Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 samuraichicken Aug 28, 2009 13:06:15	Why is it that deities feel they need to influence and guide mortals? Why are fantasy religions only found on the material plane amongst mortals? Do immortal races worship any deities? If immortals or powerful extraplanar mortals do believe in deities, why is it they don’t have great temples devoted to their god, or similar things such as seen on the material plane amongst humans and other races? Why does it seem that deities are only concerned with the mortal races of the material plane (for example: shouldn’t Bahamut be more concerned with his dragon worshippers than with humans? Why don’t good dragons ever run / take part in the temples of Bahamut in human lands?) Such questions have been bugging me lately, especially since I have been looking through several multi-planar campaign settings. Fortunately, I have come up with a rather interesting way to answer most of these questions. It is a bit long, so please endure it.   Imagine a world before deities. In this world system, the angels live in the astral sea (as a race of immortal beings), and demons rule the material plane. In fact, each known plane is ruled by a race of immortal beings. Many of these immortals believe that the planes formed naturally, though some believe that an entity of unimaginable power formed the planes. Since there is no evidence of a “creator” existing, the creator philosophy isn’t common. Despite how the planes were created, all immortals agree on the concept of the “Source” – a realm beyond realms from which everything comes from. It was here that the planes were created, before they left the Source to exist in the realm where they exist today. One day, the angels discovered massive crystal-like shards (about the size of a small house) in the astral sea. No one knew what material it was, nor where it came from. What they did learn was that these shards seemed to be conscious, and the shards occasionally spoke cryptic prophecies. It was eventually decided that these shards must have came from the Source, and that the voices from the shards came not just from the shards themselves, but rather the shards were acting like a conduit between the Source and the rest of reality. What was also puzzling was that each shard had a different voice and personality, as if these shards were each connected to a specific individual, rather than the original theory of each shard connected to the same source. Soon, the angels began to worship these shards as deities. They wrote down the shard’s prophecies, and troubled countless years trying to figure out their meaning. The angels tried to worship and practice the teachings of all the shards, but such number of shards (and contradictions between shards) made this tactic impossible. To solve this problem, each angel would chose a single shard to worship, resulting in a sect for each of the shards. After quite some time passed, a war began between the demons (of the material plane) and the angels. In the end, the angels won the war and imprisoned the remaining demons in a hellish plane. This hellish plane degraded the demons into savages bent only on destruction and revenge. The plane also had the trait of being easy to enter, yet nigh impossible to escape from (planar magic would fail for those within the plane). The only way to escape the plane would be through summoning magic, and only then if the spell was cast by someone on a different plane. In the aftermath of the war, the angels were left with the material plane unprotected by immortals. Seeing that such a role needed to be filled, the angels decided among themselves that they would rule not only the astral sea, but the material plane as well. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, the angels quickly realized that they lacked the “manpower” to rule both planes simultaneously. It was then decided that the angels would focus on just defending the plane from extraplanar threats, while the mortals were left to govern themselves. To prevent mortals from ruling unjustly, the angels taught the mortals the same teachings and practices that the angels learned from the shards. These religions each correspond with the appropriate angelic sect in the astral plane, with the angels gladly coming to the material plane to bring news of the newest prophecies and teachings of the shards. What we have now are the mortal races of the material plane following the very same religion as the angels. The angels rarely interfere with matter within the material plane – they serve largely as guardians of the material plane from extraplanar forces, as well as messengers bringing the latest prophecies and teachings of their deity to the appropriate temples in the material plane.   This idea doesn’t answer all the questions at the beginning of the post, but it does tackle several of them. This concept is still in the works, and I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions of it.
#2 Authw8 Aug 29, 2009 2:44:28	Sounds cool. Some questions: Under this set-up, how does the divine power source work? Is it supplied by the angels, the power of the user's faith, or does it draw upon the power of the shards themselves? Do the angel sects battle each other, or do they co-exist? How well known is the true nature of the gods to the mortals? Is it known to none, a very few, the educated, or is it common knowledge? Do the mortals battle along religious lines, or do they see themselves as one faith beneath the angels?
#3 samuraichicken Aug 30, 2009 17:43:39	Under this set-up, how does the divine power source work? Is it supplied by the angels, the power of the user's faith, or does it draw upon the power of the shards themselves? This question I'm still uncertain about. It could easily come from the shards (or rather, from the Source), but then again I like the idea that divine power comes from one's faith. In the eyes of the NPCs/PCs of the world, the power comes from the Source just like how divine power is supposed to work (just like the PHB tells us). If anything, I can use the "divine power comes from one's faith" method to use as a plot twist in an appropriate adventure. Do the angel sects battle each other, or do they co-exist? I personally like the idea of angels co-existing with one another despite who they worship, since I see most of these shards being good deities rather than evil deities, making co-existing much easier (I could easily make it so there are no evil deities. Evil will instead come from demons and other extraplanar creatures). How well known is the true nature of the gods to the mortals? Is it known to none, a very few, the educated, or is it common knowledge? Do the mortals battle along religious lines, or do they see themselves as one faith beneath the angels? Mortals will probably see deities in the same way that they do in the PHB: distant, otherworldly beings of immense power that have angels as their servants. The different religions amongst the mortals tend to get along with each other, except without the evil religions (replace them with demon-worship or other cults). This way, little change is needed from your typical setting. I don't think nations would rage war between themselves solely on religious ground, but rather I see religious differences the subject of debate. Both angels and mortals are aware of some contradictions between the deities, though the angels are known to blindly follow their deity's teachings while mortals become confused, argue, and eventually decide how they are going to deal with it. While I'm not going to use the standard pantheon in the PHB, a good example of such contradiction is Erathis and Melora. Their worshipers can get along, but occasionally are pitted against each other when a city expands into a forest. Such arguments and combats are hardly ever on a national scale, but rather on a community scale.
#4 Thought Sep 01, 2009 16:54:06	While I am not sure how effective this would be to replace an entire pantheon, it is certainly a great concept and would bring a fresh perspective to the game. Indeed... I think I may very well add a crystal "god" along these lines to my own games in the future ;)