Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 factol_rhys_dup Jun 09, 2008 1:19:45	A god of creative force, toil, skill, and industry is pretty common in most fantasy/D&D pantheons. So much so, that it's seemingly a requirement. Greyhawk/4e has Moradin, Dragonlance has Reorx, Eberron has Onatar, Pathfinder has Torag. These gods seem too tied to cliches (a burly male who works over an anvil, favors a big hammer, and is loved by dwarves), though some have variations of these traits (Torag includes tactics, for example). For my homebrew pantheon, I'd like to make sure that these same aspects of creation are covered by the deities represented, but I'd like to come up with a way to avoid having to make another clone of these other gods. Got any thoughts?
#2 Darth_Syntax Jun 09, 2008 3:12:35	Several thoughts sping to mind when dealing with this sort of thing. You could distribute the important features of this sort of god over several members of the pantheon. Another option would be to build a god of crafting and skill based on an entierly different theme and aesthetic; most smith-gods in fantasy seem to be based on Hephaistos and thus get the short, bearded, burly look. Yet another option would be to have a more generalized deity of crafting, one who is every bit as much a weaver and a potter as a smith. For a pantheon of my own devising I created the god Gwaltšn who is a fairly non-traditional god of metal-work. Physically, Gwaltšn is depicted either as a wirey old elf (for he is an elven god) with long white hair and deep red-copper skin, or as a many-armed and many-eyed creature meant to represent greed and paranoia (his chief failings). Although he is a capable smith, his true talent lies in metalurgy and in the pouring and casting of metals. For this reason he is often associated with wax and with sculpting and is particularly linked to the art of bell-making. Though he is associated with the forge and the furnace, he is not a deity of fire. Rather he is a deity of the wind, probably through the association of using the breath (and the bellows) to stoke the fire. He is also a creator of marvelous things but his miserlyness and distrust of others often prevents these wonderous creations from being appreciated by the other gods or from benifiting mortals. He is credited with the creation of the lantern of the sun, but the role of solar deity belongs to his grandson, Inuc, who stole the lantern from Gwalšn and brought light into the cosmos. -- Another thing that might help would be to work out a bit of the mythology of the pantheon. Creating stories about the gods and their history might lead you to the creation of some unusual and very interesting figures.
#3 imperialus Jun 09, 2008 10:29:47	One other thing to remember from a more psycological perspective, at least if you are trying to create gods that 'feel' real is that for most of human history metalworking has been seen as a sort of magic. After all, you are taking rocks from the earth, applying fire, sometimes adding other rocks, and at the end of the day you are left with a metal tool or weapon. If you don't know how the process works, that does seem like pretty powerful magic, probably something that is given to you by the gods. That's why Forge gods (and in the Catholic church Saints) were so popular. Darth: That's a pretty cool god actually. I like the idea of tying him to wind rather than fire. After all bellows are probably the most important aspect of a forge, no matter how much charcoal you pile on it'll never hit the temperature you need to work with metal without bellows.
#4 holy_beholder Jun 09, 2008 23:00:51	Make the forge god just a forge god, who is lame in one leg, complements of an angry thunder god who pretty much leads the pantheon.