In The Beginning . . .
So I'm working on the pantheon for my Pathfinder setting. I have the bare-bones of the pantheon, that is I have the names, portfolios, and other basic details. What i really need now is a good creation myth. I want something different from the one I'm using for my Fantasy Hero campaign. I've decided which are my primal gods. Those are the ones that existed from the beginning. But what was the beginning? Do i want a primal creator, a primal event, something else? (I'm brainstorming here, forgive me if this is boring.) Let's start a little further back. What was there before creation? Two popular answers are chaos, and nothing. Should I use one of those, or come up with something else? I think I'm gonna go with nothing. In the beginning was nothing, so then where did everything come from? How about nothing fractured? If we we posit that nothing is neither light nor dark, sound nor silence, hot nor cold, etc. then when nothing fractured or shattered it released light and darkness, sound and silence, and so on. All mashed together into chaos. Hmmm. This seems to be little different than starting with chaos, just adding an extra step. But I don't have any better ideas, so I'll go with it for now.
Let's see, we have primal chaos now. So chaos is a raging storm of, well, chaos, constantly coalescing into . . . things and then dissolving again. Then after many eons chaos coalesced into two unique things, beings with sentience. These were Asmodeus, and Utu. Being intelligent and sentient these two beings remained as they were instead of dissolving back into primal chaos. Being intelligent, they began to shape the chaos around them. Eventually they encountered each other. It was hate at first sight. Their battle shook the primal chaos, and three new beings coalesced; Eresu, Meri, and Io. At first the balance remained as Io sided with Utu, and Meri sided with Asmodeus. Eresu initially stayed out of the conflict, preferring to quietly create, but eventually sided with Utu whom she found to be more to her liking as he preferred to create rather than destroy. Working together Utu, Io, and Erasu created the cosmos. Asmodeus sulking from his defeat created his own realm in mockery of the three. Meri attempted to reconcile with the three, hoping to have some say in their creation, in truth she wanted to corrupt what they created, and succeeded for a long time.
Okay, that's a good start. What next? Well either the gods start having children, or, they create mortals. I think I'll go with option A, as I'd like to have more gods around before the mortals come on the scene. Utu and Eresu have several children; first is Vaalea, followed by Mudutu , then the twins, Rohkea and Ukkonen and finally Sinnis. Asmodeus and Meri have three children Mursu, and Asbu, and Dayyanum. Vaalea and Mudutu marry and have two children Arammu, and Emku. Sinnis and Dayyanum have Kalbu, Laki, Mu, Osa, and Sanoma. Io and Eresu have a child Vuori. Io and Meri have a child as well, Azag. That covers all but the ascended gods (that is mortals who became gods), the dragon gods whom I have something else in mind for, and Demogorgon whom I also have something else in mind for.
So let's bring the mortals into it. The three decided to create their crowning glory, Erde. Erde was by all accounts a paradise, an artistic creation of all the gods. Then Utu had one last idea, the mortal races. Beings to further shape the world. Utu wished to give the mortals free will, he was opposed by Asmodeus who wished them to be servants of the gods. The gods took sides and a great war erupted. Even the celestial servants of the gods took sides. In the end, Asmodeus nearly destroyed Utu. At the last second Io, who had been a voice against war intervened and took the blow meant for Utu. Io was destroyed and Asmodeus relented, accepting a compromise: the mortal races would be given free will, but Asmodeus would have leave to seduce any mortals he could to his service. From the corpse of Io two new gods arose, Bahamut, the platinum dragon, and Tiamat the chromatic dragon. Bahamut chose to side with Utu and the gods of good. While Tiamat joined with Asmodeus and the gods of evil.
That pretty much covers the deities except the ascended ones, oh, and Demogorgon. In the beginning, after the formation of Asmodeus and Utu, other creatures evolved. The qliphoth. These beings hated creation and dwelt in the great abyss of primal chaos left from the creation of the cosmos. They hated the order that Asmodeus and Utu created and dreamed of returning the cosmos to raw chaos. In time the qliphoth created servants of their own in mimicry of the gods. One of these servant races known as Tanar'ri rose up and overthrew the qliphoth claiming the Abyss for their own. A number of these Tanar'ri more powerful and cunning than the rest become lords over their kind. One particular lord, managed to subjugate the other lords by sheer might, more or less, to claim the title, “prince of demons”. Called Demogorgon, he saw the power the gods derived from the worship of mortals, and began to curry the favor of mortal races himself.
Okay. That's pretty much everything I need. I can add details as needed, and begin working on individual deities. Specifically the five followed by my player characters.
Let's see, we have primal chaos now. So chaos is a raging storm of, well, chaos, constantly coalescing into . . . things and then dissolving again. Then after many eons chaos coalesced into two unique things, beings with sentience. These were Asmodeus, and Utu. Being intelligent and sentient these two beings remained as they were instead of dissolving back into primal chaos. Being intelligent, they began to shape the chaos around them. Eventually they encountered each other. It was hate at first sight. Their battle shook the primal chaos, and three new beings coalesced; Eresu, Meri, and Io. At first the balance remained as Io sided with Utu, and Meri sided with Asmodeus. Eresu initially stayed out of the conflict, preferring to quietly create, but eventually sided with Utu whom she found to be more to her liking as he preferred to create rather than destroy. Working together Utu, Io, and Erasu created the cosmos. Asmodeus sulking from his defeat created his own realm in mockery of the three. Meri attempted to reconcile with the three, hoping to have some say in their creation, in truth she wanted to corrupt what they created, and succeeded for a long time.
Okay, that's a good start. What next? Well either the gods start having children, or, they create mortals. I think I'll go with option A, as I'd like to have more gods around before the mortals come on the scene. Utu and Eresu have several children; first is Vaalea, followed by Mudutu , then the twins, Rohkea and Ukkonen and finally Sinnis. Asmodeus and Meri have three children Mursu, and Asbu, and Dayyanum. Vaalea and Mudutu marry and have two children Arammu, and Emku. Sinnis and Dayyanum have Kalbu, Laki, Mu, Osa, and Sanoma. Io and Eresu have a child Vuori. Io and Meri have a child as well, Azag. That covers all but the ascended gods (that is mortals who became gods), the dragon gods whom I have something else in mind for, and Demogorgon whom I also have something else in mind for.
So let's bring the mortals into it. The three decided to create their crowning glory, Erde. Erde was by all accounts a paradise, an artistic creation of all the gods. Then Utu had one last idea, the mortal races. Beings to further shape the world. Utu wished to give the mortals free will, he was opposed by Asmodeus who wished them to be servants of the gods. The gods took sides and a great war erupted. Even the celestial servants of the gods took sides. In the end, Asmodeus nearly destroyed Utu. At the last second Io, who had been a voice against war intervened and took the blow meant for Utu. Io was destroyed and Asmodeus relented, accepting a compromise: the mortal races would be given free will, but Asmodeus would have leave to seduce any mortals he could to his service. From the corpse of Io two new gods arose, Bahamut, the platinum dragon, and Tiamat the chromatic dragon. Bahamut chose to side with Utu and the gods of good. While Tiamat joined with Asmodeus and the gods of evil.
That pretty much covers the deities except the ascended ones, oh, and Demogorgon. In the beginning, after the formation of Asmodeus and Utu, other creatures evolved. The qliphoth. These beings hated creation and dwelt in the great abyss of primal chaos left from the creation of the cosmos. They hated the order that Asmodeus and Utu created and dreamed of returning the cosmos to raw chaos. In time the qliphoth created servants of their own in mimicry of the gods. One of these servant races known as Tanar'ri rose up and overthrew the qliphoth claiming the Abyss for their own. A number of these Tanar'ri more powerful and cunning than the rest become lords over their kind. One particular lord, managed to subjugate the other lords by sheer might, more or less, to claim the title, “prince of demons”. Called Demogorgon, he saw the power the gods derived from the worship of mortals, and began to curry the favor of mortal races himself.
Okay. That's pretty much everything I need. I can add details as needed, and begin working on individual deities. Specifically the five followed by my player characters.