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Inter-world Building

One of my current wip takes place in a world that has multiple pantheons, deities and "realms". Besides from a few classical mythologies (Norse, Hindu, Chaldean etc). My question is whether or not it is "ok" to use more modern mythologies (Cthulhu, Slenderman etc.). Another question I would ask is if such a world could be taken seriously.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
Not enough info.

Do you have Lovecraftian entities masquerading as Greek or Norse Gods?

Worth pointing out: the ancient pantheons were seen as both local and subject to combination. Hence, 'Zeus' might also be 'Marduk' or 'Ra'.

Is the setting an alternate earth or some other world altogether?
 
There are indeed some gods who intersect beliefs within my wip. The Old Ones are creatures believed to have interacted with other deities and pantheons. For example; The Gorgons, Scylla, Nidhogg and many other deities and monsters are claimed by many to be Old Ones or spawns of the Old Ones.

The world is an alternate Earth where instead of being cast off into mythology, the ancient gods survived in cults and underground faiths. The reason behind their diminished activity was the result of a war between many pantheons and deities for Earth. The war resulted in EL (My worlds version of God) winning control over Earth forcing the others to limit their actions. El is now "gone" allowing their return, hence why beings like The Old Ones and Slenderman are increasing in popularity and activity.
 

mowque

Dreamer
What is the general tone of the work? If it is very serious and formal (high epic) it might be hard to take such well-known (and copyrighted) Gods seriously. You might be better just switching them out with obvious impostors to avoid using names that carry alot of current cultural baggage.
 

shangrila

Inkling
I think Slenderman is definitely out. I believe he's copyrighted by the original creator. Lovecraft hit public domain a while ago though so that's fair go.

As for the world I think it depends on how these pantheons came to exist. If it's based on belief, as in they gain power or just a presence by people believing in them, then it's not hard to imagine them all living together. It's what's done in Gaimen's Amercian Gods I think, where the old gods are basically clinging to their old, faded power while the newer ones are growing with the belief (though he uses things like the internet rather than an actual entity like Cthulu, I think, I'm not sure since it's been a long while since I read that).

So determining how these entities came to be in the first place would, in my mind, lend more credibility to the idea of them all existing at the same time.
 
Tone of the story is serious. I wanted the world to be very very similar to ours. I planned to have modern myths like Slenderman and Bloody Mary be the result in the minds of humanity bringing old creatures from mythology back into our world. Their return would be the source of our more violent and psychologically unsound society.
majority of all mystical beings existed before humans came to be and still existed when we stopped "believing" in them. They simply returned to their realms or went to form powerbases in other places. What started humanities new belief in them is unkown but it is has formed a domino effect of cycles that is giving them more influence in our world.
 
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