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Old 07-19-2013, 07:31 PM   #11
Flyndaran
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Default Re: What a "god"?

There's also the god of farce or something like that that masqueraded as a cult's god pretending as an obviously fake "costume" god in a comic strip whose name I can't quite remember.
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Old 07-20-2013, 02:26 AM   #12
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Default Re: What a "god"?

How would you classify Banjo?
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Old 07-20-2013, 02:37 AM   #13
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Don't forget the Babylonian theory: the gods are powerful beings who eat the smoke of sacrifices. If nobody sacrifices to them, they starve. So after several false starts, they create mortals to feed them.

Emphasizing ritual over belief can be a good way to give your setting a different flavour than those settings influenced by Christianity.
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Old 07-20-2013, 03:24 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
There's also the god of farce or something like that that masqueraded as a cult's god pretending as an obviously fake "costume" god in a comic strip whose name I can't quite remember.
You might be thinking about the "fungod" arc ("That's right! It's a real god disguised as a fake one! And you fell for it!") from the obviously quite NSFW Oglaf.
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Old 07-20-2013, 05:26 AM   #15
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Default Re: What a "god"?

What about collective gods, like the Annunaki? They were just a faceless group, and we don't really know what they did. But they pop up in the Enuma Elish.
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Old 07-20-2013, 07:33 AM   #16
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How would you classify Banjo?
Elan believed in Banjo enough that Banjo could grant Elan powers, so this is an atypical example of case #2.
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Old 07-20-2013, 08:02 AM   #17
Flyndaran
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Default Re: What a "god"?

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You might be thinking about the "fungod" arc ("That's right! It's a real god disguised as a fake one! And you fell for it!") from the obviously quite NSFW Oglaf.
Yes, that's the one. Amazing you could understand my poor memory mangled version. :)
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Old 07-21-2013, 01:39 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by Asta Kask View Post
What about collective gods, like the Annunaki? They were just a faceless group, and we don't really know what they did. But they pop up in the Enuma Elish.
It's not that the Annunaki were really faceless. They're a collective grouping of minor, now forgotten deities. At the time, the locals were perfectly aware of who the local Annuna were.
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Old 07-21-2013, 05:55 AM   #19
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Default Re: What a "god"?

But then they transformed into a group of minor deities. What about them at that stage?
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Old 07-21-2013, 12:04 PM   #20
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But then they transformed into a group of minor deities. What about them at that stage?
Well of course that's only an issue if gods are actually dependent on belief or worship to survive. In the case of the Annunaki, as city states became an empire and the local Annuna were grouped together, they could be assumed to get a small share of the state ceremonies giving thanks to the whole pantheon major and minor.

However that does bring to mind another category. Gods who need what comes from worship (in Runequest participating in a worship service caused characters to be temporarily low on temporary POW because they were actually tithing their magic power), but are not themselves directly worshipped. Instead they have an arrangement with another god where in return for service, or because that god is a vassal, they get the power second-hand.
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