Techniques for worldbuilding a pantheon of fantasy gods!

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Would you like to explore godly natures more? Or maybe how to create churches? Or maybe you want to talk about how to create a religious history? Let me know and I'll do my best to cover it in future videos :D

[@robrumble3991]

All of the above! Keep 'em coming! Great stuff.

[@Crisopeia]

Kinda late here but amazing video! I love when you gave examples, especially the Occidental vs Oriental Polytheism, one being more personification/human like and fhe other being forces/elements.

[@mullac1992]

I would like to learn more about how churches work!

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

I’ll put it on the list for this series!

[@doctahwhoopass285]

One other aspect of polytheism that happens is ascendancy. Sometimes its simply impossible, and all the gods are immutable and always alive, or theres a path somehow for mortals to become gods (or at least god like!) either through just adding or usurping them. I know a lot of peoples D&D worlds tend to do this, since most pantheons are polytheistic.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Trudi Canavan uses that in Age of the Five as well. It can add a great deal of tension and plot if done well!

[@Crisopeia]

Doesn't the Catholic have something similar with the Saints? But polytheism has more room to make someone god-like

[@xaviercrow6997]

I think it's often linked to ancestor veneration/worship

[@tumazformosa960]

In Taiwan the traditional religion is alive. The portfolios of gods are changing, the gods do whatever the believers believe they can. For example the water goddess Mazu, other than sailing and rain, she also blesses people with their businesses and scholarships. Also the festive rituals is changing very quickly. We have dancers dressing as lesser gods dancing to electronic music. It's all about the creativity of the believers.

[@pabillidge02]

yet another great video, Thank you very much!!!. I think It would be interesting a type of theocracy based on the godhead of the godheads like Zeus. maybe that could lead to a plot in which followers of lesser gods want their god to be the foundation of a new theocracy because they belive that what their god represents is best (and also they don't want their god to keep being considered "lesser"), so like a theocracy based on Zeus and the worshipers of Ares want a military-state-like theocracy so that's why the want to revolt or they want to create their own state in a different land at least, all of this would mean that the conflict could not just be religious but social, political and legislative.

[@Witheringdawn2]

I know this is an old video but the Roman gods are NOT just copied and renamed Greek gods, though I understand putting it that way for this video. However I think it would be interesting from a worldbuilding perspective to take inspiration from that - how do different cultures interpret the gods (if they exist and make themselves known) and do different cultures have different perspectives of the gods (e.g. a just war god for one culture is the evil god in another)? Are there similarities between gods that cause syncretism in cultures that have contact with each other like what happened with the Greek and Roman gods? This can also open up misunderstandings due to assumptions of sameness that could lead to very interesting politics, wars, cultural shifts, etc. Also it can be very interesting to have multiple gods share a domain of influence but approach it in different ways, for example Ares and Athena both being war gods. Ares embodies the violence, chaos and bloodlust of battle as well as the 'madness' (PTSD) after it. Athena as a goddess of wisdom applies that to war as a goddess of battle strategy, and the skill and discipline of soldiers, as well as the 'noble' reasons for war such as protection or justice. My last note is that the labeled vs individual thing is reflected IRL in soft vs hard polytheism, which can be researched for further inspiration.

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

Actually no Jupiter and Zeus were not the same god, they were different gods (with the same origin in proto indo European mythology) it’s just that the Romans equated Zeus with Jupiter, the way they equated Thor with Jupiter and Odin with Mercury. The Romans had their own DISTINCT religion and believed that the gods of other cultures were just *their* gods under another name. And the Romans DEEPLY respected Greek culture and religion so no other culture had more influence on their deities and religious practice. Venus was already a minor fertility goddess but the Roman’s saw her in Aphrodite and she became elevated

[@AstralBelt]

Samewise for Saturn and Cronus

[@jerryg276]

I'd love a breakdown on church creation, as I need some help fleshing out the "cults" of the various gods.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

You’re in luck, tomorrow’s video covers church creation 😁🎉

[@subhamraj5365]

As a hindu, I sometime do not seem to understand differences between the domains of gods unless they're from the Vedic tradition. Why don't people use this more.

[@BJGvideos]

I have an issue trying to build my pantheon that wasn't covered by the video. What do you suggest doing when the gods don't really embody anything, people just decided they did?

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

So I would say it depends a bit on your cosmology. If you take the approach of belief causes actions, as Katharine Kerr does, then your gods would grow to embody what the people believe. It's based on the argument of belief creates the gods, rather than gods existing and creating belief. If you don't want to follow that approach and your gods embody something different from what your people are trying to force them into, I'd say it depends on the gods. If they are non-interference based gods, they'd ignore it and the people would believe what they want. If they're heavily interference based gods, I'd guess they'd object and there might be some smiting going on. Does that help?

[@BJGvideos]

@@JustInTimeWorlds I guess it comes down to maybe how a deity is defined then, because the ones in my story are very influential and powerful, but they aren't divine by nature. They also don't have any sort of "pillar" standing, like, they could be removed from the world and nothing would change. They aren't a fundamental force, nor do they rule over any fundamental forces. They're gods because they helped shape human civilization in its earliest days, basically.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

@@BJGvideos I got you! So they're powerful beings who have helped humanity and are now worshiped, though they don't need or really want worship? I'd recommend building the beings first as characters, separate from how humanity sees them now. Then I'd build a "pantheon" based on human needs, remembering to mediate the social contract with the pantheon. Then I'd plug the characters into the pantheon, even if it makes no sense because that's what religions do :D

[@BJGvideos]

@@JustInTimeWorlds Haha true, true. And yeah, I think I they'd prefer that humans just forget about them, but it's been thousands of years and they can't find a way back to where they came from so they're resigned to live in exile. Only one of them communicates with the outside in any way and people don't realize it's her (she can enter the dreams of anyone she wants and, if she chooses, communicate with them there). She's the only one I really have fleshed out because she has the biggest role in my story. So, character first, then relationships with humans, then deify them up? Also it's like 3 am so I'll get back with you later.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

@@BJGvideos That would be my approach :) Drop me a link to your book when it's published, I'll be happy to give it a read.