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[Wanderer]

Greetings adventurer. This scroll of knowledge is far from complete and I will be adding to it throughout the days and weeks to come. This scroll is for the lore, the wisdom that does not fit into the other three scrolls.

The Great Wars of Xeterous

*The Thirty Years War

*The Chthonic War

*The Genesis War

Locales of Interest in Xeterous

*The Arena

*The Cave of Magic

*The Floating Castle

*The Dragon Haven

The Deities of Xeterous

*Ithaqwa

*Lunnas

*Sethis

*Sekhama

*Pachad

*Reine

The Cosmology of Xeterous

*The Fountainhead

*The Astral

*The Material Plane

*The Parallel Planes

*The Maelstrom

*The Abyss

[Magus]

I'm currently working on the Pantheon and Cosmology of Xeterous mostly to waste some time in class and make this thread a bit less...barren. Both the Pantheon and Cosmology are currently in the very, very early stages of development and are subject to change on any sort of whim I'm having at the time; oh, and depending on your input

To define some basic terms, a pantheon is the term for the gods and other god-like beings of a mythology considered collectively. When you use the term, you're referring to all of the gods and, possibly, the god-like beings (Titans, Demons, etc.) of the mythology of Xeterous. A cosmology refers to the structure of the universe/multiverse, including the nature of the planes of existence.

An example of a pantheon in Greek mythology is the 12 Olympians:
Zeus
Poseidon
Hades
Hestia
Hera
Ares
Athena
Apollo
Aphrodite
Hermes
Artemis
Hephaestus

These refer to the main gods of Greek mythology, however, the Titans aren't mentioned at all.

An example of a cosmology in modern mythology is that in evangelical Christianity*. In evangelical Christianity, there are only three planes of existence: Heaven, Earth, and Hell. The three are usually described as being almost ladder-like with Heaven being atop Earth which resides above Hell (sometimes Hell is described as being in the center of the Earth). Angels and other celestial beings of God's (the Trinitarian King of all three planes) creation reside in Heaven; demons, devils, and fallen angels reside in Hell, and humans reside on Earth, which is cosmic battleground between the two above-and-below planes. In death, the souls of humanity go either straight to Heaven or straight to Hell with no waiting-area in between.

*There are multiple interpretations of the cosmology in Christian circles, this is only one of them.

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Anyway, I'm leaving this open for user-input, but there are a few notes I need to make to define the basic structure and requirements for both a pantheon and cosmology. I'll go over them below.

First things first: each god of a pantheon possess both a set of domains and a portfolio. Domains are tangible areas of power whereas portfolios are a bit more abstract. They're fairly similar in an open RPG setting like Xeterous, but for D&D rules, Domains are more important because clerics of a certain god gain access to their spells and benefits.

When trying to come up with gods, think first about the domains (listed below) before considering the portfolio they possess.

The following are all the domains that need to be represented by the gods of Xeterous:
Air
Animal
Artifice
Chaos
Charm
Community
Darkness
Death
Destruction
Earth
Evil
Fire
Glory
Good
Healing
Knowledge
Liberation
Luck
Madness
Magic
Nobility
Plant
Protection
Repose
Rune
Strength
Sun
Travel
Trickery
War
Water
Weather

While portfolios encompass areas covered by domains (Fire, Water, etc.), they also cover broader areas (both more abstract and more specific). Some portfolio areas to consider are: the races of Xeterous (humans, asions, zarathan, shinro, logash), other races (half-orcs, gnomes, halflings, etc.), family, home, Creation, wine, festivity, hunting, trade, wealth, the Seven Deadly Sins, secrets, poison, dreams, stars, the Moon, love, beauty, music, and tyranny.

A sample god from the Pathfinder campaign setting is Asmodeus. Asmodeus is the Lawful Evil god of tyranny, slavery, pride, devils, and contracts (his portfolio). His domains are Evil, Fire, Law, Magic, and Trickery. His favored weapon is the mace. Asmodeus is an ancient devil who has reached apotheosis; he is tyranny incarnate and takes great pleasure in watching the souls of the damned flayed and burned eternally in his abode of power: the Nine Hells. He is as equally cunning as he is vile and has, more than once, tricked the gods--including the time he tricked them out of a divine spark.

Some questions to consider when developing a god:
*Is the deity a male or female?
*What race is the deity? (human, asion, etc., or is the deity something else entirely?)
*What is the alignment of the deity? Consider the dual spectrum of alignments: good vs. evil and lawful vs. chaotic. Nine distinct alignments come from the two spectra.
*What are the domains of the deity? Include the alignment domain(s) in this (Neutrality doesn't have a domain, but include it in the portfolio).
*What is the portfolio of the deity? (this isn't necessary, but helps round out the deity)
*What is the deity's favored weapon (not necessary)
*What is the deity's personality like? (not necessary)
*Where does the deity reside in the multiverse? (not necessary, and the cosmology hasn't been defined yet either)

As of yet, I have a few ideas for some gods:
*Ithaqwa--god of air, wind, storms, chaos, good, and glory
*__________ -- god of balance, nature, animals, fate, and evolution
*__________ -- god(s?) of creation and the progenitors of the races
*__________ -- goddess of the sun, light, evil, chaos, destruction, fire, madness, and war
*__________ -- god of the sun, light, law, good, healing, strength, and other stuff
*__________ -- goddess of the moon, death, repose, good, chaos (possibly), liberation, darkness, and dreams
*__________ -- god of the moon, darkness, chaos (possibly), evil, murder, death and undeath, and the like

I'm trying to keep some of the more abstract forces/beings closed, but other gods and goddesses can still be created. For the last four, I dislike how most mythologies personify the sun/light as good and moon/darkness as evil, which is why I split them into two separate forces for each.

The cosmology is a bit more open. It will deal with what the multiverse looks like, where the separate planes are in relation to each other, how the souls of the dead arrive in afterlife, where the gods and other god-like beings dwell, the planar beings (angels, elementals, devils, etc) and where they exist and the like, and how creation itself happened.

I've got that last part covered, and the cosmology itself is pretty much set. What I want to know from you is: what are some planar beings you'd like included in Xeterous? Also, if you have any comments about a specific planes (like Celestia, Elysium, the Nine Hells, the Abyss, etc.), feel free to post 'em.

Anyway, seeing as this is now a super-massive post, I'll leave it there. I'll keep you all informed as this progresses.

[Magus]

Lunnas

Deity Rank: Intermediate
Deity's Symbol:
Home Plane:
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio and Domains:
Worshipers:

Background:

Dogma:

Clergy and Temples:

Relationships: