Columbia and the U.S. pantheon?

[Muskrat]

What's your idea? Maybe we can suggest Under- and Overworlds. And not every Pantheon needs to have those. The Manitou dwell invisibly in the World and have no Overworld for instance.

[glamourweaver]

It's worth noting that some pantheons are already incorporate national heroes--Chinggis (Genghis) Khan is a member in good standing of the Tengri for instance.

Well to be fair that’s because he is worshipped as a god by the religion in question in real life. American Civic religions is.. vaguer on the topic.

[Dataweaver]

You might also want to look at Mantles of Washington.

[No One of Consequence]

My general thought is the idea of a pantheon that is in serious danger of falling to its Titans. Also that it is a pantheon in which almost all of the Scions are either Chosen or Incarnate (or sometimes Created), with few if any being Born. Most of them would be really broad archetypes with multiple names/mantels. And what may be an off kilter interpretation of "All Myths Are True."

Their Overworld would likely be The White City on the Hill, drawing mixed inspiration from both the White City of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the metaphorical "city upon a hill" cited by John Winthrop.

I'm not sure what the Underworld would be.

For Terra Incognita, it would probably include things like Hollywoodland, Suburbia, and Gotham/Metropolis.

[Muskrat]

I like the idea of the City on the Hill as an Overworld.

As for an Underworld, you could go with other options. People could be reincarnated, perhaps within their family lines. Those who are worthy could be elevated to protective spirits, either of their families or things they cared about in life. They could just all wander about as ghosts.

What do you see the Pantheon as standing for? Truth, Justice, Liberty and the American Way? Fame, Fortune, and Conspicuous Consumption? That might well shape what kind of afterlife would make a good fit.

Or I suppose you could look at US folktales about ghosts for inspiration for what happens to the dead.

[No One of Consequence]

I've toyed with the idea of the Underworld being The Past, and voyages to it essentially being a weird form of time travel. I'm still not entirely sold on it though.

[Muskrat]

There's no reason your Overworld and Underworld can't be the same. Plenty of other Pantheons such as the Aesir and Teotl allow at least some of the dead in the Overworld. Those who are examplars of civic virtue could go to the City of a Hill, while the rest have to wander the World as ghosts or something like that.

[No One of Consequence]

You'd probably find various virtuous souls as Eidolons in the White City, I think, as well as certain ones who act as Guides, but most Shades would probably dwell in The Past, reliving their lives (sort of) in a sort of mythologized version of whichever particular decade or era they are most attached to.

[Astromancer]

All nations mythologize their pasts. Very few get screamed at for it. As much of the world is both pulling down America's myths and slapping up equally unreal myths of total American depravity and monstrosity, America's mythic past would be in crisis.

If the crisis is brutal enough, you might get strange allies working to heal the damage.

[Muskrat]

You'd probably find various virtuous souls as Eidolons in the White City, I think, as well as certain ones who act as Guides, but most Shades would probably dwell in The Past, reliving their lives (sort of) in a sort of mythologized version of whichever particular decade or era they are most attached to.

What about making the Underworld literally that--a Hollow Earth? In Vernes' original version, the deeper you went into the Hollow Earth, the more ancient what you encountered was. He was, of course, exploring that in terms of epochs of Earth's geological and evolutionary history, but you could do something similar with human history.

If all myths are true, would there be multiple versions of different eras? For instance, conservatives and progressives remember the 1960s very differently. That could take you into some creepy territory, with afterlives involving a romanticized version of slavery. And what if someone was most attached to an era they weren't alive in, like champions of the Confederacy or contemporary hippies who look back to the hippie movement in the 1960s and 70s?

[No One of Consequence]

I'd likely do the Hollow Earth as its own stand alone Midland, unconnected to any specific pantheon (save maybe the Atlantean one).

America's Midlands would probably be Hollywoodland (a mix of Hail Caesar!, The Artist, Singin' In The Rain, A Star is Born, Hollywood Shuffle, Gods and Monsters, and Sunset Boulevard), Suburbia (various old sitcoms, as well as Edward Scissorhands and Pleseantville), Old Gotham and New Metropolis (two diametrically opposed images of the American city), The Wild West, The Great Outdoors, and The Tragic Kingdom (sort of a commentary on Disney, especially the contrast between its images in the 60s, the 90s, and today). Also probably Route 66/The Mother Road.

If I were to do something like Dixieland, it would be much more post-Civil War. Sort of a mix of Disney's The Princess & The Frog, The Dukes of Hazard, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, Fletch Lives, and the works of William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams. A mesh of Southern Gothic, Magical Realism, Action-Adventure, and occasional comedy.

[The Kings Raven]

I'd seriously encourage you to go for it. This would be a great setting.

If your still looking for Underworld ideas, how about The American Dream. Which runs on Dream Logic and everyone's experiences reflects what they accomplished in life. If you made friends and were part of the community in life, you have a great community in the underworld. If you made lots of money in the world you'll be rich in the afterlife. And so on.

(Possible additional Midlands: High School and it's closely related The Mall. The Railroads - where it's perpetually a warm summer's evening and you trade tall tales with hobos as you ride 1930s traincars)

[glamourweaver]

Underworld: so the “bad ending” should be a realm of endless toil and the loss of identity in Sisyphean pursuit of what you will earn from your labor to provide a dream that will never come. Hadestown’s take on the industrial-capitalist underworld fits well and of course is a work deeply rooted in Americana.

The “good ending” opposite is of course Big Rock Candy Mountain. Even if not a hobo, it can still fit the American Dream by being the reward of leisure and freedom the toil in life has earned you.

For an Overworld I’m picturing immortalized scenes of history and heroism, at least as they’re imagined. Notably some of them are black and white immortalized moments of the golden age of Hollywood, and the backdrop between these interconnected realms can easily be a movie lot.

[Rutillo]

I like the idea. I think you have to go all the way

[Muskrat]

I could see a "modern" Pantheon that emerged since, say, the 1950s being one that uses the trappings of the superhero genre. Their Scions would wear flamboyant costumes and fight crime as much as Titanspawn. Indeed, many of their Titans would have roots as human Scions of more ancient Titans, becoming Titans in their own right through their global villainous plots. Their Overworld might be literally that--a satellite orbiting the World. I can see the Gods themselves being expies of well known superheroes. There would be a literal prison for Titans and Titanspawn--one which they are forever breaking out of. I'm not sure what one would do about the afterlife. The worthy act as support staff on the Overworld and get access to luxuries as a bonus? The unworthy end up in the minimum security part of the Titan prison? Everyone else has another go through reincarnation?