Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List
From: allen trussell
Subject: [GREYTALK] WoG Gods Part I – the Oeridians
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Let me preface this “series”. Although WoG is of course a fantasy world, and created by the great EGG, I, for one, like my fantasy world mixed with a certain amount of reality. A realistic base helps make the fantastic seem real, the incredible a bit more believable. In short, I like to have something with which I (and my players) can identify. With this in mind, I set forth to add more detail to the cultures and nations in WoG. There is, as you all know, a fairly limited amount of detail provided in the boxed set(s) and modules. Oh, sure, they're filled with info on game stats, a bit of “flavour” here and there, and some names, but how much do they add to the overall culture of Greyhawk and its peoples? Not bloody much. Hence, I sought out the list of the gods.
The best way to determine details of an unknown culture is to look at its beliefs. Looking at the gods of WoG, I find that it is an almost overfull pantheon, taking into account the various racial “boundaries” within this list. I see glaring holes in the pantheons of the four basic peoples, bakluni, flannae, oeridian, and seul. Once again, using fact (in this case, real-world Earth), I find certain gods common to almost every known ancient pantheon; a god of the air & sky, a goddess of love, a trickster deity, and so on. These are lacking in the seperated WoG pantheons, although overall can still be found. Although it can be assumed that in the overall world view these gods are all that suffice, it doesn't help establish a cultural base within the seperate races (also, I notice some possible oversights in standard racial types; if the western Flanaess, or Oerik, can be considered analogous to Eurasia... then where are the Slavic peoples? The Teutons? The CELTS?!? Are they just tribes of suel? ).
In any case, this made me decide to create more “complete” pantheons for the four races of man, even if some the deities are no longer worshipped, or even remembered save in ancient texts.
First, I shall begin with the Oeridian pantheon, as this was perhaps the easiest to decipher. With the colour scheme given for these folk, and existing list of gods, it seems to me that EGG was going for a meditteranean people here, greco-roman most likely. And their pantheon is fairly complete to begin with. Thus, I interpret the Oeridian pantheon as being quite similar to the greco-roman pantheon(s); the gods are every bit as passionate, vain, petty, and “human” as their mortal believers. Likely, these deities were born of even greater beings, later rising and overthrowing the rules of their forebears. Early in Oerid civilisation, individual city-states would have held a certain deity as patron, and many cities across the Flanaess are still partial to one deity more than others. Many demi-gods should exist among such a pantheon as well, whether by virtue of skill and excellence a mortal is blessed with such status, or by virtue of divine birth (just think about Zeus… and Perseus, Heracles, Achilles, etc.). Also, there should be a number of divine beings not necessarily worshipped, per se, similar to the furies, the muses, and the fates.
Havin been this long-winded, I’ll now provide a quick list of the new deities, their spheres of control, alignments, gender, and “level” (greater, intermediate, lesser, demi-god). If any one would like specifics, I’ll post the ones with the most requests (priesthood, avatar, that sort of thing). Remember, also, that these deities have been created with the idea that many have counterparts in the existing pantheon, and may well have disappeared from public belief.
Anaeus – God of Rulership, Might, Wisdom, Knowledge, and All Things Under Heaven and Oerth; the Overgod – Lawful Good – Male – Greater God
Berius – God of Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Tempests – Chaotic Neutral (Evil tendencies) – Male – Lesser God
Dellemnus – God of Monsters, Destruction, Cruelty, and Madness – Chaotic Evil – Male – Intermediate God
Finneghan – God of Randomness, Tricks, Happenstance, and Humour – Chaotic Neutral – Male – Lesser God
Herame – Goddess of Land, Fertility, Health, Agriculture, and the Home – Neutral Good – Female – Greater Goddess
Kelizan – God of Skill, Perseverance, Victory, and Fruitful Endeavors – True Neutral (Lawful tendencies) – Male – Lesser God
Kodos – God of the Dead, the Underworld, and Darkness – True Neutral (Lawful tendencies) – Male – Greater God
Luscera – Goddess of Love, Beauty, Sharing, and Kindness – Lawful Good (N/G tendencies) – Female – Intermediate Goddess
Mellios – God of Steel, Smithing, Crafs, and Knowledge of Artifice – Neutral Good – Male – Intermediate God
Mereter – Goddess of Magic, Illusion, the Astral Plane, and Forbidden Knowledge – Lawful Evil – Female – Intermediate Goddess
Myrha – Goddess of Rivers, Streams, Running Waters, and Rain – True Neutral (Good tendencies) – Female – Lesser Goddess
Paesus – God of Wine, Wild Passion, and Change – Chaotic Neutral – Male and Female – Lesser God(dess)
Ronseur – God of Hunting, Beasts, and Nature Untamed – Neutral Good (Chaotic tendencies) – Male – Lesser God
Toreun – God of Secrets, Intrigue, Messengers, Liars, and Thieves – True Neutral (Chaotic tendencies) – Male – Lesser God
I hope I didn’t go overboard, or get too long winded, or, worst of all, bore anyone. Future posts should be shorter. Next time: Part II – the Flannae.
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