D. Gray Warrior
Troubadour
Despite being a fantasy worldbuilder for years, I have not used polytheism or pantheons much as the primary religion of my worlds, mainly because I think they are overused and cliched in fantasy worlds, to the point that if there is no clear mention of a religion, I just assume that a pantheon exists, or is the primary belief system the people adhere to.
I did make one world with a pretty tiny pantheon of only three gods. One was a sun deity and creator of the human race, one was a moon deity/war god, and the other was the god of death.I don't remember why I was pretty insistent on there being only three gods.
If I go with polytheism as the primary religion, I think it will be a soft version where it is unclear whether the gods are completely separate individuals from each other, or are all different aspects/personas of one god, like multiple personalities. I also like the idea of the gods having contradictory or complimentary domains. For example, I think the Mayans believed in various gods that could both create and destroy. The sun god could bring light and warmth, but could also summon droughts, and the god of rain (which helps food grow) could also destroy with floods, and the god of war could bring either victory or defeat. I'd do a variation where the god of war is also the god of peace. I have studied a little bit of Hinduism (there seems to be no clear consensus on whether or not it is actually polytheistic), and Shiva is usually regarded as the Destroyer, but in a way is also a Creator. You create sand by destroying rocks, for example, and Shiva creates through destroying,
What are your thoughts?
I did make one world with a pretty tiny pantheon of only three gods. One was a sun deity and creator of the human race, one was a moon deity/war god, and the other was the god of death.I don't remember why I was pretty insistent on there being only three gods.
If I go with polytheism as the primary religion, I think it will be a soft version where it is unclear whether the gods are completely separate individuals from each other, or are all different aspects/personas of one god, like multiple personalities. I also like the idea of the gods having contradictory or complimentary domains. For example, I think the Mayans believed in various gods that could both create and destroy. The sun god could bring light and warmth, but could also summon droughts, and the god of rain (which helps food grow) could also destroy with floods, and the god of war could bring either victory or defeat. I'd do a variation where the god of war is also the god of peace. I have studied a little bit of Hinduism (there seems to be no clear consensus on whether or not it is actually polytheistic), and Shiva is usually regarded as the Destroyer, but in a way is also a Creator. You create sand by destroying rocks, for example, and Shiva creates through destroying,
What are your thoughts?