I while ago I thought sometimes in how to create my campaign world and how it would be. After the announcement of 4th Edition and the new "adjustment" of the Forgotten Realms setting, I decided that I was not going to continue my campaigns on Toril and I decided to carry on with the project of my own world. The world per se is going to be created in union with my players, so it's going to be more a personal decision, but there are some things that have to be made by the DM a part.
I still don't know if I'm gonna play with D&D 4th edition rules or with Pathfinder, or if I'm going to make a 'popurri' of these different game rules, but the world is gonna be the same, regardless.
So, I'm beginning with the pantheon of gods. I'm going to post it in the following days to not make a massive amount of information in one single moment. I'm still using the alignment system of 3rd edition, as it helps understand better than the new 4e one, but I'm not posting anything related with rules, such as domains, favored weapons or channel divinity feats. Also, I'm limiting the deities stati to Greater, Lesser, and Demigod. In red, I'm going to explain my ideas and how I created everything.
Thank you and please... PEACH! :D
THREAD INDEX
THE COURT OF URUM Page 1
- Barthac (LG God of kings, sun and glory)
- Bremeth (LN God of justice and laws)
- Cormenor (LN God of vigilance and guards)
- Daulgas (LG God of valor, duty and paladins)
- Sabhail (LG Goddess of safety and homes)
- Siohan (LG Goddess of peace and endurance)
THE LINEAGE OF STARS Page 1
- Galusiel (CG Goddess of the moon, dreams and mysticism)
- Seraid (NG God of the wind and freedom)
- Maiaret (CG Goddess of redemption and hope)
- Taisceill (CN God of travel and exploration)
THE LEAGUE OF SAORED Page 1
- Adhsil (CG Goddess of skill and good fortune)
- Beithin (CG Goddess of beauty and love)
- Sabress (N Goddess of trade, wealth and currency)
- Greltor (CN God of mischief and humor)
- Jontaba (CG Goddess of friendship, joy and festivals)
- Merhess (CG Goddess of hedonism and erotism)
DEITIES OF MAGIC Page 2
- Nemhore (CN Goddess of raw magic)
- Draot (LN God of spells and wizards)
- Dhallam (NG God of illusions)
ETERNALS OF BÁS Page 2
- Adh-Lacad (LN Goddess of the dead)
- Ferstenach (LN God of time and divinations)
UNIVERSITY OF ELIOCHT Page 2
- Eolas (N God of knowledge, science and history)
- Brenotark (LN God of smiths and technology)
- Ceolain (CG Goddess of art, music and skill-at-arms)
- Lebrain (N God of literature and glyphs)
HEBDOMAD OF THE WILD Page 2
- Bregothor (CG God of healing, strength and life)
- Fermerea (NG Goddess of agriculture and fertility)
- Metarus (N God of wild nature and druids)
- Oscele (CN god of water, seas and rivers)
- Bentionor (CG Goddess of magical beasts)
- Rianegh (NG Goddess of rangers and tracking)
- Marthoss (LN God of arctic survival)
ARMY OF COGADH Page 2
- Larock (CN God of war and battle)
- Cronatos (CE God of slaughter and brute strength)
- Stradith (LN Goddess of strategy and planning)
- Doltos (CN God of revenge)
- Sahedt (N God of archery)
DWELLERS OF DOMHAIN Page 2
- Dolmok (N God of earth and mining)
- Buledaur (NE Entity of oozes, aberrations and madness)
- Cicras (LE God of greed and avarice)
DEITIES OF DOOM Page 2
- Danomallah (CE Goddess of disease, poison and vermin)
- Faithios (LE God of tyranny, fear and domination)
- Maltek (NE God of undeath)
- Kaenseth (LE Goddess of Pain and torture)
- Tasmé (CE Goddess of misfortune and accidents)
DEITIES OF SHADOW Page 2
- Dorchia (NE Entity of evil, void and hatred)
- Dumarach (CE God of strife and assassins)
- Lengedus (NE God of shadows and thievery)
PRIMORDIALS OF FURY Page 2
- Lonserk (CE God of Storms and natural destruction)
- Borthalos (NE God of fire, thirst and deserts)
- Domek (CE Goddess of oceans)
- Grimalden (CE Goddess of cold and winter)
- Macter (CE God of predators and bloodlust)
don't they still have a homeworld board
I like it as well, but I suspect someone may move it on you
don't they still have a homeworld board
-No, I won't. Valgard noted that he wants the opinions of the Forgotten Realms section, so it can stay. Astrid's Parlor set president that a "non-related" thread can stay in an area that it isn't directly related to, if the topic starter is looking for the opinions/input/thoughts of that specific niche community.
-No, I won't. Valgard noted that he wants the opinions of the Forgotten Realms section, so it can stay. Astrid's Parlor set president that a "non-related" thread can stay in an area that it isn't directly related to, if the topic starter is looking for the opinions/input/thoughts of that specific niche community.
very good then.
I do like how you broke down the gods into little groups
how much do you have written on them? favored weapons? domains?
The words for each group name just totally grab you. I like Hebdomad and The Lineage of Stars.
This is the kind of stuff I can use in my Realms game to spice up the faiths.
Thank you for sharing!
@LordKarsus: Thanks for making clear this about "non-related" threads. And I'm glad you learned how to make [deck]. ;)
@MerrikCale: What I've done with the Court of Urum is an example of the farthest thing I've written about everyone of them. After eight (more or less) years of 3rd edition material with newer material every month, I've seen that if you expose this kind of rules, then new material may improve these but you have to go updating it. I prefer general info like this and, at the time of character creation, let the player choose the best options to characterize it.
After the good impression this has caused, I'm posting the Lineage of Stars soon, but if you have more to say about the Court of Urum, I will gladly appreciate it.
Anyway, great job on the dieties. That is one of the first things that you have to decide on a setting. Are dieties spawned by the needs of the people, or are the people spawned by the needs of the dieties? Are they active like they are in the realms, or do they take a hands off aproach?
One thing that would help give people a better feel for these dieties, would be to define how the groups of dieties interact with each other. Perhaps the obligatory creation myth, and the basic cosmology?
-I see you mentioned Morwell, and that makes me think. How are you going to handle "pregenerated", preexisting deities and other powerful entities? I know in my own setting, I need to balance the deities I've made up with ones that exist out there in the D&D Multiverse.
The idea is to ignore anything "pregenerated", as you say. In other words, the campaign is going to be set completely apart of actual (or previous) D&D material.
In my game group that's not a great problem, as I'm the only one who really knows many things about D&D lore. I also want to simplify a bit all the cosmologic entities that appeared. I'm making clear that gods are the most powerful entities, including the leaders of outsiders as the outsider paragons (including demon lords and archdevils).
If one day I want to make an epic planar campaign, there will be, for example, great demons (with probably the same stats, if I need them, of demon lords) that they will be under the command of a chaotic evil god.
That's not really a great difference with the D&D lore. It's like if I simply say that Asmodeus, Demogorgon and Graz'zt are gods. What I want to make is an arrange of deities with a simple hierarchy, and each portfolio held only by one power (I don't want a god of fire, a dragon god of fire, a god of fire giants, an archdevil with power over fire, and a slaad lord of fire, for instance).
I hope I've been clear with this one.
The idea is to ignore anything "pregenerated", as you say. In other words, the campaign is going to be set completely apart of actual (or previous) D&D material.
-Alright. Just asking. I know, in my own setting, I have it connected to the Great Wheel and everything.
I salute you for what you are doing. I am attempting to undertake a similar endeavor. However, I am going to base my setting on the 3.5 open source material, and build on it.
Thanks. In fact, I began with the material of the Forgotten Realms pantheons and, piece after piece, I designed an entire new cosmos.
Anyway, great job on the dieties. That is one of the first things that you have to decide on a setting. Are dieties spawned by the needs of the people, or are the people spawned by the needs of the dieties? Are they active like they are in the realms, or do they take a hands off aproach?
That's a good question. I like very much the fact that, in the Realms, deities are so active, but on the other side, I don't like the fact that they are so much "vulnerable". Between the Time of Troubles and the Spellplague the Faerûnian pantheon seemed a night club, entities going in and out indiscriminately.
To answer your questions, I will tell you how I view it. Deities are the creators and the handlers of portfolios and they offer them to mortals. Their reasons are varied, but generally, good deities do it for love towards mortals and evil ones make it to be their leaders and command all existence. Mortals take benefits from these portfolios and life, society, and technology, among other things, progress. If mortals want to ask for specific favors, or to thank the gods for anything, or to simply make themselves notice, they pray to them or join their clergy. If there are major trouble concerning an specific portfolio, the deity in question will ask for her clerics to act, or she will send one or more agents, depending on the importance of the act.
One thing that would help give people a better feel for these dieties, would be to define how the groups of dieties interact with each other. Perhaps the obligatory creation myth, and the basic cosmology?
I've been thinking about this. The groups define one thing in common, usually, relation between portfolios, but also, actual alliance or the same home plane. I'm still working on it, but I don't even know if I will use the pre-4e cosmology (astral, shadow, ethereal, inner and outer) or the new one (feywild, shadowfell, astral, and chaos)
I've also thought about some creation myths, and there are deities related to some of them, like the creation of the dwarves or the fall of the drow. But, being sincere, I don't know how to make THE creation myth, but I have some ideas (all these are not fully considered and subject to changes):
As in the Realms, there were some kind of "creator races", but they were not the same, of course. They probably were: Dragons vs Titans.
Titans were responsible for the creation of giants and related creatures. Also, they enslaved the first dwarves, the predecessors of dwarves and gnomes.
Elves creation is related to the Lineage of Stars, but not sure on how to treat that.
Nothing more, right now.
-Alright. Just asking. I know, in my own setting, I have it connected to the Great Wheel and everything.
one of these days you have to give us some serious details on your setting
one of these days you have to give us some serious details on your setting
-Maybe one of these days...
-Maybe one of these days...
howzabout next Thursday?
My only suggestion is to diversify the names. They seem to all be two or three syllables deroved from the same naming conventions. I would suggest throwing in a few one syllable names. Some of them seem like they might be shortened if they were used in game a lot. Some seem like they'd be a mouthful, like Ferstenach. Names need to be easy to remember and easy enough to pronouce in addition to being 'different'. You can have some names that break these rules, but if too many of them do then you have a problem.
howzabout next Thursday?
-Hmm...Nope. I have a baseball game on Thursday.
Valgard,
My only suggestion is to diversify the names. They seem to all be two or three syllables deroved from the same naming conventions. I would suggest throwing in a few one syllable names. Some of them seem like they might be shortened if they were used in game a lot. Some seem like they'd be a mouthful, like Ferstenach. Names need to be easy to remember and easy enough to pronouce in addition to being 'different'. You can have some names that break these rules, but if too many of them do then you have a problem.
-If you don't already have it, download the Everchanging Book of Names.
-Hmm...Nope. I have a baseball game on Thursday.
you playing or going?
I've been thinking about this. The groups define one thing in common, usually, relation between portfolios, but also, actual alliance or the same home plane. I'm still working on it, but I don't even know if I will use the pre-4e cosmology (astral, shadow, ethereal, inner and outer) or the new one (feywild, shadowfell, astral, and chaos)
I've also thought about some creation myths, and there are deities related to some of them, like the creation of the dwarves or the fall of the drow. But, being sincere, I don't know how to make THE creation myth, but I have some ideas (all these are not fully considered and subject to changes):
As in the Realms, there were some kind of "creator races", but they were not the same, of course. They probably were: Dragons vs Titans.
Titans were responsible for the creation of giants and related creatures. Also, they enslaved the first dwarves, the predecessors of dwarves and gnomes.
Elves creation is related to the Lineage of Stars, but not sure on how to treat that.
Nothing more, right now.
Heh, that is one of the tougher parts of making a setting, and why you have to have to answer the diety question early on. In a campaign where the Gods created mortals for their needs type of campaign, it is easy to say that Correllian made the elves in his image to be his mortal agents, and Grumush made the Orcs in retaliation, etc... But then you have to balance them out, and structure the divine hierarchy, and come up with reasons and rules for their actions. That is where the creation myths are important. They tend to explain why things are the way they are, and lays down the rules.
In a mortals created the gods for their own needs type of campaign, an overall structure or hierachy isn't important. There isn't one over reaching patheon. Every area and ethnicity can have their own gods, and it's own belief structure. There is no one true creation myth, and the different gods never interact unless their followers do. You don't have to worry about structure so much, as each is it's own self contained microcosm.
And that choice is where i am stuck right now. I see merit in either approach. I have ideas for some of the dieties, and their relationships to each other. In my campaign setting, the gods will be some what hands off, but demi-gods (proto-gods) will be free to walk the world until they ascend to god hood. An example of which would be the Drow in my setting. I am doing away with D&D cannon. There is no Loth. The dark elves where never subterranian. Instead they evolved from normal elves in an extremely thick cannopied Jungle. They are more savage and feral in this setting, who pride themselves on being peerless hunters and practice fell blood magics. They worship a demi god (still working on the name), but goes by the title of the Devourer. He is sort of a vampiric monstrousity that requires regular and frequent blood sacrifces. Hence the dark elves hunting skills and their frequent raids and taking of slaves. He dwells in their main temple, in their capital city. There in the darkest pits of the temple, he bathes in blood, attended by the most beautiful and deadly female clerigy.
Now, I have to figure... did he create the Dark Elves, or did the dark elves create/empower him? If he created the Dark Elves, then I have to figure his place in the cosmology. As an Elven Demi-God, he would need some sort of diefic patron/parent, relationshps with the other gods, etc... If they created/empowered him, then there is no need for all that. It is simply enough that they believe he is divine, and by their belief he is empowered.
Like I said, I am going through the same process, and the question is a difficult one.
-Playing.
good luck
Valgard,
My only suggestion is to diversify the names. They seem to all be two or three syllables deroved from the same naming conventions. I would suggest throwing in a few one syllable names. Some of them seem like they might be shortened if they were used in game a lot. Some seem like they'd be a mouthful, like Ferstenach. Names need to be easy to remember and easy enough to pronouce in addition to being 'different'. You can have some names that break these rules, but if too many of them do then you have a problem.
Finding the names hasn't been easy, but I think the part you mentioned is the easy one to repair. I don't know if any of you speak Gaellic (Irish), but these names are taken from their portfolio's name in Gaellic, and then the second process was to make them "easy to remember and easy enough to pronounce in addition to being 'different'" if you let me quote yourself. For example, Ferstenach comes from 'aimsir fháirstineach' that is an aception of the word 'future'. I want these name to keep something of their meaning, and also to give them a fantastic feeling.
Maybe you're right, but let me clarify that my home language and that of my fellow players isn't the same as yours. From what I know from the English language, it tends to make shorter names, but in Spanish or Catalan that's not so common (we still shorten names, of course), and the pronounciation is also very different. I think that names of two or three syllables are alright, and monosyllables are dangerous to handle.
I will think about it.
Heh, that is one of the tougher parts of making a setting, and why you have to have to answer the diety question early on. In a campaign where the Gods created mortals for their needs type of campaign, it is easy to say that Correllian made the elves in his image to be his mortal agents, and Grumush made the Orcs in retaliation, etc... But then you have to balance them out, and structure the divine hierarchy, and come up with reasons and rules for their actions. That is where the creation myths are important. They tend to explain why things are the way they are, and lays down the rules.
In a mortals created the gods for their own needs type of campaign, an overall structure or hierachy isn't important. There isn't one over reaching patheon. Every area and ethnicity can have their own gods, and it's own belief structure. There is no one true creation myth, and the different gods never interact unless their followers do. You don't have to worry about structure so much, as each is it's own self contained microcosm.
And that choice is where i am stuck right now. I see merit in either approach. I have ideas for some of the dieties, and their relationships to each other. In my campaign setting, the gods will be some what hands off, but demi-gods (proto-gods) will be free to walk the world until they ascend to god hood. An example of which would be the Drow in my setting. I am doing away with D&D cannon. There is no Loth. The dark elves where never subterranian. Instead they evolved from normal elves in an extremely thick cannopied Jungle. They are more savage and feral in this setting, who pride themselves on being peerless hunters and practice fell blood magics. They worship a demi god (still working on the name), but goes by the title of the Devourer. He is sort of a vampiric monstrousity that requires regular and frequent blood sacrifces. Hence the dark elves hunting skills and their frequent raids and taking of slaves. He dwells in their main temple, in their capital city. There in the darkest pits of the temple, he bathes in blood, attended by the most beautiful and deadly female clerigy.
Now, I have to figure... did he create the Dark Elves, or did the dark elves create/empower him? If he created the Dark Elves, then I have to figure his place in the cosmology. As an Elven Demi-God, he would need some sort of diefic patron/parent, relationshps with the other gods, etc... If they created/empowered him, then there is no need for all that. It is simply enough that they believe he is divine, and by their belief he is empowered.
Like I said, I am going through the same process, and the question is a difficult one.
I have posed myself some opposing portfolios, thinking about their relative levels and how that impacts on the world. After I've posted more deities, you'll see some of these. As I mentioned before, I have some ideas that have helped me in these conflicts, but the details of the greatest creation myth are still on the air.
Finding the names hasn't been easy, but I think the part you mentioned is the easy one to repair. I don't know if any of you speak Gaellic (Irish), but these names are taken from their portfolio's name in Gaellic, and then the second process was to make them "easy to remember and easy enough to pronounce in addition to being 'different'" if you let me quote yourself. For example, Ferstenach comes from 'aimsir fháirstineach' that is an aception of the word 'future'. I want these name to keep something of their meaning, and also to give them a fantastic feeling.
Maybe you're right, but let me clarify that my home language and that of my fellow players isn't the same as yours. From what I know from the English language, it tends to make shorter names, but in Spanish or Catalan that's not so common (we still shorten names, of course), and the pronounciation is also very different. I think that names of two or three syllables are alright, and monosyllables are dangerous to handle.
I will think about it.
-Mind you (and I don't know much about your campaign), but related deities, who come from the same cultures, where the same language is spoken, are going to have "similar" sounding names. The Seldarine, for instance? All of their names follow the 'stereotypical' naming conventions for Elven names.
-Mind you (and I don't know much about your campaign), but related deities, who come from the same cultures, where the same language is spoken, are going to have "similar" sounding names. The Seldarine, for instance? All of their names follow the 'stereotypical' naming conventions for Elven names.
Thanks, LK. That's a good argument. Now that you mention it, I even thought on making different names for every language (a single deity with one name for humans, another one for elves, and so on) but finding one was difficult, imagine, four or five!
Interesting write ups, and some good thought put into "merging" deities of the Realms into something that is suggesstive of the Realms but not identical to it... Which I think is what you've been aiming at. However, I have two niggles.
Firstly, please, oh please, use proper pronouns. There's nothing more distracting than reading about a goddess (a female deity) and seeing her described as him. I suspect English is not your primary language, so I can forgive it for now.
However, it's such a fundamental error that I'm really surprised no one picked you up on it before now.FYI -
Females: She, her, hers, herself
Male: He, him, his, himself
For example, you wrote (bolding mine):
"This deity is an adaptation of Sharess, but (as described above) with his dancing aspect not so strong and no warrior aspect."
It should be (bolding the correction):
"This deity is an adaptation of Sharess, but (as described above) with her dancing aspect not so strong and no warrior aspect."
Which actually leads me into the second niggle.
In your description of Jontaba, you implied that the goddess Zandilar was a dancing goddess. Zandilar was not and never was a goddess of dance. Zandilar was a goddess of love, but with a focus more on the physical, passionate kind that "burns hot and bright but cools quickly". This is where Sharess got her more sexual aspects from. (I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert on Zandilar - not that there's really much information about her beyond what is mentioned in Powers and Pantheons. ;))
I think what has happened is that you've confused Lliira with Sharess at some point, and got elements of the two deities mixed up. Sharess does not have dance or dancing in her portfolio, those are the domain of Lliira.
Heya,
Interesting write ups, and some good thought put into "merging" deities of the Realms into something that is suggesstive of the Realms but not identical to it... Which I think is what you've been aiming at.
Thanks Storm. That was one of the reasons I've made this. I think also that all this 4E rewrite is not good for continuity in our gaming group and, If I have to stick to something, I prefer my own canon rather than a new world that contributes nothing to our games or a dead (ie, that will not change) canon to a great fantastic world.
Firstly, please, oh please, use proper pronouns. There's nothing more distracting than reading about a goddess (a female deity) and seeing her described as him. I suspect English is not your primary language, so I can forgive it for now.
FYI -
Females: She, her, hers, herself
Male: He, him, his, himself
For example, you wrote (bolding mine):
"This deity is an adaptation of Sharess, but (as described above) with his dancing aspect not so strong and no warrior aspect."
It should be (bolding the correction):
"This deity is an adaptation of Sharess, but (as described above) with her dancing aspect not so strong and no warrior aspect."
Yeah, it's quite clear. English isn't my home language and I know all the pronouns, but I was writing this quite fast at work, so sorry if I don't stop to look at my grammar faults! I'll try to take a look to not confuse you if I can.
Which actually leads me into the second niggle.
In your description of Jontaba, you implied that the goddess Zandilar was a dancing goddess. Zandilar was not and never was a goddess of dance. Zandilar was a goddess of love, but with a focus more on the physical, passionate kind that "burns hot and bright but cools quickly". This is where Sharess got her more sexual aspects from. (I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert on Zandilar - not that there's really much information about her beyond what is mentioned in Powers and Pantheons. ;))
I think what has happened is that you've confused Lliira with Sharess at some point, and got elements of the two deities mixed up. Sharess does not have dance or dancing in her portfolio, those are the domain of Lliira.
Thanks for the point. I can say I know many things about the Realms, but I'm not actually a sage, so to speak. I know Sharess was originally Bast and absorbed Zandilar, one of the Yuir deities, at one time (don't know if more were also absorved by her). What I wanted to say is that Sharess is a deity with many aspects and the deity I'm making basically from her focuses on one of them, her erotic and sensual one. Maybe I should probably say that Merhess is based more in Zandilar rather than Sharess.
, please evaluate and critique honestly.Let's make an example: Shared is a human wizard that worships Draot. She understands that the power of magic comes from Nemhore herself but she does not agree in that the power of magic can be wielded by any crazy mind capable of creating orbs of fire or to make you believe you're a rabbit. Magic is too unpredictable (she even thinks in the word "dangerous") to let it spread to these mad blasters. She believes that it has to be teached, ordered and categorized to avoid any unnecesary cost of resources or lifes. She is, indeed, opposed to what Nemhore actively says... she thinks Nemhore is too capricious to serve as a good patron deity.
Hope it helps.
-Tying things back to the Forgotten Realms, I never much understood or agreed with the necessity of Azuth as he is, when Mystra exists. Azuth, I always felt, should have had a role more like Jergal, in relation to Kelemvor. Azuth should be "Mystra's Scribe", or something like that.
Another example, a druid may be good and worship a good nature god, but that doesn't prevent her to raw on powers of evil nature deities (in my setting, Lonserk, Danomallah or Macter, translated to the Realms, Talos, Talona or Malar... more or less) and he won't worship them.
And in the Realms, by the same argument (if I'm not missing your point) why do you worship Jergal if Kelemvor is actually more powerful? In fact, though you say that Azuth should had a similar relation, I think that he INDEED HAS SOME SORT OF similar relation. He wasn't Mystra's scribe, but he was her counselor.
Well, I think you don't have to worship the highest power because she is it. You can view her as the source of power, but you don't have to worship her. I think deities should be involved more in her personal and phyloshopical ideas rather than "what they are".
-Understandable, and I understand. In this case, in the case of the deity of magic, the source of magic, I just personally don't put much credence into the idea. Anger the deity you worship, Draot, for whatever reason, and you can still use magic. Anger Nemhore , for whatever reason, and you can't use magic (I am presuming that the ability to cut individuals off exists. If it doesn't, however, the general point remains). It's like being very friendly with a student-teacher, when you don't have a very good relation with the teacher. The student-teacher might be able to influence the teacher, but in the end, the teacher determines your grades, not the student-teacher.
It's like if I worship Mount Celestia. Why do I have to worship Bahamut if Celestia is the place where he lives? This could be similar, I see Nemhore as a source, but not something to which I agree and, so, something I worship.
-Mount Celestia isn't granting the person their powers, though. In this case, Nemhore is.
Good point on this one. I'm beginning to get convinced by you. I'm going to think about it.
-Hey, in the end, it's your stuff. I'm just sayin'.
Finding the names hasn't been easy, but I think the part you mentioned is the easy one to repair. I don't know if any of you speak Gaellic (Irish), but these names are taken from their portfolio's name in Gaellic, and then the second process was to make them "easy to remember and easy enough to pronounce in addition to being 'different'" if you let me quote yourself. For example, Ferstenach comes from 'aimsir fháirstineach' that is an aception of the word 'future'. I want these name to keep something of their meaning, and also to give them a fantastic feeling.
Maybe you're right, but let me clarify that my home language and that of my fellow players isn't the same as yours. From what I know from the English language, it tends to make shorter names, but in Spanish or Catalan that's not so common (we still shorten names, of course), and the pronounciation is also very different. I think that names of two or three syllables are alright, and monosyllables are dangerous to handle.
I will think about it.
You sound like you're on top of it. Keep up the good work.
But don't worry about the groups... that's more a thing to administrate myself rather than true groups, although some are actually actual groups.
In the Realms, the groups are organized by race, and so, the relation of the gods in a group is that members of the same race worship them, but in my case I'm not relating deities to specific races so the relation comes with their portfolios.
If you look right straight, the Hebdomad of the Wild and the Primordials of Fury are all deities concerned with nature, although Macter is probably the most closest to the former, as he isn't as much elemental as the other ones.
The fact is that I decided to use two "greater gods of magic" to not make that 90% of spellcasters have the same patron deity and to distance matters of faith with arcane spellcasting, to avoid what is usual in some settings of "we are wizards/arcanists and matters of faith don't involve us".
The argument that LK gave me that made me think was this (quoting himself): "Anger the deity you worship, Draot, for whatever reason, and you can still use magic. Anger Nemhore, for whatever reason, and you can't use magic (I am presuming that the ability to cut individuals off exists. If it doesn't, however, the general point remains)." I also was presuming this ability to cut magic from specific individuals, as I am also was making this from my FR point of view.
I'm going to make a little change: Nemhore created raw magic at first instance, but raw magic is not under her direct control. She sponsors the use of magic with little change (the more raw, the better): "If you want to be powerful with magic, let magic flow through you". Draot thinks that if no spellcaster files his discoveries and does not transmit them to others, magic as a science will not progress and will not bring its full potential: "Raw magic is too chaotic to take full benefit, only through years of dedication and study can you understand it and take great profit from it".