Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen
(. . .) And the in-between case, where the Divine Favor is with an entire pantheon of gods (or two entire panthons for a Norse priest) (. . .) I'm buying Divine Favor 8 with the entire Aeir and Vanir pantheons
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I wouldn't regard Aesir and Vanir as two different pantheons in the Norse world, but as a division of gods in a single pantheon that portrays a duality, like the Greek differentiation between Uranic and cthonic. "Polytheistic cultures" often had complex structures, wich afterwards were extremely streamlined with the advent of "monotheism". Nonetheless, concerning multiple pantheons:
Quote:
Originally Posted by demonsbane
Think about "the whole divine pantheon" as a compartmentalized equivalent of "the One God" (1).
(1) According to this, having "multiple pantheons" in a given world or setting a la AD&D Deities and Demigods makes no sense. |
Given that a whole "Polytheistic Pantheon" is equivalent to the absolute and infinite -in the same way than a "Monotheistic One God"-, there's no room for more than "one" absoluteness/infinitude. But it's possible, however, to add "multiple pantheons" to campaigns featuring transcultural relationships, that is to say, with PCs acting in areas and cultures that are affected by two different religions and their corresponding pantheons.
Some of the combinations can be:
- "Monotheistic One God" versus "Polytheistic Pantheon"
- "Monotheistic One God" versus multiple "Polytheistic Pantheons"
- "Polytheistic Pantheon" versus "Polytheistic Pantheon"
- "Monotheistic One God" versus another "Monotheistic One God"
- "Polytheistic Pantheon" versus "Polytheistic Pantheons"
There are several different approaches to these conflicts or to these situations in which there seem to be more than "a true God", more than a "divine pantheon", or any mix of that. Two of them, very summarized, could be:
- A "monotheistic One God" or "whole Polytheistic Pantheon" is truly divine, and the other(s) isn't but a host of intermediate, "astral spirits", or better said, subtle beings or entities posing as "gods" and being worshiped in that way by people unable or unwilling to discern their psychic, intermediate (non divine) nature: these things are "idols". This could have been the case of ancient Israel's "monotheistic One God" versus the "Baals and Astartes", etc ("Polytheistic Pantheon") of their neighbors.
In this case, the "false gods" could provide to their worshipers a very inferior power in contrast with the power bestowed by the "true god/s", or none at all (see Elijah against the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18). The "pantheon of the false gods" could have been, in the past, a proper frame and vehicle for the truly divine, but afterwards it could have been abandoned or degenerated, remaining in the world as an empty shell for use and abuse of hosts of dubious entities. This is the phenomenon of dead religions that still offer the appearance of life.
- Two "monotheistic Gods", or two "whole Polytheistic Pantheons" are in outwardly conflict among themselves, but really "they" are the same underlying unnamed divinity under different names and manifestations adapted to each different culture and religion. This can result in scenarios like Julius Caesar (earlier a Flamen Dialis or Priest of Jupiter for a brief time) "translating" the names of gods of the Gauls into Roman gods. In this case, despite the appearance of two "Polytheistic Pantheons" in conflict, the underlying divinity expresses itself outwardly through the forms of different gods existing in both Pantheons for carrying the seeming clashes of interests and agendas.