quickly realized that while a giant monster puppy is fun for a pet, a huge fully grown monster wolf that breaks any rope or chain used to bind him is decidedly NOT fun. They finally paid some Dwarves to make a magic chain out of a large number of seemingly impossible things - a woman's beard, the breath of a fish, the roots of a mountain, etc. And Tyr still had to sacrifice his hand to bait the Wolf to accept the chain in the first place. Maybe one of the Three Impossible Tasks is capturing and chaining up an unchainable monster, perhaps a major spawn of the Monster Mother, or even the Titan herself? Or maybe, given her connotations of disease, capturing and containing the essence of a plague for long enough to work out a cure - like the monster, but a lot harder to capture.

You know, I like that a lot. Mynora is supposed to have an affinity with beasts (as a D&D druid, she can shapeshift), and I want more stuff to do with the Mother of Monsters, so some sort of chasing and capturing a plague would be appropriate. I might even work in some sort of shapeshifting duel, like between Merlin and Madam Mim in The Sword and The Stone or the duel between the maid and the coal smith in "The Two Magicians"

[Grevnor]

Three Impossible Tasks, while one would usually think of the Twelve Labors of Hercules, actually got me thinking about something else entirely - the Fenris Wolf of Norse mythology. As Loki's monstrous son, he was initially a pet in Asgard, though they quickly realized that while a giant monster puppy is fun for a pet, a huge fully grown monster wolf that breaks any rope or chain used to bind him is decidedly NOT fun. They finally paid some Dwarves to make a magic chain out of a large number of seemingly impossible things - a woman's beard, the breath of a fish, the roots of a mountain, etc. And Tyr still had to sacrifice his hand to bait the Wolf to accept the chain in the first place. Maybe one of the Three Impossible Tasks is capturing and chaining up an unchainable monster, perhaps a major spawn of the Monster Mother, or even the Titan herself? Or maybe, given her connotations of disease, capturing and containing the essence of a plague for long enough to work out a cure - like the monster, but a lot harder to capture.

[TheStray7]

Your solar Queen sun goddess should be a warrior or a priestess like Amaterasu. She should have either a brother or consort who is a storm deity/warrior/protector figure. I'd look up Rhea and Demeter for your grain mother. Aphrodite and many other love beauty goddesses were connected to both the arts and healing, a good angle to play. I'd look at the Sumerian deity of subterranean waters for a scholar trickster. Hermes Trismegistus would also make a good model. I'd look at Roman Mercury (whose name means "merchant") for your god of wealth and travel.

A deity of harmony, covering Bards as loremasters, heralds, diplomats, etc... perhaps based on Celtic models, would fit your goal.

She was a D&D-eqsue Cleric before her Ascension, so "warrior-priest" is in the job description. Her husband is the local God of Paladins, who currently sits in judgement of the dead, so we're thinking along the same wavelengths. I'd considered Demeter, but Rhea is also an interesting idea -- hadn't considered her much. I worry a bit about being too cliche with the love/art goddess, and healing was something I'd been leaning towards.

Hermes Trismegistus...hmm. Alchemy does seem like a good route to consider, and I'd pegged him as a Creator type...throwing in some Alchemy is actually not a bad idea, thanks.

I would say don't be afraid to mix and match some different stories from different mythologies. The Wizard god could be like Odin, someone who sacrificed themselves or parts of themselves to gain magical knowledge. Maybe your Law sun Goddess took a important position as the judge of the sun but is not the sun itself much like Khephri or Ra(depending on the time of the kingdoms of Egypt.) Maybe she was the judge over a important problem much like King Solomon, and it was such a huge problem that the sun took notice and made her a god of Judgement.

Also I would say don't be afraid to flips myths on their head like your harvest goddess is not a earth mother but maybe a sky goddess bringing life giving rain that she won from some sort of monster.

As for your wealth/travel god maybe they were a merchant who braved a perilous journey and was then worshipped and prayed to by other Merchants and travellers to help protect them on their own journey. Or if you want to make them more tricksy maybe they were a thief who stole something valuable and gave it to the mortals of the land much like Prometheus did when he stole fire from the gods to give to humans. usually back in the day wealth and travel weren't really embody in the same god ex. Hades was also the god of wealth because you find gold and other precious metals underground while Hermes was the god of travellers and other rogue type characters(thiefs tricksters, con man and the like.)

Hope this mess of words helps in some way.

I know the Magic God was caretaker of a great library which housed a secret that The Seven wanted to see burned, and that he discovered arcane magic (and, given the idea above, I'm also considering alchemy). The sacrifice-for-knowledge idea is also something to toy with, thanks.

The Sun Goddess was once a priestess of the previous Sun God (who is now basically Lucifer/Satan after his Fall). I'd been wondering what might have turned her from him...judging an important problem, and her judgement going flat-out against what the Old Sun God wanted, seems to be an idea I can work with, and even the idea of gaining the attention of another God who thought the judgement exceptionally sound (The God of Time and Fate in this setting would be the one I'm thinking of).

That's an idea to work with, perhaps. Being a Sky Goddess would put her in contrast to the God of Death, who has ties to the earth. One idea I had is that she managed to complete Three Impossible Tasks set for her by a Primordial in charge of Life in order to gain the Waters of Life to undo a great curse/blight. I'm trying to figure out what those three tasks might have been.

Stole something valuable and gave to mortals is a good thread to pull on. He's the God of Wealth and Trade mostly because he's a Luck God...prosperity by association, rather than him being directly a merchant -- he also has a bit of a Revelry edge, as he's the god of "Eat, drink, and be merry tonight, and save sorrow for tomorrow!" sort of ideals. The previous God of Death (one of The Seven) had associations with wealth...The Thief God might have stolen something from him, but I've already sort of tied him in to a different Myth (The God of the Dead horded the souls of Dwarvenkind, but their Hero God helped them dig from the Underworld to the Underdark of the Midrealm to escape him) and I want to sort of vary things up. I have two Titanesses I haven't really dug into yet -- The Spider Queen (weaver of fates) and The Mother of Monsters (who is also a Plague Goddess)...I'd like to think up something he could have stolen from either or both of them.

[Grimmi05]

I would say don't be afraid to mix and match some different stories from different mythologies. The Wizard god could be like Odin, someone who sacrificed themselves or parts of themselves to gain magical knowledge. Maybe your Law sun Goddess took a important position as the judge of the sun but is not the sun itself much like Khephri or Ra(depending on the time of the kingdoms of Egypt.) Maybe she was the judge over a important problem much like King Solomon, and it was such a huge problem that the sun took notice and made her a god of Judgement.

Also I would say don't be afraid to flips myths on their head like your harvest goddess is not a earth mother but maybe a sky goddess bringing life giving rain that she won from some sort of monster.

As for your wealth/travel god maybe they were a merchant who braved a perilous journey and was then worshipped and prayed to by other Merchants and travellers to help protect them on their own journey. Or if you want to make them more tricksy maybe they were a thief who stole something valuable and gave it to the mortals of the land much like Prometheus did when he stole fire from the gods to give to humans. usually back in the day wealth and travel weren't really embody in the same god ex. Hades was also the god of wealth because you find gold and other precious metals underground while Hermes was the god of travellers and other rogue type characters(thiefs tricksters, con man and the like.)

Hope this mess of words helps in some way.

[Astromancer]

Your solar Queen sun goddess should be a warrior or a priestess like Amaterasu. She should have either a brother or consort who is a storm deity/warrior/protector figure. I'd look up Rhea and Demeter for your grain mother. Aphrodite and many other love beauty goddesses were connected to both the arts and healing, a good angle to play. I'd look at the Sumerian deity of subterranean waters for a scholar trickster. Hermes Trismegistus would also make a good model. I'd look at Roman Mercury (whose name means "merchant") for your god of wealth and travel.

A deity of harmony, covering Bards as loremasters, heralds, diplomats, etc... perhaps based on Celtic models, would fit your goal.